Coastal Magic Featured Author: Kristen Painter - The Seven Dwarfs of Writing

The Seven Dwarfs of Writing
By Kristen Painter

After a recent rewatching of Snow White, it got me thinking about how the seven dwarfs sort of correlate to the stages of writing a book. No, I’ve never had cartoon bluebirds flying around my head or tasted a poison apple, but I do live with my Prince Charming, so that’s got to qualify for something, right? Here’s my take on what stage each dwarf represents:

Happy – Yay! A brand new book! It’s shiny and exciting and there are no massive plot holes we have to fix yet. We LOVE this book right now! We love everything about it! Every day is an adventure. Plus, our deadline is light years away.

Bashful – Still in the early stages, we fall so madly in love with our story, our characters and our creative genius, that we dare not talk about the book. When people ask what we’re working on, we shrug and coyly respond, “Oh, nothing much.” Or “just a little story I’ve been playing around with.” We might even smile behind our hand. Because that’s how we roll.

Doc – As in we need one. After hitting our first major plot hole, we call our other writer friends and explain what’s going on. Fortunately, they are able to diagnose our problem and we’re off and writing again, but not without a little recovery time. Fixing a broken scene takes work. Suddenly, our prescribed deadline is approaching faster than we realized.

Dopey – We’re writing constantly. Eating writing, sleeping writing, walking up with scene ideas and falling asleep with characters arguing in our head. We sometimes talk to ourselves. Our friends wonder if we’ve lost our minds, because we seem a little crazy.

Grumpy – Yes, we know our deadline is imminent. No, we don’t want to talk about how the book is going or how many pages we have left to write. We post a sign on our office door that indicates only head wounds and fires are acceptable interruptions. And then on a case by case basis. We may, on occasion, snarl.

Sneezy – We’re sick of the book, sick of the characters, sick of how many things we have to fix to make the ending happen just the way we want it to. Even so, we keep coughing out the pages, feverishly tapping away at the keyboard.

Sleepy – The book is done! After hitting send, we keel over and fall asleep, trying to make up for the last month of caffeine-induced insanity. We try to dream of a world where there are no deadlines, but Mr. Sandman brings us a new story idea instead…

Queen of Hearts: Sin City Collectors Novella(Sin City Collectors)
by Kristen Painterebook
Released: July 1st 2014

Welcome to Las Vegas, home of the Sin City Collectors. The job description is easy: Bring the offending supernatural in to the Boss and don’t ask any questions.

Feline shifter Claudette Marchon traded life as a showgirl to become a Sin City Collector, giving up the glamour to earn some serious cash in order to buy her own business. Mission accomplished, she now runs a pawn shop specializing in gems and jewelry.

Life is good until a Collection job requiring her specific skill set lures her back in. The Queen of Hearts, a museum-worthy ruby and diamond necklace has been stolen from the Boss’s private collection and she’s his last hope to do what two other Collectors have already failed to do. Bring in the necklace. And the thief.

But gargoyle Jason Tennant isn’t quite the dangerous criminal Claudette expects. In fact, he’s not a thief at all. He’s former Special Ops and being set up by the real mastermind, forcing her to decide between the man she’s falling for and the man she works for. Proving Jason innocent may risk the Boss’s wrath, but Claudette’s heart says it’s a gamble worth taking.

What’s Collected in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

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About the Author:

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Kristen Painter likes to balance her obsessions with shoes and cats by making the lives of her characters miserable and surprising her readers with interesting twists. She currently writes award-winning urban fantasy for Orbit Books.

Giveaway

one winner gets an ecopy of Queen of Hearts!

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Social Blogger Hop

Blog hop main page

http://www.herdingcats-burningsoup.com/p/the-social-blogger.html

Come Meet & Greet your favorite bloggers and find a few new ones to love too! Enter the Grand Prize Giveaway then hop around and visit all of the Social Bloggers and learn some fun facts about them! There will be individual giveaways at some of the blog so don't forget to stop by and say hi!

Sharon

1. I am a second degree Black Belt in taekwondo and was the 2010 NC State Champion in sparring, forms and weapons. (First degree division ages: 40-49)

2. I don't eat vegetables, but I will eat a Caesar Salad with lots of croutons but I never eat the stalk! 

3. I grind my teeth so bad while sleeping I bit through the professional bite guard the dentist made for me. Now I have to wear a reinforced one...

4. Me and one other person are the only ones who know why the site is called I Smell Sheep.

5. I don't know how to put this...but I'm kind of a big deal :P

Katie

1. I have a walkin closet filled with costumes, wigs, masks etc. Maybe 100 in all. 

2. I collect (but never wear) high-heel ankle boots. 

3. Was a brownie but flunked out of Girl Scouts. 

4. Me and one other person are the only ones who know why the site is called I Smell Sheep.

5. I don't know how to put this...but I'm also kind of a big deal :P

Giveaways

There is a tourwide giveaway below and a giveaway for I Smell Sheep followers!

check out the post I did about the kit

One US winner will get the famous Melt-down Kit!

INT winner will get $15 gift card

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Spotlight: The Incubus Saga #1 by Amanda Meuwissen

Incubus (The Incubus Saga #1)
by Amanda Meuwissen

Paperback, 1st Edition, 371 pages
Published July 1st 2013 by BigWorldNetwork.com, LLC
Nathan only ever wanted a normal life, but for him, life, family, and love are anything but normal.

On the other side of the Veil, dark and light fae exist outside the knowledge of most humans. Nathan Grier was born human, but his twin brother Jim is a changeling. On the run since they were children, time for both of them is running out. Turning to fae hunter Sasha Kelly for help, Nathan must soon face his growing feelings for the other man while trying to save himself and his brother from a fate worse than death.

This series is an Urban Paranormal Fantasy/Gay Romance story that kicks off the beginning of an epic trilogy of love, family, and a fight to save the world.

Excerpt:

Sprinting was actually not the best way to describe Nathan's slogging and slipping through the mud, trying to avoid trees, rocks, and other nameless bits of nature which he did his best to baptize with expletives. It wasn't long before his breath was coming in harsh pants. He was fit, but he was carrying a good extra ten pounds of rain water soaked into his clothing and felt like he was running through quicksand.

Nathan was thankful when the pursuit brought him into a more heavily wooded, slightly elevated area. The going was a lot easier, but he still had to stop running to get a lead on the sounds of the golem over his own harsh breathing, the slap of wet clothing against his body, and the sucking noise of his feet in the mud.

He wasn't even really sure if he was gaining on the thing. It seemed to be moving on a course parallel to his. At least they soon started heading downhill, but that also meant that Nathan started to pick up speed.

Bursting out of the trees into a clearing, Nathan was moving faster than he could control. He saw two things very clearly. First, Sasha had just run into the clearing from the opposite side and was standing with his phone at his ear. For the life of him, Nathan couldn't understand why Sasha was staring transfixed at that part of the trees. Sasha was also breathing heavily, and combined with the cell phone might explain why he couldn’t hear Nathan yelling at him in warning.

Because the second thing Nathan saw was the golem hurtling across the clearing toward Sasha’s turned back.

Changeling (The Incubus Saga #2)
by Amanda Meuwissen

Paperback, 468 pages
Published June 10th 2014 by BigWorldNetwork.com
Nathan Grier’s dark fae bounty looms overhead. As he faces the very real threat of becoming a slave to the bounty’s owner, his brother Jim uses his changeling abilities more and more trying to save him. Every changeling throughout history turns evil once their powers manifest, meaning time may be running out for both of them as Jim nears True Awakening.

Fae hunter and incubus, Sasha Kelly, is prophesized to save Nathan, but while Nathan has embraced his feelings for the other man, he fears their time together will be cut short—either from his impending fate…or Jim’s.

Excerpt

“You have…what? Less than thirty years life experience? And you think you can beat almost two-hundred?” Faust sneered.

He had an arm hooking both of Nathan’s arms behind him, which made Nathan’s eyes water with the pressure on his injured shoulder. All of Faust’s weight was centered on a leg that was thrown over Nathan to keep him pinned to the floor.

“When you’ve seen what I’ve seen, touched magic and fae as much as I have, you start seeing everything differently,” Faust said. “Like being able to recognize a succubus and fool her senses. Or weave tapestries of memory just to steal a few meager years. The Veil is coming to an end, boy, and only an immortal will be able to keep up with the dark fae once they retake this world. They already have everything in motion. The chosen changeling has already been tapped. It is only a matter of time.”

Nathan felt a chill run through his body at the mention of the ‘chosen changeling’. His sore shoulder was screaming in pain, and he knew he was being self-conscious of the wounds on his chest, which was slowing him down.

“Ah, but you…I knew there was something about you,” Faust continued. “The house wouldn’t have taken you even if you had chosen the other door like your friends. Because the thing is…” Faust’s voice fell to a whisper beside Nathan’s ear, “…you can’t steal life from the damned.”

About the Author:
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Amanda Meuwissen serves as the COO and Managing Editor for BigWorldNetwork.com and oversees editing and series selection, as well as being involved in marketing and promotion. Amanda is also featured as an author and narrator for several BigWorldNetwork.com series.

Amanda is the author of The Incubus Saga and The Collector, and has been the lead editor on all publications through BigWorldNetwork.com.

Amanda has a Bachelor of Arts in a personally designed major from St. Olaf College in Creative Writing, and has been writing and posting fiction and blog articles online for many years, including maintaining the company blog for Outsell LLC. Amanda spent a summer writing screenplay script coverages for a company in L.A., and is an avid writer and consumer of fiction through film, prose, and video games.

Top Ten Books Every Grim Reaper Should Read by Crymsyn Hart

Top Ten Books Every Grim Reaper Should Read

Hi. My name is Kerstin Palmer.

Most people think that I don’t get any off time, but that’s not true. I have a tendency to catch up on my list quickly and have a few minutes between jobs. On those occasions, I always have a book with me tucked away in the pocket of my robe. It’s nice to have that quiet time, retreating to the nearest graveyard where I can lean against a tombstone under a nice weeping willow. Sometimes I retreat into a mausoleum, and lie atop a coffin flipping through the pages of whatever I’m reading at the moment.

However, there are a few essential books that every reaper must read. They capture the essence of what death is and give a little insight into the different universes, realms, dimensions, etc. that Death exists.

1. The Egyptian Book of the Dead
2. Our Name is Melancholy by Leilah Wendell
3. Whole Death Catalogue A Lively Guide to the Bitter End by Harold Schechter
4. Funeral Directing & Undertaking – How to Conduct Funerals 1928 version
5. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography by Douglas Keister
6. Necromance: Intimate Portrayals of Death by Leilah Wendell
7. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
8. Graveminder by Melissa Marr
9. Born of The Night: The Gothic Fantasy Artwork of Joseph Vargo
10. Soul Reaper Series by Crymsyn Hart

Now that I’ve shared the short list of books that every reaper must read. I’m sure you’re wondering what is currently in my robe that I’m reading at the moment. Let’s see. Oh wait. I have two books.

1. The Making of a Monster by Gail Petersen
2. Death’s Dance by Crymsyn Hart

I hope you all get a chance to check out these wonderful selections. If not, well that’s okay, because one day I’ll be seeing you and then we can swap books.

Death's Dance

by Crymsyn Hart

Being a psychic, you would think talking to the dead was a walk in the park. However, it’s not always that simple. The hooded specter haunting me is one I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid. One day, he appeared in my bedroom mirror. Good. Evil. I don’t know what his true intentions are.

Enter Jackson, ghost hunting show host extraordinaire, and my ex, to save me from the big bad ghost.

From there…well…it’s been a world wind of complications. My house burnt down. I’m being stalked by an ancient evil and gotten myself back into the world of being a ghost hunting psychic. Jackson dragged me, along with a few other psychics, to a ghost town wiped off the map called Death’s Dance.

From there things went from bad to worse.

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About the Author:

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Crymsyn is a National Bestselling author of over seventy paranormal romance and horror novels. Her experiences as a psychic have given her a lot of material to use in her books. She currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her hubby and her three dogs. If she’s not writing, she’s curled up with the dogs watching a good horror movie or off with friends.

Book Review: The Dirty Streets of Heaven (Bobby Dollar #1) by Tad Williams

The Dirty Streets of Heaven (Bobby Dollar #1)
by Tad WilliamsHardcover, 406 pages
Published September 4th 2012

by DAW Hardcover

Bobby Dollar is an angel—a real one. He knows a lot about sin, and not just in his professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught between Heaven and Hell. Bobby’s wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own—pride, anger, even lust.

But his problems aren’t all his fault. Bobby can’t entirely trust his heavenly superiors, and he’s not too sure about any of his fellow earthbound angels either, especially the new kid that Heaven has dropped into their midst, a trainee angel who asks too many questions. And he sure as hell doesn’t trust the achingly gorgeous Countess of Cold Hands, a mysterious she-demon who seems to be the only one willing to tell him the truth.

When the souls of the recently departed start disappearing, catching both Heaven and Hell by surprise, things get bad very quickly for Bobby D.End-of-the-world bad. Beast of Revelations bad. Caught between the angry forces of Hell, the dangerous strategies of his own side, and a monstrous undead avenger that wants to rip his head off and suck out his soul, Bobby’s going to need all the friends he can get—in Heaven, on Earth, or anywhere else he can find them.

You’ve never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. And you’ve never read anything like The Dirty Streets of Heaven.

Brace yourself—the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed.

The Dirty Streets of Heaven is the first book in the Bobby Dollar series by Tad Williams. Bobby Dollar, an angel, is an advocate for souls. Basically, he is the lawyer that defends your soul when you pass away. Who would equate a lawyer with an angel? Not me, but its okay because Bobby sure doesn’t act like one. Bobby is sarcastic and funny. Plus, he is constantly fighting bad guys. In fact, I caught myself wondering plenty of times when they were going to throw him out of heaven.

As unlikely an angel as Bobby makes, he was a good character who finds himself in the middle of a mystery. This is the same mystery that has both Heaven and Hell scratching their otherworldly heads. Frankly, Bobby’s not sure who to trust, especially when his own superiors are acting somewhat questionably. With the hope of saving his own angelic hide, Bobby decides that maybe he needs to get to the bottom of the problem, even if it means working with some shady characters, like the Countess of Cold Hands. But can Bobby trust her?

I’ve got to admit, I really liked the Countess, bad girl image and all. I even liked her backstory. Not sure I felt that way about all the characters, but that’s okay. The supporting characters I wasn’t too keen on seemed to play a rather minor role in the overall story. In truth, that probably added a little flavor to the book, if you know what I mean. This isn’t a romance, but I will tell you there is a female love interest. I’m not telling you more than that because I hate spoilers, just know that I was wishing for a little more development in that department.

Overall, the book was really good. It was on the longer side, with over 400 pages. In addition, there was a whole lot of world building going on. It was a little heavy on the description, which made it a slower read, but that might be down to personal preference. Even though I won’t give you spoilers, I will give you this, I didn’t see the end coming and that’s just how I like it.

4 Not So Angelic Sheep

LisaA

About the Author:
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Former singer, shoe-seller, radio show host, and inventor of interactive sci-fi television, Tad Williams is now a full-time writer. His 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' series established him as an internationally bestselling fantasy author. The series that followed, 'Otherland', is now a multi-million-dollar MMO launching in 2012 from dtp/realU/Gamigo. Tad is also the author of the fantasy series, the 'Shadowmarch' books; the stand-alone Faerie epic, 'The War of the Flowers'; two collections of short stories ('Rite' and 'A Stark and Wormy Knight'), the Shakespearian fantasy 'Caliban's Hour' and, with his partner & collaborator Deborah Beale, the childrens'/all-ages fantasy series, the 'Ordinary Farm' novels. Coming in September 2012 are the Bobby Dollar novels, fantasy thrillers set again the backdrop of the monstrously ancient cold war between Heaven and Hell: the first is 'The Dirty Streets of Heaven.'

Tad is also the author of 'Tailchaser's Song': his first novel spawned the subgenre of cats and fantasy that we see widely today. 'Tailchaser's Song' is currently in preproduction as an animated film from Animetropolis/IDA.