Sherwood

This month’s round robin is to write a short story, flash fiction, or use an
excerpt from one of your books. As a long time Robin Hood fan, I am delighted to bring you the following story:

Sherwood

There are some couples you never expect to split up, and Maid Marian and Robin Hood were one of them.

“Don’t you think,” Marian asked Robin one May morning, “that the two of us are more a habit than anything else?” 

“What do you mean?” Robin replied, but Marian noticed he wouldn’t look her in the eye, instead staring at a spider spinning a web. “Aren’t you happy here? We’re doing useful work, robbing the rich and giving to the poor.” 

“It’s illegal work.” Marian  eyed the dirt floor of their hut, pushing aside the rotten leaves and chicken bones with one foot. 

“Don’t you think the poor deserve a champion?” Robin stroked his black beard and brushed a pile of ashes off a three legged stool before sitting down. 

“You could go into politics, you know, and champion them that way.” Marian picked a bug out of her red hair and crushed it between thumb and forefinger. 

“Bah, politics. That’s worse than highway robbery.” Robin rose and stomped out of the hut, leaving Marian to sweep out the leaves and bones. 

“Haven’t you ever wondered how much of the money we take from the rich actually gets to the poor?” Marian asked one evening a few days later as they were sitting around the fire dividing the latest take, with Robin as usual giving himself the lion’s share. 

“No, why?” Robin poked a stick at a passing lizard. 

“Less than half of what we take in gets to the poor. The rest is overhead.” 

Robin tossed the stick away. “We have to eat, and anyway it’s our only source of revenue.” 

“Oh, never mind.” Marian shook her head in frustration, then rose, dusting some dead grass from the back of her gown before stomping off. 

One evening a week or two later Marian approached Friar Tuck.  “Father, I’m afraid that my relationship with Robin is getting stale.” 

Friar Tuck brushed  a few leaves off a convenient tree stump and sat down. “Stale, how?”

“I think we’re getting tired of each other. Both of us.” 

“So?” 

“So I want more than a dirt floor. I want better than burnt venison for supper. I want stone walls, neighbors, markets, a proper kitchen. I want a bath more than once a year.” Marian thought for a minute. “Maybe even once every three months. And I’m uneasy about the robbery. It feels wrong.” 

“It appears that your decision is made.” 

“It appears so.” Marian sighed and brushed some ants from her skirt, noting as she did so that it had acquired a few new rips and smelled distinctly of mold. 

The next day Marian broke the news to Robin. “I’m moving to Nottingham. Do you want to come?” Marian thought it churlish not to ask. 

Robin stared at the ground for a minute or two. “I think not, but perhaps you could come back from time to time to help with the housework and the cooking.” 

“Men!” Marian fumed as she packed her things and rode her horse to town. 

The first person she encountered was the sheriff. 

The sheriff stopped and smiled up at Marian, brushing a shock of wavy fair hair out of his eyes. “I’m surprised to see you here.” 

“Yes, well, I’m moving back to Nottingham. Do you know of a house for rent?” Marian dismounted, tying her horse to a convenient post. 

The sheriff looked Marian over from head to foot. “I might. There’s an in-law suite available at my place.” 

“Won’t your wife object?” 

“I have no wife,” the sheriff admitted, tugging at his blond beard. 

Marian grinned. “Really. In that case, how much rent do you require?” 

The sheriff raised one eyebrow. “How much can you afford?” 

Marian looked at the ground. “A bit. The last rich folks we robbed were pretty wealthy.” 

“I’ll forget you said that. Is Robin joining you?” 

“No, but he wants me to come back once a week to help with the chores. He’ll pay me.” 

The sheriff frowned. “Out of ill gotten gains.” 

“Those are the only ones he has. Besides, I need the money.” 

“I suppose I’ll have to overlook it then.” The sheriff sighed and led the way back to his home. 

Marian hung back a bit as they approached the thick oak front door. “Won’t this be improper?” 

“Mistress Abbott, my housekeeper, will act as chaperon.   Assuming we need one.” The sheriff’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. 

Marian blushed and followed him into the house. 

After a week or two, Marian started spending the evenings in the solar talking with the sheriff. 

“Just why did you decide to move to town?” the sheriff asked one evening at the end of June. 

Marian shifted on the bench, pulling her shawl across her chest. “Sometimes relationships don’t last. It was long overdue, really.” 

 The sheriff smiled down at his shoes. “Was it? In that case, perhaps you would care to walk out with me this Sunday.” 

Marian blushed. “That would be nice.” 

A month later the sheriff proposed to Marian. She hesitated for a minute and then said, “Think how Robin’s going to feel.” 

“He had his chance. He didn’t even try to move to town with you.” 

“It would have been awkward. Besides, I didn’t really push him very hard.” 

“There you are then,” the sheriff said, and Marian threw her arms around him. 

After several minutes, when they could both breathe again, the sheriff asked, “Do you suppose he’d agree to give you away? After all, the two of you go back a long way. It might give him closure.” 

“I’ll ask when I go out to clean this Thursday.” 

“And do tell him that he’ll have to find someone else to do his housekeeping. I don’t want you going out there once we’re married. It won’t do for a sheriff’s wife to be working for a robber.” 

Marian  smoothed her skirt. “Oh, very well.” 

Marian approached Robin that very Thursday. “The sheriff and I are getting married. We wondered if you would give me away. You know, for old time’s sake.” 

Robin frowned. “Are you sure this isn’t a ploy to get me to town so he can arrest me?” 

“No, he really wants you to do it. We both do. But I can’t come here and clean any more. It wouldn’t be right.” 

“Not clean? But …” Robin sputtered. 

Marian brushed some cobwebs out of her hair. “Things change. How about the wedding?” 

Robin picked up his bow. “I’ll come, but I won’t give you away, and that’s that.” 

Marian watched Robin stalk off into the forest. “Men!” Then she mounted her horse and rode home.

“He took it badly,” said Marian to the sheriff as she walked in the door. 

“Well, what do you expect? At least he agreed to come to the wedding. We don’t want any hard feelings.” 

It wasn’t long after the wedding that Marian discovered she was pregnant. “If it’s a boy, I’d like to name him Robin. Would that be all right?” 

“Robin?” The sheriff raised his eyebrows. 

“It’s a nice name.” 

The sheriff took Marian in his arms and kissed her. “If it will make you happy, then we will. ” 

A few months after baby Rob was born, Robin started coming into town once or twice a week. He would visit with Marian and the sheriff for a few minutes and then go about his business.  After a few weeks of this, the sheriff asked, “What do you think Robin is doing coming here so often? It’s making me uneasy.” 

“I have no idea.” Marian pushed a few strands of red hair off her face. 

The sheriff stared into Marian’s blue eyes. “Oh, never mind.”

The Sheriff disliked having a robber in the family, even one as apparently well-intentioned as Robin, and he wanted to know what Robin was up to, so one Tuesday as Robin was saying goodbye to Marian, the sheriff pulled him aside.  “Robin, there have been quite a few robberies on the road to London. That wouldn’t be you, would it?” 

Robin frowned. “No, it’s not me. In fact, I’m getting tired of robbery as a profession but I don’t know what else to do to support myself. It’s all I’ve done since I was a boy.” 

The sheriff pulled at his blond beard and look down at his feet. “You could go into law enforcement.” 

Robin’s brown eyes opened wide. “What do you mean?” 

“I could hire you as my deputy. Then, when an opening for a sheriff in one of the neighboring towns comes up, I could recommend you.” 

“I can’t abandon the Merry Men. They count on me.” 

The sheriff considered the gray streaks in Robin’s dark hair. “You know, these damp mornings must be hard on your knees and back. Surely there’s someone younger who can take over. Young Will, perhaps.” Robin’s face turned red, and the sheriff added quickly, “Think about it.”

Robin stomped out, slamming the door as he left. 

When three weeks went by without a visit from Robin, Marian started to worry. “What did you two talk about the last time Robin was here?” 

“Oh, nothing. I just mentioned he might think of retiring from the robbery business. Did you notice how stiff he was when he got up from the bench?” 

Marian twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “Perhaps I should go visit him.” 

“No, no, think of the baby. You might get sick or hurt.” 

That Friday, just when Marian had decided to defy her husband and go visit Robin in Sherwood Forest, Young Will knocked on their door. “Marian, Robin’s very sick. He’s got a fever and he’s ranting and raving. I’ve got him outside on the donkey.” 

“What happened?” Marian asked as Will and the sheriff carried Robin into the second-best guest room. 

“He got soaked in that thunderstorm last Sunday and spent the whole day in wet clothes. Besides, the roof of his hut is leaking…” Will’s voice trailed off. 

Marian patted Young Will on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll look after him.”

A week later, when Robin was better, the sheriff approached him again. “Have you thought about that job offer? Your lifestyle isn’t exactly conducive to good health and long life, you know.” 

Robin shook his head. “I couldn’t possibly work for you. Suppose I had to arrest one of the Merry Men!” 

“A good point. We’ll have to think of something else.” 

There was still the problem of Robin’s profession, so the following week Robin and the sheriff went to the inn to have a pint or two of ale and consider Robin’s options. They barely finished their first when Harold, the innkeeper, approached their table. 

He put his large hand on Robin’s shoulder. Robin’s eyes darted from side to side.

“I hear you and my daughter Leticia have been keeping company.” 

Robin’s suntanned skin turned pale. “Maybe once or twice. Well, maybe a few more times. She’s not, you know, expecting, is she?” 

Harold thumped Robin on the back, nearly sending him into his pint of beer. “I know you’re going to do the right thing by Letty.” Robin swallowed a few times and then nodded.

The sheriff grinned and raised his pint. “Well, there’s the problem of your new profession solved. Harold has always said that Letty’s husband would take over the inn.” 

Robin married Leticia and their daughter was born six months later. Robin entertains visitors with tales of his former exploits. Business is booming and little Mary Anne is the apple of her father’s eye.  She and Baby Rob are becoming the best of friends.

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-29F
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Check out the posts of my fellow bloggers:

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-29F
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

I am a way-back RAH fan — I selected “Farmer in the Sky” for my tenth birthday — and “Double Star,” a novel about an out-of-work actor who is tapped to impersonate a well-known political figure, is one I have read and re-read. It is written in the first person by the main character, Larry Smith, or, as he is known professionally,The Great Lorenzo. Here is the opening line, one of my all-time favorite novel openings:

“If a man walks in dressed like a hick and acting as if he owned the place, he’s a spaceman.”

And from later in the book, where a character has sold out the main character, is another favorite quote:

“I answered with a single squeaking polysyllabic in High Martian, a sentence meaning, ‘Proper conduct demands that one of us leave!’ But it means far more than that, as it is a challenge which usually ends in someone’s nest being notified of a demise.”

Heinlein is still popular, with many, many editions of each of his works available on Amazon and yes, a lot of his books available in the science fiction section of your local bookstore.

 The master is creaky in spots but he’s held up remarkably well, and he’s still as entertaining as ever. And I was struck by the extent to which Heinlein was a visionary with respect to future science and future everyday life. To cite one example of many, the main character in another of his novels, “Between Planets” answers his personal phone in the opening pages. When I read it, I remember thinking, “A personal phone? it will never happen.” , I was wrong, and Heinlein, who was trained as an engineer and had an insatiable curiosity about this, and just about everything else, was right.

Double Star https://www.amazon.com/Double-Star-Robert-Heinlein-ebook/dp/B016TSE6OW

Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Dr. Bob Rich
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Dr. Bob Rich: https://wp.me/p3Xihq-282

A Barrel of Laughs

Topic: How easy or difficult do you find including humor in your
writing and/or have you ever incorporated a true life humorous event in
your own life or the life of someone you know in a book you were
writing?

I love to include humor in my writing. Often it’s only a couple of lines, like the ones from a scene in a comedy club from Rob’s Rebellion 

“No worries, Charlie.” Senator Cromwell reached for Suzy’s hand and held it. “When do you go on?”

“Right after the goons who are up now. You never heard such lame jokes.”

“I have heard them, and that’s the trouble,” Senator Nakai mumbled.

As far as I can recall, I have never included an incident that happened to me or to someone else I know in my fiction. My poetry, however, is another story. A lot of it is funny, rhymed, or both, and a lot is inspired by incidents in my own life. And even when whatever inspired the poem is serious, the poem itself is not.

I wrote the poem below, which appeared in Village Square when I was taking an online grammar course. The course material was the kind of material that causes students to tear their hair out, but the poem is sheer fun.  It’s written as rhymed free verse and contains only a couple of made-up words <grin>

 

Phrasical Subordination

The main clause of the sentence names the thing you mainly do
but it can have subordinates and more than just a few,
and realize that subordinates can have subordinates, too.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

A subordinate’s connected by some word up to the main
by kinds of words that form a sort of phrasicallic chain,
like what, and where and who and which that more that tax my brain.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

See, relative pronounic phrases modify a noun.
If the noun is missing, then grammarians will frown,
Give it a noun to modify and you can go to town.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

If you need to pick a that or need to pick a which
you’ll need a method to decide where you can make the switch,
If you can drop the phrase, well then the which is not a glitch.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

A subordinate conjunction starts adverbialic phrase.
It modifies the verb in ways that surely will amaze.
If it starts the sentence, then a comma is displayed.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

Whom denotes an object, it’s the object of the do.
If your phrase requires an object, then the whom’s the one for you.
If you need a subject, well, you must then pick the who.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

A noun dependent clause is used just like the noun to bring
an object or a subject or a relativic thing
by words like what or, where or how, to add a bit of zing.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

I hope this little ditty helps to clarify your mind.
It’s helping me to classify the phrasicallic kind
in a way that’s maybe just a bit less of a grind.
Oh, a sentence needs a subject and a verb.

Do check out the posts of my fellow bloggers:

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1Tb
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

Love and Sex

The topic for this month’s round robin is an opinion on love, sex, and relationships in books. What seems acceptable? Is it necessary in a story? And what goes too far?

Every book and every character is different, and each situation is unique. In terms of how explicit (or not) I’m willing to be about sex, I’m willing to open the door only as far as necessary to advance the plot.

In my novel Geek Games, character is  fourteen, gay,  and develops an attraction to another by a couple of years older. I faced deciding not only how far I wanted to go in terms of the plot, but also how what I wrote intersected with my publisher’s guidelines.

Yes, I asked, and I sent along a couple of scenes I was concerned about, one where they kiss and another where I wanted to show that they were doing more.

The kiss is a big deal, a turning point for my main character in terms of his feelings about himself, and thus it was important for me to describe, and, yes, the description was all right with my publisher and made it into the novel.

In the second incident, I hinted at what was happening but the action takes place off-stage. My initial draft was a bit more explicit about it, but after passing it by my publisher, I modified it. However, what was important about the second incident was the attitude of the adults about it, and not what the boys themselves were doing.

If I had written a different novel, it might have turned out that the activity was important. Would I have described it? Given my druthers, I’d rather not write about 14-year olds doing anything more than kissing. Would I, if it were important to the plot? Yes, I would.

Two boys kissing might make some readers squirm, but making my readers comfortable is not my primary aim. I want to explore my characters’ journeys. It’s not always an easy place to be.

Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1vP
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

 

 

Chris Redding’s New Book

     Chris at her computer

 

 

Today I have the pleasure of featuring Cris Redding. Her new book When Gargoyles Love, first in her new series Destiny of a Gargoyle.  Check out the great cover and excerpt below:

Excerpt: Destiny of a Gargoyle Book One When Gargoyles Love

“She’s it,” Donal said.

He could communicate with his brothers telepathically. Otherwise his time in stone might have driven him nuts.

“You’re sure?” Sean said.

“I’m sure. She’s it. I can feel my heart softening. She must be the one that I am supposed to protect,” Donal said.

“Wow. After all of these years. And of course Donal finds his first. Lucky guy,” Declan said.

“He is always the lucky one,” Sean said.

“If I were that lucky I wouldn’t have been stuck in stone here with you two lugs,” Donal said.

He would have lived and died in his own time. Instead of watching what had happened to the fairies he’d been born to protect. They’d died off and somewhere along the line the fairies had forgotten who they were. He’d bet that Meg had no idea who she was.

That made his job even harder. She wouldn’t have any idea why he was protecting her. The fairies had gone into hiding when the humans took over the world. They renamed his part of the island County Galway. What did that even mean?

He was Donal of Connaught. Not Donal of Galway. If he could sigh he would. He sighed in his head.

His brothers were stilling whinging about him being lucky. “I’m the oldest. You didn’t have to tell the Queen what our father had done. She could have made me stone and you would never have known what had happened to me.”

“Still, why do you get to go first?” Sean said.

“Because she is my fairy. Not yours,” Donal said.

He wasn’t going to apologize for finding his fairy first. He never would have thought they were going to find any of theirs. The fairies were all elsewhere and finding one from his own kingdom let alone another one had always been a long shot.

“What will you do?” Declan said.

“The Fairy Queen told me the rules before she left. I have to be in the fairy’s presence for a whole day before I lose the curse,” Donal said.

“A whole day. The sun must be in the same place for the beginning and the end?” Declan said.

“Yes.”

“How are you going to do that?” Sean said.

“I don’t know. She doesn’t spend that much time here, but I’m sure I have a few days to figure it out. I already feel as if I could fall off of this wall. Maybe I can go with her.”

“Without legs? Or only stone ones.”

“I don’t know everything, you mugs. I’m guessing some things here,” Donal said. “If you two be quiet and let me think maybe I’ll figure it out. You’ll have your chance and I get to sort out what needs to be done. That way neither of you mess it up.”

Blurb:

Donal Foley was born in a time when magic ruled the Earth.

Gargoyles protected fairies from goblins. His family was a group of elite gargoyles who were assigned to protect a specific fairy. His father’s dereliction of that duty cursed his sons to become stone and wait.

Now reawakened in the twenty first century where no one believes in magic how is he going to convince his fairy that she is one and that she is in danger from a goblin?

He must do that without falling in love with her.

 

Destiny of a Gargoyle is the first in a trilogy of gargoyle shifter romances by Chris Redding.

Book 2: Fate of a Gargoyle will be out in the next few months.

 

Chris Redding Author LLC

Email: chrisreddingauthor@gmail.com

Website: www.chrisreddingauthor.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chrisreddingauthor

Twitter: www.twitter.com/chrisredding

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/101743269602364199911/posts

Skype: Chris.Redding.Author

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/chrisredding/

 

Beginning, ending, and what’s in between

 

How do you ensure a story has a good beginning, a satisfying ending, and good continuity in between?

Honey, if I could answer that one, I’d be on the New York Times Best Seller list, or at least my novels would be top sellers in their category onAmazon.

Ah, well.

But of course, I do take care to try to ensure a good beginning, ending, and continuity.

I am not one of those writers who outlines their novel in detail, but I do need to know the beginning, the ending, and the high points of what’s in between when I start out. Or at least, I think I do.  So far I have been fairly on target about the ending, even when I don’t know how I’m going to get there. For example, in my novel Broken Bonds, (WARNING: Spoiler) the main character, Major Brad Reynolds, is accused of treason. I knew which way I wanted the case

One of my drawings of Aleyne, mountains wiith the multi-colored desert sands in the foreground

against him to go, but I had no idea, until I wrote it, how I was going to manage to do it. Fortunately, my subconscious is a better plotter than I {wry grin}.

 

As to the beginning, that’s trickier. I wrote a children’s chapter book (that has yet to appear) about a little boy who loses his mother in a fire.  I initially started with the fire, but finally realized that the story really started in what was at the time Chapter Three where my main character’s mother is dead, his father still in the hospital, and he is going home with his grandmother. I discarded part of the first chapter of the earlier versions of Broken Bonds, too.

As for filling in the middle, since I don’t outline in detail, I have notes for the chapters I ‘know’ about and fill in the ‘blanks’ as I write. I tend to have more detailed notes a couple of chapters ahead of where I’m writing.

And when I reach the end of the first draft, I go back and revise. At that point I have an overview of the whole novel. I revise more, I believe, than someone who has a detailed outline. That’s the trade off. However, I don’t know enough about the novel to do that before I’ve written the first draft.

 

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

Anne de Gruchy  https://annedegruchy.co.uk/category/blog/

 

Starting Out: Establishing a Story

How do you establish a story, its characters, and setting? For me, since I’m writing science fiction and fantasy, it starts with my creating a setting,  a society, a cultural context and a history fit to tell my story. My stories start with the germ of an idea and grow from there, made up of bits and pieces, the body of an animal, a discarded mattress, two boys dragging a body out into the cold, and grow from there. I need to be able to fully picture the scene my characters are in: the glass doors, the large reception room with the crowd of humans and aliens enjoying drinks and snacks. I need to see and hear the scene in my head, rather like a film running past my eyes. I need to know far more than ever makes it onto the page.

When I describe an alien setting, I try to start with the familiar — mountain — then add the distinguishing characteristic — purple rocks — and only include the details that are relevant to the story.

Where is the line between too much and too little? Ah, there lies art, there lies experience, and there lies the helpful comments of the readers of early drafts.

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Dr. Bob https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1eg
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com
Judy Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/

Where do ideas come from

Well, everywhere, really. Frankly, my problem is which ideas to pursue. Often, when reading a book, I’ll reach the final chapter only to say to myself, “What happened next?” Did the teenage stepdaughter start to act out? Did the private eye get a hard time from the police? What will the next political crisis be?

I’ve said, only half in jest, that my characters wake me in the middle of the night and bother me until I give in, take notes, and agree to write the book.

For 2010 NaNo (National Novel Writing Month), I decided to write a science fiction novel. At this

One of my drawings of Aleyne, mountains wiith the multi-colored desert sands in the foreground

point, I’d written a children’s chapter book (more on this later) and a middle grade novel in need of serious revision that I believe ran about 15,000 words. I’m a huge science fiction fan and am widely read in the genre — I selected Robert A. Heinlein’s “Farmer in the Sky” for my tenth birthday, now long past — but I’d never written any, so I decided to take the plunge.

Here’s the blurb

Relocated, a science fiction novel by Margaret Fieland

When fourteen-year-old Keth’s dad is transferred to planet Aleyne, he doesn’t know what to expect. Certainly not to discover Dad grew up here, and studied with Ardaval, a noted Aleyni scholar. On Aleyne, Keth’s psi ability develops. However, psi is illegal in the Terran Federation. After a dangerous encounter with two Terran teenagers conflict erupts between Keth and his father. Keth seeks sanctuary with Ardaval. Studying with the Aleyne scholar Keth learns the truth about his own heritage. After Keth’s friend’s father, Mazos, is kidnapped, Keth ignores the risks and attempts to free him. Little does he realize who will pay the cost as he becomes involved with terrorists.

So where did these ideas come from? Despite the little voice that’s yammering, “If I could really tell you that, I’d be out there making my fortune,” I can tease out the origin of some of the elements in the story.

The main character is a fourteen-year-old boy. I raised three sons, and at the time I was still under the misapprehension that kid’s books were easier to write. I was also attracted to the idea that they could be shorter than a novel for adults; as a poet, I am fairly terse.

The action takes place on an alien planet. The main character’s father is an army officer assigned to the military base, which is in the desert. My middle son was still in the army at that point, and he was stationed in Afghanastan. I couldn’t do anything about my anxiety over this, other than bite my nails, but I could and did add a terrorist plot to the novel and make sure that things “came out right.” Well, mostly.

My aliens are quite humaniod, with very dark skin, gray eyes, oval heads, and hands and feet that are wider than ours. Because of the demands of the plot, I needed to make them close to human in appearance. I wanted them to have a normal but easily distinguished skin color, and thus I had a choice of very light or very dark. In my novel, the aliens are the good guys; I made them dark (very dark). This gave me the opportunity to play with the theme of discrimination. As well, White for the good guys is way overdone, and I learned from reading Heinlein the value of the unexpected in a story. In “Starship Troopers,” for example, we don’t learn that one of the major characters is Black until half-way through the book.

There’s more, of course. In the second book in the series, “Broken Bonds,” one of the characters is Black Seargent imprisoned for going AWOl where his White fellow soldiers were not charged. This came from a story of my father, who served as a Judge Advocate General in the army during World War II. The third book in the series contains an incident based on another of Dad’s wartime stories, one where he hitched a ride on a small plane when he had leave and they ran out of fuel. My aliens form four-way relationships. This was sparked by my reading a book years ago where I came across one, prompting me to say to myself, “That’s not the way I would write it.”

Check out the posts of my fellow bloggers:

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Anne de Gruchy https://annedegruchy.co.uk/category/blog/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1dm
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

Interview with Izzy Szyn, author of Resurrection of Artemis

(1) Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born and raised in Detroit. Moved to Oklahoma City five years ago for a job in a call center. Happily single with one furchild named Misty a chihuahua/terrier mix.
(2) How did you get started writing?
I started almost three year ago when a friend of mine dared me to write when she heard someone’s book plot that was all over the place. She said I bet you could write better.
(3) What attracted to science fiction and fantasy? Is it the only genre you write in?
I always been sort of a geek, I loved to read comic books, especially Batgirl, Catwoman and Lois Lane. This was actually my first attempt at writing a superhero. A group of us one night came up with an anthology featuring superheroes/villains. I have been toying with the idea of writing a part two. If I get enough positive feedback, I probably will.
I write menages,  I guess you could say that’s my genre. I write in modern and paranormal. I love paranormal because you can create your own rules.
(4) How much research did you have to do for your book?
This one I did a lot, because of the plot. The call center where I work deals with iphone tech support, one day there was an outage, people were going nuts. I thought what if? I researched how hard would it be to hold technology hostage.
But the hardest part was trying to find names for my superheroes and my villain that hadn’t been used before.
(5) What is your writing process?
I just write when it hits me, I have so many ideas in my head that need to get out.
Lori Foster, she was the first author I became friends with. She shows that not only can you be a successful writer, but that you should give back. If I ever get to that point, I hope to emulate her.
(6) Do you have an all-time favorite book, and if so, what is it?
Favorite book is more like a favorite child. I have so many by different authors.
(7) What writers have influenced you the most, and how?
Lori Foster is one, Mina Carter, Cynthia Sax and Barbara Devlin for encouraging me to write. That I wasn’t crazy to start.
(8) What would you like readers to take away from your work.
Just to feel good, life is so serious, with jobs, kids, bills, it’s nice to take a brain vacation and read.
(9) What are you working on now?
I’m working on the follow up to Wendi and Tink called Bella and the Beast it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but in this one the beast is a woman who is cursed with scars.
I also just started working on a short that is set to come out this summer with Candi Fox and Bobbi Romans to name a few. Mine is titled Oh What a Night.
(10) Where can readers find you on the web?
Facebook, Twitter, I do a little Instagram.
(11) Where can they purchase your book?
Amazon and it is part of Kindle Unlimited

 

Resurrection of Artemis

 by Izzy Szyn 

Izzy will be awarding a $10 Amazon to one randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Please use the RaffleCopter below to enter. Remember you may increase your chances of winning by visiting the other tour stops. You may find those locations here. 

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BLURB:

Once known as the infamous hacker Artemis, Amy Wilson now works in a coffee shop. With only months until the end of her probation from working in the technological industry that she loves, Amy is determined to keep Artemis dead and buried. 
When incidents similar to the ones Amy did start occurring all fingers start pointing in Artemis’ direction, and three people that want Artemis to come out of retirement. 
Quail City’s super heroes Dark Master and Calypso aka as multi-billionaire Noah Adams and his assistant Vanessa London know Amy’s secret, and also know that she is being set up. Having spent months in a flirtmance with Amy, they are tired of waiting and want both her and Artemis in their bed. 
Hinderer wants to hold technology hostage, but in order to do that he needs Artemis’ assistance, and he will use any methods necessary to gain her cooperation. 

Amazon Buy Link 
Available on Kindle Unlimited

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Excerpt:

“People have been mentioning Artemis,” Calypso said. “You wouldn’t have heard anything?”

They knew, Amy thought. Somehow they knew. “No, Artemis isn’t here anymore. At least from what I heard.”

“Damn shame, too,” complained one of the customers in the shop. “Not the Artemis that is playing with the lights and stuff. But the Artemis who liked to help people with their problems.”

“Yeah, I think if someone is behind it, it’s someone pretending to be Artemis, or trying to shift the blame on her,” said another customer. “She may have done some things, but she’d never deliberately set out to get people hurt.”

Amy smiled at the person that made the comment. “I’ve been here all day. But it’s more than the traffic lights. Didn’t I hear that the other day the Financial District was shut down because the money showed at zero?”

“That is something that Artemis had fun with,” Dark Master commented. “Or had in the past.”

“I’m sure that whatever has been happening in Quail City has nothing to do with Artemis,” Amy replied.

“Hope for Artemis’ sake it’s true,” Calypso said. “Williams is ranting and raving in Commissioner James’ office asking for her to be arrested.”

Just bet he is, thought Amy. “Is there anything else I can get you?” Amy asked them. She saw that it was almost six and the last bus going towards her apartment would be there any minute.

“You in our bed,” Calypso said in her ear. “Your blue hair will look glorious on our pillows.” Then out loud stated, “That’s all for now.” 

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Author Info: 

New York Times Bestselling Author Izzy Szyn was born in May of 2014 when a friend dared her to write. Born and raised in Detroit, Mi. Izzy now lives in Oklahoma City with her furchild Misty, the friendliest Chihuahua/Terrier you will ever meet. Currently works in a call center, where she writes in between phone calls.
Izzy loves to keep in touch with her readers. Email her at izzyszyn@gmail.com.
Find her on Facebook 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/Izzy-Szyn-379714942215154/timeline/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/izzySzyn
Blog: https://izzyszyn.wordpress.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13836241.Izzy_Szyn
Google Plus link: https://plus.google.com/100905614042668276073

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Imaginary Friends

This month’s topic is, are you ever emotionally drained by writing certain scenes, and how real are your characters to you?

This is how I plan a scene: I “see” and “hear” it as a movie unrolling in front of me with my characters moving and talking. I go through everything along with them. Fortunately, I’m a fast typist, but there are still times when the action has moved on before I get a chance to write it all down.

Ah, reality. Well, when asked where I get the ideas for my books, I usually reply — only half in jest — that my characters wake me in the middle of the night and bug me until I give in, take notes, and agree to write the book.

When I wrote my first science fiction novel, Relocated, my intention was simply to overcome my phobia about writing science fiction. I was — and am — a devoted fan of the genre, which I have been reading since before age ten. To give you some idea, I picked Robert A. Heinlein’s “Farmer in the Sky,” for my tenth birthday, and I knew exactly which book I wanted. To say I’m widely read in the genre is a vast understatement.

Still, up until 2010, I’d never written any, so I decided to go for it and “planned” (see below) my first sci fi novel for Nano.  I didn’t intend to try to get it published. That came later, after I’d written it and revised it and decided that, having devoted all that time and energy to it, I might as well give it a shot. And I certainly didn’t plan to write *more* novels in the series. That came later, when I started wondering about some of the other characters who appear in the first book.

Check out the posts of my fellow participants:
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Margaret Fieland https://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Dr. Bob Rich htt  http://wp.me/p3Xihq-Wo
Heather Haven http://heatherhavenstories.com/blog/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Kay Sisk http://www.kaysisk.com/blog
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com