Diamond wrote the cover blurb last night. I asked sarahf and jaefire to look it over for me. Sarah's feedback sparked a discussion between me and Diamond. We'd planned to have one blurb on all Purple Book covers, but we decided to give each volume its own blurb. Now she's writing it again.

She's working on the cover. It's purple.

Each cover will be stamped with the formal mark of each sibling. (Rini's, for example, is his MySpace profile picture.) The one on the back of the hand is more stylized and has more of a cursive look, but this gives you a general idea of the shape.

Once the cover and blurb are finished, I'll get a couple of quick copies for a once-over, to make sure that all of the words are there, the cover's correct, etc. Then, once everything's okay, it'll be available to you! We're shooting for August 1st.

Edited to add:

Good times. Diamond wrote another blurb; sarahf, jaefire, and Raven are looking it over. The cover is finished; I've ordered a copy to proofread, to make sure that I didn't accidentally delete three chapters during the editing process. Once the book gets my okay and Diamond's approval (and possibly a thumbs-up from jaefire) it'll be available for your reading pleasure!

Probably a good thing that the blurb is giving me the most trouble at this point.

Because he's making fun of Brisbane dwellers and our 'winter'

http://lettersfrompegasus.blogspot.com/2008/07/brisbanonians.html

The quarter-Trazodone seems to be working.  After a marathon 26 hours going without sleep on Wednesday, I slept well on Thursday, and have been pretty normal in my sleep pattern ever since.  I've been working on a new story, and will soon have the edits for Twice Born.

I'm not sure what delay there will be with Water Lovers, but it seems the July 20 release will be a pre-order.  How long you'll have to wait, I don't know.  Same with Twice Born in August, though there you have the option of buying the ebook first to see if you like it enough to have in print.  Right now, I predict some people, expecting this book to have the same flavor as Dead to the World, won't be too thrilled with the sequel.

Alain is a two Michelin star chef in Paris. He has spent almost all his life for his restaurant and he is very proud of it, but lately he is lonely. Almost fifty years old and without a man near him, he is tired of all the young twink he has always sought. When he decides that he is ready for commitment only a man pops in his mind: his long time friend Simon, a retired English business man who lives in the French country two hours from Paris. And here is the problem: Alain is bound to his restaurant, he can't imagine to leave it forever, and Simon is content with his country life and hates the city. He only goes in Paris to visit Alain, and lately always lesser. But for the festivity of the 14th of July, Alain wants to surprise his friend: he will go to the country and he will propose to Simon... but if Simon is an harder conquest than expected?

The story is very interesting: two almost fifty years old friends who finally have to courage to admit that, if for so many years they manage to stay friends, when all the other men in their life disappear, maybe is why they have something more than friendship between them. But two "old" wolves is hard that lose their vices... Even if Simon seems the more steady and quite of the two, he is also a little grumpy, he is content with his quite country life and above all he fears to lose the only real friend he has: love could be a fleeting feeling, instead their friendship is very strong. But Alain has had a lot of time to re-think his life and he is sure that Simon is the right man for him, and his seductive powers are very good.

A very good story which manage to rebuild the right atmosphere of the lazy and wealthy life of a retired English business man in the lustful French countryside; it seems like you can savor the wines and the good foods Alain used to vow Simon, and you can also smell the flavor of their relationship; the setting is idyllic and the two characters really original.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/CalendarBoysJuly.html

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting+reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

Since this question has come up in several groups, I'm cross posting for the erudition of anyone here who's been wondering.


NG member wrote:
> But for now I'd like to make a quick comment on the font of SR. The first thing I noticed was the font. It is, in my opinion, much too large and impersonal. By impersonal I mean when you open a book your eyes shouldn't go *whoa!*, the font shouldn't go *boo!*. As an avid reader I like the intimacy of a nice, tight font that's not overwhelming, like that of Stalking Darkness. There's, I think 42, lines of dialogue per page in SD to 32 in SR. And as I've said before, I'm an old gal over 50 and my eyes now require reading glasses on top of contact lenses, *however*, I will always enjoy the smaller font style. (And is it me or are the pages in SR brighter? I'm not a fan of that either.
>


My reply: K, first I'm not picking on you, I just have the time today to respond to this recurring debate.

ROTFLMAO. I am mostly amused, and slightly appalled that people are going on and on about things like font size and *paper brightness????*

#1. I have no control over such things.

#2. I could care less.

#3. Here are the reasons, as far as I know.

Bantam tasked me to turn out two book in two years, something I have never done. To that end, it was suggested that I write shorter, tighter stories. Traitors Moon was a hefty 205K words. Shadows Return is 122K They made the font bigger because they wanted the book not to look too slim on the shelf, I suppose, since fantasy readers generally seem to prefer big hefty books.

That being said, the font is no larger than what you'd find in a standard hardcover or many of the paperbacks on my shelf, but it probably does seem larger on a smaller page with narrower margins, after the microfiche printings of the earlier books. I always thought that it was ridiculously small, and an effort to conserve on paper costs. Reading TM again for background, my older eyes didn't like that tiny font one bit. LOL.

The font style is the same good old Times-ish serif font as all the others. Good lord, people it's not Helvetica!!

As far as the paper being brighter, my guess is that 1) many people are reading from old copies of the other books and cheap mmpb paper yellows quickly. 2) Because the font is larger, more of the paper shows through.

So there you have it.
>;-)

Your Very Amused Author

my Robin Hood playlist is on Yousend it. Click the cover.

Special thanks to Katie and Atalanta and everyone for helping me with music.

3,545 / 50,000 (6.0%)

Should be at 9k, I'm at 3k - 6k behind. I may be able to wrap up something else this afternoon...we'll see.

Project wise:

Novel finished (pulled out the last 1605 words on it)
established character short (added 1940 to a bit I'd cut out of a previous story -- hey, it's finished though)
5k military short
30k-ish worth of cops
5k undecided short
5-7k Yaoi buisness man short

Onward and upward as I battle a summer cold.

Sebastian and Dylan are lovers since two months, but Sebastian is still unsure. He is not over his past bad experience, who left him with the idea that he is not enough for his man. Dylan is so perfect, handsome and gentle, and Sebastian can't possible imagine why he is so taken by him.

And now Dylan has to go visit his mother and he will be away for ten long days. During this period Sebastian has the time to understand that by now he is in love with Dylan, even if he didn't want to fall in love. But even if Dylan is always tender and caring with him, he never once said he loved him. And then he is still suffering for his former boyfriend's betrayal, and maybe he needs to learn to live alone again before deciding to share his life with another man.

Even if this one is longer than the previous book, the story is more centered on the feelings between Sebastian and Dylan than on the setting. Actually, the social distance between the two, so clear in the previous book since Dylan is the owner of a tattoo shop and Sebastian a bookseller, here is almost non existent, since Dylan's work make no appearance here.

The story is not very long, less than 100 pages but it's good. I like both Sebastian than Dylan's characters. They are quite "normal" guy, with a good thing between them, but with the normal fears of a new couple that it's not just full conscious of its strenght.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/UnderMySkin2.html 

Series:
1) Under My Skin: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/279716.html
2) Under My Skin 2

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting+reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

Worst Cosplay - plz do not be drinking anything.

(although I have to say, that apart from the stupid face the Asian chap is making - that's a pretty good outfit. I don't see what's bad about it, but then I'm not a Cosplayer. And the guy in the black with the white hair- who's he supposed to be? Snake?)

Talking of Snake - this is the intro to Snake vs Monkey - an additional game within Metal Gear. When I saw this section I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

I just added a new post to the "Chatting with" series on "Rosa is for Romance".

Nina Pierce: How Many Tilling Passions!

"Let me tell you a little bit about me. I made the leap into the writing world three years ago when medical issues forced my retirement from teaching. Always one to make lemonade out of lemons, I decided I couldn’t sit around and do nothing, so I took a writing course. It opened the flood gate for the creative side of me and the words just poured out. I sat down and wrote my first novel the summer following my retirement. And let me tell you … it was baaaad with a capital “B”. (It’s now gathering dust in a notebook under the couch in my office.) LOL! But I learned so much about myself, my writing style, and the process of going from “Once upon a time…” to “They lived happily ever after”!

It’s been a wonderful journey so far. I absolutely fall in love with all the characters I create. People ask me all the time if I have a favorite and I always tell them whomever I’m working on at the moment! I have found that my books tend to have dead people in them. I’m not sure why that happens. LOL! Not that there’s blood and gore … just mystery and suspense seems to follow my characters. I try to give my stories unexpected twists and turns for my readers.

My debut novel, The Healer’s Garden, was published in December 2007 by Liquid Silver Books. It’s an erotic suspense story that takes place in the 22nd century."

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/17716348/

In a futuristic Toronto Zed and Nick are lovers. Zed is an IT genius and Nick a kept man; when they met, Nick was a struggling artist and since Zed was a wealthy man, he convinced Nick to stay at home and take care of him. But one year later, the initially sex frenzy is cooled and Zed is spending and lot of time at work, and even when he has free time, he prefers to spend it alone and not with Nick.

Nick is unable to make clear his uneasiness, and prefers to find comfort with friends and hobbies. But this is leading him astray and the future is not bright. An unexpected call awakes Zed from his torpor. He realizes how much he loves Nick and that he needs to do everything to make him happy and with him. A leisurely afternoon spent together will teach both to Zed than Nick that being happy is easier than expected.

A very short tale, less than 35 pages, but with a good plot and well developed characters. Plus there is a twist in the plot that makes the book even more original.

Very good and fast reading.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Why+Why+Zed?

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting+reading+list&view=elisa.rolle 

about the kind of links people make:

http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/7013772.html

I wonder if they would literally explode if something really bad happened to them. You know, showers of blood and so on.

I only ask because, wouldn't it be fun to find out?

This is a short funny romp. Kale, the owner of the club where Aoi (from Between a Fox and a Hard Place series) is working, is on a relationship with Dante since a year. Believing Dante too "innocent" to be up to his dominant side, Kale has drop his Dom attitude. But little Dante is a total brat and when he happens to know that his lover was a former Master Dom, he decides to go on his worst behavior to obtain the right reaction from his lover.

The story is very short, but it's funny. In a near future, people can modify their bodies as they like, and Dante choose a "devil" look, with little horns and a lion tail. And now his tail has a will of its own, putting Dante in even more trouble of what he is searching.

Fast and sexy reading, right for a relaxing break.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart/

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting+reading+list&view=elisa.rolle 

Hi folks ! =)

And now, after a long time , anther issue of Art Worship !

This time, I want to present you something new : an animated short film which I absolutely adore =)


Rolighed



Paul Duffield created this 3 minute animation within a time period of 6 months, based on a scene from a story by Kate Brown for his final project at Kingston university (studying animation and illustration). It was completely hand-drawn by him it and then coloured and finished at the PC.

I think it is such a melancholic, sad yet hopeful story about yearning for life. Since I first saw it, I could never forget how it impressed me with its haunting atmosphere and I think it still is one of the most brilliant works of this artist.

( What is Art Worship about? )

Kathleen Erin Woodiwiss (June 3, 1939 – July 6, 2007) pioneered the historical romance genre with the 1972 publication of her novel The Flame and the Flower.

Her debut novel, The Flame and the Flower, was rejected by agents and hardcover publishers as being too long at 600 pages. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, Woodiwiss instead submitted it to paperback publishers. The first publisher on her list, Avon, quickly purchased the novel and arranged an initial 500,000 print run. The Flame and the Flower was revolutionary, featuring an epic historical romance with a strong heroine and actual sex scenes. This novel, published in 1972, sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication and is credited with spawning the modern romance genre, becoming the first romance novel "to [follow] the principals into the bedroom."

Many modern romance novelists cite Woodiwiss as their inspiration. Julia Quinn remarked that "Woodiwiss made women want to read. She gave them an alternative to Westerns and hard-boiled police procedurals. When I was growing up, I saw my mother and grandmother reading and enjoying romances, and when I was old enough to read them myself, I felt as if I had been admitted into a special sisterhood of reading women."

Woodiwiss published twelve best-selling romance novels, with over thirty-six million copies in print. Woodiwiss was known for the quality of her novels rather than the quantity of works she published. She often took four to five years to write a single novel. In some cases, Woodiwiss attributed the lag in publication time to personal and health issues, while in others she confessed to having suffered burnout and needing a rest to recover her interest in writing. 

To read more:

http://rosaromance.splinder.com/post/17713000/

Off the Record readers know that I like to give people something to do once they've finished reading. Sometimes once a novel's over, you're not quite ready to leave that world. You want to linger.

So I offer exclusives. Like the bonus features on a DVD, or dessert after a meal.

When you buy In This Land: The Purple Book, Volume One you get a short story right there in the novel, and on-line you get some author commentary. That's probably enough. But if you have any suggestions, let me know. I have four more volumes to go, so toss out some recommendations on what I should cover in future author commentary. Any questions you still have about The Purple Book?

More on Volume One's short story soon.

These may be the words of an exhausted girl but I think I figured out why I'm struggling. Maybe Asher isn't ready for going beyond Sip length.

Maybe we're both just not ready to take him out of there. We're still establishing. So, to those who have read Asher 3, thank you dearly, I value your opinion but I think I'm going to hold off on it until a later date. Unfortunately, I have no idea if Dean will be around at that later date so the story may very well die where it is.

Which sucks but you know, Asher's never stalled on me this badly before. We're not ready. Oddly enough, once again, Syd's Dr. Fell is to thank for this discovery. See, I originally thought Asher would be nothing but Sips but after reading Syd's stor ies which start at Sip and then bounces up and down in length, I figured it was okay to put Asher at different lengths.

But then I noted that Dr. Fell has quite a few shorts before Syd started the Chaser so....it's okay if Asher stays in the short length. So that's what I'm gonna think in (which of course doesn't mean I'll necessarily stay in). 

Short.

For Asher anyway. Everything else, well, who knows?