What’s with the new photo?
Category: Writing and Poetry

After nearly 660 years, Adin Swift is dreaming again.

As a vampire, he slept like the dead. Now that he's reverted to mortality, vivid dreams surface every night to torment him. And the most disturbing ones involve his best friend, Jackson Spey.

It was their "otherness" that drew them together ten years earlier—two extraordinary men living outside the mainstream, one a bright and beautiful vampire, one a cynical and handsome wizard. Their unique bond took on more dimensions than either was willing to acknowledge…until now.

Realizing he can no longer ignore the desire that's been simmering for a decade, Adin must face the heart-wrenching fact he's in love with two people: the woman to whom he's committed and the man he can't seem to live without. Two confrontations ensue over the course of one explosive weekend, and they will forever alter three people's lives…

* * * * *

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Who They Look Like
Category: Writing and Poetry

Well, my people are finally getting it together. Angelina Funmaker has put up a blog at my MySpace character page. It was spurred by a comment Celia Quill made in Obsessed, soon to be released.

Celia thinks Jackson Spey looks like a particular actor.  Angelina investigated this claim and logged in with her opinion.  She also found a picture of a man who, she claims, could be Adin Swift's "twin".  

Now, I happen to know what both these men look like.  As far as I'm concerned, the jury's still out on the Jackson lookalike.  But Angelina's claim about Adin is spot-on.  That man (well, in that particular picture, anyway) looks exactly like him!   

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ASPIRING AUTHORS - TAKE HEED !
Current mood: cynical
Category: Writing and Poetry

If you haven't yet had your work published but desperately want to--and I assume that includes just about every writer who's ever lived--here's the first of many things you must do:  RESEARCH THE PUBLISHERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING!

I can't stress this strongly enough.  Many, many, many blogs, loops, and forums exist for the purpose of providing updated industry news.  You don't just need to know about submission requirements.  Uh-uh, no siree.  You need to know other things before you even bother checking the submssion requirements.  These include but are not limited to:

* how long the publisher has been in business

* how its contract is written and what it means

* what its reputation is within the industry

* how it treats its authors.  

There are some REAL BIG schmuckeroos willing to put out your books.  This prospect may excite you at first, but when you realize, somewhere down the road, that you're getting the royal fuck-over, you ain't gonna be so thrilled.  Sad to say, the owners of many e-pubs, in particular, have exhibited reprehensible behavior in the past couple of years.  And that behavior has had a profoundly negative impact on all too many trusting authors. 

So what's the cause of this shitty behavior?  Greed?  Egotism?  Megalomania?  Balls-out ineptitude?  Actually, the cause is irrelevant.  It's the outcome that matters.  So, to ensure that you don't become ground up in the wheels of a publisher lacking in professionalism or integrity or both, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

(Pssst . . . start by avoiding New Concepts Publishing.  Check this item at Dear Author for more info.) 

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Of Battles and One-Night Stands
Current mood: amused
Category: Writing and Poetry

So I'm taking a break at my local watering hole, hangin' with my BMF, Jerry, when the owners' son comes up to me.  (I should explain that this is a "bar & grill"--fantabulous greasy burgers, by the way--and such establishments in my part of the world are like community centers.  Everybody knows everybody . . . and everybody's business.) 

Okay, so I'm yacking with Jerr, and 16-year-old Steven comes up to me.  Steven works there in the summer because Mom and Dad make him.  One of his buds recently turned him on to the Eragon novels, so now he's all het up about dragon fantasy.  And, because he's sixteen, he's even more het up about sex.

The kid proceeds to tell me, with good-natured defiance, "Hey, if you won't let me read your books, my mom's gonna buy 'em for me and I'll read 'em anyway."  (He was referring to my Galdeshian fantasy series, Wing and Tongue, Cauldron of Keridwen, and the upcoming Prince of Glacier Glas.)

Steven and I have had this discussion before.  I again told him these books were not appropriate for his age group.  But every time I make this point, it whets his appetite even more.  I realized I had to try a different approach; emphasizing the eroticism was clearly encouraging him rather than deterring him.  Duh.

I explained that one of the reasons erotic romance is not for teenage boys is the romance factor.  "You know," I said, "the primary audience for these books is adult women.  The books are love stories more than anything else.  Their emphasis is on a developing central relationship."

This gave Steven pause.  He started looking a bit crestfallen, so I knew I'd finally found the right tack. But he was still holding out hope for lots of blood 'n' guts and boinkety-boink.  I told him the books were short on blood 'n' guts.  His disappointment deepened, although he clung to the prospect of hot encounters rendered in delicious detail.

"Okay," I said, "here's something else you need to be aware of.  A couple of these books have men getting very friendly with other men."

His eyes popped. "You mean--"

"Yes. In that way."

Steven's reaction was multifaceted--a furious blush; a self-conscious laugh; a jump back, palm held out as if to ward off the mere mention of such activities.

"Whoa," said he. "I thought there'd be, like, lots of battles and one-night stands."

I didn't think Jerry and I would ever stop laughing.  But at least I derailed one kid's hormone-driven interest in erotic romance.

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Dishing Up Some Manlove and Writing Advice
Category: Writing and Poetry

Update, updates, hooray for updates!

* Obsessed, the sexually explicit and pretty damned emotional man-on-man sequel to Plagued and Tormented, will be released July 11 by Changeling Press.

* I'm about to wrap up Looking for Some Touch, Book I of my new urban fantasy series, Utopia X.  In it, hero Pablo Creed is a bisexual whore and amateur poet in the Utopian Metroplex of Regenerie.  A sadistic client drives Pablo into the Undercity in search of new employment . . . where the young man gets more than he bargained for.  (This rapidly expanding, magical, futuristic world will be coming soon, I hope, to a publisher near you.)

* Prince of Glacier Glas, the follow-up fantasy to Wing and Tongue and Cauldron of Keridwen, will soon be out of edits and assigned a release date.  All are Ellora's Cave titles.

* On my blog, I've just posted a kind of show-and-tell lesson on how not to write dialogue for erotic fiction.

* In other news, a chigger bite has made one of my toes very unhappy.  Good thing I don't have to keyboard with my feet.

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How young is TOO young?
Current mood: exanimate
Category: Writing and Poetry

Liberation has finally been liberated from the Ellora's Cave publication queue and is now available in ebook format.  It's part of EC's "Oh Yum!" (older woman/younger man) series and, let me tell ya, the ladies and boy-toys in these books hold back nothing.  Never fear, though; love always rises above the great sex--honest, it does--and, in the end, prevails.  (And the heroes are NOT "too young"!  We don't go there. That man on my cover ain't no emo.)

You know what they do to links here at NotMySpace, but I do have a little discussion about the series going on at Blogger and I posted a big, fat, juicy excerpt at The Hussies Club Yahoo group.  Don't read it if you have delicate sensibilities.  You can also find a blurb and excerpt over at Ellora's Cave, where this book is currently on the main page.

In other news, Changeling Press will definitely be publishing Obsessed, the sequel to Plagued and Tormented. It's the most character-driven and emotionally intense story of the three and, for that reason and more, will not be to everyone's liking.  But what is to everyone's liking?

From the "How many more ways can I screw myself?" department comes this bulletin: I'm now writing a futuristic m-m-m-m urban fantasy just to give my contemporary m-m urban fantasy some company on the WIP shelf.  Confusing?  Yup . . . as a juggling act. 

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Read about my books, including full chapters, at Live Journal.
Category: Writing and Poetry

Live Journal.  Whoa.  Never thought I'd go there.  But in an attempt to have a complete entry for each of my available titles--and that means cover, buy link, blurb, and full-chapter excerpt--I've taken the plunge.  No blab, just books.  I've only done two so far, but I'll keep posting as time permits.  Might even offer some sneak peeks at works in progress.

What's even better: if you click on those buy links, you'll more often than not get a whole new excerpt.  That's a good amount of readin'! 

Now, let's see if MySpace respects this link.  

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The Fantasy of Cover Art
Current mood: confused
Category: Writing and Poetry

Okay, there's this book.

And then there's this book.

Two entirely different covers that seem to have made two entirely different first impressions on readers.  (I had no control over the second, by the way, since the book is part of a "themed series".)  So what's the issue, you ask?  (Or maybe not, but I'll pretend you did.)

In terms of content, or what lies beneath the covers, the two stories are very closely related.  They take place in the same world and share some of the same characters...as well as dragons.  Wing and Tongue came first.  Readers have loved it.  I suspect its luminous, romantic, and subtly sexy cover has had a lot to do with that.  Cauldron of Keridwen came second.  And readers seem to be shunning it.

Same voice.  Same world.  Same level of eroticism.  Even more drama.  And a closer look at the Farfields dragons, which are interesting and intelligent creatures.  So, how to account for these very different receptions by readers?  Or, should I say, perceptions? 

It has to be the covers, since the novellas themselves are part of the same series.  I'll admit, the second cover just doesn't have the visual appeal of the first.  It glowers rather than glows; it doesn't convey the fantasy setting and feel of the tale.  The model, striking as he is, isn't striking in the right way--he looks vaguely sinister and even threatening.  In other words, this is not a cover for a romantic fantasy.  It doesn't invite the imagination to take flight.

A short time ago, I would've scoffed at the idea that cover art could make or break a book.  I suppose that's because I've always been focused on how a book is written, not displayed.  Then I started seeing readers asserting, on blogs, that they'd never consider buying a book by this-or-that publisher because this-or-that publisher has horrid cover art.  My reaction was, WTF?  How can you possibly think a picture has anything to do with the writing?

My incredulity aside, it could very well be the case that readers do feel that way.  So here's a heads-up.  The third book in this cycle, Prince of Glacier Glas, is a full novel and the best story of the three.  I will try my damnedest to ensure it gets the cover it deserves.  But even if it's the most breathtakingly gorgeous cover ever conceived by man or woman, please--for the sake of all writers--try to give more consideration to what lies beneath! 

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WICKED GENTLEMEN by Ginn Hale
Category: Writing and Poetry

If you'd like to read my take on this extraordinary novel, please go to my wicked blog (kzsnow dot blogspot dot com, with the usual http:// intro). I don't diss the book -- that's nearly impossible -- but I do raise questions other reviewers haven't raised. 

4:29 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Fairy tales can come true.
Category: Writing and Poetry

All That Is Right, a magical fairy-tale romance, will soon be released by MojoCastle Press.  It's quite different from my other paranormals.  And again, I've been blessed with a cover that perfectly complements the story.

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If I were an e-publisher . . .
Category: Writing and Poetry

It's never going to happen, let me tell ya.  This is just a bit of armchair quarterbacking.  But here's what I would do, idealist that I am, if I were an e-publisher.  (And herein are also many of the reasons I wouldn't and couldn't launch my own company.  I'm painfully aware of my own limitations.)

1.) Make sure I had enough start-up capital.

2.) Make sure I had enough savvy, devoted, hardworking, straight-shooting staff members before I opened my cyber doors.  The "savvy" part is particularly important.  It relates to financial management, editorial capability, market awareness, promotional smarts and connections, cover artistry, website design and maintenance, and probably a host of other factors.  Based on the death rate among e-pubs, it's clear that one weak link in this chain of special talents can lead to a big, resonating SNAP.

3.) Know my target market from the jump.  Switching publishing philosophy and emphasis well into the game doesn't exactly inspire author or reader confidence. 

4.) Set standards and stick to them. The e-book market is a buyer's market. It's become glutted with titles. As a result, discerning readers as well as discerning reviewers are quick to abandon publishers who dish up crap. And far too many do. So I would carefully sift and winnow for quality and originality rather than gobble up any and every submission that seemed even marginally appropriate. Even the best editor can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. The stink will remain.

5.) Treat authors and staff with the utmost respect and forthrightness.  Ongoing communication marked by honesty tempered with sensitivity--and, preferably, some humor--is essential.  (Hell, this is the primary component of all successful human interaction.)

Frankly, I don't understand why these practices seem so haphazardly embraced within the e-publishing community.  Does egotism get in the way?  A more-is-never-enough kind of greed?  Sometimes, enthusiasm likely outstrips vision, and that's probably the most easily forgiven error.  In any case, each time a company folds or authors get shafted or another piss-poor excuse for readable fiction appears, I just have to shake my head in bewilderment.        

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Where have all the reviewers gone?
Current mood: curious
Category: Writing and Poetry

I started out as an e-pubbed author maybe four years ago, give or take. Even though my fairly traditional romances were nonerotic by today's standards, and even though they were put out by a very small e-pub, I invariably got three to five reviews for each title.  Recently, however, it seems my much more "visible" (in terms of publisher size) releases have pretty much been ignored.

Yeah, okay, I know this sounds like a waa-waa kind of post, but it isn't. I'm genuinely curious. Why is it reviewers gobble up some books, landing those titles five or more reviews each, and ignore other offerings by the same company?  Is it a matter of author name recognition? Pursuing books that are part of a series? Looking for the really, really hot stuff and/or cool covers?  Is the reason that the market is so glutted with romance offerings that there aren't enough reviewers to go around? Or are some authors perceived as "not worthy" to read?

Feel free to jump in, review site administrators.  Inquiring minds want to know!

(By the way, LOVE YOU, reviewers who have found me! (You know who you are.) Many thanks for your attention and appreciation!  I'd provide links to your sites, but MySpace would surely disable them . . . the sob's.    

7:03 AM - 3 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Spreading the Joy of Discovery
Current mood: voluminous
Category: Writing and Poetry

Don’t know about the rest of you, but when I come across a book that really rocks my world, or even a writer who shows great promise through his or her unique voice and skill, I start crowing. 

This doesn’t often happen.  It seems most of the fiction I come across is either so strenuously "literary" it ends up boring me snotless or so categoryish and workmanlike that it’s virtually interchangeable with most other titles in its genre or subgenre.  (That’s not to say it’s bad; in fact, much popular fic is generally well-written and entertaining.  Which is exactly what it’s supposed to be.  On the other hand, some of it is pretty dreadful.)

For example, I’ve been trying like hell to get involved in Lara Adrian’s Kiss of Midnight.  This is not a dreadful read.  Ms. Adrian is a very, very good writer.  Stylistically, she’s definitely a cut above most in the paranormal romance pack.  But the book just started out with a meh for me.  I immediately despised the heroine’s shimmyshimmykokobop friends, who seemed like a bunch of brainless high schoolers and sure as shit made me question her maturity level.  The next big hurdle was the secret-mark-behind-the-ear business.  As soon as I read the phrase Breed Mate, I groaned--yes, I actually did--and wondered for the hundredth time why this now grindingly derivative trope is still in play.  The only sex scene I’ve thus far come across was okay, but no more spayshul than what good, steamy e-books offer.

So anyway, I guess I’ve just had a hankering lately for something out of the ordinary.  And I found it in a writer named Ginn Hale and her book Wicked Gentlemen and her publisher, Blind Eye Books.  Sorry I can’t provide a link, but you know what THAT crap is all about. (Thank you, It’s Not Really MySpace.)

Just look it up and read the posted excerpt.  I dare you not to be hooked.

(BTW, did you ever notice that most of the "moods" listed here don’t even remotely qualify as moods?  Who dreamt this list up?  The same nimrod who hates links?)

DON’T FORGET ABOUT MY EVIL BLOG.    

8:49 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

A Word About Private Profiles

I have several friend requests piled up from people who have their profiles set to "private". Believe me, I’m not dissing you!  It’s just that my personal experience with people who play it close to the vest on MySpace makes me wary of this option. 

In a nutshell, the nature of my experience is this: private profiles to me are indicative of secrecy.  I’ve seen some real sleazebags who are determined to hide their sleaziness by restricting access to their pages.  That explanation clearly doesn’t encompass all motives for wanting privacy, but it happens to be the only one with which I’m familiar.  So please excuse me if I’m wrong about you, in particular. My attitude has just been colored by some rather shady, unsavory people.   

6:19 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Featured Author at The Romance Studio
Current mood: inquisitive
Category: Writing and Poetry

Come on over to The Romance Studio ~ Blue (that’s their erotic romance branch) to read a feature about my recent Ellora’s Cave release, Cauldron of Keridwen, and an interview with yours truly.  TRS is, as you may or may not know, one of the premier sites serving the romance-fiction community (readers and writers alike).

Unfortunately, you’ll have to find it on your own, because MySpace keeps disabling links!  Which reminds me...considering how often this happens around here, please keep checking in at my much more user- friendly

 BLOG. 

Funny thing about interviews:  Because each one includes a different group of questions, little by little they start peeling away an author’s "outer layers" and exposing her core.  It would be a fascinating exercise to track every interview a writer does and see what, collectively, those answers say about her.  Hmmm.    

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