Storm Warning

It seems almost appropriate that I started reading Jeff Somers's new novel Trickster during a tornado warning; I'm thinking we should issue one for this author. Not since I innocently and unknowingly picked up Rob Thurman's debut Nightlife have I been so blown away by a new-to-me urban fantasy writer.

Trickster introduces us to Lem and Mags, a pair of magician grifters who barely subsist on the extreme outer fringes of society. Lem is skinny and clever and a screw-up; Mags is huge and not so clever and devoted to Lem. While running small cons (which they mostly botch) they stumble upon a girl named Claire whom they find tied up and locked in the trunk of a car. Even worse, someone has covered Claire's body from head to toe with runes, marking her as part of a very big, extremely dark and utterly mysterious ritual. Lem and Mags know enough about big, bad magic to understand they should run, not walk, away from Claire. When they don't, the ugly party really gets started.

Jeff Somers delivers this story with tenebrous style and sepulchral wit (which he employs mercilessly, I'll warn you.) Think Steinbeck, if he'd had a straight razor's edge and a real attitude problem. You shouldn't expect anything gruesome in this novel to be draped with a doily of politeness or shoved offstage; you definitely will be having tea and cookies with all the beasties in the good parlor. While the characters are demonstrating how unlikable they should be -- as Lem frequently observes about his sort in the story, We are not good people -- you'll be falling in love with them. I certainly have. Also, the magic involved isn't of the Tinkerbell variety; there are always consequences, and most of them are disastrous. The world of Trickster is grungy, bleak and filled with nightmares, and this novel gives you a front-row seat in the VIP section on the tour bus. I can't wait for the next ride, either.

As always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, name a new-to-you author you've recently discovered and enjoyed (or if you're in a reading slump, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, March 1st, 2013. I'll draw five names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned copy of Trickster by Jeff Somers. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Elsewhere with Hat Box

Today I'm over at Disenchanted & Co. to hold my first giveaway at the new series blog. Stop in, check out Her Ladyship's Hat Box (a distant cousin of the PBW magic hat) and you just might win whatever happens to be inside.

Want a hint? Okay: It's definitely not bigger than a hat box . . .

Three Sub Ops

Freedom Forge Press is open for novel and novella submissions: "We’re looking for novels, novellas, and nonfiction works of about 25,000 – 100,000 words. All works should fit the theme of freedom—freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom of the individual. We are open to any genre (including nonfiction, general fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, young adult) with the exception of erotica as long as the work fits the theme of freedom. Excessive violence, sex, and profanity should be avoided, but these elements should be included when integral to the plot. Works for young adults should be limited to a “PG-13” rating. Works for children will be published under our Freedom Footprints imprint." Length: 25-100K, Payment: "20% royalty of cover price for print; 35% royalty of cover price for e-book." Query on reprints, electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details.

Monster Corral e-zine is holding a monthly 1K monster story contest: "The prize is $50, a digital certificate suitable for printing and framing, and bragging rights. First Runner Up will receive $10, and only slightly less bragging rights. The 1,000 word limit is strict – stories of 1,001 words will not be published (unless we love it so much we’re willing to edit out a word or two to squeeze it in under the limit.) Any genre is acceptable, but the story must have an extreme antagonist (MONSTER) as the featured character. If the story doesn’t win either first or second place, we may seek to buy it as one of our regular stories at our usual rate of 1 cent/word. Submissions must be emailed by the last day of the month, and judging will be complete no later than the 10th of the following month. The First Runner Up story will appear on about the 14th of the month, and the winning story will appear on about the 17th of the month. Submit your story using the normal procedures for Monster Corral (click on the Submissions button to see our guidelines) but be sure to include the word ”Contest” in your email subject heading." [Note from PBW: It appears this contest centers on a theme image, too; see guidelines for this month's image.] Current Deadline: February 28th, 2013.

Zero One Publishing has an open call for their upcoming Lovecraft-inspired antho Whispers from the Abyss: "This collection is the first ever H.P. Lovecraft themed anthology specifically tailored for the growing “commuter market.” These are people who do their pleasure reading on digital devices while riding home from work on the subway, or during a lunch break." Length: 150-3000 words; Payment: "One cent per word up to 3000 words and a copy of the anthology." Reprints okay, electronic submission only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: May 30th, 2013.

These three ops were found among the many market listings at Ralan's place.

Ampersand Ten

Ten Author Collaborations We'd Like to See

Bill Clinton & Dr. Phil: Not on a revised edition of Family First, obviously, but I bet they could write up a slamming self-help for men with toxic narcissism.

Janet Evanovich & Jane Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged that Stephanie Plum needs to make up her damn mind and pick either Morelli or Ranger. Meanwhile, Lulu runs off with Mr. Wickham.

Sue Grafton & Dean Koontz: Kinsey discovers she has an evil twin who works at a carnival filled with monsters no one but she can see, but at least she finally gets a dog.

John Grisham & Rev. Rick Warren: What if The Firm had been Purpose Driven instead? Even creepier, am I right?

Stephen King & Danielle Steel: The body count wouldn't decrease much, but a collab rewrite of Lisey's Story would result in it actually becoming a romance (at least until the red shirt hero gets bumped off during a tragic car accident or being eaten by his car, whichever comes first.)

Suzanne Somers & Stephenie Meyer: There are all kinds of mutual benefits in this one: Sexy Forever wouldn't need a title change, Bella could stop being such a klutz, and no character would ever age again . . .

China Miéville & Lemony Snicket: Imagine the novels we'd get out of these two! A Series of Unfortunate Events in New Crobuzon. The unKind Kraken. Un Lun Dunce. Okay, this one might be suitable for my personal amusement only.

James Patterson & Joel Osteen: Alex Cross can be saved before he must die. Unless you buy the next book. (There's the script for your next commercial, James. You don't have to thank me.)

Anne Rice & Judy Blume: The first book has to be titled Are You There, God? It's me, Lestat. Has to be.

J.K. Rowling & Harper Lee: Three words: Scout at Hogwarts.

Pass the Catchup, Please

As I mentioned last week I'll now be spending Sundays reading and replying to comments -- see you in the threads.

Winners

The entries for the Nine Lives giveaway were really magical -- bravo to you all for making such marvelously creative suggestions (and the next time I adopt a kitty, I know who I'm asking to help me with a name.) We got the magic cat, I mean, hat, to do its thing, and the winners (along with the names they chose) are:

Anne V.: I might call a magical cat Dresden after a favorite wizard for hire.

Deb Salisbury: My most magical cat was Mystic, a little black queen from the California Gold Country.

bluebamboo: Rowan, a mash-up and slight spelling tweak of Rod and Owen from Shanna Swendson's Enchanted Inc. series.

SandyH: . . . I decided that our next cat would be named Darcy (yes, after that Darcy - my most favorite book).

Terri R.: Mistofeles, from the musical Cats

Bonnie (Bonz): Miss Minerva Delurvah!

Jennifer and Jeff: How about FNU? (Pronounced Fin-oo) It also stands for First Name Unknown.

Lisa954: Poof! would be the name I would give to a magical cat.

Na: I would like to name a Magical cat Whispers.

Winners, when you have a chance please send your full names and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get your books out to you. My thanks to everyone for joining in and helping to celebrate our pal Darlene's NYT bestseller debut.

Bon Ton

This video manages to be wickedly clever, visually interesting and utterly hilarious (some music, and narrated in French with English subtitles):

C'est la vie - ENGLISH SUBS from Simone Rovellini on Vimeo.

Poster Me

While image searching for some cover art for a large print edition of one of my novels (the few print copies I have came to me all dinged up) I found something I'd never seen in the results: two quote posters with my byline:



I traced the images back to The Quote Factory, which allows you to download "famous quotations" in low resolution (screen use) for free or higher resolution (for home printing) for a couple bucks. You can also create your own custom quotations, which is how I imagine the quotations from my books got there - I've seen both before on that Goodreads site.

Since I'm already quoted on the site I thought I'd try to create my own poster with something interesting I've said about writing, and with a few clicks produced this on the screen:



I then downloaded the free version of my poster, which comes out like this; pretty nice for a low-rez image. While anyone with a decent photoshop program can produce the same sort of poster themselves, the Quote Factory is a fun generator to play with (there are a few choices as to the type of background, font and layout.) I also like the option to download whatever you create for free -- just remember that whatever you create stays on the site and can be sold to others.

Nine Lives

Guess whose latest release is debuting at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list this week?



Yep, that's Cat Trick, the latest Magical Cats mystery by Sofie Kelly, aka our pal Darlene Ryan. I've loved this series since the first book hit the shelves so you know I'm a very happy girl. There is also nothing more awesome than seeing a friend who is such a gifted storyteller skyrocket to the top of the lists.

I know how I'm going to celebrate: by giving away some copies of Ms. Kelly's brand new bestseller, of course. If you'd like one of them to be yours, in comments to this post tell us what you'd name a magical cat by midnight EST on Friday, February 22nd, 2013. I'll draw nine names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned copy of Cat Trick by Sofie Kelly. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Tuesday Ten

Ten Things About Color Palettes and Palette Generators

Freeware Caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Big Huge Labs' Color Palette Generator will generate a color palette (complete with inventive names and HTML codes) based on any of your photos.

The 30 day free trial of Color Wheel Pro software allows you to create innumerable color palettes of your own.

According to the designer, ColorBlender.com is "ia web-based tool for creating color palettes (here referred to as "blends") for web design and other types of digital design. The main feature of the tool is to have a complete "blend" of 6 matching colors created when choosing only one "base" color. This makes it very quick and easy to create a color scheme for e.g. a website, as you can instantly use the colors for text, backgrounds, links, border etc."

ColorRotate allows you to work with virtual colors in 3D (I didn't want to register so I couldn't past the front/splash page, but I was able to rotate the cone thing and the site is frequently recommended as legit and very helpful.)

CSS Drive's Image to Colors Palette Generator also generates palettes based on any of your photos but gives you a range of palettes from light to dark as well as a complete color palette.

Tiny Eye Labs' Multicolr Search Engine allows you to pull up a selection of Flickr photos that match the color (or combination of colors) you select for the search.

ColRD's Palette Creator page changes according to the colors you pick, and also allows you to export your custom palette designs.

Pictaculous generates multiple palette suggestions based on your uploaded image and works from your phone, too.

Silk allows you to create online with virtual silk (this lovely link was stolen directly from The Word Nerds.)

59times.com's Web Color Generator generates some neat random color palettes.

Finally, I thought this ColorMatters.com article on color branding and trademarking was a fascinating read.

Tardily Elsewhere

Today I'm very late but I know you'll forgive me when I tell you I'm working on the next Disenchanted & Co. novel. I'm also over at the Office of Letters and Light Blog today talking about traditional versus independent publishing. I don't call anyone any names (since I've done both that would be a bit hypocritical) but I do point out some facts about both. Do stop by if you get a chance.

Comments Catch-up Day

This year I wanted to be a better blog host and make more of an effort to respond to the comments you all are so kind to leave for me. I started on this goal in January but other responsibilities derailed that in short order. Now that I'll be updating the Disenchanted & Co. blog as well as my photoblog I do need to make some changes to be more productive with my online time.

I think the only way I'm going to manage this is to devote one day a week to simply answering on comments. This will keep me from becoming distracted or doing a haphazard job of it. Since weekends are a bit less hectic than weekdays I thought I'd reserve Sundays for catching up. If nothing else I'll find out how many I can answer in one day's allotted internet time.

So, I'm off -- see you in comments. :)

Winners

I know it's hard for series lovers to pick a favorite; I have so many that I had to do that "If I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one series with me . . . " thing. Even then I could whittle the list down only to three: Marjorie Liu's Hunter Kiss novels, Anne Maxwell's Fire Dancer books, and The Petaybee Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. If I can't have all three series then I'm not going to the island, lol.

We revved up the magic hat, and the winners of The Adventures of Miss Temminnick giveaway are:

Karen Renee, who still favors Lord of the Rings.

Caroline, whose favorite series last year was the Parasol Protectorate.

ten, who chose Zenna Henderson's People.

Winners, when you have a chance please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com so I can get your books out to you. My thanks to everyone for joining in.

Urban Growth

This looks so real it's a little scary -- and brilliant (also has background music, for those of you at work):

New York Biotopes from Lena Steinkühler on Vimeo.

(Video link nicked from Gerard at The Presurfer)

Her Ladyship's Weblog

Today I'm unveiling the official weblog for my Disenchanted & Co. novel series, which features the first official excerpt from Her Ladyship's Curse (the header font might also look familiar, and thanks to everyone who offered feedback; I decided to go with #4.)

To visit my virtual Toriana, all you have to do is click on the pocketwatch:



I'd also like to wish everyone:

Rearing Racer

Spring is almost here, and with three dogs to walk now (Mom brought her darling pooch Abby) I'm spending a bit more time in the yard. Yesterday afternoon I went out with Skye and Cole to take a little stroll, and happened to notice on my way back to the porch how many leaves the old oak tree has been shedding:



Luckily I decided to examine the leaves at the moment, or I would have stepped on someone's head:



I'm not afraid of snakes, but I do like some warning before I meet one. Mr. Black Racer here played dead so well the dogs didn't even notice him when I hurried them inside. I was almost afraid he was deceased, but as soon as I came out with the camera he rattled his tail in the leaves and put on his tough guy act by rearing up:



I found out later via Internet research that this is classic behavior for a black racer when they're startled or feeling threatened.



Snakes are pretty amazing critters, and I love to photograph them. This species is non-venomous but I've read that they will bite if they feel cornered or threatened, so I kept a safe distance and took all the pics by zoom.



He stayed upright in full rearing rage and gave me the stink eye until I retreated, and only then did he slither away. I've never seen a snake do that so I'm delighted I got the pics.

Anything interesting showing up in your yard or garden yet? Let us know in comments.

The Adventures of Miss Temminnick

Gail Carriger's latest release Etiquette & Espionage is the first book in her new Finishing School YA series. and while it's set in the same universe as her Alexia Tarabotti novels, the story takes place a good many years before the formation of the Parasol Protectorate.

The protagonist is a girl named Sophronia Angelina Temminnick, and she's a handful. I chuckled as soon as I saw her name as it brought back many happy memories of reading the adventures of Margaret Sidney's Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Phronsie, the youngest and most adorable Pepper, was also a Sophronia, and she was always getting into mischief. For me the name was definitely a good omen.

Sophronia is the one of those "unnatural" teens who would rather dismantle a clock or pal around the stables than learn to paint watercolors and embroider. After an unfortunate but hilarious incident involving the family's dumbwaiter, Mrs. Temminnick informs Sophronia that she's being sent away to finishing school, and introduces her to the very odd lady who has arrived to whisk her off to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. Sophronia soon discovers that her new and highly unusual school is not what her genteel mother presumed, and that along with proper etiquette she will be taught how to courteously and covertly deceive, devise, evade disaster and definitely finish just about anything -- or anyone.

This was a delightful novel, filled from front to back with Gail Carriger's trademark wit and whimsy, and wonderful characters caught up in endless and imaginative hijinks. While you will meet much younger versions of two characters from her Alexia Tarabotti novels you don't need to read the earlier series to keep up with the story, so it works for readers who are new to this author, too. Someone had better publish a really great novel after this or I'm pretty sure Etiquette & Espionage will end up being my pick as best book of 2013.

As always you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, name your favorite novel series (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Friday, February 15th, 2013. I'll choose three names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners an unsigned hardcover copy of Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Booksigning No-Nos

Ten Things You Probably Shouldn't Bring to Your Booksigning

Candy: You'll end up babysitting a half-dozen readers too young for your novels while their mothers wander off to the cafe and have a relaxing half-hour sipping latte and nibbling on Godiva triple-truffle cheesecake. Also, while you're dealing with smeared faces, sticky fingers and the other inevitable effects of sugar on six-year-olds, at least one mother will return to inform you that her child is highly allergic to chocolate exactly two minutes after that little darling has ingested a handful of Hershey kisses.

Hand Sanitizer: This is a before and after, not during, thing to do at booksignings. Do bring a packet of tissues to politely offer to the sniffers, sneezers and coughers.

Low-Cut Blouse: No matter how fantastic your cleavage is, this stratagem does not tempt male readers into buying your book. They merely hover and talk to your chest until the wife arrives to glare at you and haul them off by an arm or ear.

Medication: If you're so sick you're actually chugging Dayquil just to stay vertical, should you really be out infecting helpless readers signing books?

One Pen: No matter how lucky or wonderful it is, your favorite pen can and probably will blob, skip or run out of ink altogether. Or someone will walk off with it in the middle of the signing.

Personal Security: This always cracks me up. If authors looked and made as much money as Angelina Jolie or Taylor Swift, maybe, but honestly? We don't and we don't. So skip the Rent-A-Face-Wrecker; no one needs to guard your bod.

Pets: Unless it's a service animal pets + bookstore generally don't mix. And remember that first grader who was highly allergic to chocolate? Pet dander makes him break out in hives, or your pet will take an instant dislike to him and bite him.

Snacks: Eating is another before or after, not during, thing to do. P.S., make sure they don't set up your signing table near the Godiva ballotin display. Trust me, it's evil.

Sunglasses: How do we spell pretentious? W-e-a-r-i-n-g s-u-n-g-l-a-s-s-e-s i-n-d-o-o-r-s.

Your Two-Year-Old: This darling kiddo may be an angel at home, but in a bookstore while you're trying to promote your novel, chat up readers and behave like a professional . . . do you remember The Exorcist? Like that. Get a babysitter.

Free Con Op

The folks managing the 2013 Backspace Writers Conference are offering a contest to win three free conference and workshop registrations: "Scholarships cover registration fees for the 2013 Backspace Writers Conference and Lane Shefter Bishop’s evening logline workshop ($765 value). Travel, hotel, and incidental expenses are the responsibility of scholarship winners. Please do not enter unless you are in a position to attend the conference." Entry requirements: "Fill out the submission form at the bottom of this page. Entries (title, logline, and 500-word excerpt of your choice from the beginning, middle, or end of the manuscript) will be posted on this page as they are received. Your name and email address will not be posted to the website. As each entry is added, notice will also be posted to the Backspace Writers Conference Facebook page and tweeted to increase awareness of the contest. One entry per person, please." See contest page for more details. Deadline: March 1, 2013.

Index Card Journal

Another of my Journaling Small challenges was to use this ordinary pack of index cards to make an interesting mini journal:



Which I did, and here's how it looks now:



Rather than turn the index cards into a book I decided to keep them in the same physical format and simply enhance their appearance. I also wanted to make this a green project, so I only used what I had on hand to do so. I started with two tea bags and some boiling water; I made a strong batch of tea and immersed the cards in it. Tea staining darkened the blinding white of the index cardstock to various shades of cream and ecru, blurred and lightened the ruled lines on the cards, and created some lovely mottled marks and warping, which all together gave the cards a wonderful antique look.

Tea staining doesn't make the cards tacky, btw, but it does leave a faint odor of tea. If you want to try this method, remember to let the tea cool enough first to work with without scalding your hands or fingers. Also do handle the cards carefully when they're wet as they tend to tear easily. Other options to alter the appearance of index cards would be to apply light washes of watercolor paint or spritzes of diluted food coloring. Those of you who are experienced paper makers are likely familiar with various commercial dyes that would work, too. If you don't mind the white color of the index cards, you might decorate them instead with stickers, cutouts, rub-on transfers or other scrapbooking bits.



Once my stained cards were completely dry I printed out some pages of words (two for every letter of the alphabet, a group of numbers, and the months of the year) in an antique font on cream-colored paper. I cut out and glued one word in a random spot on each index card. These words serve as my writing prompts; whatever I add to the card while journaling should relate somehow to that word. I also left about fifty cards deliberately blank so I can write whatever I like on those.



Once I had the cards finished I unfolded the cardboard holder, covered it with bits of paper and cardstock from my recyclable paper bin, and reassembled it. I added some decorative paper tape to the edges and corner folds to make it a bit more sturdy. The final touch was hot-gluing neat junk like rusty keys, old buttons, string, a little light bulb and an old pen nib to give the base a bit more style and weight. So that I can mark my progress as I use the cards I cut out the picture of a peacock from the top of an empty puzzle box (yes, I even save those to recycle) and made that my journal marker.

I've planned to use my index card journal for writing practice and daily inspiration, but you can always skip the prompts and simply write a journal entry on each card and keep them in date or subject order. Writers might adapt the cards to serve in other ways, like plotting out scenes from your story, creating an index of characters, settings, backstory or whatever you like. Those of you who blog might glue some prompts from a blogging inspiration source and then take a card at random to give you an idea for a new post. Readers, this would be a great way to keep notes on the books you've read, or to simply track titles so you don't accidentally buy second copies; you can create a card for each author, keep them in alphabetical order, and make notes on their books accordingly. Or if you're the plan-ahead sort, you can make up cards for each month of the year and note which new releases you want to read during that month. You can add photos, divider cards, recipes and pretty much anything else you want and can fit in the base to personalize your index card journal, too.