Jordan Summers

I entered Phantom Warriors: Bacchus in a cover contest for the Houston Bay RWA chapter and it placed second. Yah!!! I received the notice today/yesterday. You can see the official announcement below.

Congratulations on being a winner in the 2006 Judge A Book By Its Cover Contest, sponsored by Houston Bay Area RWA.

We’re pleased to announce that your cover for Phantom Warriors: Bacchus placed Second in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal category.

He is by far my favorite cover. I’m particularly happy with this win because it was judged by booksellers and librarians in the US, Canada and Australia.

Spent the day wandering around the electronics section of Tokyo before returning to the major shopping area. Let me tell you, the Japanese take their shopping seriously. So much so, that they actually line up outside the department stores before they open. When the doors open, the people at the front of the line run inside. Now maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never found a store worth running into. I mean these stores were really, really nice and the chocolate was delicious, but…

Tomorrow we’re off to see Mt. Fuji and take a cruise on a lake. Again, pictures will be coming. Until then, ciao.

We made it to Tokyo. The flight was uneventful, which is just the way we like them. We got in too late to do anything beyond go to bed. At 3:00am the alarm went off. Talk about brutal. We’d made an appointment to tour the fish market, starting at 4:00am. (Pictures and links will follow. Right now I’m too tired to mess with it.)

I cannot begin to describe the tuna auction that takes place there just about every morning. It’s amazing to see (and you will once I post the pictures) all the different types of tuna waiting to be auctioned to buyers. There are frozen auctions, fresh auctions and live auctions. Each one is a sight to behold. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was also the first time I’ve ever seen a $40,000 fish. I’ll apologize now for my lack of description. I am burnt.

After the auctions, we went to a sushi restaurant that opened at 6:00am. It was in the fish market, so we knew the sashima would be fresh. You didn’t even have to chew. The fish melted in your mouth. I’d never had ‘real’ wasabi until today. What a difference. I thought I loved it before. I was wrong.

We decided to take a tour after our tour of the fish market. (We were afraid that if we went back to the room we’d pass out.) With that in mind, dh booked us a Tokyo city tour that included a tea ceremony (Almost broke the door. Don’t ask. Very embarrassing.), a river cruise, a tour of Tokyo Tower, Asakusa Kannon Temple, and the Imperial Gardens. (Again, I will be posting pictures.) Had a great time. Got to visit a lot of temples throughout the day.

We were too tired to go out wandering for dinner so we landed at Denny’s. Not my first, second or third choice, but it was close…and interesting. Who knew that tuna spaghetti and hamburger/tempura shrimp could be so popular. *g*

First impressions: Tokyo is massive. And when I say massive, I mean think massive and add a hundred. I’ve been to London and New York and neither of those places touch Tokyo on sheer scale. It truly is like Blade Runner, but a LOT friendlier. I’ve never seen so many skyscrapers. The highways are built above the city, so when you come into Tokyo you’re about two stories above the actual city level. It’s trippy and tad scary. Cities in the states tend to sprawl. Tokyo has built up, so everything (ie homes, businesses, hospitals, etc.) reaches for the sky. Despite it’s intimidating size, Tokyo is a friendly city and I don’t think I’ve ever felt safer. That said, if you aren’t into cities, then Tokyo is definitely not your thing. You haven’t seen a city until you’ve come here.

Well now that I’ve finished rambling aimlessly, I’m going to call it a night. It’s only seven here and it feels like midnight. I’m going to try to stay up one more hour, then it’s bedtime for Bonzo. Sayonara.

Next stop Tokyo.

As the time for vacation nears, I find myself trying to decide what to take (not clothes wise), but overall. See, the flight to Japan is twelve hours long. That’s barring any delays. At first, I thought I’d only take books (paper and ebook). I’m currently trying to pick the perfect books to take. *ggg* You’d think that would be easy, but I’m a ‘mood’ reader, so I’m torn. I am also pondering how many paperbacks to take (see previous sentence). Here’s the problem. I only want to take books that I can leave on the plane or leave in Japan. Two of the books that I’d love to take I want to put on my keeper shelf. Sigh.

Then there’s the bigger question. Do I take my NEO and write for part of the flights? It seems like the perfect time to get a lot done (ie no internet access, lots of time on my hands), but then I’d technically be working on my vacation. So you see my dilemma.

Other than the above, there’s not much happening at the Summers’ household. Went for a couple mile walk. Almost finished reading How to Write Sci-fi and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. Going to do a trial pack tonight to see if everything fits into the suitcase. Like I said, exciting. With that in mind, does anyone have anything cool happening? Any new sales to announce? Major breakthroughs? Time to share.

Now that I have a rough draft done of my urban fantasy, I’ve decided I need a little extra help with my writing. With that in mind, I went to Amazon and ran a couple of searches for ‘Speculative Fiction’ writing books, ‘Fantasy’ writing books, and ‘Horror’ writing books. I’d forgotten that I already owned ‘How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy’ by Orson Scott Card. (Found it last night, Charli.) I plan to read through it this evening.

Some of you are probably wondering why I want those types of tutorial books. Here’s the thing I realized as I neared the end of my first draft. Not only is my book speculative fiction, but some sections are skirting horror. This is funny, considering I read my first horror book about a year ago. I swear. I truly believe I am incapable of sticking with one genre at a time.

With that in mind, I thought it prudent to educate myself. I’ve been reading as many urban fantasies as I can get my hands on. That’s how I initially learned how to write romance. I’m sure right about now that Harlequin thinks I should brush up on that lesson. *g* And I cannot blame them. It’s difficult to go from straight romance to erotic romance and back again. It’s a different format. And it’s made even harder, when you didn’t quite learn the ‘rules’ of one before switching to the other. But I digress.

Over the years I’ve bought a lot of writing books. Many of them have proven extremely helpful. A few not so much. I really want to write urban fantasy, along with my darker romances, but I need help. The attitude for urban fantasy comes natural to me (wg), but not the world-building. It is a challenge. Hence the need for writing books.

I’ve found two books that might be helpful: On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writer’s Association and The Fantasy Writer’s Companion: The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy. Does anyone have any other suggestions?