Snow

Well it snowed like crazy here yesterday and through the night. School is on a two hour delay and I’m considering keeping the girls home today. My youngest has asthma and gets sick easily, so I’d be taking a risk by sending her to preschool (it’s -1 degree but with the wind it feels like -12.) My oldest has been laying down since early yesterday evening with a sore throat and headache. She’s worried about missing school because it’ll be the first day she’s missed this year.

I perform ISO auditing at my old job once a month and yesterday was my day to do it. So last night I went back at 8:30 to audit 2nd shift and the pizza man tried to run me off the road (in white out conditions). It really sucked. Now I HAVE to get off and make hot chocolate for the girls. Hope your day is filled with warmth.

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Hmmm?!

I had no clue what I was going to write today until I stumbled across this. Which forced me to look until I found this.

I only caught the final 45 mins. but they had me jumping like my seven year old when she watches Small Soldiers. I can’t wait to see the other three. Did you watch it?  How does it compare to the book?  I’ve yet to read my first book by her yet. What do you recommend?

Heroes is Back!

Did you get to watch the season’s first episode of Heroes? I did and it was pretty good. This week’s show should be even better. I felt bad for Niki when she was talking to her son and D.L. while in prison. I just have one question: what is wrong with Claire? She’s started exposing herself (on tape) again!

What do you think Peter’s brother is going to do? Is he going to turn into a bad guy? I want to know who we’ll be meeting in the next few weeks. Is it going to change like the comic book? Ahhhh!! The suspense is killing me.

The Last Man on Earth

Favorite Lines: “You look good, girl. But then, I always knew you were a zircon
in the rough.” “Diamond.” (178)

I just finished reading a free ebook from Raine Weaver entitled The Last Man on Earth. This story is a riot. It made me crack up at the antics of the lead characters. The story is about best-friends on the verge of becoming more. They happen to be watching television when a big storm comes through. The twist is that the last thing on the tv is a warning stating “this is not a test”. From there all types of wacky misunderstanding occur. This is a sweet, hilarious tale that doesn’t take long to read. It also makes me want to look this author up and read more.

Ninja by Racy Li

Favorite Line: “You actually walk around with that monster in your pants?” (66)

Racy Li has entered the romance arena with a winner. In Ninjas we are taken on a foray into a world recovering from alien invasion and fighting to prevent a melding with the Demon world below. We meet Liz, an attorney who also happens to be a spy. She is investigating the company she works for and finding romance in an unlikely person, her secretary. Her secretary is much more than he seems. Kent is the Ninja, a man who walks in the shadows. In a world where no one is what they seem, can these two people find common ground?

You know how the tv show Heroes is like watching a comic book? The same is true for Ninja. Reading this book is like reading a comic book, only much better. It’s the pacing. Sometimes you are in the window of the bad guy and other times you are in the bedroom of the heroine. It is non-stop action and excitement.

One major plus to this book is the author’s ability to use scents to pull the reader into Metrocity where the comic book turned romance novel takes place. I could smell many things, not always things I wanted, but they worked well at pulling me into this alternate world. Another plus is Racy Li’s use of foreshadowing. The foreshadowing prevented the novel from feeling forced in any one direction. It also worked at making it believable.

If you don’t like comic books, superheroes, or romance, you won’t like this book. For the rest, I want to point out a few of the many references to comic books. The hero’s name is Kent: perhaps, a reference to Superman’s Clark Kent? He even wears nondescript clothing and thick black glasses. (There is also a scene reminiscent of Spiderman: the girl pulling the bottom of the mask up to kiss her hero.) I also like that the Ninja fights being labeled as a superhero despite his actions being those of a superhero.

At one point, I found my mouth dropping open with the heroine’s mouth before a huge grin split my face. This book touches lightly on bondage and flirts with ideas of voyeurism. The sex is good. I mean really good and the romance too. I’m not sure what interested me more the romance or the action/adventure taking place. I like the emotional conflict that griped the heroine and the hero. Neither one took advantage of the either. This satisfied me. It made me content that the heroine wasn’t alone in her anxiety within herself.

The Ninja is hot. Oh my god, I sooo want the ninja. He can do me any time. This story is the ultimate turn on. It is your deepest, darkest fantasy that you didn’t even know you had turned into a book. The hero is caring. He doesn’t talk (when in his Ninja costume) but the first sexual encounter he pleasures her and the second he massages her. He is all about his heroine.

I appreciate Li’s use of modern technology(blogs) in her novel. Li uses them almost daily in real life and it’s nice to see her incorporate them into her novel. When I think about it, I see that many books mention email but rarely do newer technological advances get written about.

This book is an E-book available from Loose ID for $5.99. I’d give this book 4 stars.

13 Jobs I don’t want

Thirteen Jobs I don’t want 1.Factory (Been there, done that) 2. Fast food (I don’t want to serve people I went to school with.) 3. Laundress (I have a hard enough time washing my own.) 4. Dishwasher (Ditto) 5. Prostitute (Speaks for itself) 6. Prison guard (I don’t want to get beat down.) 7. Teacher (I have my own kids, don’t need more.) 8. Nurse (I don’t deal with blood very well, so I guess it’s out.) 9. Psychologist (I listen to enough crazy people now.) 10. Daycare provider (No freakin’ way.) 11. Garbage person (I couldn’t take the smell.) 12. Farmer (I’m to lazy to do this profession justice.) 13. Landscaper (I’m not an outside person.) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Ramlings of Maggie 2. Jaci Burton 3. For all the world to see 4. Christina’s Shoebox 5. Deep in my mind 6. Tennessee Text Writing 7. Strange dark Gypsy 8. Night is my companion 9. Observations from Missy’s Window 10. Christine d’Abo 11. West of Mars 12. Writing Aspirations 13. SciFiChick 14. Milady Insanity 15. Angelle Trieste 16. It’s a Raggedy Life

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Racy’s Book

is out! Congratulations! Racy was kind enough to send me an ARC of her Ninjas. I’m excited to begin reading it (today?!) I hope. Her book is available for sale from Loose ID and you can buy it here.

Call for Submissions

Freya’s Bower.com Celebrates Its One-Year Anniversary

To celebrate our one-year anniversary on March 5, 2007, we’re having a call for submissions and offering a nice advance against royalties for the top two manuscripts that fit the following categories.

For general submissions, we’re looking for sweet and/or tangy erotic romance manuscripts of category length (30,001-45,000 words) and longer of any genre. See our guidelines for regular submissions and how we rate sweet and tangy: http://www.freyasbower.com/content/view/12/31/

For our T.R.O.U.B.L.E. line, we’re looking for sweet to beyond sizzling ratings for category length and longer only.

Out of the accepted manuscripts, two will be chosen to receive a publishing contract, a print version of the manuscript six months from eBook release date, and a nice advance against first royalties, which will be discussed upon signing the contract. One winning manuscript will be chosen from the sweet and/or tangy submissions and one will be chosen for our T.R.O.U.B.L.E. line. Second place manuscripts for each of these two categories will receive a smaller advance, but the print option will depend solely on eBook sales.

Other outstanding manuscripts will receive a publishing contract with Freya’s Bower.

T.R.O.U.B.L.E. Guidelines:

(For male or female protagonists)

She’s gorgeous and causes chaos wherever she goes. Perhaps she’s a klutz, a walking disaster. Maybe she has the worst luck imaginable.

For males: He’s dangerous. The bad boy you can’t help but love. Maybe he’s a chick magnet, or maybe he’s the guy flipping burgers at the local diner. Catastrophe and mayhem seem to follow him around.

Use your imagination for the trouble theme. Any ethnicity, any genre welcome.

Protagonists can also be characters such as Valkyries (for our Valkyrie series), werewolves, vampires, wallflowers, etc.

Category length and longer. (30,001-45,000 words.)

Ratings can be from sweet to beyond sizzling for the TROUBLE line, but we are very open to sweet submissions right now.

First person submissions must be well written.

Please read our guidelines http://www.freyasbower.com/content/view/12/31/ for formatting and any questions you might have before submitting.

ATTN: We have also opened an Angels and Demons category. If the angel or demon fits the TROUBLE theme or the sweet and/or tangy rating, these novels are eligible for the top novel decisions.

Final words: Submissions may be semi-rough drafts, but please don’t send something to us that you obviously have not checked over at least once. The key is semi-rough. Send the entire manuscript attached as an MS Word file to submit@freyasbower.com with the word TROUBLE or SWEET/TANGY in the subject line.

Deadline for this call is February 20, 2007. If you have questions email Faith at editorfaith@sbcglobal.net or Marci at mbaun@freyasbower.com

S.L. Viehl

I began going to Viehl’s site in Dec. of last year and was immediately impressed. The site is clean, encouraging and sticks to the topic. I love that she has several free ebooks listed. Most of the stories are short but extremely well written. It’s because of the free ebooks that I’m interested in reading her SF books.

I also learned that she considers the Darkyn series to be Dark Fantasy, something I really hadn’t thought of because they’re placed in the romance aisle at the store.