Interview with John DeChancie

Posted on October 14, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

My parents, many many years before I was around! Believe it or not, he has even less hair now.

I have never dedicated an interview to anyone, but this interview I dedicate to my father, James Lillie, who purchased almost everything John DeChancie wrote and then placed it in my hands. It is a true honor to be interviewing the man whose stories inspired and entertained me from my adolescence through today.

You can read a more biographical interview of John DeChancie, on his website. Here’s how it begins:

Q.  I’ve never heard of you. Who the hell are you, anyway?

A.  You’d be amazed at the number of published, well-known, and even award-winning authors I could name, none of whom you would know from Ugghh, the first guy to scratch his name on a cave wall. No offense, but how many writers can you name, just off the top of your head? I haunt bookstores endlessly, and run into writers I never heard of every time I scan a shelf. It’s amazing how many writers there are in the universe of letters. So – what was your question again? Oh, who am I, anyway. Well, I’m a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. My name is on the by-line of about two-dozen books, and about the same number of articles, short stories, and odds and ends. Go to the bibliography link for details. Getting published was the shock of my life. For some absolutely inexplicable reason, people have actually bought and read my SF, fantasy, horror, and other stuff.

1.       How prolific was your juvenilia? Will any of it ever see the light of day, or should it all remain forever hidden in the back of a drawer?

I’ve used some of those stories and story fragments in my published novels. Ideas, settings, characters, etc. They are here and there in my work, but it’s going to be difficult to separate them out now.

2.       Do friends and family ever use the line “Since we’re friends, you’ll give me a copy of your book for free, right?”

No. I give a lot of books away, but no one has ever demanded a copy.

3.       What are the differences you’ve seen in the path to publication you took with your first book, and the many other books you’ve had published through the years?

I had to do the unsoliticited bit only once, with my first novel. From then on, it was writing under contract. But publishers are reluctant to buy anything that’s a few chapters and an outline, unless it is from a super-best selling author.

4.       Have you ever had an agent or publisher suggest changes that you were reluctant to make?

Yes, on some work-for-hire projects, like the two political biographies, Peron and Nasser and a couple of novelizations of (really original novels based on) an RPG game. And for at least one of my collaborations, there were some heavy changes ordered.

5.       As an author with a number of novels written well before e-books became popular, what happened in order to make these older books available in the new format?

I was approached by an e-book publisher and they said they’d like most of my backlist. I said OK. They picked and chose, and I might get the rest of them into e-form very soon.

6.       Do you frequently have writers take you up on your offer of writing help for a fee? Is this something you enjoy doing, or is it frustrating to see what kind of writing comes from someone whose writing skills are less than professional?

I now work on those projects through Writers Digest magazine and their Writers Digest University program. I also write courses and workshops for them. Sometimes work like this is difficult, but for the most part I run into lots of talented people.

7.       What other authors are the most fun to hang out with at cons?

Tim Powers is a good guy. So’s Robert J. Sawyer, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Barbara Hambly, and of course Harlan Ellison, when he was attending more cons than he does now, which I think is maybe one a year. But my true goombah buddy is Thomas F. Monteleone, the horror writer and Bram Stoker Award winner.

8.       Have you and John DeLancie ever been at the same con? Do people ever confuse the two of you?

I have never been to a Trek con, nor any con where DeLancie was a guest. I honestly doubt he even knows of my existence, although a fan might have mentioned my name at one time or another.

Post Interview note: After seeing Mr. DeChancie’s answer, I tweeted to Mr. DeLancie

US_Nessie: Dear Mr. @johndelancie . Have you ever hear of sci-fi author @John_DeChancie ? And has anyone ever confused the two of you?

And OMG, a day later, he answered!

johndelancie John de Lancie: @US_Nessie No. But I’ll look him up. Thanks.

9.       What is the strangest thing you’ve ever seen or heard from a fan?

Strange little girls in anime outfits.

John DeChancie and Lydia van Vogt

10.   At LOSCON 38 will fans find you at the Ice Cream Social, Regency Dancing, and Filk Singing? Or will you just be doing the author stuff?

I usually show up for the main events. Even for filk sometimes. Not always, but sometimes.

11.   What can we expect to see from you in MONDO CULT magazine later this year?

Oh, let’s see. There’s a retrospective article on the classic film of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, the one starring James Mason, Arlene Dahl, and Pat Boone. What else. A review of a recent DVD release of a very low budget sci-fi potboiler. And…oh, another retrospective, this one on the classic British adaptation of FIRST MEN IN THE MOON.

12.   You recently traveled from Los Angeles, CA, to Pittsburgh, PA. It rained in LA during that time, while Pittsburgh enjoyed unseasonably pleasant weather. Was this just a coincidence?

Probably, but I do possess the Jewel of Judgment.

13.   You have a long list of interesting projects on the Internet Movie Database. Where can I rent Boogie With the Undead? I’d love to see you as a Druid!

You can buy it, probably. Rent? I really don’t know. The sale price would probably be minimal, as much as the rental. I doubt Blockbuster carries it, but you never know. I know nothing about the distribution of that movie.

14.   While perusing your website, I see a few hints that fans of the Castle Perilous series might soon see a ninth book, or even a television series! Is there any news you can share?

Not at the moment, sorry.

15.   Could you name all the awards you’ve received off the top of your head, or would you have to refer to your notes?

ALL the awards, huh? The one I’m most proud of is the Forrest J Ackerman Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Science Fiction and Fantasy. A full-cast audio production of my novels won the “Golden Headset” award for audio books.

16.   What is your favorite electronic or digital writing tool?

I use Word, and…well, that’s about it. I don’t use anything else. What would I be using besides?

17.   What is your favorite non-electronic writing tool?

A notebook and a felt-tip pen.

18.   Is it true that if you see a new Italian guy on the block that can give you competition – ba-da-bing, you have him whacked? Is this the real reason there aren’t many great Italian Science Fiction writers?

Joke alert.

19.   If you could build a roller derby team by taking one character out of any five different  fictional stories, what stories and characters would you choose?

Scarlet O’Hara, Mrs. Peel, Wonder Woman, Dagny Taggart, and Madame Bovary

20.   Who shot first, Han or Greedo?

I don’t have a Wookie in that fight.

An image of Castle Perilous by John Howe

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Fans of my blog might also recognize John DeChancie’s handsome face as a character in my short story (which is now becoming long enough to qualify as a novella) Synaesthesia. Atticus is a scientist and mathematician who develops an unusual relationship with a chrononaut named Kennealy.

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General Tso’s Spam

Posted on October 12, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

By Evan Joshua Swigart (TheCulinaryGeek) from Chicago, Illinois, USA; hometown of Ames, Iowa, USA (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsLately, all the spam comments on my blog have been about Chinese food.

I have no idea why.

Anyway… what’s up with ROW80 this week?

  1. I learned last round that taking careful notes about exactly how many words I write in each category (Blog, WIP, side projects…) makes me happy, but takes too much time. So although the OCD part of me really wants to keep track of all this, put it in an Excel spreadsheet, and post charts of my progress, it’s not going to happen.
  2. I decided that I am going to do the Wednesday check-ins, but not the Sundays unless I happen to have some time on my hands (not likely) some Sunday.
  3. I noticed that other ROW80 participants have listed as a goal to check-in and support the others, and I’m going to make sure I do that too. I don’t think I can click every link each Wednesday, but I’ll click five or ten or more and leave at least a brief comment. I know how encouraging it is to me to see comments!
  4. I am rearranging my goals to accept the fact that WIP1 and WIP are not going to be touched until after NaNoWriMo.
  5. I am so very psyched for NaNo! Here’s a link to me if you want to be buddies.
  6. Although I am better about those darn superfluous exclamation points, I still write “till” instead of “until” all the time.
  7. The idea of finishing something is very important. I had got my fingers into too many pies, and this ROW80 is dedicated to tying them all up. Although sometimes I feel like hopping back and forth between stories, it does not generally work well for me to do so. I’ve been making myself open up the Synaesthesia file every time I’m #AmWriting. Last night I finally used the Post-It-Note method to figure out what I needed to include in the last six chapters.
  8. Which reminds me…  Synaesthesia, Give Me Your Answer Do, and Audacity’s Chance were all written with chapter breaks as I went, which is different from my usual method of inserting chapter breaks later. But I think I discovered during the 3DayNovel weekend that I do work better putting in breaks as I go. It gives me more structure. So I think when I begin Natasha’s Story for NaNoWriMo, I will put in the chapter breaks as I go.

How’s everyone else doing this round?

Or, if you’re not doing ROW80, please leave me a word of encouragement!

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SyFy Q of the Day: Sugarwater or Saltwater? SciFi or SyFy?

Posted on October 11, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

Before I even started this blog, I would occasionally pose a SyFy Question of the Day to my facebook friends. Sometimes, it was directly related to what I was writing, and I really did want some input to help me decide what direction to take with the story. Other times, it was purely fun. Here’s one of my favorites, from July 2011:

SyFy question of the day: Which inspires the greatest fear, aliens that crave salt, or aliens that crave sugar-water?

Katherine            One word – Buffalo (“The Last Buffalo” from original Star Trek – Sucks the salt out of people. I am not made of sugar water.)

Patty                     Sugar-water, hands down. They’ll eliminate our entire soda/pop supply and we’ll all die of caffeine withdrawal headaches and sugar crashes!

Kenneth              Honestly, the term SyFy scares me the most, LOL!

US_Nessie          @Ken SyFy scares you and Joseph lol! You should see my other SyFy Q of the Day  on the blog…

Joseph                  It doesn’t scare me, it’s just lame as there is no “Y”, let alone two of them, in the term “Science Fiction” That was made up by the lame SYFY Channel. *Not to be confused with Actual SF or SciFi 😀

Joseph                  AND me and my Black suit hate Aliens that like Sugar Water.         😛

US_Nessie          I knew Patty was going to say sugar-water. Over on her status we’re teasing her about being a salt vampire. (AKA what Katherine said about “The Last Buffalo”)

Patty                     That was a quote from Sienfeld no one recognized. You should have known b/c of my former addiction to soda!

US_Nessie          We reserve the right to hijack your status and interpret whatever you say in whatever manner amuses us most.

Katherine            … syfy is a derogatory term for VD in Polish. So I have ben told…

Patty                    Wow. that actually explains a lot about their lineup of shows….

US_Nessie          @Katherine… I asked Monika! But it’s early morning over there now and I’m not sure when she’ll get back to me. I’m curious now!

Monika                 Yep if U must use it gals use SiFi – this is how we call that is Poland 🙂

Katherine            *snerk* I’m glad I remembered correctly. dziękuję

Monika                 hehe I shud be sleeping but in 20 min I’m off at work for whole day so AGAIN ! will be not on the battle bblaaaaaa

US_Nessie          The guild will miss you at battle time, but we will survive. Have fun (lol) at work!

Monika                 haha 12 hours at work where fun? Lol

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.

Post Script: I’ve wavered back and forth about the whole SciFi vs SyFy thing for a long time. Saving just one little letter in a tweet isn’t really saving much, and the Polish translation is a really strong argument against SyFy! I’m not one to make changes lightly. But I think that, at the end of this year, along with other structural changes I might make to the site, I will change SyFy Question of the Day to the name SciFi Question of the Day.

Joe will be happy. 🙂

The previous SyFy Q of the Day is Deafness

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The next SyFy Q of the Day is Humanoid Robots

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Quality Inverness Porn

Posted on October 8, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

First, a little titilation for all those people who find my blog because they are googling Inverness Porn.

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If you were expecting something more, you came to the wrong site. Sorry to disappoint you.

Remember, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Feel your boobies!

And now, for something completely different.

I’ve been pondering lately the difference between quality fiction and fluff. Or maybe those aren’t quite the right words…

There is fiction out there, both written and video, that is good, quality, intellectually produced, award-worthy stuff. I’m reading one right now, Ursula K LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. It is a classic work of Science Fiction. It won awards, including the Hugo and the Nebula.The building of the world, or more specifically, the society, is compelling and thought-provoking. It explores love and relationships, but it is not a romance. There is not much action; it is not a thriller. It is compelling.

But it is not an enjoyable read. It is fascinating, and fulfilling, but it is not fun.

Should it be?

No. Just as there are works of art that are designed to provoke the human spirit rather than please it, there are great works of fiction that are wonderful in their complexity, their subtlety, and their epic greatness.

Ask any runner if they feel like running a marathon in any given afternoon just for fun. I doubt they will say yes. Running a marathon is not just an achievement, it is enjoyable in and of itself. But it is not a casual everyday run.

The Left Hand of Darkness is certainly not a marathon read. Now, Lord of the Rings, that is a marathon! But well, well worth the work.

Lord of the Rings was also made into a fantastic motion picture. More than once, actually. The epic films made around the turn of the millennium are much more fun to watch than the books were to read. Enjoyable in different ways. But the films necessarily removed most of the parts where the books slowed significantly. In story terms, it was important for the reader to feel how much time was passing as the adventures went through their epic quest. The movies condense this.

There are other movies and even some television shows that tell compelling, creative stories. But there are times I’m perusing the options I have via cable and on-demand programming, and I very purposely skip over these great works. Yes, they are worthwhile. They are good. But they are not what I want. I’m at home, I’m taking care of kids and doing housework. The only time I could possibly sit down and watch a show that takes real concentration is late at night, and then I’d rather be either sleeping or writing.  I’m actually choosing something of lesser quality over greater quality because it fits my needs for the moment.

I select books in the same way. Sometimes, I really want something that I can delve into deeply, to analyze and ponder. But when I’m reading for pure enjoyment, I want something fun and light. Other words people use are light reading, fluff or candy. That’s not to say that these books are not quality. There can be good fluff, and bad fluff. Sometimes bad fluff is still enjoyable; think of all those B movies we love to make fun of! I could name some of my favorites, but I don’t want people to think that just because a book is fun, it’s not quality.

I write for myself. I write stuff that I would like to read. Sometimes, while writing, I really wish I could just sit back and read the story, then I remember that I can’t do that because I haven’t written it yet.

I would like to write something someday that is lauded as a great work of fiction. But even more than that, I want to write something that makes people say “I really enjoyed that.” when they’re done reading it. I want them to want more. I don’t want them to vow to read my work someday because everyone says it is great, I want to jump to the front of their to read queue because my book is the one they want to read.

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Interview With Daisy Harris

Posted on October 7, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

Birkenstock-wearing glamour girl and mother of two by immaculate conception, Daisy Harris still isn’t sure if she writes erotica. Her paranormal romances start out innocently enough. However, her characters behave like complete sluts. Much to Miss Harris’s dismay, the sex tends to get completely out of hand.

If you like science-y subplots, fantastical creatures, and red-hot chemistry, you’ll love Daisy Harris. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and at www.thedaisyharris.com.

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1) What was the long and circuitous route that led you to writing?

Wow—it was long and circuitous for sure. I didn’t start writing fiction until February of 2010. Considering I’m 38, that was fairly late in life. But I did want to be an author when I was a kid. I was better at science than I was at English, though, so I focused on my area of strength.

(In retrospect, I realize I just got along better with science teachers than I did with English teachers.)

Many years and many science classes later, I found myself working as a medical writer. As it turned out, I didn’t enjoy doing science, just thinking about it. And writing about it. I branched out until I was doing a little blogging and writing some “how to write” articles, and a friend suggested I try my hand at writing fiction. (Apparently, I was always telling funny and outlandish stories.) So when I had a break between jobs, I decided to try my hand at writing a romance. I enjoyed it tons, so kept on going.

2) How does your variety of life experiences influence your fiction?

Well, I enjoy writing about evil (and not so evil) scientists. Most of my stories have an element of biology and research about them. Although I write paranormal, my worlds are almost always based on biology, not magic. I don’t really understand the physics of magic. It always seems easier to come up with scientific explanations for things like mer-people and zombies.

3) How do you brainstorm?

I’m a weirdo and still haven’t quite figured out how I come up with story ideas. For most of my books, I’ve done pages of handwritten notes. Sometimes I even color-code and stuff. But then with other stories, I don’t brainstorm hardly at all. Most often, I let a story ferment in my mind for a while before writing it. The easiest to write stories are ones that bubble up from my subconscious and won’t stop bugging me till I write them.

For every story, I write a few thousand words before even trying to officially brainstorm or plot or anything. If I can’t come up with ten or fifteen pages of compelling text right off the bat, the story just isn’t going to work. After writing 2-3 K, I send the beginning to a beta reader and that person lets me know if they think I’m totally barking up the wrong tree.

4) What was your path to publication? Did you use an agent?

I think I had the shortest path to publication of any author I know, LOL. I queried a few agents and e-publishers with my first two stories. I had more interest in the second book (Mere Passion) than the first (Mere Temptation,) but I opted to go with the publisher who would accept both books. I was really glad Siren accepted Mere Temptation, because they helped me whip it into shape. The draft I submitted was still very rough—it was my first story, after all! But I got a lot of opportunity to re-work it during revisions. And in the end, I’m glad the world got to read Isa and Sidon’s story.

5) How much planning did you do regarding the background and setting before you started writing Mercury Rising?

Before I started? None. As I said, I always write the start of a story based only on my gut. Actually, I usually leave my setting research till I finish a first draft. Then I add the details later. I did it the other way around with Lust After Death—mapping the location before writing the book. But I think with Mercury Rising, I did all that after.

I will say, though, that I’ve been to San Diego and parts of the Baja coast. So it’s not like I was writing about a place I’d never been. 🙂

6) Mercury Rising is listed as a non-series book. Does that mean we won’t see any more novels in this setting?

I don’t have any plans to write a sequel at this point. I had considered writing a second book, and even started one twice. But after around 10K, they both fizzled out. So, I’m not ruling out more novels, but I don’t see any in the near future.

7) What kind of readers would enjoy your free reads, Blind Date and Wine and Wings?

Both my free reads are short and extremely hot. So I guess someone looking for a quickie before bed. 🙂

8) Can the undead be sexy?

Definitely! Vampires have been sexy for years, and they’re undead. Frankensteins and zombies haven’t quite gotten there in popular culture, but I can’t imagine they’ll be far behind. Plus, frankensteins and zombies are very dystopian.

9) Is “Bad Boys Guide to Mermen” fiction or how-to?

It’s fiction, and I’m not 100% sure I’ll be allowed to keep the name. It does indeed sound like a how-to manual. But yeah, my current work-in-progress “Bad Boys Guide to Mermen” is a first-person, male-male-female love story.

10) Are you working on Mer-Smut and Love-Bots simultaneously?

I seldom work on more than one story at a time. Sure, I take breaks from one book to edit or revise other books, but for the most part I like to do one thing at a time.

My third Love-Bots book, Built4It, should be heading off to my editor any day now. So I’m taking a break from that series to work on my merman story. That said, this merman book IS NOT a continuation of my Ocean Shifters series. This is new mer-smut.

I do have a fourth Love-Bots in the works, but I don’t want to work on that again until I’m done with Mermen. Then I’ll have to re-evaluate what readers want to see more—mer-people or Love-Bots.

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Thank You Cassandra Carr for the Photo!

11) Is it possible for an author to write a series of romances when some stories are about heterosexual relationships while other stories are not?

It’s possible from the author’s perspective. I do it all the time! But I’m not sure how readers feel about it. My third Love-Bots book (Built4It) is male-male.

I have heard, though, that many male-male readers don’t want m/f relationships in their stories. Personally, I don’t know if I could pull that off.

12) How are you going to survive double blog tours in October?

It doesn’t seem too bad so far. Of course, I’m only doing one at the current moment. I’m glad I’ve finished Built4It though. I think I’d be a lot more stressed if I didn’t have the third book of the series mostly done.

Also, my husband is home for the next two months, so that makes my life super easy. He travels like crazy for work and I haven’t seen him for more than a two week stretch since…May? April? LOL. I dunno, it’s been a long, long time! So having him around for such an extended stretch makes everything easier.

Daisy calls this her "Nerd Pic" lol!

13) Are there really Geeks into Kink? Is that even allowed?

Most kinksters are tremendous geeks. The two pretty much go hand in hand.

14) What is your favorite electronic or digital writing tool?

I love my laptop. It’s a 12” MacBook Air. I used to enjoy writing on my iPad, but with the template I now have to use for Ellora’s Cave, I have to use MicroSoft Word. I don’t read on my laptop, though. I don’t mind back-lit screens, but I prefer using my phone or new Nook to read.

And yes, I have a ton of electronics. In my defense, both my kids use the iPad and Nook so much I can hardly get a moment in edgewise.

15) What is your favorite non-electronic writing tool?

Homemade play dough. I make it sometimes to help me brainstorm. I use food coloring to make different shades for different characters, and then I create a sculpture of the shape of the story. Sometimes, I really like getting a visual of the story, delineating the feel of the different parts. Also, it’s nice to get my muse working on a more right-brain level.

16) What is the most persistent distraction from writing?

Distractions don’t stop me from writing. If I’m not meeting my writing goals, it’s because I don’t have the energy or because I made a conscious decision not to write. Sure, there are some things I do for fun. And I also write for fun. But this is my job, my career. I don’t leave writing time up to chance and what happens to catch my attention at the time.

If anything, I watch TV or read in order to stop myself from thinking about writing. I have a hard time turning my mind off. On occasion, I have to remind myself that if I don’t have any experiences beyond writing, I won’t have anything to write about.

17) What is your ideal writing environment? Have you ever been able to create it?

My favorite way to write is in the late afternoon, at my local French Cafe with a glass of wine. But that doesn’t always work out because most afternoons I’m driving my kids around after school. Lately, I’ve been writing a lot at Starbucks. We have a very nice one in my neighborhood with a few adorably cute gay baristas.

18) What social media sites do you use?

I’m almost exclusively on Twitter. I do have a Facebook account, but I consider deleting it at least once a month.

19) I thought I was interviewing an author of paranormal erotic romance, and here I find that you’re a lover of Firefly? And that you’d take either Simon or Jayne over Mal? I’m not sure what to think about that…

I couldn’t be with a guy like Mal. He’s go too many issues and way too much sense of his own “right” ness. By far the hottest guy on that show was Simon. Unfortunately, he was also the least heterosexual dude on the show. But that’s okay. I prefer pretty over straight any day.

20) Who shot first, Han or Greedo?

I like to think Han did. I like a man (or woman) who isn’t afraid to make tough choices and protect #1. Not that I can’t appreciate a self-sacrificing character from time to time. My “Bad Boys Guide to Mermen” hero Jamie can be a bit martyr-ish at times. But Jamie knows this about himself.

Sometimes in fiction, a character is noble and martyr-y just for the hell of it, without any sense of irony or self-deprication. That bugs the crap out of me. Han was the level-headed straight-shooter to Luke’s wide-eyed idealism and Obi Wan’s big-picture zen crap. Hell yeah, he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot.

Daisy’s On a Blog Tour! Check out these other great sites.

For Lust After Death

Sept 30 –Hes­pe­ria Loves Books

Oct 1 – Book Savvy Babe

Oct 2 – A Chick Who Reads

Oct 3 – Para­nor­mal Opinion

Oct 4 – The Phan­tom Paragrapher

Oct 6 — My Book­ish Ways

Oct 7 — vvb32 Reads

Oct 8 – Romanc­ing The Darkside

Oct 9 — Super­nat­ural Bookworm

Oct 10 – Read­er­girls

Oct 12 – Book Sake

Oct 13 – Urban­girl Reader

Oct 14 – Book Lover’s hideaway

Oct 15 – Sassy Book Lovers

Oct 16 – Jagged Edge

Oct 17 – Judith Ledger

Oct 18 – Daisy Har­ris FINAL STOP

For Studenstein

Octo­ber 7: NEW RELEASE PARTY — God­dess Fish Party Pavil­ion
Octo­ber 10: Lisa Sanchez — Romance Author
Octo­ber 11: Blisse Blog
Octo­ber 12: Words of Wis­dom from The Scarf Princess
Octo­ber 13: Naughty in the Back­seat
Octo­ber 14: Rive­rina Roman­tics
Octo­ber 17: Wendi Zwaduk — Romance to Make Your Heart Race
Octo­ber 18: Live To Read ~Krys­tal
Octo­ber 19: Ram­blings From this Chick
Octo­ber 20: Sexy Lady
Octo­ber 21: Black Vel­vet Seduc­tions
Octo­ber 24: Wake Up Your Wild Side
Octo­ber 25: Seduced By Books
Octo­ber 26: Car­rie Ann Ryan’s Blog
Octo­ber 27: Erot­ica For All
Octo­ber 28: My Odd Lit­tle World

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ROW80 Check In Oct 5

Posted on October 5, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

This is Wednesday, right?

There was something I was going to do on Wednesday besides chime in with my ROW80 progress…

Oh yeah! The twitter chat!

Later, maybe. I’m actually making progress at the moment.

I was at a sticky part in Synaesthesia where the main characters were finally going to get a sex scene. It turns out, although they were ready, the story itself was not. After sleeping, I was able to work through it. Good thing I keep a voice recorder by the bed! So, Chapter Eleven was going to be named Carnal, but instead, Chapter Eleven is Clocks, Chapter Twelve is The Garden, and Chapter Thirteen is Carnal. Finally, time to get down and dirty!

I know we’re not supposed to say our goal is to finish a specific project, but I have several shorts/novelettes that really need to get done. Synaesthesia  is the first of these. I’m past the sticky part now, and ready to write the last few chapters. If I’m lucky, I might actually get them done today. I know what happens, I just have to write it.

If I’m successful getting some of these little projects out of the way this month, I’ll be able to go into NaNoWriMo with a clear head!

How’s everyone else doing with ROW80?

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-pD

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SyFy Q of the Day: Deafness

Posted on October 4, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

Before I even started this blog, I would occasionally pose a SyFy Question of the Day to my facebook friends. Sometimes, it was directly related to what I was writing, and I really did want some input to help me decide what direction to take with the story. Other times, it was purely fun. Here’s one of my favorites, from June 2011:

SyFy Question of the day: Is there any plausible reason a writer can give for a human character being deaf in a positive future several centuries in the future?

Kurt                       Yes that person can hear other people thoughts

Geri                       I knew someone in college who was deaf because of neural processing issues. Nothing to fix – all the physical parts were there but her brain just didn’t recognize the signals.

Josh                       Pretentious answer: he chooses to be. 😉

Lisa                        I knew someone who suffered severe ear infections from hearing aids. There are people allergic to anethesia and can’t get any kind of surgery that would require them to be under. There’s a lot of reasons that people couldn’t be treated.

Angela                  Spontaneous deafness resulting from noise trauma… e.g. he was near some sort of explosion. If a noise was loud enough, it could do damage significant enough to make a person completely deaf. Another possibility is a psychosomatic effect whereby his subconscious “chooses” not to hear because of some previous (presumably emotional) trauma regarding his hearing.

US_Nessie          Oooh! I’m liking the allergic to anesthesia and psychosomatic hearing loss especially!

Robert                  What? I didn’t hear that.

I would love to hear what you think! Even if you are reading this post a year or more after publishing, I hope you will leave a comment with your own ideas on this topic.

The previous SyFy Q of the Day is We Have Cookies

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-px

The next SyFy Q of the Day is Sugarwater or Saltwater

Posted in SyFy Question of the Day | Tagged | 4 Comments

Master of None

Posted on October 3, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

See? Even way back then, the writer had a 3yo begging for attention...

The phrase “Do one thing, and do it well.” never appealed to me. I had way too many interests to limit myself to a few, or heaven forbid just one.

Of course, this was my downfall in my first attempt at college. My eighteen-year-old self said “What? You mean I can take more than four courses? And it won’t cost anything extra? Wow!” And then there were clubs. Fencing, Star Trek, Bible Study in small groups, Singing and worship group once a week… I did it all.

I wasn’t a party animal. I didn’t drink (I still only drink a few times a year, although Klout seems to think I’m influential about alcohol lol!) and most of the parties I attended were the ones put on by the residential staff. I just had to do everything there was to do.

When I was going through the interview and background check process of becoming a nanny (Which I did and loved from 1991-1993) I was asked what ages of children I took care of. “Oh, all ages.” I replied honestly. I was informed that this simply was not an option; some nannies are good with babies, others with preschoolers etc. I was not allowed to say that I could take care of any age child.

This flabbergasted me. I was quite the all-around babysitter throughout the eighties, and often supervised a church nursery with a baby, toddlers, and other variously aged children. It seemed dishonest to say I specialized in one age or another.

As a writer, I certainly don’t do it all. But I don’t want to be limited to just one genre or style either. I’m a mom, and I’ve written some stories for kids, but that’s not where my mind and energy is these days. I love Romance, and I love Science Fiction. Fortunately the two of them go together well.

I like to stretch myself. When a beta reader remarked that the male relationships in my group marriage stories were lackluster, I started proofreading M-M romance. When The Red Dress Club prompted us to write something out of our comfort zone, I attempted a Steampunk story. I’m writing another Steampunk story now, and although I’m enjoying it, it doesn’t feel very Steampunk-ish to me and I need to do some more reading.

(Note to self: if you get it polished, submit it to Entangled’s anthology.)

.

I just realized that the latest Round of Words in 80 Days has begun! So here are my current goals:

  1. Finish Synaesthesia (This story is published on my blog one chapter at a time.)
  2. Finish Give Me Your Answer Do and submit it to Entangled.
  3. Edit Audacity’s Chance then send it out for critique.
  4. Finish About Damn Time (This is a biggie… it is WIP#1, and got sidelined. But I need to finish it before I can move on to the next goal.)
  5. Do NaNoWriMo. The book that, although not a sequel, comes after About Damn Time. Natasha & Peter’s story, no working title yet.
  6. Finish WIP#2 The Sojourner’s Guide to the Galaxy

~Whew!~

I like trying to say I’ll do #1k1hr every day, and last ROW80 that helped a lot. I have to get over the feeling that “It’s not much, so why bother?” The answer is, a thousand words a day will eventually get me to my goal, and it is far better than writing nothing at all. But I’m not going to put that into the regular goals. It’s high time I finished something.

All this, and I still plan to do all the regular blog stuff I do. Starting with doing a little upkeep on the site and making sure any casual visitor will easily be able to see what my regular features are, even with the blog split as it is into fiction and non-fiction.

Anyone doing ROW80 and/or NaNoWriMo? Tell me about it! I want to hear!

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-pq

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Interview With MissRiva

Posted on September 30, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

MissRiva Rocker, AKA Riva Gijanto-Burris is a model, actress, and photographer with a plethora of other creative skills to her credit. She is seen regularly on this blog as the face behind Ruby, one of the main characters in my SciFi serial Synaesthesia. Fans of Star Trek Phase II know her as Ensign Zahra, communications officer. MissRiva has naturally Vulcan eyebrows.

1.       I never know whether to say “Guy-jan-toe” or some other pronunciation.  How do you say your last name?

Ha-ha it’s pronounced “Ja-jan-toe”

2.       When did you start using the name “MissRiva Rocker”?

MissRiva was a name given to me working as a house keeper actually! My boss used to call me MissRiva! So I just went with it! Rocker just came from the new business I’m am trying to put together called “DreamXtreme featuring the RockerGirls and taking on the name Rocker”!

3.       How long have you been modeling?

I have been modeling for 6 years.

4.       What goals do you have regarding your modeling career?

I do not have any goals set for I enjoy as a hobby. I pick and choose my jobs when I am offered them. But I consider it a part time job right now, it pays!


5.       Who are the Rocker Girls?

The RockerGirls come from my new business “DreamXtreme“. The RockerGirls are the women working under the business. They would be hired for modeling, acting, promoting, dancing, background extras, photo shoots and are hired mainly for their tattoos and piercings. It’s where the “RockerGirl” kicks in. The hair, the clothes, tattoos and piercings all in which bring back the Rock in the “RockerGirls”.  Agencies and people frown upon and look down on these types of women. I want to give women a chance to stand out and take over the industry instead of agencies picking those who are 5’9, fresh looking and skinny. This company will be very simular to “Suicide Girls“. Same concept and role.

6.       How do you handle those who ask you to show more skin and less clothing? 

Well first off, on any modeling site I am located on, my intro will normally start with “I DO NOT DO NUDES OR IMPLIED”. So if someone asks me to do either, I know they have not read my “About me” section. So I do not reply because to me they clearly are not a pro considering they never took the time to read highlights about myself when it comes to shooting with me. If they pressure me then I just block them. However I have always believed you should never feel like you’re obligated to take them off for whatever the reason is. It’s sad however because it’s women who take off their clothes that always seem to get the better jobs. Men want skin, and they choose who will show it. I think it doesn’t say much for men. But those who choose to take off their clothes, well that’s their choice. I just turn my head. Men who want women to take off their clothes, well that’s just gross. Some of it done by pros anyway seems more tasteful, but you can tell when a photographer is not a pro because the photos look like crap! Most women don’t even know who they are taking their clothes off for. Anyone can pick up a camera. Criminals, rapist, sick minded people. You can’t tell me that the man taking photos of you bending over naked is not having a dirty thought and getting turned on?! Come on now, if you don’t think like that then you can find yourself in missing in action. I don’t frown upon everybody, but for the most part I do.   

7.       How does having tattoos affect your modeling career?

Agency wise, they are always looking for clean cut people to work for them. I have had plenty of job offers that required me going in with a clean slate. But when I explain to them why it is I am turning down their offer, they simply don’t care enough to work with or around my art so they quickly find someone to replace me. It’s the industry, it’s much like being racist I think.

8.       How many tattoos do you have? What are they?  

I have 7 tattoos. A sleeve of a dragon on my left arm, a small dragon on my upper left arm, my zodiac sign on my inner left wrist, a butterfly tribal on my lower back, my name in wings on the back of my neck, and a butterfly on each breast.

9.       How does your photography fit in with the modeling?

  
I have learned a lot from modeling, from the pros in the industry. Photographers taught me a lot verbally but mainly by watching them when they were working with me. So after a while when I would snap photos I was like “Hey I like these!” It started as a hobby like anything else and I was amazed on how quickly my newly discovered talent improved. So now I shoot everything, from landscape, to families, to models. From random shoots to portfolio build ups. So now I am constantly being requested for all my natural talents. I stay pretty busy, but it is a lot of fun!

10.   How did you get involved with Star Trek Phase 2?  

Actually I was working at Walmart 6 years ago, and met a guy named Patrick. We became good friends and shared our interests together a lot when working. I told Patrick one day that I wanted to get in the industry and model and acting. So Patrick then went about telling me that he was currently with a production called “Star Trek New Voyages”. He asked me if I knew James Cawley and of course I did but not personally anyway. So Patrick asked me to come up because they were looking for extras to play in the background at the time, so I did. I went up to Port Henry to the STNV set and Patrick introduced me to James. I was nervous but James went on how he knew my parents and went to school with them. That actually made me feel more comfortable because believe it or not I was really shy back in them days. Then he provided me with wardrobe and immediately after I was put on set. At that moment I was in love with the set, and being up there and meeting great people. Everyone was and still are so nice to me and treated me like family. 6 years later we still hold a tight bond.

Gasp! Vulcans and Klingons! Snuggling!

11.   How did the character of Ensign Zarha come about?  Which episodes is she in?

I was asked to play a communications officer and to come up with my own name. So I did just that! I picked my own character name and it’s stuck ever since. Ensign Zahra can be seen as the communications officer on the bridge in the episode “Star Trek New Voyages” “The Child”.

12.   What other characters have you played in STP2? Have you ever played an alien?

My character is a vulcan and I also play as a extra which I also play as a vulcan. However I have never wore the ears. It’s the eyebrows that give it away! No I have never played an alien but maybe someday I will, we will see what the future brings!

13.   You’ve been in front of the camera and behind it in STP2. What’s your favorite behind-the-scenes role?

Photography and Makeup artist.

Nope. Not Riva! That's me in the Green Room

14.   What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever seen in the Green Room?

Ha-ha maybe powdered someone’s face!

15.   What is your favorite episode of STP2 to watch?

Truth is I don’t have a favorite. I really enjoy and love them all. Everyone has worked so hard to be there and put their time and effort into every episode that I could never pick just one. I think they are all great. They are all my favorites!

16.   Have you done any other acting? Would you like to?

Besides for STP2. I would love to do more acting and get more involved with other films as well. I have a few coming up before the end of the year. Yes I have done more jobs then acting. I have many jobs. I model, act, make-up artist, hair stylist, photography, dance, and sing, you name it!

17.   What’s the most romantic thing your husband has ever done for you?

That’s hard to say because he has done so many romantic things for me! I would have to say the time I went to stay with my older sister for a few days. She and I went to the beach with my nieces and nephew for the day. We headed back home to make dinner, when we pulled up t her driveway and there was a woman standing in her driveway. We get out of the veichle when the woman says “is there a Riva here”?! I said “that’s me”! She then handed me a huge beautiful vase filled with more then a dozen beautifully colored roses and flowers with a little card sticking out of it. I could hear the “awww” in the back of me. The little card read ” I love you and I miss you very much, love your husband”. I nearly died, I thought it was adorbale! A guy has never sent flowers to me before so I thought this was just great! But the list of romantic things my husband has done for me keep going, he is an incredible guy!

18.   Were you really flattered when I asked if I could use your photo to illustrate a story? Or did you just think I was nuts?

Ha-ha Both! I thought REALLY?! AmyBeth wants to use my photo to illustrate a story! WOW! That is awesome! But I thought you were nuts only because I’m like “so out of everyone she could do this for she chose me!” “Is she nuts?!” Obviously in a very good way of course. 😀

19.   Do you think you have anything in common with Ruby, the character in Synaesthesia your image inspired?

I do actually! As crazy as it may sound, Ruby reflects a side of me that I keep hidden most of the time! Ruby is an inspiring character, and I love her personallity and character. I picture myself being Ruby when reading the stories and it’s so weird to picture yourself in a character based off of myself. It’s insane, but I really enjoy the character and the story line. I really believe you have a great talent for this and I am truely honored to be a part of it!

20.   Who shot first? Han or Greedo?

Han I believe!

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Long awaited bloggedy blog post, and a search…

Posted on September 28, 2011 by AmyBeth Inverness

Oh, I have been neglecting my blog. Yes, I’m doing all my regular features… I post an interview every Friday (even though last Friday was a fictional character, it still counts!) I post a SyFy Question of the Day every Tuesday. On the fiction side, I post a chapter of Synaesthesia every Monday, and I usually do the Write on Edge prompts once or twice a week.

But it’s been a while since I just rambled on about something.

Every once in a while, someone will either deliberately prompt me, or I’ll jokingly take something as a prompt, and I’ll write a quick short story. Daisy Harris was talking about mermaids, someone else mentioned Steampunk, then when I joked about Steampunk Mermaids someone else said something about “Only if you have an emo pirate!” One other person (I wish I remember who… if I paged through facebook and G+ I might find it) said “…and metrosexual naval officers!” So, it turned into a short story called Give Me Your Answer Do, which is currently at 1,500 words, and will probably end up between 5,000 and 10,000 words when its done.

Surprisingly, googling “Steampunk Mermaids” actually returned quite a few responses! I found this great page called Mermaids in Fantasies of Various Artists, and I especially like The Devil’s Mermaid by Kurt Williams. Besides being a gorgeous picture, it has a “look” that I like. I was having a hard time saying that my mermaids would be shapeshifters, but if this is going to be a romance (yeah, that’s kinda what I do) I most certainly am not going to get into fishy sex! So I decided that my merpeople were going to be mutants, which fits into the Steampunk genre much better. They have gills, their skin is not quite as pink as a Caucasian (They have varying shades of blue and green) and they have two legs that fit together more closely than a human’s legs do. They do have some fins and webs, but it is common to slip on a garment like a second skin over their legs that makes it look like they have a tail. This also makes it easier for them to swim faster, like a human diver wearing flippers. In true Steampunk sense, they may also don something more mechanical that makes them look a little bit like Mer-Borgs. Notice the knees in the picture? That’s what Daisy’s legs would look like while wearing her swim tail. The corset was key! In this time period, any fashionable woman would wear one, and although Daisy’s tastes are eclectic, she definitely has an eye for fashion, especially anything that might help show off her natural assets to their best advantage.

My problem is attribution. I don’t want to put any image on the blog without the artist’s permission, but I’m hoping to use this one to illustrate Give Me Your Answer Do. It says right on the image Copyright Kurt Williams, but the site on which I found it has no link to the source. There is a link on the name, however it refuses to load the page when I click.

I’ve used Google image search, and found that this picture is on many sites. Some offer it as wallpaper, most others simply say “Ooh! Look at the purty picture!” I’ve Googled Kurt Williams, but it is not an uncommon name. I’ve sent a message to one Kurt Williams so far, and received a message back saying “Nope. Not me!”

So here it is, in this post. Perhaps the artist occasionally uses Google image search to see if his stuff is being posted where it shouldn’t be. Perhaps he sold or released the rights long ago, and it’s now out there in the realm of free-to-use. I’d like to know. But perhaps if someone reads this post and happens to know how I might find the right Kurt Williams, I can contact him and ask his permission to use this picture with my story.

UPDATE: I shared this on facebook, and David Gardner suggested I use TinEye.com. I clicked through several random sites that had the image, and then lo and behold I found a link that brought me to the artist’s own website! Unfortunately, it says it is currently closed. But there is an e-mail address, so I’ve sent off a message and we’ll see what he says.

And, less than 24 hours after the original blog post went up…

Hello AmyBeth,

Yes, you have indeed found the artist responsible for “The Devil’s Mermaid”. I’m very flattered that you were inspired by the image and thank you for the praise. In response to your request to use the image on your blog, please feel free (it looks good there already;)). It has been used on a number of web sites and most have not asked permission. If you ever publish a book in print or distribute digitally, we may need another arrangement but as long as it’s not being sold directly by you, I have no problem with it appearing with your story. I wouldn’t be able to grant an exclusive license at this point since Future Publishing and Ballistic Publishing already hold non-exclusive rights to publish it.

To answer your other questions about this image, it was painted in Photoshop so it’s all digital. The original file is at a much higher resolution than the copies on the web so in that way, I always have a “tangible original” to print from that is higher quality. The painting I’ve done is usually just for me. I create abstract thumbnail sketches with colors and shapes in Photoshop by just scribbling. I have no idea what I want to paint so I might create 20 to 100 of these little thumbnail sketches then look at them over and over again until something jumps out. Kind of like an ink blot test only in color. Once inspiration strikes it’s just a matter of painting what I’ve imagined. “The Devil’s Mermaid” grew out of the attached thumbnail.

Looks like you have a great blog and I look forward to reading your story (sounds different, and by different, I mean interesting). Believe it or not I actually read paperbacks constantly. I enjoy putting images to words and find a great deal of inspiration from today’s authors.

Best of Luck,

Kurt Williams

Fan-freaking-tastic! I’ve heard so many horror stories from writers who contact an artist and either get a stony silence or a rude “How dare you suggest…” when they ask to use something. This is one genuinely nice guy!

Now, to finish the story… anyone want to do my laundry, clean my house, fix dinner (oh, wait, I already did that…) and entertain my kids while I do some writing?

The shortlink for this post is http://wp.me/p1qnT4-oP

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