So I was browsing through the Hot New Kindle Release and saw the awesome cover of Demons of Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase.  First off, I love the cover!  Second, can't wait to read this one!

Amazon Description:
New Orleans coven leader, Jade Calhoun, is embarking on a Hellish mission. Literally. A week ago her ex sacrificed himself to Hell in order to save Jade’s mother. While he suffers, Jade will stop at nothing to bring him home…even if it means working with Lailah, an angel she’s never trusted.

But the stakes are raised when Jade discovers her boyfriend, Kane, is marked by a demon. The very same one who tried seducing him right before Jade’s eyes. Now Kane’s life is on the line, and consequently, Jade’s soul is compromised. She’ll need all the help she can get, including Lailah’s, as she fights her way through Hell to save her ex and Kane—and her entire existence.

Bio from Amazon Author Page:
Deanna is a native Californian, transplanted to the slower paced lifestyle of southeastern Louisiana. When she isn't writing, she is often goofing off with her husband in New Orleans, playing with her two shih tzu dogs, making glass beads, or out hocking her wares at various bead shows across the country. For more information and updates on newest releases visit her blog at www.deannachase.com.

I have to confess I'm a Twilight Mom.

I've read the Twilight series, seen the movies, and even my nine year old daughter is a fan thanks to the movies and the graphic novels.  I'm even crazy enough to think that we all owe a considerable debt to the author as I explained in a post last year:  Why We Should All Love Stephenie Meyer.

So, as you can imagine, my house has been completely wrapped up in the whole Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart break-up.  My daughter has even been working on a music video about it set to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

Some may wonder why the public should even care about the relationship status of these two brooding celebrities.  I have to admit, my fascination is based in that "watching a train wreck" mindset, but there are a few things that really caught my attention.

What if it was the other way around?  Right now there is a huge outcry because "trampire" cheated with her director.  If it was Rob that cheated, would the media still be as harsh?  This media circus is a perfect example that the old double standard is alive and well. (And by the way, I love the "trampire" nickname)

The Morals Clause.  Do Hollywood contracts still have moral clauses?  In the early days of Hollywood, contracts had clauses concerning what would happen if the behavior of an actor had a negative impact on the profit of a movie.  If there is such a clause in Kristen Stewart's contract, how much would she have to pay out if Breaking Dawn Part Two fails to meet profit expectations?

The Humiliation.  We've all been through break-ups and know that you are always a little embarrassed to face family and friends after being wronged by a lover.  It's even worse if we ignored their advice about our ex.  Now kick that up to a global scale.  If Rob Pattinson takes her back, he's a sucker.  If he doesn't take her back, he's cold-hearted.

Expectations.  We all have to live with certain expectations.  We have expectations of ourselves and other people.  Sometimes no matter how hard we try, we can never live up to our expectation or those of others.  Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were build up to be this fairy tale couple come to life, perfect in every way.  Yeah, that'll have a happy ending.

So back to my original statement.  Why should we care what happens to these two people?  Because it's a perfect example of what goes on in relationships!  There is still a double standard of expected behavior, our relationships/affairs can mar our professional lives, it's still embarrassing when a lover cheats, and nothing can doom a relationship faster than unrealistic expectations.

So, while my daughter checks her Google alerts on the subject and changes her mind one minute to the next if he should to take her back or not, I can at least be thankful that her curiosity has made her think about the difference between what's on screen and in magazines and what's real.

In short, again Twilight has given me the chance to teach my daughter a valuable lesson......What we see on screen and in magazines isn't reality.  Now add that to creepy stalker boyfriend being a bad thing, not romantic and

In honor of #ThrowbackThurday, I thought I would share one of my favorite movies:  Labyrinth

From IMDb:  15-year-old Sarah accidentally wishes her baby half-brother, Toby, away to the Goblin King Jareth who will keep Toby if Sarah does not complete his Labyrinth in 13 hours.

So yesterday I was going on about how I am the official Queen of Procrastination.  Well, today it's official.  I should order my own execution for writing over 2,000 words of complete crap.

I know it shouldn't matter.  I know I should tell myself that I can fix it all later, but this stuff was so bad it wouldn't even burn!

So, now here I am, back at the computer and at step one.  At least i have a rough outline now and an idea. 

So now that I'm starting all over, I'm looking at my outline and I have to say, it's not a bad story, there's just a lot of holes in it.  Again, I can feel that fear creeping up and trying to choke me.  What if it's not any good?  Is there some literary guillotine waiting for me?

Yes, I admit it, I am the reigning Queen of Procrastination!  I have all these great ideas for new books and just can't seem to make myself sit down and actually do anything with them.  All hail the queen!

I could lie to myself and say that the reason I'm procrastinating is that I'm just a touched burned out after finishing the last book in the Spiritus series, but that's not really the case.  If I'm really honest, I procrastinate because I'm afraid.

That may sound a little crazy, but it's true.  I'm a little scared to dive into another novel.  What if it's not as good as the Spiritus series?  What if I can't EVER be that good again?  And by "good" I don't mean that it's some literary masterpiece.  I mean "good" in the way that it made ME feel writing it.  I mean "good" in the way the characters seemed like old friends.  What if I can't ever get that again?

Part of me wants to just toss out the ideas of outlines and go back to just writing whatever comes to me.  I definitely get much more writing done that way, and it is the way that I wrote most of the Spiritus books, but then there is always so much to go back and fix!  If I go by a rigid outline, then it takes some of the fun out of it and I find myself struggling with each scene.  Again, is this a real worry or am I just making excuses?

So I ask my fellow writers, do you procrastinate out of fear or am I alone here?  Does that make me the Queen of Procrastination, the Queen of Denial, or the

Well, I've finally reached the end of my series about a Civil War ghost and his reincarnated lover.  It's sort of sad to see the story come to an end and bid these characters goodbye, but the time has come to do just that.  Incarnate, the last book in my Spiritus series will be available in October and here's the big cover reveal.......

I moved away from him, not wanting to be anywhere near him. I was hurt and angry. Ever since that first night in my room when he appeared to me, we had been moving toward this moment. Why couldn’t he see that?

To be in a love affair with a ghost is both a fantasy and a punishment for Becca. Always searching for balance between her deep love for Alastor and her desire for a normal life, a chaotic period of impulsiveness, death, and mourning have led her to the ultimate turning point. Can she and Alastor go against the laws of nature and cheat death to be together again? And at what price?

The amazing, much anticipated conclusion to the Spiritus Series, Incarnate highlights the magic, superstition, and tragedy of this hypnotic romantic epic that has entranced readers.

Last night my daughter watched How To Train Your Dragon.  I got to thinking about when I was her age and how I too, was obsessed with dragons.  Mine were far from the animated creatures she was watching.  I'm really showing my age here, but when I was her age, the 1981 movie Dragonslayer had just been released on cable and I probably watched it four or five times a day.

From Wikipedia:
Dragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval kingdom, following a young wizard (played by Peter MacNicol) who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon.

A co-production between Walt Disney Productions and Paramount Pictures, Dragonslayer was more mature and realistic than other Disney films of the period. Because of audience expectations for a more family-friendly film from Disney, the movie's violence, adult themes, and brief nudity (the first Walt Disney production to do so), was somewhat controversial at the time - even though Disney did not hold US distribution rights, which were held by Paramount (it was rated PG in the U.S.; TV showings after 1997 have carried a TV-14 rating). Disney later created Touchstone Pictures to produce more mature fare.

The film was directed by Matthew Robbins (who later directed *batteries not included), from a screenplay he co-wrote with Hal Barwood. It starred Peter MacNicol, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam, and Caitlin Clarke.

Dragonslayer also featured then-unknown actor Ian McDiarmid as the minor character Brother Jacopus. McDiarmid's next film role after Dragonslayer would be that of the villain Palpatine in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, a role which he would reprise in the subsequent Star Wars films.

The special effects were created at Industrial Light and Magic, where Phil Tippett had co-developed an animation technique called go motion for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Go motion is a variation on stop motion animation, and its use in Dragonslayer led to the film's nomination for the Academy Award for Visual Effects; it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark, the only other Visual Effects nominee that year, which special effects were also provided by ILM. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score; Chariots of Fire took the award. Including the hydraulic 40-foot (12 m) model, 16 dragon puppets were used for the role of Vermithrax, each one made for different movements; flying, crawling, fire breathing etc.[1]

The film was also nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Once again, it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Dragonslayer also marks the first time ILM's services were used for a film other than a Lucasfilm Ltd. production.

In October 2003, Dragonslayer was released on DVD in the U.S. by Paramount Home Video.

I am an avid reader and have many favorite novels, but sometimes there is one that won't leave your mind for other reasons.  A perfect example of this is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The idea of the novel is fairly simple:  Children (clones) are raised for the strict purpose of donating their organs to "normal" people, but the emotion in the novel sticks with you long after you have finished reading.  (I still have nightmares about it.)

Amazon Book Description:
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

Kazuo Ishiguro (from wikipedia)


Kazuo Ishiguro OBE (Japanese: カズオ・イシグロ (Kazuo Ishiguro) or 石黒 一雄 (Ishiguro Kazuo); born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese-born British novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing course in 1980. He became a British citizen in 1982. Ishiguro is one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world, having received four Man Booker Prize nominations, and winning the 1989 for his novel The Remains of the Day. In 2008, The Times ranked Ishiguro 32nd on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

In a twist that brings to mind March Madness and The Final Four, The Huffington Post asked its readers to vote on which book should claim the title of the best novel ever written.  While note surprisingly, To Kill A Mockingbird won, where did your favorite novels land?  Check out the full story and rather amusing bracket over at Huffington Post.

Did your favorites win their death match?