Mammoth Book of Irish Romance

First of all....Yay Saints. While I adore Peyton Manning I was thrilled to watch the Saints get their first victory. Drew Brees is a hero in my book



And nope that isn't Drew Brees, nor is this story about him. Fellow Chatelaine Jennifer Ashley and I were invited to participate in the Mammoth Book of Irish Romance. I was thrilled to contribute a story to the mix because my ancestry is mostly Irish (with some Cherokee and English mixed in) I have a picture of my Dad's grandfather and mother that was taken after their family came here after the great Irish famine during the 1800's. Ireland is one of the places I would love to visit. I know that when I go I will feel the magic that is part of the land.

While researching the story I found that the tradition of Irish story telling goes back several hundred years. While most of the history of the world was lost during the dark ages, the Irish have several tales that tell the story of their history. I incorporated one of these legends into my story about a lost warrior and a mysterious woman he finds in the surf one night. Its called Quicksilver and I hope you enjoy it.

The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance is available at any of your favorite bookstores.

Just another post about resolutions

I'm a big fan of the Mutts comic strip. Right before new years Mooch said his resolution was to eat more pancakes with whipped cream. He made the resolution because he knew it was an easy one to keep. So here I am with a shiny new year and a boatload of good intentions and resolutions that I probably won't be able to keep. You know the usual, the diet, the organizing, the cleaning, the volunteering, all those things that you swear you are going to do once the new year starts, or on Monday, which ever one comes last. New Years Day was on a Friday. Who wants to start anything new on the weekend?

However, I am going to try. I'm going to continue to exersise, even though it seems to have no impact on my weight. I just feel better so I will keep it up. I am going to get all the boxes stuffed in my attic unpacked. I just have to take them one at a time. I now have shelves and places to put things so my excuses are gone.

Most important, I am going to make better use of my time. I'm going to quit wasting it. I'm going to make every minute count, even if its enjoying a peaceful Sunday afternoon snooze. Time is my most precious commidity right now,(especially if the world ends on 12/21/12.) And occasionally, I will eat pancakes with whipped cream.

So here's wishing everyone a Happy Whipped Cream covered 2010 and much success with your resolutions.

Merry Christmas

This is my first Christmas in nine years without a deadline hanging over my head so I have decided to embrace the season and enjoy it. I don't think I ever realized before how many things have become tradition with our family.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we start decorating. We have to in order to have everything done by the first Sunday in December. This is the day I have my annual ornament swap with my girlfriends. I started it in 1997 because I wanted us to do something without our kids since our lives seemed to revolve around their functions. Now our kids are mostly grown and moved on yet we still get together this first Sunday in Dec and catch up and have a blast. For some of us, this is the only time we see each other all year. Still we come together, I hope we're still doing it when we're all old and gray. We've even brought in the next generation with daughters and daughter-in-laws.

When I get to the point in December when my work is done, the shopping and wrapping under control and I feel like I can draw a breath, I sit down and watch White Christmas. This is one of my all time favorite movies and I can pretty much recite it line by line since I've probably seen it over 50 times in my life. When I was little I wanted to be Vera Ellen. Actually I still want to be her. Have you seen her waist? And her legs? My guys sure do like to talk about her. They also like to rewrite the songs. Their tradition is to sing the Sisters song and insert the line, Sharing, Caring, Even the underwear that we are wearing. Yeah, got to love the traditions.

We open our presents on Christmas Morning after breakfast. We attend our church's Love Feast on Christmas Eve. All the men in my family cook a huge country breakfast the morning after Christmas when we have our family get together. We open presents from the youngest to the oldest and take turns so everyone can see what you got. And every year, our kitty climbs the Christmas tree. I'm sure these traditions will change as my son's get married and have children. We'll figure something out. But one thing for sure, I will still watch White Christmas every year.

I'd love to hear your Christmas traditions. And here's wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas.

Time Travel anyone?

I love writing Time Travels. Except for the fact that they give me a major headache when I'm working on the plot. Thinking of all the repercussions of going to the past to change the future is really difficult. Still I was thrilled to be invited to be a part of The Mammoth Book of Time Travel. (psst if the link doesn't work just look for it on Amazon.)

My story is about Rand Brock, a Texas Ranger investigating a mysterious death and disappearance in West Texas during the 1880's. Imagine his surpise when he's taking a bath in a stream and comes face to face with Shea, a Time Cop from the future. You must read the story to find out what happens but I will let you in on one part of the plot. Steam Punk Scorpions.

I hope you enjoy reading Time Trails as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Cover Bliss

Coming in June. Stayed tuned for more details.

What's going on

Yes I have been a blog slacker. I've taken a step back lately to re-evaluate my career. Which doesn't mean I've stopped writing. Its more like I'm trying to figure out what direction my writing is going in. Meanwhile I have written a couple of short stories. The first one is called Time Trails and is in the Mammoth Book of Time Travel which will be released in Dec. Its the story of a Texas Ranger and a Time cop from the future and has some Steampunk elements.
The second is called Quicksilver and will come out in the Irish Book of Romance in January. This was a fascinating story to write as I placed it in the fifth century and used a lot of Irish Mythology. I loved researching it as I am of Irish descent. You can order both from Amazon. I'm most anxious to read the rest of the stories to see what the other authors included came up with.

Whats it really like to be an author?

I copied this from the New Yorker. Its funny but its also true.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love “Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story” and have some excellent ideas for promotion.

To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you. We use CopyBuoy via Hoster Broaster, because it streams really easily into a Plaxo/LinkedIn yak-fest meld. When you register, click “Endless,” and under “Contacts” just list everyone you’ve ever met. It would be great if you could post at least six hundred words every day until further notice.

If you already have a blog, make sure you spray-feed your URL in niblets open-face to the skein. We like Reddit bites (they’re better than Delicious), because they max out the wiki snarls of RSS feeds, which means less jamming at the Google scaffold. Then just Digg your uploads in a viral spiral to your social networks via an FB/MS interlink torrent. You may have gotten the blast e-mail from Jason Zepp, your acquiring editor, saying that people who do this sort of thing will go to Hell, but just ignore it.

The vi-spi is cross-platform, but don’t worry if you think you’re not on Facebook, because you actually are. Jason enrolled you when you signed the contract last year, or at least he was supposed to, and he told Sarah Williams he did before he had to retire and Sarah left for nursing school. You currently have 421 Friends, 17 Pending Requests, 8 Pokes, 5 Winks, and 3 Proposals of “Marriage.”

I’ve attached a list of celebrities we think would be great to blurb your book, so find out their numbers and call them up. Be sure to do all this by Monday, because Sales Conference starts Tuesday. We come back Friday and then immediately on Saturday (!) all of editorial (Janet, plus probably Michelle, her assistant) and I go to the Frankfurt Book Fair for a week. During that time the office will be closed, although to help cover the costs of the Germany trip it will actually be sublet to the John Lindsay Elementary School P.T.A. as a rehearsal space for this year’s fund-raiser production of “The Music Man.” I’m told that this was one of the things that Jason didn’t understand and which contributed to his “condition.”

Once we get back from Frankfurt, we’d like to see you on morning talk shows like the “Today” show and “The View,” so please get yourself booked on them and keep us “in the loop.” If I’m not here—which I won’t be, since after the book fair I go on vacation for two weeks—just tell Jenni, my assistant, when she gets back from jury duty.

Remember in your blog to tabskim your readers’ comments. You can use Twitter, Chitt-chaTT, or Nit-Pickr. When you reply to comments, try to post at least one photo per hour of you doing everyday tasks around the house, such as answering comments and posting photos. Please make sure they’re pre-scorched. Let me know, when I get back from Retreat a week after my vacation, if self-surging is a problem.

As re: personal appearances, to cut down on travel expenses we’re trying something new this season called RAP, or Readings by Author by Proxy. We’re asking authors in certain key areas of the country to stay “close to home” and give readings at local bookstores of both their own books and a few of our other new releases. We can send you a list of bookstores in your area once you fill out the My Local Bookstores list on your Author’s Questionnaire. You’ll be reading not only from your book but from “Code Blue Stat,” a new medical thriller we’re really excited about, and “Fifty Great Pan Sauces,” a cool new cookbook. Their authors, Dr. Steven Rosenthal and Gail Freenye, will stay in Chicago and Boston, respectively, and read from each other’s book and yours. This idea, apparently, is what made Jason take his clothes off and lock himself in a supply closet.

F.Y.I., we’ve migrated all the photos out of your book and onto the Web page. It makes the hard-copy version cheaper to produce (fewer pages; no photos) and the e-text more “Kindle-friendly.” Sometime next week, call Christopher over an ISDN line and say your name, as distinctly as possible, at least two hundred times, so we can dub it as an AudioAutograph onto the podcast edition. (You may already have done this for a previous book, but somehow Jason managed to delete all the audio files before Security escorted him from the building.)

Don’t hesitate to try to contact me if you have any questions. I sort of have my hands full, promoting twenty-three new releases this fall, but I’m really excited about working on your book, and I look forward to collaborating with you to make “A History of Moorish Architecture, 1200-1492” the biggest success it can be.



Best regards,

Gineen Klein ♦