Be Heard!

People before us fought for our right to vote. Take advantage of it and get to your polling station if you have yet to do so. P.S.: Did you know that women were the first group to picket the White House?

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Paranormal Questions

I was reading Amanda Ashley’s Night’s Master (told you I owned most of her books 🙂 ) and found myself wondering about paranormal books. What jobs, if any, do the women in paranormal romance and urban fantasy stories have? Off the top of my head I came up with bookstore employee or owner, cop, lawyer or no job at all. Now to put it to the test. I’m going to try to compile a list of jobs out of all the paranormal romance and UF books I read in 2011. We’ll see how it goes. What do you think about me keeping track of the information on a separate page of the blog? I welcome you to add titles and jobs to the list as well.

Meanwhile I want to know:

Holiday Shopping: Ready Set Go!

Sure it’s not really time to buy Christmas gifts. But if you can purchase a few good book sets now, why not do it? Here’s what I found.

Lakeside Collection: J.R. Ward 6 Book Set for $18.95.

Lakeside Collection: Your choice of three books from Christine Feehan or Barbara Delinsky for $9.99.

Lakeside Collection: Dead in the Family hardback for $8.95.

Lakeside Collection: Judy Blume book set $9.99.

Lakeside Collection: Set of the Vampire Academy books for $9.99.

I ♥ Covers: Whedonistas

Welcome to the first episode of I ♥ Covers. Today I bring you Whedonistas. Awesome comic book exterior which will house a collection of essays written  by a ton of strong female UF and fantasy writers like: Sharon Shinn, Jeanne Stein, Seanan McGuire, Elizabeth Bear, Cathryynne M. Valente, Maria Lima, Jackie Kessler, and Sarah Monette.

I love that there is a woman of color on the cover holding a stake and the “wanted” like poster of Joss Whedon. It is the best looking book of essays I have ever seen. I can’t wait to get my hands on this sucka. The Barnes & Noble website says it will be released in March 2011.

Offensive or True: Male writers are better than women?

Wow, I just finished reading a post at the Huffington Post’s site and had to scratch my head in wonderment because I don’t understand why women feel the need to knock other women down. The article is filled with wide sweeping comments aimed at a complete group of writers and their work. I think what bothered me most was when its author Koa Beck wrote, “Commercial books do not deserve serious critique because, generally, the writing does not merit it.”

I want to know what type of “commercial books” Beck read to form her opinion. Sure, there are books which don’t deserve “serious critique.” Occasionally I’ll get irritated enough to write about all the reasons a book is an epic fail. However, I would never generalize an entire writing genre or community because of one or two bad books.

According to Beck, “The recognized style of commercial books is cheaper, less authentic, more formulaic, and more predictable, known for comfortable endings and neatly packaged characters that function more as cartoons than representations of actual people. When it comes down to fiction writing — solid, genuine fiction writing — that attempts to push boundaries and say something unique about our nature or the way we live, commercial lit doesn’t have that kind of reach.”

Do you agree or disagree? Why? What book do you think proves her comment to be ignorant or true? I’d especially like to hear from authors.

Edited to add: The title stems from the section of Beck’s article which states “With the exception of a few female literary giants who are regulars in The New Yorker and the New York Times, it seems that even when a big publication does take note of a compelling female voice, she isn’t nearly as strong a writer as her male colleagues.”

Coming Soon: Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead

“Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham is the best at banishing entities trespassing in the mortal realm. But as the Thorn Land’s queen, she’s fast running out of ways to end the brutal war devastating her kingdom. Her only hope: the Iron Crown, a legendary object even the most powerful gentry fear…

Who Eugenie can trust is the hardest part. Fairy king Dorian has his own agenda for aiding her search. And Kiyo, her shape-shifter ex-boyfriend, has every reason to betray her along the way. To control the Crown’s ever-consuming powers, Eugenie will have to confront an unimaginable temptation–one that will put her soul and the fate of two worlds in mortal peril…”–Richelle Mead’s website

“Iron Crowned” will be released in March 2011.

Future Release: Shadow Glass by Seressia Glass

For Kira Solomon, normal was never an option.

Kira’s day job is an antiquities expert, but her true calling is as a Shadowchaser. Trained from youth to be one of the most lethal Chasers in existence, Kira serves the Gilead Commission dispatching the Fallen who sow discord and chaos. Of course, sometimes Gilead bureaucracy is as much a thorn in her side as anything the Fallen can muster against her. Right now, though, she’s got a bigger problem. Someone is turning the city of Atlanta upside-down in search of a four-millennia-old Egyptian dagger that just happens to have fallen into Kira’s hands.

Then there’s Khefar, the dagger’s true owner—a near-immortal 4000-year-old Nubian warrior who, Kira has to admit. looks pretty fine for his age. Joining forces is the only way to keep the weapon safe from the sinister Shadow force, but now Kira is in deep with someone who holds more secrets than she does, the one person who knows just how treacherous this fight is. Because every step closer to destroying the enemy is a step closer to losing herself to Shadow forever. . . . (Juno Books…)

Both Amazon and Borders list Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass as releasing on Jan. 26, 2010.

Coming Soon: They call me Death

My name is Alexia Williams. In my world, North America is divided between north and south but not the way it’s taught in the history books. After losing my family to the shifters, I joined the Combined Human States Army. Now I find myself on the front lines, defending the wall between my species and theirs. My mission is simple: keep the animals on their side by whatever means necessary and I’m good at it.

I don’t talk to them. I don’t sympathize with them. I sure as hell don’t admire them until one saves my life. Andor isn’t like any shifter I’ve ever met. He’s a three-hundred-year-old golden eagle asking for help finding missing shifters who may be in my lands.

I just have to decide between helping the animals or ignoring signs that my fellow humans aren’t what I thought they were. But how can I help a species I hate and fear? Even if Andor makes me feel alive again? In the land of the shifters they call me Death.

They Call Me Death by Missy Jane is published by Samhain Publishing and is  slated to be released Dec. 1, 2009, according to Amazon.

X-Men Wolverine movie

is awesome! I loved every minute of it. There was a twist I didn’t see coming and I’m pleased that I read about the two scenes that play during the credits (or after in one case). Don’t leave until the very last credit has played or you will miss something good. (Kinda like a future teaser.)

The effects were wonderful. The story interesting. There was not one thing about my movie experience that was bad. Oh yeah, I forgot about going into the wrong theater. We went into the one that started an hour before ours. About five minutes of sitting there I knew there was no way we were that late. So we checked the tickets and yeah we should have been in theater two not 13. *shrugging*

Dove Part one

When I heard that Dove was looking for bloggers to try its newest product, Dove ultimate and visibly smooth deodorant, I jumped at the chance. The other day I received my kit: full size stick of rose scented deodorant, a pamphlet and a shit load of coupons.

I’ve decided that I’m going to experiment with it. I’ve washed and shaved my armpits and just put on the deodorant. I’ll put the deodorant on every day and once a week blog about what is under my arms. If it’s hard stubble, if my skin seems better conditioned and if it is smoother. Once a week I’ll post a small update.

In the meanwhile, if you’d like me to mail you a coupon (it’s a little pamphlet with two $2 off coupons inside) leave a comment and I’ll get with you to find out snail mail info. First come, first served until the coupons are gone.