We're going to Renovation--World SF Con

We're going to Renovation! That's this year's WORLD SF CON, and it's in Reno, Nevada--someplace we can drive to! Rob is going all out getting us a fancy hotel room, so we'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary a little late (10 months or so) but in style!

I had a lot of fun going to World Fantasy Con while in California, and I know it's going to be even better this year. Not only do I know some of the people, but Rob will be with me, which always makes things better. The only thing that could make this a dream come true would be for Infinite Space, Infinite God to win (or even place for) a Hugo. Of course, as an anthology, it only qualifies in the Best Related Work category, but wouldn't it be cool? Not just for me and the contributors, but for faith-based science fiction, which is an underexplored subgenre.

Ah, to dream!

Anyway, I'd love to get a list of folks who are attending who know me. Maybe we can meet up. If you're going, contact me. Let's make plans!

Link to Renovation Website: http://www.renovationsf.org/index.php

My Novel's Journey: Mind Over Matter edits

It is done!

I finished the major revisions of Mind Over Matter Thursday afternoon. I knocked it down from 132,000 words to 98,500, primarily by killing a subplot and some deep background, plus removing a few redundancies. I've got it with some friends for a general critique of plot progression and character, to make sure I didn't cut too much and leave important points unexplained. In the meantime, I plan to let it sit until Monday, when I'll read it out loud to check the flow, then print it and read it backwards to make sure the sentences are free of errors and written as well as possible.

This is the most extensive revision of a manuscript I've ever done. I found it interesting that I could cut so much that seemed so very important when I was writing it, and come up with a better story. I remember reading that Spider Robinson had a similar experience. He would send a story to (I think it was) Amazing, and Campbell, the editor, would send it back saying, "Great story! Cut it by a third." He said he'd sweat over each word, believe the idea impossible, do it anyway, and come up with a better story as a result.

I think I've greatly improved Mind Over Matter. I can't wait to get a pub date on it!

My Novel's Journey: Mind Over Matter edits--lesson time

Last week, I didn't talk much about the lessons I've learned--or knew and applied--in my editing marathon, so I thought I'd talk about a three now.

Less is More: Last week, I met my goal of cutting 32,000 words, and I think I can cut more. Some of it was redundancy and a cutesy parceling out of bits of info when really, just saying it didn't hurt things at all. However, I also cut out a subplot, some favorite scenes, a couple of instances when we saw an event from two character POVs. Rather than losing the richness of the story, it has made the primary conflict harder-hitting and the story moves faster.

Kill the sacred subplot. I loved the subplot of Joshua's failed romance. I used it to show the differences between Kanaan romance and human. Also, his ex shows up near the end. (No spoilers on how, other than it's awesome.) Nonetheless, I spent way too much time in background and flashback for something that ended even before Mind Over Mind. Some of it was gut-wrenching writing, too, but let's face it: Josh is stuck on an alien planet. Is he going to stress over an affair gone bad? It distracted from the main theme. Machete time! Subplots should support the theme.

Be open to change: I started the rewrite process by re-reading the hardcopy and making notes. After about the fourth chapter,however, I didn't even look at the notes because the revision moved far beyond the simple changes I'd planned. The notes helped to jumpstart my brain, but as a character-driven seat-of-the-pants writer, I get a lot of energy by letting my characters take control. Even in revisions, I'm a pantster.

Catholic Writers Conference Online March 21-27!

Feel free to copy and disseminate this press release.

CONTACT: Karina Fabian
E-mail: karina@fabianspace.com
Ann Margaret Lewis
E-mail: annlewis@joesystems.com

For Immediate Release

Registration for Free Catholic Writers Conference Online Opens

World Wide Web—Are you a Catholic writer? Looking for an opportunity to learn more about writing and marketing, a chance to meet like-minded authors, and get an opportunity to pitch your work? Want it all for free—and without leaving your home? Catholic Writers’ Conference Online, which will be held March 21-27, 2011.

The conference is held via chats and forums at http:// www.catholicwritersconference.com. Sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild, the online conference is free of charge and open to writers of all levels who register before March 1, 2011.

"Each year, we have about 300 writers and around 50 presenters participate," said organizer Karina Fabian. “In addition to presentations and workshops covering a everything from idea generation to marketing your published work, we have crit groups and pitch sessions with Catholic and secular publishers. ”

Previously publishers hearing pitches have included well known Catholic publishers like Pauline, large Christian publishers like Thomas Nelson, and smaller presses like White Rose. This year, Fabian hopes to add some agents as well.

"Even in good economic times, it's hard for writers to attend live conferences," said Fabian, "but this year, we think it's even more important to help careers by utilizing an online format. We're so grateful that our presenters are willing to share their time and talent."

Although the conference is offered free of charge, donations are accepted; proceeds will go toward future conferences. Non-Catholics may attend, as long as they respect Catholic beliefs and the conference's Catholic focus.

To register or for more information, go to http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.


# # #

Graphics, interviews and further information available upon request.

My Novel's Journey: Mind Over Matter edits

It's been 3 weeks since I started the Mind Over Mind edits. I'm on page 208. I'm down from 132,000 words to 105,000 and am thinking I can cut 10,000 more. I am scrapping one major subplot/deep background about Joshua and building up the romantic tension with Deryl and Tasmae. I've also cut a lot of redundancy and explained some information earlier on instead of being cute and trying to give it piecemeal (which really ended up just rehashing things again and again).

Two minor characters, Ocapo and Terry, are taking on bigger roles, and it's fun to see them more often. Leinad went from cranky guardian to legitimate threat, and the beasts and the keep itself (which is semi-intelligent) are siding with Deryl and Josh openly. Deryl's less angsty, and Joshua, more so. I had to kill a couple of "cute" scenes, but they didn't really fit emotionally, anyway.

I had to do some pretty major manuscript surgery this past week, and just as I thought I was smooth sailing, they hit me with a new issue: thanks to the changes above, things have gotten a lot more serious a lot faster. Joshua has to get out of Dodge immeditately, and Deryl is going to be on his own when he wakes up from the psychic experience he's sharing with Tasmae. Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun--once I write it--but I must admit, the thought leaves me with a "what, again? I thought I was done with cut-and-paste!" feeling.

No matter. The book has spoken! I shall obey!

Here's one piece of text I changed. In the first, I have Deryl and Joshua talking about Josh's fiance', Sachiko, who is not in this book. In the second, I have Deryl showing Tasmae his telekinetically-created shield.

OLD:

Deryl gave a grunt of assent, then rose and went to the rack of weapons along the wall. He pulled a sword down, eyeing the craftsmanship. They’d taken his basic ideas, sure, but they’d gone well beyond anything he’d imagined. He swung it around, testing its balance. “It’s a salle, not a studio.”

“For you, maybe. I’m a dancer, not a fighter.” Joshua moved to the bench, picked up his towel and wiped off the sweat as he spoke.

“Oh, I don’t know. Sword fighting can be a kind of dance, too, you know. Have you seen Sachiko do her black belt form yet?”

“She’s got a black belt in Kendo?”

Deryl moved to where Joshua had been, took up a position, then began to move the sword in the established routine Sachiko had taught him. “Sachiko has four black belts,” he informed his friend. “And some other martial arts training as well. Her dad’s ex-Navy, special ops--“

“That explains a lot,” Joshua murmured.

“--and he wanted his only daughter to be able to handle herself.”

“She can do that,” Joshua admitted, and Deryl felt a sudden flash of Joshua’s memory of how she’d taken down and immobilized a manic patient that probably outweighed her by a hundred or more pounds.

Neither Joshua, toweling his hair dry and thinking about Sachiko pinning McDougal down with a knee and a hand, nor he, concentrating past Joshua’s inadvertent but strong memory and back his routine, noticed Tasmae silently enter the room and unsheathe her sword.

“You’ve got to get her to show you,” Deryl was saying. “She’s something to watch. Like you said, she’s got a temper. Sometimes, on really bad days at work, we’d sneak into the gym after hours and go at it with broomsticks, and I’d let her take it out on me. Or try to, at any rate. I’m very good at defending myself--“

Suddenly, he swung around and blocked Tasmae’s blow.

Joshua dropped his towel at the loud clang of metal, and saw Deryl push off of Tasmae’s swing and back away. He saw his friend grin at her, eyes sparkling, but she looked deadly serious.

NEW:

“It’s a personal shield,” Deryl explained as he approached Tasmae. “Telekinetic. I imagine it covering me like armor, but I control it. I can protect myself from anything, but, if I want to touch something—“ He reached out and brushed back a strand of her hair. “I can,” he finished, his voice softer than before.

Tasmae raised her arm to knock his away, but again encountered his shield. Slowly, she set her hand on his arm.

He smiled.

Tasmae raked her nails across his arm.

“Yeow!” Deryl backed away, grabbing his arm. He backed up fast when she followed up with a kick.

“Must you always concentrate on them?” She asked. Though she continued to advance on him, swinging and kicking, she didn’t sound angry at all. Just calculating.

“Only to alter them,” Deryl replied, puffing a little as he ducked and blocked her blows. She kept pushing him back to the far wall where practice weapons waited neatly in a rack.

“Do we teach this to children, then?” she demanded. “Or can you fight and keep the shield?”

“Oh, I can fight!” Deryl spun, snagged a sword in his left hand and lunged toward her, swinging the sword wide. When she stepped back, he returned to a more natural stance while swinging his blade in a back-handed figure eight.

“Nice,” Joshua called from the other side of the room.

“Sachiko taught me,” Deryl replied.

Review of The Muse by Fred Warren

Summary: Stan Marino needs a muse. He's written himself into a corner...again. A shot of inspiration is all he needs to finish his story ...where is he going to find it? What Stan doesn't know: Inspiration has found him. And it's about to take over his life. Ripped from reality, he must lead a band of lost souls in a life-or-death battle with a merciless enemy. Stan has found his muse, but will he survive it?

My Review: I was curious about this one, because I know Fred and have enjoyed his short stories, so Grace Bridges, publisher at Splashdown, gave me a copy. I devoured it in a day.

A delightful, light read. I read it in a few hours, mostly because I did not want to put it down. I loved the juxtaposition of the ordinary lives of writer-aspirants with the supernatural element of a muse addicted to their creative energies. The characters you could recognize from your local B&N coffee shop. I had to wonder at the way our heroes escaped the evil Muse’s clutches, but I don’t want to give any spoilers except to say that it didn’t pass the logic test for me. However, it did make for a delightful romp and a nice conflict in the end. And, I did shed a tear at the end—but you’ll have to read to see why. (No spoilers.) Fred has the ability to touch the heart as well as tickle the funny bone. I recommend The Muse for anyone looking for a pleasant diversion.

Preditor and Editor Polls Open until Jan 26--please vote

Hey, it’s time again for the P&E Reader’s polls! This is a "readers' favorite" kind of poll, so I just wanted to share the link and to let you know I have two books in the running:

--Infinite Space, Infinite God II under Anthologies
--Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator under Horror Novels.

Naturally, I’d appreciate your votes, but pick the book you like best in each category.

The P&E poll runs until Jan 26. They had some trouble with the website earlier this month, but it’s fixed now: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/ Be sure to scroll down to get to the book titles.

Karina

My Novel's Journey: Mind Over Matter edits

It's been about four years since I wrote Mind Over Matter, the second book in my Miscria trilogy. Now, with the edits to Mind Over Mind done and DragonMoon happy with the manuscript, it's time to clean this one up. The goal: Have it ready by March to submit to DragonMoon.

The nice thing about having worked with an editor and the first book is that I know what Gabrielle likes and does not like, and I can look at this manuscript with "new eyes." Four years of sitting while I grew as a writer certainly helped. This is actually my second manuscript, written in a crazy month and clocking in at 132,000 words when I added a couple of chapters from the first book that I decided to cut so that Mind Over Mind did not end on a cliffhanger.

I had printed it out back in 2007, which helped relieve some of the scare when I could not find the file. (Did find it) and so I could read it without the temptation of tweaking on the computer. Now, I could see the redundancies, the unneeded background, the self-indulgent prose, the unnecessary flashbacks. the story was still sound, and the characters lots of fun, but (as Gabrielle pointed out), making the action more present and less explanatory makes them really shine.

So that's been my goal, with steps of 1-2 chapters a day, a total of 6-8 a week. The first few chapters were easy, but when I hit chapter six, I hit Land O Flashback, and it's been a tough slog moving things and rewriting. Re-imagining a scene is fun, but time-consuming, and sometimes intimidating, especially when you haven't lived the characters in awhile.

Naturally, now that my characters had room to move, they wanted to boogie! One character, the heroine, is taking more of a backseat (she did this in the first book, too), while a minor character that didn't get a big role until the last third of the book is now a major player. I'm hoping things get back on the old track at least enough so I don't have to rewrite the last 300 pages, but regardless, it's going to be a fun ride--for me, for my editor, and eventually for you!

2011 Domestic Goddess Goals

Last week, I gave you my writing goals, so now for all to see (and thus to give myself pressure to perform) are my domestic goddess goals:

1. I will continue with the Flylady regime of daily laundry, Kelly Missions and daily chores for the kids. This made an incredible difference in how well our home was kept up.

2. I will expand my mission to meals, ensuring that we only get junk food once a week and go out once a week (except perhaps brunch.

3. I will recover my dining room chairs with the help of my mom in Feb.

4. We will get out of debt before Rob retires (April 2012 is the target.)

5. I will teach my children how to do laundry and cook. (They know some, but not all.)

6. I will resume my haidong gumdo lessons and work out every day I'm not at lessons for at least 15 min. (Sundays are days off.) This will include walking the dog, weather permitting.

7. I will pray daily and read daily Scripture.

8. I will get my kids to their clubs, etc. I will help them keep up on grades and homework daily.

Most Important: I will keep writing in its place where it does not interfere with my domestic goddess/supermom duties.

Writing Goals, 2011

This is going to be an interesting year for writing, in part because I have some things going on at home that may sap my creative energy--or may resolve themselves. Also, I have an agent--with a big league agency!--interested in me, and I'm not sure where that will lead. So my goals this year are running in a "IF-THEN" pattern. However, here're the general plans:

1. I need to finish the school planners for 2012-2013. I'm waiting on further instructions, but they're 85 percent done.

2. I will revise Mind Over Matter, the second in the Miscria Trilogy, to submit in March. (Mind Over Mind comes out September 2011 from DragonMoon.)

3. I will write the second Neeta Lyffe book to submit to DamnationBooks bu June. I have the basic idea and flow of events. It will be another fast moving, crazy ride!

4. I will have four virtual book tours: ISIG II, Perfect Ten, Neeta Lyffe, and Mind Over Mind.

5. I will develop my marketing database, then use it! I hired my very good friend, Rebecca Butcher, to do the bulk of it, so I figure this goal is 70 percent done right now.

6. I'll continue to blog at least twice a week. I may add a third day, "Tour Tuesday" to tour friends' books.

7. I will resubmit all my short stories at least twice this year. I have 14-20 left to sell, depending on whether the ones out are rejected and if I can polish some and write more.

8. I will teach at the Catholic Writers Conference Online, the Catholic Writers Conference Live and the MuseOnline Conference.

9. I will write at least one more book--either I will compile my 30-Minute Marketer newsletters into a weekly marketing schedule OR I will finish Discovery OR I will write Gapman, Redcap or Damsel and Knight, depending on what the future holds.

10. I will revive my Dragon's Eye View newsletter. It got away from me this autumn because of stuff at home.

I am going to drop my weekly 30-Minute Marketer newsletter in March. I got so little feedback and few subscribers, that it's not worth keeping up. Likewise, I'm dropping my online classes on my website. It was so frustrating to me to have people sign up and pay then never do any assignments! Maybe in 2012, I'll look for other paying venues for my workshops, but 2011 is going to be busy as it is.

Monday, I'll list my 2011 home goals.

Twilight of the Living Dead

I was on one of my yahoo groups and someone wondered why no one had come up with the perfect marketable mash-up: Vampire romance with zombies. He just had to say that. Here, for your enjoyment, are snippets from "Twilight of the Living Dead":


Beautifica couldn't believe her mom was sending her to Seattle to live with her dad. Was it her fault she died and came back? Her mom kept saying, "They're more open-minded about the 'differently living' there," but she knew better. Still, she tried to act like she didn't resent it. She even wore her favorite shirt on the plane to honor her mother. Fat lot of good that did; Mom kept complaining about he she'd buried her in that shirt...


"So!" Beautifica's dad cleared his throat and tried again. "So, I figure you'll want some independence, so I bought you a car." He handed her the keys.
Beautifica stumped over to the garage, sure she would be disappointed, and opened the door.
It was a hearse. Her dad was so lame....


"Who's that guy?" One of Beautifica's best friends whom she'd met that morning jerked her head toward the other side of the cafeteria, where a disgustingly hot guy was trying to accidentally sit in the sunlight while looking like he was avoiding the windows. He caught her looking and glared. She felt an instant attraction she immediately killed.
Her other new BFF snickered. "The sparkly one? That's Drac Lugosi. They say he's plasmatically inclined, if you know what I mean." the two giggled.
Beautifica sighed. She didn't have any plasma to incline him. Good thing he looks like a jerk. Probably didn't have any brains to speak of, not that she was into brains. She threw a sneer his way and saw him return it. Immediately, that spark of attraction returned.
Great. Were her feelings zombiefied, too?...


In the classic scene, Drac takes Beautifica up a tree. Little does he know that he'd bumped her hand against a branch, and she lost a finger. The date ends badly. They break up and she mopes for a few chapters until the undead haters group goes after her with torches and Drac and his faithful companion...er, friend...,Lupo, save the day.


Later, he'll confess that he's hemoglobin-intolerant, and they'll realize it's true love.

OK. now perhaps I can return to my regularly scheduled life! :)

My Novel's Journey: Update on multiple projects 2

So, it looks like another week (two weeks) where I've been scattered across several projects, but several got finished this time, so I'm feeling good.


Completed:

"Of Slings and Feeling Vexed":  This is a DragonEye, PI short story I wrote for 10Flash's "The End of the World As We Know It" issue.  If you were in the flash fiction workshop at MuseCon, then you saw the first drafts.  The advice I got was terrific, and I fixed it up, and editor KC Ball loved it and made changes to make it even better.  It comes out in February!

"The Mover":  This is a story I brainstormed with my husband, Rob, for Damnation Book's hero anthology, Corrupts Absolutely?, though the characters took it in a different direction than I expected.  Lots of blue collar humor as a moving man get superpowers and realizes that he really isn't cut out for great responsibility after all.  I submitted it on Black Friday instead of shopping--a day better spent, IMHO.

The Damnation Books/Eternal Press Marketing Guide.  This was contracted booklet of marketing tips and ideas, plus examples and templates.  I'm honored that Kim Richards and Sally Christie had confidence in me to ask me to do this.  I'll be following up with classes and chats for the DB/EP authors.

"Valentine's Day Pandamonium":  My husband and I were joking about chasing each other around the old folk's home someday, and inspired this DragonEye story.  Pandarus, a cupid, gets mugged by folks in a retirement home who take his arrows to use on themselves.  Not sure if I'll submit it places or use it in my DragonEye, PI newsletter in March.


In Progress:


I Left My Brains in San Francisco:  I talked to my source at an oil refinery and got the ideas I need (I think) to finish this book.  I am working it out now, and I'm going to go back and thread more subplots in better.  Still aiming to finish this by end of December.  I'll need some critiquers and beta readers!

The Old Man in the Void:  He's still in the void, poor old man, and no one to chase around either!

"Christmas Spirits":  A DragonEye, PI mystery done in serial.  We have raised enough to buy a goat, but I'm hoping we can continue to raise funds to help more impoverished families in third-world nations.  Please check out the story at http://christmasspirits.karinafabian.com

Resolutions!

(This is a busy month for me, so I'm re-running this blog. I think it's one I needed to re-read, anyway. Just FYI, I met my goal of ramping up my efforts and targeting agents and publishers, I did not meet my desire of finding a home for Live and Let Fly. I did find homes for three of the DragonEye, PI, stories, however. Next year, I'm looking for a small press home. Guess DragonEye, PI does not appeal to the big NYC publishers.)

Resolutions!

Oh, bleah! Can you imagine a less original topic for Dec 31? Tell you a secret: I don’t make resolutions. I set goals. Here’s how I do it:

1. I think about where I want to be in the far future, and what I want to be remembered for.
2. I think about the past year—what didn’t work and why, and what did advance me toward my ideal life.
3. I think about what I can do differently (or continue doing) in order to keep advancing.
4. I write those as my goals, assigning them appropriate time frames.
5. I break them down to tasks and deadlines.
6. I get to work.

So, let me give you an example.

1. I would like one day to have my DragonEye, PI books be sharing the spotlight with Discworld and Myth, Inc.
2. This past year, I published Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, got good reviews and regular sales. However, I’ve not been able to sell Live and Let Fly yet, nor did I achieve my goal of writing Gapman! Also, my stories on my website are not selling well, though my newsletter is getting thousands of hits now that I publish it on myebook.com.
3. This next year, I will ramp up my efforts at shopping L&LF, sending out queries more often. I will make some modifications to my newsletter to draw folks to the website and stories. I will consider new venues for selling the short stories.
4.& 5. Deadline to finish Gapman: June 2010. Deadline for shopping L&LF to agents and big traditional publishers: October 2010, after which, I will return to small press. Have a new story written and on the website or being submitted each quarter. I will send out a query a week minimum. I will not wait for a rejection before moving on.

Still not enough for you? Want more information, tips and ideas on making resolutions, setting goals and getting organized? I’m going to post a link or tip every day in January, then have the whole file for download on my website in February.

Working toward making your life better is not a matter of a single night of resolution setting. Take your time, learn, tweak your ideas and build your habits.
Happy New Year!

How many of these classics have I read?

Right now, I'm up to my assets in alligators (and my brain is my best asset, so you can see how deep that is). So I was glad to snag this post for blog fodder:

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Instructions: Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.

If you put this on facebook: Copy this into your NOTES, and put your own answers in. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses! Feel free to add comments too.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 1984--George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch-22 --Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy--Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (All 7 of them!)

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (and Seamonsters?)

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazu Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Merry Christmas!

Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for shining star and angel's song, for infant's cry in lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child. We behold his glory, and are bathed in its radiance.

Be with us as we sing the ironies of Christmas, the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world asunder. We kneel before you shepherds, innkeepers, wisemen. Help us to rise bigger than we are. Amen.

Prayer from Catholic Online

Roundup of Reviews for Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator

First, thanks to everyone who participated in the Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator book tour. I had a lot of fun with the interviews and the articles and enjoyed seeing the responses. Here are some quips from the reviews I've received as a result.



By Caprice Hokstad

This book is so full of comedy, it’s hard to believe there’s room for anything else...you really can suspend disbelief and accept this world where the “shambling undead” have become a frightening menace. Beyond that, the plot really works. There’s lots of action, plenty of drama, and even some romance... This is the brilliance. Karina doesn’t feel the need to knock you over the head with every little joke. She’s put out such a sumptuous buffet that she can afford for you to miss a delectable item or two.

By Kat Heckenbach

"Hell's Kitchen" with heart. Pretty much sums it up :). Neeta's got to whip her students into shape, so they can learn to slice and dice zombies. She's not the heartless terror that Chef What's-his-name is, but she can't afford to be soft when dealing with the undead. I laughed SO hard while reading Neeta Lyffe. But humor is not Karina's only strong point. The book has an actual plot and real characterization--two things that often lack in parody and humor writing.

By Nicole Langan

Fabian shines in her ability to create believable supporting characters. Each participant on the show has a distinctive personality full of their own idiosyncrasies and quirks. It is a difficult enough for an author to mold a strong, multi-faceted protagonist, but Fabian succeeds in bringing an extensive cast to life as authentic individuals, not cliched stereotypes. Fashioning scenes of dialogue with eight people requires a skilled writer, and Fabian delivers with clear, precise conversations.

My favorite line: "Overall, Neeta is to zombies what Buffy is to vampires."

I made a new Buffy! SQUEE!

Questions about Neeta Lyffe, not asked in interviews

How do you pronounce Lyffe? Is it a pun? Yes, it's pronounced Life, as in Need A Life. (Honestly, don't you know me by now?)

That's an...unusual...name. What were your parents thinking? Neeta was names after her maternal grandmother, and like I think happens with some parents, they didn't put the first and last name together until it was too late. She will, however, consider seriously whether hyphenating her name when she marries is good for business or just too silly. (If I write the sequel. No promises.)

How do you become a zombie exterminator? First, you study to become a regular exterminator. You take the tests, pass the background checks, etc. Then you have to pass some preliminary psychological and physical tests. If you make it that far, you get a temporary license to re-kill. Then you apprentice with a regular exterminator.

How do you re-kill something that's already dead? That's why it's re-killing, and not murder. Zombies aren't alive, but they aren't fully dead, either. Brain activity has been restored on a rudimentary level. So there had to be a new classification for taking them out.

Why did Neeta choose this career? It's a family business.

The Zombie Death Extreme Website is up!

OK, dirty little secret time: I played with some formats in Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator in part because I didn't want to write some of the background scenes. Rather than slowing down the story with a lot of background and explanation, for example, I would put up a forum announcement by a fan saying, "Whoa! Check out this article about Neeta's lawsuit! Did her really sue her for $500,000?!" or I could refer to a previous episode of Zombie Death Extreme with only the words, "Goldie's responding well to medication--right?"

But when you have an ambitious publisher with a sense of fun, shortcuts can backfire.

Kim contacted me last week withe the suggestion that we build a website and fake forum with all the reference stuff I'd put in the book. I told her I thought it would be fun, then I went back and realized just how much background stuff I had. By then, however, she'd bought the domain name, set up a strawman, created a forum, and even made a subdomain for Lyffe Undeath Exterminations.

Oh! uh, guess I'd better fill that up then. So I looked at some reality tv show sites and some exterminator business websites and created www.zombiedeathextreme.com.

The Zombie Death Extreme website is full of fun stuff. I didn't put in all the references--I can't afford to hire actors for the video blogs, and haven't gotten to the articles yet--but I do have the characters and all the episode summaries, and a little bit of fun about zombie extermination. There's a forum up, too, and I already have at least one friend willing to play crazed fans (he's multi-tasking) and post for me. Go join in the fun. www.zombiedeathextreme.com.

I'll go back and add stuff later, too. Shortcuts are nice, but sometimes, the long scenic route is fun, too!

Squee! My Sister Poses as Neeta Lyffe!

I was days away from book launch and had no ideas for photos for Neeta Lyffe for my book trailer video. I thought about posing myself, but well, I'm fat. So I decided to call one of the most fit and beautiful women I know--my sister, Regina Koske.

She was thrilled. She vowed to find the biggest, toughest chainsaw she could and make very good use of those cardio-boxing classes she was taking. A few days later, seh sent me 50 photos taken from her iphone by her husband, Chuck. Thought I'd share a few with you:









Here's Neeta meaning business. (Go ahead and guess Gina's actual age. Bet you're off by 10 years.)













She and Chuck had a lot of fun doing some action shots. Chuck even suggested they take the chainsaw to the refinery where he works. I'm thinking "What a great place for a zombie attack!"









This one, of course, made the video. I think I laughed and squealed like a crazed fangirl for 20 minutes over this one. Gina said Chuck was egging her on, "Come on, Babe, give me the look!"

I so love being able to include my family in my creative fun. Glad I have a family willing to play with me! Thanks, Gina!

Neeta Lyffe Zombie Exterminator Book Tour

By the 2040s, the shambling dead have become and international problem. While governments and special interest groups vie for the most environmentally-friendly way to rid the world of zombies, a new breed of exterminator has risen: The Zombie Exterminator. When zombie exterminator Neeta Lyffe gets sued because a zombie she set afire stumbles onto a lawyer's back porch, she needs money, fast. So she agrees to train apprentice exterminators in a reality TV show that makes Survivor look like a game of tag. But that's nothing compared to having to deal with crazy directors, bickering contestants and paparazzi. Can she keep her ratings up, her bills paid and her apprentices alive and still keep her sanity?



Excerpt:
The workout room had a weights set and an elliptical in one corner, but Neeta ignored them. She needed more vigorous exercise than that if she wanted to burn off her emotional funk.

None of the plebes had done the routine she'd just set for herself. It didn't really reflect the reality of zombie movements, either. Although the crew had designed the targets to look much like actual undead, they moved too quickly, changed direction too suddenly, lunged and retreated in ways zombies couldn't imitate. They zigged and zaggged, dropped from the ceiling to zoom back up, flung themselves from the ground to trip the unwary. For once, this wasn't about training.

Neeta steeled herself, found an opening and dove in with a roar. She swung high, tagging the first zombie with the edge of her blade just as it got within her reach.

This was about reflexes,

She jumped over the arm that sprung up in front of her, doing the splits as she brought down her chainsaw to slice the hand off at the wrist.

…about burning aggression,

She spun a full circle, moving the saw in a sine wave. She took one target out at the knees, sliced another sideways across the chest, beheaded a third.

…about moving beyond thought and planning and negotiations with writers and directors and people who cared more for ratings than lives,

She lunged, spun, kicked and swung, her battle cries a perfect accompaniment to the pounding music.

A buzzer sounded, and the lights brightened and steadied. The targets stopped their frenetic motions and presented themselves for her to examine. She dropped the saw where she stood and braced her hands against her knees to catch her breath. Her arms felt like lead. A good feeling. She moved among the grimacing targets, noting the strikes that would have severed limbs, the ones that would have beheaded... When she came to the long-haired one with the pot belly, she gave a feral grin.

She's landed the blade in perfect position to slice Dave's manic smile right off his face.

Want more fun? Check out the Zombie Death Extreme show website!

Check out the Tour!

Dec http://www.lindaandrews.net/id14.html Interview in newsletter
4-Dec http://frederation.wordpress.com/ interview
6-Dec http://www.suhalfwerk.blogspot.com/ Guest post: why write about zombies?
7-Dec http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com Guest Post: what do you do with a zombie novel
8-Dec http://acewriters.com/books interview
8-Dec http://naomi-jay.livejournal.com/ Guest Post : Building Neeta's World
9-Dec http://ysfetsos.blogspot.com/ blog--why zombie fic
10-Dec http://vbt-writersonthemove.blogspot.com Guest post
10-Dec http://snoringscholar.com/ interview
11-Dec http://kbaccellia.livejournal.com/ review
12-Dec www.tmarquitz.com/blog interview
13-Dec http://writersandauthors.blogspot.com feature
14-Dec http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com Character interview
15-Dec http://cfvici.blogspot.com review
17-Dec http://afortnightofmustard.blogspot.com/ Character interview
17-Dec http://catholiconceagain.blogspot.com/ Catholics and Fantasy
18-Dec http://joyce-anthony.blogspot.com/ interview
19-Dec http://kat-findingangel.blogspot.com/ review + interview
19-Dec http://splashdownreviews.blogspot.com review + interview
20-Dec http://tributebooksreviews.blogspot.com/ Review



Order it now: (Print coming soon!)

From the publisher: http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615722723

From Amazon: KINDLE: