Silk & Shadows

Currently working on: Shiny new idea!
Mood: Squawky

October here is the darkening month, heading toward Halloween when spooks and specters and Pixy Stix come out to play. I find Halloween very interesting because on the one hand, it is so child-oriented, with Disney princess costumes and reminders to trick-or-treat with a flashlight so cars don’t squish you on the street — emphasizing safe and fun — while on the other hand, ghastly monster masks hang next to fake blood in capsule size, spray can “for covering larger areas”, and gallon o’ blood, presumably for the buffet table.

Researchers suspect people like to be scared because of the emotional thrill of “surviving” a dangerous encounter. The mingled “happy plus horror” experience is on wild display at Nightmares Fear Factory photo stream.

This haunted house takes pictures of people at the heights (depths?) of their fear. And a surprising number of times, they are smiling. And you get the feeling that all of them are giggling wildly when they finally escape.

Fun and fake fear seem to go together like… um, Halloween candy and running around wildly. Maybe that’s why blood and gore and belly guffaws appeal to me. One of the most fun mixes I’ve seen lately is the new movie Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. The movie takes a classic horror scenario — murderous hillbillies stalking innocent college students — and flips it all around.

I don’t know what my biggest fear is. I mean, I’d be scared if I was audited, and I wouldn’t want to be chased by a grizzly, but I don’t think those are unnatural fears. I like spiders well enough, pitch darkness doesn’t frighten me, and I can speak in public without throwing up (although I do sweat a little). But even though it might be useful to have a personal experience with terror to apply to my writing, I don’t think I want any real fears. I’d rather stick with the fun fear where I can giggle afterward.

Do you have any truly terrible fears? And if you’ve ever experienced anything horrifying, did that change your tolerance for fun fear?

I’m happy to announce that a brand new Dark Forgotten novella is now available for your electronic bookshelf.

I’ve not ventured far into the indie e-wilderness, so this is a new experience for me. Huge kudos to Michele Hauf and Lori Devoti for doing the technical heavy lifting—I cannot claim to have done more than stand by with a writerly air and offer occasional applause.

Yes, I’m lucky to be making this foray in excellent company and, after reading the other entries in the volume, I can guarantee a varied and exciting tour of the vampire PNR genre. No two of these stories are the same! From very dark to highly original to scorching hot, there’s something for every mood:

ENEMY EMBRACE by Patti O’Shea
Nicole Ruiz is a psi tracker, an elite vampire hunter who can shadow her quarry anywhere. Daktan is an executioner assigned by the demon king to eliminate a rogue vampire who’s killing humans. Demons might be as much her enemy as the vampires, but Nicole discovers the rogue is stronger than she expected…

ONE SOUL TO SHARE by Lori Devoti
Mermaid, Sarina Neri, is desperate to regain her sister’s soul. The sea spirit who has it wants a man who can survive in her realm, underwater, in exchange. Fortunately, Sarina has found such a man, vampire Nolan Moore. Unfortunately, Nolan wants the soul for himself.

CRUEL ENCHANTMENT by Michele Hauf
While investigating the vicious werewolf blood games, vampire Revin Parker struggles with his attraction to the faery informant, Sabrina Kriss. Six months earlier she cursed him with an addiction to faery dust. Can they risk the desire that demands they fall in love with the one who could become their worst nightmare?

HIDDEN by Sharon Ashwood
Rafe returns to the Devries werewolf pack to rescue his people from a scheming fey beauty. Pitting his will against her wits, he plans to seduce his way free of the ice queen’s trap. But surrender means death for the fey, and little does Rafe know that he’s gambling with more than hearts…

In retrospect, this book is an ideal place for Hidden. The story does not fit into the usual Dark Forgotten canon, although Darak from Frostbound puts in an appearance. It doesn’t take place in Fairview. It’s a snapshot of another community in the foothills of the Rockies (an all-werewolf ranching community) with characters I couldn’t fit into one of my usual books.

However, it is one of my stories so you’ll see a very mismatched couple trying to figure each other out under extremely bizarre conditions. Eventually sparks ignite in a good way, but only after severe property damage. Did I mention it was one of my books? I looked back and I’m not sure any of my romances go by without at least one major structure either burning down, blowing up, or getting eaten by demons. But there is sex, so not all the explosions require full body armour.

Hope you enjoy!

We’ve had a couple winners on Silk And Shadows lately with a little help from Random.org. Congrats to tmaranville who, as a subscriber to the Silk And Shadows, won a prize pack of books from Erin Kellison, Laurie London and Elisabeth Naughton. And congrats also to the winner of last week’s giveaway of Erin Kellison’s SHADOW BOUND, Denise Quiroz. Thanks for commenting!

Currently working on: Plotting a new story
Mood: Wildly distracted by shiny things

“TV is gooder than books.”
–One of my favorite bumper stickers of all time

Last week we talked about our summer reading, so I thought — since autumn is the return of new shows on TV — I’d see what’s on the tube. I don’t watch a lot of television because all of my favorite shows* get canceled. You can still make me cry just by whispering “Firefly” in my general direction. But every fall, I peruse the new and returning shows to see if there’s anything of interest. You know, for something to watch while I’m reading. Oh, admit it, you do that too.

(*Since I don’t have cable, I’m limited to network TV or shows that I can pick up later on my computer. )

Terra Nova

Anything that promises even hints of paranormal, fantasy or science fiction catches my attention. So when I heard about this show — time travel, mysterious etchings, dinosaurs! — I knew I’d check it out. My first impression: Where’s the love story?!

I know, I know, not every story needs a romance in it. But I think you’ll agree that every story is BETTER with a romance in it Actually, the cast in general is sadly lacking in hot males. I know, I know, not every story needs a hot guy in it. But I think you’ll agree that every story is BETTER with a hot guy in it I thought Hollywood understood this. Very strange.

Reviewers have sort of grumbled about the Land of the Lost/Jurassic Park/Lost overtones, but I think the show has some promise. They set up some interesting questions anyway.

Which means they will probably get canceled. Fox has a history of dabbling in sci-fi flavored stories, only to ax them in the first season, so maybe I won’t get invested until I know they are going to stick around.

House

Of course this is a long-running show that doesn’t need my help, but to be honest I had grown a little tired of its disease-of-the-week focus and stopped watching. Until last year when I heard that the sexual tension with the bad doctor was going to be resolved (with at least a HFN — or happy for now — since a HEA — happily ever after — seemed out of character; or maybe it was a HFH — happy for House).

Most series — television or book form — know that resolving the sexual tension can be the death of the chemistry between the leads. But House is such a tortured hero, I knew that consummating the relationship would be even harder for him than dancing around it. And sadly for his heart, torturing the hero makes such a great story.

Even though the love story came to a crashing end in last year’s season finale (if you watched it, you know I’m being funny when I say crashing) I’m eager to see what — if anything — the writers do to pick up that thread, especially when the love interest character is not coming back to the show. Will the bad doctor find a new love? How crazy will she have to be?

Revenge

I don’t even know why I watched the pilot of this new show. I think somebody mentioned it on Twitter and said the characters seemed interesting. So I found a rerun on Hulu. And I think this heroine could be House’s new girlfriend!

She’s one of the heroines I like: almost as tortured as a hero and not shy about torturing everyone around her too. See why she’d be so good with House?

But I guess I really want my paranormal story line AND my tortured hero AND my kick-ass heroine all in ONE story.

And for that, I read a paranormal romance

So are you watching anything that I’m missing?

I work full time, and don’t really get a summer, but I did actually get a lot of reading done these past few months!

For starters, like Sharon (see below), I read Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning.

Not just Shadowfever, but I gobbled down all five books in the Fever Series in an insane, needy rush. I’d loved Moning’s Highlander books, but when I heard this one was not a romance, for some reason I just didn’t pick up the series. But HELLO, it was a romance, and what a deep, beautiful and complex romance it was. Just the sort I like. Imperfect. Uncertain. Dangerous. I started off mildly engaged with the first book, and by the fifth I was rabidly reading from page to page, and astounded by Moning’s storytelling abilities. I loved this series.

Another great read I’d highly recommend is Elle Jasper’s vampire series that began with AFTERLIGHT. June saw the release of Book 2, EVERDARK. I love the tattooed heroine, Riley Poe, and uber sexy Eli, her vampire love interest! Another great “character” is the city of Savannah itself. And no, I’m not partial to this series just because Elle is my critique partner.

Another novel I really enjoyed was THE RESTORER, the first in Amanda Stevens’ Graveyard Queen Series.

I’ve loved her previous spooky books, such as THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINTS, and this book about a graveyard restorer, does not disappoint! It’s perfect for October Halloween reading! This series was recently optioned for a television series, I believe! It’s a great concept, and very well written!

Happy reading all! Be sure to let us know what you’ve been reading and give us any recommendations you may have!