Do you know what time it is?? It’s chocolate time! This time we’re doing a cake. It’s yummy and it’s easy. (Okay, putting the nuts on the sides is a little challenging, but well worth the effort. Don’t let it intimidate you!) When you make it—you know you want to!—be sure to let me know how it turned out. Send me pictures! ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ Any-Nut Torte 1 cup flour 1 tsp. Baking powder Dash salt ½ cup butter, softened ½ cup sugar ½ tsp. Vanilla 4 egg yolks ⅓ cup milk 4 egg whites ⅛ tsp. Cream of tartar 1 cup […]
Review: In Siege of Daylight, by Gregory S. Close
Are you a fan of traditional fantasy? In Seige of Daylight delivers a sweeping fantasy tale full of adventure, prophecy, and intrigue. Author Gregory S. Close translates many of the familiar tropes into his own breed of characters—characters with flavor and rich backgrounds in a setting that is comfortable, but not too familiar. His pacing is spot-on, and his prose provides some lovely scenes. If there’s one thing that interrupted the read, it would be the naming conventions. Close veers from horrendous, unpronounceable, apostrophe-ridden monikers to French (what?) names without missing a beat. Many of the characters and creatures share […]
Drop Everything And Read!
This weekend (April 12th) marks the birthday of beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary. Her books have been delighting children for over 60 years—She first wrote about D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) in her book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8. When Cleary received letters from children taking part in “Drop Everything and Read” activities it inspired her to give Ramona the same experience. “Drop Everything and Read” programs have taken off nationwide since then—some of them spanning the entire month of April. In the fall of 2002 Barnes & Noble did a fabulous interview with Ms. Cleary. You can read it […]
Women, Violence, and Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Welcome to the First Friday Feature of our Fantasy writers group, A Drift of Quills! The Quills come together this month to tackle a controversial question: Does violence by or against women add authenticity to fantasy/sci-fi tales? Does violence by or against women add authenticity to fantasy/sci-fi tales? Fantasy and sci-fi—No, fiction authors (at least those I know) write to entertain. We write about people. People, both men and women, are often violent, cruel, abusive, and criminally selfish. Our world has a long history of them, from Cain to Bashar-al Assad, from Jezebel to Griselda Blanco. Fictional worlds are rife […]
10 Reasons to Read
A never-ending reservoir of stories lies waiting for you to dive in. Literacy is incredibly powerful! Let me give you 10 reasons to read…
Mug Shots — 10 Dos and Don’ts for Author Pictures
A lot of people don’t like being photographed. It makes them feel awkward and self-conscious. (I know all about that!) But people like, well, people, and providing a face to go with a name helps us to connect. When we have a face to associate with something—like a song or a book—we tend to remember it better. Just like your book cover, your author picture (or “headshot”) has a job to do. You want to make a good impression. You want to look professional. Why? Because it helps establish trust between you and your readers. An amateur shot will establish […]
Books We Love
Welcome to the Friday Feature of our Fantasy writers group, A Drift of Quills! We Quills get together once a month to chat up aspects of reading and writing. Here we are again with a few of our book besties, applauding Stephen King’s advice that (read a lot, write a lot) Read on to see what’s carrying the Quills away! My grandmother used to call me “Robin the Hood” when I was very little. I was understandably confused—and then I learned about the legendary Robin Hood. The nickname became something of a badge of honor, though I have no idea […]
Five Good Things
If you’ve been keeping up with my Facebook page, you’ll know I’m neck deep re-working the outline for my Work In Progress. I suffered a round of depression when I calculated that Act 1 needs to go on an extreme diet or I’ll end up with a 1200+ page doorstop, just for the first book! Using a physical plot board rather than the computer screen has helped a lot. It’s much easier to see what’s going on and what’s missing. (Don’t worry, Beloved Scrivener [http://www.literatureandlatte.com], I still love you!) I’ve used the board to reorganize my Scrivener files and I’m […]
Nail Your Villain
via Sam Lavy, Flickr Who doesn’t love a good — er, bad villain? Some excellent examples are Prince Regal in The Farseer Trilogy, Norman Bates from Psycho, Commodus* in Gladiator, Professor Umbrage from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Eremus from Mordant’s Need, Arienrhod in The Snow Queen. What makes them so bad we love ‘em and can’t wait to see them brought low? Humanity. Yup, you read right. A villain—or antagonist, adversary—is so much more believable and so much more frightening when he’s not simply evil for the sake of being evil. As author Ben Bova noted, […]
Saira & the Dragon’s Egg Serial by Moira Katson: New Release + Giveaway
I’m so excited to have the lovely Moira Katson visiting today! She’s got a new YA fantasy series — or rather serial — out and it sounds so fun! Take a gander at the blurb for the first one: Saira doesn’t know how she ended up in a mountain cave. She’s not quite sure where she got this magic sword, either – or the tattoo on her arm. In fact, Saira can’t say for certain who she is. What she does know: she’s been kidnapped by bandits. And apparently, they’re planning to use her as bait for a city full of ghosts […]