Woot for Debbie!

http://cocktailreviews.wordpress.com/tag/freyas-bower/ Debbie actually has three reviews on that page, but you must hunt for a wee one within the anthology. Sorcha's Heart is up at the top at the moment. This lovely novella was my first editing job with Freya's Bower. I am so happy for Debbie. She's a wonderful author with a beautiful imagination and there's more coming from this lady. Yep. More of the Sorcha saga, more of other stuff. Fantasy. Love it. Love Debbie's way of writing it. Congrats, Debbie! :D

Interesting topic

Over at EREC, Emily posted a topic that made me think a bit. I write stories that cover extreme subject matter. I have wondered, off and on, why I do it. I think it's because I've had a rough time. Not always, but quite often. I've endured things, not the harshest things perhaps, but I've endured, and because I've endured, I have been able to "see" things that some people can't, things some people just don't want to see. I've been outside looking in. There's nothing more outside of someone outside looking in than a criminal, a psychopath, a despot. And so I don't look in at the "ordinary" people. I look further out.  I'll tell you why I write fantasy. It's to get even with persons that hurt people. In fantasy, I can take my fictional despot and put him through an emotional wringer. I can also do the ultimate in fantasy and let him survive. That's right. Survive. Most despots don't. One was just hung in real life, wasn't he? Saddam. In fiction, a despot can actually learn to be a decent human being. In reality, I don't think so. But it's these sorts of things I explore when I write. What sort of life lesson would you have to give a seriously selfish son of a bitch to make him wake up and treat people fairly? You can explore a lot of strange ideas in fantasy, can't you.

Repeat post/reminder

Freya’s Bower.com Celebrates Its One-Year Anniversary To celebrate our one-year anniversary on March 5, 2007, we’re having a call for submissions and offering a nice advance against royalties for the top two manuscripts that fit the following categories. For general submissions, we’re looking for sweet and/or tangy erotic romance manuscripts of category length (30,001-45,000 words) and longer of any genre. See our guidelines for regular submissions and how we rate sweet and tangy: http://www.freyasbower.com/content/view/12/31/ For our T.R.O.U.B.L.E. line, we’re looking for sweet to beyond sizzling ratings for category length and longer only. Out of the accepted manuscripts, two will be chosen to receive a publishing contract, a print version of the manuscript six months from eBook release date, and a nice advance against first royalties, which will be discussed upon signing the contract. One winning manuscript will be chosen from the sweet and/or tangy submissions and one will be chosen for our T.R.O.U.B.L.E. line. Second place manuscripts for each of these two categories will receive a smaller advance, but the print option will depend solely on eBook sales. Other outstanding manuscripts will receive a publishing contract with Freya’s Bower. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. Guidelines: (For male or female protagonists) She’s gorgeous and causes chaos wherever she goes. Perhaps she’s a klutz, a walking disaster. Maybe she has the worst luck imaginable. For males: He’s dangerous. The bad boy you can’t help but love. Maybe he’s a chick magnet, or maybe he’s the guy flipping burgers at the local diner. Catastrophe and mayhem seem to follow him around. Use your imagination for the trouble theme. Any ethnicity, any genre welcome. Protagonists can also be characters such as Valkyries (for our Valkyrie series), werewolves, vampires, wallflowers, etc. Category length and longer. (30,001-45,000 words.) Ratings can be from sweet to beyond sizzling for the TROUBLE line, but we are very open to sweet submissions right now. First person submissions must be well written. Please read our guidelines http://www.freyasbower.com/content/view/12/31/ for formatting and any questions you might have before submitting. ATTN: We have also opened an Angels and Demons category. If the angel or demon fits the TROUBLE theme or the sweet and/or tangy rating, these novels are eligible for the top novel decisions. Final words: Submissions may be semi-rough drafts, but please don’t send something to us that you obviously have not checked over at least once. The key is semi-rough. Send the entire manuscript attached as an MS Word file to submit@freyasbower.com with the word TROUBLE or SWEET/TANGY in the subject line. Deadline for this call is February 20, 2007. If you have questions email Faith at editorfaith@sbcglobal.net or Marci at mbaun@freyasbower.com

Debbie had her first book signing

http://debbie-mumford.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-great-weekend.html Debbie had a lovely birthday weekend with a book signing and her novella cover for Sorcha's Heart is taking votes for cover of the year on Erin Aislinn's site. Congrats, Debbie. :D Meanwhile, I am outfitted as Borg woman today. I have a twenty-four hour heart monitor pasted to my chest. Itchy! Aaaaaaaa! Eeeeeee! Tape! Glue! Wires coming down from below my shirt! Yeaaaaagggh! Want to scratch, rip, tear! Bleaaayahgg! It really is itchy. I shall be nuts by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Current favourite music

A young friend mentioned this song some time back, but I didn't get around to looking at the video for months and months. Recently I did and I've been singing it since. Figured I'd pass it on now, to any other "older" people who happen to be internet savvy but who may not have come across this yet. I tell you, I can't stop singing it. I'm writing or editing, hurting my back in the kitchen doing ordinary chores, and this tune is in my head. My back will get better, btw. Don't worry about it. Stupid back. All I did was put a measuring cup in the lowest drawer. That's it. Now it hurts just to sit.  Oh, right. The links, starting with the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Showdown_of_Ultimate_Destiny http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285267

Bound One done

I used the editing tricks I recently learned and cleaned up Bound One. Finished just today. I also fixed the cover art to make it more visible.  All links have been updated for this story and the new version uploaded. Since this is already a free to read PDF, anyone who had edition one in their collection can visit my site for download details and pick up the new version. :D