Writerly Wednesday: The Storm Prince, Author Interview and Book Review

Wow, ML, I'm so thrilled to have you here today for Writer's Wednesday. I have to say, I can't believe how great your story has become. I know that writing is a tough gig, but you make it look so easy. The characters are amazing and your prose flows effortlessly. 

I have a few questions that have nothing to do with your story, you know, to deepen your character with irrelevant trivialities that make you approachable and adorable. 

Q: If you could be a fictional character, who would you choose?

ML:I would like to be Heidi. Living in the Alps sounds awesome. Or maybe D'artagnan, because all the ladies love him and he kicks butt with a sword.

Q: (Not really a question) Also, you could wear laderhosen. Next question, Pastry or cake? 

ML: Pastry. Except on my birthday. Then I would like more pastry. Pastry means pie, right? Mmm, pie. 

Q: You are right. Pie is far superior to cake. Everyone who is a REAL WRITER knows this. Now, what is your favorite climate?

ML: The beach.

Q: Is there such a thing as an arctic beach? Not that it wouldn't be cool... What do you think is the world's best writing soundtrack?

ML:The Wreck of the Day, by Anna Nalick.

Q: As Beri would say in one of my favorite parts, "The music was good".  What species would you be if mystical creatures were available? 

ML: A Kryptonian. Does that count? Comics are American mythology, right?

Q: Definitely. What is the most annoying sound ever?

ML: Styrofoam touching anything, especially other Styrofoam.

Q: Shudder. Favorite part of your series either written or unwritten, or both- 

ML: The very ending. But you'll have to wait to see what happens.

Q: If it's better than the first two, I absolutely can't wait! 

Thanks so much for stopping by ML John. Now go write the next book so you avid fans can get their next fix. 

Now for my review of John's enchanting book. 

This story is the missing link from the first book, when he's lost from the heroine Karen. I cannot do justice to this story in a review. 

Anguish! Passion! Spells of death and silence! Beautiful description, convincing dialogue, and an elaborate and complicated world that formed its own spell, sucking me in until I'd consumed this lavish delight. All this and a plot. 

If you've read the first book, you know that he, the prince, Beri, is a bit dense, and if you haven't, do yourself a favor and pick it up at once because it's simply lovely. 

Our hero gets captured and taken to the Summer Court where the Summer Queen uses all her powers to bend him to her will. He steps deeper and deeper into the tangled web when he defends the helpless against a tyrannical noble and becomes part of a subversive group who strives to foil the Queen. 

Which side will win, and does he care with his neverending broken heart? 

The writing was even smoother than the first book. I expect great things from this author and can't wait for the next in the series.

Writerly Wednesday: Hybrid in review

All right. There's this song,

And it's kinda poppy, kinda peppy but super, overwhelmingly, nearly sickeningly sweet, and it's the theme song that flowered into epitome during the last quarter of Hybrid. This song, the sappiness is remarkably perfect for the first love budding and then bursting into life, and it makes sense, and listening to the song on repeat for a month really made the whole thing cohesive, (I'm going to say it again) with the budding bliss and rapture, optimism and unflagging hope we get from Dariana.

So Dariana isn't always so hopeful, and maybe this is a bad thing because she's this new soul, so I'm cringing here, but maybe I have to go back over the thing with this song on repeat and fill in some bits, chop, carnage, rip out some angst and fill it with sweet. Is this fair to my sense of closure after flinging Hybrid into the published ether? Well, I'm my biggest audience, so, yeah, I am. Sorry to those waiting on books cuz they're not going to happen 'til I've told the world. Yep.

Any songs on repeat this week? Month? Ever?

Obama in Athens! and What I read Wednesday

Hello! I'm not politically assertive, mostly because I was raised by Anarchists, The statement before was meant to be funny but now strikes me as disrespectful. My parents are extreme constitutionalists, possibly the opposite of anarchists. I dislike Anarchy immensely. In high school I sat by some outcasts who when everyone would chant V-I-C-V-I-C-T-O-R-Y as led by the cheerleaders would chant A-A-N-A-N-A-R-C-H-Y which was much cooler before I figured out what the word was. I like the idea of everybody chanting something different at the same time but hated everything the quasi skinheads stood for, well stood against anyway. but also because nobody ever says anything interesting. I'm all about interesting (explains my hair, doesn't it?) Also disrespectful. My great great great great great grandfather Aagarde gave me my red hair and dashed if it isn't the most exquisite part of me. Go vikings! ARGGGHHH!

My husband is a proud supporter of Obama, or at least his economic policy, and I'm all for trains, because trains are the bomb, so we're mostly compatible. Anyway, I was all set for a romantic date to go hear the big speech, because Obama's coming to the fair city that is the center of our small rural universe.

I'm not going, because of other things, but my husband has been standing in line since 1, so he can hear the speech at six. It's kind of sad that I can't experience the historic moment, but oh well. These things happen. My new boots are made for standing in line though, sad not to wear them.

So, what I read: Ice by Durst

It's really quite lovely. I'm a fan of the twist on a fairy tale, and it was really well done. Plus, the protag had red hair. Obviously someone was a brilliant writer to include that detail. Does no one else want to cuddle polar bears? Of course we want to cuddle polar bears, particularly nice ones who ice skate and snowball fight, oh, and have seal breath. The description was stunning, the character development absolutely believable and satisfying, while the plot while a tiny bit predictable was nonetheless tidy and well-paced.

Should mention that there is some shocking language but absolutely no nonsense before marriage, if you know what I mean. Not terribly shocking, farmer shocking, but I find that bad language creeps into my head even exposed in quite small amounts, so be en garde!

Writerly Wednesday! Is there writing going on here?

This summer has been CRAZY, or maybe I should say, last summer. Sigh. I'm not ready for fall, however pretty the trees and clothes are. I finished writing up a novel I've had simmering for two years, WATERGIRL and it's fun. That's it, not deep, emotive, or anything else, but sometimes fun is exactly what I'm in the mood for. It will come out next spring after the usual rounds of painful editing, and we will have a beach party at one of the lakes round about.

So. That was four weeks ago that I wrapped up Watergirl. A month. Since then I've been spinning around in circles with different ideas, you know, the usual, vampire twilike musical set in New Zealand (youtube post coming maybe in the future) steam punk goblins, dystopian ninjas, you know, normal stuff like that. For some reason none of it has truly captured my obsessive nature, which is a pity because summer is when I do the explosive lots of writing that actually moves my stuff along. Oh well.

Hybrid is coming out December 1st, mark it on your calendars (if you do that kind of thing) and the party will be... I actually have no idea. There is a distinct lack of tangoing. Maybe we could have a hair party! Ooooh! I like that! We could have a best hair competition, (weirdest hair actually) or a wig party! Oh, that sounds even funner! (not a word) Anyway, I will have to think on it. If you have an idea, I'd be ever so happy to hear it!

Write on! (yes. I do think puns are HILARIOUS!)

Writerly Wednesday: Dollies

So here how it works, or doesn't work as the case may be. I am going to do cloth sculptures, aka, dollies, of my characters because it sounds FUN! And like all things that I think sound FUN, require gobs of work that make it less FUN than I thought it would be. So I pull out every doll book I own, which is quite a lot because apparently I collect them, and find a pattern that might be the right basic size, except female because every doll book only sells female patterns, huge dearth of male doll patterns. Sigh. Anyway, I'm combining this stuff with my DH's workout books, because muscly men is exactly what I'm after for my entourage of Wild men, but then my daughter, we'll call her sweet potato, wants to get involved, and I think, 'practically seven, we'll have her do this black apple doll I saw on pinterest, easy peasy'. Only, sigh. Not so easy peasy when 5yr old we'll call him, atomizer, wants one too, and of course that means I'm sitting there making dolls for my adorable children all day instead of the one I wanted to make for me, MY DOLLY SATAN!!!!!!! Who is actually Saturn, but they call him Satan because he has a dramatic case of scary. At any rate, I'm still working on my dolly, and will at some point have a boy dolly pattern. On a positive not, I could market it.:)