"Porn for Women"

by Raelene Gorlinsky

Do you want to know how to create the perfect fantasy romance hero? What traits to give him so that every woman immediately loves him? Read Porn for Women (and enjoy the photos). Here's the intro:

What really turns women on? We, at the Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative, have dedicated our careers to answering this very question. In pursuit of answers, we canvassed the nation, traveling far and wide, surveying women across the land. We asked young women, old women, rich and poor, "what really, really gets you hot?" [...] Prepare to enter our fantasy world, girls (or guys who want to learn something), a world where clothes get folded just so, delicious dinners await us at home, and flatulence is just not that funny.

Yep, the guys pictured in this little book say all those things that make us swoon, make us adore them and think we've found the perfect man.  So put these pearls into your hero's dialogue:

"I don't have to have a reason to bring you flowers."
"Ooh, look, the NFL playoffs are today. I bet we'll have no trouble parking at the crafts fair."
"I love a clean house." (Picture of hunky, shirtless guy doing the vacuuming.)"
"I know, let's take you shoe shopping."
"Want to snuggle?"
"Have another piece of cake. I don't like you looking so thin."
"As soon as I finish the laundry, I'll do the grocery shopping. And I'll take the kids with me so you can relax."

There, doesn't that sound like the perfect man? Total fantasy, but still perfect for a romance hero.

"Debut" Books

by Raelene Gorlinsky

I'm a reader of professional reviews, such as the ones in Publishers Weekly and other industry sources. So I found this article hysterical because it is so, so true. You can tell what a reviewer really thought about a book by the adjective they attach to "debut".

http://blog.pshares.org/2012/05/18/blurbese-a-_____-debut/

To quote part of the article:

1. “a promising debut”: “This author already signed a two-book deal.”
2. “a timely debut”: “A book about racism.”
3. “a clever debut”: “This book has a twist ending.”
4. “a solid debut”: “I have an irrational dislike of this technically unimpeachable book.”
5. “a touching/heartbreaking debut”: “Someone dies.”
6. “a chilling debut”: “Someone dies, and then we discover a terrible secret about them.”
7. “a memorable debut”: “This book has a lot of sex in it.”
8. “a bold debut”: “This book relies on a gimmick that, considered independently, is kind of obnoxious.”
9. “a slender, tightly wound debut”: “Sorry, I was thinking about my new watch.”
10. “a stunning/dazzling/ breathtaking/auspicious/knockout/ splendid/winning debut”: “I want my name to appear on this book’s dust jacket.”

Fifty Shades of BDSM

As the premier publisher of erotic romance in its many colors and flavors, EC editors know quite a bit about the shades of BDSM. We've been contributing to the discussions about the Fifty Shades trilogy going on at the USA Today Happy Ever After blog.

The HEA article "Fifty Shades of Grey: Who knew women like erotica?!?!?" (yes, she's being sarcastic) includes an interview by blog host Joyce Lamb with EC Publisher Raelene Gorlinsky. Joyce's inquiring mind wanted to know what makes erotica, erotica. According to Raelene, "Erotica is designed to make the reader pleasurably sexually turned on. Of course, what is "pleasurable" can be different for every person. But the current use of erotica to describe a category of fiction is intended to have a positive connotation — it's not porn, it's not skanky, it doesn't make you feel "dirty". So much current erotica is aimed at women readers, to give them not just excitement, but a positive and empowering view of sex."

And if you liked Fifty Shades and want to try some more BDSM erotica, check out our recommendations of some great books:
Beyond 'Fifty Shades of Grey': Recs by Ellora's Cave editors

So tell us--have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? And the second and third (Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed)? Are you in agreement that these are erotica, but not erotic *romance*? Did you like the stories, did you consider them well-written?

USA Today - Happy Ever After romance novel blog

by Raelene Gorlinsky

Ellora’s Cave has received much-appreciated attention and support from Joyce Lamb’s HEA blog on the USA Today site.  Please do check out the blog and the many book reviews, and leave comments if you are so inclined. I hope the USA Today organization sees that a blog about romance novels is appreciated and popular, and gives the genre the respect and attention it deserves.
http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/index

About the blog:
http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2011-10-04/welcome-to-happy-ever-after/550363/1

Desiree Holt’s story “Bedroom Eyes” was reviewed on Oct. 16:
http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2011-10-16/review-bedroom-eyes-by-desiree-holt/554111/1

Desiree was interviewed on Oct. 22: http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2011-10-21/interview-desiree-holt-author-of-bedroom-eyes-/556333/1

Yesterday Joyce posted my remarks from a discussion she and I had about a couple of recent EC books. Her reviewers can’t fit in so many EC books, but Joyce said she enjoyed my comments and she’d like to use them as a way to recommend the books to readers:
http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2011-11-19/erotica-recs-from-elloras-cave-publisher-raelene-gorlinsky/569105/1

Review Repetition?

by Raelene Gorlinsky

My turn to talk about something that's bothering me. What does Kelli call it, Me Time?

As a reader (NOT wearing my editor or publisher hat) I'm getting a bit concerned about a particular aspect of online reviews. As in, how many of the reviewers actually thoroughly read and think about the books--or how many are just copying someone else's review? Every person has individual reading tastes and preferences, so I'd expect opinions on books to reflect that diversity. Why am I seeing more and more online reviews that say the same things about a book? (I'm specifically talking about online review sites and bloggers who post reviews, as those are the most prolific and the ones I'm most likely to read. I'm not talking about reviews at big businesses like Publishers Weekly or the New York Times.)

Okay, if a book has very apparent glowing elements or serious flaws, likely most readers/reviewers would notice and mention those. But type of plot, characters, setting -- everybody's different, so should have different things to say. But I'm seeing multiple reviews with almost the same wording. And that's not matching up with the diversity of comments from my fellow readers. For example, I just read a steampunk romance by a well-known author. The book got a lot of buzz and a number of online reviews. A lot of those reviewers had close to identical comments about the hero. Yet when I read the book, I saw the hero in a completely different light, I had a different understanding of his motivations and emotions. And when I talked to others who'd read the story, they had varying takes on and opinions of the hero. If a dozen readers voice a dozen different opinions, it seems odd that another dozen readers who happen to label themselves reviewers churn out almost identical opinions.

The same thing happened with a recent erotica story. Every reviewer seemed to make the same comment about an item they felt was unnecessary. In fact, the sentences in reviews on different sites were practically duplicates. And yet comments from readers reflected that some of them appreciated that element or felt it was not a problem -- again, diversity of reader opinion that was not reflected by diversity in reviewer opinion.

A "reviewer" is just a reader who posts their comments for others to see. And nowadays anyone with a blog wants to post reviews, whether they have any skill at explaining a book's strengths and flaws or not. It isn't like there's special training or testing to be allowed to call oneself a reviewer. Just (hopefully) a love of books and an ability to analyze what you like and dislike about a story and express that coherently.

Unfortunately, sometimes authors are so hopeful to have someone mention their name and praise their book that they provide free copies to any person who says they'll write about the book on a blog or review site. Authors should research all such requests for review copies: ask the person for all the places they post reviews and under what names, how many books they have reviewed and in what genres, what their process and timeline are, what their criteria are for selecting books to review and what books they will not accept, what they do if they DNF a book. Make sure you trust this person to read your whole book and give it a fair and well-thought-out review. (And I am leery of reviewers or sites that never post negative reviews -- I don't want nasty, but I do want honest. I learn a lot about a book that got an F or DNF at AAR, SBTB, DA or GBU, and I may choose to read some of those books based on the analysis in that review.)

It was pointed out to me by someone associated with a review site that six online reviews are not necessarily six reviewers. It isn't just that a person may post their review in multiple places -- lawdy, how many places can you find the same Harriet Klausner review. But some reviewers use several "pen names" to post on different sites. They just slightly modify the wording of the review to post it elsewhere as if they are a different reader. And it has always been rumored that some reviewers don't read the books -- they read the blurb, excerpt, and other reviews, and then post a review under their own name. So of course in such a case they'd be mimicking someone else's comments and reflecting the same opinions.

Why? Are some people so eager to believe their opinion matters to others, to suck up to authors, or to see their own name online that they will "cheat" in order to post lots of reviews?

I don't really care whether a reviewer liked or disliked a book. I read reviews to find out about the plot and characters, the writing style, particular elements it contains -- so that I can decide if it's the type of story I would like. So it does bother me that I may be misled by reviews that are just a copy of someone else's opinion. For example, I would avoid a book if multiple reviews say the heroine is TSTL -- I assume if that many people had that same reaction, it likely is accurate about the story. But now I wonder if I'm missing books I would enjoy, because really only one or a few people had that opinion, and others just copied them.

I appreciate insightful and informational reviews, I thank and applaud the dedicated reviewers who put time and effort into reading and analyzing a story. So it's discouraging that I'm seeing less of that, more useless repetition from a minority who are diluting the value of the reviewing process to readers.

If you read reviews, have you noticed this phenomenon? Do you post reviews and have an opinion to offer on this?

Book Review: Punctuation Celebration

review by Meghan Conrad

Punctuation Celebration by Elsa Knight Bruno is a book aimed at kindergartners though second graders, and it's all about--who guessed already?--punctuation.

Which, I realize, sounds fairly dull, especially for those of us who have children who are maybe not as enthusiastic about reading as we'd like them to be. (Isn't that every parent?) And it's probably true that if your kid won't read a book about monsters or fairies or talking trucks or crime-fighting ducklings or whatever it is that kids these days read books about, you're going to have a hard sell getting them to read a book about punctuation.

For those of us who are lucky enough to have children who will at least deign to look at books that we present to them, though, Punctuation Celebration is a series of cute, breezy poems that give kids a basic overview of the primary forms of punctuation: periods, question marks, exclamation points, commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, colons, semicolons, parentheses, ellipses, dashes and hyphens.

The information sticks to the basics--a comma, for example, "does not say 'Stop.' It simply says 'Slow.'" Given the number of adults who struggle with sometimes-complex punctuation rules, I thought the author did a good job in covering the primary uses of each mark without getting bogged down in possible nuances of their use.

The poems range from five to fifteen lines, and each poem talks about what the mark does and offers an example or two. Each page is illustrated with colorful artwork depicting the example from the poem.

My only complaint about the book, and it's a minor one, is that the rhyme scheme sometimes gives rise to a slightly tortured rhyme or reference that's a bit too mature for the target age group. The poem for exclamation marks says that exclamation marks have clout and make you want to shout, and I can honestly say that I'd never before thought of an exclamation mark having clout, nor can I imagine a bunch of first-graders thinking that it did. Similarly, in the poem on quotation marks, the author uses "fourscore and seven years ago" as an example--what the heck kind of seven-year-old knows what fourscore means?

Overall, though, Punctuation Celebration is a charming little book, and one that's worth buying for any budding grammarian.

"Damn you, Nicholas Sparks"

Amazon Reader Reviews, created by author Amy Kathleen Ryan

Typical author reaction to reader reviews posted on Amazon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Cr6s-Heso

Rave Reads from 2009

by Raelene Gorlinsky

December was full of "best books of the year" lists from everyone and everywhere. So we waited a bit to discuss ours.

Did you have a fiction read or two in 2009 that absolutely blew you away? (A book you first read in 2009, regardless of when it was published.) That you rushed around to recommend to everyone you knew? Not the book that you were "supposed" to love, or that was necessarily a mega-seller, or that all the snooty people said you absolutely had to read and appreciate or you were a Neanderthal. No, honestly, what was your favorite fun and fascinating novel (especially genre fiction) of the year? And of course, why did it hit you like that, why do you think we'd all love it too?

I'll start off with mine. I did indeed rave about these two stories to everyone I talked "books" with. And I loved them both for the same reasons. Oh, and since both were the first in planned series, I am enthusiastically and impatiently awaiting the next books!

Soulless by Gail Carringer: Paranormal steampunk romance. The author's website has an excellent description: "comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are either Jane Austen doing urban fantasy, or PG Wodehouse doing steampunk."

The paranormals in this world are vampires, werewolves and ghosts. Humans are now aware they exist, and they are tolerated, at least in England.

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh: Urban fantasy romance. And she had two novellas out as part of this series, so I scarfed those up too! From her website: "lethal, beautiful archangels hold sway over immortals and mortals both, with the Guild Hunters caught in between, tasked with retrieving those vampires who break contracts with their angelic masters."

These angels are not the religious kind -- they are almost-immortal winged beings with strange powers, control over humans, and the ability to create vampires. They are often cruel, power-hungry, greedy, uncaring of humanity; their motives not something we can comprehend.

So why did I love these two books? Unique and complex worldbuilding. Both series are based on concepts I've not run into before, and I am in awe of the authors for dreaming these worlds up. And most especially for having such detailed, consistent, and believable worlds. I don't want to spoil it if you plan to read these, so I won't go into details. But I just start stuttering in amazement whenever I reread these books -- which I've done several times. And I'll be first in line to read the next ones in both series. Oh, Gail or Nalini, if you need a beta reader in future...

So...now you tell us your 2009 raves.

Don't Tell My Mother...But Read This Book

by Raelene Gorlinsky

Have I mentioned my mother? I love her dearly. She is extremely proud of and brags about "my daughter, the publisher", but is completely embarrassed by what I publish. She doesn't read romance, thinks Nora Roberts writes smut, doesn't see the need for more than one kiss in a book. There are standing orders in the family--if anyone asks about my job, what it is the company publishes, the allowable response is "women's fiction". Not romance, let alone erotic romance! (I can't recall my mother ever using the word 'sex' in front of her children--all of us in our forties and fifties now.)

So...I'd really like to brag to the family about being quoted in a new book that is getting a lot of buzz. However, then Mom would ask what I was quoted saying, where she could find the book to read it. "Uh, Mom, it's called Beyond Heaving Bosoms. I'm in the chapter about sex in romance novels, and I talk about anal sex, menage a trois, and BDSM."

No, I think I better just take a pass on mentioning this one to the family.

However, I'm mentioning it to all of you.
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan, (c)2009; Simon and Schuster; trade paperback; US$15.00

If you are a published or aspiring romance author, this book is well worth your time. It is entertaining and informative. The authors describe it as "for readers by readers". They clearly love romance novels but are not blind to some of the foibles and faults of the genre, the cliches and clunkers. Authors could learn a lot about their desired audience, about how to improve their plots and characters. I don't agree with all their statements and conclusions, but there is an incredible amount of advice about the history and current trends in romance writing, about reader expectations and preferences.

Who could fail to find wisdom in "A Hymn to the Hymen", "Top Ten Reasons Behind the Creation of a Virgin Widow", "The Three Most Fucked-Up Things Heroes Have Done and Gotten Away With", or "Everything I know About Biology and Physics, I Learned from Romance-Novel Covers".

And it's utterly charming that the chapters are named rather than numbered: Cleavage, Petticoat, Corset, Codpiece, Secret Cowboy Baby, WTF, Bad Sex, Love Grotto, Phallus, Heaving Bosom.

Be forewarned though, the tone is snarky and the language is salty (and fun).

The Art of Romance

The Art of Romance: Mills & Boon and Harlequin Cover Designs

Total entertainment for devoted romance readers!

The book starts with a 10-page history of these two romance publishing giants, and then the rest is filled with cover art, 1908 through 2008. Looking at those old cover styles is hysterical! Let alone the story titles!

Mills & Boon started in 1908, and originally published a wide variety of genres. Jack London was one of their early authors. The company began to focus on romances for women in the WWI era. Harlequin started in Canada in 1949; in the late 1950s they began to publish M&B hospital romances in paperback in North America. Mills&Boon merged with Harlequin in 1971.

Oh, lawdy, the covers of The Girl Who Saved His Honour (1913) and Footlights (1920) by Arthur Applin! One of my favorite titles is Romance Goes Tenting (1956) - it appears to be a circus romance. The poorly drawn couple on the cover of The Good and the Bad (1955) seem to be suffering from bad hangovers after a night of dissipation and who knows what - makes me wonder what the story plot was. It's clear that even through the 1990s, the M&B covers were much tamer and "old-fashioned" than the Harlequin covers.

The last section has a few covers of foreign editions, including several Japanese Manga editions of Harlequin romances. Definitely a different look.

by Raelene Gorlinsky

The Last Lecture

by Raelene Gorlinsky

This is not the post I had planned for today. But I think it is relevant for the mission of this blog, because it is about the power of words - the way they can move us and inspire us.

I had, of course, seen many mentions of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. He is now the "late" professor, although he was still alive when the book first came out this year. I kept meaning to buy it, but never quite did - it's a bit pricey. But I was in the bookstore today and the book was on sale. And I figured if I didn't like it, it would make a good Christmas gift for someone.

You know, people look at you oddly when you cry in public. I was waiting in a slow line at the pharmacy, so I opened the book I'd just bought and started to read. And to cry. I can't describe all the emotions in this book, although the transcendent one is the courage of the author. So I will let him tell you about the book in his own words, part of the Introduction:

I have an engineering problem.

While for the most part I'm in terrific physical shape, I have ten tumors in my liver and I have only a few months left to live.

I am a father of three young children, and married to the woman of my dreams. While I could easily feel sorry for myself, that wouldn't do them, or me, any good.

So, how to spend my very limited time?

The obvious part is being with, and taking care of, my family. While I still can, I embrace every moment with them, and do the logistical things necessary to ease their path into a life without me.

The less obvious part is how to teach my children what I would have taught them over the next twenty years. They are too young now to have those conversations. All parents want to teach their children right from wrong, what we think is important, and how to deal with the challenges life will bring. We also want them to know some stories from our own lives, often as a way to teach them how to lead theirs. My desire to do that led me to give a "last lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University.

These lectures are routinely videotaped. I knew what I was doing that day. Under the ruse of giving an academic lecture, I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I am a lecturer. So I lectured.

I lectured about the joy of life, about how much I appreciated life, even with so little of my own left. I talked about honesty, integrity, gratitude, and other things I hold dear. And I tried very hard not to be boring.

This computer science professor has an eloquence and emotional commitment that every author should admire. It would be fantastic if every fiction book (especially the romances) I read affected me as much. So, go read this book.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamotte

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Book review by Sarah Pinneo (author of The Ski House Cookbook)

Most times, I would cross the street to avoid a book about writing. Those of us who have delved too far into writing books have come away with the realization that every moment spent reading them is really just a moment subtracted from-- you guessed it-- writing!

But then there's novelist Anne Lamott. Her Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life is the only writing book I've ever found to be worthy of procrastination. Lamott frames the book modestly, as if it belonged on the same shelf as those other watery tomes about writing punchy dialog and describing your characters physically. Although you'll find practical pearls of writing wisdom between its covers, Bird by Bird does not aim to instruct in the minutia of good writing. Instead, it shows the reader how good writing gets done. It is a book about process.

The cornerstone to Lamott's process is the chapter entitled "Shitty First Drafts". It seems obvious only in hindsight that every writer on the planet writes shitty first drafts. But when Lamott painstakingly explained the transformation of my Shitty First Draft to an edited masterpiece, a light bulb went on over my head. (Apparently there have been many such light bulbs, since Bird by Bird outsells most of Lamott's actual novels.)

Writes Lamott: "I know some very great writers, writers... who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much." Holding the reader's hand, she explains how to get past the anxiety and disapproval of rough writing in order to find the "heat" of a piece, and then develop it. Lamotte permissions her reader to feel doubt and self loathing. But she does not permit the reader to give up. And she does all this with prose that is knee slapping, gut-aching funny.

Her wonderful imagery and humor along the way make the book an easy page turner. The end of the book meanders a bit into other topics: "Writers Block", "The Moral Point of View", "Publication." Those parts of the book are less forceful, but every bit as fun to read. For example, Lamott encourages her readers to use even painful material from real life in their writing, yet she advises them to change details in just such a way as to prevent libelous action. If all else fails, she recommends giving those characters "a teeny, tiny penis" in the story so that the real life men who inspired those characters would be less likely to step forward and sue.

On every page of Bird by Bird, you'll find a reason to reflect, and also a reason to laugh.

The Comic Toolbox: How To Be Funny Even If You're Not

The Comic Toolbox: How To Be Funny Even If You’re Not by John Vorhaus
Book review by Belle Scarlett (http://www.bellescarlett.com/)

Petruchio and his favorite shrew, Kate. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Harry and Sally. Ross and Rachel. Carrie and Mr. Big. What do these iconic romantic couples have in common? Will they, or won’t they? How hard will they make us laugh before they finally do? And why, oh why, am I answering my own questions with yet more questions? The answers to these and other laughable ponderings can undoubtedly be found in The Comic Toolbox: How To Be Funny Even If You’re Not by John Vorhaus. I consider it my go-to humor primer whether I’m writing a full-on comedy or merely want to lace my romance characters’ sexual chemistry with some fun banter or a humorous twist. After all, love and laughter go together like Sam and Diane.

Vorhaus is my comedic answer to Strunk and White, had they been a vaudeville act. Since I have A.D.D. when it comes to writing reference books, they must be entertaining or succinct, preferably both. Vorhaus delivers up a rapid, droll textbook that elicits chuckles thanks to his engaging prose that practices the comic rules it preaches. He gives us such handy dandy comedy tools like “jokes vs. jokoids”, “the comic set up and pay-off”, “four facts about the comic character”, “the rule of three”, “wince factor”, “comic callback”, and how to “avoid clichés like the plague”. Even his chapter on practical jokes turns out to be an actual practical joke.

In Toolbox, Vorhaus guides our big clown feet through the ABCs of “comedy hell” and encourages us to lower our sights, thus giving us permission to take risks until the good stuff flows. Moreover, Toolbox offers helpful information regarding basic plotting that is surprisingly accessible for all writing levels. Vorhaus peppers many chapters with effective writing exercises, so budding comedy writers may begin throwing figurative pies in faces post-haste.

Giving the reader a clear, practical method of organizing and structuring comedy writing that is oh so useful, Vorhaus teaches writers who don’t believe they were born funny how the funny happens, and gives them the tools to begin firing their own comic plots and characters out of a cannon with confidence. As one testimonial by a sitcom producer on the back cover of Toolbox asserts, “I don’t think people should read this book. They’re liable to learn all our secrets and take my job.”

I use the serviceable tools I learned from Toolbox every time I sit down to write romance because my paranormal alpha males desire exceptional heroines who provide them with both love and laughter throughout their preternaturally long lives. We never tire of the sport of courtship in the game of the love. There are probably petroglyphs on a rock wall somewhere depicting the timeless romance formula of “caveman gets cavegirl, caveman loses cavegirl, caveman drags cavegirl back to his cave by her hair, and they all live HEA.” So now, let us count the comic lovers … who are some of your favorite sexy, funny couples?

The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s

The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s
by Marc McCutcheon

Reviewed by Titania Ladley (http://www.TitaniaLadley.com)

Have you ever wondered what a “puddin’ foot” is? Or “bilboes”? How about a “night hawk”, or what it means to “wake snakes”? In one’s everyday life, maybe not. If you’re a writer looking to authenticate your 19th-century manuscript and enrich the story so the reader feels as if they’ve been whisked back in time, you might want to give The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s a try.

But that’s not all this book offers. For example, would you like to learn if placing a player piano in your western saloon in 1820 is accurate? Hopefully so — this innovation didn't come into existence until 1842. You’ll find clothing descriptions and when they came into fashion; when popular songs, magazines and books were penned; a chronology of important events such as war dates and when states were admitted to America; and when household items were invented, along with their descriptions and where they might commonly be found.

In this reference book, a writer can also learn about everyday modes of transportation in the 1800s, slang to enrich dialogue, available furniture and household inventions, and ordinary — or not so ordinary — food and drinks. Health issues, courting and marriage practices, weapons, slavery, facts on the Civil War and various battles, and monetary usages are also included, to name a few more topics.

While The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s is an entertaining and very interesting book of facts and history references for laymen, it’s more a useful handbook for writers of the historical genre, including the western, adventure, thriller, mystery and romance sub-genres. I highly recommend this excellent resource for authors preparing a manuscript set in the 19th century.

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You

Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You by Ray Bradbury

Book Review by Kathy Kulig (www.kathykulig.com)

“Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure.” From the back cover of Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury.

If you didn’t know Bradbury has published over 500 short stories, novels, screenplays, television scripts and poems, you would discover the master storyteller after reading Zen in the Art of Writing. The magical and emotional resonance of his prose will make you look at the world and your writing with a new sense of wonder - and enthusiasm. Okay, the secret’s out. I’ve been a fan since I was a kid.

Bradbury’s delightful and thought-provoking essays cover tips and topics dealing with brainstorming ideas, developing your voice, style and imagination, enticing the muse and autobiographical insights.

One of his methods for brainstorming begins with word association by collecting nouns. He writes down things, people, images, emotions and sets them aside until the subconscious stirs them up and shapes them into amazing stories.

In one example: “…THE NIGHT TRAIN. THE CARNIVAL. THE CAROUSEL. THE DWARF. THE MIRROR MAZE…” He noticed a pattern to his lists and remembered his childhood fear of carousels and fascination for carnivals. Decades later he wrote Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Some of his works were inspired by other writers. The idea for “The Shoreline at Sunset” was sparked after reading Robert Hillyer’s poem about a mermaid near Plymouth Rock. A chapter for his novel The Martian Chronicles came from Byron’s poem “And the Moon Be Still as Bright”.

And what about the Zen thing in the book? Bradbury simply states, “Work, Relaxation and Don’t Think.” When in balance, these three aspects can maintain creativity, sanity, and avoid boredom. The philosophy is explored further and he even gives a surprisingly new definition of work. No, I won’t give it away.

Imagination, the Muse, the subconscious — where do ideas come from? Focus beyond the obvious and what’s directly in front of you. Bradbury says, “As we can learn from every man or woman or child around us when, touched and moved, they tell something they loved or hated this day, yesterday, or some other day long past. At a given moment, the fuse, after sputtering wetly, flares, and the fireworks begin.”

In one of his essays, Bradbury revisits a seedy, two-bit carnival when he was 12. During a sideshow, he stared in amazement as Mr. Electrico sat in his electric chair, the man’s white hair standing on end, sparks flying as he waved an Excalibur sword over the heads of the stunned children. Mr. Electrico then stood and approached the young Bradbury, tapped each shoulder with the sword. Lightning danced in the air and leapt into the young Bradbury as Mr. Electrico shouted, “Live forever!”

What a great idea! And with Bradbury’s 500 time machines, I’m sure he will.

Plot by Ansen Dibell

Reviewed by Desiree Holt (www.desireeholt.com)

When I first sat down to play the piano…Oh, wait, wrong subject! When I first sat down to write a book, the first thing I realized was how little I actually knew about it. It was sure a lot different than just telling a story. Everyone had a book they recommended but I found Plot by Ansen Dibell to be my bible and my guide book. From the first bare outlines of a plot to the final chapter, he provides an excellent blueprint to follow.

Having trouble with your plot? Afraid it’s too dull and uninteresting? He’s got the answer in a short list of easy steps. One of the things that’s always stayed with me is his contention that writing is as much a process of discovery as it is of invention. Creating the plot is only step one. Controlling the plot is step two, and he leads you through the discovery process to identify what plot points are, which ones to keep and which ones go into the sock drawer for the next time around.

More than that, he actually tells you what a plot is: significant events in a given story. He tells you how to identify and create those events, how to weave them together. And how not to give away too much too soon. He tackles the dreaded “shifting POV” and how to keep on track with it in very clear, concise steps. He calls it “The Viewpoint With Shifty Eyes.”

He has a great chapter on building scenes—which ones to keep, which ones to throw away and how to tell the difference. Again, his directions are clear and understandable, easy to follow.

But for me the most important section of the book was how to fix or avoid the terrible, terrible ‘sagging middle’. You know, that place in your story where you’ve got everyone together but don’t know what to do with them? He explains how to develop a new perspective on your characters, how to bring back the key plot points in new scenes and how to set up subplots. Subplots, he tells you, can carry a story right through the weak bridge and shore it up. And he tells you how to do it! Hurray for Ansen!

Want to know how to turn up the tension? Build the mystery? Keep the reader glued to the pages? There’s a whole chapter on this very thing. I keep his catch phrase, “Slowly it turns, step by step,” pasted to my computer so I don’t forget it. Need help with pacing? Transitions? How to tie up loose ends? That’s all covered here, too.

I think the thing I like most about this book is it’s written for beginning writers in very clear, easy to follow language, but it’s just as valuable to the experienced writer. The mechanics of writing never change, and it doesn’t hurt to have a handbook to refer to when you need it.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to write a story readers will remember.

Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham

Reviewed by Sally Painter (http://sallypainter.com/)

The book I found most valuable in understanding the concept of story building came to me years after I’d been writing. Jack M. Bickham’s Scene & Structure helped bring many aspects into focus. I quickly discovered why Jack M. Bickham had a reputation as a writing guru. Mr. Bickham was a prolific author with more than 80 books published. Some were instructional, but most were works of fiction—westerns, mysteries and thrillers. Some of his books were adapted into films such as The Apple Dumpling Gang and Baker’s Hawk. This wordsmith didn’t stop there. He also taught writing at the University of Oklahoma.

In fact, while reading this book, I often felt I’d slipped back in time into Mr. Bickham’s classroom. The book’s conversational approach is how I envisioned him conducting a class. He reveals how to build a book scene by scene in a usable and understandable format. I feel anyone who has never written a book could use it as a step by step blueprint. Of course, it would depend upon individual talent to bring the words to life, but if technique and understanding the concept of story form was all that was missing from the person’s abilities, then this book could easily fill in that gap.

The reader is walked through the organization of each chapter in a book, for a total of twenty chapters. So it is very detailed and while most of us wouldn’t follow it as a cookie cutter format, I did find most of the examples applicable to structuring a romance genre book. Some vital points included deciding where your story starts and understanding cause and effect. He teaches you to recognize how one action will affect not just the other characters but influence the story’s direction.

Mr. Bickham maps out what needs to happen in each chapter in order to move the story forward. Writing a sequel (bridge) between scenes is masterfully explained. He explains how to recognize areas where adding elements like conflict will serve to heighten the suspense level. He even breaks down the components of each chapter, including the number of scenes needed and kind of action required. He walks you through the process of escalating the story to the dark moment when the mettle of the hero/heroine is tested. And then he cautions against the dreaded sagging middle by offering remedies to correct it and other common problems. He uses imagery to convey a technique. An example for creating subplots is symbolized as setting plates spinning in the air for each character and knowing when these should be removed (subplot concluded) within the story. He shares other techniques to neatly tie-up all loose ends and carry the story to a final conclusion.

Even for a seasoned author, there are morsels to be found. Just recognizing I used certain techniques subconsciously was insightful. Scene & Structure can serve a beginner and a veteran writer and is why it earned a place on my keeper shelf as a valuable reference tool.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

Review by JL Wilson (http://www.jayellwilson.com/)

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King is the one book I re-read every year because every year I learn something new from it. I take it with me on our annual “get away from it all" vacation, sit down and skim it, then pick up my WIP and start editing – really editing.

The thing I like most about this book is the examples: it gives you 'before' and 'after' fixes for Show & Tell, Interior Monologues, Dialogue Mechanics, and the oh-so-elusive "Voice". There's a checklist at the end of every chapter with simple questions to help you evaluate your own writing, then there's an exercise if you want to try your hand at their techniques.

The tone is amusing, anecdotal, and the text is readable, not dry but sprinkled throughout with stories from their own work (both are professional editors and give workshops around the country on their techniques).

Here’s an example of one of their ‘checklist’ entries in the “Easy Beats” chapter. They’re discussing how to eliminate unnecessary ‘beats’ (actions sprinkled throughout a dialogue scene, such as walking, rubbing the eyes, etc.). One checklist item at the end of the chapter is: “Do your beats help illuminate your characters? Are they individual or general actions anyone might take under just about any circumstance?”

Sounds easy, right? That one checklist item made me go back and look through my WIP and evaluate that sort of detail. Now I have “individual beats” on the personal checklist I go through before I turn a book in to my editor. I want my characters to be unusual and memorable, and a way to do that is to find the one personal ‘action’ that occasionally comes through when they’re speaking.

And here’s a checklist item in “Characterization and Exposition” that made me sit up and think when I first started writing: “Look back over a scene or chapter that introduces one or more characters. How much time, if any, have you spent describing the new characters’ character? Are you telling us about characteristics that will later show up in dialogue and action?”

That one item suddenly explained for me the difference between “show” and “tell”, a topic I’d heard over and over again at workshops. I got out my highlighter, went back through my manuscript, and edited out a lot of unnecessary information. My book was tighter and more readable for it.

I think all of us, no matter how many books we have published, can continue to learn and hone our craft. This is one book that can help you do it in a way that’s readable, fun, and will never grow old or stale.

On Writing by Stephen King

Book review by Nathalie Gray (www.nathaliegray.com)

Commas and Chainsaws

One of the few hardcovers I own except for R.A. Salvatore (and let’s not talk about that addiction, m’kay) is Stephen King’s On Writing. Other reviewers in the past have lauded its gently acerbic and thoughtful autobiographical first half. Just read the hundreds of reviews on Amazon alone. That first half? It’s genius on paper. King takes you back in time to his youth, where maggots crawled out of washing machines, old school horror movies still played in theaters and babysitters yelled “pow!” when they passed gas. As anyone who read this book will tell you, this babysitter will live in your head for a long time. Longer than Nurse Annie Wilkes in Misery. Thanks for that, Mr. King...

But what made my inner Chihuahua chase her tail with savage glee is the second half of the book. Namely, The Toolbox. Like any other trade, writing requires tools. I’m not talking about publishing, which requires celestial alignment. Alliance with dark powers is a nice edge, too. But seriously, dude, On Writing has everything a writer could ever want. King also suggests a method for arranging your own writer toolbox.

Top drawer
The most common tools, like vocabulary, go on top. We’re not talking about consciously looking for big fancy words when short ones would do. Reading builds vocabulary. Reading a lot and diversely.

Grammar and elements of style. This section can pretty much be summed up in a short sentence; get thee a Strunk and White Elements of Style. ’Nuff said.

Middle drawer tools
Hard work and dedication. Burn the midnight oil, write and write some more. Revise your toolbox, read books and, without spiraling into nervous breakdown over minutiae, try to see what works and how. King also mentions that bad books often teach more than good ones. My brain agrees even if my wallet doesn’t.

Bottom drawer
All these nifty little tools that make you own inner Chihuahua chase her tail with savage glee.

That’s it. No secret handshake, no Seventeen Steps to Instant Publishdom or Ninety-two Ways to Tickle Your Muse. What I enjoy the most about On Writing is the no bullshit approach. King advises writers to write, to not only talk the talk, but to also walk the walk. Shut that door to your writing space if you have one, draw the curtains, unhook the phone or ignore it. Do everything you can to make sure you write. Advice like this is too rare in this age of overindulgence and instant gratification. And this method, just like its author, is full of win and awesomeness. In King’s word, writing is like “lifting off in an airplane: you’re on the ground, on the ground, on the ground...and then you’re up, riding on a magical cushion of air”.

The Action Heroine's Handbook

The Action Heroine's Handbook by Jennifer Worick and Joe Borgenicht

From the back cover:

"For every woman who wants to be as tough as Lara Croft, as nimble as the Bionic Woman, and as babe-a-licious as Charlie's Angels, The Action Heroine's Handbook shows you the essential skills you'll need to conquer the bad guys and save the day without breaking a sweat.

"Find out how real action heroines do it, directly from a host of experts, including stuntwomen, jujitsu instructors, helicopter pilots, detectives, forensic psychologists, survivalists, primatologists, and many others."

Do you write romances or mysteries or urban fantasy with kick-ass heroines? (Yes, we're all tired of that phrase, but it is an understood keyword for a certain type of female protagonist.) If you do, then you need this book as part of your research library. Where else can you find instructions on how to go undercover as a prostitute in a brothel, recognize the undead, profile a serial killer, be a Mob wife, choke a man with your bare thighs, fake your own death, and outrun a fireball? Really, step by step instructions on this and much more.

The book sections are:

~ Tough Chick Skills (including How to Win a High-Speed Chase in High Heels and a Bustier)

~ Beauty Skills (like How to Seduce the Enemy)

~ Brain Skills (How to Investigate Your Spouse/Lover)

~ Brawn Skills (How to Subdue Your Opponent With a Whip)

~ Escape Skills (How to Escape When Kidnapped)

The appendices list what your girl should be carrying in her purse and how she should style her hair.

So if you've got an "action heroine" in your book, this handy-dandy reference can help you make your story a lot more plausible and realistic.