As a novelist, perhaps it shouldn’t have been so surprising to me to have the recent epiphany that, hey, I’m now part of the “entertainment industry.” Duh, huh? Although I’ve been writing for years (and years and years!), it wasn’t until my first sale last July that I began to foray into the business side of writing.
I’m working on a book trailer for my debut novel now and it’s been both fun and eye opening. Unfortunately, I’m not the most technically savvy gal. I don’t mind using technology, as long as it works right, but I don’t want to have to understand how it does what it does or why. But, fortunately, I have a son who thinks computers rock and is more literate in computer language than English. He’s agreed to help me - for ten bucks an hour. Never mind that I’ve yet to charge him for laundry, cooking, and taxi services! Grrr… But he knows he holds all the cards and I’d be lost without him. Having a smart kid stinks sometimes.
A book trailer, like a movie trailer, is a short encapsulation of the story, and is designed to make readers want to rush out and buy the book. It’s been fun searching online for stock photos to use in the trailer, and developing a “script.” But one thing that has struck me is how difficult it is to find character photos that match up precisely to the mental images I’ve created in my mind of my novel’s cast. Which got me to thinking how movies provide a direct image, while with books the reader is given the task of creating their own mental picture - with the author’s guidance, of course.
Both books and movies can make the consumer feel and/or think, but a book provides much more mental exercise because a reader must form mental images. Surely this extra exercise is good for the brain. Too bad it doesn’t burn calories!
When a book is made into a movie, the result can be either spot on with the mental image the book provided or not. Have you had any experiences where a movie developed from a book has been surprising in some way? Grab a cup of coffee and let’s chat about it.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Books vs. Movies by Diane Kelly
Friday, January 28, 2011
A new High Heels story!
Killer Fiction has not heard from the following winners of the Killer Fiction New Year's Contest:
Pat Cochran - $25 egift card
Cherie J. - choice of Christie Craig book
Oregon Sunshine - $25 egift card
Cassy Campbell - $25 egift card
Please contact Jana DeLeon through her author website to find out how to collect your prize.
Writing can be a very solitary job - me, a laptop, a latte. When I’m working on a book, sometimes it’s hard to remember that there are other people out there that are going to read it at some point. Which is why I love reader mail. Hearing from people that my characters are funny, or relatable, or whatever is great validation that I’m not just writing stories in a bubble.
But once in awhile, I get reader mail that gives me pause. This happened recently when I got an email from a woman - whom we shall call “Jane”, though that isn’t her real name - who was unhappy that I stopped writing the High Heels books. She was angry (yes, she used that word) that she never got o see Maddie’s honeymoon, because she was sure it was a “doozy” with Ramirez on board. She was also sure that Maddie solved some great mystery while on her honeymoon, and Jane missed out on reading about it! Clearly we’re straddling a fine line between reality and fictional characters at this point, but Jane isn’t the only reader who has asked me for more Maddie., In fact, since I put my backlist of the five High Heels books up for sale as ebooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, I’ve been getting several emails a day asking 1) why I stopped writing them 2) if I would please reconsider and write more and 3) what happens to Maddie next.
So, as a fun treat (for me as much as readers, if I’m being honest), I decided to answer that last question. I just published an ebook short story called SWEETHEART IN HIGH HEELS, on Amazon.com and BN.com, that features Maddie and Ramirez on their first anniversary, which just happens to fall on the most romantic of all holidays, Valentine’s Day.
Maddie is finding that being the wife of a cop isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Especially when dead bodies keep ruining her romantic dinner plans. But she’s determined that her husband’s latest case, dubbed the “Sex Shop Murder”, will not keep him from celebrating their first anniversary together. She’s ready to do whatever it takes to make this night special and distraction-free - even if it means solving his case herself!
You can read a short excerpt of SWEETHEART IN HIGH HEELS on my website, and it’s available for download as an ebook (to read either on your ebook reading device or right on your computer) at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
Happy reading!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Digital Debut
Pat Cochran - $25 egift card
Cherie J. - choice of Christie Craig book
Brandy - choice of Christie Craig book
Oregon Sunshine - $25 egift card
Cassy Campbell - $25 egift card
Please contact Jana DeLeon through her author website to find out how to collect your prize.
http://janadeleon.net/?page_id=8
I'm in the process of tweaking the covers for the five remaining books in the series, as well as my romantic-comedy, FIANCE AT HER FINGERTIPS and will post more of the covers next week. In the meantime, I'd love to know what you think of the first cover.
Do tell.
~Bullet Hole~
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
To Wii or Not to Wii
As I write this today, I'm sitting with my feet propped up on our Wii Fit Board. Now I'm assuming it wasn't designed as a foot rest, but it sure makes a comfy one. Which brings me to the next issue. Is it a failed new year's resolution if you haven't started yet?
You see, our family got a Wii for Christmas and courtesy of an amazing Black Friday deal, the Fit Board came along with it. That was cool because I've been wanting one for awhile. I hear they're really neat and a great way to keep track of your progress. Of course that is the problem too - according to multiple reviews on Amazon, your little computer trainer is so good at monitoring your exercise habits that he actually taunts you.
So basically I'm afraid of the Wii.
I can't get myself to start because I wonder what the little guy will have to say about my weight. Will he berate me for my cheese and cracker habit? I need those to write. There's no category on the Wii for, "is an author and this is part of the creative process so leave it alone already." I checked the manual.
The fit board also tests for balance and tells you just how clumsy you are. I'm a Fox. Our entire family is full of klutzes. Do I need to be reminded? My uncle ran over our neighbor's mailbox on Christmas eve and it's still sitting next to a broken post out there. I tripped this morning on the dog dish and tossed an entire basket of (formerly) folded laundry all over the kitchen. I'd say I have enough reminders that I'm not exactly Kerry Strug.
And what if I skip a few days? I have things to do. The computer trainer doesn't. He's just twiddling his thumbs, thinking of new ways to taunt me.
So I wait. I prefer to think of it as more than procrastination. It's a standoff. And for now, I get a pretty nifty footrest.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A Character Interview Gone Awry
By Robin 'Red Hot' Kaye with a little help from Hunter Kincaid....
Hunter Kincaid sat at the bar in Humpin’ Hannah’s and looked through the front window waiting for his cousin, Ben and his wife, Gina.
“Another beer?”
He turned and faced his sister and favorite bartender, Karma. “Might as well.” He nudged his mug across the polished bar. Karma picked up his glass and held it under the tap while he watched. “God only knows when Ben and Gina will show up. When those two land in Idaho, it’s like the honeymoon starts all over again. You’d think they’d be through with that phase of their relationship by now.”
“I think it’s romantic. It gives us all hope that maybe someday…” Her words trailed off as she lost herself in a daydream. Watching Ben go through the ups and downs of true love had been enough for Hunter to handle without having the whole little sister thing to deal with. If anyone broke Karma’s heart—even temporarily, well, Hunter would have to hurt the guy, and Hunter was of a lover, not a fighter.
Karma over-filled his mug, catching it just a second too late as the foam slid off the top into the drain. “Here you go and there they are.”
Hunter turned to see Gina flounce through the door, stopping to let her eyes adjust to the dimness of the bar. He smiled at her purple, Sex-in-the-City meets Durango outfit. You can take the girl out of Spanish Harlem, but you can’t take the Spanish Harlem out of the girl. The fringe hanging off her short, purple jacket was over-the-top, but looked great over her tight black, “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” T-shirt. Stiletto-heeled matching cowboy boots and a tight, black short skirt rounded out the ensemble and had every person with a Y chromosome wishing he were Ben.
Hunter wasn’t even going to go there—not that he didn’t enjoy giving his cousin a hard time. He stood and waved them to a round table across from the bar. “Hey, you two. Let’s sit over here where we can have some privacy. Karma, bring us a pitcher and Gina’s usual when you get a minute.”
Karma waved him away as he accepted a hug from Gina, practically having to kneel down, she was so short.
Ben pulled a bar stool close to his own and waited for Gina to climb on before he sat. “Okay, what’s this all about?”
Hunter pulled out his phone and scrolled to the app that was a recorder. He didn’t want to miss a thing. “Robin Kaye called and asked if I’d interview you two for her blog.”
Karma brought over a pitcher, a mug, and a Grey Goose Dirty Martini for Gina. She set them down and smiled. “Oh, sounds like fun. Are you going to interview me too? You know I had a hand in getting these two lovebirds together.”
Hunter rolled his eyes. “If I were to interview the people responsible, I’d have to interview Grampa Joe and no one wants to do that.”
Karma laughed. “You’re just afraid he’ll get the idea to set you up.”
“Exactly.” Hunter watched Ben and Gina gazing at each other and stifled a groan. God, they were disgusting.
Ben leaned against the back of his barstool and threw his arm around Gina who smiled up at him. “I never thought I’d say this, but marriage was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Gina poked an elbow into his side. “Our second marriage. The first wasn’t so great, and then there was the divorce, which was pretty fun. But the second marriage is definitely the best thing.
Ben pulled her closer. “Oh come on, you have to admit the first marriage did have it’s high points. That’s when we fell in love.”
“It was okay after I figured out you weren’t gay and before you did your impression of a horse’s ass.”
Hunter choked on the beer he’d been drinking. Ben threw Gina a hard look and if Hunter wasn’t mistaken, Ben was blushing. “You thought Ben was gay?”
“Why do you think I married him? He said he had a business proposal, so I met him at his apartment over his art gallery. He told me he’d decorated the apartment himself, he dressed like a metro-sexual New York model, and treated me to a five-course gourmet meal that he cooked. Of course I thought he was gay. How did I know the second he crossed the Great Divide he went all alpha cowboy?”
Hunter waited for Ben to take a long sip of beer and finally meet his gaze.
“Fine. When Gina mentioned she thought I was gay, I went along with it. It almost killed me. And don’t you say a word, Hunter. I haven’t beaten you up in a few years but that doesn’t mean I still can’t.”
Hunter smiled and puffed out his chest. “I’d like to see you try.”
Gina rolled her eyes. “Would you two cut it out?”
Ben set his beer down with a little more force than necessary. “Fine.” He shot Hunter a look that was probably supposed to scare him—it didn’t. He couldn’t wait to tell Trapper and Fisher. He could only imagine the fun they’d have torturing Ben. He’d never live it down.
Shrugging and staring into his beer, Ben continued. “I didn’t want Gina to go and do something stupid like fall in love with me. Karma warned me it might happen. She pointed out the only hole in my plan when I proposed to her.”
“You proposed to Karma too?”
“Well, yeah. It’s not like we’re really related. Growing up like cousins doesn’t mean we are. I was just going to marry her to keep Gramps from selling the ranch. I wasn’t going to touch her—I swear.”
Karma passed by carrying another pitcher. “As if I’d let him. Ewww!”
Hunter sat back and folded his arms. “And you thought Grampa Joe would fall for that?”
Ben hung his head. “I was desperate, it was either marry Karma, or marry a complete stranger. Hell, if I’d known Gina was so incredible, I’d have married her sooner.”
“Yeah, but she wasn’t interested in marrying you.” Hunter turned to Gina. “Why was that? Well, aside from the fact that you thought Ben was a Brokeback Mountain cowboy.”
Gina shrugged. “Aside from the whole gay thing, there was the whole marriage thing. I never thought I was the marriage type. I’m too selfish, demanding, and I don’t play well with others. Marriage was the one thing I never wanted to experience.”
Ben tightened his hold on his wife. “She’s the most unselfish person I know. Still, I got her to change her mind.”
Hunter couldn’t help but laugh. He noticed Ben didn’t mention the demanding part of her personality or the problem with playing with others…though he seemed to have taught her a thing or two in that department. “So how’d you get her to change her mind?”
“It was my inescapable charm.”
Gina laughed. “It was inescapable only because he took me to the ranch which for those of you who don’t know it, is in the middle of nowhere. Believe me, for a city girl who doesn’t drive, it wasn’t only his charm that was inescapable.
“So Gina, how’d he manage to woo you?”
She turned to Ben. “Do people actually say that—well, other than Hunter?”
Ben shrugged. “There are those who talk about wooing, and those of use whose wooing is best demonstrated behind a closed bedroom door, on satin sheets, when there’s nothing else on the agenda for hours and hours.”
They exchanged a look that would incinerate petrified stone, leaving Hunter to admit—to himself only, of course—that on Ben and Gina, marriage didn’t look bad. In fact, on Ben and Gina, marriage looked pretty damned good.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Contest Winners and Guest Blogger, Joss Ware
And now, for the big Killer Fiction Contest Winner announcement.
The winner of the Kindle is JODY FALTYS!!!!!!
Jody did a fabulous job of spreading the word about the Killer Fiction Contest and we're delighted that someone who worked so hard was drawn from the huge stack of entries!
The daily winners are as follows:
Mon, Jan 10th Pat Cochran
Tues, Jan 11th Gwynlyn MacKenzie
Wed, Jan 12th Cassy Campbell
Thu, Jan 13th Oregon Sunshine
Fri, Jan 14th Cathie Caffey
Sat, Jan 15th Estella
Mon, Jan 17th Judy who posted at 4:25 PM
Tues, Jan 18th Susan Mo
Wed, Jan 19th Terri Osburn
Thu, Jan 20th Terri Osburn
Fri, Jan 21st Cricket
Additional giveaways for Tues. Jan 18th for the following posters: Margay, Cherie J., Brandy
Choose any one book from Christie Craig's backlist. See her website for information on all her books.
All daily winners and Christie Craig additional winners, please contact Jana DeLeon through her author website and provide the email address at which you wish to receive your e-gift card and select amazon or barnes and noble for your e-gift card type.
Additional information is needed for the following:
Gwynlyn MacKenzie - please choose a copy of ROMEO, ROMEO, TOO HOT TO HANDLE or BREAKFAST IN BED and provide a mailing address with your contact information.
Estella - please provide a mailing address to receive your copy of BLOOD OF THE ROSE.
All Christie Craig additional winners - please provide your choice of backlist book and a mailing address.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks so much to everyone who made our New Year's contest such a fun and exciting event!
And now - introducing the author of an exciting new series, Joss Ware!
Joss says: 
About a year ago, I found a book written by a hospice doctor that was a collection of his experiences with death and the dying. The stories and incidents were fascinating, and only added to stories I’d heard from other people—another hospice doctor whom I know personally, along with others who’ve worked or volunteered, or otherwise been present in situations when someone is dying.
There are countless examples of people who’ve seen or experienced unusual things while with a person who’s dying. Angelic guides, waiting to help someone leave their corporal body and move onto the next phase. Dying people who see visions and gain sudden knowledge and understanding. Situations where a person who is seemingly unconscious and unresponsive “waits” to die until they’re given permission, or until a loved one arrives to say farewell. Over and over, people have told me that they learned so much from someone who is near death or dying.
And it takes a special kind of person to work with families and patients in hospice, who face death day after day after day.
So when I began to work on the fourth book in my paranormal romance series, the Envy Chronicles, I was thinking about these things. I also had left a character fatally shot at the end of the previous book (Abandon the Night), and I thought…what an interesting thing to include in my new project.
The world of the Envy Chronicles is one of a post-apocalyptic environment, fifty years after the earth has been decimated and most of the human population has been destroyed. Don’t think of Mad Max or Bladerunner…think of Life Without People or even LOST or Walking Dead. The cities are overgrown jungles, and there are pockets of civilization, not unlike that of the Old West.
And there are lots of hot men. Trust me. It wouldn’t be a romance series without them!
Envy is actually the largest bastion of humanity—and its name comes from its previous life: Vegas, or in this case, they call it New Vegas. N.V., or…Envy.
Selena is known as The Death Lady, because she’s the closest thing to a hospice doctor or nurse in this new world that has lost the technology, infrastructure, and communication that we used to have. But Selena has a gift with the dying, along with a special calling to help another part of humankind as well…the zombies who roam the earth now that it’s been destroyed.
When Theo Waxnicki is brought to Selena, he’s dying. She can always tell when someone’s about to expire…and there’s no turning back. Once she sees their death cloud, she’s never had anyone survive. She’s never had a patient live.
But…Theo is different. And in the end, Selena manages to help him…and once he recovers, sparks fly. She’s got secrets, and so does he. She’s been burned in the past, and he’s suffering from a broken heart.
He’s a computer geek in this world where computers and technology must be kept underground and secret, and she has a dangerous mission where she must go out and mingle with the zombies in the midst of their flesh-starved frenzy.
And…there’s part of an old, abandoned, overgrown amusement park that’s the setting for more than a few scenes. (Notice the Ferris wheel on the cover!)
Night Betrayed, the fourth book in the series, is out this week. I hope you have a chance to check out Theo and Selena’s story, and get to meet the other characters in the dystopian world of Envy.
Because I was inspired not only by those stories of hospice, but also by the people who work in that health field, helping us and our loved ones to die with as much dignity and comfort as possible, I’ve dedicated the book to hospice workers all over the world.
If you know someone who works or volunteers in that field, I hope that you’ll think of them and express your appreciation for what they do. Death is the great equalizer, and in the end, those tireless people are the ones who so often are there to ease our way and that of those we love.
I’d love to answer questions if you have any…or if you have a story about death or dying that you’d like to share. I’ll be giving away one of the first three books in the Envy Chronicles to a relevant commenter.
In addition, beginning January 26, the first two ebooks in the Envy Chronicles will be offered at a special promotional price (through February 7). Look for the ebooks of Beyond the Night or Embrace the Night Eternal to be offered at special low prices!
You can find more information about the books at my website: josswarebooks.com.
Thanks to Joss for guest posting on Killer Fiction. You should check out her books as they are fabulous! Please post for your chance to win, and have a great week, everyone!
Deadly DeLeon
Friday, January 21, 2011
Snowbound!
We had 27 inches of snow last week, more after that and last night about 4 inches more. I'm not even going to go there!
So, I'm posting a teeny, tiny except of my work in progress for those of you who also might be snowbound and for those in sunny climates--you lucky kids you!!!!
Here ya go:
WIKTORIA’S SECRET
One
“Er...um...oh, yeah. Bless me father for I have sinned—” I leaned forward in the darkened confessional, a place I’d feared since second grade when Sister Mary Margaret made me stay in one for hours for not bringing my rosary to school on the first Friday of the month—when all good Catholic children went to Mass and confession. How many sins could a seven year old have anyway?
“Are you there my dear?” the disembodied voice of Father Nawrocki said.
Gulp.
Father Nawrocki. Since high school all my friends and I had a crush on the tall, brown-eyed priest. Priest! I should add that to my list of sins right now. Ogling a priest.
“Um...yes, I am.” I managed a few fake coughs and despite knocking on the door of hell by lying to a priest in the confessional no less, I coughed again. I ran through the first part of the confession format, which I’d learned rote in Saint Stanislaus Catholic school from the nuns who told us we didn’t need to know the reason for learning things, we just had to memorize them.
Now the priest coughed.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was real and continued, “my last confession was—” Good Lord. Did he really need to know that? And when was it? Second grade? Did it not count if I wasn’t accurate? “—well, it was...awhile so I’ll wing it.”
“Wing it, Wiktoria?”
Oh geez. The only thing worse than having to go to confession and spit out your sins was when the priest knew who you were through the supposedly camouflaged screen! And, no one, no one, called me by my Polish name since grammar school other than my mother when she scolded me. “You know, Father, I think I’ll just tell it like it is.”
“I would assume you would anyway. It is confession.”
Was it getting hot in here or was the trapdoor to hell and beyond opening up? I forced a laugh, knowing he couldn’t see my face and the pained look it must have on it. Or could he? Damn it. Oops. I had to get out of here if I ever wanted to scurry through the Pearly Gates to all eternity someday. Because right now I thought I caught a glimpse of fiery flames coming from beneath the hand-crocheted throw rug near the kneeler. “Yes, well. Look, Father N, I really didn’t come here to confess anything.”
“Excuse me?”
“I know. I know. I’m holding up the line.” And what a line it was on the first Friday of the month at Saint Stanislaus Church in the cozy town of New Bochenia, named for the hometown of the Polish immigrants founded it. Over the years it was Americanized to New Boch, pronounced New Boc by non-Poles and the rest of the world. Anyway, in a town like New Boch you could count on a long line of Polish Catholic women snaked around the pews and nearly out the door. Only males were the priest and a few from the over eighty crowd.
“Okay, Father N, I am going to level with you.” I leaned forward as if that would draw his attention to the confessional screen where I knelt, sweating and waiting for the devil to yank me out of here, which at the moment didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
“Level, Tori.”
Phew. He’d lightened up or at least wanted to get this over with as fast as I did. “Okay. My last confession seems like eons ago, but you know me. I am a good girl—” I could imagine him rolling his eyes. After all he’d been hearing my confessions throughout the teen years. Gulp again. There was that night with Ricky Rinaski...never mind. “I really am, a good girl that is, so consequently, I don’t have any sins to confess at the moment.”
I heard him sigh, rather loudly for a man of the cloth.
“Really. When I was fifteen I used to make some up to give you something to do. Er...never mind. The reason I am here is more to ask a question to see if I need to confess something. You know, clarify something I can’t Google.” I giggled.
He didn’t.
“Perhaps we can talk in my office after confession is over, Miss Gansecki?”
Lord no! Then we’d be face to face. It was one thing to be hidden behind the confessional haze, even though he knew who I was, but to be face to face with a priest sent shivers down my Catholic School induced conscience’s spine—as if I really was a bad girl.
Ricky and I only made it to second base.
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