Of Brush Fires and Distractions While Writing

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So my week hasn’t exactly been normal, starting on Tuesday right before lunchtime when my son-in-law had to grab the baby and the cat and literally drive out of their apartment complex parking lot as fire was burning down the hillside above. (Sometimes the mandatory evacuation orders don’t arrive until a few hours after you needed to be OUT, so stay aware if you live in a brush fire zone!).  My daughter and her family sheltered here all week in my apartment and we did our best to make it as stress-free as we could, all the while wondering what the fire was doing. 0% contained for two days…fortunately the huge winds forecast for two nights ago never did materialize in our vicinity and the wonderful firefighters got a handle on the fire. I’m always supremely grateful to the men and women of the various fire departments involved when these brush fires start up. (Well grateful to them anytime, of course but especially during the grueling fire ‘season.’) Our little drama has a happy ending – the mandatory evacuation order was lifted today, the apartment complex didn’t burn and now they are back at home.

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The baby was resilient, as babies are, although plainly puzzled by various things, including two ‘new kitties’ (mine) who did not wish to be petted…the lack of his crib, his toys….

I got no writing done. Too much else needed doing! I did manage to keep my commitments on blogs and other activities but my hero and heroine of the next book are stuck in limbo. (I did have a new release on Monday – details below – a new series starter!).

In general, I prefer to write in silence, at my desk, with sleeping cats strategically located nearby. I could never write in a coffee shop or other public place. I like to sink into my own zone, be in the flow and just write….I can block out distractions, but I’d rather not have them there to begin with! When I was younger I used to write to a soundtrack, nothing particular, just an endless mixtape of my favorite songs, but starting a few years ago I found that was too distracting.

The blurb for the new book, Aydarr (A Badari Warriors SciFi Romance Novel): Sectors New Allies Series Book 1:

Jill Garrison, a maintenance tech at the Sectors Amarcae 7 colony, goes to sleep one night as usual only to wake up in her nightgown stranded in the middle of a forest on an unknown world. There’s no time to think as she’s stalked by carnivorous predators and rescued by genetically engineered warriors calling themselves the Badari. Turns out they and she, along with her whole colony, are now prisoners of the Khagrish, a ruthless race of alien scientists. Working for enemies of the Sectors, the Khagrish have created the Badari to be super soldiers.

Aydarr, the Badari alpha, isn’t sure he can trust Jill but his attraction to her is undeniable. He impulsively claims her as his mate to prevent her death at the hands of the Khagrish.

Can he continue to protect her from the experiments already underway?  Will his claiming her put his pack in jeopardy from their alien masters?

As Jill searches for a way to rescue her fellow humans and get them all to safety, she finds herself falling for Aydarr, despite the secrets he’s keeping. She has a few of her own.

The situation becomes dire when Aydarr and his pack are sent offplanet on a mission, leaving Jill unprotected, prey for the senior scientist. Can she escape the experiments he has in mind for her? Will she be able to thwart the Khagrish plans and liberate humans and Badari alike? How will she and Aydarr reunite?

A quick excerpt as the novel begins:

Why am I lying face down on the wet grass in the rain?

Jill rolled over, putting a hand to her forehead in an attempt to quell a ferocious headache. Opening her eyes gingerly, she blinked at the vividly colored pink, purple and blue leaves on the tree above her, which certainly had never grown on Amarcae 7. She’d been all around her home colony on various repair jobs, and nothing there had riotous leaves in these colors, much less with spikes at the tips. As she watched, one of the leaves snapped into a tight roll to capture a slow moving insect.

“Thank the Lords of Space I’m too big a bite.” Wary, nauseous, she sat up, swaying a bit, and examined her unfamiliar surroundings. She was in the midst of an old growth forest, with other forms of vegetation besides the carnivorous trees but nothing recognizable.

A loud roar in the distance gave her the shivers, and she forced herself to stand, staggering a few feet to lean on a less colorful tree’s broad trunk to stay upright. Despite the rain, her mouth was dry, and she had a hard time swallowing. “What the seven hells?”

Her mind was curiously blank, no memory of how she’d gotten to this place, or what had happened in the last few hours. She guessed it might be late afternoon here, from the glimpse she got of the white sun above the horizon, before the clouds drifted in front of the orb again. She refused to contemplate the fact that the star providing heat and light to her colony was yellow. If the sun here was white hot, the reality of where she stood, lost in the galaxy, was terrifying.

She remembered eating dinner in her small modular house on the edge of the colony, falling asleep watching an adventure trideo she’d seen a hundred times then…nothing.

                “And now I’m here.” She took a closer look at her left arm and did a double take. A black bracelet she’d never seen before was solid against her skin just above the wrist, with no visible hinge or fastening. As she gawked at it, prying at the edges in an increasingly desperate attempt to make the band move, flickers of red and yellow pulsed inside the cool, hard surface. The bracelet and what it might mean scared her more than the loss of short term memory or even the unknown sun above her.

                The roar came again, closer, and was answered by another. Something hunting me maybe?  Distracted from the ominous mystery of the bracelet, she was briefly tempted to try climbing the tree, but the lightheadedness persisted. Also, the smooth trunk didn’t offer anything in the way of handholds. She pushed off, realizing she was barefoot, wearing her short, pink-and-black nightgown, molded to her body by the rain. Lingerie was her secret luxury after a day spent in technician’s coveralls, but certainly not suited to this experience.

                Am I dreaming? She paused, gazing at the sky and pushing her damp hair off her face. The shower had tapered off and now the sun was shining but an ominous gray storm front was advancing. A bolt of lightning arced across the sky, and Jill broke into a zigzag run, forcing her body to respond to her terror. Standing anywhere close to a giant tree in a thunder storm was a recipe for disaster.

I’m in a nightmare, not a dream, but it’s all too real.

Buy Links:  Amazon      B&N  Google   Kobo     iBooks

Here to Breathe the Vacuum

One of my girls was diagnosed with cancer on her ear and had a bit of surgery to handle it. Here's Cuillean, post surgery with her radical ear tip. Fortunately, this was a mast cell tumor and surgery is pretty much a cure in cats. Yay.

She wants you to know the other guy (the vet) looks much worse. ;)

Writing habits.
Solitary or company for writing? Yes. Usually both at the same time. Couple of ways that goes down.

1. 5AM while everyone else is asleep. But they ARE still present. So I'm not sure what this is, really. Vacuum or company. My only interaction is with the cats who wander through for the occasional pet.
2. Coffee shop/tea shop where no one knows me. I'm in a public, but I create private space by holing up with my drink, my earbuds, and a screen to hid behind. And I do not make eye contact. No interaction, except with a barista for my drink. Maybe that doesn't count.
3. The bench on the screened in porch. This is my current favorite. Everyone else has gone off to day jobs. My alarm goes off and I sit down to work in silence. Except, I'm online with a partner and we're doing an hour of writing sprints. Communication is limited to "Go", "Time", and a report on how many words we each managed during the time. It's a little like having a work out routine. You may pay money to belong to a gym, but it doesn't mean you go. If you know you have a friend or a coach waiting for you, though, you'll haul your butt out of the warm bedclothes. In this case, it's a way to be accountable to someone else about hitting your word count goals for the day. This one is the true hybrid experience. I'm alone, but still interacting with other writers. And if one of us gets really, really stuck, we schedule a Skype session to talk out the stuck bits. Works really well. 

Granted, my ultimate goal is to be able to write anywhere. Haven't achieved that, yet. All I care is that the words happen and I exercise the focus muscles. Stretch them, maybe. Writer yoga. The more focus stretches, the better and longer and stronger the focus.

The Work Space for my Head Space

I do not have the luxury of being especially twee about my writing space.  For various logistical reasons, I do not have a permanent desk or workspace.  So I've got to be a writing nomad, moving to whatever flat surface I can find.  That's what I've gotten used to, and I've managed to make it work for me, even though it can be rather frustrating at times.

So, for me to get into the creative headspace, it takes a certain degree of focus.  Distractions or interruptions tend to knock me out, and I need to start over again.  So I do my best to minimize them.  Oddly, working in public can be a good thing for me, as long as it's a public space where I'm not expected to interact much.  Coffee shops are good.

BUT, I need the focus, and that means a good set of headphones.

Nothing is more critical in terms of centering me, regardless of where I'm working.  If I can drown out the world and give myself a good dramatic score or thumping baseline, then everything comes together.

That's it.  As long as I have the comfortable place to sit and the outside world can be shut out with a good beat?  I can work miracles.  Everything else?  That's extra.

(Not that I don't want an office of my own.  I so do.  I will also happily accept any offers for writing retreats, if anyone wants to make them.  The advantage of being a Writing Nomad is I can easily go anywhere, including a remote lakeside cabin in the mountains.  If, you know, you've got one of those.)

And speaking of, new works won't write themselves.  Time to get to work.

I'll Stay Home, Thanks

When it comes to writing, I can be very much like an old hobbit on party day.

In fact, I would rather write in my car than in a coffee shop.

I can work better cramped in the car, in the cold, and in the dark than I can if venture inside a warm and toasty establishment of any kind. Because PEOPLE are in there.

I've tried. But there is no avoiding those people. They talk... about their lives, their daily trials, their dirty laundry - or other people's. They bring their children, who sit far enough away from mom and dad to think they have some kind of freedom, but they either sit there doing the same noisy things or they poke each other and giggle.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Even with earbuds, the music wanes every few minutes and I cannot avoid hearing them. Or they move about drawing my notice. Or they encroach on my bubble.

Or someone among the crowd seems...off...and I suddenly don't feel safe letting my guard down enough to focus on the work. 

To that end, many hours have passed with me in the driver's seat, laptop wedged between me and the steering wheel as I await my son to come out of either his parkour class, his acting class, the dentist, the barber, or any of the other places I have to take him. But given my druthers, I'll work in my office, thanks. Where the coffee is just how I like it. The music is just as I like it. The heater or fan is on just as I like it. And the creativity is unencumbered.

Get Away From Me: Writing in the Oubliette

I laughed when this topic came up. I am definitely one of those writers who can't deal with distractions. Writing in public places is not going to yield much of a word count. I might get a whole fifteen words written. I'm too on edge, too alert to the happenings around me to sink into the brain space of creativity.

I much prefer to write in a cave, usually a dark cave where the blackout curtains are drawn, a lone lamp lends the barest hint of light, and no people are anywhere near. None. Nope. I'm a curmudgeonly vampire in that respect...okay, in many respects. Yes, the dog will force me into the light just long enough so he can pee, but then it's back to the oubliette where I am most productive.

That's right folks; when I have a hot date with my imaginary friends, it takes a lot of alone time to get them fit for public.  Don't worry, it's not you.  It's us.

The Bell Jar

The question is which do we prefer, writing in a vacuum or writing where we can have interaction.

That is painfully easy for me. I prefer to write in silence, or with the radio playing softly I need to be alone with my thoughts as much as possible if I am going to accomplish anything, In point of fact, I have started turning off the internet to avoid the distractions.  y all means, when I'm thinking about a project, chat away. Interact. be friendly. When I am actually writing, I nee the quiet.


So Tuesday sees THE LAST SACRIFICE released as a mass market trade paperback. I'm good with that. A month later FALLEN GODS comes out I'm good with that, too!

In other news, I'm editing an anthology of horror stories with Christopher Golden, It is an open market anthology. There are no spaces reserved for marquee names. The anthology will actually have completely blind submissions. We don't know who wrote it until we accept it.

We are doing a kickstarter to work up the cash flow, because, you know what? Publishers don't buy anthologies without big names. If you are interested in submitting I'll put up the proper address when the time comes. In the meantime,, if you write horror the only guideline is 3,000 words or more and make it your best. Paying professional rates. If you are interested in contributing, the address is right here: https://www.gofundme.com/the-twisted-book-of-shadows

Keep smiling,

Jim  

Listening for the Quiet Voice of Creativity

AMID THE WINTER SNOW, an anthology of fantasy romance holiday novellas is now available for pre-order! It releases December 12, 2017 and contains four all-new, meaty novellas in each of our fantasy worlds. Early reviews have called it "gorgeous," which I just love.

As the snows fall and hearths burn, four stories of Midwinter beginnings prove that love can fight its way through the chillest night…

THE DARKEST MIDNIGHT, by Grace Draven
The mark Jahna Ulfrida was born with has made her a target of the cruel and idle all her life. During the long, crowded festivities of Deyalda, there’s nowhere to escape. Until a handsome stranger promises to teach her to save herself…

THE CHOSEN, by Thea Harrison
In her visions, Lily sees two men fighting for her tiny country’s allegiance: the wolf and the tiger, each deadly, each cunning. One will bring Ys chaos and death, one a gentler path—but she’s destined to love whichever she chooses. The midwinter Masque is upon them, and the wolf is at her door…

THE STORM, by Elizabeth Hunter
When her soul mate died in a massacre of the half-angelic Irin people, Renata thought she’d never feel happiness again. She’s retreated to the snowy Dolomites to remember her hurts—until determined, irrepressible Maxim arrives to insist on joy, too. And before she can throw him out, they discover a secret the Irin have to know…

THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, by Jeffe Kennedy
As a blizzard threatens their mountain keep, the new Queen Amelia of the Twelve Kingdoms and her unofficial consort Ash face their own storm. Ash knows a scarred, jumpy ex-convict isn’t the companion his queen needs. But when a surprise attack confines them together in their isolated sanctuary, the feast of midwinter might tempt even Ash into childlike hope…

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We've been getting an amazing response, so thanks to everyone who's already pre-ordered!

Our topic this week is writing in a vacuum—which is better for you, writing in a closed space or writing where people can interact with you?

This is a short and easy answer for me, because I'm a vacuum kind of gal. I like total silence and minimal distractions. I keep my desk pretty well cleared off. I have a long and peaceful view down the Galisteo Basin to the mountains. My very favorite is if no one else is in the house.

If I can get a lot of quiet psychic space, that's ideal.

I can write on airplanes, or in Starbucks, if that's the only way I'm going to get the wordcount in, but I'm happiness with utter quiet. I believe that's the best way to let the subconscious speak. Sometimes the voice of creativity whispers. In total silence, I hear it best.

Book Nostalgia

So this happened. 

It's a cover for a short story that I'd written some time ago for an anthology edited by former blog member James Ray Tuck Jr. I've had rights back for a bit and the story just sat there because I couldn't, for the life of me think what to do with it. 

Until I got tired of having dreams about pissed off lions. So I commissioned this lovely cover and published the story to Kindle Unlimited. Mostly because I'd never published anything there before. Look at me swimming in unfamiliar water. Really, I just adore the cover. So I had to show it off. Made by the fabulous Danielle Fine at By Definition.

As for book nostalgia, let's see if I can keep from repeating myself. I doubt I can. 

1. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - I got on a kick at one point of reading all of the Newberry award

winners as a kid. It paid off. This one stuck with me. And hey. Late grade school, when I picked the book up, alienation and learning to adapt were big themes. I got Kit. Still do.

2. The Island of the Blue Dolphins - Tough story, but gorgeous writing and that was enough for me. It's one of those books that haunts you and it made me start making up stories about how I'd have gone out there to get Karana off the island. There may have been pirate ships and bargains with the devil in some of those stories. So I guess my adult brain didn't fall far from the little kid apple tree.

This last one is a cheat because it's three books in a box set.

3. The Wizard of Earthsea - though, frankly, it looks like the little blue-gray box set I have doesn't exist any more. So no secret that I love Ursula K. Le Guin's work. I cop to reading this trilogy when I was far too young, probably, to appreciate it for anything more than the series of events and adventures that happened. Yet, as often happens with content that's packed far fuller than a reader is consciously aware, the stories and characters stuck in my head and kept unpacking bits of the subtext and layers I'd been too young to comprehend. That meant I could go back and reread the trilogy and have a new experience each time. So yeah. I read Le Guin to have my cranial capacity expanded as much as for the love of great story.

And now, back to the word mines. I have a thing to finish. And by all the gods, it will end before the end of this year or I'll die trying to wrap it. So let's do this thing.

Green Sky: Three Books from my Youth

So, often I'm asked "who are your influences", and a name I immediately go to is Zlipha Keatly Snyder.  And that's largely because of the three books of her Green-Sky trilogy: Below the Root, And All Between, and Until the Celebration.  

This trilogy was significant to me for so many reasons.  For one, it was very much the fantasy series that I consider my entry into the genre.  Nothing had previously captured my attention as a fantasy world like Green Sky did.  It was a glorious, ardent world of a city in the treetops, where the people could fly and glide from branch to branch.  And it was a world with a dark secret.

The first book focuses on Raamo, a young man who begins his training as part of the elite priest caste, the Ol-zhaan.  He's been sought out to join because he's especially gifted in the Spirit powers, which the Ol-zhaan are supposed to be masters of, but it turns out most of them have little-to-no ability in them.  With two of his plucky youthful companions, he starts looking deeper into the dark secrets of the forbidden ground, which is supposedly populated by monsters.  But when Raamo and his friends discover a girl on the ground, they learn it's not monsters at all, but people, trapped underground.

The second book shifts perspectives to Teera, the young girl, starting with her inadvertent escape from the underground prison her people live in.  They're held in by the magically powerful Roots that are impossible to burn or cut.  The Root was created by the Spirit powers, because those people had been banished by the Ol-zhaan to protect the true secret of Green Sky.  You see, the people of Green Sky came from Earth, which had been destroyed in horrible wars.  (See, it's sci-fi embedded in a fantasy.)  Two factions formed, one who wanted to tell the people the truth of their origins, and the other who wanted to keep it a secret forever, hoping that ignorance of their violent past would help them stay peaceful forever. The tell-the-truth faction lost, and they were banished.  But now the truth is out and public, and there's no hiding it... especially since the reuniting of these two peoples has reawakened the Spirit powers.

The third book does something unexpected. It's all about the messy fall-out of trying to unite these people, and how it does bring about the very violence that had been unknown all this time.  It then goes on to, well, kind of a downer ending, mostly about how saviors and messiahs aren't always going to be able to patch everything up and lead the people into a golden age.

But this series taught be about how fantasy can be anything.  Which is such an important lesson.  If you can find them (which is apparently challenging to do), go check them out.

Cover Reveal: The Burned Spy

Guys, guys, guys, I'm so happy to show off the cover for the first book in my Immortal Spy Urban Fantasy series, The Burned Spy. 

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Summoned back from exile to find who assaulted the Norse pantheon's ambassador, disavowed Dark Ops agent Bix will have to tangle with the spy agency that burned her, the angels who prosecuted her, and ex-lovers who could have taken jealousy way too far.

The eBook is available at online retailers for pre-order. It'll be released January 30, 2018, in print and eBook. If you want to be notified the day it drops, sign up for my newsletter at kakrantz.com.

Pre-Order the eBook Today: Amazon Kindle   | B&N Nook  |  iBooks   |  Kobo

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Now, as for this week's blog topic: 3 Fondly Remembered Books from My Childhood

1. Uncle Wiggly's Story Book
A series of short stories that were cute and none too frightening. Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy is still a favorite that my family retells around the dinner table during the holidays.

2. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
Do you know how rare it is to find a book where the younger sibling gets to save the elder? Okay, when I was a kid, it was rare. Chang was my hero. Yes, as an adult, I understand the controversies and why the content is considered offensive.

3. Gnomes by Rein Poortvliet
The illustrations got me first. I would flip through this book for hours before I learned to read; once I figured out phonetics, I would memorize the passages and recite them to myself while watering the weeds my neighbor had ripped out of his garden. What? I was trying to help the gnomes!

My biggest influences were comic books.

I believe the notion is to share the most influential books from my youth and I can do that, but my answer might not be what you expected.

First. let me explain that I come from a family of readers. I inherited a vast collection of comic books from my brothers as I grew up and I read them al, voraciously. If it involved people in four color costumes with spangles and contraptions, the odds were I'd read it. If those stories involved some variation on the monster theme, I was there even faster.

Listen, my father figure growing up were my two older brothrs and damned near every person who got into a costume to fight the bad guys. Spider-man, Superman, Batman, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the hulk. T^hey were all there teaching me lessons on right and wrong, and when the writers used a word I was unfamiliar with, I was right there learning a new word with the use of the family dictionary.

there was a time when the principal of the local school came by the house, I believe to get his suit altered by my mother (She was a tailor and made extra money for raising the kids with a lot of   for restaurants, etc.). She lamented that the only thing she could get her kids to read was comic books and the man laughed and said. "At least they are reading." Never met the man myself but I'd have loved to shake his hand.

Comic books. Monster comic books. The Man-Thing. The Swamp Thing. Morbius the living vampire, Werewolf By Night, Tomb of Dracula, the Monster of Frankenstein The House of Secrets, Journey into Mystery, The Ghost Rider,  Tales of the Zombie, The Demon, Any variation on that theme and I was ecstatic. Daimon Hellstorm, the Son of Satan and his sister, Satana. Lilith Dracula's Daughter. Tigra the Were-Woman.  All of them helped shape me. The Spectre dealt out harsh punishments to the bad guys. They often had a screwed up moral code, but they paid the price for it when they were wrong. They were among the voices that taught me right from wrong and how to behave myself in society.

There were more of them, but I suspect you get the idea.

One of the most amazing moments in my early years? Batman takes on the Swamp Thing and loses.

Seriously. Think about that.

Batman, who has saved Gotham City countless times, who has managed to thwart the Joker and Two Face and h, so many more, fought the swap Thing and got his butt handed to him. That was utterly mind blowing to me.

But as unsettling as it seems to most, there were morality plays at work here. Even the darkest of the heroes had enemies who were even darker.

Pick three, you say?

Okay:

Superman.

Spiderman.

The Swamp Thing. Pull any of those titles from the early to late seventies, and I was there. reading and studying the artwork of legends like Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Bernie Wrightson and Pablo Marcos. Doug Ploog was there. And there were so many more. And the writers!  Denny O'Neil, Marv Wolfman (Yes, that's his real name),  Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, the list is too damned long to even seriously contemplate.

They were my first three, top of the line influences.

I never once said I was normal.

Three Books I'm Buying My Grandkids

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is three books from our childhood that we still remember fondly and why. This is funny, because I recently brought up the above book - THE ABANDONED by Paul Gallico - as a book I've never forgotten, and that I think I might be the only kid on the planet who read it. (Although the Goodreads listing argues otherwise!)

Then I went and bought it to give my granddaughter for Christmas. (Don't worry - she's too young to follow my blog. I'm pretty sure...) This is the perfect book for her because she's cat crazy. And this is about a little boy who becomes a cat. It contains the mantra for the ages: When in doubt, wash. It's a haunting story about being other and about finding self.

I might have to give it a reread before I wrap it up.

Because this is a blog of fantasy and science fiction writers, I feel I must mention my gateway drug to both: DRAGONSONG by Anne McCaffrey. I feel that I should mention that this book has more than 40K ratings on Goodreads, as opposed to ~1,100 for THE ABANDONED. So, relatively speaking, I am about the only person who read the latter, compared to the former. DRAGONSONG is well loved and rightly so. It's the story of a young girl on the planet Pern, and how she tames fire lizards and finds her place in the world as a musician. This book lit me up to the possibilities of fantasy and I really never looked back.

There are many books to choose from, of course, but in the SFF realm, it's sad for me how few have held up over time. I loved Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising books, but the worldbuilding underpinnings don't work for me. And not just now - I went back and reread to fill in some pieces and they simply aren't there. Other books I loved turned out to have religious agendas, alas.

But one that has withstood the test of time - and has arguably grown richer for it - is A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L'Engle. And with the movie version finally coming out (after, lo, these 40+ years), this is the time to reread, and get your younger peeps to read, before the movie comes out, as we all know the book is inevitably better.

That said, the movie comes out on March 9, which is my mom's birthday. I'm thinking we should maybe go see it together, to celebrate our history with this book, this author, and all things mother/daughter. Take a look at that incredible trailer! FANTASTIC, in all the best senses of the word.

Books make great gifts! Just saying :D

In other news, I'm participating in Patrick Rothfuss's Worldbuilders fundraiser. You can bid to win a critique from me or a Tuckerization in my new series! But there's only 9 hours left in the auctions as of this posting, so hasten thee over!

My Three Favorite Charities

I love our topic at SFF7 this week! I firmly believe in giving back and paying good things forward.

I tend to focus on three areas of charitable giving or support: veterans, children and animals, based on my own life and what's most important to me.

The specific charities I support may change from year to year but here are a few to which I've given support currently or in the past:

Hero Dogs, Inc. - Service dogs for veterans. With my friend Pauline B. Jones, I've co-organized the USA Today Best Selling Pets In Space scifi romance limited edition anthology for the past two years, and we make a donation to Hero Dogs from the first month's royalties earned by this USA Today Best Selling anthology.

The Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA -  my two rescue cats Jake and Keanu came from here (and my daughters' cats Carrot and Orly before that) and I admire the work they do.

Rainbow Acres Ranch -  From their webpage: "For over 40 years, we've been empowering people with developmental disabilities to live to their fullest potential with dignity and purpose." For many years, one of my dearest friends and her husband went annually to volunteer their time and talents there, so I chose to support them as well.

GLAZA - the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. When my girls were young, we went there all the time and I tried to support them as much as I could.

LZ Grace Warriors Retreat -  From their webpage: "Landing Zone Grace (LZ-Grace) provides a place of respite for combat weary warriors and their families. The goal of this family farm is to provide a sanctuary of rest, renewal and hope to Special Operations Forces (from all branches of the military) transitioning from combat to life at home."

There are so many worthy organizations out there, so many needs crying out to be addressed. I always wish I could do more but we can each only do what's possible for our own situation and try to help those who are less fortunate than we may be today.

At various times, I’ve also supported the American Cancer Society, the Red Cross, St. Jude’s Hospital, Susan G. Komen For the Cure, UNICEF, the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and various organizations fighting the AIDS epidemic, as well as smaller, localized charities whose names would not be familiar. When I had the day job, I always also donated to United Way from my paycheck.

As you can probably tell, my choice of which charities to support varies with what’s going on in my own life, or with my family and friends. That leaves out so many wonderful causes like bomb removal in war torn areas, world famine, malaria prevention, lack of clean water in impoverished parts of the world, Doctors Without Borders...but for me, the focus is more localized.

Best wishes to you and yours for a very warm, happy and safe holiday season.

Gratitude

It's a warm Thanksgiving on Florida's west coast - a day of clouds looming and threats of thunder storms that never materialized. I have never in my life gotten to have Thanksgiving dinner while comfortably wearing shorts and sandals. So there's that to be grateful for. Not to mention that finally, my family is together again after we'd been strewn across the continent. And while we're still in monetary recovery after the vast awful that was Autolycus's final illness followed rapidly by Hatshepsut's near brush with the grim feline reaper, we ARE recovering. For that we are entirely grateful.

Part of being grateful is sharing the good fortune. The first place I like to send my support is a (now) local charity that will surprise exactly no one who knows me:

Big Cat Rescue

They are one of the largest accredited big cat sanctuaries in the world. They take in big cats from all over the US and, in some cases, the world. They advocate for the shift in legislation throughout the US to end the trade of big cats - either as 'pets', performers, or for fur harvest. They take amazing care of their animals and many of their cats live to unheard of ages because of it. You can also take tours - no - no petting or contact with the cats. They are a sanctuary and that means preserving the cats in as wild a state as possible within the confines of not being able to return them to the wild. When they rescue injured bobcats or panthers, they DO return the animals to the wild after they've been rehabilitated. Still. I can recommend the tour. There's nothing like hearing a cougar purr at you. Or Joseph lion roaring.

MayDay.us

Because politics. This group is a grassroots movement aimed at using small, public contributions to elect citizens to office. Term limits are a big ticket item for this group. They're working at city and state levels in order to build momentum for bigger races. Defeating a super PAC in a national election is the goal. It's also possible I'm channeling some $$ to specific candidates whose goals align with mine. I cannot legally take a flamethrower to the current Pennywise the Clown and minions inhabiting the halls of government, so this is the next best thing that won't end with me in prison.

Nature Conservancy

Because it's all about habitat. We know that wildlife requires land that humans haven't paved over. We get that if we want to go on breathing we need trees. And algae. And plankton. But who wants to dedicate a vast tract of their farm land to preserving a weird three spotted lizard? Or a rare venomous spider? The Nature Conservancy takes a realistic view of preserving land for wildlife. They buy it. Or trade tracts of critical habitat for other land that can then be used by humans. Their success stories are pretty good.

Bonus: Check out Charitywater.org

I think that especially when life is difficult - in the midst of loss - it's vital to take a moment daily to practice gratitude and to say thank you. So thank you. I am grateful you're here.

Thankful

This will be quick, because I have plenty on my plate but:

• If you've ever bought one or all of my books...
• If you've read and loved the stories of Maradaine...
• If you've been looking forward to the books to come...
• If you've told a friend to try out my books...
• If you've left a review on Amazon or Goodreads...
• If you consider yourself a fan...

Then, thank you, thank you, thank you.  From the bottom of my heart, it means the world to me. 
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving amid the people who love you most!

Because it is the season of thankfulness as well as the kick-off of the traditionally recognized annual big-gift-giving event, it's time to think about others, and this week here on the blog we're sharing our favorite charities. Here are mine, and why: 

1.)  Veterans of Foreign Wars

I used to be a barmaid at my local VFW. I'm also a lifetime member. Many nights, I've kept the beers flowing while these men who served our country regale the crowd with their tales. Fewer nights, I've served a glass of something harder while someone stared into their glass trying to force some awful image that seemed stuck in their mind's eye. I've seen a vet of the Iraq War who turned to heroine. I've seen men who served and came home safe seemingly unscathed...then lost their whole family to random stateside tragedies, yet they have found a way to carry on despite an ache that will never abate. I've helped vets get their ties and medals just right before a parade, and I've seen a Korean War vet (1950-3) sing karaoke.

Also, the VFW has a variety of community outreach programs and scholarships. Supporting the VFW is supporting good people in your own community.

2.)  Any Animal Rescue / No Kill Shelter

A friend of mine who passed away years ago had a cat shelter. She actively trapped feral cats, got them spayed or neutered and re-released them if they were not tamable. She also took other housecats and worked to find them good homes. I had one such cat come into my life for a while. He was a gray tabby with six toes, a mitten-paw. He'd been a feral cat trapped and tamed and I loved him enough to deal with my cat allergy.  Also, my dog Bela came from a no-kill shelter. For eleven years now, she's been a wonderful addition to our family (i.e. being the floor pillow when the boys watched cartoons, protecting our yard from evil squirrels, keeping us warm on cold winter nights, and the source of much laughter).

I say all that because I know the hard work that goes into a rescue, and the benefits to the animal and the family that adopts.

3.)  The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

From the internet: For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

Whether it’s achieving full equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people; establishing new privacy protections for our digital age of widespread government surveillance; ending mass incarceration; or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion; the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach.

Of Gratitude & Grace: 3 Charities to Consider

In this season of gratitude and grace, I'm happy to share the three categories of charities to whom I donate. The specific charities vary depending on personal factors. If any of these inspire you to contribute--particularly at a local level--remember donations typically fall into three groups: money, goods, or time-in-person. Much of which is tax-deductible (for now).

1. Local Dog Rescues
I donate to breed-specific rescues simply because I've adopted from breed rescues; though, shelters and local SPCAs are just as deserving. Remember: if you are adopting a new critter during the holidays, be extra patient. The noise, the amped emotions, and abnormal routines make it difficult for the critter and the new owner(s) to find their balance. Give your adoptee a safe, quiet place away from the commotion and personal-space-invaders where your new critter can claim sanctuary.  If possible, wait until after the chaos of the holidays to bring home a new-to-you pet. Not only are you more likely to be back into your day-to-day routine, but the shelters take in a lot of unwanted "presents" in the weeks following the holidays.

2. Women's Shelters
The quest for safety, independence, and dignity is not easy regardless of the circumstances that bring a woman to a shelter. If she's brave enough to seek help, then help should be there. However, I'm very particular about which shelters receive my assistance because I have very strong beliefs that don't commonly align with organizations that infiltrate shelter management to inflict their version of morality on emotionally vulnerable women. 

3. Literacy Groups
It may seem self-serving for an author to donate to a literacy group, but I'm a firm believer that once a person learns to read, they gain the most important tool they'll need to achieve their dreams. These groups serve more than children. If kids aren't your thing, there are a lot of adults who need the help and who have the drive to succeed.

Thankful

Well, it's that time of year again. for a lot of people that means a time to be thankful. there are exceptions, of course.

I am always thankful this time of year. I have a roof over my head. I have loved ones, I have my health, mostly, and I have my career.

Charities? I have a few of those, too.

First, I like to give to my local library, I give books. I used to have a lot of them. My stack is much smaller these days.

Second I give to the local fire department and police department. Mostly I give when they are doing handouts for other charities. They do that, you know. In addition to the time they spend keeping us safe, they often find the extra time to help a family in need or a children's ward at the local hospital. I tend to give when they ask.

The Salvation Army. I don't always agree with their politics. Okay I almost never agree with their politics. But they actually do more with the donations than most, so I give to the Salvation Army when they are around during the holidays, and I give donations to their stores when I find that I have once again collected clothes I no longer wear, books I have read, kitchen supplies I thought I'd need but never really require.

What does it cost me? I seldom look at the possible profits.

I am grateful, you see, for all that I have.

I was raised by a mother who was doing her best with six children. She did an amazing amount with what little she had and we were never lacking when it came to the important stuff.

I have a roof over my head.
I have a career that I love.
I have friends, and family and loved ones.

I have contracts coming my way and ideas in my head. I am thankful.

May you have endless reasons to be thankful this year and next and beyond that, too.

My Three Favorite Charities

Jackson likes to sit outside my office window and stare at me. I have no idea why. If I offer to let him in, he's not interested. I suspect attempts at kitty mind control.

Before I go much further - and though I don't often mention my contemporary romances here - I thought I should point out that my WITH A PRINCE takes place during U.S. Thanksgiving. Which is this week for us! So if you or someone near and dear who loves romance, are looking for a seasonal read. This is a fine choice. There's cooking, the actual feast - and dinner table drama complete with hashtags. It's very fun.

And because it's Thanksgiving, this week at the SFF Seven we're all talking about our three favorite charities, those ways we give back and share our bounty.

I'm not a big fan of broadcasting how and when I give to charity. I'm a big believer that the only true charity is anonymous, that you're only truly giving if no one knows you've done it. If people know, or if you make a big deal of yourself, then it can be more about ego than actual giving. This is one reason I rarely get involved in book-selling efforts that give a percentage to charity. To my mind, this is using giving as a marketing technique. I think it's fine to funnel proceeds to a worthy cause, but if the core reason for doing that is to increase sales, then I find that squicky.

I do, however, believe in financially supporting the organizations and causes I believe in. As much as possible, I prefer to pick and choose those myself.

Go Fund Me

This is a general bucket for my very specific choices. I like Go Fund Me because I can support individuals who need help. A lot of the time these are older authors who've fallen on hard times - many writers are self-insured, which means they might have crappy health insurance or none at all - and their incomes can be uneven. It's a great way to lend a helping hand and I feel the small amount I can afford goes a long way, with no corporate overhead to support.

Planned Parenthood

I believe that core to women's ability to live and work as free human beings is access to birth control and abortion. Both of these are about control of one's own body and health. Also, I believe all children in a wealthy, technological society should be wanted, planned, and given every advantage, pre- and post-natal. Thus I support Planned Parenthood, which is also often the only source of health care, full stop, for many lower income women. I give often.

Political Campaigns

I was raised in a politically active family, and I donate to the campaigns of the candidates who espouse the values I believe in. With a House of Representatives chock-a-block full of GOP privileged rich kids that just passed a tax reform bill that will hammer the middle class while giving the wealthiest Americans tax breaks, you can believe I'm donating to Democratic candidates across the country. Until we legislate campaign finance reform, the only way to battle money is with money. And it's no longer enough to support only local candidates - if senators and representatives from other states can mess with my health insurance and ability to pay my bills, you bet I have an investment in whether or not they're re-elected.

Unexpectedly political for a Thanksgiving post! But so it goes in the land of plenty, where we've passed the one year mark since Trump was elected and the GOP given free reign to loot as much as they can until we clean house in the 2018 mid-term elections. 

Next Thanksgiving, I'm hoping to be a LOT more grateful!

In the meanwhile, enjoy your own celebrations of gratitude, whether it be with family, friends, or savoring your own quiet. Eat something delicious with joy, get some rest, do something only because it's fun, and give something to someone else anonymously. May it bring you happiness. 

Worldbuilding

Purchased from DepositPhoto

I've got a real deja vu feeling - I swear I've written on this topic before, for this very blog...

OK, so for my science fiction, I don't go too deep into the science because that's constantly changing and what was true today is wrong tomorrow but take a time machine and it'll be correct yesterday. 

So I went with the "Alien" and "Aliens'' kind of future - lived in, people are pretty much the same fundamentally, but with cooler tech...and there are aliens (duh), both on our side and very much against us in my future civilization, known as the Sectors.If I need to add something nifty and complex for part of a plot, I go off and research whatever we have nowadays that will help me make my ship/feature/alien/weapon/civilization feel more grounded in reality for the readers. so I've researched cruise ships, aircraft carriers, sequioa trees, ancient ball games, anatomy of insects, Special Forces training, synthesia, surgical techniques for penetrating abdominal wounds, Legionnaires Disease.....and some aspects of my world building just spring full blown from my own brain.

For my ancient Egyptian novels, there's the entire history of the land along the Nile to look at and draw from. 

I'm not trying to be dismissive, but as I've mentioned here before, I'm not a deep thinker of craft...I'm a story teller who puts in enough background to support the story and my characters, and have it all feel right to my readers. The more books I write, the more my universe becomes fleshed out and the more connecting links there are between the stories. It feels like organic growth to seat-of-the-pants writer me, versus sitting down and developing a Tolkienesque world with maps and backstory going generations into the past. I applaud people who can do that and want to do that and need to do that for their books - it's just not me. (I will not be writing any epic fantasies anytime soon, can you tell? I read them with relish though - give me more Jeffe Kennedy books any day!)

Here's an excerpt from my latest scifi romance, The Fated Stars, where the characters give a bit of world building history I've alluded to in various books but never detailed before:

Larissa swallowed hard. “Another fact you should probably know—most humans can’t even look directly at Mawreg. There’s something about them that can drive a human insane.”

Samell stared at her, even as Pete and Donnie nodded. “When we go on sorties into their camps to rescue people or take the entire operation down, we have to wear helmets with special filter goggles and even then a few guys have lost their minds. Mawreg are bad ass, spooky.”

“And we haven’t got any of those helmets here,” Donnie added. “Not a piece of tech I can whip up from spare parts either.”

“Are you serious? I find this concept hard to grasp—how can merely gazing upon the alien can make a person lose their mind?” Samell’s voice was polite.

“First encounter between our kind and the Mawreg was a peaceful scientific expedition, all excited to have met another spacefaring race,” Larissa said.

“The Peronelle. Learned about it in school, in Sectors history class.” Pete confirmed the tale. “Hundreds of years ago. Luckily the humans already had a few interstellar allies and fairly soon after met the Mellureans for the first time. Now they are badass.”

“The Peronelle survivors the Mawreg spared to tell the tale described in gruesome detail how their comrades went insane when forced to watch their hosts. The ship’s AI had vids to corroborate. The vids also showed the Mawreg eating people alive, and conducting horrific experiments on others. Apparently the aliens thought it would frighten us into surrendering and accepting their rule, but all it did was make us determined to do battle every chance we got. No truce, no quarter given.” Larissa sighed. “And the war’s been raging ever since.”

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What World May Be

In no way can I tell you where I got the bug put into my author brain, but here it is. We can dissect it if you wish.

The bug has many legs. It's tiny and hard to see, but it likes to talk. It says that the way to build a believable world/universe/magic system is to limit your change to one major concept. In UF that's easy. Magic happens. The details of how/why/consequences are where the interesting stuff comes in. In SF(R) the major accepted thing is generally space flight. Then it's a matter of what happens when our heroes encounter aliens or aliens encounter them or what happens when the onboard computer says, "I'm sorry, Dave. I afraid I can't do that."

For the most part, the broad strokes don't need a lot of research in my experience. It's the details that do. Take the space flight thing. We're in a space ship! We're getting away from the bad guys! Until they blow out our engine (right before you take the shot that destroys them - thanks for that.) And now we're adrift. We're inside a solar system. So hey! Solar sail! No problem! Uh. Wait. So. Exactly WHAT can I use as a solar sail? Oh hey look. NASA has a position paper out about a theoretical new kind of sail called an e-sail. Hey. That looks cool! So. How fast could we go with that? How far?

Funny. That summary white paper can't answer those questions. And neither can I. So off to ask people with actual training. You do know there are Reddits and forums and message boards where actual rocket scientists hang out? There're even a bunch on Facebook. A few of them will point and laugh when I ask newbie questions, but 99% of the folks really want the rest of us to be science-literate and will offer encyclopedic answers to questions about what kind of acceleration can I expect a ship to put on with a sail blah, blah, red giant, post helium flash, blah. 

Jeffe saw that question go up in one forum and can attest to the awesome answers I got from a handful of really bright people. Made me wish the solar sail figured into more of the story, but alas. We have aliens to vanquish yet. 

Yes. Searching the interwebs for stuff first is the right thing to do - I do find that I can usually garner a broad base understanding of something like nano - technology, but when it comes to how someone would harness nanotech to weaponize it, I didn't have anyone to ask. I had to read and read and then make some guesses. Guesses that I might have gotten dead wrong (though no one has said anything about it yet if I did.) 

And there's the other thing the bug likes to whisper. Don't get so caught up in the research and in being RIGHT that you sacrifice story. Readers will forgive a lot if they're shown a good time inside a story. 

So sure. Research. But make sure you get out there after those villians at great cost to your heroes and heroines. 

Worldbuilding: Research for Invented Cultures

I've had one challenge that comes up in my worldbuilding process:  How do you research for a culture that doesn't have a real-world parallel?  Or borrows elements from several different ones in a way that makes it its own thing?  And how do you make it work on the page?
Part of the challenge is that, no matter what you do, some readers will bring their own biases to it.  What does that mean?  It means that readers will seek the familiar, and that includes trying to slap on some serial numbers on things that you didn't even scrub them off of.  What does this mean?  It means your readers will sometimes find parallels to real-world cultures that you never intended.
And then ping you for doing it wrong.
Can this be avoided completely?  No, of course not.  But there's things you can do to minimize it.

• Don't make your racial distinctions stereotypical or offensive. Make your secondary words racially diverse, but try to be aware of how you depict that.  I've found Writing With Color to be a great resource to help with that.
• Learn where your culture is coming from, from the ground up.  I'm not saying you have to build it entirely from the bottom. But if you understand some underlying basics-- what they grow, how they use that, what they eat, what they build-- that gives you the tools to guide them in their own unique way.
• Steer their language away from the obvious.  If you're looking at your new culture and think to yourself, "this sounds like Eastern Europe", consider making the language base (and thus how you name places and people) something that is nothing like Eastern Europe.  Vulgar is a great resource for that.

All right, I'm getting on a plane early tomorrow, and plenty to do to get ready, so I'll see you all later.  Or perhaps in Portland!

Topic: What “Doing the Research” Means for a New Fantasy or Alien Cultures

Before I delve into the meat of this post, one short reminder: 

MY MUSIC IS NOW ON SPOTIFY! 

Look me up by artist (Linda Reinhardt) 

or by the album (JOVIENNE).

As for the weekly topic...

I’m going to talk about one admittedly narrow point, but it is dear to me.

LANGUAGE

With my upcoming and as yet untitled fantasy novel, one of the things that I spent a lot of time deliberating with myself on concerning this alien culture was language. Especially the titles of the military, as much of the story takes place around the armed force of the kingdom.

I had a real problem with the word Lieutenant.

It sounds and looks WAY to French to be showing up in my not-even-close-to-Earth-tale. But all the titles seem, in some way, objectionable to me from that point of view (General, Corporal, Chief Petty Officer, etc.)

There are two arguments for using our terminology.

1.)     If I use General, most readers will inherently understand that he is calling the shots and outranks a captain.

2.)   The tale is already presumed by the reader to be a translation from whatever language is native to that world – which would not be English. Use whatever understood words are closest. 

The argument for giving this new culture it’s own terms:

       1.) It feels more immersive.

But there’s a flaw:

       If I make up rank titles, I’m choosing to replace brevity with something that requires explanation – because the reader isn’t going to inherently understand who’s higher ranking, that very likely means I’m using exposition.

An argument specific to #2 above is:

Using obviously foreign-influenced words and modern slang (EX. - having characters refer to their best friends as either ‘chica’ or ‘homie’ which might ‘translate’ perfectly, might jar readers out of their suspension of disbelief because it doesn’t ‘feel’ true.

In the end I used—

Nah. You’ll have to wait and read it to see….