Friday, November 29, 2013
Celebrate!
As we on Earth are sliding into the holiday season, my thoughts naturally turn to space. There's no doubt in my mind that when we look to establish bases beyond our planet we will bring with us our traditions.
You know what I'm talking about. That's right. The important thing.
The food.
Naturally we will bring with us seeds of our future but also as likely we will have to improvise as our seeds may not take. Which leads us to some potentially interesting plot twists. Remember those aliens that got drunk on milk? I'm sure some folks might claim that after imbibing in too much eggnog now:) Imagine if the alien substitute for yams caused the same thing. Or, for those who like a little holiday chaos, what if it mimicked ergot poisoning?
One thing is for sure, like space, the possibilities are limitless.
So I raise my glass of shoggerflost before digging into a helping of candied fizzigest, "Have a safe and wonderful holiday Eason and happy writing!"
You know what I'm talking about. That's right. The important thing.
The food.
Naturally we will bring with us seeds of our future but also as likely we will have to improvise as our seeds may not take. Which leads us to some potentially interesting plot twists. Remember those aliens that got drunk on milk? I'm sure some folks might claim that after imbibing in too much eggnog now:) Imagine if the alien substitute for yams caused the same thing. Or, for those who like a little holiday chaos, what if it mimicked ergot poisoning?
One thing is for sure, like space, the possibilities are limitless.
So I raise my glass of shoggerflost before digging into a helping of candied fizzigest, "Have a safe and wonderful holiday Eason and happy writing!"
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission
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Well, MAVEN is on its way to Mars. Launched on November 18,
2013 it won’t reach Mars for about ten months. It’s scheduled to reach Mars on September
22, 2014. MAVEN, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission was built by
several entities. The principal
investigator is University of Colorado’s Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and
Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado.
I live in Colorado and we managed to meet one of the scientists
on the MAVEN team at a social function. His team is going to be doing tests on
the upper atmosphere. They hope to discover how and why Mars’ climate has
changed over the last billion years. He was so excited and of course, so was
his family. Only their excitement was to be going to Florida for the launch.
My question for you is what do you think changed Mars’
climate? Do you believe it had a breathable atmosphere? Would you want to go
and live there if it were possible?
My answers:
I can’t imagine what would have changed the atmosphere other
than some catastrophic event. Perhaps a planet killer meteor.
The atmosphere could have been breathable if given more time
to develop, as Earth’s was.
Think of the adventure of living on another planet. I think
it would be exciting and if I was younger, I’d go in a heartbeat.
How about you??
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!
Monday, November 25, 2013
99cts: ALIEN LOCKDOWN - Soon Free: ANAZ-VOOHRI!
ALIEN LOCKDOWN
Still 99cts this morning,
then $1.99 until November 28th
in the US HERE
in the UK HERE
"Packed with tension and action from the first page to the last, Schartz's novel is an exciting adventure. She has a rich imagination and deftly executes it." - RT Magazine
"Vijaya
Schartz takes the reader on a thrill ride. Between the prisoners,
earthquakes and lava flows, Cole and Rhonda work together to
survive. Can they get back to the surface before the planet
explodes? Will they find a way to get off the planet? Will they give
in to their feelings for each other? Read the book and find out." - Ecataromance
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, 2013
Find it HERE
ANAZ-VOOHRI
Ancient Enemy Book One
"Ms. Schartz offers her readers an enthralling story. Zack is a charming, headstrong, and determined character, the likes of which anyone would be pleased to call friend... a definite must read " - Love Romances
"A fantastic futuristic science fiction adventure... the evil Captain Kavak certainly ranks as one of the worst villains ever encountered! ...the romantic element is intertwined in the storyline. ...a book that is definitely out-of-this-world!" - ck2skwips&Kritiques
"...well-written characters ...bad-guy aliens intent on destroying humanity...romance, adventure and plenty of futuristic shoot-'em-up action." - RT Magazine
HAPPY READING!
Vijaya Schartz
Blasters, Swords, Romance
with a Kick
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/vijaya-schartzFB: https://www.facebook.com/vijaya.schartz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vijayaschartz
Will Katniss Catch Fire Or Fizzle Out?
When I read the first book in The Hunger Games, it was electric. I'd heard about the book and thought my kids might be interested, but when I went to the library to check it out, I peeked at the first few pages and was lost in an intense, gripping story that wouldn't let go. I read it before I passed it to my kids.
The second book, Catching Fire, upped the ante and left me breathless.
The third book, Mockingjay (which I read on the day it was released) was extremely disappointing, and the majority of overnight Hunger Games fans felt the same way.
So when I went to see The Hunger Games on the big screen, I didn't know what I wanted--but I know I didn't get it either way. I was confused by the casting and the glitzy, Hollywood veneer of the film that wasn't in the book. And they made some pretty big changes.
I had pretty much decided to give up on the entire franchise. I'm usually pretty circumspect about books to movies, but The Hunger Games took control of my life--and the life of my kids--for weeks, that the disappointing ending really felt personal.
But now I'm hearing that the Catching Fire film is excellent. Tippy top ratings from critic and audience alike. Oh, fine, I'll go see the darn thing. I'll try to temper my expectations and be open-minded.
But my fondest hope is that whoever makes Mockinjay will alter it into the ending it truly deserves.
What are your thoughts? Will you see the movie?
World Building vs. Fact Building
I’m editing my
contemporary M/M “Double Takes” at the moment. It’s the second in my Shooting
Stars series and is set in Boston. Yesterday, my editorial efforts involved
filling in the blanks. As in, I did a
search for ______ ß those. I had quite a few of them. Sometimes it's best to power through and keep writing when you're on a jag, but eventually you need to pay the piper.
Consider me officially paid up.
 |
| Book 1 in my Shooting Stars series |
Now, I know all about the
whole “write what you know" mentality, and I subscribe to it. I lived in Boston
for five years before we moved to our current location. I love Boston. Do I
know all the streets to write a car chase scene off the top of my head? Sadly,
no—not even in my own former neck of the woods. Do I remember which streets had brick
cobblestone walkways, or exactly where the Green Line goes underground and exactly where it comes up for air? No. No. No.
Honestly, I could live
there still and I wouldn’t know these things without checking them out firsthand or looking them up.
Sometimes writing real
locations is tough. This thought has occurred to me on numerous occasions. Yes,
with sci-fi you have to know your science, explore real theories and get your
world-building tight and believable. But once you know your world, you just
know your world, and the writing can come fast.
With contemporaries, I try
to be as true to my real world settings as possible. Do I flex my artistic license
every so often? Yeah--Uburger may not be in a direct path from a fancy
steak joint to Kenmore Square, but it’s not inconceivable that it could be.
After all, my steak joint is fictitious. ;-)
In many ways, I’m
beginning to think that fantasy and sci-fi are, in a way, easier to write than
contemporary romance. Don’t even get me started on having believable
contemporary antagonists versus evil aliens that fall from the sky just because
they’re evil and that’s what they do.
One concession I will make, though, is
that if you don’t have enough imagination to come up with your own locations,
you don’t need to in contemporaries. The Internet is at your fingertips.
Still,
writing a scene so that natives can’t say, “What? That could never happen here!”
can be damn tricky.
As God as my witness,
after this series is over I’m taking a break and writing a sci-fi/fantasy. Hey, it probably won't be any easier--especially not with the one I have in mind--but it will be a nice change of pace! ;-)
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Ten Reasons to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Outer Space by MIchele Callahan
Hi everyone. I know next week everyone's schedule goes a bit crazy. Thanksgiving rolls right into the major holiday season and we all get so busy we can barely think straight. So, being me, I started thinking and wondering all kinds of strange things. What would it be like to have Thanksgiving in outer space? Maybe on a future Earth colony? Perhaps on Mars? If you were out there, somewhere, and not dead, you'd have plenty to be thankful for. So, here it is, my list of ten reasons Thanksgiving in Space would be awesome.
1 - You're alive. (That's huge, almost as big as #7 below...)
2 - The strange , kitchen prowling wargnot beast didn't eat the last piece of pumpkin pie.
3 - Yoda might make an unexpected celebrity stop and bring his light saber.
4 - You're actually younger than when you left Earth thanks to the time warp effects of travel at light speed.
5 - You won't ever have to hear the phrase, "Not if you were the last man on Earth..." ever again.
6 - Cool spaceships, rockets, jets, toys and moon-walking.
7 - No earwigs. I repeat...NO earwigs.
8 - All new jokes..."A Martian, an Earthling, and a Jupitarian walked into a bar...."
9 - You can't smell Uncle Joe's feet through the interplanetary video chat screen.
10 - No rush hour traffic.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Have a piece of pumpkin pie before the wargnot beast gets to it! He's fourteen, hungry, and loves pumpkin pie more than anything else on Earth.
Beware!
Michele Callahan
Red Night Silver Storm
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Cover Reveal: Thirteen Nights (Warning: Its Sexy)
Cover Reveal (Warning: Its Sexy)
Thirteen Nights
Book 1: Divine Temptation Series
Designed by Kelly Martin at Ellora’s Cave
Thirteen Nights, Book 1 Divine Temptation
Coming December 6, Ellora's Cave
Annie’s always been different. An empathic Amazon, she hides her emotional anomaly beneath her legendary fighting skills. To avoid passing on her genetic disorder, she’s always avoided the Thirteen Nights Ritual—the annual breeding rite among the warrior races of the Greek Pantheon. Only months away from 30, she is now duty-bound to participate. When she meets Tai, a half-human warrior who revs her up beyond legal limits and nurtures the gentleness she’s had to keep secret, thirteen nights of pleasure don’t seem nearly enough.As a half human, Tai has survived by being faster, more lethal, and a whole lot smarter than his brethren. While the male warriors accept him for his achievements, the Amazons have never given him a second look. Until he meets Annie, whose smile is warm and real and whose body shudders with desire—for him. Determined to have her, he hacks into the Thirteen Nights database and rearranges the pairings to make Annie his breeding partner. Together, their strength and tenderness combust into pure love.
But Tai’s actions are forbidden under Amazon law, subject to a death. To stay together and alive, they must take on the Greek Pantheon and win.
Divine Temptation: Series Description
The ancient gods live hidden among us. Their powers are waning, stripped away by modern life. To survive, the pantheons shun the mortal world. Rebels, called game-changers, challenge the rules and join with humans. Passion, they’ve discovered, creates its own kind of magic. And they want more.Wednesday, November 6, 2013
IT'S A CAT'S LIFE
There's a saying that goes - Dogs
have owners. Cats have support staff. This was always true with the dogs and
cats in my life. Both dogs and cats are wonderful companions, but while a dog
is attentive to his owner, a cat demands her person's constant devotion.
The general perception is that
cats are fastidious and independent, that they don't need people in their lives
to be complete, but they tolerate us for what we can give them and occasionally
reward us for our devotion with a head butt or a purr. Dogs on the other hand are
slobs and totally reliant on their people for everything. In return for our
caring for them they shower us with slobbery doggie kisses and absolute
loyalty.
Dogs come when they're called.
If you call a cat, you'll merely
get a haughty look, unless there's food involved. A cat is deaf to its person's
voice, but can hear the refrigerator door open from a hundred feet away. Dogs
also have super hearing and smell, but they'll come even without the food.
Both dogs and cats will play with
their people, but cats always choose the games they'll play. Dogs don't care
what the game is, they're happy to do whatever their people ask of them, even
if it's work. Cats won't fetch the paper or sniff out drugs or chase bad guys
with guns. In my book that makes cats just a tad smarter than dogs.
Though I've had male cats and
female dogs, I've always thought of cats as female and dogs as male. Even
though I knew my animals' correct genders, it just seemed natural to refer the
dogs as "he" and the cats as "she." Sort of like men always
refer to cars as "she."
But when I came up with the cat
character in MUST LOVE CATS, the cat is definitely a "he." Thomas
Cash (TC) Riley is a man reincarnated as a cat to redeem his soul. Considering
my preconceived notions about cats and dogs, I found it fun and challenging to
create a cat with a totally male outlook on life.
Blurb:
Thomas Cash (TC) Riley is mad, bad and –dead. Killed in a one car wreck the twenty-nine-year old playboy is given one last chance to redeem himself for living a selfish, unfulfilled life and to determine his soul’s final destination.
To help his young daughter recover from the loss of her mother, Daniel Bishop, a widower who dislikes the country and is allergic to anything with fur, has moved back to his wife’s rural hometown to be close to her large family.
Katherine Sinclair, the local veterinarian and the single mother of an adventurous ten-year old son, is wary of the handsome newcomer. Once before she’d given her heart to a wealthy, charming man and she’d ended up pregnant and alone.
With the help of a lonely little girl and a brash young boy, can TC find a way to bring these two damaged people together? Can he remember his past and save his soul in the allotted time?
And can he do it all as a cat
Blurb:
Thomas Cash (TC) Riley is mad, bad and –dead. Killed in a one car wreck the twenty-nine-year old playboy is given one last chance to redeem himself for living a selfish, unfulfilled life and to determine his soul’s final destination.
To help his young daughter recover from the loss of her mother, Daniel Bishop, a widower who dislikes the country and is allergic to anything with fur, has moved back to his wife’s rural hometown to be close to her large family.
Katherine Sinclair, the local veterinarian and the single mother of an adventurous ten-year old son, is wary of the handsome newcomer. Once before she’d given her heart to a wealthy, charming man and she’d ended up pregnant and alone.
With the help of a lonely little girl and a brash young boy, can TC find a way to bring these two damaged people together? Can he remember his past and save his soul in the allotted time?
And can he do it all as a cat
Check out TC's first Life in MUST LOVE CATS - The Nine Lives of Thomas Cash Riley - Book 1
http://is.gd/mustlovecats
And if you need a bit of Holiday kitten cheer check out my short romance - A KITTEN FOR CHRISTMAS
http://is.gd/akittenforchristmas
Friday, November 1, 2013
New Release: Born in Blood, a post-apocalyptic novel
After much ado about pretty much everything, Born and Blood is finally live.
And it’s only 99cents (USD) so get it while it’s cheap:D
What would you do to protect your way of life?
A scientist will betray everything he was taught to believe.
A politician will seek untold glory.
A leader will become a victim
And a raider and prodigal daughter will join forces only to discover how much they stand to lose.
Warning this book contains violence, offensive language and cannibalism
Post-Redaction: Humanity’s next chapter will be written in blood
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