We’ve got quite a little thunder storm going on outside. Sadly, one of these days, a microburst is going to take out the mostly dead tree in front of our apartment. Poor little hummingbird dude will have to relocate.
Yesterday, I received a ‘yes’ from Stone Garden Publishing in regards to Lucinda at the Window, my first novel finished way back in 2000. They sent me a contract, which upon signing will put in motion a 2009 publication of the book. Note: I haven’t signed yet. They’re small, mostly ebook/POD. That’s not a problem. I long ago gave up hopes of Lucinda being a big book. But I’m not one to jump into things and I want to be sure the contract is good. And I’m not going to get too excited because there’s probably 27 other things that could still go wrong in the process. (I’m a pessimist. We don’t take rejection *or* acceptance very well!) Couple that with the fear that they say yes to every manuscript they see. I’m not saying it’s so. I’ve been turned down by some shoddy places, and Stone Garden looks solid. But if nothing else, it is kind of nice to have an “impressed with your writing” by someone who doesn’t love me.
Darn, I changed my LJ layout to one that doesn’t include my tags. I am lost. Lost!
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Book #22 – Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
Slow start. Take whatever book you’ve ever read that had a slow start and add about 5000 words. The book’s plot and central idea is much better than its writing is. I wonder what it would have been like written by King or Bloch. Or even Straub. I stuck with it because I wanted to see how Marasco uses his female protagonist. The women of “haunted” house books are an interesting lot. Women and homes go together, so what happens when one of them is off-kilter? I still think it would make for an interesting paper. Marian is obsessed with the place she lives from the get go, and that is the entire driving force of the novel.
In all, this wasn’t a bad book. It’s kind of like the difference between a 70s TV thriller with a good plot versus an early 80s slick horror movie with absolute crap for a story. The former’s story will stick with you even if you were never made nervous while watching.
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Time to wake Eric up from his post-Thursday nap. I’m hungry and chain-chewing gum.
Simple Tricks & Nonsense 