Sugar Rush is Showcased

SOS Aloha

Guest Author: Walter Greatshell

Greetings to my fellow Enduring Romantics!

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Walter Greatshell here. Since Halloween is fast approaching, our host Kimber An has graciously invited me to share a few thoughts about writing.
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Why me? Well, I am the author of the Xombies series of novels: Xombies: Apocalypse Blues, Xombies: Apocalypticon, and the upcoming third book in the saga, Xombies: Apocalypso. I also have a short story, The Mexican Bus, in the just-released zombie anthology The Living Dead 2, as well as a non-zombie novel due out this December, a sci-fi psychothriller called Mad Skills.
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How do I come up with this stuff? Why do I come up with this stuff? Am I warped, twisted, sick in the head? Sure, but that has nothing to do with it. The fact is, when you spend years working at mind-numbing jobs for low pay, you have to do something to keep yourself sane, whether it’s Sudoku or fantasy football. I chose to create fantasy worlds that I could escape to during those long, uneventful graveyard shifts. Eventually my fantasies took on a life of their own, demanding that I write them down.

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It’s something I’ve done all my life. When I was a little kid, my best friend and I used to reenact all the Godzilla movies we loved and then improvise sequels and spin-offs involving new characters we created. We made monsters out of papier-mâché and wrote up complex stage directions and cast lists. When my friend got a Super-8 camera as a Christmas gift, we started making actual movies, and that was even cooler…but then my friend moved away, taking his camera and projector with him.
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Since I couldn’t afford a camera of my own, I began to write. First short stories, then articles and reviews for the newspaper, and finally books.
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My first novel, Xombies (2004), was a crazy quilt of everything I ever read, from Candide to I Am Legend to True Grit to On the Beach to the Bible and Greek mythology to Native American folklore. That was the whole point—I was deliberately subverting what I felt was a stale genre marketplace. I believed and still believe that pulp fiction is literature, and that authors should experiment, follow their passions, take risks. It’s tough in this hypercommercial environment, but you have to do it. And just as I prefer satiric-minded movie directors like Stanley Kubrick (dead) or the Coen brothers, my literary idols are folks like Mark Twain (dead), Kurt Vonnegut (dead), Ken Kesey (dead), James Dickey (dead), Shirley Jackson (dead), Charles Portis (?), Thomas Berger (?), and even the comic artist Bob Fingerman (very not dead), who has recently started writing novels (Bottomfeeder and Pariah) that are as disturbingly funny as his comics.
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In recent years there’s been a whole new wave of horror maestros like David Wellington (Frostbite), Nate Kenyon (Sparrow Rock), Jonathan Maberry (Patient Zero), Joe Hill (Horns), and Justin Cronin (The Passage), all of whom are doing their part to keep the form interesting. Then there are all the new women superstars like Charlaine Harris, Stephanie Meyer, or Suzanne Collins, whose Hunger Games series is probably the most shocking and subversive YA I’ve read in a long time, God bless her. All these people inspire me…and give me something to aspire to.
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In fact, while I’m waiting for the trick-or-treaters to arrive, I might as well work on my new book. It’s just so hard to concentrate. Those candied apples look so tempting, so red and shiny, but it wouldn’t do to bite one—definitely not. They’re for the children…only for the children.
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Shhh, I can hear them coming now.

The Devil-ution of A Short Story

Hello everyone! My name is Leslie Soule and I'm a new addition to the Enduring Romance blog crew! It's a pleasure to be here.

Since Halloween is coming up tomorrow, I wanted to talk about my short story "The Devil's Bidding" and the evolution of it. Also, I will be giving away a free copy of it in ebook form to a lucky winner - chosen at random from those who post a reply.

 So let me begin by saying that this is a story I'd had for a while, and it sat there in its lonely Word document form, silently following me as I went to college and worked many different jobs. Even trying to recall what I originally wrote it for seems problematic - I know I must have written it around the same time as another short story of mine called "Poisoned", and I remember writing "Poisoned" as notes on receipt tape when I was a cashier, back when the basis for my novel Fallenwood was only just barely forming. My two short stories were both only about three pages in length, so they might have been written at about the same time, and possibly were class assignments for one of the many English courses I've taken over the years, but the details of the actual writing of the original version utterly escape me.

  I wrote "The Devil's Bidding" and "Poisoned" as my foray into the horror genre. I originally wrote them as parables - the ensuing horror being the result of the foolish actions of a main character, who is then punished.

  Well, like a character in one of my own stories, I made a foolish decision and let my boyfriend at the time choose the title of my short story, as if to highlight all of the other ways in which I had lost all sense of who I was for the sake of trying to make a bad relationship work. When we broke up, I began getting rid of things that reminded me of him, but this short story still remained like a loyal, lost puppy and I knew I wanted to keep it - it just needed a new name and a lot of work. The title was easy enough, surprisingly. For me, often the most difficult part of writing any story is finding the perfect name. I can't begin to explain what a grueling search it was to find a name I love for my jester in Fallenwood, Terces Solario. (And Hieropraxis - my sorcerer - his name was even harder to come up with!)

  Anyway, it'll suffice to say that I did come up with a title that had been floating around in my head for a while - "The Devil's Bidding". The title is a double entendre that refers to "doing the devil's bidding" and more literally to the devil bidding for souls online.

  I decided to submit it to Decadent because I thought I might at least get some feedback. What I got instead was a million times better. Through the editing process, it became the kind of story I'd only dreamed about it having the potential to be. What began as a simple parable about not selling your soul, became this incredible tale of love and redemption and I feel like my lost little puppy of a story has grown into a more mature, confident companion.

  As always, I love feedback and would absolutely LOVE to hear from my readers!

  To be entered into the contest for a chance to win a free copy, just leave a reply telling me what the strangest thing you've found on ebay or craigslist is.



SUGAR RUSH is Featured at Amaterasu Reads

Kai and Tin generously showcased Sugar Rush at Amaterasu Reads   Thank you, Kai and Tin!

Guest Post: Cover Artist Dara England

Hello all. When Kimber invited me to do a guest blog today I immediately knew what I wanted to talk about. So many people—especially Facebook friends—message me with questions about cover art and how someone interested in it can get into designing book covers. So that’s what I’m going to talk about today. Book cover design.

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First off I should say that I don’t have an artistic bone in my body when it comes to things like painting or drawing. But that’s what’s so fun about photo manipulation. It gives those of us who aren’t great at other mediums a go at expressing our artistic side in a different way.
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Here’s how to get started. Or rather, how I got started; there’s not really any one right way to do it.
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1. I downloaded a free program I’d heard about called GIMP (you can find it with a quick Google).
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2. I went to Dreamstime  and  iStockPhoto and purchased some nice royalty free images (high resolution, 300 dpi).
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3. I spent a few months playing with GIMP and learning how to use it (there are helpful tutorials on the GIMP website).
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4. I started emailing various e-publishers and small presses I knew of, sending them sample covers I’d worked up and asking for work. Surprisingly, a lot of them said ‘yes ‘.
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From there on out, word spread until I started having publishers and authors emailing me, offering work. Facebook is a great help with that and I recommend it as an awesome way to meet people in the publishing industry. I’d say 90 % of the projects I take on these days come to me via people I’ve networked with on FB.
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So get out there and start designing! : )
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--Dara E.
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Want to know more about my work? Visit my design site at: My Cover Art or drop by my author site at: Carol Green

The Week Behind and the Week Ahead

Good evening, Blog Buds. 
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Oh, you wouldn't buleeeve the week I've had!  Oh, wait, if you hang out here much, you already know, so I guess you would.  Let us reflect upon it anyway.
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Decadent Publishing released SUGAR RUSH a few days early.  SUGAR RUSH at Decadent   Logistically, I was ready.  I'd already lined up guest posts and was recruiting co-bloggers and all that.  Emotionally, I was AHHHHHHH!  Scroll down to read all the goings-on this week, the guest posts, interviews, shout-outs, and the Cyber-Launch Book Party, which Writer and Cat won.  SUGAR RUSH is now available at Amazon too.
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All this beget other forthcoming guest blogs, such as for Blake Snyder  That was a thrill because it was through the late genius' screenwriting book, SAVE THE CAT! that I learned a lot of what I now know about structuring a story.  I never would have made it this far without him or Jacqueline Lichtenberg
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This coming week I'll be seeking out more ways to connect with my target readership, Young Adults.  So, if you know anyone with a YA focused blog or whatever, please let me know.  Fellow reviewer, Nayuleska, does a lot of Young Adult at her Reading Corner and I think she's going to be reviewing SUGAR RUSH there at some point.
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Friday will be the first Friday in a series of guest posts by industry professionals, starting with the cover artist who did my novel, Dara England.  She's also an author.
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Three of my fellow YA authors at Decadent will begin co-blogging with me on Saturdays, starting with Leslie Soule.  Their schedule is on the sidebar.
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And then Sunday will begin another new feature, Storytelling Sunday, in which an established author shares insight into the writing craft.  Walter Greatshell wrote for this Sunday, Halloween.  He gave a scientific spin to old monsters in XOMBIES Apocalypse Blues, you know.
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And I'll be guest posting at SOS Aloha which is a blog that celebrates romance reading, military families, international travel, and Hawaiian culture.  We made contact when author Susan Grant gave me a shout-out on her Facebook page.
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Meanwhile, my fellow book reviewers here, Rebecca, Nayuleska, and Mfitz, will continue to help you find the books you'll love.
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By now you might be wondering how it feels to suddenly be on the other side of the Eeeevil Book Reviewer's Desk.
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Terrifying.
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Exhausting.
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And wonderful.
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Scheduling is the key to everything I do and I've decided I will be taking Mondays and Tuesdays off the computer, except email checks once in the morning and once at night.  Otherwise, I will get no rest and my hands will be Tendonitis-Toast.  And I still have a ton of promo to do for Sugar Rush and more stories to write and rewrite and edit and promote, all on top of raising my four children.  I need to completely reorganize my Master Schedule now.
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Not that I'm complaining.
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P.S. (added Monday morning) I forgot to add that I need to blog at The Ophelia Dawson Chronicles Monday through Thursday in order to keep the encyclopedia growing.  This morning I posted about Ophelia's medical alert bracelet.  Okay, so email and that.  Now, I'm getting off and staying off!

New Kids on the Writers' Blog

Good morning again.  I'm at fellow reviewer Rebecca's blog, New Kids on the Writers' Block
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Besides my harrowing tale of publication, you can find all sorts of resources for aspiring authors!  Take your time and explore. 

Writer and Cat Win the Cyber-Launch!

Good morning, Blog Buddies!
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Well, my very own Cyber-Launch Book Party ended last night at six, as scheduled.  A good time was had by all, despite Larry lurking around for a snack.  I don't know how I ended up with that vampire-reject.  Anyway, Writer and Cat won the drawing.  The human part of that team, author Jody Wallace , will be officially receiving the prize, although I'm sure Meankitty will help inspect the Alaskan moose plush toy at least.
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P.S. Here's some FREE YA fiction Jody wrote, a good taste of her many talents.
Worst Christmas

Cyber-Launch Book Party for SUGAR RUSH!

At last, after four long years of learning, writing, and querying, I'm throwing my very own Cyber-Launch Book Party. 

To read about past Cyber-Launch Book Parties here at Enduring Romance, please click on the link in the directory or the tag at the bottom of this post.  It all started organically four years ago after I read GAMES OF COMMAND by Linnea Sinclair and wished I could attend a book party for it.  I threw a virtual one on my old blog.  That was all fine and good, but after the initial excitement things started getting boring.  So, I started making stuff up.  Pretty soon, we had Tribbles with fangs bouncing through the comment section and a mummy who lost its head in a lightsaber duel, staggering around searching for it.  Things got a little crazy, but everyone seemed to have a good time.  Now, it's finally my turn.

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There will be a drawing when the party ends at 6 p.m. tonight.  If you wish to enter this drawing, you must leave a comment with some way of contacting you via email.  If you have a username that links to your Blogger profile, that's perfect.  I must have some way of contacting you to let you know you won.  The prize is a free eBook of SUGAR RUSH, plus a few goodies sent by snail-mail, including an Alaskan moose plush toy. 

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If you want to learn more about SUGAR RUSH before attending the party, please scroll down to read a review, excerpt, and links to guest posts.  And/or, you can visit Kimber An's Main Site  Additionally, Sugar Rush is now on sale at Decadent Publishing   and   Amazon

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Okay, got your blaster and protective footwear?  Life insurance?  Good!  I shall now wave my fairy wand and zap you through the Temporal Vortex Chamber! 

SUGAR RUSH Now at Amazon

SUGAR RUSH at Amazon
Oh, crap, I still haven't created my author's page there yet!
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By the way, the Cyber-Launch Book Party starts in just under three hours?  I've just sent the Blood-Sucking Dead Guys to breakfast so they won't be hungry when the party starts.  If you're diabetic, try to remember you're only a lollypop to the Oldbloods and the Newbloods weren't invited.  Still, it's a good idea to bring your diabecracker along to watch your back.  What's a diabecracker?
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A diabecracker is someone who loves a diabetic.  The nickname was originally created as an insult by the Newbloods (alien/human hybrids,) but the diabecrackers embraced it like the American revolutionaries embraced the British insult, Yankees.  Newbloods find diabecrackers extremely annoying.  Diabecrackers are always helping or trying to help diabetics avoid and escape the Newbloods, and making sure they test and eat right and all that.

Cyber-Launch Book Party for SUGAR RUSH in the Morning

The party officially starts at 6 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. Alaska Time.  Pop in and out, but do watch out for the trolls.  They ate chili tonight and they're very cranky.  And stinky.  For an example of the general lunacy of our parties, please read Lisa Shearin's party for Armed and Magical
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By commenting, you will be entered into a drawing for a free eBook of SUGAR RUSH and an Alaskan moose plush toy and possibly other goodies.  See you in the morning!  Be careful going into the Temporal Vortex Chamber though.  If you get nauesous upon rematerialization, there's nothing we can do about it.

Daily Dose of Decadence

Good evening, Blog Buds!
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I'm passing on news about a contest at my publisher's blog, Name Our Blog!
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Also, Decadent Publishing is looking to bail a few more authors out of Queryland.  Check this out-
What Decadent is Looking For

Kimber An Around the Blogosphere This Weekend

Hello, Blog Buddies!
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First off, don't forget about the Cyber-Launch Book Party for SUGAR RUSH in the morning.  It will run from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Alaska Time.  Feel free to pop in and out and you will be entered to win a free eBook of SUGAR RUSH and an Alaskan moose plush toy and maybe some other goodies. 
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Today, you can find posts by me at
Alien Romances
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SFR Brigade
and this evening sometime
The Galaxy Express
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Tomorrow is the party, of course, and Tia's Announcement of Sugar Rush and the next day, Sunday, I will be at ER reviewer Rebecca Lynn's blog
New Kids On the Writers Block
See you there!

Lisa Shearin Shouts about SUGAR RUSH

and the SEVENFOLD SPELL by longtime Blog Buddy and fellow new author, Tia Nevitt.
http://www.lisashearin.com/2010/10/21/new-book-releases-from-my-blog-buddies/

Beyond Ecstasy by K Lynch

August 2010, Outskirts Press

E-book, review copy

Suspense romance

Summary from Outskirts 
Beginning with the time of the French Revolution through today, the "trilogy" emulates the intricate yet unpredictable, ever changing events in peoples' lives. The occurrences for the most part are factual, with only names and locations having been changed. Through these series of events, the Island of Berneau emerges as a paradise for all those who desire to make their fantasies a reality. 

One begins with a young single mother who, as a marital therapist is faced with a difficult dilemma. This is followed by a young, driven ER physician who attempts to run from tragedy only to be faced with his own mortality. Events finally culminate with the emergence of a career criminal who is a remorseless killer. His effect on the island inhabitants will be profound.


This was an intriguing book. I admit that I would happily have read the prologue (which introduced the history of the island) at the end. It provided background details, but I was eager to get on with the book. And the book really is all in the modern day - the French revolution part was to do with the prologue. 


That aside, the book itself was interesting. I enjoyed watching the story unfold, and how the lives of all three protagonists were interwoven. Carol's plight is scary. Some of it is her own fault - ok, a lot of it is. What she doesn't isn't necessarily morally right. She just wants to keep her son safe, fed and housed. She does that, but she doesn't stop when she could. She gets a bit greedy. However, she can escape from her life - although it does come and catch up with her in the third part of the book. I can't say the ER doctor gained my emotional investment - but he is pivotal in the story. I'm not sure whether it says something that I was more intrigued by the criminal than the doctor! There is no question the criminal had evil motives. He really should have done his research about where he was going - his demise is his own fault. I think rage drove him to his death - most people know what would happen in the situation he threw himself into. 


I class this as an easy read. There were a couple of plot twists which were a surprise, but most were obvious. It was enjoyable though. There is infrequent violence, cursing is kept to a minimum. I class this as sensual.