I'm a guest on Silvia Violet's Blog

Hello All,

Today I am a guest on Silvia Violet's blog.   I'd like to thank her for being such a gracious host.   Please come on over and pay a visit

Silvia Violet's blog

Thank you

Book sale

Hello everyone,

To celebrate my book being published by Romance First Publishing,  "Love on the East End" is on sale. You get 25% off.   Please go here to find out more   Romance First Publishing

thank you

Welcome Guest Blogger Rob LaPointe

Hello everyone,

Today I am privileged to have author Rob LaPointe as my guest. He's going to answer a few questions about himself.

1- How long have you been writing?

Writing or writing reasonably well?  Wink.  Probably since the early 80s.

2- What made you decide to put yourself out there to publish.?"

The first story I sold was to Aboriginal Science Fiction Magazine.  It was accepted upon submission, with no edits.  I was thrilled to finally be a "real" writer.  The terms were "payment upon publishing," but it took me close to, I think, two years to finally get a check.  I actually had to send a demand letter.  So if your question is what made me decide to publish as in self-publish online, that's my answer.

3- What is your favorite genre to write in?

Speculative fiction.  For me, the whole point of writing is "what if."  I love to take the ball and run with it . . . but I feel like I'm only an honest writer as long as I can keep the reader running with it too.

4-What are you working on now?

I've been a martial artists since about 1973.  I got fired up about it watching the original Kung Fu TV show with David Carradine (shame about that whole auto-erotic thing!  I always thought he was a man to emulate, um, right up until that).  Anyway, back on topic, I'm working on a satire about a guy running a martial arts school and all the, what's the right word, interesting, people he meets.  Believe me, I've met them.

5-Favorite character from one of your books?

There are two.  The first is based on reality.  The second is pure fiction.  I like them both, but I deeply admire the first.

The first is the main character of Shirabe, the short story I sold to Aboriginal.  He's based on my father-in-law, who is Japanese.  My father-in-law survived the fire bombing of Tokyo when he was a small boy.  During the bombing, as he was running to a bomb shelter, there was a much younger child who had been separated from his family.  The child was crying in the street as everyone ran past him.  My father-in-law ran back and picked him up and took him to the bomb shelter.  When the boy's mother found him she was so grateful she couldn't speak to say thank you.  That tale from the war deeply impressed me and I was compelled to write about it.  I think my father-in-law showed more courage as a six year old than most of us are ever called upon to show as adults.

The second is Descreo.  He's a character in my novel Bow to the Moon.  He's blasted into space on a mission to er, pass on his genes, but conditions beyond his control cause him to crash land on a planet different from his destination.  Let's just say he stays on task.

Blurb:

Five space faring races have tried to colonize the planet Avora. All have failed and watched as their settlements reverted to savagery. Only the native Xha remain unaffected, their culture ancient and unchanged beyond memory.
Now one man finds himself among a new colony of clones. He has no name and no memory. All he knows is that someone is trying to kill him. As he searches for answers, the Xha begin their great migration, and the world Avora seems on the brink of change and wonder, but if he is to witness it, he must survive the threat to his life.

Excerpts:

1st Excerpt from Bow to the Moon:

They went further, but the buildings showed no variety.  Omon turned the dray around, taking them into Westmont where they parked in front of Judiciary Square.  The statue was as they had left it.  The figure of the Primate had been sheared from the knees up, charred pieces of marble were strewn about the plaza.

“It can be repaired,” said March confidently.

“Of course it can, by a skilled craftsman.”

“No, I mean by the drones.  They have done remarkable work on the city, one statue would be a small matter for them.”

“A small matter which they will refuse to do,” said Omon. 

March gave Omon a skeptical look.  “Have you ever tried to reassign them?”

“The drones are difficult to deal with.  They’re programmed to use human speech and human modes of expression, in an attempt at more natural interface with human controllers.  The effect is unfortunate.  I find them spleenish and have spent a year avoiding them.”

2nd Excerpt from Bow to the Moon:

The Sudd are an old race.  They have had time to mature, sour into over-ripeness, convulse through several reformations, and settle at last into an indolent sophistication of no ordinary attainment.  Their astronomics are coeval with their mystic perceptions.  They have developed an elaborate science in conquering the stars, then made, some would say, the final exploration by turning that science inward.

I visited their mausoleum on Uytron III.  The halls were pervaded with an austral despair that haunts me still.  Midnight arrases hung from towering pedestals whereon perched elder gods of worlds visited then forgotten.  Spires of cinnabar and onyx rose ever into a nocturne vault.  Devices of alien wizardry were stacked against the walls, spying us from the shadows.  Alembics and sistrums of uncouth usage called silently, and in the beckoning gloom I sensed the heave and sink of ancient behemoths.

I was unsettled by what I saw, but my hosts only regarded me with flat, parchment eyes, all the while smoking their small pipes.

Rob is also a professional martial arts instructor, so when you visit his site don't forget to get yourself a copy of his FREE self-defense ebook.  Home page, top left.

Buy Link: http://www.lapointebooks.com/BowtotheMoon.html

Website:  http://www.lapointebooks.com/index.html

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4862219.Rob_LaPointe

Mentioned in Jan's Munaty's cooking mag

I was featured in Dec's issue but she mentions me again (along with other authors she featured in 2011)
this is wonderful magazine for anyone who cooks (or who might like to try to)

http://munatycooking.blogspot.com/p/munatycooking-magazine.html

Here was my issue in Dec

http://lilysawyerbooks.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-am-featured-in-munaty-cooking-mag.html

Flash fiction

 Hello all,

Some changes have happened with Silver Flash stories.  We are no longer allowed to use the Silver Flash name or the badge.  Our group is going through a transition, picking up a new name and a new badge.  So for this week I am calling my story a flash fiction.  But it's the same characters.  I just love Ben and Tom.    

Our prompts were: 

It's almost time to ring in 2012! This will be our first prompt for the new year, and these come to us courtesy of our Prompt Diva West Thornhill:

“Damn, it’s cold.” or “Whoever said winter was wonderful was off their fucking rocker.”

As alternative prompts, you may use:

moonstone, goggles, retort

or

"If you don't like it, change it"

or

write a story that featurest a new schoolteacher or schoolmarm or professor - just someone involved in education

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

“Damn, it’s cold.”

Tom rolled his eyes. You’d think a man like Ben would be used to the winters in Lancaster Pennsylvania by now.

“Hello to you too, sweetheart.”  Tom put the book he’d been reading facedown on the coffee table.  He’d been sitting by their gas fireplace, enjoying a good read, when his partner returned from grocery shopping.  “Here, let me help you with those.”  He relieved his kvetching partner of his shopping bags and deposited them on the kitchen counter.

“I’m sorry, Tom, it’s just I wasn’t ready for it to turn this cold. Remember all that fifty degree weather we’ve been enjoying for the past two months? “

“I know, baby, but it’s winter.  How long did you expect the bitter temps to stay away?”    Tom helped put up the milk, butter, and cheese in the fridge while Ben was putting away the canned goods in the cupboards.

“I forgot the toilet paper in the car.” 

“I can get it for you,” he offered. 

“No, thanks, there’s no reason for both of us to get cold.  I’ll be back in a minute.”

Tom busied himself putting the rest of the groceries away.   He noticed Ben had been gone an awfully long time.  He looked out the front window that faced their driveway.  Ben was carrying a big package of toilet paper; their driveway was covered in patches of ice.   Tom had forgoten to treat the concrete with icy melt before he got all comfortable on the couch.    Ben almost made it back inside when he tripped and fell onto his backside.   Tom quickly ran out to help him. 

“Ben?”  He took the toilet paper out of Ben’s hands and threw it onto their porch, then helped Ben up. Together, they gingerly made their way back into the warm house.

He helped Ben out of his wet coat.

“Why don’t you get out of those wet clothes and I’ll make us some hot chocolate?”

Ben silently trudged towards their bedroom, the heavy footfalls a testament to his dark mood.

He came back dressed in grey sweatpants and a green sweater—the one Tom had recently given him for a Christmas present.   He didn’t realize when he gave it to him how turned on he’d be when Ben wore it.  It really brought out the color in his eyes. 

Ben plopped down on the couch, picked up one of the mugs that sat on the coffee table, and took a sip of the hot chocolate treat.  Tom joined him.

“Whoever said winter was wonderful was off their fucking rocker.”

“Well, look at it this way. Spring will be here in a few months.”

“You’re not helping, Tom.” Ben’s sour mood filled the room like a toxic odor.

“Well, how about this?” Tom gave Ben an envelope he’d retrieved from a drawer in the kitchen.

“What’s this?”

“I was going to give this to you next month, but I think you need it now.  Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Tom tried to contain his excitement as he watched Ben open the flap.

“Oh my goodness!” He looked at the envelope’s contents. “We’re going to Hawaii?”

“Is that warm enough for you?”

“Oh baby!” Ben smothered him with kisses. “I’m sorry for being such a sour puss.  I’m just not a winter person.”

“It’s okay, you’re my sour puss. And I love you.”

“Love you too.”  Their kisses became more passionate.

“Did I tell you how seeing you in this sweater turns me on?”  

“It’s my favorite. Someone very special gave it to me.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to take it off.”

“No, I don’t mind. I’m going to be doing some unwrapping of my own.”  Ben took off Tom’s blue sweatshirt, the one that had the PA Fire Dept emblem on it.

Christmas might have been over but for them the ‘fun’ of unwrapping their own gifts to each other was just beginning.

tbc

my fellow story tellers:

Mathilde Watson  

AJ Jarrett 

Victoria Blisse

Julie Lynn Hayes

Somebody to Love is best seller

Hello all.  I am so excited about my book, "Somebody to Love"  making the #1 best sellers list on Secret Cravings

http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9

http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&products_id=87

Six Sentence Sunday

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year!    I have been busy the past few weeks so I couldn't participate in this event.   I'd like to start off the new year with my "Love on the East End"  story.   I am currently working on a story that I hope to get published in a few months.   I'm keeping my fingers crossed.   Until then please enjoy my current books.   If you like "Love on the East End"  please click on the buy links on the right.  

To check out other author's Six Sentence Sunday posts please go here
http://sixsunday.com/

Gabriel took an apple pie out of the fridge and some chocolate ice cream out of the freezer and they each took a serving and decided to enjoy dessert and wine in the cozy living room.  Gabriel stopped long enough to light the gas fireplace while William found himself a spot on the sofa.

“Mm, this is good.” William said between bites of ice cream and pie.

“It’s even better with the company I have with me now.”