The Ron Empire Wants You!

An Interview With Author Guido Henkel

2012-01-30T08:00:00.005-06:00

Today I was privileged to conduct an interview with Guido Henke, autor of the Jason Dark Ghost Hunter series and "The Curse of Kali." Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview, Mr. Henkel.

I love the supernatural element in these books and even more, the unusual, non-European elements you utilize. I’m assuming that you used the popular, well known setting of Victorian/Holmesian England to help ground your readers, but what compelled you to introduce the foreign supernatural elements?

As I am writing my stories, I always try to find interesting angles to familiar themes. Sometimes I end up giving the monsters abilities that are often overlooked, sometimes I simply pick a setting that is different from what you’d expect, and sometimes I will just make things up for the fun of it.

The hopping vampires in “Curse of Kali,” and even more prominently in “Fu Man Chu’s Vampire,” are a result of that approach. I didn’t want to write yet another vampire story. I had covered that territory with “Theater of Vampires” and felt that if I do vampires they needed to be unexpected. I am a big fan of the whole Fantasia/Wuxia movie genre out of Hong Kong, and while I was looking for a good angle on vampires, theJiang Shi - or hopping vampires - came to my mind. Clearly they were exotic enough to create a very different vampire story.

So, ultimately, it is really my desire to get away from overused stereotypes and clichés. While I love to use a gothic mood and atmosphere, and will often fall back on familiar imagery in the settings to evoke these emotions in the reader, when it comes to the bad guys and the stories themselves, I try to stay away from the off-the-shelf recipes.

Speaking as someone who gets easily tired by the "off-the-shelf recipes," I appreciate your approach. Do you plan on taking Jason Dark and Siu Lin to other locations?

I have thought about making them travel and having an adventure play on an island with Voodoo and all that. I have also thought of sending them to Hong Kong so that Siu Lin could go back to her home country for a visit. The problem for me is that traveling these distances during the Victorian time period took ages. It wasn’t a matter of sitting in an airplane and getting off a few hours later on the other side of the world. Traveling to China took months in those days. The problem that I encounter as a storyteller is that I have to accommodate for these long time lapses on the one hand while also explaining why my characters would even go through the painful tribulations of such a travel and how they could even afford to do these trips. How can they just up and leave for six months?

Still, the idea is very intriguing, of course, and I have no doubt it will be a plot device I will use in the future. For the time being I limit myself to the British Isles.

I definitely understand the time constraints required by traveling in historical fiction. I’m a comic book reader among other things and found myself wondering if D.C.’s character of Jason Blood had anything to do with the creation of Jason Dark. (Just curious, but would love to know the story if there is a connection.)

No, it had no impact at all. As a matter of fact, I am not at all familiar with Jason Blood. I am not a comic book reader - with the exception of Asterix, Lucky Luke and TinTin books. So, no, that character was no influence.

What was an influence was the German dime novel character “John Sinclair,” however. It is a series that I grew up with and devoured as a child, and it sort of spawned the idea of me creating my own dime novel horror series. As an homage to that series I named my character Jason Dark in reference to the pen name of the author who has been writing the John Sinclair series for the past thirty-some years.

I had not heard of this series, so I guess both of us have new reading material to find now. LOL I know you’re a video game designer and I assume there’s some cross-pollination that goes on between your books and your games. How do you see the two working together, either now or in
the future?

I think there’s always cross pollination when someone works in a variety of creative areas. I am also a musician and it all washes together in one way or another. I always have had ideas for stories while developing games and vice versa. While I am writing I often think, “Hey, this would make a good game.” I make mental notes of it, naturally, but most of the time it is more something in the back of my head that unconsciously affects what I’m doing.

In the end it always comes down to the same thing. One day I will have an idea and it will set my mind aflame. When that happens I usually can’t let go of it. It will follow me for days and it simply will not go away. That is the moment I realize that this is the project I will have to do next because I won’t be able to get excited about anything else. It truly comes out of a passion.

Yes, it's practically impossible to keep your attention narrowed for the necessary length of time without passion to help you focus. How do you divide your time between these two task masters?

I usually don’t. I practically stopped making games the day I started writing “Demon’s Night,” the first of my Jason Dark supernatural mysteries. I was a little bored with doing games and wanted to try something new. I loved the experience and ever since, my books have been my main focus that I have devoted all my efforts to.

Every time I think about games these days, it is more in terms of something I could use to further the reach of the Jason Dark books. Like some kind of a promotional tool, almost. But to be honest, I can’t get excited about games all that much these days. The games industry has changed so much over the years, and not for the better, so that I have very little inclination to become active in it at this point.

I can’t even get excited about the major games that are being released these days. To me they are virtually all repetitive dribble, the same old unimaginative, testosterone-fueled, sophomoric stuff we did 25 years ago. The difference is that I’ve gotten a lot older and I really do not care all that much for the themes or the visual presentations of today’s games. Most of the time I just shake my head and wonder what they’ve been thinking when they made the game. There are only so many first-person shooters one can play… or at least that’s how I feel, especially when they all look, sound and feel the exact same for the past ten years.

I can certainly understand burnout. I think most of us can. So far, I see you’ve had Jason face off against vampires, mummies, ghosts, demonic forces, and a wide variety of undead. I loved the hopping vampires from China in The Curse of Kali. What other unusual, non-European supernatural enemies might we find Jason fighting?

I wish I could tell you. Really, but I don’t even know. The Jason Dark mysteries are not planned ahead, really, as a series. I finish one story, set it aside and then ask myself, What am I going to write about next?

At that stage I will dig through ideas - I keep a Writer’s Journal and constantly jot down ideas and tidbits - and see what stands out. Sometimes one of those ideas will get me excited, but more often, in fact, something completely different will pop into my head and I will start fleshing it out.

It is highly unpredictable. Sometimes I’ll hear a line of lyrics from a song and it will spawn an image in my head, and I instantly have a key scene for a story in my mind. Sometimes it is something someone says. You know, just a few words, that lead me to a different association and leads me down a line of thoughts that ends up with some exciting idea. Occasionally, it is a book or a movie.

The other day I was in Vegas and one of the slot machine themes triggered a story idea. Sadly it is a vampire story and I don’t want to do another vampire book just yet, but nonetheless, it was a really exciting story with an interesting angle, I think. So it shows you how just about anything can serve as an inspiration for me.

I have just finished “Fu Man Chu’s Vampire” recently and right now I am in the process of trying to find another story idea that really gets me going. I haven’t really found one yet, but I know, it could happen anytime. Who knows, maybe tonight, while I lie awake, trying to go to sleep, something may spark my imagination. If that idea should happen to revolve around some obscure Peruvian myth, all the better. If it revolves around hopping vampires, cool. I am really game for anything, as long as I find a way to rationally explain how these events could take place in Jason Dark’s universe.

The wonderful thing about London is the British Museum - they have so many artifacts from all over the word, any one of which might suddenly come to life.... Hee hee. When I read “Curse of Kali” I noticed that the hopping vampires served more as bookends to the story than actual parts of the story. Can you tell me more about that?

I knew that I wanted to bring Fu Man Chu back in some fashion. He appeared in “From a Watery Grave” already and I had set it up in such a way that it was clear he would want revenge eventually. In “Curse of Kali” I am finally setting those wheels into motion. However, I did not want to jump right into it and thought it would be nice to foreshadow his reappearance, build some anticipation before delivering a story that focuses completely on the conflict between the ghost hunters and Fu Man Chu. So I wrote the hopping vampire scenes in “Curse of Kali.”
As I mentioned earlier, however, I do not plan the series ahead a whole lot, and one of the interesting side effects of that was that I had absolutely no idea what to do in terms of a story for Fu Man Chu’s revenge. All I knew was that I wanted to call the book “Fu Man Chu’s Vampire,” because I felt it was an exceedingly cool title.

So after finishing “Curse of Kali” I was completely clueless how to go about writing “Fu Man Chu’s Vampire,” and for months I just could not make heads or tails of it. I had painted myself in a corner. Finally, around Halloween, I had this idea how to make it all work, and the pieces fell into place. It set my imagination ablaze. I sat down and wrote the story, and interestingly enough, it was the fastest I had ever written a Jason Dark story, and to top it off, it also turned out to be the longest one to date.

(Clapping my hands in anticipation.) Is it available yet?

“Fu Man Chu’s Vampire” is currently undergoing the final edits and it should become available by the end of January.

Thanks again, Mr. Henkel. "Kali" was a great fun read and I look forward to reading your other books. You can find more about the Jason Dark series at either the website: www.jasondarkseries.com, or the blog: www.guidohenkel.com.

A somewhat belated Happy New Years to everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Book Review: The Curse of Kali by Guido Henkel

2012-01-23T08:00:00.004-06:00

For a fun romp through a pseudo-Victorian England murder mystery, you can't go wrong with The Curse of Kali.

There's enough tension and fast paced action, I read the book in a single afternoon. A gothic feeling pervades the story and just to alert parents, violence is involved. It is a murder mystery, after all. "Kali" will especially appeal to teens or adults with a taste for supernatural horror, but think "X-Files" rather than "Friday the 13th."

There's a heroine who literally kicks more butt than the hero detective, Jason Dark, a revenge-driven not-quite-ghost, a murderous Hindu statue, hopping vampires (a true Chinese legend and ultra creepy) and more.

For instance, there's the somewhat gratuitous appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. By "gratuitous," I don't mean I didn't enjoy their cameos. I did. I would have preferred that the characters continued to put in appearances throughout the book, which they don't. Yet it was still delightful to see them and agree with the other characters' assessments of Holmes.

The book does have some minor points to quibble over, though most readers won't care. There were a few moments when I stubbed my reader's eyes on anachronisms, but hey, there are vampires. There is no reason to expect total historical accuracy in a story when you know to expect supernatural or science fictional elements.

If you or your teens enjoy mysteries or the supernatural, this is a must-read and I can't wait to read the sequel, "Fu Man Chu's Vampire." Stay tuned for my interview with the author, Guido Henkel.

Confession Time

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Well, you should probably expect an ongoing series on the subject of change and self-improvement. I'm in desperate need of both.

First, I have really sinned - or at least transgressed - against God, myself, my family, employers, you name it - by becoming addicted to multi-tasking. A study came out awhile back that no matter what your personality profile might say, no human being honestly multi-tasks well. Some do it better than others, but none of us do it well. However, the more we attempt to do it, the more it raises serotonin and dopamine levels in our brains. In short, we need the high of multi-tasking the more we try to do it. I do it far worse than others, and I've tried to pick up speed at that.

It's worse than Keanu Reeves telling Sandra Bullock to speed up the subway train in order to jump the tracks. (I'm assuming you've seen "Speed.") Hello, Keanu. The train's jumping the tracks no matter what speed it's at because the track ends and the brakes are out. The subsequent wreck should have killed both characters. Fortunately, they live in Hollywood Physics Land. I don't. My trip into muli-tasking mania has made my life a disconnected Hell on Earth. So I'm slowing the train down in increments. Trying to break my addiction to so many stimulants in slight waves, rather than going cold turkey. And I'm trying to remember to pray more instead of relying on those stimulants.

What stimulants could she possibly be taking? Easy. They're called email (msn and google accounts), this beloved blog, facebook, twitter, the list goes on. And on. And on.

More on this topic later. So who's with me? Addicted much?

Changes Are A-Comin'

2012-01-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

I had an epiphany this morning, thought I can't say it hasn't been a long time in coming. It has. There will soon be changes to this website in preparation for the next phase in my career. I don't want to go into too much detail yet as I know how I work and recognize that this will probably take longer than I want it to. However, I will say I intend to launch something new and say goodbye to something old this year. I dislike changes, but I think it will be for the best and it has become a resolution.

What about you? Have you made any resolutions? Do you intend to?

Gita Wolf: The Art of Book Making

2012-01-02T08:00:00.001-06:00

I've taken pieces of this from one of Shelf Awareness's articles last week. Here is the link to the original article, which has more information and pictures than I was interested in saving and uploading here.

The eye-catching titles and artwork from Tara Books is utterly amazing and even more so to those of us who know how big publishing houses work versus Tara's production. "I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail" is based on a 17th-century poem and illustrated by Ramsingh Urveti in the traditional Gond style from central India. It is gorgeous. But that's not what makes the book amazing.

What's so special about Tara books is, they're handmade. Gita Wolf's "The Very Hungry Lion," painted in the Warli style from western India, has sold more than 49,000 copies, all of which were made one at a time. Tara also recycles misprints as "flukebooks." These are unique notebooks (none are identical) for $11.99. Can we say early Christmas shopping? I thought we could.

Tara books and Gita Wolf are on a mission to save the art of bookmaking. Together with her collective of artisans, Wolf is establishing a Center for the Book Arts in Chennai. The center will house a gallery, a bookstore and work space for artists. Makes me want to move to Chennai.

The Great Race, coming in June 2012, by Nathan Kumar Scott,will use the Mata-ni-Pachedi painting style from Gujarat. It is the first time this style of artwork will have ever been seen in a book format. In the future, Tara Books plans to work with artists in Mexico's Mayan community and presumably other ethnic peoples.

For obvious reasons, Tara Books titles have won the Bologna Ragazzi Award twice. Tara is not about the mass production of reading material, but about the art of each book. When books are made with such love and devotion, they become cherished items. In a world that's increasingly widening the gap between those who are educated (or financially capable of education) and those who are not, what can be more important than cherished knowledge and thought?

I LOVED this whole concept. What about you?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:25:00.000-06:00

Sorry, folks, no post this week, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!

New Market

2011-12-19T08:00:00.007-06:00

A new market/method of publication has come to town, but I'm honestly not sure I like it. It has too much room for misuse, but let's see what you think:

PUBSLUSH is an entirely new kind of full service, social non profit publisher: readers decide what books get published, and for every book sold, a book is donated to a child in need.
The process is simple:

Writers submit the best 10 pages and a summary of their manuscript.
Users read, share, and support (a.k.a. pre-order) their favorite submissions. They’re only charged if a book is selected for publication.
Once a book reaches 2,000 supporters, we publish it (ensuring only the best books get published). PUBSLUSH provides all the services and support of a legacy publisher.
For every book sold, a book will be donated to a child in need.

Sounds like a good deal and it is. Kinda. A child in need receives a book. A struggling author is published. What can go wrong? Well, once upon a time my husband's cover art for my book was in a competition. Don't get me wrong, Dear Hubby is an AWESOME graphics artist and has done many Indie book covers as well as independent illustrations by now and I do think he deserved to place in this competition. But should I have asked friends and family to go vote? I'm not sure. I did NOT ask them to vote for Mourn Their Courage's cover, but I'm sure many people did without checking out the other incredible covers. A fact that has haunted me. You see, that sort of competition ends up being one of how many friends and family do the individual competitors have. The DH won, but I've always been haunted by the question of, "Did he win fairly?" There was some stiff competition and it was a landslide vote. Not what we were expecting. So yes, I have problems with this sort of thing.

What do you think? If you do use Pubslush, how will you ask folks to vote?

Addendum to Dangdang

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

My friend Giora heard back from Dangdang, who is clearly responsive to inquiries.

Maria at Dangdang told Giora that they plan to publish 50,000 books next year and most of them will be in Mandarin. Giora believes they will accept some books in English, but tells me Maria didn't give details on how to submit. However, Giora believes that's probably because they are only in the planning stage.

If anyone does submit, please let us know what happens and good luck! Many thanks to Giora for going that extra mile. Or li. ;D

Amazon Review Policy Revisited & Growing International Markets

2011-12-12T08:00:00.001-06:00

A slight follow up from a previous post. You remember I posted about Amazon's changing review policy? Well, thanks to Lisha Cauthen's amazing Sunflower Scoop, here's the latest response from Amazon, but it's not particularly satisfying:

Last week, we reported how book review and publicty company Reader Views was banned from posting their reviews on Amazon.

The post garnered debate among our readers. According to an email from Irene Watson, the founder of Reader Views, Amazon has banned reviews from 15 sites.

In response to our posts, an Amazon spokesman emailed us explaining the policy for reviews posted on their site: “Paid reviews are welcome in the ‘Editorial Reviews’ section of a book’s detail page. Reviews written for any form of compensation other than a free copy of the product are not allowed in the Customer Reviews section.”
Amazon also gave us links to its Customer Review Guidelines and its Editorial Reviews.

We asked Amazon about why Reader Views specifically had their reviews removed, but did not receive a response.

And now for more heartwarming news:

As many of you know, I have a particular interest in China's growing literary market. Earlier this year, the PRC announced that they are actively pursuing literature about China, but written in other countries. Specifically, they want positive views of China's history.

Just last week, the following article was published on Shelf Awareness:

Dangdang, which is often called the Amazon of China, plans to launch its own e-book platform later this month. Yi Wen-fei, the company's v-p, said there are currently 50,000 digital books ready for purchase from more than 100 publishers, PaidContent reported, noting that Dangdang’s digital books will be available "on its own apps for iOS and Android, which are believed to be launching soon, and on its own-brand e-reader which should appear in the first quarter of 2012."

Dangdang now joins competitors Hanvon and Shanda in the Chinese e-book market, but will have a dramatic impact on those two companies, "who effectively have a duopoly on the digital publishing market to consumers in China," paidContent wrote.

One of my readers and friends, Giora, has contacted Dangdang to see if this includes works in English. I'll let you know if we here anything back. What about you? Would an opening market in China encourage you to submit overseas?

And the Winner Is....

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Courtesy of Random.org, the winner of Jeannie Lin's "The Dragon and the Pearl" is...

Walt! Walt, I will PM you for your address. Thanks, everyone for your interest in this book.

Book Review: The Dragon and the Pearl

2011-11-30T08:00:00.001-06:00

Well, it took me WAY too long to buy this book, for which I can only offer my profuse apologies to the author. I had wanted to do a review while the book was still in stores, but October escaped me. Obviously, November did, too. Before I tell you about this book, I think I will remind you about my review policies and admit that yes, I know the author and consider her a friend. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the nature of my reviews. I do not hold punches. If I’m uncomfortable posting a favorable review on this blog, I won’t do it. I also try to be honest about likes and dislikes. It speaks volumes for "Dragon" that you won’t find any mention of “dislikes” below.
So, I’m almost two months late, but the book was worth the wait. “The Dragon and the Pearl “ is a stand-alone novel by Jeannie Lin, however it does pick up where “Butterfly Swords” left off. “Dragon’s” cast includes Li Tao, the antagonist of Butterfly Swords, as the hero of “Dragon,” and his backstory gives us a much wider vision of the author’s Tang Dynasty China.
Now I loved “Butterfly Swords” (click the link to see my review), but you can see Lin’s skill as an author has increased since the first book. She has sunk herself into this world, making the characters rounded, fleshed and highly sexual. More than that, her political and social structure is more solid than the Kunlun mountains. She needed that solidity as we find out how both the court and the seedy underground culture of Tang dynasty functioned.
Thanks to that background structure, we discover why Li Tao is the stern and unyielding man you met before, but we also find the heart beneath that exterior. That said, he never breaks character. His is one of the strongest, most well rounded characterizations I’ve ever seen. Hypnotizing, never a good man, but always a believable and desirable man. In many ways, Lin’s characterizations and dialogue reminded me of works by my favorite author, Guy Gavriel Kay. Those of you who know me will recognize I mean that as the greatest compliment I can give.
If you enjoyed the dainty appetizer of “Butterfly Swords,” you will love the full course spread that is “The Dragon and the Pearl.” Go out and buy a copy via Amazon, Barnes and Noble or wherever else you can find one OR you can put your name into the hat for this second copy I bought. I refuse to give away mine.

2011-11-28T06:22:00.001-06:00

Wow, new blogger interface is really weird. We'll see if I stay with it, but honestly, I've been contemplating making changes here anyway. This may just be the (invisible to you) beginning of them. Well, I wanted to let you all know I won't have a real post today, but if you come back on Wednesday I'll have a review of Jeannie Lin's "The Dragon and the Pearl."

Occupied: What Do You Think?

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

This was in Shelf Awareness' news on Thursday and it ticked me off so much, I wanted to know if I'm the only one with this reaction.

The National Book Awards were held at the Cipriani Ballroom at 55 Wall Street, just a few blocks away from Zuccotti Park, where the Occupy Wall Street movement was still recovering from a raid by New York City police in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Damage from that raid included the roughly 5,000-volume "People's Library," although contributors began bringing more books down to the park almost as soon as it re-opened. By late Wednesday afternoon, volunteer librarian Hristo was standing guard over a few hundred titles, stored in several jumbo-sized Ziploc bags to protect them from rain. Contrary to claims by city officials that the library had been preserved during the raid, he said that the majority of the books had been damaged when seized by authorities. (His description was backed up by eyewitnesses at the reclamation center for the property seized during the raid.) He also mentioned that he and other librarians needed to maintain a constant vigil on the small stacks of books, as police had already threatened to seize it should it be left unattended.

An hour later, as guests began arriving at Cipriani for the pre-awards NBA reception, the NYPD returned to the park, providing a solid line of security for a Brookfield sanitation crew as they tossed the entire contents of the restored library into a Dumpster. News of this second seizure spread rapidly as people with access to Twitter began telling others at Cipriani, and some attendees (including myself) encouraged others to take the books displayed on every table to re-restock the library after the ceremony was over. I took two YA nominees to a now near-deserted park, where another volunteer named Anthony vowed that the "People's Library" would rebuild again on Thursday, and we discussed an impromptu strategy: maybe this time, instead of stockpiling all the books in one place, every person taking part in the Occupation should carry a book or two, and people can ask each other what books they have, and if they can borrow them. The police can't seize books from citizens' hands, can they? --Ron Hogan

Considering the recent pepper spraying of peaceful student protesters, I think the police may be losing some self-control during these protests. I'm afraid Mr. Hogan may find he was naive in his last question.

What do you think? Are the police out of line? Does the destruction of books, however symbolic, light your fuse?

Research Suggests We Experience Fantasy Differently

2011-11-14T09:15:00.003-06:00

In light of the fact that I'm leaving the house in thirty minutes for a funeral, I'm cheating on today's blog post. (BTW, no sorrow here. Really. Granny was a 93 woman who, up to two weeks ago, had led a happy, active life. She's having an even better party now and I'm happy for her.) That said, I ripped today's blog post from an article on one of my favorite topics: fantasy. Many thanks to Russell Webster for his research into the subject. My question for you is, are you emotionally engaged by fantasy, or are you more fantasy prone?

Whether you love the "Harry Potter" series or despise it, there may be a psychological explanation behind your opinion.

Russell Webster, Kansas State University doctoral student in psychology, Sherwood, Ill., recently discovered that people experience fantasy differently, which explains why some people enjoy it more than others.

According to Webster's research, people participate in fantasy at different levels of cognitive and emotional intensity, which helps determine how much they enjoy a fantasy book or movie.

"With films like the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter,' there are so many aspects that attract people to them," Webster said. "Fantasy is a general framework with which people can work in. You have fantasy, but then you also have action, drama, relationships and other things happening within it."

For the research, Webster defined fantasy as a type of narrative -- such as a book, film or piece of art -- that includes supernatural, unreal or impossible aspects in it. This differs from science fiction, which often has an explanation behind an incredible power.

Webster conducted two studies: one involving written narratives and another involving visual narratives. For the written narratives, participants read a passage describing the sunrise and had to imagine themselves as either watching the rising sun or flying toward it. For the visual narratives, participants looked at a painting that featured a man floating in the sky and a man sitting in a cottage. Participants had to imagine themselves as either the man floating or the man in the cottage.

"We wanted to see if we could predict people's subjective vividness of their imagery," Webster said. "We also assessed people's engagement: how much they enjoyed it, how much they were immersed in it and how they felt afterward."

To understand people's experiences with the narratives, Webster looked at two very similar yet different personality traits: fantasy proneness, which is the tendency to experience more intense daydreams and fantasies; and absorption, which is the tendency to be absorbed by mind-altering tasks. Fantasy proneness relates to what is going on in a person's mind, while absorption deals with what is going on in a person's heart.

People with higher fantasy proneness traits experienced more vivid imagery, but not as much emotional engagement, according to Webster's research. People with higher absorption traits were more emotionally engaged in the narratives and were in a more positive mood at the end.

"If the heart is invested, that's where the enjoyment comes from," Webster said. "What's also interesting is that while some people reported seeing more vivid images, that doesn't necessarily determine how emotionally engaged they are or how much they enjoy it."

That explains why some people find the fantastical images in "Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones" visually appealing but they may not enjoy the movie or show as a whole.

The type of fantasy narrative -- whether written or visual -- might also make a difference in enjoyment. A person has to put more effort in reading and imagining written narratives than visual narratives.

"It might be easier to engage in a visual narrative because you have a picture in front of you," Webster said. "It is easier when there is a motion picture, because there are moving images, action and drama. There's not just the fantastical element."

Webster also discovered that even in situations that don't include fantastical elements, people still inserted fantasy into them. For instance, when participants higher in fantasy proneness or absorption were imagining the rising sun in his first study, they were more prone to imagine themselves flying.

"They seemed to inject supernatural elements into narratives that don't involve fantasy," Webster said. "This shows that people might try to create their own experiences and their own fantasies in everyday life through daydreaming."

Webster attributes resurgence of the fantasy genre in recent years to improved film production capabilities. The technology behind special effects has finally reached a point where filmmakers can create fantastical elements on screen that are both believable and enjoyable to watch.

"'It all goes back to it's a good story," Webster said. "People like good stories."

Webster's research appears in a recent issue of the journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality. His doctoral adviser is Donald Saucier, associate professor of psychology. Webster is planning a few follow-up studies that deal with supernatural powers and how people perceive them.

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson
Director, News & Editorial Services
Kansas State University Media Relations
Manhattan, KS
785-532-1543

Book Review: Postcards From Nam by Uyen Nicole Duong

2011-11-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

Postcards from Nam is an unusual book. It is a poem, it is a love letter, and it is a novel within the space of a novella. It is all these things and more. It tells the story of two Vietnamese children, Ma Chua (Mimi) and Nam. It speaks of how their lives intersect, of their unspoken friendship and love and reliance on one another. The story then details how these children are ripped apart by war, immigration and tragedy. It does it with a spare beauty of words lined with tension usually only seen in poetry. I read this book in a single afternoon – unable to put it down.
If you know nothing about the plight of those immigrants fleeing Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia or Burma, read this book. If ever you have any questions about the necessity for helping immigrants to leave the land of their birth, the land of their torture, read this book. It won’t take long. It might change a life. Maybe even your own.

Hot Asian Sales and More News

2011-11-01T08:21:00.004-05:00

That title made you look didn't it? Admit it. But I am NOT spamming, selling inappropriate body access or anything else. LOL

In this week's Shelf Awareness, there are two news tidbits of interest to those of us interested in Asian Lit:

Unfortunate news from the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, West Hollywood, Calif.: the sale by longtime owners Stan Madson and Phil Thompson to Karuana Gatimu and Lori Cutler (Shelf Awareness, September 21, 2011) has fallen through because the offer was "rescinded," the store said.

"We had invested a great deal of hope and optimism in the offer agreement that, after many months of planning and negotiation, has come to naught," the owners wrote. "As a consequence, we have re-contacted interested parties in the business to explore opening a new dialogue. We will make every effort to keep the Bodhi Tree going in the community. If you know of anyone who has an interest and seems qualified to assume and continue the business, please contact us. Time is critical but we remain hopeful."

Madson and Thompson have already sold the building in which the Bodhi Tree located. A new owner will need to move the store.

AND ...

Though a freak snowstorm kept many New Yorkers from venturing out last Saturday afternoon, quite a few authors and book lovers made their way to the third annual Page Turner Festival, benefiting the Asian American Writers Workshop. Alexander Chee was there to drum up some advance buzz for "Hot Asian Singles," an e-book imprint the AAWW hopes to launch early next year that will publish a mix of fiction and nonfiction in the 6,000-20,000 word range.

"Part of what's driving this is a sense that there was work that had been overlooked by the regular outlets both for its content and its size," Chee explained. "Digital publishing is a way for us to bring out this kind of work without the costs that used to weigh us down when doing earlier anthologies." Proceeds from Hot Asian Singles will be split between the writers and the AAWW, and Chee suggested that the workshop's earnings might eventually support print projects. The first titles in the program will be announced soon; check @HotAsianSingles at Twitter for details.

And In Even More Immediate News

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

According to Irene Watson, the managing editor at Reader Views, Amazon has made more changes to their reviewing policy. Recently, "they removed Reader Views' reviews saying 'We found your reviews to be in violation of our guidelines and have removed them. Because of these violations, we’ve removed your reviewing privileges from your account.' This happened to Watson despite her reviews being approved by Amazon's own staff. If you review books for Amazon and wish to keep your full privileges, you might want to check what Amazon's current policies are.

For me, this probably means I will no longer review books on Amazon's website and I have to wonder if that's not their intent. Which is too bad. I appreciated the ability to write about my favorite books, but if anything I say could be removed, why waste my time? What do you think?

What's Happening In The News

2011-10-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

In a move that will bring its manga program very close to simultaneous English and Japanese publication, Viz Media plans to launch Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, a weekly digital serialized manga anthology. The new weekly digital anthology will debut in January 2012 and eventually replace Shonen Jump, the popular U.S. monthly print manga anthology Viz launched in 2002, which will be phased out in March 2012.

Rainmaker Entertainment and Jane Startz Productions are teaming up to bring us The Tiger’s Apprentice by Laurence Yep. The movie will star Asian-American teen Tom Lee, orphaned when his grandmother is killed, who is protected by a mystical tiger and three other creatures from the Chinese Zodiac.

And in other Asia-centric news this week, Flavorwire showcased "10 contemporary South Asian writers you should know... from the already much-lauded to the fresh faced and new on the scene."

Pay It Forward

2011-10-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

Well, thanks to follower, friend and critique buddy Janet Johnson, I have a blogging award to pass on.

According to Janet, the idea is "to share three under-the-radar blogs that I love and then visit the blogs everyone else mentions," that is, the blogs of your visitors.

Well, I am definitely under-the-radar and nichey. LOL There's no way around that. I'm not sure you can call Catwood's blog "under-the-radar," but she's rebuilding her site. If you've ever done that, you'll know you lose a whole bunch of followers, so I thought I'd post her link.

Hot Curries & Cold Beer is an excellent food blog by Rashda Khan, also known as Mina Khan, author of the Djinn's Dilemma that I mentioned in my last post. She's got more than one blog, but I do enjoy the food one and it's deliciously a little under-the-radar. Yum. :)

Jeannie Lin's blog is far from under-the-radar, but it is still related to my topic and therefore nichey. Head over there today. She's got a great post on one of the differences between Western and Asian lit.

Supernatural Creatures and Other Delightful Subjects

2011-10-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

Thanks to an interview with author and friend, Mina Khan about her upcoming book, The Djinn's Dilemma, I'm pondering supernatural creatures.

My favorite when I was a child were unicorns. I even created five tribes of unicorns for my first book. Fortunately, that's almost all I remember of that literary travesty, though I did finish it. LOL

Mina's interview made me ponder what supernatural creatures I'm interested in now. I used a ghost in my last work. For a future series, I think I'll look up the difference between a Djinn and an Iffrit and possibly use one or both. I think I've looked them up before, but don't recall what I discovered. (I blame old age.)

Are you interested in the supernatural or faerie creatures? If so, which ones?

Today's Quote

2011-09-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

I thought this so profound, I wanted to share it with those of you who aren't following the Book Doctors:

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly

Do you have a favorite writing quote? What does it do for you, or why is it your favorite?

Am I Insane, or Insightful?

2011-09-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

Tecmo Koei has announced the debut of Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII. (It's so new, I can't even get Amazon to give me a link because it's not sold in the U.S. yet.) However, the very title should give you some idea of the popularity of these games: they've made twelve versions.

I was aware when I began writing "Mourn Their Courage," which is also based on the novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, that the games were popular. They were probably on version eight back then....

So tell me, am I insane for hoping to either package my book with iphone versions of this game or (even more insane concept) launch a video game version of my book? I KNOW this is putting the cart before the horse. The book isn't even accepted for publication yet. But isn't this exactly the sort of market placement thinking they keep telling us to do? Is it my only marketing concept? Of course not, but is it a valid?

What insane marketing ideas do you have in mind? Inquiring minds want to know. :D

Today's Quote

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today's quote for The Book Doctors started me thinking, so here's the quote by Niyi Osundare: "One hasn't become a writer until one has distilled writing into a habit, and that habit has been forced into an obsession. Writing has to be an obsession. It has to be something as organic, physiological and psychological as speaking or sleeping or eating."

I'm obsessing over world building for a new series, but I think I need to make my process more focused. I'm too chaotic and overwhelmed by it right now. Which I suppose is also part of being obsessed, so maybe I'm not too far off the mark. LOL

Here's my question for you: What are obsessing over? Is it a "healthy" obsession?

Library Needs Your Help!

2011-09-06T09:46:00.004-05:00

We've all seen the pictures of the devastation left by Irene. (The picture to the left is a random sampling.) My apologies to anyone of my readers who might have seen this on The Book Doctor's post last week, but I thought it important enough to continue to spread the word. Also, sorry for the delayed post this week. I was on the road all day yesterday and blogging from a smart phone bites. :D

The Wells Memorial Library in upstate New York lost all but five of its children's books to flooding because the titles were stored on bottom shelves so kids could reach them. The library is seeking donations, in particular to rebuild its picture books collection. For more information and pictures, go to katemessner.com. The library is located at 12230 State Route 9N, Upper Jay, N.Y. 12987.

Good News!

2011-08-29T16:55:00.003-05:00

I've mentioned David Sterry and Arielle Eckstut's book, "The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published" before, so all I'll say about that is, if you haven't bought it or at least read it, what are you waiting for? Buying and reading that book was the beginning of my good fortune.

I bought their book when they came through Kansas City last winter during a "Pitchapalooza" event. (If you see one of these come up in your neighborhood and you have any writing aspirations, GO. You will not regret it. Even if you do nothing else for the entire evening but sit and listen, you will hear some of the best feedback you'll ever get and you'll receive it for free. What more could a starving artist ask for - well, beyond a six figure book deal. LOL) At the Kansas City tour, they offered every person who bought their book a twenty minute conference call to discuss their pitch. It's not a six figure book deal, but when your query isn't getting you anywhere, that twenty minutes is GOLD. If you'd like to read their testimonials, click on the link.

My pitch was not chosen for presentation at the Pitchapalooza, but buying their book and registering to receive their newsletters put me in a place where I did not expect to land. I am now a contributor on their Facebook page! I couldn't be happier and David and Arielle have been the soul of generosity.

Doing a little jig... and off to find another quote. :)

Book Review of The Young Samurai: Way of the Warrior

2011-08-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

In previous books, Jack Fletcher sailed to Japan with his father only to lose him to the wave of anti-Christian sentiment sweeping the island nation. When the Ninja who murdered his father steals Jack's father's logbook, Jack's only possession and an invaluable guide to the world's oceanic trading paths, Jack vows to retrieve the book. I assume that's where the last book in the series ended, but I'm not positive as I jumped into this book without ever having read the first novel.

I have to say, my lack of previous experience in Jack's story did not stop me from enjoying this book, which is surely a rarety among sequels: an outstanding standalone novel. (Since writing the above, I’ve done my research. Not only is there a book before this one, there’s a series. I have a lot of catch up to do!)

In Way of the Warrior, the story still winds around Jack, the lost logbook and Jack's efforts to become a samurai, but the war against foreigners and the other Daimyo (provincial rulers) now takes center stage. In fact, the latter half of the book rates as among the most moving pieces of YA or warfare reading material I've been privileged to read. The self sacrifice of Jack's classmates moved me beyond words at times.

If you have boys looking for good reading material, I can’t think of anything much better than this book. As someone who hates reading series, it surely speaks volumes that I want to read Mr. Bradford’s other work.

We Apologize For the Inconvenience

2011-08-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry, folks, no blog today, I'm busy fighting Ninja. However, I will have a review of an outstanding boy's book on Wednesday, so please stay tuned, true believers! :D

Blogging from a smart phone

2011-08-15T06:51:00.002-05:00

Is not fun, so I'll ask you what are you're most frustrating writing or blogging moments?

China Artistry in the News

2011-08-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

In a recent NPR Morning Edition article by Sandy Totten, Americans found that China wants to use the western movie making infrastructure to promote China and its long history. "The Chinese government-owned company recently invested $30 million in hopes of making a movie that would both celebrate Chinese culture and turn a tidy profit."

America has had a healthy artistic relationship with Japan for decades now and it seems we're building the same with China. I see so much more interest in China, it's history, art, language than even a few years ago. There are more books published by American authors that are set in China or peopled with Chinese characters, there's the vast popularity of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms video games, numerous comics, and of course, the burgeoning number of movies with Western sensibilities and Chinese settings titillates.

What about you? Are you excited by upcoming titles or publishing opportunities?

Chapter One - Again

2011-07-28T22:46:00.002-05:00

Okay, I've pleaded for help from tons of Beta Readers and it just dawned on me, at least some of my followers haven't seen the opening pages of this book and might be willing to humor me with their opinions on this rewrite. I need to know, are you confused by this?

MOURN THEIR COURAGE

VICTORIA DIXON

Xing Dynasty: In the Tenth Year of Rebuilt Tranquility

Chapter One

Liu Jie reached the garden beyond the orchard, breathing the rotting peaches' cloying sweetness as he slid to his knees. The moon's bony face illuminated the leafless trees, but shadows and fears haunted his thoughts.

We traveled to meet the emperor and stop a civil war. Not fight in one. I cannot kill my countrymen – my brothers. But I must. The Imperial summons he'd just read commanded "the aid of all men as sons might come to their father." He trembled with revulsion.

After his family and guards had stopped at the Peach Orchard Inn this afternoon, his son had discovered a starving child here in the garden. Jie had taken the Orchard Boy inside and his wife cared for him now. Could the act of saving a life atone for taking thousands? He looked at his hands. Though they'd touched the rich soil, they appeared unblemished in the moon's cold light.

How bloody would they be before the coming civil war ended?

Chapter Two

The next morning, the wood panels of Jie's small room groaned. Jie shut the door behind the man who had agreed to feed and help train his army. Jie shook his head, smiling. It was as if Tong Zhang's mere presence pushed against the walls.

"Zhang, this is my wife, Mei." They bowed to one another, but Mei held a bowl of warm water in her hands, and turned to the bed and her patient. She pulled aside the bed's curtain and the Orchard Boy woke, squinting through half-shut lids.

Jie heaved a sigh of relief. We did it. We saved one person.

Zhang towered over the boy.

"Are you the Demon King?" The boy's voice rattled and wheezed as he shrank away under his blanket.

Zhang laughed, and the Orchard Boy tried to sit.

Mei placed a steaming cloth on the boy's forehead and eased him down. "Careful, young one."

"I'm so cold." The boy's eyes opened wide and he sat up, looking around the room. "Chen? Where's Chen?"

The floor creaked underneath Zhang. "He's delirious, Jie. Fetch a priest!"

"No priests," the boy muttered. "He might do anythin. . ." He collapsed, but turned as if to listen when Jie knelt beside the bed.

"What is your name, child?" Jie said. "Can you hear me?"

"I don't think he can, husband."

"The fever took his mind, Jie."

"I'm Hong Aiyu. Thirteen. Not child," the boy protested, though his voice slurred from exhaustion. "You want 'prentice? I bring luck."

Zhang's laughter vibrated the rafters. "Luck? Sure! Bad luck!"

"He'll live, Zhang," Jie said. "And if his name is any indication, the gods have given us their blessing." Jie never took his eyes off Aiyu. "We will talk later, War Dragon, but yes. I will take you into my family's service. Eat and rest, for now."

They poured tangy chicken broth into Aiyu and bathed him in warm water until he slept again.

Rewrite Anguish

2011-07-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I've rewritten this book so many times I've lost track of draft numbers. The opening alone has been through more work than anything else I've written and I'm now on yet another rewrite.

In fact, the new opening is why I recently had asked yet another Beta Reader to look at it. She's someone whose book is under consideration by a publishing house and she told that one of my book's favorite characters is introduced wrong. Just so we're clear, this is one of EVERYONE ELSE's favorite characters. (I don't know if I have a favorite.) This Beta reader has told me that not having his goal stated up front leaves the reader confused and unable to settle into the fictive dream. This is the first time anyone's complained about this character's lack of goal, which is his character flaw. It is purposeful. This character is someone who submits to everyone else's will until he realizes he's in a no-win scenario because of his lack of direction. It's not that I disagree with what she's saying, because I've read books whose characters would have benefited from this treatment. The problem is, I don't think I can make this change without changing the character, which would in turn change the book and lessen its impact, so I'm not going to do it. At least not without editorial input!

However, I wanted to ask you, is this something you have to have in the introduction of characters? Do you need to know where they're headed from the beginning?

New Market with Tu/Lee & Lowe

2011-07-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tu Books is launching this fall! And we're still looking for
submissions. (See
http://blog. leeandlow. com/2011/ 03/17/coming- soon-tu-books/ for
a sneak preview of our fall books.)

Call for submissions

TU BOOKS, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS, publishes speculative fiction for
children and young adults featuring diverse characters and settings. Our
focus is on well-told, exciting, adventurous fantasy, science fiction, and
mystery novels featuring people of color set in worlds inspired by
non-Western folklore or culture. We welcome Western settings if the main
character is a person of color.

We are looking specifically for stories for both middle grade (ages 8-12)
and young adult (ages 12-18) readers. (We are not looking for picture books,
chapter books, or short stories. Please do not send submissions in these
formats.)

For more information on how to submit, please see our submission guidelines
at http://www.leeandlo w.com/p/tu_ submissions. mhtml. We are not accepting
unagented email submissions at this time.

What I'm particularly interested in seeing lately: Asian steampunk, any
African culture, Latino/a stories, First Nations/Native American/Aboriginal
fantasy or science fiction written by tribal members, original
postapocalyptic worlds, historical fantasy or mystery set in a non-Western
setting.

Stacy Whitman
Editorial Director
Tu Books

New Markets

2011-07-11T08:00:00.003-05:00

I've received news of three different markets for Asia-inspired literature. Yeah!

A Fine Tea Competition articles may be on any poems, stories or artwork/photography featured in the history of Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. To see the kind of analyses we have published, please visit http://finecha.wordpress.com. However, you do not need to conform to the existing styles. Surprise us. The competition does have a pay scale. It is important to note, they do not pay for articles, fiction or poetry published in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal.

The Quarterly Literary Review [of] Singapore accepts work now, and requests pieces relevant to Singapore. They are not a paying market.

In a previous post I mentioned a new (paying) anthology for Wuxia fiction. Well, that anthology (yet to be named) is now open to submissions. If you're interested in finding out more about what Wuxia is (and I recommend you do, as John will not accept any Asia-themed story) please read his definition before submitting. He would like art as well as literature, so artists, be sure to check it out.

I'm looking forward to the Wuxia anthology myself and hope to submit, but the short I have is not suitable, so I'm going to have to write something new. That should be fun. What about you? Have you ever written something to fit a specific market?

New Anthology and Society Opening

2011-07-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've received word that the Community site for the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" is up and running. For those of you who love Asian Literature, get over there and sign up. It's a community where the general public can login to discuss all sorts of things regarding Asian lit, though I think the specific focus will be Wuxia.

Which leads to the other exciting news: John, the author of the Seven Sages, is also interested in printing a Wuxia anthology. How cool is that? And to make it even better, it will be a paying anthology. More on that after he opens to submissions. For now, make sure you login to join the Sages.

Do you have anything you plan on submitting?

Things to Give Us Hope

2011-06-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this to me the other day as a link labeled "Something to bring us hope" and it did. This is a wonderful article on the need for paper books and it's well worth your read. Many thanks, Carolin!

Another item to give you hope and encouragement: you all have heard me speak many times on the Crested Butte Writers Conference and my experience there last year. I learned so much - about writing, but also about myself. Well, I just discovered that Theresa Rizzo, the amazing founder and organizer for the Sandy Writers Competition and the Crested Butte Conference is also not published. Her post this week and this video shows her spirit, beauty and wisdom in the face of all she's experienced and gave me so much hope and strength, I had to share it. Here's the video, but I'd have to say her blog on the topic is even more worth the read:

And on in a nonsequitur, I've been meaning to share @podtribebooks twitter account with you all. In their own words: PodTribe is a publisher and online retailer of eBooks featuring an exclusive network of authors primarily based in Asia.

How have you been uplifted this week?

News, Links and More

2011-06-20T07:01:00.004-05:00

In upcoming release news, check out Jeannie Lin's new book cover for The Dragon and the Pearl. I really look forward to reading it. Amazon says it's due for release on September 20th.

Last year I reviewed "Escaping the Tiger" by Laura Manivong. Due to the poor economy, the book hasn't sold as well as I expected. If you're interested in ordering a hardback copy for $3.99, check out this link. It's a marvelous read and you won't be sorry.

So what wondrous things are you reading right now?

And...It's Monday

2011-06-13T06:19:00.000-05:00

It's Monday and at least the kidlit has swim lessons this morning. I'll have a few hours to myself. As always, I've got more to do than I could possibly handle, but in a perfect world, I'd already have the mortgage check written, Chapter 2 completed and moved onto Chapter 3. During swim lesson, I could prepare our home for the non-existent housing market. I can dream about so many things, but the truth is, I didn't do too much dreaming last night. I woke up repeatedly and now that I've completed my morning's journal entry and written several pages of Chapter 2, my eyes are more than happy to close without my help. So I will say many thanks to Janet Johnson for today's blog question. I was too tired to think of my own.

What do you dream about?

Joplin Family Needs Help

2011-06-07T11:09:00.002-05:00

These girls already lost their biological parents, and now they've lost their mother, too. If you can help in any way, please do! I just received this from my adoption agency representative. My heart and prayers go out to these girls.

Last week we received an update from Candace Shively, Children’s Division Director, who told us that more than 15 foster family homes have been destroyed in the tornado last month. Those foster families were caring for 25 children. In addition, one adoptive parent was killed.

As a community, we are asking for your help. We need you to spread the word that MFCAA is accepting donations of gift cards (in any amount) for gas, Target, Walmart and fast food. These donations will be provided to Missouri State Foster Care and Adoption Board member from the South Region, Melinda Nicholson, who has been on the ground in Joplin since the storm. She is working directly with Jean Rodriguez, the Children’s Division Circuit Manager in the Joplin office, to provide support to the effected families and children.

Additionally, we are seeking help with a special request. There are two girls who have been left orphaned as a result of their adoptive mother’s death in the storm. The family was passing through Joplin in a car on their way to church when the tornado hit them. One of the girls remains hospitalized at Children’s Mercy here in Kansas City.

The Children’s Division has identified some kin who are willing to step up and serve as guardians for the injured girl and her sister. However, this kinship family is facing substantial loss, both personal loss (five funerals in the last week), and financial loss (one vehicle was totaled and not replaced by insurance at an adequate level and another needs repair). In addition, they are expending substantial resources traveling back and forth to the KC area to visit with the girl at CMH, and will now have to do some home remodeling to accommodate raising two girls that they had not anticipated having.

This family needs specific help. They need Kansas City area folks who can help them by visiting them and the injured child at the hospital, they need a car or van, they need help with gas and food. They need whatever kind of welcoming and support Kansas City’s foster and adoptive families can provide for them.

If you can help, email me directly at Lori@mfcaa.org so that I can connect you with the information you need. If you can provide gift cards or send in a donation, please send or drop off to MFCAA, 3210 S. Lee’s Summit Road, Independence, MO. 64055. You can also donate cash on our website, noting that the donation is for Joplin foster/adopt families on the form: www.mfcaa.org . Also, if you happen to be a social networking person, please consider posting this need on your facebook or my space page. We’d like to reach as many kind Kansas Citians as we can.

Due to Technical Difficulties...

2011-06-05T17:45:00.000-05:00

This blog will be quiet on Monday. :( My computer is buggy in every sense and it shall now be overhauled and happily, meet Windows Seven. I hope to be up and running again by Wednesday.

More News and Fun Stuff

2011-06-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've never used Twitpic and probably never will. If you do, please be aware that in the fine print of their contract is the stipulation that any images you send through their service are theirs to do with as they please. Yeah. That's right. You do still own the rights to the images, but you've given them the legal right to use those images in whatever way they wish. So do be careful and aware. And curse all EULAs with me. :)

And now onto happier tidings: I was recently tagged by one of my wonderful followers, Medeia Sharif. I'm supposed to share bits of my day with you all, so here goes:

Do you think you're hot?

Not after regaining the forty pounds I lost five years ago. Thanks in large part to depression and an inability to avoid chocolate.

Upload a picture or wall paper you are using at the moment.

Sorry, my wallpaper is a picture of my daughter riding on my father's shoulders, but I want to keep online pictures of her to a minimum.

When was the last time you ate chicken meat?

Two days ago, if chicken fingers really count???

The Song(s) you listened to recently?

Okay, you're going to laugh, but the hubby picked up School House Rock on DVD several days ago and our daughter has watched every single ditty many times now. I go to sleep with "I'm Just a Bill," "Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla," etc on my brain. LOL

What were you thinking as you were doing this?

Medeia wished her cat would leave her alone, I wished my daughter had slept in for ten more minutes so I could have finished yesterday morning!

Do you have nicknames?

Let's see, the GYN called me a Tiger when I was born because I peed on him. (So? You wanna make a deal about it?) Dad still calls me Tiger to this day.

Also, there's Mrs. Nezbitt (See Toy Story 1 when Buzz is a little off his rocker. That's me.), endearments my husband invites that I will NOT share here and those things one gets called for being strong-willed, but those don't really apply as nicknames, do they?

Tag eight Blogger friends.
(You are it!)

1. Julie Flanders

2. Lisa Yarde
3. Luanne Smith
4. Sandi Rog
5. Jai Joshi
6. Barbara Ann Wright
7. Margo Berendsen

8. Laurel Garver

Who's listed as number one?

Julie Flanders. "What Else Is Possible" is the name of her blog and that says so many wonderful things about her.

Say something about number 5.

Her blog is utterly fascinating and recently, quite moving.

How did you get to know number 3?

We belong to Crested Butte's writing community. Also, I judged her entry this year and am thrilled she is a finalist!

How about number 4?

We first met in the Historical Fiction Online Critique group. Sandi is an amazing writer of historical Christian fiction and even more important, she walks the walk. You have to read her testimony and recent trials to know what I mean, but she's someone I'm so thankful has entered my life.

Leave a message for number 6.

Why the snapping turtle? Not that I don't like snappers. I do. My then boyfriend (now husband) and I once saved one from squishdom on the highway. I love them. From a safe distance. LOL

Leave a lovey-dovey message for number 2.

Lisa has been such a rock of support recently - both through reading my mistaken drafts and comforting me when I got dropped from Amazon's Breakthrough contest. She's a super friend and author.

Do number 7 and number 8 have any similarities?

They're both writers and tweeters and extra nice people. (For instance, I first met Laurel when she had her 111 followers contest and I won a nice big prize in which she said some very kind comments about my work. If you hurry over there this week, she's wrapping up her 333 followers contest and there are some mighty nice gifts to be had. Margo comes and talks in here all the time - you've probably seen her - and she always has the most thoughtful responses. I don't think she's every dropped the "How interesting," comment yet. LOL)

Links and Other Publishing Information of Note

2011-05-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

This is a neat link I got from Vanessa Di Gregorio at Let the Words Flow. If you're looking farther afield for authors to read and/or compare your work to, this Lit map is a God-send. Check it out and get your library card or Borders/Barnes&Nobel membership cards out. You'll need them.

In other news: Scholastic has hired Duriya Aziz as vp, educational publishing, international group, reporting to Shane Armstrong, president, Scholastic international and growth markets. Aziz was at educational publisher Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore). Based in Singapore, she will be "responsible for building a publishing team to develop and adapt existing product for international markets, with a particular focus on the Southeast Asian region" along with directing the publishing operations at Scholastic India.

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark

2011-05-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Synopsis:

A sweeping novel that brings to life two love stories, ninety years apart, set against the rich backdrop of war-torn India.

In 1947, American historian and veteran of WWII, Martin Mitchell, wins a Fulbright Fellowship to document the end of British rule in India. His wife, Evie, convinces him to take her and their young son along, hoping a shared adventure will mend their marriage, which has been strained by war.

But other places, other wars. Martin and Evie find themselves stranded in a colonial bungalow in the Himalayas due to violence surrounding the partition of India between Hindus and Muslims. In that house, hidden behind a brick wall, Evie discovers a packet of old letters, which tell a strange and compelling story of love and war involving two young Englishwomen who lived in the same house in 1857.

Drawn to their story, Evie embarks on a mission to piece together her Victorian mystery. Her search leads her through the bazaars and temples of India as well as the dying society of the British Raj. Along the way, Martin’s dark secret is exposed, unleashing a new wedge between Evie and him. As India struggles toward Independence, Evie struggles to save her marriage, pursuing her Victorian ghosts for answers.

Bursting with lavish detail and vivid imagery of Calcutta and beyond, The Sandalwood Tree is a powerful story about betrayal, forgiveness, fate, and love.

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark is the interweaving of two poignant stories set in two of India’s most turbulent periods – the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857 and Partition in 1947.

The novel alternates back and forth between the two stories flawlessly. Using rich, descriptive prose, the author truly recreates the resonances and aromas of daily Indian culture. There is a pervading exoticism throughout that touches the reader’s senses. I especially enjoyed the mystery surrounding the hidden letters and the path of discovery the heroine ventured upon to learn the full story of Adela and Felicity nearly one hundred years prior.

This novel had all the hallmarks of a great story – mystery, conflict, and a fascinating historical period. Add to that some heart-wrenching scenes and a nicely complex plot, and you’ll find yourself reading long into the night with this novel. For an easy to read, enjoyable novel about some basic facts in Indian history, this is definitely one to read!

This review was written by Mirella Patzer at the Historical Novel Review site and is reprinted here with her permission.

What Makes a Book Good

2011-05-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Today's post is brought to you on behalf of book review responsibilities. I've signed up to read several books for review and I've had one of them on my nightstand, reading a chapter a night for about a month. Or at least that's what I shot for. Imagine my shock when I realized I was not even halfway through a comparatively short book! I'm afraid I find all sorts of reasons not to read it before I go to bed. It's too late, I'm tired, I have to get up early in the morning and write my own stories. The real reason is, the book has endless chapters where nothing happens. This was brought home to me last week when I picked up a different review book to take with me while I'm on errands. This second book, "Hidden Voices," (if you're interested in music or Renaissance Italy, take a look at it. I will have a full review up within a week at Historical Novel Review, but not here because of the setting) is a joy to read. The characters are so well done and the author clearly knows Venice and music. So I'm faced with the juxtaposition of these books and I know why I dislike one and have devoured the other. But I enjoy other books for different reasons, which does lead to this week's question:

What are must-have points for you in a good book? One of my best friends and I discussed this a while back. For one of us, setting was important, but another wanted stronger characterization. I wanted some sort of plot if either one of these weren't a strong-point, but she didn't care. For me to love a book, I need to identify with or admire the characters and be lifted up emotionally by them. So what draws you in?

I Have a Confession

2011-05-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Lord, forgive me for writer's block. Or whatever you want to call it.

Have you ever been at a place where you have loads of ideas and no interest in doing any of them? I've been there since I came back from Crested Butte last year. I just keep rewriting, editing previous works. Submitting them. And not moving forward.

I'm not sure if I need new stimulation. I cleaned all day yesterday, which hardly made a dent in the house, to be honest, but cleaning has helped in the past. At least I have my workstation for the first time in a year. If I'd gone for a walk this morning, maybe with a notebook, that might have helped, but I'm still in my housecoat and the kidlit will be up any minute wanting breakfast. Can you tell I'm just spinning my wheels? My hubby complained over the weekend that I spend too much time at the computer and he's right. But what have I accomplished? I think perhaps that's what has me paralyzed. The question of whether or not what you're doing has any importance, value, or relevancy is agonizing.

Maybe I'll wade through some more of my mountain of email. Enter a contest. Maybe I'll make cookies. Or weave a basket underwater while listening to Beethoven and thinking of other useless activities. Do you ever get to this place? What do you do?

Good Guy Vs. Good Guy

2011-05-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

"I'm a good guy, but I'm a bad guy for them." These words of wisdom came out of my five-year-old's mouth this morning while I blog surfed. She's talking with her Lego people and has no idea what a profound a statement she's made, but she always makes me stop, smile and think.

This time, I'm thinking because this is precisely the setup for the next set of stories I have in mind. I have an antagonist, but he's not a traditional villain, (though he does some things that make me cringe). He's a product of his culture and will protect that culture no matter the cost. So will my heroine. The challenge is how they each want to work their protection. This is a wide difference from my current ms, in which the villain is much more villainous and not that sympathetic until the end when it's too late for him.

My question for you is, how do you treat your antagonists? When you read, what do you prefer? Do you like the more straight forward villainy or rooting for the antagonist with a heart? Do you think it depends on the story? Okay, that's many more than one question. LOL I can't help it, I'm curious. ;D

Opportunities

2011-05-04T06:39:00.000-05:00

I've had some things pile up in my inbox that I wanted to post, so here goes:

My apologies to Paula Kaymac. I told her I'd mention this and then I hit a deluge of things I needed to respond to. Paula has offered to interview the unpublished through her Writer's Spotlight page. What's a spotlight page?I'll let her describe it:

If you would like to step into the Writer Spotlight, are an unpublished writer looking for representation, and have a completed and polished manuscript you'ld like to share on Writer Spotlight , please check out the details on the Writer Spotlight page above and email me (like now).

If you write juvenile lit, you really do need to check it out. Here are the rules.

A Canadien SF/Fantasy contest is happening for one more day - the deadline's tomorrow. (Yes, I know. I didn't know about it, either.) But check out In Places Between. If nothing else, they have an awesome short story linked to the contest that you should read. The contest is free.

I know these last two bits are local Kansas City area things and my apologies to the rest of my readers if you can't make it!

Please plan to attend the Whispering Prairie Press Writers Conference on Sat., July 23, 2011, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (lunch on your own) at the KU Edwards Campus, 12600 Quivira Road. Tom Averill will be the keynote speaker. This conference supports the 2011 issue of Kansas City Voices.

There's a Digital Publishing Workshop at the Writer's Place (in Kansas City) in mid-May and is $30 for 3 hours. If anyone's considering this route, you might want to check it out. Check it out here, but please be aware I have not read his book and have never met the author, so I'm neither recommending or condemning his book. However, it's obvious he's been through the route he's talking about and therefore has something to say.

And The Winner Is...

2011-05-02T07:51:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much to everyone who entered to win a copy of The Lion of Cairo! I know I promised the drawing would be yesterday. I had intended to do it last night, but got so swamped it got away from me. My apologies!

So, without further ado, the winner is... Natalie Aguirre!

Natalie , please contact me privately and let me know your address so I can ship you a copy of this book.

An Interview with Scott Oden: Author of Lion of Cairo

2011-04-27T08:00:00.007-05:00

Photo Credit: (c) Marcia DeFiore

Many thanks to Scott Oden for speaking with me today. If you read my review on Monday, you know Scott Oden is the author of “The Lion of Cairo.” He’s also written “Men of Bronze” and “Memnon,” both of which are historical. “Lion of Cairo” is an historical fantasy.

1. Your opening scene in “Lion of Cairo” is the fight where Assad wins a special weapon. I can’t talk much about Assad without discussing this knife, so I hope you forgive the spoiler to the readers. Where did you get the idea of a djinn-possessed knife? (If that is, in fact, what’s within the blade.)

Assad's knife -- and 'knife' is something of a misnomer: the salawar, or Khyber knife, is roughly the same length as the Roman gladius -- was inspired by Michal Moorcock's devilish sword, Stormbringer, and the One Ring from Tolkien. It's not a djinn in the blade, precisely, but something a bit more sinister. I hope to delve deeper into the blade's history in the sequel to The Lion of Cairo, called The Damascene Blade.
Woo hoo!

2. This is the first novel of yours I’ve read, but on your blog you cross back and forth between Orc-strewn fantasy and history. Is this your first foray into historical fantasy? Will there be other stories in this or other settings?

This is my first journey into fantasy, historical or otherwise. My first two books, Men of Bronze (2005) and Memnon (2006) were straight-up historical fiction, but I've always had a desire to write sword-and-sorcery in the vein of Robert E. Howard. That's how Lion was brought into being: to answer the question of "how can I make Assassins cool?" The setting of The Lion of Cairo is only quasi-historical. It draws on three distinct time periods: Egypt of the Pharaohs, the early Fatimid Caliphate, and the Mameluke period. There are a handful of historical figures (Shirkuh, his nephew Yusuf ibn Ayyub, and King Amalric of Jerusalem), though I've distorted them somewhat by depicting them as seen through the lens of the 1930s pulps. Everything else is pure fantasy.

The Lion of Cairo is the first in a trilogy that will chronicle the fight between the indomitable Emir of the Knife, Assad, and his nemesis, the necromancer Ibn Sharr. And there's going to be a novel about Orcs in the near future!

3. Assuming there will be other stories, will the reader ever see other fantasy elements creep in?

The sequels to The Lion of Cairo will have a great many fantasy elements: dark gods, ancient Egyptian magic, Medieval sorcery, djinn . . . everything you'd expect from a sword-and-sorcery tale infused with an Arabian Nights aesthetic. The Orc novel, which I'm plotting as we speak, is going to take a mythological look at everyone's favorite foot soldiers of evil.

4. I’m always fascinated by other writers’ creative processes and you mention RPGs (Role Playing Games to the uninitiated reader) on your blog. Do you use RPG modules to help you in world-creation? If so, how does it help you, or do you do it for fun?

I rarely use RPG sessions for anything but a fun way to interact with friends and participate in a shared fantasy experience. I'm no great shakes as a world-builder, which is why I tend to pillage history for my plots, settings, etc. I discovered early on that a place-name like "Thebes" or "Alexandria" comes with a pre-existing sense of weight, of gravitas that's hard to manufacture. Tolkien was able to perform the same feat with his secondary world creation through his implementation of exhaustive histories; REH did it by plundering historical sources.

One thing I'd love to do inside the framework of a RPG is to create a rigorously historical ancient Greek simulation -- characters would portray Athenian citizens during that city's Golden Age, navigate the morass of politics, back-stabbing, and double-crossing to make a name for themselves. I'm reticent to undertake the project, however, because it has such a narrow focus and no fantastical elements.

5. What sparks your creativity and keeps you going?

I find endless inspiration in the overlooked corners of history. I believe as Robert E. Howard believed: there's enough blood and thunder on every page of history to fill a lifetime's worth of novels. There is nothing quite so fulfilling to me as pouring over the works of ancient authors like Herodotus or Plutarch and finding a phrase or situation that piques my interest - that gets the creative juices flowing. Even my fantasy has its genesis in the pages of history.

As to what keeps me going . . . it is the sometimes Quixotic desire to see what's around the next bend, over the next hill, or on the next page. I can't imagine NOT writing . . .

Thanks so much to Mr. Oden for this look inside his head and the creation of “Lion of Cairo.” If you’re interested in a free copy of “Lion of Cairo,” please leave a comment here. I will have a drawing on Sunday evening and it will be open world-wide.

Book Review: The Lion of Cairo by Scott Oden

2011-04-25T08:00:00.011-05:00

The Lion of Cairo by Scott Oden

On the banks of the ageless Nile, from a palace of gold and lapis lazuli, the young Caliph Rashid al-Hasan rules as a figurehead over a crumbling empire. Cairo is awash in deception. In the shadow of the Gray Mosque, generals and emirs jockey for position under the scheming eyes of the power grand vizier. In the crowded souks and narrow alleys, warring factions employ murder and terror to silence their opponents. Egypt bleeds. And the scent draws her enemies in like sharks: the swaggering Kurd Shirkuh, who serves the pious Sultan of Damascus and Almaric, the Christian king of Jerusalem, whose greed is insatiable and whose knights are hungry for battle.

And yet all is not lost. There is an old man who lives on a remote mountainside in a distant land. He holds the power of life and death over the warring factions of the Muslim world – and decides to come to the Caliph’s aid. He sends his greatest weapon into Egypt. He sends a single man. An Assassin. The one they call the Emir of the Knife…

Okay, I'm going to qualify why I, the lover of Asian lit, am reviewing this book, just in case you wondered. 1. This is set in the Middle-East (I know, East does not equate with Asia, but I'll take it), 2. It IS Historical Fantasy which is one of the directions I will move toward in my new website 3. Gosh darn it, I loved it. LOL

The strength of the book is, perhaps best demonstrated by how many “rules” Oden breaks within the first two pages and yet, you won’t be able to put the book down. The novel starts with the much-villain-ized prologue. Oh, and do you remember that rule about not starting a novel in the middle of a fight because the reader won’t know who to cheer for? Yup, he breaks that rule, too. And by the end of that four page fight scene, I couldn’t have cared less how many rules Mr. Oden broke as long as one intriguing character – the salawar knife – was explained.

Oden did not disappoint me in that or any other aspect of the book. In fact, he managed to surprise me. (Have I mentioned how hard a thing that is to accomplish?) Oden killed off a few characters I had come to like and did not expect to die. However, their deaths have meaning and power. Assad, the Assassin or Emir of the Knife, is probably considered an antihero in that he rejects every core value of the normal human except for loyalty to his master. He is not particularly likeable, but he is compelling. When he entered a scene, I could not put the book down until he disappeared again and because of that, I felt like I liked him by the end of the book. I cheered for him and his actions. Would I like to meet him in an alley? No. Way. But as a character, I still can’t wait for his return.

Lion of Cairo is an amazing tapestry of faith, betrayal, loss and just a little bit of love. If you enjoy books centered around warfare and political intrigue, run, don’t walk to the bookstore and buy this one. Stay tuned on Wednesday for an interview with the author and the opportunity to win a copy of the book!

Blogging Awards

2011-04-18T16:40:00.001-05:00

Many, many thanks to Rachna Chhabria for giving me these awards:

I'm not sure what I've done to be blessed by these, but it's so nice someone thinks enough of you to give them! You need to go to Rachna's site if you haven't been before. She has an amazing blog with wonderful writing suggestions and questions, and right now she's got the most amazing list of other bloggers you might want to meet.

I've agonized over who to pass on these awards to. (Do you all take these awards this seriously?) It's taken me FOUR DAYS to decide. Part of that is the ongoing sickness that will not go away combined with severe lack of sleep. Thanks, Springtime. I can always count on you.

However, I just read Roni Loren's post on putting up a new website and I was so appreciative of this post's information and also just her normal sunshine-y posts, I wanted to thank her. So Roni gets the Sunshine award from me.

And I'm giving the Sisterhood Award to Lynda Young because we're both talking about platform today. We're in SYNCH! Which is pretty amazing considering where she's located.

Okay, so really, why did I choose these two lovely ladies for these awards? In reality, because we're all three talking about platform/social connections today. In specific, I wanted to mention The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published. I've been reading it for the past few weeks (yes, I am slow, but I'm also reading review-fiction at the same time and doing critiques) and I have to say I was right to be concerned about my blog. It's doomed. I'm not taking it down - in fact, I want to see if I can incorporate it into a website, but I haven't done with my blog what I should have from the get go. I've made mistakes. If you haven't started your web presence yet, or if you're like me and not published yet, now is the time to perfect your platform. Don't wait! Go out and get a copy of this book. The authors do a great job of breaking down into pieces exactly how and why you need a platform as well as the best ways to build it. Will I be able to recover from my mistakes? Yes. Do I regret making them? I can't say I do, since I made wonderful friendships. That said, friends do not necessarily equate with readers. Some of you will not be "into" ya/adult warfare historical fantasy, which means I haven't done as good a job as I could have at reaching my audience. That's why things will be changing around here. I can't say when. Knowing me, it will take awhile, but I'm on-route. I've entered the highway and am out of the entrance lane, let's put it that way. :) Meanwhile, check out what Lynda and Roni have to say and also what literary agent Arielle Eckstut and author David Henry Sterry have to say on the subject.
(My editorial honesty-sense tells me I should confess, I have spoken with Mr. Sterry; however, I'd planned on suggesting this book as a must-read before then, so there ya go. LOL)

Conference Updates, Etc.

2011-04-11T08:00:00.006-05:00

Many of you might remember that I attended the Crested Butte Writers' Conference last year - I shared my notes for over a week I think. LOL The picture to the left does not show the beauty of Crested Butte, but me in the inside of the conference hotel, so you're missing out. Go look up Crested Butte online to see what I'm talking about. Anway,

I can't express how much I wish I could go, but we're glued to Kansas City through the rest of this year. Still, I hope some of you can make it. It was the best conference I've ever attended. Here's the note I received from Theresa Rizzo, the conference's super-nice administrator:

Calling ALL fiction writers--Don’t miss out on The Crested Butte Writers Conference—June 17-19, 2011!

A small Colorado conference with a BIG bang! We’re intimate, interactive and inspiring, delivering an experience like no other!

Featuring: Agents: Stephen Barr --Writers House, Helen Breitwieser --Cornerstone Literary, and Marissa Corvisiero of L. Perkins Agency as well as Assistant Editor, Holly Blanck—St Martin’s Press and Michael Braff at Del Rey Spectra.

Check out the website for agent & Editor interviews to see what talent they're currently hoping to discover.

Award-winning Authors: Robin D Owens, Kaki Warner, Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell

Don’t miss out on our Special Early Bird Rate as well as our Discounted Group Rate!

Still another Colorado conference (one I've never attended, incidentally) was sent to me by Marne Kirstatter:

Join us at a workshop in beautiful Grand Junction, Colorado.

Charlotte Cook, MFA, is the former president and acquisition editor of
KOMENAR Publishing. Now a full-time story editor and consultant on all
matters regarding pre-agenting, Charlotte is a popular presenter at
writers conferences and events (Willamette, Rocky Mountain Writers, California
Central Coast, San Francisco Writers Conferences, South Carolina Writers
Workshop, California Writers Club, among others), and a successful teacher
and workshop facilitator. She has brought to publication far more books,
articles and stories than the six award-winning novels she published for
KOMENAR. As a result, Writers Digest Magazine interviewed Charlotte about
her career and publishing company in February 2008.

Charlotte judged four fiction categories for the 2010 Next Generation Indie
Book Awards and will be the head judge of two fiction categories for the
2011 competition and awards.

In the workshop, we will delve into the real differences between developing
a manuscript to completion and polishing the manuscript for an audience of
agents and publishers. This practical, interactive and entertaining
workshop covers drafts, editors and the best advice from the right people at the
right time. Topics include:

o What you need to know about your manuscript to bring it to market

o Are you consistent in your choices of Point of View and Point of
Narration

o What about Back Story, Chronology and Dialogue

o How do you determine the premise of your book for agents and editors

Charlotte requests that all attendees bring pages from their manuscripts to
work on in class. She will use some of them as examples, meaning those
volunteers who are chosen will get specific feedback on their work.

In addition to the workshop, three published authors, all long-standing
members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers will be present. Robin Owens (
_http://www.robindowens.com_ (http://www.robindowens.com/) ), Mario
Acevedo ( _http://www.marioacevedo.com/_ (http://www.marioacevedo.com/) )
and Christine Goff ( _http://christinegoff.com/_
(http://christinegoff.com/) ) will meet with attendees in
scheduled, 10 minute appointments to answer industry related questions or
critique the first two pages of a manuscript.

The workshop will be held at Two Rivers Plaza, Main Street, Grand Junction,
on June 11, 2011, from 8am-4pm. RMFW will feed participants a continental
breakfast during registration as well as a buffet lunch.

Also, Grand Valley Book Store, an independent bookseller located on Main
Street in Grand Junction, will be present to sell Charlotte's, Robin's,
Mario's and Christine's books.

Cost for the workshop is $70 if paid online or postmarked by May 20th, $85
for registration after May 20th and $95 at the door. The early registration
date has changed in case you've seen previous emails. To register by mail,
please send a check with a completed registration form (see attached) to:

Vicki Law
PO Box 452
Montrose, CO 81402

And last, but not least (you're probably starting to believe I'm on a mail-list for these things, but I'm really not!) there's the Ozark Romance Author's Annual Conference, July 23rd at the Clarion Hotel in Springfield, MO. I went to this in 2009 and was utterly charmed. It's a small event, but the speakers (Leigh Michaels and Angie Fox) were outstanding. Oh, and if you don't write Romance, don't let that turn you off. Leigh Michaels does a talk on the differences in how men and women think and speak that any writer NEEDS to hear. Leigh will be back this year, and though that might not be her topic, I'm sure she'll still enlighten everyone tremendously. This conference is close enough, I haven't given up on attending. We'll have to wait, see, hope and pray. ;D

Links, Videos & More!

2011-04-04T08:00:00.005-05:00

Now for links, videos and more!

Some very cool news for those of us who write historical novels with Asian settings. (I mention the Asian setting because of my blog and personal interests, but that's not her emphasis. If you write historicals, check this out.) Irene Goodman, agent extraordinaire, is having a pitch fest through the end of June. Make yours count and good luck!

I tried to load this video so it would play here, but it was a no show. Still, I thought you might find this Ted Talk interesting: It's all about Understanding the Rise of China.

Check out this walk through of writing on the ipad by Tessa Elwood. I can dream. :) ipad.... (Envision drool.)

And finally, the most important of these links: Go to Kat Brauer's website for the opportunity to save a life. Yup. Not hyperbole, though I'm prone to that. :) Kat's running an awesome charity giveaway this month. Donate money to bring clean water to those who don't have it and she'll critique 250 words for every $1 you give. In addition, she's not the only critiquer on the job. Agents and Editors are also pitching in. If you're wondering how this could possibly save lives, think about the cholera epidemic in Haiti. The epidemic is caused by contaminated water and Haiti is just one tiny island on our planet.

News and Stuff

2011-03-28T07:20:00.002-05:00

Back from vacation just in case you wondered where I was last week and so this morning's post will, I admit, be a little rushed. I had some interesting tidbits of news and a few links I wanted to share. (Yes, I meant to do this last week. Sigh.)

First off, anyone who has read classical Chinese literature is aware of a series of stories called "Journey to the West." Even if you aren't familiar with the title, you might have seen a Chinese mythical character called The Monkey King hooting and throwing his weight around. Well, it turns out this story has been opted by Hollywood and Neil Gaiman is the author. Gaiman wants Guillermo Del Toro for director. The mere thought has me itching with excitement. My only concern is that they have someone in charge of authenticity, but I look forward to seeing it. If you want more information, check out the link.

Many thanks to Tessa for this link to an excellent blog post on writing. It's well worth your time.

Carolina Valdez Miller got AN AGENT (Woo hoo and throwing up confetti for you, girlfriend!) and has this amazing contest at her site. Also, be sure you check out the WHOLE site because after this one, there are interviews and one of them is with an agency sister who ALSO has a blog contest. It's a blogosphere contesty world, folks. Enjoy!

What news have you heard that's excited you recently?

As an Addendum to what I just posted, Janet Sumners (and Vicki Rocho) have a great contest going with prizes including a $40 Amazon gift basket or a 10-page critique by agent Sarah LaPolla, who took over from Nathan Bransford. Get thee over there and check it out!

Blogging Awards

2011-03-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

I have put this off for far too long and subsequently lost track of a few awards given to me. My sincere apologies to the friends who gave them! If you remind me here or privately with a good strong (and sadly virtual) dope slap, I'll be delighted to post your name and blog address in the appropriate spot. I hope I have not damaged relationships by not reciprocating before now.

I do, however, want to rectify at least some of the situation now!

Many thanks to Laurel Garver and Susan B. Kason for the One Lovely Blog Award. And I just discovered Susan Cook also just gifted me with this one. That did NOT influence my choice of giving her the award below. LOL I'd already decided to do that before I visited her.

I'd like to share that award with Vicky English's Camelot blog (it's about FAR more than Arthurian history and myth). She has excellent breakdowns on character and plot development.

And Cara Lopez Lee at Girls Trek Too. It's a site for writers, travelers and everyone in between.

Many thanks to Rachna Chhabria at Rachna's Scriptorium for both the Versatile and Grasshopper Awards. Rachna has probably realized by now that I'm disorganized and not the best at this sort of thing, but she nonetheless persists in being both a good friend and follower, and also an amazing blogger. If you haven't checked out her scriptorium, it's a must.

I'd like to share the Versatile Award with Janet Sumner Johnson at Musings of a Children's Writer because her blog is both funny, touching and informative. She's probably already receive and responded to the award which just goes to show she's far more deserving of it than I.

The Grasshopper Award I'd like to share with Aron White at Mumbo Jumbo
and Susan Cook at The Pen and the Spirit. They've both got fresh, wonderful blogs and you should check them out.

The Sweet Blog Award was given by yet another thoughtful person whose name I didn't remember to write down until it was too late. (Can we tell I AM kicking myself for this? I am. Really. Really. Hard.)

I'd like to share it with:

Susan Dennard who is so generous with her time and thoughts. (She has frequent posts where she'll review queries and her comments are spot-on.)

And one last award given by someone forced to be anonymous. My poor friends really suffer for their friendship with me, I'm afraid. This is the Beautiful Blogger Award - one I obviously didn't deserve, but will gratefully pass on to someone more worthy, like

Margo Berendsen at Writing at High Altitude is a constant commenter here who never fails to give me a sense of peace and awe. She is certainly a beautiful blogger.

Now, I am going to cheat a bit. You're supposed to list seven things about yourself, but I'd be awake all night trying to do that for each of these awards, so I'll just do it one time. (You can all breathe a sigh of relief.)

1. I've always had a "thing" for China - ever since I first read Marjorie Flack's "The Story About Ping." See the power a child's writer has?
2. I first traveled to China at the tail-end of the SARS outbreak and never once worried about contracting the illness.
3. I'd traveled to England twice before going to China (I'm also an Anglophile and ADORE Wales and Welsh history - thank you, Susan Cooper) and without a doubt put myself in danger of Foot and Mouth AND Madcow Disease.
4. Which is why I am no longer eligible to give blood. Yes, I cheated and divided that one into two facts, but it really does peeve me that I can no longer donate. I was there in 1991 for one month too long.
5. I would LOVE to someday travel to Turkey. Yes, I have plot ideas in mind. Sigh. So many places and ideas. So little time.
6. I love to travel (duh) and yet I can still get motion sickness with a simple drop in altitude or a too-swervy road.
7. Testified to by the fact that I lost my cookies entering Japan's airspace. In my defense, we flew through a typhoon. And yes, I cheated a bit on that one, too.

Sorry about all the cheats! The fact is, I'm writing this the night before I'll post it and my five-year-old is stretching out her bedtime while I type. I need to go run her down. LOL

Japan's Tragedy - Take Action

2011-03-11T17:08:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share the following email communication I received this morning from a friend of mine in Tokyo. She has allowed me to share it with you all.

"They say the tsunami waves bring all those heavy oil/gas kind of fuels of vessels/vehicles up on the ground, which ignite fires. Then there was this strong wind blowing, which spread the fires to the rest of the cities. The similar case happened about 20 years ago in Hokkaido. Actually, not only Tohoku area but also Kanto area including Tokyo got damaged. So many people in Tokyo are stuck in the city, since all JR trains operation got halted.

I remember in the Hanshin Earthquake, about 6000 people got killed. I am so sad and scared to know about the casualties this time. This time, up there, in some cases a whole community got gulped bu tsunami and just swept away, not just one.

It's so sad and i can't do anything."

There are so many pictures, so many stories in the news now about this horrific event, but I sometimes think, when we, the unaffected, are so far away, we tend to dwell on the horror without doing anything beyond offering a prayer. Don't get me wrong, personally I think prayer is the first, best and last line in these circumstances. But there are things we can and should do for our brothers and sisters across the world.

Am I talking about sending money? You bet, but focused money through channels you can trust. Do you have a church home set up to help with disasters like this? I do. My church has a donation taken called "One Great Hour of Sharing" that covers anything from terrorist strikes to natural disasters. You can donate to OGHS through International Ministries, which has a website devoted ONLY to Earthquake/Tsunami relief for Japan. If you're curious how they use the money or wish to know how the process works, click this link. I listed this one first because I've seen it work.

There's the Red Cross and yes, that link will take you directly there. If you're reading this on a smart phone, use that link instead or call 1-800-733-2767 (1-800-Red Cross).

Would you like to help send search and rescue teams? To donate to Doctors Without Borders, click the link and select the word "Donate" at the top of the screen. Please be aware, while I know these are legitimate institutions, I don't know the ends and outs of how they use funds.

You can hear the helplessess in Mako's note above. It made me want to do something and I plan to use one or more of the methods I've listed here. But more than that, I wanted to encourage Mako and others. When you see someone in danger, the first thing you do is throw them a rope. Give them your hand or something to connect them to you. What will you throw?

Marketing, Trading and Having Fun

2011-03-09T22:14:00.001-06:00

Today I'm talking to Jeannie Lin (author of Butterfly Swords and The Taming of Mei Lin) about a new marketing tool she's using: Romance Trading Cards.

Jeannie, thanks for agreeing to chat about this fun tool.

You mentioned in your newsletter that there’s a "Community at Romancelandia.” Please excuse my romance-genre-ignorance. Is "Romancelandia" an actual community title or just a term, like “blogosphere.” If it is a place, where is it?

Jeannie: Romancelandia is a term which incorporates the writers, publishers, agents, readers & bloggers of the romance community. I think the romance world is much more connected than other fiction genres. As a result, there actually is a “place”. It’s a combined sphere of the physical realm: booksignings, fan events, romance reader/writer conventions such as Romantic Times and RWA national conference. Then mix that all in with the blogosphere, Facebook, the Twitterverse. Soon it feels like everyone knows everybody.

Victoria: Now, about the cards, were they invented as a fun way for authors to meet and greet at conferences or what?! It’s such a neat idea, but I’m curious about its beginnings.

Jeannie: I think the reason why it took off was there were already a few authors doing them independently. I had spoken to a few authors previously about them since I wanted to do character cards. Then I caught wind of another Twitter conversation about doing romance hero cards. It felt like there was some potential there and all it took was the first handful saying, “Hey, if I do it, will you do it?”

Soon, we started hashtagging #romancetradingcards on Twitter and asking “Who’s in?” By the end of the first several hours, the number had grown over a modest ten authors. I sensed something would tip if we just nudged it so I put it on my website and started listing names. From there, other authors chimed in and it got to the point where authors and readers were asking each other, “Are you in on this #romancetradingcards craze?”

In less than five days, we created a pink RTC logo, authors Amanda Berry and Shawntelle Madison put up http://www.romancetradingcards.com , I ran and posted online tutorials, and more than a hundred authors had said they were IN.

It was the collective excitement about it that got the whole thing rolling. The beauty of the idea is it’s so simple and cheap to join. It allows authors to be creative and provide a way for readers to get something special and collectible that’s unique to each book—and it all hinges on the strong sense of community within the romance genre.

Victoria: What does it take to join the club? I’m assuming you need to have a published book, but what are the other rules? What information does each card need?

Jeannie: There are no rules. J The only requirement is that the author create and print the card and make them available to readers. The design is completely up to them. There are templates to provide people a starting point, but those are just suggestions. I think it’s wonderful to leave it completely open and I think that’s another reason why people are so excited about this. They can customize it and really make the cards reflect them, their books and their readers.

Victoria: Is there any talk of making these things into playing cards? That’s what I thought they were at first, to be honest and I can see where that concept could also be fun, though perhaps more for the fantasy market than Romance. (You mentioned Dragon.com and I can see EITHER form going like hotcakes there.)

Jeannie: Other people have thought the same. Everyone kept on asking me if they could still join. Some thought that after we hit 52 authors, no one else could come in. That’s not the case at all. There’s no reason why people can’t do playing cards if they wish. (See previous note about “No rules”) They can package cards together and give them away with gum. They can create a role-playing game around it in Pokemon/Yu-gi-oh style if they want.

That’s why I refer to this as grassroots/guerilla marketing. It’s growing organically and the experience evolves based on all the people participating.

And regarding DragonCon: I’m going this year. Who else is in? J

Victoria: To your knowledge, are there other genres adopting either approach (trading or gaming cards)?

Jeannie: I think the potential is there. I’m sure fantasy and paranormal authors have independently created these as promotions. All it takes is a little interest to get the ball rolling.

Victoria: Where did you go to get your cards made and how much did they cost? (If you don’t mind sharing the latter data.)

Jeannie: Many of us are using GotPrint.com simply because we’d used them before for other promotional materials like bookmarks and postcards. The cost is relatively cheap. 100 cards will cost you about $17 and 1000 is only a bump up to about $25. That’s not including shipping.

Where it can get more expensive is artwork and graphic design. Many authors are using stock images as well which can cost around $10-$20 each for nice ones. Some are hiring graphic designers to do the work, which makes sense because they’re job is to write and graphics programs can be time consuming. I designed and created my own, but I had previously commissioned character artwork for Butterfly Swords from an artist I liked on deviantArt.com. So in truth my Ai Li and Ryam cards are a bit expensive.

But you really can be in for about $20 and create a great card with a little computer savvy (see the Tutorials page on http://www.romancetradingcards.com) and a really nice cover.

Victoria: Thanks so much The whole concept has me stoked.

Jeannie: I’m glad to hear you’re stoked. The excitement I’ve seen from authors and readers has been quite uplifting. It’s so good to see people gather around and get excited about something positive. The beauty of it is we’re really seeing how fast the Internet and a community can mobilize and I’m just thrilled to see something positive go viral. Okay, maybe not quite viral, but at least feverish! I hope it will be a great experience.

One more link of interest

2011-03-02T08:00:00.008-06:00

My apologies for breaking my schedule this week. Sick husbands, broken furnaces and needy cars still plague the Dixon household.

I needed a good laugh this week and this provided it. If you're sick of hearing about the electronic future of publishing, check out this video. It's hysterical.

Links to Conferences and Giveaways

2011-02-20T17:41:00.000-06:00

For a chance to win a copy of Chris Bradford's The Way of the Dragon, check out the interview and make sure you fill out the form before the 25th. The book sounds and looks great.

The William Bernhardt Writers Workshop and Seminar is accepting attendance forms. You can find more information here and please take note, if you send in your form and fee before April 1st, the Workshop fee is reduced by $50 and the Seminar fee goes down by $100. I know not everyone is in the Midwest, but if you are, this is a great opportunity to meet two different agents.

And The Winners Are...

2011-02-14T08:00:00.002-06:00

Thank you so much to the many wonderful readers who commented this month! You have been a true God-send. Most of you aren't aware, but I struggle with severe winter depression from October through March and February is always my worst month. This contest and forcing myself to interact with people when I instinctively want to squirrel myself away has been helpful to my sanity. :)

The ultra-cool prizes include:
A. First Fifty Pages Critique
B. Query Letter or Synopsis Critique
C. The wooden box to the right, carved by East Indian artists.
D. A Barnes & Noble Notepad with this beautiful Chinese-style illustration and magnetic closure. (See the picture at the top of this post for the cover and inside illustrations.)
E. Wonton Bath Fizzers. Fill your bathrub with warm water and dissolve the wonton - err, fizzer in it. Kinda cool, huh? (For all those interested, they contain Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Pentasodium Triphosphate, Cellulose Gum, Talc, Sodium Sulfate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Parfume, FD&C Blue #1 Cl42090.)
F. A copy of Malinda Lo's "Ash" OR Diane Lee Wilson's "To Ride the God's Own Stallion" were added last week. You saw that, right? :D

That makes a grand total of eight prizes, just so you don't have to count.

Now, onto our winners! This was a pretty straight-forward contest in that the winners are those who followed, commented and posted about the contest. Without further delay, broo-ha-ha, obfuscation... Oh, all right. LOL The winners are:

My winners are 1. Eve (aka, Lilacfield). Eve, you get a fifty-page critique OR your first pick of any of the above prizes!
Second place goes to Lynda Young and third to Susan B. Kason and can choose between the two remaining critiques (see below) OR one of the other gifts. Janet Johnson won fourth prize and Rachna Chambria won fifth. Margo Berendson won sixth place, TK Richardson and Lisa Gibson won seventh and eighth places. Wait a minute. There are seven prizes, you say? Yup. Since I have such wonderful commenters who gave me a tie in points, I'm adding in one more prize - a synopsis critique (instead of having it be a query or synopsis critique).

So, wonderful ladies of the blogosphere, would you please be so kind as to contact me at victoria[_]dixon[@]msn.com so I can get your prizes to you? (I apologize for the brackets! Stupid spambots.)

One MORE Giveaway

2011-02-10T23:25:00.000-06:00

Yup. I've decided I need to add something to my list so here goes:

Winners will also be able to choose from Malinda Lo's "Asha," courtesy of Tessa at AndAnything :

and - as much as I did enjoy it - I'm willing to give up my copy of "To Ride the God's Own Stallion."

Just keep on commenting, feel free to tweet, facebook or blog about it and if you do, let me know. As per my original One Hundred Followers Post, I'll give out extra points for each post.

To Ride The God's Own Stallion

2011-02-04T07:28:00.001-06:00

Diane Lee Wilson’s “To Ride The God’s Own Stallion” is the story of two boys, a horse and the destiny the three weave together within the Assyrian Empire.

Soulai is a poor boy sold into slavery to Prince Habasle, a palace brat who fights to prove himself to his father and people. Both boys are drawn to the “parti-colored” stallion whose falcon-shaped birth mark displays his connection to the god, Ninurta.

The horse’s destiny leads to war and Habasle is eager to ride him into battle, but he must do so with Soulai trying to protect the horse and the King’s mad physician trying to sacrifice the animal.

Wilson has done a fine job of sketching the historical texture of the period while keeping the novel’s place moving. The characters developed in a believable and enjoyable fashion. It was especially nice that I never felt like they were boys written by a woman writing how she thought boys should behave. I will say, there were no surprises.

I did read a few oddities I had to gloss over to continue reading. There are three sections to the book and each section is begun in the perspective of an animal. This confused me and I did not believe them necessary to understand or believe the story’s events, so I’m surprised the author used the technique.

However, once past those passages, the novel has a smooth read broken only by my occasional recognition that there are three main characters. You care for each of them and they each have identical, linked growth patterns and carry equal weight, though not perspective.

I still wonder if that wide-spread equality is why I never felt as drawn to any of the main characters as much as I did when reading Wilson’s “I Rode A Horse of Milk White Jade.” Nonetheless, there were times it was difficult to put down “To Ride God’s Own Stallion.” It is an enjoyable read, especially for boys or those who love a great horse story in an unusual setting.

I know, I said I'd post reviews on Wednesday, but I'm still struggling to keep things going this month and Wednesday sped by way too fast this week. I wanted to remind folks that my One Hundred Followers Giveaway will wrap up on February 13th, so be sure to comment and comment often. I'm also going to throw in a few extra giveaway goodies, so stay tuned, true believers. :D

What Do You Do On Overload?

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

Life has been a bit much recently, I hate to admit it. Don't get me wrong, I know of many people in worse straights. My best friend just lost her husband, my mother-in-law is in the hospital with heart problems. My issues pale in comparison.

It's just handling them is difficult and would be incredibly expensive without the generosity of my sister and her family. Let me back up.

December 23rd, I totaled our family car. If nothing else, it was certainly a bummer, but we were blessed in that no one in the entire five-car-pile-up was injured. While we waited three weeks for our over-worked and under-staffed insurance agency to respond, I had to drive my husband's manual transmission car. Since I have half of an ankle missing, the bone has threatened to break for years and it became increasingly obvious that the stick shift would do the trick if I kept driving it.

It began to look like we'd either have to shell out money for a rental or I'd have to keep going until I couldn't. Quite possibly breaking a bone while behind the wheel. Hence, the generosity of my sister; she loaned me her automatic. My ankle still hurts five weeks after the accident, but it has improved and has not broken for which I'm more grateful than I can express.

Then the much-aligned stick-shift's transmission died and the car with it. It will cost more than it's worth to fix the Honda. We now have no automobile of our own and I'm once again reduced to playing taxi-mom via the borrowed car. This brings me up to today.

Monday morning, I need to somehow find time to take my husband to work, get the pink-eye infected daughter to a clinic or doctor and see a family friend interested in selling me her car. The latter will be a HUGE blessing if it comes to fruition, but I still find myself wondering how I'll make it all happen AND find time to do what I want, which brings me to today's question:

What happens to your writing when you're overwhelmed? Do you still work? Do you somehow click into fifth gear and get more productive, or do you have to set it aside and handle life?

Excerpt Monday: New First Chapter

2011-01-24T08:00:00.014-06:00

For those of you who have read my first Excerpt Monday release, this is my newest attempt at a rewrite. I would REALLY love suggestions/critiques.

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate just an writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

And without further delay or procrastination, here are my first five pages:

MOURN THEIR COURAGE

VICTORIA DIXON

Xing Dynasty: In the Tenth Year of Rebuilt Tranquility

Chapter One

Liu Jie had known for months that war brewed beneath the surface of his quiet country. And now it has come.

He closed the door of the room he and his family shared. The clamor of voices from the inn's first floor enveloped him in an instant. It was twice as loud as when they'd arrived at the Peach Orchard Inn last night. When he’d read the notice.

Servants took long poles and, from hooks above the railing, lowered paper lanterns. The lanterns were a novelty that had not yet come to Jie’s homeland and he observed with interest as the servants lit the bright yellow globes and rehung them.

The fragile lights swayed as he passed. He stared over the railing at the crowd and grimaced. The room was packed with people vying for space to read the Imperial summons tacked onto the wall behind the bar.

All I wanted was a cup of rice wine and a meal. He sighed and went downstairs.

Farmers and merchants jostled one another in the aisles. Shouted drink orders and clattering dice assaulted his ears. He stepped off the landing, breathing in the smells of heated wine and steamed vegetables.

He desperately wanted to talk and laugh with his oldest brother, Mihei. But Mihei was dead. Killed by raiders when Jie was a child. He shook himself free of his thoughts. Long ago he promised his wife he would leave the past where it lay and not resurrect his lost loved ones. Never an easily kept vow, it seemed more difficult than usual now that he stood on the brink of a war where he might lose more family.

Scores of men gathered at the bar. They noted his rank cap and a few left to make room for him. "It's not necessary," Jie protested. He gestured for them to sit beside him. One of the men glanced again at the colored bands on his Chuntze cap. The hat was black and sported yellow silk bands for nobility, blue for mastery of martial arts. The man bowed, walking backwards into the crowd.

I should have taken the cap off before I came in. Too late now. He caught the innkeeper's attention and ordered his meal. Then he reread in a glance the notice that would change the lives of so many.

"The Son of Heaven requires the aid of all men as sons might come to their father. Yellow Turban rebels assault the people and threaten the capital. All districts report." The crimson ink of the Imperial Chop blazed in a corner.

If he could reach the rebels, and talk to them…. He shook his head. Regardless of how they came to be traitors, he must plan how to stop them.

Jie sat at a small table. A group of boisterous young farmers sat at a nearby table and a game of sixes commenced with a clatter of dice.

Voices and noise blended into a monotonous drone. When the innkeeper brought him warmed rice wine and a plate of dumplings, he barely tasted the food. Instead, he used his chopsticks and wrote plan after plan in the congealing sauce. He abandoned every scheme.

Each strategy required him to send spies out to learn about the Yellow Turbans. Were they merely criminals, stealing food and clothing, or were they traitors raising an army to overthrow the Emperor, Jie’s nephew?

This information seemed necessary to Jie, but gaining it did not respond to his Emperor's summons. Jie might have saved countless people if he had reached his nephew a month ago. Now, the Son of Heaven demanded that Jie attack his countrymen. He committed treason if he acted counter to Imperial commands.

He must either go to the capital and enlist, or gather an army from the countryside and lead men into battle as ordered.

He glared at his useless plans and groaned.

"Why are you sighing?" A meaty hand descended on Jie's shoulder. "You're a martial master. You know how to respond."

Jie took his cap off, turned and looked up. Did this man believe Jie was a warmonger? "My people are on the other side of the Dragon Back Mountains. I can only offer myself."

The warrior scrutinized Jie, then grinned and clapped him on the back. "Perfect. May I join you?"

Jie nodded and the warrior sat opposite him.

The innkeeper brought two large cups filled with wine.

The warrior drank half of his in a gulp. "I am Tong Zhang." He pushed aside Jie’s plate to make room for his cup. "Noticed you were making plans just now. Let's talk war." He pointed at the notice.

Something about Zhang touched a memory. Not his bristling beard or forehead-spanning eyebrow, but his presence. Jie couldn't place it, but the thought soothed like silk and was as hard to break. He pushed it aside.

"I won't ask men to serve while their families lose their lands, but paying farmers to fight will consume my funds. Without extra money, I won't be able to feed them."

"You've got what's required, Chuntze." Zhang pointed to Jie's cap. "You're a strategist. I'm a butcher, so I'll convince the butcher's guild to feed us. I'll destroy things. You plan how I'll do it."

Jie chuckled and nodded at this heaven-sent partner. With Zhang as his support, Jie could command as he wished without enlisting. But was Zhang trustworthy? Was he a leader?

Jie unraveled the skein of thought from moments before. He knew why Zhang made him laugh. Zhang reminded him of his brother, Mihei.

"There is one thing I need to know." Zhang glared at him. "Do you have a problem with lower classes?"

Jie snorted. "You speak the language of your Emperor, you live in his country. You could be my brother." Zhang beamed and Jie sipped his wine. "Tell me, where were you going before this evening?"

"Zufen. Where else should the finest warrior in the land go?" Zhang pounded the table. "Wine! I'm almost dry!"

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

And just as a reminder, please make sure to sign into the contest I'm sponsoring this month, make a comment and maybe win some cool stuff. If you've already done so, make a comment here and you'll score some extra points.

Book Review: Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan

2011-01-19T08:00:00.002-06:00

Many thanks to Stephanie Barrows, one of two book winners last year who agreed to review the books they won. Today's review is on "Saving Fish From Drowning" by Amy Tan.

Saving Fish From Drowning was my first novel by Amy Tan. Admittedly, most of my literary brushes with Chinese-American culture have come through either movies (coming of age stories and martial arts fantasies) or historical novels (Snowflower and the Secret Fan).

This novel was an unexpected pleasure because it hosted two aspects I adore about Asian culture: the supernatural in everyday life and the immigration experience. An egocentric art-dealer-turned-murder-victim-then-ghost tells the story of a group of travelers who head to China and disappear.

Throughout the narrative, our guide shows us aspects of her personal story with characteristic eccentricity. When a newspaper reports her murder, she complains about the article and pictures used to display her body. Afterwards, our protagonist’s description of her own funeral and its attendees offered a humorous look into the art world and the personalities that inhabit it.

Saving Fish From Drowning also fed this writer’s appetite for psychological insights through internal dialogue and flashbacks. Ms. Tan’s use of graphic detail in describing the protagonist’s murder, for example, is done with a coroner’s eye and a feminine touch.

In the future, I highly recommend Ms. Tan keep writing novels of this nature. Not only are they entertaining, but their aftertaste of the supernatural mixed with the everyday are enough to bring even a finicky reader back to the literary table.

One Hundred Followers And Counting

2011-01-17T08:00:00.003-06:00

Last week, I hit one hundred followers. I will be the first to admit, I haven't done a great job in reaching out in 2010, so I appreciate each and every one of you all the more!

That's why I've planned for months on throwing a party when I reached 100 followers. Party hats, party trivia, and gifts. ;D

I've got LOTS of different giveaways, but there are some rules for winning.

1. You need to be a follower. Yup, since this is a "Thanks for Following Me" party, you need to be a follower. It's only fair. That said, if you've been a follower before today, you'll receive 5 points. If you start following me now, you'll receive 2 points.

2. Commenting will get you an extra point for EACH COMMENT during the course of the contest because lets be honest, blogging just isn't much fun if no one's listening. Also, it's the method you'll need to use to officially enter the contest.

3. If you choose to FB, Tweet or blog about this, that's awesome and I'll give you an extra two points for each effort. I'm going to count on your honesty, though, so just let me know you've given this post a shout out; no links are necessary.

4. This contest will continue until Midnight on the Ides of February. (I've always wanted to use 'Ides' in a sentence! Woo hoo!) The Ides of February is the 13th, in case you wondered. I will announce my winners on the following day.

5. First prize will go to the person with the most number of points and so on:

A. First Fifty Pages Critique
B. Query Letter or Synopsis Critique
C. The wooden box to the right, carved by East Indian artists.
D. A Barnes & Noble Notepad with this beautiful Chinese-style illustration and magnetic closure. (See the picture at the top of this post for the cover and inside illustrations.)
E. Wonton Bath Fizzers. Fill your bathrub with warm water and dissolve the wonton - err, fizzer in it. Kinda cool, huh? (For all those interested, they contain Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Pentasodium Triphosphate, Cellulose Gum, Talc, Sodium Sulfate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Parfume, FD&C Blue #1 Cl42090.)

Now, if a prize winner would like one of the other prizes, (say, my first prize winner does not want a fifty page critique,) I will shuffle the prizes accordingly, but the next person in line will always be offered the biggest kahuna available. LOL

Good luck and many thanks to you all!

Contests for Writing and Books, Oh My!

2011-01-12T08:00:00.003-06:00

It's contest season, folks. Let's see what's cooking:

At Margo Berendson's "Writing at High Altitudes" you've got an awesome contest to help push yourself and a fellow author. Margo is offering a commenter a $30 Amazon giftcard for their comment regarding her New Year's resolution word count goal. Read her post, get inspired.

Many of you know I entered and won second place for fantasy in the 2010 Sandy Writer's Competition last year. It's time to send in your chapters for 2011 and I can't recommend doing this enough. Seriously. For $30, you get constructive criticism from three published authors AND if you place in the top three positions, your ms goes before an agent. Ginger Clark was my agent-judge last year and she requested my first 50 pages. Pretty darn cool. Check out the competition's guidelines and get your work in. The deadline is February 13th.

Unless you're dead or uninterested in writing, you're aware the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition opens on January 24th and closes to entries on February 6th OR when they receive 5,000 entries in a given age range (adult or YA). This competition is FREE and as I posted a few days ago, there are communities at the site who will critique your opening chapters for you while you await the judges' decisions. Two years ago they helped me polish my opening and made winning second place in the Sandy possible. This contest is well worth your time and you have nothing to lose.

The annual Chase the Dream contest (for you Romance authors) will be rescheduled this year. Make sure you check their website periodically for more information, but if I hear when it will be, I'll try to post the dates here, too.

Addendum! Maria Zannini was so kind as to let me know about her critique contest! Be sure to go there next for a chance to win a free critique!

Good luck and God bless you all!

Chinese New Year Celebration in Kansas City

2011-01-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

2011 KC Chinese New Year Celebration

Together for the first time, KCCAA is teaming up with Edgar Snow Memorial Fund, and KU Confucius Institute to jointly host the best-ever “Kansas City Chinese New Year Celebration” on Feb. 5, 2011 Saturday at Johnson County Community College (JCCC).

Click here for Program Highlight.

2:00-4:00pm    JCCC GEB Building - 1st KC Chinese Dance Competition
(free to the public)
3:00-6:00pm   JCCC Regnier Ctr. - Dance/Music Performances, Acrobat,
Puppet Show, Martial Arts,
Food, Children Activities,
Culture Presentations,
including Dumplings/Noddles,
Making, Chinese Paper Cutting,
Calligraphy, Health Services,
and Much More ...
(free to the public)
Would like to perform? contact us through email kccaaboardofdirectors@yahoo.com.
7:00-9:00pm   JCCC Yardley Hall - Kansas City Chinese New Year Gala
Spectacular Chinese Acrobats
world-class bass-baritone Sun Yu,
flamenco dancers of Spain,
performing arts troupe from China,
Korean music and dance troupe,
ballet, jazz, and folk dances,
MC - KCTV5 Kelly Jones,
and much more ...

Stay tuned for Feb. 5 gala tickets and 2011 KCCAA membership.Your 2010 KCCAA membership card and benefits including 7% discount at
888 International Market and Ho's Oriental Market will be valid till February 3, 2011.

New Wuxia Market!

2011-01-05T07:57:00.000-06:00

This notice comes straight from Rob, the owner of Kung Fu Action Theatre:

Who are we?

Kung Fu Action Theatre is a monthly podcast running since 2006 which has built an audience on telling action-adventure stories. We've been focused on Audio Drama (radioplays), but are now looking to showcase short fiction instead.

What do we want?

Historical adventure stories set in Asia or with an Asian element. Prose only, no scripts or poetry.

What will we do with them?

Read them into a microphone to turn them into audio fiction, and then stick them up in our podcast feed for our audience to enjoy.

Why should you submit your story to us?

We have an average of 7000 people downloading our podcast feed each month, do you want 7000 people to hear your story read and presented in a professional manner and showcased? Plus, we only want one-time audio rights (not print), the story is still yours, and you can do whatever you want with it. And on top of that, you get a Creative Commons licensed mp3 of your story you can do anything with except sell for money, like pass to publishers as a piece of promotional material to help get your work published elsewhere.

What do we get from this?

We like entertaining people and telling stories. It’s that simple. KFAT is non-profit, contains no advertising, and actually runs at a loss with only donations from listeners to help cover the costs. (Which by the way, they don’t. So feel free to donate!) We also want to promote the Asian adventure genres, because that’s what we love to read!

More details here.

New Markets, Residencies and Other Opportunities

2011-01-01T12:16:00.000-06:00

I've got several different types of markets and opportunities today. I wish I could take credit for them, but oh well. :D

This first one is courtesy of Hope Clark:

GLOBAL ARTS VILLAGE - INDIA
http://www.globalartsvillage.org/residencies.htm
---
A residency can provide much needed time away from your normal
environment and routine. You are encouraged to develop your work
based upon your Indian experience and inspiration. The Village
offers residency programs to emerging, mid-career and established
artists. Residencies are offered for all major creative disciplines
(visual, performing, literary, healing arts) and we also welcome
professionals, researchers and scholars. Residents choose from
standard, duplex or accommodations in administrative staff quarters
and are provided with work studio space, three prepared vegetarian
meals per day, laundry service, broadband wi-fi internet access
and airport pick-up. Specific requirements, benefits, conditions
and additional information are outlined within the program and
facility descriptions. India is a land full of contrast, beauty
and surprises. The residencies provide the perfect amount of
time to absorb the Indian experience, create work and allow for
travel time before or after the residency period. Selection
Procedure: Applications are reviewed by a panel and selection
is based upon your current body of work, project description,
and motivation to develop your art, project, and/or work in
India.

I can't take credit for this one, either. It's many thanks to Eve in the Authors of Asian Novels Group.

A new magazine (short story market) is available at http://kunlunjournal.blogspot.com/2010/12/welcome-to-kunlun-journal.html. He's especially interested in Wuxia, which is the type of story where you have a wondering warrior. Think "Seven Samurai," "Lone Wolf and Cub," etc.

My own story is a member of the Wuxia family as it's based on one of the early Wuxia classics, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." If you're interested in helping me polish the new opening I've made thanks to Tessa Elwood and Donna Hole (you ladies have my gratitude and a critique coming whenever you need it!), go to Mourn Their Courage and let me know if you have any questions.

Are you aware of any markets I should post about? (I'll give you credit and many thanks.) Do you have a critique concern you'd like to share? Drop me a note and we can brainstorm.

I Need Your Help

2010-12-29T16:41:00.003-06:00

Help me, Lovers of Asian Fantasy! You're my only hope. Mmmm. Sorry. I couldn't help myself.

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition is upon us all once again and I intend to enter. The first year I did this, I received outstanding feedback by posting my work on the Createspace Preview Gallery, so I'm doing that ahead of time this year. I hope what feedback I receive might help me over a hump. Who knows, maybe I'll even get farther in the competition this year.

I've written once of those books with an unusual setting (China) that readers need to be eased into before the plot speeds up. I've done the best I can at providing atmosphere, characterization and the plot's forward momentum. However, this is a war novel and it takes three chapters (30 pages) before the characters march off to war. I'd love to find an ingenious way for atmosphere, characterization and plot to be solid and understandable within one chapter. The site allowed me to upload the first twenty pages, but that should give you an idea of what's happening and what I might be able to trim or reorganize.

If you're willing to help, please go to my entry, Mourn Their Courage. I'll be happy to provide a reciprocal critique!

An Interview with Bo Caldwell, author of City of Tranquil Light

2010-12-21T09:01:00.000-06:00

I'm delighted to say I was allowed to interview Bo Caldwell, author of "City of Tranquil Light."

1. I know you based the novel on the experiences of your relatives, but I noticed you also referred to other missional memoirs like "The Small Woman," so I wondered throughout the novel if you used true events that were related to you. If so, what events were real?

It's very hard to go back and recall exactly what was fictional and what was true. That said, even when I made up characters and events, I worked at keeping them true in spirit to what happened to the missionaries I read about. For example, the threat of bandits was very real, and although I made up "my" bandit, he was based on individuals I read about.

2. What suggestions would you give to those interested in entering the missions field?

I really don't feel that I'm an expert on missionaries or the mission field -- I would only say what I would say to anyone about pursuing such a demanding commitment: to do all they can to be sure that God is calling them to the work, and not their egos or pride.

3. Have you done any other books on this topic or in this setting?

My first novel, The Distant Land of My Father, was based on the life of an uncle of mine, who lived much of his life in Shanghai. The novel takes place in Shanghai and Los Angeles from 1937 to 1961, and in that respect, it's a prequel to City of Tranquil Light, though it's not based on the same characters.

4. If you had one hope to express for this book, what might it be?

If you mean one hope about what comes from the book, I would say that it would mean a great deal to me if the book gave people hope -- hope that joy is always possible, even after great loss, and even late in life. I believe that it's always possible that the best is yet to come.

Thanks so much for the inspiration and joy I received from your book, Ms. Caldwell and for the opportunity to chat.

New Market

2010-12-20T08:00:00.001-06:00

Many thanks to Rashda Kahn for telling me about this via the Authors of Asian Novels group. Do you happen to have a story about a monk in your repertoire? Say no more! Rashda found a market for this little niche called "Monk Punk." (Don't you love that title?)

Get thee to http://www.duotrope.com/market_5062.aspx and read their guidelines. They're interested in all varieties of monks and genres.

Book Review: City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell

2010-12-15T08:00:00.002-06:00

City of Tranquil Light is a novel based on the lives of the author’s maternal Aunt and Uncle. The fictional story of Will and Katherine Kiehn is so moving that I devoured the first 111 pages in a single sitting. After that, I continued to read, but many times with the greatest agony.

Not because the writing turned to a lesser quality, but because the characters' little girl dies. As the couple work through their grief, there are questions raised with such honest poignancy that I could not read more than one paragraph at a time because I wept so hard. Anyone who has ever grieved deeply will feel the depth of Katherine’s despair in her talk with God:

“We buried our daughter yesterday, and I am brought up short by the harshness of Your ways. I have given my all for You and in return you have taken the gift I love most – my sweet child. But perhaps I loved her too much I am mistaken; perhaps I haven’t given my all, but have held something back. Did I love her more than You? I know you are a jealous God, but are You that jealous, that You would take the other object of my devotion? I feel broken, as though there is a great gash inside of me, and my only prayer is a question: ‘What have You done?’ I ask not from anger, but from confusion, for I truly do not understand.

Perhaps You are a flawed God, imperfect as we are. We are, after all, made in your image. Perhaps it was not Your intention to take Lily, but your inattention. Did You look away for a moment? Was your mind elsewhere? Many times a day I ask myself what else I could have done and search for some mistake I made. But perhaps You are at fault, not I. It seems there is so much You could have done.”

Who among us who has met with loss hasn’t asked these questions? It is the first of many tragedies they live through, but Mrs. Caldwell allows us to see the glory and wonder of how God can work. The man who stole the medicine that might have saved Lily’s life comes to Will Kiehn and demands – at gun point – that Will treat his son.

Will knows what this man’s banditry has cost him and I’m sure many of us might tell this bandit where he and his murderous son could go. Will doesn’t. He heals the son and the bandit’s men and earns their trust and gratitude before he’s allowed to return to his wife. Before he does so, he shares the Lord’s Good News with his captors both through the bible and through his actions, but Will's forgiveness is a long way away.

Time continues and the bandit’s son goes on a murderous rampage, after which he is captured, tortured and executed. The bandit returns to Will and in an amazing scene filled with the bereft father’s sorrow and humiliation, the bandit chief turns himself in as justice for having raised a shameful son. He is beaten and awaiting trial when Will brings him food and medical treatment. Neither man expects the bandit to survive, but God's ways are mysterious and wonderful.

Their lives intertwine throughout the novel, which is a must read for anyone interested in China, missional history or the mission field. If the tremendous losses and beauty in City of Tranquil Light kept me by my tissue box, the heroism, faith and selflessness displayed by Caldwell’s characters kept me reading.

New Market

2010-12-13T08:00:00.002-06:00

I thought this might be of interest to some of my readers:

GAMBATTE!
http://www.writtenworldcommunications.com/content/gambatte_guidelines.html
---
Gambatte! is a magazine and book imprint of Written World
Communications launching in 2010. Written by anime / manga
fans, FOR anime / manga fans, we hope to offer a diverse and
exciting magazine featuring everything from the usual reviews
and articles to a showcase of exciting new talent. We are
actively looking for an original book length manga to begin
our book imprint in late 2010 to early 2011. Not wanting fan-
fiction but instead something brand new that no one has seen.
Please send proposals with a sample chapter to
gambatte.mag@gmail.com.

It is yet another post courtesy of Hope Clark's Fundsforwriters.com.

And Happy Birthday, Rabbit!

Zombies: A Metaphor For Our World

2010-12-06T17:12:00.000-06:00

It’s 2011 and the zombies are not coming. They’re here. No, I’ve not gone off my rocker and incidentally, I’m not discussing the traditional brain-sucking undead, either. It is my contention that we are in the age of zombie literature.

The undead in recent literature are a metaphor for our fears that nothing is new. We, as a creators fear we have used all of the creative verve the universe has to offer and all we can do is cannibalize upon what has come before. The is mirrored by society, terrified of pseudo-resurrections from our various malaises (including economic). We don’t want a zombie existence where we’re alive, but only in the most technical of ways. Nonetheless, we suspect our best, strongest hope is to be pallid, undead vampires who sparkle.

Fifteen years ago my husband made the utterly ridiculous claim that we had arrived at the literary age of plagiarism. All literature would be based on the work of others and, in the most extreme cases, would BE the work of others with only the byline changed. I scoffed. (Sorry, honey.)

I’m not laughing anymore. The last fifteen years has seen the consistent use of fairytales for retellings and previous stories as jumping off points for more stories: Happily Ever After, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies being a few. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is comprised of 90% of the original Jane Austen novel mixed with 10% of Seth Grahame’s original material. Please understand, I am not knocking Grahame’s achievement. He saw the potential there and I applaud him. I am not complaining about this trend, either, as I’ve used Mother Goose rhymes in one of my strongest short stories and my first novel is based on “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” No, I am a part of this trend, but as a fantasy writer, I do seek to understand it and perhaps stay ahead of it.

So what are your thoughts? What caused this fear? Fear of the A and H Bombs brought on monster movies fifty years ago and one can easily see our present love affair with the undead is an extension of that time period. Still what was the modern bomb and where is the trend headed?

CZP/RANNU FUND FOR WRITERS OF SPECULATIVE LITERATURE

2010-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

These links and many others were found at Hope Clark's Fundsforwriters.

The Fund, brought to you in collaboration with ChiZine Publications,
offers two awards per year of $500 CDN each, one for fiction,
one for poetry, granted to two writers of speculative literature
(i.e., science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, surrealism,
etc.), of any nationality/place of residence, at any stage of their
career. The next round of submissions for this award will be
accepted between November 15, 2010 and January 15, 2011. The
winners will be announced May 15, 2011. Submit up to 5 poems
(unpublished work), not to exceed 10 pages -single-spaced.
Submit one short story or a novel excerpt (unpublished work)
of no more than 7,000 words-double-spaced. If submitting a
novel excerpt, include a brief synopsis. All entries in both
fiction and poetry MUST be "speculative literature" in content;
in other words: science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism,
alternate history, steampunk, etc. Two Honourable Mentions in
each category will win $50.

THE NATIONAL CREATIVE SOCIETY
BARNES & NOBLE CHRISTMAS FUNDRAISER
FOR STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

This is an organization whose goal is to encourage students'
creativity as well as their participation in the creative arts.
This year among our other outreaches we will be funding seven
separate scholarships for college-bound high school seniors.

As part of our annual fund drive, we are having a book fair
from Dec. 2 through Dec. 5. IF you were going Christmas shopping
during those dates anyway, and IF you were planning on buying
some books as gifts, and IF you were going to make those
purchases at any Barnes and Noble Bookstore or online at BN.com,
THEN please consider using one of our coupons when you make your
purchase.

The National Creative Society will receive a donation from
Barnes and Noble equal to 10% of your purchase. You will
receive a warm feeling deep down inside because you did the
right thing, and it won't cost you a penny more than you were
going to spend, anyway. It's a win-win situation, and you
don't even have to print out the coupons in color.

http://www.nationalcreativesociety.com/homepage.html
Click on "2010 Barnes and Noble Book Fair"

Thanks.

PS: If you get to the store and have forgotten your coupon,
just mention the National Creative Society book fair and
the salesperson can take it from there.

This Is Hysterical

2010-12-01T07:35:00.001-06:00

If you have no idea how the publishing industry works - or how it gets screwed up by hopeful writers and sharks, take the time to watch this:

"So You Want to Be A Writer"

You might just save yourself from making a horrible faux pas with an agent, editor, or publisher.

On a separate note, if you want to suggest a great Christmas present for yourself, send folks to Irene Goodman's site. She's a literary agent who routinely (once a month) auctions her time away for a good cause. She's raising money to combat her son's illness by offering writers critiques. This month, there are fifteen critique auctions! Many thanks to Cat Woods for the info.

Addendum: Many thanks to those who let me know the link wasn't working!

When You Have Nothing To Say

2010-11-29T18:03:00.000-06:00

It is better to remain silent, I'm sure. I can't do that since today would be my second Silent Monday and I don't want to set a bad precedent.

I really have nothing to say. I've participated in NanoWrimo this month in a minimal way in that I've written between 150 and 200 words every day. Those of you who have written thousands of words every day, feel free to scoff. I'm dealing with my third or fourth consecutive month of poor health, and I have no more energy for writing than the occasional blog post and 200 daily words will cover.

What about you? If you check in today, please let me know how you're doing. Not (just) about how your Nano project has gone, or how your agent search is going (though I'm interested). I'm interested in how YOU are.

Grateful For So Much

2010-11-25T10:45:00.000-06:00

I have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which are my followers. To all of you, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, may you have a wonderful, family-blessed day.

Book Review: The Two Pearls of Wisdom

2010-11-17T08:00:00.003-06:00

Two Pearls of Wisdom (a.k.a. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, or Rise of the Dragoneye) is easily one of the best fantasies I've ever read. Character development was precise and sometimes surprising and the world building was on a level seldom seen.
   For instance, have you ever heard of magic built around the twelve animals of the zodiac and the Chinese belief in meridian points within the human body? In answer to the first: yes, once. In answer to the second question: only in traditional Chinese mythology. In 37 years of reading fantasy, I have never come across something quite this inventive. I wish I'd thought of it, but I can only admire.
   Eon is a crippled boy with the unusual ability to see all twelve mystical dragons of the zodiac. Eon is also not a boy, but Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who will be killed for presuming upon a man's position if she's discovered. To complicate matters, the Emperor lies on his deathbed. His brother and Lord Ido, the Rat Dragoneye, seek to make the "String of Pearls," a weapon of unholy power, and with it, change the world. Eona must learn to trust her power and find the strength to face a vicious enemy who would seize her magic and her life.
   If you love political intrigue and fantasy as much as I do, then you're probably longing for a unique take on the genre. "The Two Pearls of Wisdom" is it and it's the first in a series. Please be aware, in the U.S., the book's title is "Eon: Dragoneye Reborn." (Ms. Goodman is Australian and "Two Pearls" is the original Australian title.) I don't do spoilers, but I can tell you this was obviously planned as a series of books. "The Necklace of the Gods" won't be one of those sequels that happened because a sequel was the unplanned, but most expedient literary offering. "Two Pearls" is a stand alone novel that clearly paves the way for what must happen next.
   Based on the first book, I look forward to another magical story unfolding.

Addendum: I neglected to address two issues in this review and I hope you'll let me do so now.

1. When I first started reading, I got frustrated with Eon/Eona because she did not perceive two particularly obvious truths. However, once I got beyond my frustration and just enjoyed the book, I (obviously) forgot about my frustration with her and even felt her character development was well done at the end. I say obviously because it took me two weeks and one book review conversation to remember!
2. I understand this book has some controversy concerning how it's perceived by minority groups. They feel like little to no research was done on China and that the world building was not accurate. I'm going to stand by what I said earlier and add one thing. This book isn't set in China. This is a fantasy world loosely based on certain cultural touchstones of this world. If some believe it could have been more tightly based on that culture, well - it's their culture and since my culture is one based on a conglomeration of all others, it's harder for me to judge. (Where their worldview is all about China, my worldview includes an acceptance of melting potism, if you will.) However, as a fantasy reader I have seen very few books with this much world building in an Asian setting and yes, I did enjoy it.

Reader Stereotyping

2010-11-15T08:00:00.022-06:00

Picture is the property of The Telegraph

Okay, two things for today. One, a hearty three cheers for Aung San Suu Kyi's bravery and generous spirit. I pray that this wonderful woman can continue to lead the struggle for peaceful change within her country. A few days ago, author Jeannie Lin wrote a blog on Asian heroes. This woman is one of mine.

And on a lesser, but still important note: I'm the moderator for the Authors of Asian Novels group (use the link if you're interested in joining us!) and we frequently have interesting conversations.

This month's topic has touched on interracial relationships and reader expectations. All this led me to question, as a writer, how do you deal with reader stereotyping and discrimination? Not on the racial side of this topic, but on the side of depicting culture in ways that are believable and non-stereotypical, I've had the following experience.

I once requested a critique of my opening chapters (this was before the Sandy competition, but not THAT much before it) from a s.f./fantasy online group I belonged to. The response I got back really floored me. One person wailed at me that I knew nothing about the culture I was using. I hadn't used caste/rank realistically, etc. These were his expectations and based on what he knew about Asian culture. The problem is, I knew enough about Asian culture to know caste-based behavior was historically frowned on even while it was expected!

In my story, my upper class MC is asked about his welcoming behavior toward a lower caste merchant. My MC comments that the merchant could be his brother. That's when this reader railed on me, not understanding that I had done this intentionally. He thought I'd done it because I'm American and don't understand caste.

This guy clearly had some other issues and beliefs regarding Asian culture and I blew his racial and cultural comments off, but am still very much aware he won't be the only reader with these assumptions. The truth is, my hero doesn't act on caste/rank because that's who he is and his behavior was the MODEL to the Chinese of how a man should react to others. It simply isn't how the majority of men acted. I used this to set my hero apart as a hero, but it made my critiquer spazz. He expected and wanted the stereotype.

So my questions is, how should I have responded? (I'm not the best debater, I admit.) How do you respond when faced with stereotype expectations and reader discrimination?

Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden

2010-11-10T08:00:00.007-06:00

This is the first book of a trilogy and all I can say is, bring the rest of it! (Please see last month's review of "Bones of the Hills" by Lisa Yarde for a review of a book later in the series.)

“Birth of an Empire” starts with the birth of Temujin, the first Genghis of the Mongolian people. We then rejoin the very young Temujin when his father is murdered and the tribe abandons Temujin and his family.

Expected to die on the steppes, the boy Temujin saves his family from starvation and the cold of winter and eventually, they discover a small portion of safety among the wandering herdsman of Mongolia. Had Temujin’s tribe and its new leader assumed his death, history might have had a different outcome, but the tribe’s new Khan fears vengeance for the family’s abandonment. He hunts Temujin’s family, captures Temujin and tries to kill him.

This launches Temujin into a life-long battle, first for survival and eventually for revenge against his father’s murderers and unification for his people.

Birth of a Empire has a little bit of a slow start, but the setting and time frame is epic, so the slow build is appropriate. Mr. Iggulden’s use of historical facts has been questioned by others, but personally, I'm not bothered if he changed things here and there to suit his story. It's fiction. If I wanted historical facts, I'd go researching. I will say, the characterizations and settings' realism are unrelenting. If you like your historical fiction with a bit of blood and a lot of emotional zest, don’t be intimidated. It’s only the Mongolian Horde, after all.

2010-11-08T08:00:00.002-06:00

If you're in the Kansas City area, you might want to check this out. It looks marvelous. Tickets are $22.
November 12th, 8 p.m. Yardley Hall of Johnson County Community College (JCCC)

Experience the vibrant and colorful roar of JIGU! 
Thunder Drums of China_®. This world-renowned company 
of  drummers and musicians weaves modern musical 
elements and high-tech lighting with deeply rooted folk origins to bring 
drama and delight to this spectacular and  awe-inspiring cultural. JCCC Ticket sale

  Tai Chi Demonstration 7 - 7:45 p.m. Carlsen Center Lobby

Cultural Exchange Fund Grant and Other Markets

2010-11-01T11:34:00.002-05:00

In an effort to make my life more organized (or organized at all), I am going to attempt to post on a schedule. For now, I'll try to post blogs, news, etc every Monday and post book reviews on Wednesdays. Here's hoping!

For today's news, I received the following information from Hope Clark's Funds For Writers. If you haven't signed up to receive free copies of Hope's newsletters, you're missing out on an important guide to current markets, supporters, and more. A tip on this particular gem: the deadline may be soon. Don't delay if you're interested.

Arts Presenters will fund individual travel subsidies and
group travel subsidies. The maximum amount awarded per
individual organization, inclusive of travel costs and per
diem, is $2,000. Group travel subsidies will be awarded only
to groups of three or more presenters from different member
presenting organizations. The maximum award for a group is
$10,000, with no more than $2,000 awarded per organization.
In promoting cross-cultural arts programming, Arts Presenters
strongly encourages travel to the following locations,
including but not limited to: the Middle East, Asia, Latin
America and Africa.Arts Presenters will award travel subsidies
to individual presenters, presenting organizations and to
groups of presenters traveling to see the work of artists,
companies and/or to develop and advance projects with
international artists and their collaborators. All applicants
must be active members of the Association of Performing Arts
Presenters.

And yet another contest:

SCN ANNUAL NOVEL PITCH & FIRST 5 PAGES CONTEST
Sponsored by Smoke City Narrators http://www.janicewiley-dorn.com/smokecitynarrators.html

ENTRY FEE - $8.50
DEADLINE - Postmarked or Emailed by November 15, 2010.
First prize - $150. Second prize - $75. Third prize - $40. 6 HM. Feedback posted on website.

JUDGE - Agent Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management, NY, NY. Email/Snail Mail: 1. First 5 pages of a novel, 1,500 words max.
2. One-sentence synopsis of the novel, 25 words or less.
(Novel does not have to be complete.)

Entry pages not published. Authors keep all rights.
Open Internationally. Checks (US bank), Money Orders or PayPal.
Please see website for complete rules.

Good luck, all ye competitors!