Rowan Speedwell's Blog, page 11

…and threaten fair Aethelmearc, as the Eastern Tiger doth raise its claws as oft in years past.  The might of the Midrealm shall stand in defense of her sister kingdom, and so will the Barony of Ayreton meet its feudal duty in sending its fighters.  We shall travel in train with the new-named Baron Henry, Lord of Exeter and Chief of House Pellegrin.  As in years past, I shall join households with my Cousin of Otterbourne, and our minions shall haul forth our household goods.  Baron Henry...

Finding Zach is still Number One over on All Romance Ebooks.  WOOT!

There was a thread on our authors' Google Group yesterday dealing with sales and that sort of thing, and one of the writers, Nick Hanson, mentioned an advertising dictum:  "never give the public what they want; give them what they don't know they want."  And for some reason (snort), I was reminded of Hermione Gingold as Mrs. Shinn in The Music Man saying "She advocates dirty books!"

Chaucer!

Rabelais!

Balzac!

I just loved the way she said "Baaalzac!" in that growly rusty voice of hers, as though ...

All Romance Ebooks has Finding Zach at number one in Reader Rated Romance at this exact moment.  Given the transitory nature of ratings, I imagine if I check five minutes from now it will be lower or possibly off the list altogether.  It's been on the list continuously since it was released, so I guess it's had a good run.  Sic transit gloria mundi and all that.  I'm enjoying the moment.

Amazon has a new version of the Kindle out.  I'm not rushing to buy; I still have plenty of room on the...

WBEZ radio host Dick Buckley died yesterday.  He was 85.  For the last thirty years his deep, rumbly voice and easy-going charm brought the joys of jazz to the masses.  And me.

Now, I don't like jazz (except for the pop jazz of the thirties).  I'm not even a huge music fan.  But I loved Dick Buckley.  He was one of those radio hosts that make you feel like they're talking directly to you; like they're sitting across from you in their living room and carrying on a conversation.  He was so...

Forgot to mention earlier that I've finished the first draft of a short story (longish, 15,000 words) that takes the Orpheus myth and sets it in a 1930′s speakeasy, with Apollo as a club owner and Dionysus as a gangster.  Fun to write, but still needs major edits.  I'm hoping it will be accepted for an upcoming anthology if I can pare down the wordage a bit.   It's in the hands of Beta Reader #1 for preliminary feedback.

Now back to the Regency…

New interview up at Raine Delight's blog:  http://rainedelightbooknook.blogspot.com

Also a on the same page is a more interesting (from my perspective, anyway) discussion with fellow DSP author Clancy Nacht about steampunk.  Steampunk is cool.

Part of my day job is to review headlines and news feeds and disseminate the links and synopses to the attorneys in our firm.  Most of it's pretty dry, but every once in a while you get some interesting stuff.  For instance:

That Old Spice guy and...

Well, if one substitutes "words" for music.  I'm trying to write a short story possibly for an upcoming anthology and while the theme of the anthology dovetails beautifully with the story, the limit for submission is 12,000 words… and I'm already at 11,000+ and not anywhere near the ending.  Close to the climax, though.  There are some bits I can chop out of the beginning that won't horribly affect my Deathless Prose, but unless the editors like it enough to include it anyway, it's going to b...

New interview with Ralph Gallagher of Dancing Dove Reviews is up today.  Poor guy – I promised him the interview like in June and screwed up.  But he's very tolerant.  He's promised me a review, too, when he can fit it in.  Yay!   http://dancing-dove.blogspot.com/2010/07/interview-with-rowan-speedwell.html

I've also got an interview with Raine Delight scheduled for July 18th, and another with Michele-n-Jeff Reviews, no date set yet.  Just sent off the review copy to them this morning.  Yikes!

Okay, now that we've all had a bad ABBA flashback (okay, I admit it, I liked ABBA), we'll move on.  After having read two Lois McMaster Bujold novels (Sharing Knife: Passage and : Horizon) and feeling completely inadequate, and two Amy Lane novels (Truth in the Dark and Keeping Promise Rock, and I really need the sequel to that to come out soon, please…) and cementing the feeling of inadequacy, I tuned into Goodreads this morning to find a new, highly ambivalent review.  I take those...