This is a test post to see if Twitter does indeed now show Lit Soup Blog posts.

You can follow Lit Soup on Twitter at @LitSoup.

If this does not show up, I will go back to making it work. =)

As I struggle through a mountain of work this next week or so. I'll get the Book Blocks lined up for Tuesday and Thursday, but blogging may be a bit scarce around here. If you want to hear completely random commentary and conversation on my life (and it is COMPLETELY RANDOM), feel free to follow me on Twitter. I'm @jennyrae.

This is a somewhat unique Book Block in that it's actually for an anthology written by six romance authors. Heidi Kneale sent this in on behalf of all six of them, and so I'm happy to share her words with you. Having sold a number of anthologies for John Joseph Adams, I'm always interested in how other editors work to put together their anthologies.



Written by Heidi Kneale

Title: The Enchanted Faerie
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Release Date: ebook: 22 November 2008; print: 27 February 2009
ISBN: 1-60154-364-6

When editor Cheryl Wright invited six romance authors (the Romance Spinners) to participate in a themed anthology, she didn't just give us a vague theme and turn us loose. She gave us a detailed challenge in the form of a couple of quandaries--rather risky ones. We accepted, for the higher the stakes, the higher the payoff, which would mean reader satisfaction. And we want happy readers.

Our Book Block was how each one of us would meet that challenge.

Premise: In 1678 Scotland, the Gypsy Alishandra has an Enchanted Faerie that can help a maiden find true love. She will lend this faerie to anyone who can meet her price.

First Quandary: Alishandra demands the price of one hundred gold pieces. This is a prohibitively expensive price. How on earth were our characters going to lay their hands on money like that? None of them were rich ladies, only common lasses who were lucky if they'd ever seen a gold coin in their young lives.

They had to be enterprising and clever. Each story had different ways of gaining the coins: gifted, stolen, earned, borrowed, and even a life was mortgaged. For the price of a hundred gold, the faerie could be had. And some characters paid a dear, dear price.

Second Quandary: After the faerie did its work, Alishandra demanded it back, for the faerie was not bought, only borrowed for a while. Sure, the faerie could help find true love, but unless the faerie was restored to its rightful owner, it could take that love away just as quickly. If the faerie was not returned, madness and death would follow. So, faeries went missing, were stolen, deadlines loomed and curses were about to descend and loved ones about to die. High stakes indeed.

The double-whammy of acquiring the faerie then needing to return her kept our characters on the edge. Just because our heroines found true love was no guarantee they would keep it.

The theme offered us one more challenge: with such specific guidelines, would our stories be different enough from one another? Thankfully, yes. Sure, each character had to get the gold, get the faerie, find love and return the faerie, but each author handled her story with a unique approach, making each short story stand on its own.

Where To Buy The Book: E-book from Wild Rose Press
Romance Spinners' Website: www.romancespinners.com

I was sitting there thinking the other day, and I got to being the littlest bit down about the fact that there are something like hundreds of thousands of people out of a job right now.

And I remember the last time things were bad, which was coming off of 9/11 (and they were not as bad as they are NOW)... and the last time things were this bad, a large number of my friends were graduating college in May 2002, and struggling desperately to find jobs. They sent off hundreds upon hundreds of applications, and they took what they could get.

So now, let's guess roughly, that there's something like a million people in the US who are looking for jobs right now. It may be more; it may be less. It's a lot. And as much as you go to job fair after job fair, and you fill out those hundreds or thousands of applications, etc... you still end up with a fairly large amount of empty time in your day.

And I started to wonder, if the fact that unemployment is so high, would affect how many people start writing novels this year.

I tend to think it will. I mean think about it, writing is cheap entertainment. If you have a pen and a piece of paper, or a computer that functions (even one from the stone ages), then you can write a novel. It's cheaper than going to the movies. It's cheaper than buying a book. It's a way to escape into a world of characters and story of your own creation, which can take you away from the absolute horror that your jobless life currently is. So I'm betting that since there are so many people unemployed, any of them who always thought that they might write a novel one day... they may be starting that novel sooner rather than later, as they wait to get a job or hear back from one of those applications and resumes they've sent.

What do you guys think? I'm very interested about your opinion on this topic.

Another direct link for my mom and those who'd like to read it.

Twitter Story #2 by Jenny Rae Rappaport

I am a total sucker for this cat. Really, I am. In his own words.

He may be giving Zoe a run for his money. We'll have to remedy that. Here, have a cat picture of my evil overlord, helping with the Christmas present wrapping. =)

Since David J. Williams recently pointed this out to me, I'd like to also let you know that you can get the mass-market edition of THE MIRRORED HEAVENS at Barnes & Noble too. There's apparently only one copy left at Amazon, which makes me think that they have grossly under-ordered.. =) It will be back in stock at Amazon soon, I am told.

I had to keep this under my hat, for oh, about a week... I didn't want to tell the world because I kept going inside my head, "Poetry is deathly hard to sell. No one buys poems! I have been trying for years!".

But Nathan Lilly, bless his editing heart, liked my poem.

So I present to you, my very first published poem, "Lucifer Defiant".

*goes off to bask in the glee of the poem being up and published* =)

I absolutely love the cover on this one.


Written by Patrice Sarath

Book Title: Gordath Wood
Author: Patrice Sarath
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Ace Fantasy (Penguin)
Release date: June 2008

Overview: Something strange is happening in Gordath Wood, the old forest surrounding a training stable called Hunter’s Chase. The police think Lynn Romano and Kate Mossland have been murdered; what actually occurred is much stranger. They’ve gone through a hole between worlds, into a medieval society at war. In a world that doesn’t ordinarily have use for women, the danger is great. Good thing Lynn and Kate aren’t your ordinary women.

Book Block: As writers we are always exhorted to 'show, not tell.' So in Gordath Wood I used dialog to advance the plot and evoke character. Here are some examples with most of the intervening narrative stripped out for simplicity's sake.

'What do you think?' Terrick said, his gruff voice low.
'Fantastic tales all, but she confirmed the reports of the weapons Tharp's gotten. Common, where she's from.'
'And if the girl's tall tales are true? If he has more weapons than those damned fancy crossbows?'
'Well then, how are your knees?' In the face of Terrick's surprise, Marthen went on, 'You will be on them, sir. You will be on them.'
The lord's face reddened with anger.
'You have a way with you, General; I don't deny it. But a word to the wise: If I am to kneel, I will be sure to do it on your back.'

By using dialog this way I was a lot freer to play with the storyline. Plus, it's fun. I got to know my characters better by consciously thinking about how they interacted with each other. What would they say and how would they say it? It's also a great way to do a clash of cultures.

'I don't know what my son was thinking,' he said. 'His pledge is not his own to make. Where he cannot give his hand, it is not right that he give his heart. He wanted to tell you this himself, but I thought it best it come from me. There. It is done.'
He glared at her as if to dare her to contradict him. She looked down...willing her tears to dry up.
'It's okay, Mr. Terrick,' she said. 'My parents wouldn't want us to get married either.'
His expression grew thunderous and she felt a flash of self-satisfaction. She hadn't meant it, but she had just turned the tables on him. Terrick rejected Mossland, and now Mossland rejected Terrick.

Where To Buy The Book: Amazon and many other bookstores

Patrice's Website: www.patricesarath.com

Meet Spartacus! He is adorable! I want to snorgle him. He belongs to my client, David J. Williams, and he is hundreds of miles away from me... but via the internet, you can now see an adorable cat photo!

As you can see, Spartacus is taking his duty to promote the mass-market edition of THE MIRRORED HEAVENS very seriously. I'll take his lead and let you know that THE MIRRORED HEAVENS is now available in mass-market format! Cheaper! Better! With improved "extras" like character dossiers written for this edition specifically. You can order it from Amazon here!


Also available in a different edition, I'm happy to report that the Science Fiction Book Club has bought the rights to THE LIVING DEAD edited by John Joseph Adams. That's available for ordering here, if you are a member. It's the only place you're going to get the book in hardcover, if you want your books that way.

Back by popular demand, I give you this week's BSG Spoiler Thread.

I have not watched this yet, but feel free to leave your comments, as I'll go watch it now. Just an advance warning that I will be at a conference for the episode on March 6th, and I'll put up a spoiler thread for it, but I don't know how the comment moderation will go. I may turn it off, just for you guys, since I love the discussion we had last time. =) I just won't be able to watch it until March 8th.

If you want to discuss the second episode of the Final Episodes (as SciFi Channel is calling them) of Battlestar Galactica, please feel free to do so here.

This is a spoiler-filled thread.

You have been warned. Do not click on the comments, if you do not want to be spoiled. I will put my thoughts in the comments.

Woo-hoo, a middle-grade book this time! I really do love all the variety that people have sent in!



Written by Lynne Joell

Title: Emmy & the Home for Troubled Girls
Author: Lynne Jonell
Genre: Middle-grade / children’s fiction
Format: Hardcover
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Release Date: October 14, 2008

ISBN - 10:0805081518
ISBN - 13:9780805081510

This is my second novel for children ages 8-12, and a sequel to Emmy & the Incredible Shrinking Rat.

Summary:
Emmy Addison is an ordinary girl—almost. If you don’t count the fact that her parents are rich (very), her best friend is a boy (and a soccer star), and she can talk to rodents (and they talk back), she’s very ordinary indeed. But she hasn’t been that way for long... It was only a few weeks ago that Emmy and her friends Ratty and Joe got rid of the evil Miss Barmy, the nanny who had nearly ruined Emmy’s life—and the lives of five other girls who went missing. But Miss Barmy is now only six inches tall, and furry to boot. How much harm can she do?

BOOK BLOCK:
The most necessary building block of my books is the seed, the beginning idea from which everything springs. This most often takes the form of a picture in my mind. If I’ve got an image that won’t leave me alone, I have learned that there is power there. So I play with it, and eventually I discover the story that is hidden within the seed.

For the first Emmy book, the initial image was a dream of a curved line on a piece of green paper. When I drew this, it grew into a plant, which sheltered a girl, who suddenly was pulling a wagon, which contained a very dramatic and self-pitying rat; and the story was off and running.

A few chapters into the first book, Emmy’s evil nanny (Miss Barmy) appears outside a shop in which she is hiding. I had a very strong image of Miss Barmy’s lizard-skin shoes, metal-capped, and a cane she carried. The cane was carved with little faces. They were, Miss Barmy had told Emmy, girls she had “taken care of”. Miss Barmy was saving a blank patch on the cane for Emmy’s face, someday; and although other grownups admired this as creative and interesting, Emmy found it exceptionally creepy.

I didn’t know where this image came from, but my writers’ group reacted strongly, and I knew there was something there. So I left it in. And by the time I ended the first book, I knew I had to write another, in which I could explore what had really happened to those little girls, and where they were now.

Just recently, I realized that this cane is a vivid metaphor for a certain pathological personality type. Miss Barmy used the children she had hurt, as a way to prop herself up; a way to convince herself that she had power, over vulnerable children if over nothing else. But I only understood this months after completing the sequel—I had no idea what the cane meant when it first appeared in my mind.

I think, as writers, our subconscious minds push up images, snatches of songs, tantalizing odors, evocative phrases; and we need to pay attention. These incoherent fragments are the first tiny green shoots of something that has an elaborate root system already in place. I watch for these. I kneel down and give them my full attention; I water, fertilize, weed, I do everything in my power to coax the stories up. But without the seed first rotting in the ground for years and years, and then sending up a first exploratory frond, I have nothing to work with.

Where To Buy The Book: Amazon

Lynne’s website: www.lynnejonell.com

I have been trying to organize my thoughts about Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday, and I have failed utterly.

Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman playing together was simply outstanding to watch and listen to. "A Gift To Be Simple" is one of my favorite songs.

I loved the speech.

I loved the hope.

I loved the benediction, and I am by no means a religious person. That minister was incredible.

Welcome home, America.

I'll leave you with Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger, because I think the song pretty much summarizes my mood right now. =)

No, I'm not looking for a new job. =)

But I was discussing how to properly apply for a job in this day and age, with a friend of mine who is specifically looking for jobs in publishing.

And then I remembered that a second friend of mine, Elizabeth, had written up a very nice series of "Secret Handshake" job tips on her blog.

So I recommend, if you're looking for a job, that you go read them. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and start from tip #1. A lot is common sense, but a lot of it is just plain good advice too.

Having discovered the miracle of advanced scheduling, the Book Blocks will now be coming to you regularly at 10:00 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, until I run out of content. And then they'll be back, as soon as people send me some more stuff. =)



Written by Candice Gilmer

Title: Fantasy Girl by Candice Gilmer
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 1-60504-201-3

About this book:
By day, Lynn Broadmore leads a boring life as a mild-mannered bookkeeper, enduring one blind date after another. But by night, she’s “Hush,” webmistress extraordinaire, writing naughty stories for her adoring legion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction minions.

Now that there’s a new guy working in the next cubicle, though, real life is getting interesting. All Jack has to do is smile, and her insides turn to goo. To her complete surprise, she might even stand a chance against the office bimbo.

Undercover FBI agent Jack Edwards is on the hunt for a serial killer who trolls the Internet for victims. The trail has led to Lynn’s virtual doorstep, and he’s ready to do whatever is necessary to bring the killer down—including using two secret identities to gain her trust. Things get complicated, however, as the goofy fan fiction writer gets under his skin and starts staining his brain—and his heart.

Distractions are something he can’t afford right now…not if he’s going to keep her from getting hurt in what she thinks is a safe, on-line hideaway. Because between the pixels lurks a murderer.

And he’s chosen Hush, his fantasy girl, as his next target.

My Book Block:
How did I come up with this one? One night, while chatting with another fan fiction addict online I got to thinking about the fact that we were bonded in a really strange way—we were connected by a show. We’d never meet in person, we’d never talk to one another, but we bonded by the love of a story.

That connection was both weird and special. All we had was text on a screen, and what could be more pure than that?

However, people can be whoever they want between the pixels. Who they portray isn’t always who they are. What do we really know about the people we’ve met in chat rooms or at message boards?

Usually only what we read.

And that spawned an idea—how wrong can we be about someone through the internet? The news is littered with stories about internet predators.

Then it happened.

Boom!

Crackle!

Crash!

Two unrelated things—the fan fiction community, and the terror of a serial killer stalking—slammed together in a story idea.

Did my muses sprinkle me with that magic muse dust at the right moment? Were the planets aligned? Did my synapse fire just so creating a new idea? Heck, I don’t know. It just came together.

The idea, anyway. The book? That took about five drafts, shoving it under the bed, and staring at rejection letters until I wanted to scream.

But even though I wanted to, I didn’t give up. I knew in my heart it was a good idea.

Where To Buy The Book: Samhain Publishing

Candice's Website: http://members.cox.net/candicegilmer

Now I know that I have writers of all sorts of genres reading this blog. And I love that. I read all sorts of genres of books myself. And you should be aware that there are different word count limits for different genres.

But what I want to talk about is fantasy bricks.

You know them. You read them. I'm talking Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, George R. R. Martin, my buddy, Ken Scholes... I like all of their books. But they are HUGE. And if you're looking for an agent in this market, a big fantasy brick isn't going to cut it. Ken is a rare exception. Patrick Rothfuss is a rare exception. (Although I'm currently adoring THE NAME OF THE WIND.)

Here are my guidelines for word count:

Aim for 80k minimum and 120k maximum. Try to hit as close to 100k as possible, but not go over.

Why do I tell you to not go over 120k, in terms of wordcount? There's a couple of reasons, but let's hit the big ones first.

One, think about the production costs. Your giant novel is going to be huge. If you have a novel with a word count of 180k, the amount of paper and the type of binding that the publisher will have to use will shoot the cost of that sucker up exponentially. If your debut novel is a nice solid $30 in cash, who is going to buy it? I don't care what exceptional reviews you get... it's going to be expensive for the ordinary reader, especially in this economy. I will be the first to admit that I don't know the economics of library purchases, but I would think that expensive books for readers are expensive books for library systems to buy too. (Someone correct me, if I'm wrong on how library purchases work.)

Two, you often don't need 180,000 words to tell your novel. People argue that secondary-world fantasy world-building demands extra words--that I can't just say "Apple!" and have people know that I'm referring to the uber-hipster-cool computer brand. I have to say "the very neat, sleek, white magical device that plays me the songs in my head. the magic device!" You don't need to describe it that way. In fact, you can totally forgo the description, if the story merits it. Have you ever read "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway? It's a standard in creative writing classes because it's really tight writing and a lot of it is told in dialogue. Your characters should be explaining the world around them with as little exposition as is needed. You don't want your readers to drown in your words and have their eyes glaze over. Let's use a bit of a more concrete example for this.

Example One:

The Castle was built of marbleized stone, the veins stretching up and outwards in a constellation of black and white beauty. The turrets were shining, the tops of them glistening with the golden tops that tradition demanded be built onto every castle in the land. The courtyard was bustling with servants: wenches, serfs with potatoes in their arms, people emptying the chamber pots into the castle midden. Garth the Knight adjusted his visor and made sure that his iron-steel combination armor was shined just right. His squire had been instructed to make sure that the white shield was just right, that his red pennant hung from the top of his spiral red and white striped lance, and that his blue eyes matched the gauntlet underneath.

This example makes my eyes glaze over, even though I just wrote it for the purpose of this blog post.

Example Two:

Garth approached the Castle, his eyes on the golden tops of the turrets. He left his horse at the hitching post, and made his way through the courtyard, dodging the servants carrying the chamber pots to the midden. His armor clanked as he hit the stones that led up to the castle doors, and he watched their marbleized surface pass under his feet. He thought it funny that his squire had managed to match his armor to the King's colors: red, white, and blue.

Do you see how Example Two is significantly shorter, yet still manages to convey almost the same information? Mind you, it's not the best written piece of fantasy novel in the world, but it's a lot better than the first example.

Finally, third point... most editors just won't look at a novel that's 180k. For the practical purposes of selling your book, most agents won't look at a book that long because they *are* that hard to sell. For all of the reasons I've named above, and probably more that I haven't listed. So as soon as you list that wordcount in your letter, unless your plot is truly stunning (most people's plots aren't truly stunning), you've just put yourself in the auto-reject pile. And why would you want to do that to yourself and that novel you've worked so hard on?
------------------------
2009 Books Read:

3. MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY by Winifred Watson
No, I haven't seen the film yet, but the book is awesome. It's light and fluffy and just very entertaining. I'm very glad I bought it. =)

Because I do not have the time nor the energy nor the inclination to deal with people who start to act like trolls, I have turned comment moderation back on. This is my blog. This is the environment in which I choose to post. I encourage and like to foster open discussion among people.

But when people start accusing me of censorship, just because I objected to an article that objectified women... not happening anymore, folks.

Yes, comment moderation is a form of censorship. You may accuse me of censoring my blog comments as much as you damn well please.

But let me say it here, publicly, one more time.

I had nothing to do with the article about the sexy book covers being removed from Bookspot Central. I am happy it is gone, because I found it offensive. That said, if the article had remained up, I wouldn't have cared. I did not advocate for the article to be removed.

I did not complain to the owners of the blog, Jay or Damon. I did not comment on their blog. I did not comment in their forums. I did not ask for the article to be taken down. I made a blog post where I stated my opinion that I did not like the article because I thought it was sexist due to objectifying women. I continued to discuss this opinion in the comments of that blog post, explaining that I personally dislike covers that objectify MEN or WOMEN because I disagree with the policy that sex should be used to sell books.

If you want to discuss the first episode of the Final Episodes (as SciFi Channel is calling them) of Battlestar Galactica, please feel free to do so here.

This is a spoiler-filled thread.

You have been warned. Do not click on the comments, if you do not want to be spoiled. I will put my thoughts in the comments.

If people like this, we can do this for every episode until the end. And the show ends on my birthday, by the way, which I find particularly cool. =)

Seriously, hottest women on covers of science fiction and fantasy books?

Give me a break.

But someone named Damon wrote up a whole post on it right here.

I'd say something else, but I'm too busy picking my jaw up from the sheer disgust of this. How about you actually pick best art or something, instead of "how hot the chick on the cover looks"?

ETA: Jay Tomio, the other owner of BookSpotCentral has apparently pulled the article and apologizes for it. Jay, I have no idea if you read this blog, but thank you.

Because I'm very proud of my clients, I wanted to let you all know that the following ones are eligible for various awards during this 2009 season. I'm focusing on the Hugos right now, but the eligibility and things published by my clients in 2008 will be applicable for other awards as well.

1. John Joseph Adams is eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Editor (Short Form). His qualifying works include the Shimmer Magazine Pirate Issue from November 2007, as well as WASTELANDS, SEEDS OF CHANGE, and THE LIVING DEAD, all three which were released in 2008.
2. Douglas Elliott Cohen is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This is his second year of eligibility.
   
3. Colin Harvey is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This is his second year of eligibility. He is eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Novel for his novel, BLIND FAITH, although he warns me that it's more of a thriller and the speculative content is minimal. He is eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "On the Rock" (published in Albedo One), and he is also eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Just Another Day" (published in KILLERS, September 2008).
   
4. Ted Kosmatka is eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "The Art of Alchemy" (published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2008) and for "Divining Light" (published in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2008). He is also eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "N-words" (published in SEEDS OF CHANGE, August 2008).
5. Nathalie Mallet is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This is her second year of eligibility.
   
6. David J. Williams is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This is his first year of eligibility. His novel, THE MIRRORED HEAVENS, is eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
   

Please excuse me, because my brain is currently not grokking any of this yet.

Let me explain the series of events for today...

I woke up and it was snowing. My parking lot was snowed over, and I couldn't go anywhere for the day. This also meant my husband stayed home for the day, since his office is considerably farther away than our second bedroom...

.... so the husband stayed home. And we worked together, companionably, all through the morning and the snow stopping, and had a warm lunch together....

... and then midway through the afternoon, my husband disappeared from his computer, but I was still steadily sending e-mail, and didn't realize that he had gone to take a nap. So about 3:15pm or so, I wandered into the bedroom, found my husband curled up asleep with the cat, and decided, what the hell, I'll take a nap too....

.... and then I woke up at 6:15pm, and found out that there was a plane floating in the Hudson, and that my husband and I had managed to sleep through multiple frantic phone calls from my mother, telling us to turn on the local NYC news channels on the TV.... and wow, just wow, a plane floating on the Hudson River.

And everyone survived.

And one of my writing friends was waiting in Charlotte, NC, to get on that exact plane to continue her journey to Seattle.

And I am just so thankful and weirded out by this that you have no idea.

I don't think I'll be taking any more naps in the afternoon, because when I do, the world seems to turn topsy-turvy... =)

And we seem to be on a non-fiction kick over here with the Book Blocks, but that's ok. I like non-fiction too, even though I don't represent it. =) I apologize for the lack of blogging lately; mostly I've been Twittering and trying to get through back e-mail, etc.



Written by Doreen Onion

Title: Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion

Publisher: Broadway Books

Release date: June 3, 2008

ISBN: 0767928539

About the book: A pampered Long Island princess hits the road in a converted bus with her wilderness-loving husband, travels the country for one year, and brings it all hilariously to life in this offbeat and romantic memoir.

Doreen and Tim are married psychiatrists with a twist: She’s a self-proclaimed Long Island princess, grouchy couch potato, and shoe addict. He's an affable, though driven, outdoorsman. When Tim suggests “chucking it all” to travel cross-country in a converted bus, Doreen asks, “Why can’t you be like a normal husband in a midlife crisis and have an affair or buy a Corvette?” But she soon shocks them both, agreeing to set forth with their sixty-pound dog, two querulous cats—and no agenda—in a 340-square-foot bus.

Queen of the Road is Doreen’s offbeat and romantic tale about refusing to settle; about choosing the unconventional road with all the misadventures it brings (fire, flood, armed robbery, and finding themselves in a nudist RV park, to name just a few). The marvelous places they visit and delightful people they encounter have a life-changing effect on all the travelers, as Doreen grows to appreciate the simple life, Tim mellows, and even the pets pull together. Best of all, readers get to go along for the ride through forty-seven states in this often hilarious and always entertaining memoir, in which a boisterous marriage of polar opposites becomes stronger than ever.

The “Book Block”: This is (hopefully obvious from the description) a humorous travel memoir, but I really wanted to make the book about my relationship with my husband. Even though we’re married shrinks, I’ve never particularly cared to write a “how to” marital manual, yet since Tim and I have such a good relationship (and have often been asked, “How do you do it?”) I wanted the book to be that, as well. When my agent read it, she said, “The isn’t so much a travel memoir, it’s a love story.” It was the best compliment I could receive.

Where To Get The Book: Amazon

Doreen’s website: www.queenoftheroadthebook.com

Ok, this is the harder post to write. I have been mentally writing and rewriting it in my head for the past week, as I've read what other agents have said about the subject. I find that I differ substantially from them on my opinion of ghostwritten queries.

Like Jennifer Jackson said on her blog, I can indeed recognize the queries that have been done by "services". They have a very distinctive look to them, and I don't recommend going that route.

On the other hand, I appreciate a query that shows off the book to me... so if that means your friend or your mentor helps you write it, go for it. I'd rather be able to get a sense of what a book is about, if it's told in a skillful manner, than pass on something that's good... let me try to explain.

I have had clients who can't write a query letter and a synopsis to save their lives, but who write DAMN GOOD novels.

I have read query letters and synopses that are incredibly well done, and the novel itself is terrible.

When I read your query letter (or rather when Jodi reads it, but she's reading for me), I want to know what your book is about. I don't want to know the emotional ramifications of one character thinking about their inner navel, which is what a lot of mediocre query letters look like. I want conflict, hook, interesting situation, etc. If you can't convey that yourself, but someone else who has read your work can... let them help you. You would be doing yourself a disservice not to take advantage of the best help you can get in marketing your work. I mean, why are you searching for an agent, if not to have them go on to market your book for you?

I have helped write query letters for friends, and they have then taken my help, and added their own personal touches to it. I like to think that may have helped them in some way or another. I don't consider it cheating, what I've done.

And I'd rather see a good query, even if it's been "ghostwritten" than a bad query, any day.

Plus, the reason we ask for the first five pages is to judge whether your writing is any good, even if your query is god-awful terrible.

First, I'll write the easy post... the other post after this one is much harder.

Anyway, whenever I meet writers looking for an agent, they're amazed at the fact that I read published books on a regular basis.

"How can you read?" they ask.

"If I didn't read, I'd die," I answer with complete honesty.

Because the thing is, books are as essential to me as breathing is. I can't live without them, and trust me, my slush pile just doesn't cut it sometimes. Raw books, which I guess is the best term to call manuscripts in their unpublished form... they're wonderful to read and an essential part of my job. I spent part of last week totally digging a YA book, and ended up calling the author to offer her representation. But most of my slush reading is not as satisfying as that; I crave the polish of published prose that has been made incredibly shiny. I'm not sure if that makes sense to people, but it's how I feel.

So this year, for the first year since 2005, I'm going to actually bother to keep track of how many books I read. I'm not counting manuscripts, but ARCs are fair game. As long as it's handed to me in bound form, I count it as a book. That's how this game works, at least for me. =)

The books may or may not have little reviews attached to them, depending on my mood and whether I hated or liked a book.

I read because if I didn't, I wouldn't be me.

Books Read So Far:

1. HARUMI'S JAPANESE HOME COOKING by Harumi Kumihara
I can't really comment much on the cookbook, except to say that the tofu and eggplant gratin was not to my taste, and that the beef onigiri were quite good.

2. THE TEN PERCENT SOLUTION by Ken Rand
It's a very short book, and I had never read it.

Today's Book Block is a bit of a different fare.. non-fiction! And philosophy at that. I present to you what I'm pretty sure is our first philosophical book to be featured in Book Blocks. Variety is good. =)


Written by Damon Young

Title: DISTRACTION
Genre: Philosophy/Non-fiction
Publisher: Melbourne University Press
Date: September 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0522853742

In writing Distraction, one of the chief questions for me was: How can I make the philosophical ideas come alive? It can't be patronising or glib, but it also has to avoid rootless abstraction. How can I bring philosophy back to everyday life, its challenges, anxieties and longings?

Writing straightforwardly helps, as does drawing on current events and issues - but this all-too-easily lapses into reportage. I asked myself: how can I be lively and relevant, without sacrificing philosophical depth?

Chiefly, my answer was: biography. In writing of my own life, and those of philosophers, artists and statesmen, I was able to give philosophical ideas an intimate face.

Most chapters begin with a dramatic or poignant episode: Matisse's hernia, Proust's disappointment at Balbec, Seneca's suicide, Henry James' loss of Miss Woolson. This uses stories to engage the readers' attention; to connect with their sympathy and psychological imagination.

I then tease out the themes of distraction, diversion, interruption, and use philosophy to clarify or enrich these themes, e.g. Matisse's newfound clarity, Proust's stifling education, Seneca's noble politics of character, and Henry James' slow discovery of freedom. The stories are transformed: from uplifting or tragic tales, to the adventures of living ideas.

Finally, I show how these ideas are relevant to life today. Matisse can teach us how to avoid the distractions of the art gallery; Proust offers insights on class and status; Seneca joins Foucault in resisting cynical Realpolitik; and Henry James reminds us that intimacy needn't be sacrificed to our jobs or hobbies.

In each case, my gamble was this: that biography (including my own) can afford a rich, nuanced, gripping introduction to the endeavour of thought. It shows the value of ideas - not as abstract, ghostly playthings, but as the motivating, illuminating stuff of life.

Where To Buy The Book: As this is a bit of an international book, there are a couple of different places to get it from... Amazon US, Amazon UK, Readings Bookshops in Australia, Melbourne University Press

Damon's Website: http://www.damonyoung.com.au/

And we're back, with another Book Block! Slowly getting through the backlog here... =)


Written by Claire Collins

Book Title: Images of Betrayal
Genre: Romance/Suspense/Mystery
Format: Trade paperback and coming to E-book
Book Length: 266 pages
Publisher: Second Wind Publishing LLC
Release Date: August 22, 2008

A brief overview: Tysan Reynolds knows all about betrayal. Her biggest worry is how to make enough tips as a waitress to pay her rent. Walker Sandoval walks out of a storm and into her life. Dark, handsome, and mysterious, the photographer begins spending more time at the restaurant when Ty is there. While Ty feels unsure of her place in the world, Walker seems to know just where he belongs. She’s drawn to Walker’s sense of strength and self-assurance. He suddenly appears whenever Ty needs someone tough on her side. The photographs Walker shows Ty both intrigue and terrify her. Pictures should capture a moment in time and preserve it forever, but Walker’s pictures show events that haven't happened yet. When the details of the photos become real life, Ty finds herself in danger along with her friend and co-worker, Sheila. With Sheila's family standing strong with Ty to learn more about their future, they discover there is more to these pictures than meets the eye. Is their future predetermined? Is Walker Ty's only hope to save herself and Sheila's family? When Ty receives a picture of her sister bound and gagged she knows she has to fight to save her sister and herself from the Images of Betrayal.

The "Book Block": Character development: When I started writing this book, I only had a vague idea of where it was going and who was the hero and who was the villain. Near the middle of the book, the hero and the villain both became clear in my mind and I went back to put in the clues depicting the personality of each. I was surprised to find that all of the clues were already there to subtly lead the reader to determine who was the villain and who was the hero before it became obvious. Sometimes, as the story plays out in my mind, I have to get it out on paper even when I don't know exactly how it will end. After pieces become clearer in my mind, it is easy to go back and drop in the right information in the right places to flesh out the characters to show who they really are.

Where To Buy The Book: Amazon

Claire's Website: http://www.freewebs.com/authorclairecollins/index.htm

So, I got curious today about whether my two sentence long piece of Twitter fiction was now eligible to be nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Short Story. I went over to the Hugo Awards website and asked that question and got back the following response from the Administrator, Cheryl Morgan.

Jenny Rae:

The requirement for a Short Story is that is must be less than 7,500 words in length. If it is only one word long, that’s OK.

The problem is going to be identifying the story on your ballot. If you can provide a direct URL to the story that makes it easy, but otherwise you’ll need to be creative about explaining exactly what you are nominating.

If the work gets as far as being nominated, I expect that the Hugo Administrator will ask the author for a title by which it can be known.

- Cheryl Morgan

So, now having discovered that my first piece of Twitter fiction is eligible, I'm sharing the news so that other authors of this new crazy fad of microfiction can know that their work is eligible too.

I am not saying that you should nominate me for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story, but if you feel so inclined, please do so. There are many other good short stories out there too, such as "Silent as Dust" by James Maxey, which appeared in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show in January 2008.

As a service for anyone who desires to nominate my Twitter story, I am providing the full text of it below. You must include the direct URL on the nomination ballot, if you choose to nominate a piece of microfiction. The direct URL follows the story. To nominate anything for the Hugos, you must be a member of this year's Worldcon by January 31, 2009, or have been a member of last year's Worldcon. You have until the end of February to nominate fiction.

Here is my Twitter story:

The crystal thrones were strewn around the cavern, their occupants gone--plague victims all. The council of kings needed new members.

Here is the direct link to my story:

http://thaumatrope.greententacles.com/tweets/20081221/

I've been going through and trying to clean my office lately, which means plowing through a stack of snail mail partials that were left over from the dark ages. I'm sending all the responses to those via e-mail, by the way, and I'm *not done yet*, so please don't ask if I've read it. I'll post here when I'm done, and then if you haven't gotten an e-mail, you can shoot one over.

But anyway, while I've been reading through the partials, I've decided that the time had come to do a list of deadly cliches. Basically, these are terms or descriptions that can kill your writing in one blow, since as soon as I read one, I'll be rolling my eyes. (See, using cliches to describe cliches!)

An incomplete list includes the following examples.

1. "Notched her chin": Because obviously, I wind my chin up like a piece of adjustable furniture, and therefore, it clicks when it goes up each notch.
2. "With trembling palm": How often do your hands tremble? And if your hands are trembling, which is rare, unless you have a disease, how does a palm tremble independently of a hand? See where I'm going?
3. "Scalp prickled": Not an effective descriptive term. My scalp doesn't prickle, and if it did, I'd assume something was wrong with it.
4. "Blood charging through veins": Is something chasing the blood?
5. "Glimmer of enthusiasm": They shine, do they?
6. "Glint in her eye": And now the character becomes an anime character, complete with huge eyes!
   

I could go on, but I want to know which cliches bug you the most.

Hit me with your best deadly cliches in the comments. =)

I don't know what to call the little stories that I have coming out on Twitter. Some people have suggested TwitterFic, which seems to work for me, or there's the micro-fiction that Ron Hogan has suggested over on Galleycat.

Whatever it is, here's the first one of mine that came out on December 21, 2008. (Watch, 140 characters of TwitterFic instantly sets my Campbell Award deadline as the end of 2010. Not that I would win it, but still. =) My mom asked for a direct link, since she couldn't find it.

Twitter Story #1 by Jenny Rae Rappaport

I do not always think blogs should be a series of links; they should try, at most points, to showcase good writing and interesting ideas. Yet for the longest time, I have wanted to post a bunch of random links, which I know so many other people do; I don't think it will be a regular thing, but as I come across them, I figure, I'll put them all together, once in awhile.

So, for your New Year's consumption, here's the following ones (and they're annotated!)

1. Rooms A series of short pieces about the hidden rooms that are within a city, but which the residents are largely unaware of. I think there's great story and novel seeds hidden within here.
2. Aquabid It's the Ebay of the international fish trading world. Because really, what you want to do is buy a fish, when you're up, late at night browsing, and then get it shipped from Thailand. There are very stringent regulations on what to do if your fish arrives dead... This one is beautiful though.
3. When a Washing Machine *really* doesn't fit Yarn Harlot is one of my guilty reading pleasures, not only because it's about knitting, but because she has the ability to make everyday life hilarious. This has pictures and saws.
   

... I link to this very cute video. =)

Agent allegory involving cats and laser pointers.