I think I might have mentioned before how much I love Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. In fact, it’s one of my all time favorite series. It’s just the best genre fiction gets. Here’s the problem. I’m a slow reader. Picture glaciers. And molasses on glaciers. That’s how slow I am.

The series (Sooo good. Have I mentioned how good they are?) is thirteen books in out of a planned twenty something books. We’re on book twelve. I say because I’ve been reading them aloud to my husband. (That’s part of the reason I’m so slow.) As much as I love sharing the books with my family, I know that I’m probably missing things because reading aloud isn’t the deep reading experience that you get when you immerse yourself in a book for a deep chunk of time. You know what I mean, right? Yeah. You do.

So the other day, as I was reading aloud, I thought, “Sometime before I died I want to reread all these books again.” No, this isn’t as grim as it sounds. In fact I felt something light up inside of me. Yes, I am that much of a book dork. I don’t have a Bucket List. But a Book Bucket List? That’s something I can get behind. That’s something I can be really excited about. So here’s my Book Bucket List:

• The Dresden Files (sooo good. am I repeating myself yet?)
• The Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters
• The Troubleshooter series by Suzanne Brockmann
• The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling (yeah, as some of you know, I actually reread these just this year. But I still want to reread them again. Their just that good.)
• The Slightly Series by Mary Balough (I’ve already reread a couple of these, but I’d love to reread the series in order)

Please welcome my guest today, author Kylie Brant.

It all began so innocently last summer.  See, there was this photo circulating via Twitter and Facebook–a hot photo of the tattooed bare back of a Navy SEAL.  Being enthusiastic connoisseurs of half naked patriotic heroes, talented authors Alison Kent and Christie Ridgway tweeted away, generously sharing the photo. ;-) But then they got to talking about doing something more.  Something meaningful.  Something that would give back to those brave men and women putting their lives on the line to keep us all safe.  And the idea for SEAL of My Dreams was born.

They set about lining up authors to participate in the charity project and looked into military charities as recipients of the profits.  We eventually settled on the Veterans Research Corporation, a non-profit foundation supporting veterans medical research.

SEAL of My Dreams is a romance anthology that includes stories by a whopping eighteen authors.  Robyn Carr contributed the foreword.  And Belle Bridge Books kicked in the editing and publishing.  It was amazing being part of the project.  It sort of snowballed and the more we got going the more others stepped forward to help out with it.  Can you imagine eighteen authors meeting the same deadline at the same time?  But we did.  Edits and proofs are done.  And the anthology is due for release on Veteran’s Day, 11/11/11.  How perfect is that?

I had a personal reason for wanting to be part of this anthology.  My 87-year-old dad is a World War II vet, retired from the Air Force.  Another reason presented itself last August.  We lost thirty-one Navy SEALs when their Chinook was shot down inAfghanistan.  One of them came from a small town sixteen miles from me.  The project, already well underway, took on a bittersweet aspect.

Oh, and the participating authors?  We’ve got Jami Alden, Stephanie Bond, moi, Helen Brenna, Helen Kay Dimon, Cindy Gerard, Tara Janzen, Leslie Kelly, Elle Kennedy, Alison Kent, Gennita Low, Jo Leigh, Marliss Melton, Christie Ridgway, Barbara Samuel, Roxanne St. Claire, Stephanie Tyler and Loreth Anne White.  So not only are the profits going to a fantastic cause, the stories are top-notch.  I know, I peeked during page proofs, LOL. 

Readers can get a sneak peek at the stories by checking out our website at http://sealofmydreams.com/wordpress .  The anthology is already available for presale on Amazon.  I’m still amazed at how quickly and perfectly the entire thing came together.

And it all started with a photo!

Okay, yes, I’m a big dork, but The Professor and I always celebrate our engage-aversary, the day when he proposed. I’ve blogged about my fantastic proposal before, but it’s been a while and it’s one of my favorite stories so I’m sharing it again.

It was October 30th, 2004 and I happen to believe that I received the most romantic proposal ever, but I’m willing to open myself up to be proven wrong.

So here are my details…

He came and picked me up on a Saturday afternoon and I admit he was later than he said he was going to be. He’d been hinting at things all week and had been asking a lot of random questions, and we had already been ring shopping a few weeks before, so I suspected something was going on. Frankly, he’s not so good with secrets, but his obvious hints are charming. I thought we were going to this restaurant in a nearby town and then hitting the zoo in San Antonio (because of some random question he’d asked me about polar bears). I got into the car and as if by magic our song started to play. He was excited and energetic and I was a basketcase.

Not only that, but the plan I thought he had was way wrong. We started up a road that leads straight into the heart of the Texas Hill Country to a picnic site overlooking what is known as the Devil’s Backbone. It was where I’d taken him on a picnic shortly after we started dating. And a place I’d loved as a child; a special place. Because off in the distance upon one of the hills stood a lone tree, standing proudly. Ever since I was a little girl, when my family would drive past that site, I would always say, “That’s my tree.”

So he had me go sit at the table while he gathered all the goods. Picnic basket (totally cute – looks like a large version of the one Dorothy carries in Wizard of Oz), linens, cooler, etc. He set everything out, then unloaded the food, all my favorite stuff, crab cakes, pesto, bread, pasta, chocolate (what a man!), chilled white wine. So we ate and talked and the weather was perfect even though we’d been forecasted rain and clouds.

After we ate he went back to the car, and then returned with even more stuff. One of which was one of those house-shaped boxes (you moms probably recognize it) – he’d gone to Build-A-Bear and he’d made me a polar bear (cause I just love polar bears, cute rascals!). The bear was holding this little red heart-shaped pillow that said “I love you”, and then The Professor proceeded to read me a 2-page love letter he’d written about how much he loved me and how much he’d learned about love from me and why he wanted to be with me forever (insert me sobbing at this point). Then he got down on one knee, told me to look in the heart pillow where I found my ring, asked me to be his wife to which I replied, “absolutely!” and he put that pretty sparkler on my hand. *sigh*

Think you can beat that? Even if you can’t all of our proposals are special to us, so spill the beans girls, how’d he ask you? Did your husband go all out and propose to you while at a baseball game? Or did he take you to Tiffany’s in the middle of the night? Whatever it is, I want to hear it.

Well, not really a galaxy, although it feels like it’s been lightyears since I was a kid. I was going through some old pictures and found a few that reminded me of some really fun times during my childhood. My great-grandfather on my mother’s side was James Lannen, a first generation Irishman. His family came over during the Irish potato famine in the 1840s and he built this farmhouse on the right in the 1890s. It was the only house on the road at the time, so it was named after him: Lannen Road. My grandmother, Marguerite, and her sister, Julia, kept the house in good shape after he died, going “out home” as often as possible. And it truly was like going home for them, because – not only had they grown up there - they had a lot of relatives and old friends out in the country, all living in the surrounding farms.

My grandmother and aunt were teachers, so the only time they were really free to get out there was just in the summertime. Which was fortunate, because there was no central heat in the house, and all the old heat stoves had been disposed of (they were old and rusty). Life out there was pretty much the same as it was when they were growing up. Besides not having a furnace, we had no phone, either. There were only a few electrical outlets in the house (none upstairs) so we used kerosene lamps. The stove was an old wood cookstove and that’s what we cooked on and what kept us warm when it was chilly. We had a pump for water in the back kitchen – but no running water (yes, we had an outhouse). We also had an old crank Victrola to play records on when we wanted music.

When I was about 10,  Aunt Julia decided to modernize. She put in a lavatory (HOORAY!!), running water, and some more electrical outlets. She added an electric stove and a sink. But we had to heat water on the stove if we wanted it hot.

Marguerite and Julia kept to the old ways – visiting the neighbors bearing baked goods or fresh fruit; going to the old country church on Sunday mornings and walking through the little cemetery where their parents and Marguerite’s husband were buried; making a huge, traditional Sunday dinner (including homemade pies) and inviting everyone for miles to come out to the house for the meal.

And then there were the kids – myself and my cousins. I have about 20 first cousins, and there were times when we all happened to be at the farm at the same time. We never failed to make the most of that when it happened. We climbed trees, took long hikes through the fields, played hide and seek in the cornfields, and climbed around inside the neighboring farmers’ barns (most of them were related, however distantly). We searched for snakes, played in the creek and got more than our fair share of bee stings. We explored the dark attic and all the weird old farm tools and old pictures up there, and we played dress-up with my great-grandmother’s old clothes.

It was great.

I remember a few occasions when there were more than 10 or 12 of my cousins staying over, along with various aunts and uncles, and those times were perhaps the most fun ever. The house has five bedrooms, but the adults always got those. The kids would dig up blankets and pillows from everywhere possible and sleep on the couches in the parlor and living room. Still that wasn’t enough. Some of us ended up sleeping on the floor of the screened-in side porch, pictured here. And when we all woke up in the morning, the fun started all over again.

I’m pretty sure it was my love of those days at the farm that fueled my imagination and gave me the impetus to write hitorical novels. I know first-hand what it’s like to take a bath in a wash tub. I remember having to wait until the wood was burning in the stove before the morning chill left the kitchen. I clearly recall the huge, scary shadows cast onto the walls by the kerosene lamps. And I remember putting on a gray and pink print floor-length dress of my great-grandmother’s and pretending I was a grand lady from a bygone era.

My walks  through the old cemetery holding my grandmother’s hand were fodder for my imagination when I listened to her tell about her lost loved ones. I’d think about all those long-gone immigrants who had come to Michigan hoping for better land and better lives than they’d had back in Ireland.

We’ve still got the old farmhouse – I took these pictures just last spring, and the poor old house is showing its neglect. How about you? Have you still got nostalgic ties to your past?

I’ve recently updated my website, so if you’d like to read an excerpt from Brazen, my November 29, 2011 release, click on over to Margo’s website and check it out. And don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter!

Congrats to Deb and Betty Hamilton. You’ve been randomly chosen to win the signed copies of The Making of a Gentleman. Email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address, or look for my email in your inbox. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments!

There’s nothing as exciting to an author as a new book cover, and my new cover is even more exciting to me because I have been waiting a long time to see it. Finally! Here is Bastien’s book!

Some of you have been waiting a long time too. This is the third in my Sons of the Revolution series, and it was pushed back from publication in April. It will now be published in February 2012.

If you’re thinking that the title changes as well, you’d be right. It was originally titled The Making of a Rogue, but as you can see that morphed into The Rogue Pirate’s Bride.

I’m so sorry for any confusion this has caused, and I’m sure all of you who were kind enough to pre-order The Making of a Rogue and then Once a Rogue will sigh with frustration when you have to go and pre-order The Rogue Pirate’s Bride.

Maybe I can ease that frustration for you? How about an excerpt? Click here to read an excerpt.

Want more? How about a copy of The Making of a Gentleman? How about 2 copies? Great! Just let me know what makes pirate heroes so sexy, and I’ll randomly pick two people to win signed copies of The Making of a Gentleman (the story of Bastien’s twin brother Armand).

A friend and I were recently discussing some of the Soaps that are going off the air. At one time I was a One Life to Live and General Hospital fan. The discussion made me stop and think what television shows that I really like (or have liked in the past) and what it is about the characters that kept me coming back for more.

Off the top of my head, older television series that intrigued me: The Big Valley (illegitimate son showing up and becoming part of the family); Starman (an alien and his son on the run from federal agents); Scarecrow and Mrs. King (a spy and a housewife teaming up); Remington Steele (a man from out of nowhere taking on a made-up identity); Prison Break (a prisoner who isn’t just another convict). Current shows that I like are Castle (a writer working with the police); Burn Notice (a spy who is trying to find out who burned him) and Downton Abbey (a show set at the turn of the 20th century in England).

An unscientific analysis seems to indicated that I’m drawn to characters with secrets.

It got me to wondering if my reading habits mirror my TV watching habits. I like Suzanne Enoch’s contemporary series with the cat burgler, Samantha. I like historical romance which would explain my love of Downton Abbey and all things Jane Austin.

How about you? What television shows do you like? And what about those shows appeal to you? I’d really like to know? Oh, and does your taste in TV shows mirror your taste in what you read?

“Drain Bamage” and “Spread-osis” by Mia Marlowe

First of all, let me thank the Jaunty Quills, and my hostess Ashley March in particular, for letting me reschedule today. I still cringe when I think about missing my blogging date with the lovely and talented Shana Galen earlier, but romance writers are a forgiving bunch. Wonder if it’s because we’re all “drain bamaged” half out of our minds because we live in alternate realities for major portions of each day?

Anyway, I’m tickled to be with you today and thought I’d talk about another chronic writer ailment (besides “drain bamage!”). It’s “Spread-osis.” Sitting at a keyboard for hours at a time means we’re not the most fit of folks and some of us tend to pack on the pounds.

To be fair, even before I started making things up for a living, I struggled with excess weight. I was the little kid who took up two spaces in the kindergarten class picture. All my life, it seems I’ve either been on a diet or cheating on one.

Last year, I scared myself by hitting the highest number my scale has ever seen. I took immediate action and worked my way back into familiar territory, but I’m still not where I’d like to be. So my DH, who had a few pounds to lose himself, offered to do Jenny Craig with me. We’ve been at it since late July. I’ve clawed my way down another 16. 5 pounds. My DH cheats like a fiend and still has lost 18. Truly, there is no justice in the world.

But there is hope. I’m down 35 pounds from that “scary” weight. My clothes are fitting much differently and I’m able to wear things I haven’t gotten into for about four years.

Of course, they’re all out of style now, but my fashion-phobia is best saved for another post.

How about you? Do you struggle with weight? Or is there another challenge that dogs you? Share it with us and you’ll be entered in a drawing to receive a copy of IMPROPER GENTLEMEN, my anthology with Diane Whiteside and Maggie Robinson.

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Click to order!

Mia Marlowe writes historical romance with a sparkle of magic for Kensington and Sourcebooks. She loves torturing her heroes and making them work for their HEA. She also loves connecting with readers. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and MiaMarlowe.com.

Her newest release is A Duke for All Seasons, an e-novella that features the Duke of Winterhaven, a man who has good reason to mistrust women. Unfortunately, Arabella St. George will give him a few more before their love affair runs its course! But as in all of Mia’s stories, “happily ever after” is guaranteed. You just may be surprised at how her characters get there!

I used to be cool. Not the too-cool-for-school variety, but as a child of the 80s, I knew my way around slang and jargon. As a writer, words are the tool of my trade. So, it’s my job to know words inside and out. Especially slang.

As a traditionalist, I’m not a big fan of cutting-edge slang. Although, I do like being in the know. So, I’ve prided myself on keeping up with the lingo of the moment. Even though I might not say, “Whoa, dude, that was totally rad…” I know what someone means if they say it. If I wanted to I could have a character toss around slang and still sound…like… totally righteous and awesome. Right? No duh!  So, what’s my damage? Well, it seems that one day recently I woke up terminally uncool. Obviously, my pass to everything current and hip had expired and nobody had bothered to send me a renewal notice.  I became aware of my condition one afternoon when I was talking to my daughter about someone who had gotten mad about something and I said he was raging.

Dear Daughter gave me a weird look. “He was doing what?”

I repeated, “He was so mad. He was raging on and on about…”

She said, “Mom, you’re not using that word right. Raging means to party very hard. He must not have been too mad if he was raging. Hahahaha….”

I told her to look it up in the dictionary. Raging: 1: adj. Showing violent anger.

DD replied, “Right. Look up the definition of cool in the dictionary.” She takes out her smart phone and pulls up the reference (as more dust collects on the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary on the shelf in my office). “First reference: adj. Moderately cold; lacking in warmth. Yet, you still use it to describe a high degree of acceptability. So, obviously, raging can mean to party hard even if it’s not the first reference in the dictionary.”

Touché.

A few days later, it happened again. This time with the word trolling. I used it in the in the form that someone was trolling or fishing for information. DD pointed out, that while my usage was almost correct, it missed the mark a little.  Apparently, these days trolling means the act of purposefully antagonizing other people on the internet.

Starting to see a pattern in my slang slippage, I looked up trolling on UrbanDictionary.com (sorry, Webster’s). I discovered not only was my daughter correct, but UrbanDictionary.com went on to explain, “When trolling in a moderated internet community, this can result in banning. When done to uptight people, this can result in hilarity.”

Umm…I’m not uptight. Really, I’m not. I’m cool (Mind you, I was never  groovy  or a hepcat, because that was antiquated slang from generations before mine and it sounded so dated… insert eye-roll here). Fearing, I too, had fallen down the slippery slope of back in my day, I want to expand my verbal horizons.

I opened my ears and started listening… to current song lyrics, dialogue on some reality shows and even eavesdropped on some conversations. I quickly realized there’s a new vernacular out there and somehow I missed the update. What I found particularly interesting is some words have morphed and changed so much that they mean exactly the opposite of what I once knew.  No, my pop-cultural lapse does not automatically label me a noob (Ha! Do you know what that means? Don’t worry, I didn’t either. But you’ll find out if you keep reading…)

Here’s a list of 15 current slang words that I didn’t know (but I do now, thanks to my new essential reference site UrbanDictionary.com):

1.  Dog

UrbanDictionary:  A friend of the same sex, usually male.

Nancy Robards Thompson: Actually, I’d heard this one before. Who hasn’t if you watch American Idol? Randy Jackson even calls the girls dogs. I included it because it struck me as funny since back in my day calling a girl a dog was a terrible insult.

2. Ridiculous

UD: Something that is at the top level of greatness, insanity, or beauty.

NRT: Well, in my book, that’s just ridiculous.

3. Buck  

UD: Something awesome or so ridiculous that it is unbelievably cool.

NRT: In my vocabulary a buck has always been a male deer or antelope.

4.  Swag

UD: Great appearance or style; the way a person presents himself.

NRT: To me, swag is something you do to drapery.

5.  Pwned

UD: This originated in an online game called Warcraft, where a map designer misspelled “owned.” When the computer beat a player, it was supposed to say, so-and-so “has been owned.”

NRT: Hello, map designer. Meet spell check.

6.  Fresh

UD: something that is acceptable and highly approved by someone.

NRT: Sorry, to me fresh will forever reference hygiene or food.

7.  Fly

UD: Cool in style.

NRT: Ah! See, this really means cool. Cool! Some words are timeless.

8. Tight  

UD: Stylish, cool, hip having everything together.

NRT: Tight = My jeans after a chocolate binge.

9. Shiznitz

UD: The coolest, awsomest thing you could ever think of. This thing is beyond the coolest thing you can think of.

NRT: Umm…?

10. Off the Hook

UD:  Referring to something so fresh, cool or happening that it’s literally right off the store shelf.

NRT: In my world, Off the Hook refers to barely escaping an undesirable situation.

 11.   Noob

UD: A noob is someone that lacks intelligence* or common sense.

NRT: Funny thing, the noobs at UrbanDictionary.com spelled it “intellegance*.”  I edited the above.

12. Bananas

UD: A slang word derived from the old saying “bananas” used to describe someone that was crazy. Used now to describe anything in style or cool.

NRT: I’ve heard this one before, too. Celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe pronounces it BUH-nanas.

13. Sick

UD: Now used as the newest word to replace cool. Something that you’ve never seen before that is interesting, cool, new.

NRT: Here’s another word that’s taken a 180 degree turn. I can’t recall a time when it was ever cool to be sick.  Except for now, apparently.

14. Dope

UD: another word for cool.

NRT: Dope = drugs; what’s cool about that?

15.  PHAT (my personal favorite)

UD:  an acronym meaning Pretty. Hot. And. Tempting.

NRT: So if you call a woman PHAT, you’re paying her a compliment…? But you better make it perfectly clear whether you’re saying PHAT or fat.

Are there any words that have stumped you lately?

Well, maybe not the ODDEST but I just love it when romance novels turn up unexpectedly!

   I was watching the movie RED and loved it when Bruce Willis’ character clearly was reading the romance novels his love interest was reading so he could talk with her about them! LOVED IT – even if they were a fictional version of Harlequins.

   And I remember the opening of KATE AND LEOPOLD with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman — when Kate’s secretary is reading and weeping over a romance novel ! I think that it was one by Christine Feehan – though completely different from the one she described to Kate. And though Kate needed her to do something, she insisted on finishing the last few pages before she could. A true romance reader!

And then, who could forget the wonderfully, campy episode of HIGHLANDER with Adrian Paul, when one of the wives of another Immortal decides to get revenge on him by writing stories based on Duncan MacLeod’s amorous adventures! DRAMATIC LICENSE featured a glamorous romance author doing readings of her work in huge bookstores and having glamorous launch parties thrown by her publisher. For a long time, I thought that must be how a romance author’s life really was! LOL! The fictitious romance novel in the episode was called The Blade of the MacLeod….

So, I just thought I’d ask all of you — where else have romance novels turned up that made you smile? In which movie or tv show? Or mentioned in other types of books?

    When not catching up on movies missed, Terri is busy working on some new projects and a few old ones, too, as she prepares her first four romances for re-release in digit formats. Watch here on the Jaunty Quills and on Terri’s website for updates on the progress!  And, Terri will be signing her latest releases at the upcoming NJRW conference on Saturday, October 22 between 4:00 and 5:30pm. She hopes you’ll stop in and say hello!