Pick up a copy of KISS ME DEADLY this month if you live Down Under.

M

Cheri

Had to chat a bit about this movie I saw yesterday because I think I dreamed about it all night.  The story is adapted from a Colette novel.  It was fine.  What was really exciting about this flick was the costumes and sets.  Set during the Belle Epoque in France (they don't quite tell us where it's located, or I might have just missed it; I looked for recognizable scenery but didn't have a clue).  During the height of the Art Nouveau art style, which featured artists such as Klimt, Lalique, and my favorite, Mucha.

It was utterly delightful to roam across the screen and just admire the house and interior shots.  There was a scene where a Mucha lithograph hung on the wall, but it was out of focus because the actress was speaking, and I just wished they would have zoomed in on it.  Sigh...  All the furniture had the curvy design and floral motifs.  The lush fabrics and airy rooms that were not so stuffy as Victorian era and more about design.

And the costumes.  Michelle Pfeiffer was the perfect model for the clothes.  The one green dress (couldn't find a full length pic) was so simple and pretty, but it just mesmerized me to admire it.  One scene she entered a restaurant in a hat that had this big round black lace thingie going on.  Again, mesmerized.  

There were a few scenes in the garden and it just made me long for a lush, simpler time.  Oh, the story was fine, as I've said.  It was about an aging courtesan who comes to the realization she is much too old now for what she once did, and must accept that.  Touching at times.  The pairing of Kathy Bates as Pfeiffer's foil was delicious.  And Rupert Friend, while almost too gorgeous to look at, played the dull, ineffectual playboy almost too well.  He bored me.  :-)

If you're in the mood to be dazzled by a movie and like the time period, I'd suggest you see this one if you can.  Pfeiffer has never looked more stunning.  She absolutely glowed.

M

THE HIGHWAYMAN

It should be hitting shelves right now! And it's only out there for a month, so go get it!

So instead of summarizing the story (you can read the back blurb at my website) or putting an excerpt here (that's at the website too) I'll list a few tidbits about the story that may or not be in the actual book.

-- Well, we all know about the lace. I love lace on a man, but it's not exactly 'hero' stuff. So I restrained myself in this book. But I purposely put a line in there in a flashback about the hero hating lace. (But he doesn't, really.) :-)

-- The heroine started out as a white Persian cat-shifting familiar. Halfway through the book I thought "I so cannot see a fluffy white persian kicking butt" so I switched her to an Abyssinian, which, through research, I learned was a breed that is very chummy with dogs. Worked out perfect because her best friend is a werewolf.

-- This was originally a love triangle story, featuring Max, Aby and Severo. I wanted Aby and Severo to have had a sexual relationship. But, you know, after you've written a good part into the story, you can see the forest for the trees. Or is that the trees for the forest? Anyway, it was best she didn't have that kind of relationship with the wolf.

-- If you've read any number of my paranormal Nocturne stories, you may realize by now that I do love a dance club scene. In fact, I have scenes in clubs so often, I've quit trying to think of great names for the club and just started giving them colors. I think I've done Crimson, Blue, Vert, Silver, and Violet so far. I had a dance club scene in The Highwayman, but I forced myself to take it out. I didn't want to be too redundant and have people start complaining that I never have original scenes. :-)

-- I was going to buy absinthe (for research purposes) but do you know a bottle is like $80? I decided to just imagine, and Google it.

-- Max drives a Mustang because I wanted to somehow work in the image of a highwayman riding a horse (mustang; horse; get it?) I know. Don't complain, just accept it. :-)

-- Harlequin actually made up a nifty little graphic of Aby's tattoo (how it looks at the END of the story) and was going to insert it on the last page. It got missed, and instead it's just depicted using regular text. Here's the actual graphic that should have been in there. The text should have been a sans serif, but still, it looks great.


-- The name of the dude at the beginning who gets wasted... That's my hubby's first and middle name. Hee. I like to use names of people I love for the dead guys. Used my son's name for In The Event Of My Death, a Harlequin Audible read.

-- I was never really sure what kind of demon shadow was living inside my hero. Changed it many times over the course of writing the book. Made the final decision like a week before it was due.

-- Will I ever tire of setting stories in Paris (even if only for part of the story)? Nope.

-- The apartment Max and Aby stay at in Paris is my dream apartment. A chaise, a bed, a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower. That's all I need.

-- Thanks to the copy editor for catching my huge mistake in Paris. I had the hero and heroine running around on the right bank, but in my mind they were on the left bank, so I got all my landmarks confused. I know, the average reader would have never noticed, but I got it corrected.

Ok, that's good for now. Read the book. Love it or even just like it a little bit. But I hope it takes you on an adventure!
M

Find me blogging about my favorite kind of hero at Embrace the Shadows today.

M

Guest what?

So I was just reminded that I usually do 'guest' something or other in the summer. I've done guest toes a couple times. Guest gardens. Guest desks. What would be something fun that you'd like to see your favorite author guest with? Guest computer desktop? Get a peek at their screensavers or current work in progress? Guest book shelves? Get a glimpse of their favorite reads?

I'm open for suggestions!
M

Win a copy of The Highwayman over at Stumbling Over Chaos today. From my cat, Maxwell, to theirs... (Hmm, kinda appropriate that my hero is Max, too, eh?)

Names, love 'em and judge 'em

What really is in a name?  Do we make judgments on people based on their names?  Be truthful, if you haven't yet met a person, but are going to meet them—and have their name—you decide something about that person before even seeing them, yes?  Bob may be plain and to the point.  A Rachel may be attractive but not all there.  Maybe?

What about after you've met the person?  

As you may know I've been trying to think of a new name for the hero of Her Vampire Husband.  He started out as Henri.  To me, that was the perfect name for a 1000-yr old French vampire lord.  Aristocratic and strong.  Heck, half the kings in France were named Henri.  But the name didn't fly with editorial.  Henry?  So not alpha.

So I changed the name to Edward.  Another strong name.  The two d's in the name give it an added oomph of strength.  Unfortunately I wasn't thinking about Twilight at the time, and really don't want to name my hero the same.  So Edward is out.

I held a contest at Shapeshifter Romance yesterday for names.  The list of French male names is long and I love them all.  But they are all just not quite there.  Not alpha enough.  They require that hard sound that makes them just more manly.  Gregoire may be uber alpha over in France but he sounds a little wimpy over here in the States.  

What do you think about your name?  You must have developed a love, hate, or acceptance for it over the years.  Do you feel it expresses your personality sufficiently?  Or have you grown into what you think your name expects of you?  I like my name, always have.  Though I don't like it when people spell it wrong with two l's.  I don't get that.  When I look at Michelle, it doesn't even look like my name, it is foreign to me.  So when I get emails addressed to the double l chick, I wonder if the person got the right chick.  Hmm...  I've always thought the name was practical with a little touch of sexy and French.  I try.  

I have this weird prejudgment about people with names that are the same but spelled different.  For example: Cathy and Kathy.  To me, Cathys are soft and nurturing, while Kathys are a little harder, go-getters.  Don't ask me why, it's just some pre-formed idea that's always been with me.  I once worked with a Cathy.  We didn't have name tags, but because of her gentle and kind nature, I always assumed she was a Cathy.  What horror, on the day we did get name tags, to discover she was a Kathy!  Really threw me off.  I couldn't relate to her in the same way any more because of those weird acceptances and the inability to get beyond that K!

Back to my hero.  The name Creed just sort of slaps you with alpha-ness, yes?  The more I speak it, the more I like it.  The more I look at it, though, the more I wonder if it won't come off as a Native American name.  Hmm...   Not even sure why I feel that way.  I can make it work for a Frenchman, by giving his mother a different nationality.  

So what about you and the names in your life?  Do you form opinions based on names?  And what about your name?  Does it fit you?

Blogging at Cynthia Eden's place today. Stop by for a chance to win The Highwayman or Faeries Gone Wild!

M

Blogging at Nocturne Authors' Blog today about the Movie vs. The Book.

Also, I have copies of THE HIGHWAYMAN to give away. If you have a readers/review blog and would promote the book and give away a copy, I'll send you two books, one for you and one to give away. Contact me!

M

Winner!

Jacinta is the winner of a signed copy of Faeries Gone Wild!  Jacinta, email me your snailmail address, please.

M

A nice move

I got revisions today for Her Vampire Husband.  I normally don't get revision letters for my Nocturnes because we usually catch any necessary changes in edits.  But—and here's the cool part—this story, which was originally scheduled to come out this November as the third book in the Wicked Games trilogy, has now been pushed back to April 2010.  And I'm cool with that!  Yes, even though I've printed up 5000 bookmarks with that Nov. date and have already given most away.  Why am I cool with it?

Well, Her Vampire Husband has been rescheduled because it's going to come out under the HQN line now instead of Nocturne.  That's Harlequin's single title line.  I could not be more thrilled.  I'm actually giddy.  HQN has been a goal of mine for a while.  So, yay me!

The cooler part is that the story is already done.  I do have to add about 15k more words because this line does require a longer, more meaty story.  No problem.  It's neat that the move to HQN happened with this story because I love the hero and heroine SO much.  It'll be great fun to revisit them and flesh out their story even more.  And I recall after I'd written it and handed it in, I was thinking if only I had another 5 or 10k words, I could have fleshed out a certain aspect of the hero's life a little more.  I got my wish!  

So that's my news with this story.  Changes aren't due until the end of August, and I've got a Nocturne due August first, with a Bite due Sept 1st, so guess who won't be getting much sun this summer?  I burn too easily anyway.  :-)

You can still enter the contest in the post about cheesecake below.  I'll draw a winner on Friday afternoon.

M

Angels in kilts

Does this image work for you?

Yeah, it does for me too. A man in a kilt. You wouldn't think it would be sexy, but— Oh. Man.

So I started drafting out book #3 of the Angels and Demons series (deftly avoiding book #2, because I don't have a clue for that one). Got chapter one done yesterday, and on to chapter two today. I wanted the opening image of a man in a kilt. But modern times. And the hero just sort of took on Gerard's looks too. Nothin' wrong with that. At all. I found this great pic of him with the Hair.

Nice, huh? It's a medieval warrior look, but I like it. He's the fallen angel hero, and his heroine is a Sinistari demon. Here's the look I'm liking right now for the heroine, but that could change...

I loved her as La Femme Nikita. She has a very strong persona, yet can show vulnerability too. As the heroine of this story she's initially upset that she's a woman. (She had expected to be a guy; that's all I'm tellin' right now.) So she has issues. Interesting issues, for sure.

As I've said before, if I have a series of books, I like to work on them all at the same time. You never know what will come up in #3 that you might like to insert in #1 as foreshadowing. And there could even be new characters or character traits that you'd like to go back and fill in earlier. It's very helpful to me.

So I've got #1 drafted at 60K words. Set it aside (it's due Aug 1st). Drafted out two Bites over past fortnight as well. Now starting to draft #3. I'm hoping to get an idea for #2 so I can work on that the second half of June. Then July I'll finish #1, and everything will fall nicely into place.

As well, I have to prepare for edits on Her Vampire Husband. Did I mention my good news about that story? Hmm, I think I should wait a bit until I get the revised contract. But that news is coming!

So have a great Wednesday. And you're welcome for the kilt pic. ;-)
M

Cars, faeries and missing cheesecake.

The weekend was a successful one. On Friday night and Saturday afternoon I did book signings for FAERIES GONE WILD, along with Leandra and Lois. Great turnouts. It was a good time. Then on Monday we did the drive-by signing thing. Starting at 8 in the morning and I didn't get home until 7. We drove a circle around the Twin Cities, stopping into any bookstore we could find, and signing their stock. We even hit a few Targets, despite my fears that security would haul us out for defacing their property. DIdn't happen, though, wouldn't that have added an interesting tidbit to my report? ;-)

At a couple stores MaryJanice had already been ahead of us, so we added our names to hers. (DId I ever mention how nice it was of MJD to do the antho with us? Super nice!) Otherwise, we toted along labels MJD had signed and put in the books, so if you find an autographed copy of FGW in the Cities, it should be signed by all four of us! Doesn't get any better than that, does it?

I think that's all we'll do for this book. Yesterday wore me out. You wouldn't think it would, but getting in the car, driving, getting lost, chasing after directions, stopping, running in and searching for the books, signing, chatting up store employees, getting back in the car, and doing that more than a dozen times, really does take it out of you. Whew! And that was three of us packed (yes, packed) into the Mini Cooper. You may want to ask Lois how much she enjoyed the back seat. :-(

I did end up with some signed copies myself, though, so I'm going to give one away this week to someone who comments on this post. I'll collect names all week, and announce the winner on Friday.
M

ps - oh, we stopped for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I was very excited to get a piece of cheesecake (never eaten there before) but the meal was so big, I ate half, then couldn't even fathom eating anything more. Sigh...

Burn Notice Season 3 starts tonight! I've been trying to finish the Burn Notice: The End Game book before it starts, but I'm not going to make it. If you love the show, you will LOVE the books. Tod Goldberg has Michael Weston's voice nailed. It's a great way to get your Michael/Fiona/Sam fix when it's not Thursday night. I don't do crime shows—ever. But this one I love. Maybe because it's spies and it doesn't take itself too seriously. And who can watch it without eating yogurt at the same time? :-)
M

Blogging about my 'freak flag' over at Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Blog today.

FAERIES GONE WILD hits the stores today! Go forth! Wander into the book store and spy the sparkly blue cover. Make sure it's faceout on the shelf. If you so desire, lift it high above your head and shout 'this is the best book eva!'. (Then run.) And don't forget the Twitter contest, detailed in the below post. If you take a pic of the books 'in the wild' Tweet me and let me know, then I'll ask to see the pic. I already have one winner who spied the books on Saturday in stores (aggh!), but I'm feeling like another winner or two would be good.

So a little about my story in this anthology. Dust Me, Baby, One More Time. Yeah, I know, the title is corny, a little goofy even. And so is the story! Readers who are accustomed to my darker stuff will not find it in this book. It's light, funny, goofy, hopefully just a little whacked. It all started with the sexy sandman cruising through town on his motorcycle, and attracting the eyes of all the well-rested mortal women in town. (Seems they remember him, even though he was only in their dreams as he briefly dusted them to sleep.) With that image in my brain, I wanted to give the sandman a woman who could keep him on his toes—and erm...well, you see, the sandman has a bit of a problem with erm...premature dusting. When he gets turned on, he loses control of his dust. A well-meaning kiss could end in snores for the hapless faery who is receiving that kiss. Enter my heroine, the tooth faery. She's a by-the-book, follow-the-rules kind of faery. Has to be. She loves the Mortal Realm, and isn't about to break any rules that would see her transported back to Faery. Except there's that one rule: No fraternizing with fellow Night Workers, that will give her trouble. She and the sandman are both Night Workers, and even though she did end up snoring after that first fabulous kiss, she loves a good challenge.

That's all I'm telling! This was a fun story to write. I hope readers will enjoy it as much as I do.

M

Look what I just found at Amazon! This is Severo, the werewolf's story.

Blogging at Shapeshifter Romance today about 'what I know' about this business of publishing.

And don't forget about the Faeries contest! Info in the below post.

M