Month: February 2014
Review – Only Love Twice
A Poignant Cross-Cultural Romance.
Wow! Two Novels in One Year!
I’m thrilled that I managed to write two full length novels in 2013, and finish Capricorn Cravings, which was published in February 2014.
Aquarius Ardor is the second in my Zodiac Series, in which each main character displays the traits of her star sign.
Aquarius Ardor
“Anyone who thinks God doesn’t have a macabre sense of humor answer this—why did he bring Andre Rossouw into Arlette’s life on the same day her doctor told her she was about to die?
Attractive FBI Psychic Arlette Xylander displays all the character traits of her star sign, Aquarius, being feisty, eccentric, freedom-loving, flirtatious, rebellious and unpredictable. She may be only five feet tall, but she epitomizes the old adage that dynamite comes in small packages.
Her emotions rage between denial, anger and tears when her doctor tells her she is suffering from a rare terminal disease. When hunky Andre Rossouw asks her to help find his sister who has been missing for four years, Arlette makes two decisions. To beat the disease and find a cure, and to have wild and passionate sex with him.
Then she finds out he has a fiancée.
Arlette’s country home on the banks of Bayou LeGue was left to her by her mysterious aunt Lucie, whom she never met, and whom her dysfunctional parents have never been willing to discuss. She often wakes in the dark hours of the night to hear ghostly voices downstairs, and wishes she could find out who they are and what they want.
The second book I wrote is the third in my Redneck series.
“It goes against all her principles when Redneck P.I. Twila Taunton accepts a case from local attorney Jimmie-Ray, the person she despises more than anyone else in the world, but she simply can’t let the harmless, soft-spoken Brit Pam Taylor be convicted of a murder she clearly did not commit.
She flies in master hacker and computer expert Gasser Cunha, who brings his guitar and joins a local band.
They find they have two suspects. One requires a trip to England. The other is a local, and when Twila discovers he is abusing several dogs he has locked up in his barn, she calls on her long distance boyfriend, Harland. “Have to save those dogs,” she tells him.
There’s only one problem. The suspect’s crazy Goth girlfriend, Xyla. Twila begs her office manager, LaMercy and Great Aunt Essie to do whatever it takes to gain access into the property.
Oh, and Twila thinks she could be pregnant.”
Pitch Perfect – Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest
I stayed awake until midnight to enter my latest manuscript, “Aquarius Addiction”. That’s when they started accepting entries to the Amazon ABNA competition.
Since they were only accepting 10,000 entries I figured they would be inundated and I would be lucky to get in, but it seems there hasn’t been that much interest after all. When one thinks of the millions of authors who must have published their work with Amazon on CreateSpace.com I would have thought they would easily get 10,000 entries the first day.
Upon reflection, I realize not every author has a completed unpublished fiction manuscript available, but anyone who has self-published and retains all the rights to their work can also enter. Entries close on March 2nd, 2014, so there is still time.
There are five genre categories and each author can only enter one novel. They are: General Fiction, Mystery/Thriller,
To enter, one has to submit a pitch (300 words or less), the first 5,000 words, and the complete manuscript.
The first elimination, results announced on March 17th, is judged only on the pitch, judged on originality of idea, overall strength of the Pitch, and the quality of writing. . That means it has to be really compelling. Only 2,000 out of the initial 10,000 will remain – 400 in each genre category.
The second round is judged on the excerpt, specifically
a) Overall Strength of Excerpt, b) Prose/Style,
https://www.createspace.com/
If you don’t have a Createspace login you can create one there.
How do you Celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Saint Valentine’s Day is the holiday of love and many people all around the world celebrate it in one form or another.
The origins of this day are somewhat obscure, but most historians seem to agree that it started as a pagan fertility ritual in ancient Rome, called Lupercalia, where men and women were paired specifically to engage in sexual relations. Legend tells of a Christian priest named Valentine, who performed wedding ceremonies in defiance of Emperor Claudius ll’s decree that soldiers were more effective when they were not married. Valentine is said to have healed his jailer’s daughter’s blindness and on the eve of his execution he wrote her a love letter signed ‘from your Valentine.’
February 14th was first celebrated as a day of love in the 18th century, when the term ‘courtly love’ was coined by members of nobility to describe secret extra-marital affairs or flirtations.
When I grew up, Valentine’s day was the day when one purchased a Valentine’s card and mailed it anonymously to someone you secretly admired or were attracted to. I remember the anticipation of waiting for the mail to see if I had any secret admirers and if I did, the excitement of trying to guess who had sent the card. In today’s world I suppose one could get an anonymous email from an untraceable account, which would be almost as much fun as receiving a card.
Today, Valentine’s Day is celebrated as a christian feast on or around February 14th, and has also been commercialized, which has taken the romance out of it. Gifts and cards are exchanged by people who openly love one another, not necessarily in a romantic manner. Parents can give Valentine’s gifts to their children; friends can give to friends.
The type of gifts are usually flowers, chocolates,and jewelry, and my favorite — a good romance novel.
While there’s nothing wrong with expressing different forms of love, I think I prefer the old way. Romance, and secret admirers are so much more fun!