No Vampires in Pop Culture Feature this Week
This week is hectic in the extreme, but soon the semester will be over and I’ll have a little breathing room to do the things I really need to get done. In addition to finishing Ma Chère Antoinne, I have some reviews to write, my garden to get in, some doctor’s appointments, and I’ll be moving into my new office upstairs at last (photos to come). My Vampires in Pop Culture Feature will be delayed until next week, but I plan to make it a great one.
In the meantime, enjoy the lovely spring weather with all its radiance and splendor.
Nook and iBook and Paperback! Oh my! We’re not in Kindle anymore….
I’m formatting the sneak peek for Nook and iBook as we speak.
Well, it’s more like I’m waiting for them to verify my sales while I make another pot of coffee and keep hitting the refresh button, but you get the picture.
At any rate, people asked me about other formats, so I’m setting up my accounts and getting familiar with the formatting expectations and software peculiarities specific to those platforms. The learning curve is smacking me in the face right now. However, once I get through the process with this sneak peek version, it should make it much easier once I’m ready to upload the complete book since I’ll know what I’m doing by then.
My CreateSpace account is set up and waiting as well, so once the book is finished, all I have to do is upload the file and paperbacks will be available too. I plan to pay the nominal fee to make them available through bookstore distributors.
The timing of all this hinges on whether I get a publisher/agent or not. I’m certainly hoping so, because I’d rather be writing than fiddling with technical issues of the uploads. However, if it doesn’t happen this summer, I’ll be selling the book myself while I keep sending in submissions. Either way, the book will be published, and I fully intend to keep on writing regardless.
So while I’m cursing the screen and searching for the last Oreo in the package out of frustration, I’m also really excited and happy. Even good change can be stressful. But this time last year, I didn’t have a book at all and didn’t have a thought of needing to learn this stuff. Writing was just something I did in my spare time. Publishing it was something I dreamed about but never thought I could actually do. I’m not sure what pushed me over the edge, but there was this little voice inside that said “It’s time.”
And so here I am, doing the thing I always wanted to do and trusting that there will be an audience who loves the story as much as I do. Trusting myself to tell it. And trusting that “someday” is almost here.
Thank you!
I am honored and thrilled that my one day only sale was such a success! Wow! Thank you to everyone who downloaded the book and to those who shared the link with others as well. By the end of the sale, the sneak peek was ranked #49 in Historical Fiction, and #1966 overall in Free Kindle books, so that makes me really excited and grateful.
I hope you all enjoy it. It’s just a taste of what’s to come in the full version, but I hope it’s enough to whet your appetite.
The book is nearly complete. I plan to have the first draft done by the end of the month, then spend 2-4 weeks on edits. I’m still on track for a summer release, and though I don’t yet have a firm date, as soon as I know when it will be available, I will let you know.
If you would like early notice, please email me at deliaremington13@gmail.com and I will add you to my mailing list.
You can also “like” my Facebook page to find out about events and giveaways I’ll be doing as the time draws near.
Thank you again, and happy reading!
FREE! Cinco De Mayo Special this Sunday!
ONE DAY ONLY!
On Sunday, May 5, the Sneak Peek Edition of my upcoming novel, Ma Chère Antoinne, is free on Amazon Kindle!
If you haven’t read it, there’s no better time to check it out! And if you already have your copy, share it with your friends! It’s free all day!
Click here to download:
Sneak Peek Edition, Ma Chère Antoinne
Vampires in Pop Culture Feature: Moonlight
Moonlight was only on for one season in 2007-2008, but what a season it was. Five years later, I still miss it, and the show still holds up even with time.
Private detective Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin) was smouldering in every scene and the chemistry between him and reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles) was hot enough to set the screen on fire.
I loved the back and forth “will-they-won’t-they” each week, and the tension when Mick’s ex-wife Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) made an appearance kept me on the edge of my seat and desperate for answers. Just when I thought I hated her, I’d see something that made me wonder if she was really so bad as we’d been led to believe. If the show had been continued, I really hoped for more of her story.
But I have to say that my favorite character was none of the three corners of the love triangle but Mick’s wisecracking rich sidekick, Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring). The wicked humor Josef was a delight, and he always seemed to say just what the rest of us in the audience were thinking:
Josef Kostan: So, have you sealed the deal yet?
Mick St. John: It’s not about sex.
Josef Kostan: Everything’s about sex.
Mick St. John: I’m 52 years older than her, I drink blood bought from the morgue, and I tend to bite down when I…
Josef Kostan: Some women like that.
But Josef also showed a secret heart of gold and over the course of the season, it became clear why he and Mick were such close friends. His story was one I really was begging to hear, and it disappointed me that we only got a glimpse into his backstory.
Each episode of Moonlight was smart, sexy, exciting, and full of mystery. Mick’s narration made it feel like an old time detective story, but with a supernatural twist that made it fresh and unpredictable. The writers managed to make a show that was full of surprises, and when I heard that CBS had decided to cancel it before it really had enough time to reach its potential, I was really disappointed. I think they missed out on a great opportunity by not taking a chance on a vampire mystery/romance. The same year, True Blood premiered on HBO, and obviously, audiences were quite willing to watch and keep coming back for more. Moonlight could definitely have given it a run for it’s money if CBS had been willing to take a chance on it.
Episodes of Moonlight are available on DVD or can be downloaded from Amazon, Netflix, or iTunes. If you missed it, you’re in for a real treat. And if you haven’t seen it in a while, it’s definitely worth rewatching.
Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery Series: Why Spoilers are Jerks
I’ve been a Sookie fan from Book One. Some might say I’m a rabid fan.
Fans have been divided into teams:
- Team Bill
- Team Alcide
- Team Eric
- Team Quinn
- Team Sam
The HBO True Blood series only fanned the flames of those factions, with a great deal of online rivalry, sometimes rancor, happening on all sides.
As for myself, however, I’ve always been Team Sookie. I want whatever is best for HER. She’s the character I identified with. She’s the one I cared about. She’s the one I rooted for. And she’s the one that kept me coming back again and again, book after book, wanting more.
Now that the final book in Sookie’s saga, Dead Ever After, is set for release, some jerk got hold of a copy early and decided to spoil it for fans around the world by posting the ending on Amazon.
Seriously? If Mrs. Harris’ publisher doesn’t sue for damages, I will be very much surprised. But more importantly, fans everywhere should be outraged.
You know those people. The ones who have to know it all. They gossip about other people and get a special pride out of knowing the dirt on someone. They like seeing someone else suffer because it makes them feel superior to say “I knew it FIRST!”
I remember waiting in line in 2005 to buy a copy of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and some jerk purchased his copy, flipped to the back of the book, and yelled out “DUMBLEDORE DIES!!!” Children sobbed. Adults wanted to punch him in the face. And the bookstore kicked him out. But the damage was done. All the anticipation was gone. We’d all been robbed of the chance to be surprised, and I will never forgive that person. I don’t know his name. I don’t know what he looks like. But my anger will always be there.
Giving the spoilers to Dead Ever After is exactly the same. It’s bad enough to tell people the ending, but to do it before the book is even released ought to get you a one way ticket to Hades. It’s disrespectful to Charlaine Harris. It’s disrespectful to the fans. And it’s disrespectful to Sookie.
If you wanted to be a know-it-all, well, you got it. But you’re always going to be a person I hate, you gossipy ratfink jerk.
My Plot is Doing Double Dutch
I’m driving myself crazy.
I have my outline. I’ve planned out my chapters. I know exactly what is supposed to happen. I can envision the scene in my mind like a movie. I’ve done my prewriting. But when I get to my computer, I find myself just staring at the screen and can’t seem to start.
Somehow it feels as though I’m just waiting for something to happen. I can’t tell what that thing is, unfortunately.
People have asked me if I’m afraid it won’t be perfect. I don’t think that’s it.
My story has been in my mind for so long now, I feel as though it’s already going. All the balls are in the air, I just have to jump in and juggle them.
Or to put it better, it’s like my characters and my plot are doing a furious double dutch, and I have to jump in there and dance with it rather than trip over myself and mess the whole thing up.
Okay, so maybe it is fear of imperfection that’s stopping me after all.
I’m going to take William Faulkner’s advice and just write it down, even if it’s bad. I can always come back and rework it, right? Right.
Just get it down.
NEW RELEASE!
Book 3 of The Blood Royal Saga is here!
The Real Delia 
Recent Comments