Welcome to my new look blog!

Hello and welcome to my new blog and website.

Everything that was on turnips at dawn and the blog are still here. You can browse and view exactly the same way as before. You can still leave comments and most of your comments will already be on this site in fact!

Enjoy.

Cock and Bull blog tour – L A Witt.

The Given & The Taken – How It Came to Be

Aislinn Kerry, author of awesome vampire stories Blood & Roses and Smoke, is at least partly to blame for The Given & The Taken, which is book #1 in the Tooth & Claw series. The two of us spend a great deal of time yakking via IM while we’re both writing (or, on occasion, procrastinating). One topic that has come up more than once is the idea of predestined mates. In short, it bugs us both. Of course it’s something that can be done well, but it also has the potential to be incredibly squicky, and we’ve both read a few too many examples of it meeting that potential.

Around the beginning of 2011, we’d been having another one of our conversations about predestined mates, and a plot bunny started gnawing on my brainstem. I had also been, for some time, pondering the idea of writing something paranormal. I like vampires and werewolves as much as the next person, but just hadn’t settled on the right story. Plot bunny, meet genre.

And this, my friends, is how L. A. Witt’s brain works:

What if a pair of predestined mates were so incompatible, there was just no way they would work out? Such as…say…she’s a woman, and he’s gay. Enter Levi, a wolf who’s been paired with Selena, who is pretty much the only one in the pack who understands why it’s just not going to happen. So, with her blessing, he finds a male mate, Ian, who happens to be human. The pack is less than thrilled (which, of course, makes me happy…always love stirring things up for the people in my head). They’re going to grudgingly let Levi bond with his chosen mate, but they aren’t going to make it easy for them.

In fact, you know what, Levi? We’re going to let you two bond, but then you’re going away for a year, and if Ian can find you after that year is up? Well, Mazeltov. If not, you get your sorry butt back here to the pack and bond with Selena like we told you to in the first place.

Awesome. Now I’ve got a monkey wrench thrown into the whole predestined mate thing, but I’d really like to bring in some vampires. The story just feels like it needs some bloodsuckers. Ooh, I’ve got it! Ian doesn’t do so well with this “year apart” stuff, and in a moment of weakness, not only cheats on Levi but does so with a vampire. And winds up converted to a vampire.

Levi’s pissed, of course. And Ian feels like an ass, because…well, he kind of was an ass. Oh, and Darius the vampire isn’t going to just fade into the shadows. He had a nibble of Ian and would like some more, thank you very much, even if a certain werewolf tries to get in his way.

At this point, I thought I saw the story laid out in front of me like a clear, straight stretch of Midwestern blacktop. Well, minus the cornfields and gas stations, anyway. Point being, the setup was there, the characters were in place, and it was go time. But every time I tried to flesh out the details, it all fell flat. Yeah, that Nebraska interstate was laid out in front of me, but my car was broken down on the side of the road with nary a tow truck in sight. (Pardon the travel puns and Midwest analogies…I just drove to Nebraska, so guess where my brain is.)

So what the hell is the problem? Come on, characters. Let’s get it together here. Pissed off werewolf, prodigal boyfriend, antagonistic vamp—wait. Wait just a second.

Darius doesn’t want to be a villain.

Okay, let’s try this again, this time with Darius in a protagonist’s chair. Much better.

Oh, and Selena? Selena doesn’t want to be a barely-there secondary character. Nuh-uh, author lady. I didn’t let my predestined mate wander off with a man so I could sit at home and knit. I’m not even coming along for the ride. Bitch, I’m driving!

And…there we go. I put together a nice shiny outline (ah, Excel, how I love thee), and started writing. The boys (and Selena) turned out to be an opinionated bunch, though, so I pretty much ditched the outline and followed them.

The end result?

The Given & The Taken, which is now available from Samhain. Keep an eye on my blog, Twitter feed, and website for updates about the sequel, The Healing & The Dying, as well as additional books in the Tooth & Claw series.

Don’t forget to to go to L A’s blog tomorrow for a new post in the Cock and Bull tour

The Viking has landed, and other news

So, I have my cover art for my Viking:

And a blurb too:

Viking raiders destroyed Wilda’s home. She witnessed the murder of her mother and would have been killed herself if it weren’t for the Viking boy Einar, who saved her from his ruthless brother. The blood and murder left Wilda cold and shorn of feeling.

Eight years later, the heathens return for Wilda. As a captive in the Viking village, she finds protection and silent comfort in the man who once gallantly saved her.

Einar has been cursed to silence by his brother. With the dark net of his brother’s power cast over their village, silence is a small price to pay for his family’s safety. But Einar is immediately drawn to Wilda, and the need to protect her from his brother awakens his Viking courage. Can Einar break his brother’s curse in time to save the village and the woman he loves?

ANNND – spoiling you today aren’t I? And the sequel to Ten Ruby Trick will be coming soon too! Woohoo!

How to… Make sure your research/worldbuilding doesn’t drown your story

So, I recently sold an historical to Carina. Yay me! Vikings FTW! But, and here was the tricky part, writing historical is very different to writing fantasy. In fantasy, of course, I can just make stuff up. And I do. But historicals need to be at least fairly accurate, or you’ll have history buffs sending you emails about how the colt 45 wasn’t invented till the year after your hero used it…

But in many ways, especially in how you use your worldbuilding/research they are very similar. Worldbuilding serves much the same purpose in fantasy as research does in historical – it gives the reader a sense of place and/or time. It lets them, for that short while, inhabit somewhere different.

The trick is, not to drown your story in it. Because your reader almost certainly is reading mainly for the story. Not a treatise on how beer was made in 844.

Now when I decided to write this historical, I decided to approach the research in much the same way I do worldbuilding. In fantasy, the little worldbuilding I do up front is all to do with culture. This culture values this, so these things are likely. Details come as I write. Researching Vikings, before I started writing what I looked for was attitude and laws. So, Saxons for example didn’t automatically leave everything to the first born son (that came in with the Normans). Instead they often willed their lands etc to who they wanted to have it. Because of this, and because a widow with a lot of land was obviously a big draw, a law was introduced that no widow can be made to marry for a year after her husband’s death.

This little nugget, combined with my Viking hero’s absolute belief in seidr, that is magic, and Bad Guy’s attempt to take over the fjord (hey, coups are universal!) started off my plot. Everything else, all the little details of how they lived, what they ate etc came later, much later. I researched them only when it was relevant to the plot/depth – that is, if I had my heroine making dinner, it helped to know what it would be! Being the type of writer I am, the more I knew upfront, the more likely I would dump it in the novel to no effect. Your mileage may vary, depending on what sort of writer you are.

That’s my method of making sure research/wordlbuilding doesn’t overwhelm the story – only ‘discover’ it as and when I need it. If I end up a little light at the end of the first draft, it’s easy to go and add extra detail. I find it harder to cut.

Now, if you’re more of a planner, this probably won’t work! You’ll want to know all the details up front. This is fine and dandy, if that’s how you need it to be. If not, then the ‘as you go’ technique can really help not drown your story in details. If you know all your stuff before hand, that’s a different thing. Just try to make it relevant to what is actually occurring and what the reader really needs to know. That almost certainly does not include a three page description of anything. Really. Layer it in, subtly.

Please.

How to… Tackle editing

The “E” Word

By JK Coi

No matter what you write, whether it’s a manuscript or a grocery list, editing will eventually be a part of it. (Yes, I’ve had to scratch out the word “cookies” from my grocery list too many times, although I can’t quite bring myself to add “carrots” in its place)

It’s a fact of life for authors that writing = re-writing. But I tell myself that editing shouldn’t be looked at with fear or as a chore, but the opportunity to catch mistakes (because, let’s face it, they’re ALWAYS there) and to make my work even better.

Even before I send a book to my editor, I’ve done my own round of edits, hopefully to make her job easier (or at least this is what I tell myself. The swearing and cursing that comes through the internet lines after she opens the file tell a different story).

I tackle edits in three waves. The first wave occurs during the writing process of the first draft. As much as I’d like to tell you I simply sit down and start clacking away at the keyboard, that the magic of my own mind takes me away and I don’t look back until it’s all done…that’s not the way it goes. I’m editing as I go. Not extensively, but enough to tweak and fine-tune my words. It helps in the long run to make sure my next pass isn’t quite so extensive.

The second wave is my way of looking at content and depth. This is where I will strengthen the emotional conflicts and hopefully weed out inconsistencies of plot. (Note that these inconsistencies invariably drive me CRAZY. I can spend HOURS looking up lore and fairytales about goblins and ghouls and as many other scary creatures as I can, and researching the cities and towns I have dropped my characters into—you’d think I would have learned by now to write about a place that I’ve actually been to!) However, this reminds me: I do a lot of my research when the book is already done. There are usually tons of placeholders in my manuscript with square brackets around them that look something like this: [DETAILS OF SUPER-COOL VAMPIRE POWERS] or [CASSIEL IS THE ANGEL OF SOLITUDE AND TEARS—WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?]. Anyway, if I spent all my time with these niggly little details BEFORE I started writing the book, it would never get finished!

Anyway, once I’ve lost a week of sleep and finally combed through the manuscript for this second wave, I will send the book to my critique partners. Tip: Biting fingernails, inhaling chocolate, and staring at the empty email inbox for hours waiting for a response is not a good use of your time. The thing I try to remember when my critique partners and beta readers get a hold of my book is that their comments will mostly be suggestions based on their own style and personal preferences. So the third wave starts once I’ve looked over all the suggestions that were made and decide what I’m going to do with them, but honestly, I hardly ever make all the changes that are suggested. It isn’t that I don’t trust their judgement or respect their opinion, but I also have to keep my own vision for the book. I find if I let too many people tell me to change this and change that, my voice gets muffled and the writing loses its strength.

Finally, after three passes or “waves” of editing, I hopefully have a worthy manuscript to send to my editor…and the editing begins again!

For the readers, how much does bad editing bother you when you’re reading a book? Can you overlook some spelling and grammar errors when the story is compelling, or do you want to grind your teeth at every instance of their when it should have been there?

For the other writers out there, how many passes does it take before you consider your book good to go? Do you have a tried and true process?

FALLING HARD

After a life filled with tragedy, rocker Gabriel Gunn thinks he’s finally getting the better of his personal demons. Then he’s attacked after a concert—and rescued by a warrior goddess brandishing a sword and white wings. As hard as it is to believe in an angelic bodyguard, Gabriel must face an even more impossible truth: he carries the devil’s soul within him.
Amelia has been watching over Gabriel for years, using her angelic powers to prevent Lucifer’s return. Now she must also protect him from warring angel factions with their own agendas. Amelia would do anything to avert another angelic war, even sacrifice her own emotions to avoid temptation. Yet with Gabriel she feels things she no longer wants to deny, and pleasure she never imagined.
But the closer Gabriel and Amelia get, the stronger Lucifer becomes. Will Amelia be forced to kill the man she’s come to love to stop the war she’s always feared?

J.K. Coi is a multi-published, award winning author of contemporary and paranormal romance and urban fantasy. She makes her home in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and son and a feisty black cat who is the uncontested head of the household. While she spends her days immersed in the litigious world of insurance law, she is very happy to spend her nights writing dark and sexy characters who leap off the page and into readers’ hearts.
Website: www.jkcoi.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jkcoi

How To…Develop Discipline

BY A G Carpenter

Since writing is work that means if we’re serious about being “writers” – pursuing publication, honing our skills, etc – we need to know how to keep working even when the muse isn’t smiling at us.

This means developing habits and strategies to get you through the “dry spells”. Here are the ones that work for me.

1. When in doubt, outline.

It’s true that I don’t always outline before I start a project. But once I see what kind of shape the story is taking I do like to sketch out my ideas. This might be just a paragraph summarizing the story-arc. Or it could be a detailed 3 page bullet-pointed breakdown of all the key plot points. Or a stack of index cards containing notes for each proposed chapter. It just depends. But when the creativity gets thin I have something to look at to remind me what should come next. That has proved invaluable on many occasions when I’ve opened up my document and just thought “I don’t know what to say now.” It’s not foolproof, but it gives me a way to see where I’m at and where I should be going.

1b If you’re a panster, call it brainstorming

If you happen to be one of the folks really cannot stand the thought or concept of outlining, look at it as a kind of brainstorming. It’s not about dictating where a story should go before you write it out, it’s about figuring out the possible outcomes of a given set of characters, their goals and where the story has taken them so far. The idea that outlines are some kind of impermeable code of honor that once written they cannot be deviated from in any way, shape or for, is rampant. And this is silly. And outline, just like any other writing practice, is just a tool. You use it for however long it works, then put it aside when it is no longer useful. I use outlines as kind of a rough-rough draft. They give me a chance to try out a plot without wasting two months and 80k words writing a story that has plot holes you could drive a bus through and requires a total rewrite.

When the creativity runs thin (and you note I say when, not if)I find that brainstorming about where the story could go next is just the kick in the pants I need to write the next chapter. And it helps me avoid writing myself into a corner and having to trash three or four chapters in which my characters wallow about with no direction.

2. Set Measurable Goals.

This may sound obvious and unnecessary, but it’s really important. Set a goal that you can measure. This means number of words (or pages) per day/week/month. Giving yourself a specific amount of time to write every day/week is good too, but it won’t produce the same results. (Haven’t we all sat down to write for an hour and then spent 45 minutes of that writing time playing solitaire, reading email or surfing the web?) Set a goal that can be quantified, something concrete, something you can’t waffle about. “I will write 500 words every day.” “I will write 15 pages every week.” And so on.

I like to have a daily and a weekly goal because, like most of us, some days produce nothing but frustration and a worn spot on the delete/backspace key.

3. Keep your goals in mind.

Once you’ve set your goal, keep it in mind. When you sit down to write, review what your goal is and how much you have already achieved that week/month. (This is important because some days you simply will not reach your goal. Other days you will write as much as you normally write in a week. By having goals that are not just daily but also weekly and monthly, you can see the overall progression even when a cold destroys the daily wordcount.) If you are ahead on the weekly wordcount at the beginning of a writing session congratulate yourself. “My typing ability is improving” or “That day off to sleep really paid off” or whatever. If you’re behind, figure out how much needs to be done to catch up. (Maybe slipping in an extra session or adding a hundred words to the daily goal for the rest of the week.) If at all possible make it something achievable, otherwise you may start to feel overwhelmed.

4. Write every day.

Not all of us can do this. But if you can, you should. If you can’t, then find the time to write as frequently as possible. Trust me, it helps.

5. Write to the limits of your capability.

An online acquaintance recently asked how much he should be writing every day. (He’s in college and usually busy with schoolwork.) Unfortunately that answer depends on the individual. When my story is firmly in my head I can write 1500 words in an hour. (When it’s not, well, let’s just say the number isn’t that big.) And I can normally find an hour a day to write. (Sometimes it’s more but I try to be realistic.) So, for me, 1500 words a day is a good goal. For someone else it may seem an impossible dream.

The point here is to figure out-given the best possible circumstance: Gotten enough sleep, no unexpected crisis etc-how much you can write a day. Then set that as your goal. Don’t try to make it some impossible-to-achieve-and-ultimately-momentum-killing goal that is way beyond you, and don’t settle for something easy. Best case scenario is you write at the upper edge of your capability. When that starts to get easy, raise the goal, or if life gets difficult, you bring it back down a bit.

6. Keep Writing Time for Writing

It’s easy to get distracted by other stuff when you sit down to write. But the most important discipline you can develop, more valuable than writing every day, or setting goals, is to use your writing time to write.

This means you do not do research when you sit down to write. You do not check email or read blogs or otherwise engage with teh internet. You do not fiddle with your wordcount spreadsheets. You do not play computer solitaire. (Note from Julia: Have you been spying on me? )

When you sit down to write, you write. If you can manage that, the rest will fall into place.

By day A.G. Carpenter is a mild-mannered stay-at-home mother. By night she writes fiction of (and for) all sorts. Her microfiction has been published at Every Day Fiction, One Forty Fiction and Trapeze Magazine.

She blogs at agcarpenter.blogspot.com and Twits @Aggy_C

Sale!

Oops, been a little remiss here. I made a sale. And I forgot to blog about it! In my defence, I am knee deep in edits already.

So, what have I sold? What’s cooler than pirates? Yup, Vikings. An offhand comment from my editor (You’ve got a good voice for historical, thought about writing one?) and a trip to Norway made this inevitable really. Norway is such a fabulously beautiful place. Dark and brooding, draped in cloud, seemingly built for secrets.

I mean, look at this:

A day at Geiranger fjord and in my head I was thinking ‘And the feasting hall is there, and the blacksmith’s is over there and…’ And then my hero turned up. With a secret he has to keep, if he wants to stay alive. Then on our way out of the fjord, we saw this:

And I was sunk. Odin’s helm overlooking the fjord was my first thought. Now, a Viking would think that a lucky place, yes? Not so lucky for Einar, our poor hero.

And so, A Kindness of Ravens was born. Coming from Carina Press January 2nd 2012.

If you’re interested, here’s my pitch.

Eight years ago, Einar and Wilda witnessed a murder and saved each other from being the next victim.

Today, they have to do it again.

Norseman Einar lives under the threat of the murderer’s rune-cut curse—if he should speak of it, his family will die and so he lives his life as a silent outcast. Until the Saxon girl Wilda comes back into his life, his brother’s new thrall and one who is bound to recognise, and reveal, the murderer. Unable to tell her why she shouldn’t speak of it, Einar has to try to get her away but is bewitched by the fact that Wilda still thinks him the brave youth he’d once been. For Wilda, Einar is a quiet presence she craves, the only man she can trust in a violent new world.

Between them they have to gather the courage to face the murderer head on.

How To . . . Handle Rejection

By Diane Dooley

Every writer will be rejected at some time or other and, at first, it’s most likely that you will be rejected over and over again. It’s important to know how to handle the ongoing rejection because if you don’t you will either give up in a heap of soggy tissues or go entirely crackpot insane.

As someone who has done both on one occasion or another, I am here to give you my DO’s and DON’Ts of handling rejection. I speak with experience.

DON’T think there is something special about you because you’ve written a poem/short story/novel. Thousands upon thousands of people do it every year. If you can avoid getting a big head about your writing you’ll find rejection so much easier to deal with.

DO have a support network. Whether it’s a relative, a close friend or a writing group or online community, it’s wonderful to have a shoulder to cry on, a voice to cheer you on or someone who will deliver a swift kick to the rear when necessary.

DON’T believe your mother when she tells you your writing is god’s gift to literature, that you are a genius and immediately starts telling all her friends that she has birthed the second coming of Shakespeare. Get feedback on your writing from the brutally honest only. It’s preferable if they don’t love you to bits. It makes being honest with you so much easier.

DO buy your mother a house from the literary proceeds if she turns out to be right.

DON’T respond negatively to rejections – even if they’re snarky, snotty, mean or wrong.

DO feel free to compose an insulting, vituperative, exquisitely written e-mail or letter expressing your contempt for the editor or agent’s misguided lack of appreciation for your masterpiece – if it makes you feel better.

DON’t send it.

DO continue to submit your writing, after you’ve edited and polished it to the best of your ability, to carefully selected markets and agencies.

DON’T give up. The writing biz is a slow one. You can wait forever and a day for word on your favorite story. Sometimes the word is ‘no.” Usually the word is “no.” But every now and then the word is “Oh My God. We LOVE this story. Thanks you so MUCH for sending it to us. We WANT to publish/represent. You are DA BOMB!”

DO pat yourself on the back when you get an acceptance.

DON’T think that this means you will never be rejected again. You will be, and probably on the same day that you received your acceptance if my experience is anything to go by.

DO believe in yourself and your writing. If you don’t have the courage to get your writing out there, then you’re not even in the game. Every rejection is a badge of honor for an individual with the guts to try. Receive them proudly.

DON’T whine about your rejections on the internet. Even if your blog is read only by your granny and your beloved cat there are, nevertheless, a gazillion people who will find it the minute you start to bitch. They will point at you, laugh at you, sneer at you and share your blog post with as many people as they can find. Even if the humiliation doesn’t kill you, your barely existent reputation will never recover.

DO keep a sense of humor. Because, dear writer, you will need it. If you think a rejection is hard to handle, then just imagine how a bad review is going to affect you. Far better to giggle, snicker, smile or outright guffaw than pout, snivel, weep or go batshit crazy.

DON’T take it out on your loved ones. It’s not their fault that “some nameless editor from some no-name ‘zine rejected your stoopid story after sitting on it for six months.” They probably won’t say that . . . but it’s what they’re thinking.

DO thank the lovely Julia Knight for inviting me as a guest on her blog.

DON’T hold her responsible for my opinions.

DO check out my novella, Blue Galaxy, which will be released as an e-book on May 9th by Carina Press. Audio book release date to be announced.

DON’T read it if you object to science fiction with oodles of violence and lashings of sex.

DO come visit me on Facebook, Goodreads or my blog. I’d love to meetcha!

When she is not writing science fiction, romance or horror – sometimes all in the same story – Diane can be found chasing her children, geeking out with her husband, working a full-time job, indulging her addiction to Youtube or, most likely, reading.

Diane’s horror short stories have been published by several online horror venues and she has a science fiction romance novella, Blue Galaxy, due for release May 9, 2011 from Carina Press. You can find her on her blog, on Facebook and on Goodreads.
She is also a regular contributor at The Galaxy Express as her alter-ego, Agent Z.

The Kindle version of Blue Galaxy is currently available for pre-order.

How to… Write a self-writing synopsis

By David Bridger

The thought of condensing a mega-thousand-word story into one or two pages can be pretty daunting, especially if it’s been left until the ‘submission package’ part of the process. So I write mine along the way, in three stages, almost as a by-product.
Here’s how I put my synopsis together while writing The Weaverfields Heir.
In Stage A, I sketch a skeleton outline before writing, normally a sentence or two per scene. Here’s my outline for Chapter One:
1. Driving over Dartmoor on her way home from work, Kate falls ill and experiences visions that open up a new world for her
2. She spends the weekend recovering, while trying to hide the effects of these visions from her parents. On Monday a solicitor phones to say Kate and her mother are beneficiaries in a will.
3. Next day Kate and her parents drive up to Shropshire and meet the solicitor, who informs them the deceased was Kate’s maternal grandfather. He then escorts them to Weaverfields.
In Stage B, I return to my outline to add details after I’ve written the chapter:
1. Driving over Dartmoor on her way home from work at the end of her penultimate day as a teacher, Kate experiences the symptoms of a heart attack and loses consciousness. When she comes to, her world looks very different. She has gained the ability to see the system of relationships between cells. It looks like a web of gossamer threads connecting everything.
2. She spends the weekend recovering, while trying to hide the existence of these visions and their effects from her parents, Janet and Kevin. On Monday, a solicitor phones to say Kate and Janet are beneficiaries in an unknown relative’s will. He invites them to spend the week at the Weaverfields estate outside a small Shropshire town, in order to attend the funeral on Thursday and the will reading on Friday.
3. On Tuesday morning, Kate and her parents drive up to Shropshire and meet the solicitor. He informs them the deceased was Janet’s father, Peter Weaver, a reclusive man who was estranged from his family. Having been unaware of her father’s identity until now, Janet struggles to accept this new situation. Kate and Kevin try to help her come to terms with it over lunch in a pub. The solicitor then escorts them to Weaverfields.
In Stage C, when the story is finished, each chapter’s notes are blended with elements of the story arc, as well as themes and structural points, to form that section of the synopsis:
Disillusioned art teacher Kate Richards is twenty-five years old when she inherits the English country estate Weaverfields from reclusive Peter Weaver, a grandfather she never knew.
She also inherits from him a supernatural talent to see the net, which is the system of relationships between cells and the building material of the universe. It looks like a web of gossamer threads connecting everything, but very few people are gifted with the ability to see it and even fewer can manipulate it to bring about change.
People who use the net leave their memories on it. When Kate arrives at Weaverfields, her mind is invaded by these confusing visions and sensations from the past. Thinking she is seeing ghosts, she fears for her sanity, but through sheer will power she starts to put the memories in order and, through them, takes her first steps towards learning how to manipulate the net.
Writing synopses doesn’t have to be painful.

David Bridger settled with his family and their two monstrous hounds in England’s West Country after twenty years of ocean-based fun, during which he worked at various times as a lifeguard, a sailor, an intelligence gatherer and an investigator. He writes paranormal and urban fantasy. Find out more here.

Last book(s) I loved guest blog – The Kiss Test and Road Signs

By Natalie J. Damschroder

I was excited when Julia sent the invitation to blog about the last book I fell in love with, because I had just finished reading Shannon McKelden’s The Kiss Test. I’d had to sit and finish it when I should have been showering and getting to work, a phenomenon that usually leads to a 5 rating on Goodreads.

And then I read Road Signs by MJ Fredrick and suddenly, I had two books I had to write about!

Luckily, both books have the “best friends” theme, my very favorite in contemporary romance. It’s funny how some themes can bug you (I actively avoid vampires and secret baby stories, for example), but some are timeless. I can’t imagine ever being tired of best friends falling in love.

Both books have a hero and heroine who have been best friends all their lives, and heroines whose pasts have led them to set up their lives in a certain way. Both books also happen to have road trips where the characters see their best friends in a new light.

Despite the similarities, and the common elements of the best friends theme, The Kiss Test and Road Signs are fantastically different because of the characters. Chris (TKT) is a playboy, while Cam (RS) is overly cautious after a painful relationship. Willow (RS) is driven and career-focused, while Margo (TKT) has a fun, well-rounded life, though both heroines nurse mother-based wounds.

Part of what I loved about Road Signs, I confess, was very subtle allusions to Supernatural, mainly in the crappy hotel rooms and classic car.

Both books broke my heart with the longing of one of the characters. I won’t say who because I don’t want to set up expectations. Suffice to say that if you’re looking for a great, emotional read, you can’t go wrong with either of these.

~~~~~~~~~~
Natalie J. Damschroder’s newest release, Fight or Flight, doesn’t have best friends falling in love like The Kiss Test and Road Signs. But it does have a road trip, as well a heroine falling in love with a potential enemy as she struggles to keep her daughter safe. You can find her online at www.nataliedamschroder.com.

Last Book I fell in Love With…Fatal Shadows

Loving the Imperfect Hero by Ellis Carrington

I want to thank Julia for giving me the opportunity to guest blog. Her request for an article about the last book I fell in love with immediately brought Josh Lanyon to mind, and Fatal Shadows, book one of his fantastic Adrien English series.

Okay, true confession time: I, a married mom of two, am in love with a gay man. Now if my husband were reading this over my shoulder, he would double over in laughter at that statement. “Not just one, “ he’d scoff while holding his sides. “Is this about Adam Lambert again?”

Actually, no.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I adore Adam from his glittery hair to his pedicured toes – but this is something a little more complicated. I’m in love with a FICTIONAL gay man. That’s right. His name is Adrien English.

Created by the great and mystical Josh Lanyon, Adrien doesn’t exist in real life, and even if he did I would have no hope of pleasing him whatsoever. If you’re scratching your head and saying “Who?” don’t feel bad – go ahead and pop over to Amazon and do a search. We’ll wait here while you download Fatal Shadows to your computer or mobile device of choice…

Great!

Now, I know that I am not alone here. All over the interweb I have encountered men and women who love Lanyon’s work in general (he is probably a far better writer on his worst day than I can conceive of being on my best) and Adrien English specifically. I’m thinking about starting a local support group (“Hi, my name is Ellis, and I’m in love with Adrien English…”). We might even have t-shirts printed (“I fell in love with Adrien English and all I got was a hefty Amazon.com invoice and this lousy t-shirt.”).

*ahem* Anyhoo…

For me, Adrien English is the perfect hero. He’s not a Navy SEAL, a werewolf warrior, or any other version of stereotypical beefcake-y-Alpha-maleness (What?? It is TOO a word.) . He’s a bookseller with a heart condition and a Miss Marple-ish tendency to nose around where he shouldn’t. But he’s refreshingly self-actualized. He’s confident and unapologetic about who he is, but his feelings get hurt sometimes. He seems pragmatic, but he’s a novelist so we know he’s imaginative. Not only is he well-off, but he’s humble about it. Sure, he knows how to shoot stuff, but probably wouldn’t. He’s wicked smart. Caring. Oh, yeah, and he loves his mom. The whole package that is Adrien is just sooo darned sexy.

I can still recall precise moment when I knew he had me for sure: There’s a scene in Fatal Shadows where he chooses to have sex with a homicidal maniac who he knows will probably try to kill him. It isn’t clear that doing so will save him, nor does he know for sure if help is coming. And despite the overwhelming horror and fear, his body still responds to this madman. He manages to feel for the horrible history that turned the villain into what he had become, even as he fights not to cry out in pain.

Hands down, it is the bravest moment I have witnessed from any hero in any novel I have ever read, and it is why Adrien English is the hero against which I will compare all others.

I’m told there is a trend back towards the flawless he-man type hero lately. Why on earth?? In my very humble and totally inexpert opinion, flaws are necessary to make a hero truly great. Without them, as Robert McKee says, your character is as flat as a table top.

So, in sum, the last book I really fell in love with Fatal Shadows, by Josh Lanyon. All because of Adrien. Interested? You can find out more at Josh’s web site.

All right! I’ve shown you mine, will you show me yours? Get your mind out of the gutter, I meant your hero. Who’s *your* favorite, and why?

Ellis Carrington is a woman who loves men who love men (who love men!) and has been since she stole a copy of The New Joy of Gay Sex from her local library as a teenager. Learn more at her blog, Manlove Paranormal. Please also check out her latest short story, an erotic M/M/M about new beginnings for a college football quarterback in the Ravenous Romance erotic anthology, Touchdowns.

Julia: And one lucky commenter can win a free copy! So get commenting. Right now. *stern mummy face*