misslj_author | Entries tagged with links

I am steaming right now. Mind you, I'm not alone, bc this is something that's affecting a LOT of authors, both well known and not, from people like George RR Martin, Jeff Vandermeer, John Grisham, Jodi Piccault, David Baldacci, Mary Bly, Michael Connelly, Sylvia Day, to others, such as myself, Megan Derr, Aleksander Voinov, Olivia Dade, Andrea Speed, Ginn Hale and more.

And what is it that is affecting us? Oh, just that our work is being used to "teach" AI how to write books. Without our consent, and without our knowledge, which has to be a breach of some kind of IP and copyright law as we authors retain IP and copyright even when our work is in print or out of print (as is the case for the 7 of my books that are used, and which most of those I intend to republish.)

There's a gift link to read this article at The Atlantic, which expires in 11 days, so read soon, which has a ton of info. More info here, and The Authors Guild are launching a Class Action Suit Open AI. James Swallow is another author who's been hit with this too.

The Authors Guild has been brilliant, I have to say, and has a great post up on their site about what to do next. But I'm still peeved about this, oh yes I am.

Current Mood: aggravated

By now, you may (or not!) have heard of #cockygate, where one woman has tried to trademark the word "cocky."

Subsequently, there is an anthology call from Jackie Barbosa, which may be of interest to many of you. Here's the details:

From her tweet here:

THIS IS REAL: THE COCKY COCKERS:
1) Romance, any subgenre
2) Must feature a cocker spaniel
2) ~5k words
3) Due 05/31/18

If interested, email (jackie at jackiebarbosa.com ) or DM. I'll edit, get cover art, format, etc. Royalties to legal costs, equally distributed if none.

She also says m/m is just fine.

***

Additionally, a group of authors are doing a giveaway from the 15th to the 30th of May on Instafreebie. It's not live yet, but keep an eye out on this space as more books are added so you can grab some amazing romance books for free, in all genres, subgenres, heat ratings, pairings, and so on. I have a book in this too, I'm honoured to be among so many amazing authors.

Current Mood: calm
Crossposts: https://misslj-author.livejournal.com/104013.html

Thank the universe.

This was something that all Australian authors were worried about—the proposed changes to copyright laws. Under the proposal, copyright for authors, which was in line with the international standard of existing with the author or their heirs/assigns for 70 years after their death, would be changed. The change would make it so the copyright would expire 15-25 years after the first publication date of the work.

The author of this proposal is the Productivity Commission, who are tasked with finding new and interesting ways for people to be productive and the government to make money. Its basic role is to help the government to make better policies in the long term interest of the Australian community.

The next proposal by the commission is one that hasn’t been rebuffed by the government or agreed to—in short, the government has given a non-answer on the question of whether or not they’ll go with this recommendation. This is to remove PIR—Parallel Importation Rules—where "an author owns territorial rights to their work, which means that they can sell their book to one publisher in Australia, one in America and another in the UK, and those publishers have an exclusive right to sell that book within their market only. Booksellers can therefore only buy bulk copies of a title from the publisher who has rights in their own territory, so Australian booksellers purchase from Australian publishers." [1]

As it stands at the moment, a consumer can buy a book from anywhere in the world. The system in place is fair and balanced, in that people can buy books in Australia published by Australian publishing houses or imports from overseas publishers, or they can buy books from overseas retailers such as Amazon, Book Depository or secondhand merchants such as Better World Books. Basically, the way it is, everyone gets paid, everyone's happy. This is the system in place in the US and UK as well as here, but it might not be here for much longer. Who knows.

Lastly, there is the debate of what constitutes fair use and that’s a murky thing at the best of times. Who knows what will happen there.

There's a petition to support Australian authors which is still up and running, so if you want to sign and support, that would be wonderful.
https://www.change.org/p/scott-morrison-save-australian-literature-stop-parallel-importation-of-books

[1] https://www.asauthors.org/copyright-under-threat#TOC

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Australia, Salisbury

To start the new year off, I decided to take a leaf out of

meredith_shayne's book, and do a post of books I really loved that I read in 2014. Now, not all of these books were published in 2014, but they're books that I read during the year and stayed with me. They're books that I've gushed about at length to anyone who'll listen to me rave about them. They're also not all romance, because I don't read just romance--I read a lot of different genres and authors and styles. There's a link at the bottom of each of my gushings to the book, so you can go check them out.

Also, this is for books that are published, not counting one's that I've beta'd. Just thought I'd add that. (Because the two I'm thinking of are out in 2015!)

In no particular order:

The Archer's Heart - Astrid Amara.

I borrowed this from my local library, after reserving everything they had that was gay romance. It's a long book, but let me tell you, I didn't notice. I was too busy tearing through it as if my eyes would fall out if I didn't keep reading, and I had to know what would happen next. Astrid Amara tells a wonderful story and I found all the characters very believable and three dimensional. As this is a retelling of the Mahabharata, and I'm not too familiar with that (only on the most basic level), I found it a really interesting book as well as engrossing, engaging, and other words that start with 'E.' If you like mythology, fantasy and a cracking good read, try this book, you won't regret it.

Get it here.

Tangle - Anthology; Blind Eye Press Books.

Oh. My. God. The second book I got from the library in my reservation frenzy was this anthology. This book, I can't even. This is amazing. So amazing, that before I'd finished reading the library copy, I found a paperback copy to buy to own, and then bought another paperback for

meredith_shayne for Christmas! I also talk about this book a LOT. I enjoyed every single story, the variety and range of tales was terrific. But the final story, Feral Machines by Ginn Hale... this story packed such a punch. It stayed with me for months. It was a perfect little nugget of science fiction m/m romance, with so much atmosphere and emotion. The whole collection is great, you won't be disappointed.

Get it here.

Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein.

This is an unusual book in that it's told from the point of view of an unreliable narrator--or is she?--and that narrator is a female pilot from Britain in World War Two. This book broke my heart, I have to say, in that I bawled like a baby in the last several chapters, but I couldn't put it down. It's a stunning read, a tale that isn't a war story alone, but a story of true love between two women who share a passion for flying and deep friendship for each other. Having said that, this is not a F/F romance novel--the love is real and it's made very clear that it's mutual, but this isn't romance. It's war, there's loyalty, devotion, love, sorrow, and the book is just... well, it's incredibly good and I highly recommend it.

Get it here.

Wild - Cheryl Strayed.

Believe me, I'm very surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. I wasn't sure I was going to, and I borrowed it from my trusty library because a lot of it is set in Oregon and I really loved Oregon. There's one scene in the book that made me furious and brought me to tears, and I did, for a minute, think about not finishing the book because of that scene, but in the end, I did, and I'm glad. It's a good, solid story of coming to terms with grief, and how the grieving process is different for everyone, how we deal with our pain, sorrow and loneliness in life is various ways. The descriptions of the Pacific Crest Trail are amazing and I could actually picture it in my mind's eye.

Get it here.

New Watch - Sergei Lukyaneko.

I love this series--the Night Watch series. Lukyaneko was born in Uzbekistan and now lives in Russia and the series is about the Night Watch who are the "good" guys and watch over the Day Watch, who are the "bad" guys and watch over the Night Watch. The series first came to my attention with the release of the movie, Night Watch, and I loved that and it's sequel, Day Watch, so much, that not only did I buy the books, but the dvds too--three copies of each, in fact, because the Russian, Australian and US versions are all different. Then I bought the rest of the series of books and devoured them. I like Lukyaneko's version of vampires and his magical universe, the melding of the "real" world with this magical one, and the ending of book four was quite satisfying. So I wasn't too certain that a new book, the fifth book--this book--would be a good read. I am relieved and thrilled that it is, that it's true to the whole series and that Lukyaneko hasn't lost his humour or wit or his ability to craft a complex, interesting story, with engaging and fascinating characters. Plus, his little digs at international politics are great. It takes a while for Lukyaneko's books to be available, because of the translation from Russian to English, but this one, like the four before it, is worth the wait.

Get it here.

The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling).

I wasn't sure whether to pick this one or its predecessor, The Cuckoo's Calling, as I enjoyed both of them. I decided on this one in the end, because the two main characters, Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin, are much more fleshed out in this one, and I find their dynamic to be a very enjoyable read. They're not romantically involved, Cormoran is a private detective and Robin was first his temp and is now his assistant. The murder scene itself was very gruesome, and the unravelling of the case was done really well, the build up of tension was steady and consistent. Rowling certainly writes a damn fine mystery and if you can tolerate a really gross scene involving the body of the victim, then this is a cracking good read.

Get it here.

Here's to more great reads in 2015!

Current Mood: working
Current Location: Australia, Adelaide

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas and new year. Welcome to 2014! Here's hoping that this is a much better—happier, safer, healthier—year for everyone. I have finished moving house, although I still have one box left to unpack, and I'm still living on very limited internet, which makes me a very sad person. I'm hoping the internet issue will be resolved in a good way very soon, but for now, I'm in a holding position and waiting and hoping.

Over the end of December and now into January, I have been working on edits of books in "The Archangel Chronicles." Second editions with substantial edits in terms of tightening up the narrative, new scenes and dialogue and overall cleaning up the story have been released of the first three books, No Quarter; No Surrender, No Retreat and No Shadows Fall, and are now available for purchase. This is all leading up to the second trilogy in the series, which will be released through 2014.

The first book of the second trilogy is The Wind-Up Forest. This is book four of the series and the blurb reads: Archangel Gabriel is hoping for a quiet period in his life to enjoy his relationship with Archangel Michael, but someone has other ideas. New dangers arise when the Holy Grail is stolen. Gabriel, Michael, and the rest of the Brotherhood of Archangels and their allies must somehow thwart the twisted desires of the thief.

Their search for the Grail takes them all over the world, calling on old friends like Uriel and Raziel and forging powerful new alliances. Though they face a fresh set of perils in pursuit of the thief, the enduring comfort Gabriel needs so much, that of his beloved Michael, never abandons him.

Book five is The Crystal Lake, and book six is The Bone Cup. I've ventured into Arthurian Legend with this trilogy, as that's a whole set of mythology that I've always adored and been fascinated by. There are a lot of ties to angels within those legends, too, which is great when one is writing about angels!

What is most interesting, I think, are the new characters. This trilogy picks up where the first left off, placing it around the year 2085. The Venatores, the elite force of shifters that are trained and led by Michael feature more prominently, and so do some of the residents of Hell and Purgatory. The new characters were a lot of fun for me to write and develop. I'm currently working on the third trilogy, and many of these new characters are in the third trilogy, too. Of course the angels and Archangels are all there, too—it wouldn't be "The Archangel Chronicles" without them!

So who's new? Well, here's a short list.

Primary New Characters.
Angelique: Alpha of a Venatores pack. Formerly US Air Force and is of Mexican descent, raised in Texas. Her shifter shape is a dark gray wolf.
Lily: Beta of Angelique’s pack, is an Englishwoman, formerly of the British Army. Her shifter is a grey wolf, and she is married to Danny, another member of the pack.
Baxter: Kappa of Angelique’s pack. Formerly a US Marine, suffering PTSD. His shifter shape is an Arctic white wolf.
Danny: Kappa of Angelique’s pack. Also a former US Marine, born and raised in Georgia. His shifter shape is a grey wolf, and he is married to Lily, another member of the pack.
Riley: Omega of Angelique’s pack and the pack medic. Formerly a US Marine medic. His shifter shape is a red rock wolf.
Declan Jones: Shifter and older brother of Liam. Raised in Puerto Rico, he and his brother were both taught the ways of magic, Hoodoo and Santeria by their guardians, a Hoodoo priestess named Selana and her husband, Jack. During the Seventy Years War, Declan in the US Army for some years.
Liam Jones: Necromancer and younger brother of Declan, raised in Puerto Rico, and educated in the same things as his brother by their guardians. He is one of the strongest necromancers alive in the world. Worked as a police officer before he and Declan set out together to work as demon trackers.
Minnie: An Australian witch. Formerly a thief, known as No-Hands Minnie.
Max/Mobius: Extremely talented hacker known for being able to dig up hidden information. His partner is Minnie, and he lives with her and their cat.
Lilith: The first wife of Adam, and prior to that, the consort of God Himself, Lilith is the first scorned woman and the first woman to say no to a man. After she left Adam, she wandered in the wilderness and mothered giants, the monsters of ancient mythology. Originally named Lilitu by the Akkadians, she met Lucifer in the desert and they spent a long time in conversation. Lilith is the oldest of the Four Sisters of Succubi. Agrat, Eisheth, and Naamah are her sisters. Her titles are: Consort of Lucifer, Eater of Infants, The First Adulteress, Consort of Yahweh, Mother of Giants.
Secondary New Characters.
Camael: An Angel of War under the command of Gabriel.
Asaf: Angel of Evening Hymns. Under the command of Gabriel.
Vel: Angel of Wednesday. Under the command of Gabriel.
Arkady: A Russian shifter. Has ulterior motives to what he says and is as slippery as a fish.
Olga: A Russian shifter.
Vasily: A Russian shifter.
Larissa: An Armenian shifter.
Horace: A member of the Order of Midnight, an extremely expensive group of assassins.
Anna: Venatores, Russian, lives in the building owned by Michael in Oregon. She is a wolf shifter, mother to two young children, and married to Robert.
Robert: Venatores, American, lives in the building owned by Michael in Oregon. He is a fox shifter, father to Anna’s children, and married to Anna.
Eisheth: Youngest of the Four Succubi Sisters, spent her time living among the stars, comforting those who fell to earth as they died.
Naamah: One of the Four Succubi Sisters, she used to live in the seas of the Earth, but moved to Purgatory during the Seventy Years War. Has two children, twins, whose father is unknown. Her twin children are named Arthur and Morgana, after the Arthurian legends.

I've been working hard with Lynn and Erika from Dreamspinner Press, and while the editing has been intense, it's been really good and I've really enjoyed the whole process. I came to a conclusion that I'd been rolling around in my head during the edits, and I'd like to share that with you all now. The best way to view the series as a whole is in sets of three, or seasons. So the first trilogy has the theme of coming together and being united; the second trilogy has the theme of the Holy Grail; and the third trilogy (which I'm working on) has the theme of isolationism and prejudice and fighting against those. The underlying theme of all sets of three is the Seventy Years War and its aftermath. So each set of three is slightly different in point-of-view and narrative structure, with different elements of magic and romance added into the story as well.

So where to get 'em? Link time! And don't you guys love the gorgeous covers Anne Cain did for me? I'm so thrilled with them, they're beautiful.
No Quarter: eBook | Paperback.
No Surrender, No Retreat: eBook | Paperback.
No Shadows Fall: eBook | Paperback.
The Wind-Up Forest: Watch the coming soon page for this and The Crystal Lake and The Bone Cup.

Current Mood: sore

A very belated happy new year to everyone! I've been quiet here because of one thing: heatwave hell. It's been stinking hot in Australia since late Dec '12, and the heat has really sapped my energy - along with most of Australia. Today is actually pleasant, low 20s, so I'm getting myself into gear and catching up on things.

Firstly, I am thrilled and honoured that "No Quarter" is nominated in the Best Romance Novels category at the Preditors and Editors poll. I'm with some amazing talent, which is a real thrill for me. If you'd like to vote (and please do!), the poll for that category is here. The nominees are listed alphabetically by title, so "No Quarter" is half way down the page. :)

Secondly, I read some great books in 2012. I don't really like reviewing, per se, but I'm all about rec links, so here are the books that I most enjoyed and links to places to buy them. I should also note that these are not necessarily newly released in 2012 - there are also books in the list that were new to me in 2012.

In no particular order:

1. The Danilov Quintet by Jasper Kent.
Only three out so far.
2. The Prince and The Program by Aldous Mercer.
3. The Bastard Prince by Megan Derr.
4. The Remy Chandler series by Thomas E. Sniegoski.
5. The God Eaters by Jesse Hajicek.
Free read here.

So there we go. Now, to finish up the polishing of "City of Jade," which I'm hoping to submit this month, and to finish writing my vampire story for LT3. :D

How's life treating you guys?

Current Mood: okay

Elisa Rolle is holding a Treasure Hunt with some fantastic prizes. This is part of her blog's 6th birthday celebrations and the pre-Rainbow Awards Party. If you want to win some books, the rules are below!

*~*~*

So another year is gone, and my Journal is now 6 years old :-) Since end of November is also really near the time when the Rainbow Awards will wrap up nicely (on December 8th) this year I want to have a joint party! So I asked to many of the authors in this year contest to be generous and donate a book or two... and the answer was overwhelming: 243 among print and ebooks!

But this time you have to "earn" your prize and so there is a "little" treasure hunt: nothing complicated but you need to complete a chain made of Title-Word-Definition-Cover-Number. How? I will try to explain LOL

We have 243 book titles, you can find them here:

The Books: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1805679.html (mirrored here if you don't have a LJ account to comment and you are not friend on LJ: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3359348.html)

from each title I extracted a word, but be careful, same word can match more title, BUT there is an unique matching (example, if I have two titles, Love Story and Story of Me, "story" match both title, but probably, from the first title I took "Love" and from the second I took "Story". Your job to discover the right matching ;-)). You can find the words here:

The Words: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1805826.html (mirrored here if you don't have a LJ account to comment and you are not friend on LJ: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3359509.html)

to each word corresponds a definition. The definition refers to single word (even if the word is plural) or not conjugated verb (even if the word is a conjugated verb). You can find the definitions here:

The Definitions: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1806109.html (mirrored here if you don't have a LJ account to comment and you are not friend on LJ: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3359969.html)

Once you have the matching Book-Word-Definition, you need to go and search for the Cover here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.446587205375367.103212.100000722741394&type=1&l=1a717d4880

view the right cover, on the comment section there is a comment by me (Elisa Reviews) with a link to a post on LJ (Rainbow Awards: Current Submissions). Open the link and see what number was assigned to that book in that post.

Comment on THIS post (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1806591.html mirrored here if you don't have a LJ account to comment and you are not friend on LJ: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3360138.html), sending me: Book Title-Word-Definition-Number. You can pick one book per day, if tomorrow there will be still available book, I will assign them. So you can send me more matching but first in-first out, you will win the first right matching still available book.

Exception, for the Book marked as New there is no Cover/Number, so once you have the matching Book Title-Word-Definition, you can leave the comment.

And now, lets the party start! Enjoy and good luck with your hunt!

Current Mood: calm

Thirteen articles / blog posts that wowed me. These are articles/posts I've read that have stayed with me, long after I read them. They prove that humanity can be both amazing and awful, hopeful and hopeless, but never, ever dull. I hope you find some of these as interesting as I did.

1. A Trove Of 1920S Report Cards and the Stories They Tell.
This is an article about a man who found a collection of report cards from a 1920's girl's trade school. It is truly an amazing story, peppered with photographs, and it was the first ever article I read on Slate. (Which I now follow.) I think I found the link to this originally on Random_Lounge on journalfen.net.

2. The Paris Time Capsule Apartment.
My friend Spook first linked me to this. In an amazing discovery, the heirs of a Parisian socialite who were her beneficiaries when she passed away, found a locked apartment in the heart of Paris that hadn't been touched in decades, making it a museum of society from when it was last lived in - in World War Two. The owner locked it up, went to the south of France, and never returned.

3. The True Story of M. Butterfly; The Spy Who Fell in Love With a Shadow.
This is one of those epic reports that sucks you in like a good thriller novel and keeps you hooked up until the very last line. A mixture of tragedy and history, this is the true story that inspired the play M. Butterfly.

4. Paris Catacombs.
My love of abandoned places and urbex (urban exploration) began with learning about the catacombs beneath Paris - not the state sanctioned museum that is a reliquary, but the catacombs that date back to Roman times. This is one of the best and most engaging articles about those catacombs.

5. Varosha, the Forgotten Part of Famagusta
Varosha was, once upon a time, once of the most popular resorts in the Mediteranean. Then Turkey invaded Cyprus and this part of the island has been closed to everyone except the military since 1974.

6. Of Tombs, Traps and the Intrepid.
A look at the murky world of Chinese grave robbers - stealing historical artefacts to sell on the black market.

7. Battleship Island: Japan's Rotting Metropolis.
Hashima Island was a place I first encountered on Vimeo, when I was looking for something entirely unrelated to urbex or abandonment, and then I was fascinated. The island is a former coal mining facility owned by Mitsubishi Motors, it was once the most densely populated place on earth, packing over 13,000 people into each square kilometre of its residential high-risers. It operated from 1887 until 1974. This is an amazing article with fantastic photos about the place.

8. The Haunted Pod Village of San-Zhi and San-Zhi UFO Houses Are Destroyed.
These houses have always gotten the "OMG COOL" reaction from me. I think they're awesome, and it's such a shame they were demolished in 2009. These two articles are wonderful, one before and one after the demolition, capturing the mythology and the history of the place.

9. The Kogen Hotel.
Reputedly haunted, the Kogen Hotel is one of the largest Haikyo in Japan. Haikyo are abandoned places and this blog has so many awesome pages, with photographs, travel stories and histories, you can easily lose a day reading. If you're interested in Japan's history and culture or abandoned places and urbex, you'll find this a fascinating collection of writing. Includes such locations as love hotels, Nara Dreamland, Russia Land, Gulliver's Travels Land, and other wonders.

10. 36 Hours in North Korea Without a Guide.
So two young men from Austria hop on a train and take a route not usually used by Western travellers to enter North Korea. This blog is their trip report. And it is *fascinating*. Full of photos, detailed stories and impressions, it's hard not to be impressed (and amazed they didn't get into trouble!).

11. Afghan Cameleers in Australia.
This is the story of the first cameleers in Australia - Afghanis and their animals and the long distances they travelled across the Australian Desert.

12. One Year in Asia.
The blog of one guy and his bicycle as he rides across Asia. Fascinating tales and beautiful photographs.

13. Roman Jewellry Found in Ancient Japan.
I love this little post simply because it shows that a/ the Romans really did go everywhere, man, and b/ that there was contact between east and west long before Marco Polo did his thing.

Current Mood: tired

It's Round Four of voting on covers for the 2012 Rainbow Awards. I am humbled and thrilled that the cover for No Quarter is still in the race.

So if you'd like to help out and vote, and I'd love it if you did, please go here and cast your ballot.

* If you don't have a Live Journal, don't fret - you can log in using your Facebook or Twitter and vote accordingly. :D

*~*~*~*

In writing and publishing news, book three, No Shadows Fall has a release date of the 29th October. And to celebrate all October releases, Dreamspinner Press is having what is, I think, the most awesome giveaways - the tweetaway! If you don't have a twitter but still want to participate and bag yourself free books, bookmark the DSP twitter, right here.

Less Than Three Press has closed submissions for the Rockstar Anthology Collection, in which I have a story called >Capsicum Head. It's about an Aussie punk rock band in the 80s and their highs and lows on tour to the town of Port Pirie and the city of Melbourne. LT3 does have two open calls which, if I may say, look pretty awesome, and I'm planning to have something for the vampire call. If you're reading this..." Message In A Bottle call and Vampire call info.

I am currently at 65K words on City of Jade, the novel sequel to my short story, City of Gold. I am actually amazed at myself right now, I seem to be averaging 5K words a day and this story is practically writing itself. When I picked it up again, I had 30K words down, and now I'm powering along like a writing machine. ~~With a very sore wrist. Ow.~~ I'm really enjoying writing this, I get a lot of joy out of looking at blogs and photos and scholarly and academic research about where this book takes place, which is the Silk Road from Constantinople to Chang'an and then to Li'nan. (Istanbul - Xi'an - Hangzhou). It's set in 1141-42, and is the story of Gallienus of Constantinople and Misahuen of Gyeongju and their trip to find a new home in the Song Dynasty's capital, Li'nan. I would love to follow their journey as a tourist. It's on my bucket list.

*~*~*~*

I have gone on a herb growing kick, and my little herb garden in pots is going great guns. My mint is, I'm convinced, related to triffids. If I'm attacked by sentient mint, you all know what happened. Avenge me and honour my memory, friends.

Ahem. Anyhoo, I have mint, parsley, rosemary, lavender, chilli and thyme. (My landlady gave me the thyme. How awesome is that?) I plan to get some perenial corriander (cilatro to my US friends) and some basil, and that should tide me over for the time being. Until I spy something else I must try my hand at growing. Fresh herbs, though, omg. SO GOOD. So very, very good.

Current Mood: calm

I've been reviewed! Lots, apparently. Which is very much of the yay, especially after spending last night in hospital. (Long story short - pain in my left side, went into Emergency just to be sure it wasn't my heart playing up again, a bevvy of tests later, the awesome doctor said it's a musculoskeletal issue, so next thing is pain treatment without interfering with other medications I'm on. I'm looking at doing Tai Chi, too. So there's that.)

So yes, tonight, getting the notif from Manic Readers that I'd been reviewed, really made my day, especially as it was a good review and it turned out the review site has reviewed me before. Three other times, actually, so triple yay! In order of review recieved, from most recent to least recent:

No Quarter :: 4/5 stars review.
City of Gold :: 4.5/5 stars review
Life and Nothing But :: 4.5/5 stars review
Long Road Back :: 3/5 stars review

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review!

Current Mood: accomplished

Tami Veldura (http://www.tamiveldura.com/ and LJ RSS http://tamiventura.livejournal.com/profile) is looking for artists, writers, readers, publishers to interview for her newsletter.

If you're interested, drop her a line at: tamiveldura@Yahoo.com

(As one of those being interviewed, I can say that she asks great questions!) If you're interested in signing up for the newsletter and reading other interviews (including one with me!), the link for that is here: http://eepurl.com/kpF5j

Current Mood: sore

The release of "No Surrender, No Retreat" is drawing near (25th July), so here are places you can grab yourself a copy of "No Quarter," the first book in my Archangels series. And, an excerpt!

Cover

Blurb:

Archangel Chronicles: Book One

You would never know it from his flamboyant lifestyle, but Gabriel’s not just the cheerful, fun-loving adoptive father of a pair of indulged young adult humans. He’s an Archangel, commander of Heaven’s legions of Seraphim, and despite his apparently easy virtue, he’s harboring a serious crush on his superior officer, Michael.

For years Michael has devoted himself to developing a team of humans, the Venatores, to aid in the fight against Hell. He’s been pining after Gabriel for centuries without hope, believing himself to be too serious to attract the other Archangel’s interest. He’s happy to discover that he’s wrong, but their burgeoning relationship is stymied by a major problem: an egomaniacal human is recruiting demons and fallen angels in a bid to take over the world. It’s up to Michael and Gabriel, and the rest of the Brotherhood of Archangels, to beat back the forces of Hell before the Earth is overrun.

Where to get it:

Dreamspinner: ebook http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2853 and paperback http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2854
Amazon: kindle http://amzn.com/B007QQ6O3S and paperback http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613724330/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
Kobo: epub http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/No-Quarter/book-5KH1g2DTwkiD7FlCABTTuw/page1.html?s=zZ9gwBrvb0aWV-ASZgQ0KA&r=1 and pdf http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/No-Quarter/book-7Jjzi_8P3UiZCLWeDjM7Pg/page1.html?s=zZ9gwBrvb0aWV-ASZgQ0KA&r=3
ARe: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-noquarter-770209-140.html
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/no-quarter-lj-labarthe/1109802167?ean=9781613724330
Powells: ebook http://www.powells.com/biblio/91-9781613724347-0 and paperback http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781613724330-1
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/No-Quarter-LJ-LaBarthe/9781613724330

Excerpt:

Gabriel didn’t bother with knocking on Michael’s door, he simply appeared in Michael’s living room, his eyebrows shooting up as he took in the sight of Michael, who was pacing back and forth up and down the length of his rooms, gnawing on a thumbnail and glowering at the floor.

“Y’know,” Gabriel drawled as Michael looked up at him, “you’re going to wear a trench to China if you keep that pacing up.”

“Pardon?” Michael stared at him, the color draining from his face as he took in Gabriel’s blood- and gore-smeared armor. “Gabriel! Are you hurt?”

“Huh? No! Oh, no. No, this ain’t mine, just demons.” Gabriel grinned. “Takes more than a bunch of demons to hurt me.” Which was more than he could say for Uriel right now, he thought.

Michael’s face was still pale. “You scared me,” he said. “You are certain you are not injured?”

Immediately contrite, Gabriel took three quick steps across the room and took Michael’s hands in his. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m fine, I promise. Dirty, but fine.”

Michael let out a long, slow breath. His fingers, Gabriel realized, were shaking.

“As you say. You have come to report?”

“Aye.” Gabriel let go of Michael’s hands. “It’s not a good report, though.”

“They rarely are these days.” Michael sighed and sat down. “Give me the report.”

Gabriel did, making it as concise as possible, and when he was finished, he watched Michael closely. The color had returned to Michael’s cheeks, and his dark eyes were full of concern and anxiety. The simple Chinese robes he wore were, Gabriel suddenly realized, what Michael wore when he was intending to sleep. Suddenly feeling like an intruder, Gabriel cleared his throat.

“So, uh, I should leave you to it.” Awkward, he thought. Could I be any more awkward around Michael?

“You do not have to.” Michael’s voice was soft. “In truth, I could not sleep until I knew the extent of Uriel’s injuries. Raphael is certain he will recover?”

“As certain as he can be.” Gabriel bit his lower lip. He was about to say more, but at that moment, there was the sound of feathers rustling, and Raphael was there.

Raphael looked tired, Gabriel thought, but he also looked relieved. “Raz works fast,” he said without preamble. “He’s come up with an antidote for Uri. Uri’s going to be fine. Cranky as a bear with a sore head, but fine. Coming up with a vaccine against the poison in the first place will take a little longer, but Raz is on it. I just figured you two should know.”

“Okay, good,” Gabriel said. “So, until you and Raz have this inoculation thing sorted, keep everyone from going anywhere alone?”

“Yeah.” Raphael nodded.

“I am very relieved,” Michael said. “You are certain Uriel is well?”

“Positive, Mike. Anyway, I’ve still got work to do, so I’ll leave you to it. I’ll let the others know. Have a good night.” With that, Raphael vanished.

“What a relief,” Gabriel muttered, running blood-smeared hands through his hair.

“Gabriel,” Michael said, sighing, “perhaps you should bathe. I am certain that you must be feeling sticky, to say the least.”

Gabriel blinked. Then he started to laugh, the tension he was feeling dissipating. “Yeah, you got that right. Can I borrow your shower?”

“Of course.” Michael gave him a small smile. “Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks.” Gabriel headed into the bathroom and quietly closed the door behind him. It didn’t take long to shuck his armor, although cleaning it properly would have to wait. Gabriel used his power to get the worst of the detritus of battle off it with a thought, and with another thought, moved it back to his house in Deep Bay.

He couldn’t deny that he felt sticky. Patches of dried blood stuck to his skin, and Gabriel wrinkled his nose in distaste as he turned on the faucets, adjusting them to get the water the temperature he wanted it. Washing himself down felt wonderful, and he was much more relaxed when he finally finished bathing. Turning off the faucets, Gabriel stepped from the shower and toweled himself dry. Then he wrapped the towel around his hips and stepped from the bathroom, trailing a cloud of steam behind him.

“Thanks, I feel loads better,” Gabriel said as he ran his hands through his damp hair.

Michael was standing by the window, and he turned as he heard Gabriel’s voice. He opened his mouth to say something and stopped, staring, his cheeks immediately going red.

For a moment, Gabriel considered asking Michael what was wrong. His unspoken question was answered as Michael quickly crossed the room to him, cupped his face in his hands, and kissed him.

Gabriel groaned into the kiss, his arms winding around Michael’s waist, pressing close. Michael kissed him harder, pushing him up against the wall, and Gabriel groaned louder, fingers clenching in the fabric of Michael’s robe. As Michael growled, running a hand over Gabriel’s chest, Gabriel broke the kiss, his head falling back against the wall. “Michael,” he panted.

Bloghopping:

The Manga and Romance Blog Hop organised by Hayley B. James starts next week (click the image to go to the information page), and I'll be blogging as part of it. So keep your eyes peeled and come along and read and enjoy a variety of posts by some great authors. There's also a give away with loads of prizes!

Current Mood: busy

I think the following image says it all. Rest in peace, Mr. Bradbury. Your words don't pass with you, and I for one, am grateful.

I got a really lovely review for City of Gold, which was awesome. I'm so thrilled it's still being read and enjoyed, and makes me even more determined to finish the novel length sequel, City of Jade.

July's plan is actually to do some more on that one; June is, I've decided, time to get as much done as possible (if not finish) Deliverance, which I've been working on since February.

Lastly, for today, some links.

⋄ Rainbow Awards: Cover Contest (April) http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1614866.html "No Quarter" cover at is up as part of this round! If you liked it, please vote! And vote for other covers too, there's some gorgeous work in the running. :)
⋄ Chronic pain: a letter to people who don't suffer from it. Worth a read. As I do suffer from chronic pain, all I can say about this is the very articulate (ahem) YES OMG YES.
⋄ The Spoon Theory, a fantastic analogy to explain chronic pain to those who don't have it.
⋄ Linking again, because, well, I want to. Fundraiser for "Be Here Now: The Andy Whitfield Story".

Current Mood: cold

May was a good month, wasn't it? Well it certainly was here on my blog! I had loads of awesome guests come and chat about all kinds of things, do giveaways, and there was the wonderful Blog Hop Against Homophobia as well. Lots of people to meet, books to read and stuff to talk about. Pretty awesome.

Part of the interviews I did involved asking everyone a variety of questions, (obviously!), but there was one question that I asked everyone I interviewed - if you were a plant in the next life, what would you be and why? Such a wonderful variety of answers, I thought I'd recap the month with everyone's answers to that question, with a link to each interview. (I'll link guest posts at the end.)

And if you want to comment and tell us what sort of a plant you would be in the next life, then please do! The more, the merrier!

Q: If you were a plant in the next life, what would you be and why?

3/5 C. R. Moss. "I'd be an oak tree. Sturdy, beautiful, able to offer shelter to wildlife and shade to people. :)"
4/5 Kim Fielding. "Lavender. It’s pretty and useful and smells nice, hardly any pests bother it, and it can live quite a long time under difficult conditions. It’s not fussy. Who doesn’t like lavender?"
6/5 Hayley B. James. "Oh! What a fun question! I think I’d want to be a lilac bush. I love the smell of lilac flowers."
10/5 Helen Pattskyn. "LOL! I would love to be a belladonna atropa. They’re quietly beautiful (brown flowers that become big black “berries”) and only slightly poisonous (assuming you’re not a small child)."
12/5 RJ Astruc. "I have some lucky bamboo on my balcony, and I love it, it’s so cool and curly. So that’s what I’d go for. I’m going to pretend, of course, that I’d grow that way naturally, and not have to suffer lots of splinting and twisting in the growing process…"
16/5 Leora Stark. "Lavender. I am obsessed with it. I'd be so relaxed all the time!"
19/5 Jacqueline Brocker. "What I'd like to be; daffodil - I just love them so much, bright and always cheerful. But this is not me so much, so I'd probably be something a bit quirkier like, I dunno, a snapdragon. ;)"
20/5 Meredith Shayne. "A cactus, because I'm a bit fleshy, a bit prickly, and hard to kill."
24/5 Megan Derr. "Venus fly trap. They're ominous and cute all at once. I love playing with those things whenever I go to zoos and gardens. I would totally dig being a Venus fly trap."
27/5 Clare London. "A sweet potato. I like the contrast of cute and sensible :D."
29/5 Marie Sexton. "A lily, because they’re gorgeous, but they’re also tough as hell. They grow in bad rocky soil without much water. That’s impressive."
30/5 Blak Rayne. "Strange question indeed! LOL A cedar tree. Cedars keep the bugs away, they don't shed because they don't have needles, they can grow very big, and they smell nice, plus I love their bowed branches."

Guest posts without mention of plants or next lives:
2/5 Caridad Pineiro.
15/5 Ella Jade.
22/5 Margie Church.
25/5 Jamie Samms.

And what would I be? Well, I'd be rosemary. Because rosemary is hard to kill, doesn't need a lot of care or attention, is adaptable and is great in cooking and in hair care. And it smells nice and relaxes you.

June has started and with it, I broke a toe and got a cold, so I've been feeling pretty sorry for myself. (And not at all rosemary-ish.) Good news, though, is that No Surrender, No Retreat, book two in the Archangel Chronicles has a release date of JULY 25TH, so that's very exciting.

And finally, I'll leave you all with this Kickstarter project link, to make a documentary from footage that was filmed while Andy Whitfield (Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Gabriel) was dealing with his hodgins lymphoma. The doco seeks to raise awareness about cancer as well as be a testamonial to the life of Andy Whitfield.

Be Here Now: The Andy Whitfield Story.

Current Mood: sore

May is here, and with it comes a few announcements. :)

First up, this month, I will be hosting some guest authors. Some will be presenting guest blog posts, others have been interviewed. I do hope you'll join us and read these wonderful and interesting posts and be part of the Merry Month of May here.

Second up, May 17-20 is the Blog Hop Against Homophobia. I will be putting up a post on the 17th and doing a giveaway of my novel, "No Quarter" to one lucky commenter. So do stop by for that.

So go forth and tell your friends!

Click the above pic to find out more about the Hop Against Homophobia.

And finally, but not least, Dreamspinner Press turns five this May, and with it comes a huge, month-long celebration that includes sales, giveaways, prizes, and more!

From DSP:

Over the course of the month, all titles will be discounted according to how long the author has been with the publisher.

May 1-5: Grab the 40% discount off all books (including in-stock paperbacks) by authors who signed with them during their first year of business: Rhianne Aile, Eric Arvin, Connie Bailey, Alix Bekins, Nicki Bennett, Giselle Ellis, Catt Ford, Shay Kincaid, Marguerite Labbe, Clare London, Dar Mavison, Anais Morten, Chrissy Munder, Zahra Owens, D.G. Parker, Abigail Roux, John Simpson, Fae Sutherland, Ariel Tachna, Madeleine Urban.

May 6-12, we will offer a 35% discount off all books (including in-stock paperbacks)by authors who signed with us during our second year of business. Watch the web site for the list.

May 13-19, we will offer a 30% discount off all books (including in-stock paperbacks)by authors who signed with us during our third year of business. Watch the web site for the list.

May 20-26, we will offer a 25% discount off all books (including in-stock paperbacks)by authors who signed with us during our fourth year of business. Watch the web site for the list.

May 27-31, we will offer a 20% discount off all books (including in-stock paperbacks)by authors who signed with us during our fifth year of business. Watch the web site for the list.

In addition, we have three scheduled giveaways for the month!

One lucky participant in our Time Is Eternity Daily Dose chat at the Literary Nymphs Yahoo! Group on May 5 will win a Kindle Fire!

One lucky participant in Jeremy Pack's Meet the Author at Dreamspinner Press's Facebook page on May 19 will win all the eBooks on his or her wishlist!

One lucky customer on our web site during the month of May will win an iPad! Each purchase from midnight EST May 1 to midnight EST May 31 constitutes an entry.

We'll also be doing special flash sales, so keep an eye on the web site for unannounced excitement!

Current Mood: calm

This is one of the best name generators I've seen. I've played around on it a lot. It generates not just names, but addresses, occupations and more. There's 33 languages and 24 countries in the database. It's good fun to play around with it and see what it generates.

Current Mood: tired

Current Mood: tired

Today, I'm going to blog about plagiarism.

NB: I am not including Fanfic in this. I personally have no problem with it. Professional Fanfic sells very well (just look at the amount of Star Trek, Supernatural, and Doctor Who TV tie-in novels there are for example!) and I have no problem with that, either. I even - *gasp* - own a couple of these tie-in novels. I know, fetch the smelling salts, post haste! Quelle horreur! Etcetera. So no, this post is not a beef with Fanfic. It's a beef with theft. Which I go into detail about below.

I'm a graduated academic. The rules and university policies regarding plagiarism where I studied were/are very stringent. In fact, I would hazard a guess that they are equally stringent in tertiary institutions everywhere. From day one of uni, it was pounded into our heads: plagiarism is bad. In academia, plagiarism will get you expelled. It will get your papers trashed, your academic credibility destroyed. It could well impact on your future career path. In research and writing fields, plagiarism is a big no-no. Plagiarism is defined thus:

Word Origin & History

plagiarism
1621, from L. plagiarius "kidnapper, seducer, plunderer," used in the sense of "literary thief" by Martial, from plagium "kidnapping," from plaga "snare, net," from PIE base *p(e)lag- "flat, spread out." Plagiary is attested from 1597.
- Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

I love etymology, don't you?

plagiarism definition

Literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates another writer's language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own. Copyright laws protect writers' words as their legal property. To avoid the charge of plagiarism, writers take care to credit those from whom they borrow and quote.

Note : Similar theft in music or other arts is also called plagiarism.
- The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

ANYHOODLE. Why am I pontificating about plagiarism? Well, it's not what you might think.

I've been reading a lot of articles and blog posts about the plagiarism going on in Amazon's self-publishing arm, Createspace. I've been absolutely stunned by it, the sheer level of gall some of these people have, including emails with strings of 'HAHAHAHA' and worse when confronted about the situation; and an example of one of the plagiarised titles, Bram Stoker's Dracula repurposed with a new title and author name. It was sold with the title/author of Dracula Amazing Adventure by Maria Cruz. (And the bad grammar in the title alone makes my teeth hurt.)

The NPR article there (link again) is really eye opening. There seems to be some sort of online course whereby someone wanting to make big bucks quick can learn how to do so - as a plagiarist. A lot of the books being sold through Createspace that are plagiarised are stories that have come from the Literotica site, which is free - so the plagiarists are taking these free stories, plonking them in a file, having it kindle formatted and selling it. Other people's words and effort are being exploited by someone else for their own gain. From the article, I quote:

"You can get on some forums, one is called WarriorForum, where they discuss all sorts of marketing things," Penenberg says. "How to make money on the Internet is the idea behind it. The guy that I heard was pirating [...] got onto these forums where they sell you a collection, a zip file full of stories that have been ripped off the Internet and repackaged."

Fast Company has a thorough article about this, here, where they talk to the individual who set up the above. I'm astounded at the amount of 'get rich' schemes that seem to focus on stealing other people's writing. Most of it, too, seems to be erotica. Another article on FC goes more in depth, with side-by-side screengrabs to show the level of the plagiarism. And, it's breathtaking in its audacity, as you can see.

Plagiarism Today has an excellent article on the subject, too.

Then there's this fellow. A David Boyer who, according to this fascinating, thorough blog, has plagiarised over sixty authors, including George R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, William S. Burroughs and musicians such as Sade and Shania Twain, to name a few. The evidence presented is damning. It's appalling. It made me :O for several minutes. Does the perpetrator care? Not even a little.

I'd never heard of this guy until I went link hopping from the cut-and-paste-and-resell stories about Createspace. But boy howdy, he does get around. Prepare to lose a lot of hours reading about this dude - there is SO much stuff. I'm boggled he's still tripping merrily along his plagiarising way.

It's been said that plagiarists are unhappy people. I think that's disingenuous. Plagiarists don't care. That neither requires happiness or sadness. Though you honestly think a plagiarist is unhappy if they're making good money off someone else's work? Um. I'd say that was a big fat NO.

After all, original creators sweat and tears went into the work, and they reap the benefits by pinching and selling it as theirs. And that, for want of a much better word, SUCKS.

Current Mood: blah

Word Origin & History

plagiarism
1621, from L. plagiarius "kidnapper, seducer, plunderer," used in the sense of "literary thief" by Martial, from plagium "kidnapping," from plaga "snare, net," from PIE base *p(e)lag- "flat, spread out." Plagiary is attested from 1597.
- Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

I love etymology, don't you?

plagiarism definition

Literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates another writer's language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own. Copyright laws protect writers' words as their legal property. To avoid the charge of plagiarism, writers take care to credit those from whom they borrow and quote.

Note : Similar theft in music or other arts is also called plagiarism.
- The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"You can get on some forums, one is called WarriorForum, where they discuss all sorts of marketing things," Penenberg says. "How to make money on the Internet is the idea behind it. The guy that I heard was pirating [...] got onto these forums where they sell you a collection, a zip file full of stories that have been ripped off the Internet and repackaged."

Current Mood: blah

I'm so close. SO CLOSE. Again, the Archangel novel has no title. I am fail in that department. Does anyone else have a 10K block that seems to take forever to pass? For me, it's the 30-40K word mark, it always seems to feel like an eternity to pass 40K, but once I do, everything else seems to zip past at lightning speeds. Like this week and my 10K words, hurrah.

Shiny things: So many pretty shiny things.

And sundrily, I have a dental appt on Thursday, for which I have fear as dentists are my major phobia, but boy, do I need a lot of work. Ah, teeth. We should have shark teeth.

Current Mood: tired

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Ramblings of an Australian Writer

Imagination is a Light That Never Burns Out

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Navigation

AI Stealing MY Books? More Likely Thank You Think.

Cocky Dogs and Books.

Australian Authors.

Books I Read and Enjoyed in 2014.

The Archangel Chronicles in the New Year.

Preditors & Editors Poll; Fave Reads of 2012.

Pre-Rainbow Awards Celebration.

Thursday Thirteen 025: Awesome Articles and Posts.

2012 Rainbow Awards, Writing, Publishers, Giveaways and Herbs.

Books Reviewed!

Passing it on.

"No Quarter" Info & Buy Links "No Surrender, No Retreat," and a Bloghop.

Ray Bradbury, "City of Gold", Links.

May Round-up, "No Quarter" Sequel, Andy Whitfield.

What's Going On Here in May!

Name Generator Link.

Name Generator Link.

Pontificating About Plagiarism.