The Truth

For writers, the truth is a big deal. Not the story itself, of course. That's fiction. But the emotion, the heart, the soul of the book has got to be the truth - the author's truth - or it can lie flat on the page. Stephen King says of his work that he always told the truth, and I for one, believe that (and great market timing) are what made him the best-seller he is.

We've all seen someone perform - at anything, really - and they're technically perfect but they lack something. Some spark that makes the difference between you connecting with the performer or just admiring their technical perfection. I believe that something is "the truth."

I am big on reality talent shows. Call me a sucker, but I just love to see normal people get a shot at something great. So I'm watching America's Got Talent and a few weeks ago, there was a chicken catcher from Kentucky on there who blew me away. Check out the video. Sorry they didn't offer embedding, but the link works fine:

Chicken catcher video

People were amused when he came out. Amused at the accent, at his job, at his simpleness. But when he started singing, not only did he have everyone captivated, I'm fairly sure no one was breathing.

That's not just talent. That's a gift. The truth.

Deadly DeLeon

Folklore in Fiction

I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday as much as I am. (I love summer! And the pool! And hot lifeguards!) To start the day off right, please join me in welcoming author R.F. Long to KF! She writes beautiful fantasy romance with just the right history mixed in. So, take it away, R.F...



People have always told each other stories. It's an ideal way of communicating, a method of passing information down through the generations. From the earliest times people gathered together and told each other stories. Some were funny, some were frightening, all of them served to pass on information, whether we recognise that information today or not. Like a game of Chinese whispers (where someone at the end of a line whispers something to the person next to them, who whispers it to the person after them, and son on until the original phrase is mangled and the last person must guess what the original was).

Coming from Ireland I grew up on folktales. Standing apart from myths and legends, separate from the story books, folktales abound here. They are the tales told to each other by the common people, the everyday folk (to borrow a phrase from a childhood TV program). People are inclined, not only to tell tales, but to elaborate on them, to add their own touches. Little flourishes, little hints to locate the story locally. Suddenly the stories happened to a friend of a friend, or my brother in law's cousin. They are stories that touch us, that resonate with us, so we make them our own.

Since the late 60s folklore acquired a new name - urban legends.

In using old folklore in fiction I find it key to keep this in mind. Though our folklore may have been written down hundreds of years ago, and kept alive orally for hundreds of years after that, these tales were the urban legends of their time (even if they didn't have an urban setting).

Folklore was always told as a true story. This happened, here, just over the hill, yesterday, a hundred years ago, in a land (or a galaxy) far, far away. But the belief in the story is never doubted. The storyteller is not saying - here is a fable to teach you to be patient. Instead the message is more likely to be - "Do you see that circle of stones over there? Never go there after dark and never, ever try to dig it up."

In my most recent release "Soul Fire" I've been blending the folktales of the Irish Daoine Sidhe with a modern setting. It's a rural village in England, surrounded by woodland. Rowan, the heroine, is second generation. Her grandmother left Ireland with a horde of folktales with which she entertained her orphaned grandchildren. Grams' stories prove vital when Rowan discovers that the Sidhe are not simply old stories, but very real. And very dangerous. Titbits of information regarding iron, milk and the changing seasons become vital clues to help her and her Sidhe lover Daire survive.

The Sidhe of Irish folklore are not the innocent fairies the Victorians loved so much. They are older, darker, and far more dangerous. Heartbreakingly beautiful, treacherous, noble, lost souls who do not really understand humankind. In these stories they have a tendency to treat people like animals - sometimes as a beloved pet, sometimes as something to catch and tame, sometimes as something to hunt. It depends on the individual Sidhe, and the individual human. I know people today who will admit that old beliefs die hard. They won't break a branch of a living hawthorn, or willingly cross a fairy ring. Our beliefs are part of us.

As mentioned above, folklore is not just ancient stories. When we children, in order to entertain us on long car journeys, my father made up a story about Fred the White Horse who looked after our family when we were travelling. He told it as he drove, and we all pressed up to the windows, watching fields go by, looking for a glimpse of him. Endless entertainment, and very quiet children. My sisters and I have grown up and have children of our own. My father is in his late 70s. Imagine his surprise when, unprompted, my 4 year old began to tell him that she say Fred on the way over. "Who's Fred?" he asked. "Oh, he's the magic horse that looks after us when we're travelling." Perhaps another piece of folklore has been born.

Working such a powerful sensation of "the other" into a novel is a challenge and a joy. I love research, which is just as well because there always seems to be another story or belief which can be incorporated. The trick of course is to pick enough, without overwhelming the reader. Elements of research need to add to the story rather than swamp it. In writing paranormal fiction, however, knowledge of folklore and beliefs, and their incorporation, can give a great depth to the background, a weight, not of history, but of tradition which helps carry a reader along. Whether it be Sidhe, vampires, or modern urban legends about serial killers and ghosts, touching on things buried deep in the reader's psyche, blending them with your own story, strengthens it.

And of course, adds a new layer to the ongoing folklore.

~R.F. Long



R.F. Long always had a thing for fantasy, romance and ancient mysteries. The combination was bound to cause trouble. In university she studied English Literature, History of Religions and Celtic Civilisation, which just compounded the problem.

Her latest novel "Soul Fire" is now available from Samhain Publishing. She is also the author of the fantasy novel "The Scroll Thief" and novella "The Wolf's Sister". You can find out more about her work on her website - www.rflong.com

She lives in Wicklow, the Garden County of Ireland, and works in a specialized library of rare and unusual books.
But they don’t talk to her that often.

A Well of Ideas

Happy weekend, everyone! Please join me in welcoming the insanely talented Grace Draven to KF! She writes really cool, otherworldly, paranormal books that I will let her tell you all about. So, take it away Grace...



First up, many thanks to Gemma Halliday and the rest of the Killer Fiction gang for having me on board for a guest shot today. I’m Grace Draven and currently write for Amber Quill Press. All the juicy details about me and my double life as a spy can be found here:
http://www.amberquill.com/bio_Draven.html

I’ve been reading romance since I was twelve years old. Living in Madrid, Spain and lamenting the lack of American TV (especially cartoons and afternoon specials – you never outgrow Scooby Doo), I discovered a new and addictive entertainment in reading romance fiction when I picked up The Black Lyon by Jude Devereaux. I still have that book by the way. Thirty years later, it’s looking a little dog-eared but the glue has held up, and I still love the original cover art.

The love of reading romance turned into a love of writing it. These days I write mostly fantasy romance. The marriage of the two genres has always been something I’ve wanted to read and write. World building, sorcerers and magic, newly made cultures, etc. all mixed in with the hero/heroine romance dynamic—what’s not to like?

Oh, and I like to see hot men on the covers. Why yes, I am all about the eye candy. In fact, here’s some eye candy I had licensed from two talented artists for promotional stuff (bookmarks, etc) on my latest book, Master of Crows:





Nice, eh? ~Ahem~ Where was I? Oh yes…

I’ve had non-writer friends ask me where I get ideas for my books. To their surprise, I often say I get my ideas from them. Seriously, and forgive the cliché, but people are odd ducks in general. There’s a reason people-watching is a popular sport. We say things, do things and get ourselves involved in situations that are so bizarre that seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. It’s great fodder for a story, even a story that takes place on another world, in another culture and with different races.

I have a work in progress centering on a grimalkin (a cat who is a witch’s familiar) who is actually an elf lord doing time for an ancient crime. My heroine is a single mom with an autistic child. I’m a married mom with the most beautiful, seven-year old, fascinating, autistic son ever born (I can say this. I’m his mom). Some of the stuff he does and the behaviors he exhibits are strange and puzzling, but also endearing and sometimes funny. One day I’ll have to tell you the story of how I caught him sneaking into the bathroom to dip his fish sticks into the toilet. Yeah, I gagged too when I found out.

There’s also the time when I worked as a bookseller to put myself through college and sold a stack of books to a young guy who sauntered into the store wearing pajamas, pink fuzzy bunny slippers and Spock ears. He was one of our more normal patrons. Trust me; bookstores are not sedate, boring places to work.
My spouse will likely never forgive me for ruining potential sales at a gun show. He had a side business selling medieval replica swords and knives, so we purchased a booth space for the weekend, set up our stuff next to the family selling hand-crafted angels (you’d be amazed at what’s sold at a gun show). As I was there for company and support, I let him do the sales pitch and sat back to read the book I brought with me.

I’ll pause here to say that while I write fiction, I read an enormous amount of non-fiction—especially for research. Anyway, my choice of reading material that day, combined with what my spouse was trying to sell, probably didn’t entice the purchasers. Most browsers stopped by, checked out the swords, looked my way, raised some eyebrows and hurried away. It wasn’t until the show was nearly over for the day that my husband took a good look at the cover of the book I was reading with its bold title and large letters—THE HISTORY OF HUMAN SACRIFICE—and nearly had a coronary.

These are just some things I’ve personally witnessed, and they’re relatively mild. Stories from some of my wilder, take-no-prisoner friends have left me slack-jawed with astonishment or doubled over with laughter. Thing is, it’s all great material for a tale, and I’ve mined from these life experiences with gusto, incorporating them into stories, sometimes altering them to fit a world or time period but always keeping the spirit of the moment intact.
If I ever write a bookseller heroine, I have a wealth of knowledge from which to pull and funky instances to incorporate into the story. Kids provide endless ideas with their remarks, antics and often their unfiltered wisdom and honesty. Friends, neighbors, relatives—all are seas of inspiration.

So when someone asks me where I get my ideas? Dudes, that’s easy. Everywhere.

~Grace Draven

Ducks and Bears and Dinosaurs… Oh my!

Only 82 more days to go until mini-me makes his appearance! And because some of you have been asking, I’m posting the latest bump picture. Though, bump is a very kind word at this point. I look like I swallowed a basketball. It’ more like a huge protrusion than a cute little bump. I’m at the stage where strangers are asking, “So, when are you due?”
“October.”
“Ohmigod, you have that long? But you look enormous?!”
“You do know I’m hormonal and outweigh you by a good metric ton, right?”
Luckily, I’m really slow, so they can usually get away faster than I can strangle them at that point.

But, nosy strangers aside, I’m totally enjoying one of the most fun parts of having a baby –shopping. Every time I leave the house I seem to come back with at least one cute little baby item. Teeny-tiny Nikes, little blue blankies, more onsies than the kid can possibly ever wear. My only complaint is the selection of boy clothes.

Ducks. Bears. Dinosaurs.

Every store I go into has racks full of little blue outfits with these three things on them. Once in awhile, just for variety, they’ll throw in a truck. But the makers of little baby boy clothes seem to think that every child wants to grow up to be a truck driver, a paleontologist, or… a duck. Seriously, what do water fowl have to do with babies? For that matter, what do large, extinct reptiles? Don’t these people know that if dinosaurs were still around they’d be eating the babies for lunch?

Tons of racks of little girl clothes in adorable pink, purple, greens, all kinds of styles.

The one boy rack – ducks, dinosaurs, bears. Give the poor child some dignity, will you?

So, I’m searching for places that have cool boy clothes, minus any weird animal affiliations. Got any good websites?



~Trigger Happy Halliday

It's Q & A Time!

Since the release of my last Calamity Jayne book, ANCHORS AWEIGH, I've been inundated with questions and queries (and a few complaints) as to just what the heck I was doing--literarily speaking. Inasmuch as I had taken a self-imposed 'hiatus' to focus on obtaining my degree in Criminal Justice--and having achieved that particular goal--and with emails still coming in daily, I've decided to answer many of those questions here today.

Question 1:

Will there be any more Calamity Jayne books. (i.e. 'PLEASE don't stop the series!' 'PLEASE tell me there are more books coming!' 'I HAVE to know what happens with Taylor and P.D.' Readers MUST have a Calamity Jayne/Ranger Rick wedding!'...etc.)

Response: At this time there are no plans in the works for me to pen a seventh Calamity Jayne book. I'd love to continue the series at some point, but for now--for a variety of reasons, I'm moving on to other projects.

Question 2:

Will there be a sequel to FIANCE AT HER FINGERTIPS?

Response: Although there were plans for a sequel to 'Lawyer Logan' featuring 'CEO Clay' since I'm not under contract with Dorchester Publishing for any new projects at this time, plans for a second book have been placed on hold.

Question 3:

Just what the heck are you working on?

Response:

Quite honestly, I hadn't anticipated the heavy-duty time demands that came with the new job and increased classload coupled, of course, with those responsibilities that come with being the Head of the Household. I did not want any area of my life to be short-changed. All the aforementioned areas demand a high level of concentration, time commitment, and creativity. (Being 'creative' is a must when you are the mother of multiples.) And I SO didn't want to produce a project that, in my opinion, was not reflective of my best effort and abilities. Obviously something had to give. In this case, it was the writing. Now that my course work has ended and all future home improvement projects (with the exception of fall house painting) will be left to the professionals, I'm now back and focusing on my writing career with renewed energy and experiences that will, I think, only benefit and complement my writing endeavors from this point forward. To that end, I am working on a proposal for a new series which, I think, is very 'high concept' and has loads of potential. Since the project is still being developed and tweaked before it makes its way into the frenzied world of publishing, I won't elaborate. But it's the kind of project that has me waking in the night and grabbing my notepad and scribbling down ideas so that is a good sign.

Beyond this project, I am also returning my attention to a finished hard-boiled series that needs a bit of updating and some revision before it is shopped around. And, of course, I still have a completed Young Adult book sitting on the desk of a Penguin-Putnam editor waiting to be read.

I also have a American West historical romance I wrote ages ago that had promise but needs to be revamped, as well (you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl) that I'm tinkering with. So, much as with my 'home improvement' undertakings, I am not limiting myself to one writing option. In this business, you can't.

So there you have it: What's up with Bullet Hole. Or as much as I care to disclose in this venue. Hehe.

I'm off to the dentist this morning (yay) but if you have any other questions you'd like to ask, bring 'em on.

Oh, and if you have any advice on how to keep furry little pests from nibbling on my tomatoes, do tell. ('Possums are particularly pesky.) My kids seem to have a problem with me lying in wait for them with a slingshot. I tell 'em it could be worse. I am, after all, a former cop...

Off to get 'crowned' at the dentist's office.

Talk to you all later!

~Bullet Hole~

"I'll Have A Martini. Two At The Most. Three, I'm Under The Table...Four, I'm Under The Host."

A huge shout out to my girl, Dorothy Parker, for the title.

Last week's New Yorker Magazine had the best cartoon ever. And since there's probably no way I can get permission to show it here, I'll describe it.

It was called, "The Three Martini Breakfast." And the picture consisted of a man slumped over the breakfast table, a woman in a fetal position passed out under a chair, the breakfast on the stove was on fire, there were broken martini glasses and an empty bottle of vodka with a wide-eyed cat watching it all. Brilliant. Wish I'd thought of that.

So, just now my nine year old son is in the bathtub and he calls down, "Mom! Can you get me a glass of water?'

Me: I'm busy with my KF blog. Get it yourself.

Jack: I can't. You need to get it for me.

Me: Why?

Jack: I'm relaxing.

After grinding my teeth and counting to ten - an application that's usefulness goes WAY beyond the shaken baby syndrome years - I decide to ignore him completely and keep working on the blog. That's how important you guys are to me.

It's been a crazy week since I Shot You Babe came out and I've gotten a lot of e-mails from fans already (many of them who've read the book and are screaming, "NOOOOOOO," for some reason). I had a signing Saturday at the local Borders, an interview with the newspaper on Sunday and here and there have guest blogged on some great sites. I have another signing this Saturday at the Davenport, IA Barnes & Noble and a signing next week at the Romance Writers of America Conference in D.C.

In the meantime, I've got dishes in the dishwasher; laundry going so I can pack for my son's vacation with a friend (I can't believe he gets a #!%*! vacation!) and because I require clean underwear; am cleaning one catbox and two guinea pig cages; have bills to pay and today I put Sgt. Assassin on a plane to Iraq for the next year. That's him in the photo above. And yes, I know what he's looking at. And no, my head really isn't larger than his.

What you can't see is that he's now in great physical shape except for the broken ankle. He could probably wear my jeans if he wanted to. Life is so unfair.

As you can guess, I'm having a drink. A big one. With an orange umbrella (which looks weird sticking out of a beer bottle), ice cream sandwhiches (two...I'm not a total pig) and a complete lack of self-respect.

So this blog is unnaturally short. Blame Hellion. I was on the Romance Writers Revenge drinking virtual Bombay Bombers and a strange, smoking drink named Assassin's Last Call. And since I thought that was fun in a completely non-satisfying way (real alcohol is way better), I thought a little contest was in order.

Come up with a drink based on my series. You can base it on one of the characters, a scene or what have you. This weekend, I'll have some of my girlfriends over and we will test out these potions. Whichever one is best (meaning it tastes good and doesn't render us blind, fat or just plain pissed off) wins a complete set of the Bombay Series signed by moi.

Are you up to the challenge? I sure as hell hope so, because I could use a good amnesia-inducing drink. Let's see what you've got.

The Assassin

The Body Count

Hey! Christie Craig here with a special surprise. Today, we have Candace Havens with us blogging about one of my favorite subjects: whacking people. She’s funny and a wonderful writer and speaker to boot. I got the pleasure of hearing her speak at one of my RWA chapters. So enjoy, and make sure you post a comment to be entered in her contest.
Take it away…Candace!

The Body Count



I’d never paid much attention to it, but a friend recently pointed out that I have a high body count in most of my books. That of course is because my books are usually about women who have to save someone, or the world, and well, stuff happens. I also have a mystery in all of my books, which usually means someone has to die.

In my latest release, Alex Caruthers is a Guardian Key responsible for keeping Earth free of dragons. That means she has to take a few out a long the way. These Dragons are up to absolutely no good, and she does what she must. For her, it’s just another day/night on the job.

But I noticed in my last book, “The Demon King and I,” that those folks who ended up dead in my books were a little familiar. I mean, I usually have someone in mind when I’m creating a character, though I might not always be aware of it. And I seemed to be killing those who annoyed me the most.


My writing is kind of a therapy for me, so evidently I’ve been offing folks who drive me crazy for quite some time. I went back and looked at some of my earlier books, and I did the same thing. I don’t think I’d care for prison, so this is probably a healthier way of accomplishing my goals. When I’m finished with the book, I’m kind of finished with the person.

So, if you have someone you’d like me to “take care” of in my next book, feel free to share here. You don’t need to name, name, just give me an idea of why you want them whacked, and I’ll take care of the rest. (Smile)


And make sure you check out her contest page at www.candacehavens.com. She’s giving away tons of prizes and has lots of ways for you to win! Make a comment today on this blog post, and you’ll automatically be entered to win one of the prizes. And don't forget to check out the treasure hunt!