Just Because

The calendar says it's November 20. It's cool here in northern California, but not cold thanks to the cloud cover. I think we're expecting more rain to match what we had last night.

My rose bushes are still blooming. Go figure.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbidden.

Flash Fiction? Really?

FF--really short shorts--seems to be the new IN type of read.
Intriguing concept, I thought when I first read about them, but then, I ask myself what is the difference between this and...say, a cover blurb? Or a well-written synopsis. (snorting here.)
I have to try one just to teach myself that it is possible and...drum roll, entertaining!
Having taught myself by Doing for decades in this biz, I imagine learning to write FF will be no different. But then, how to market these gems?
Write a bunch of them and turn them into a longer work to sell as an antho?
Use them as teasers to bring people in to your novellas and actually pay you for your golden words?
That concept, I like, except for one tiny (read, HUGE) problem. PIRATES.
Grinding teeth.
These criminals abound. I alternate between crash search and seize--and loading my Sig Sauer, running around the house yelling "Give me a pirate, matey!"

What's in your computer? Any FF? And what do you do with those stories that might gratify you and your bank account?

Passion

On Saturday, October 15^th, my husband and I attended a memorial service for a dear friend. We met Boots Martin in 1973 through Stagedoor Comedy Playhouse, where I had the joy of working with her in many plays and replacing her in several others when she was busy doing other shows.

Everyone who spoke about Boots talked about her passion for theater. It didn’t matter how small or how large the role, Boots always brought her considerable arsenal of talent—her passion—with her.

Which made me think about why we writers keep writing—despite rejections, poor or nonexistent reviews and even when confronted by the terror of writer’s block. It’s our passion for the written word; the passion that demands we tell the story; the passion for the characters who compel us to tell about their successes and failures, their goodness and flaws, their hates and—above all—their loves. About their abiding passion for life and for each other.

Many years before I sold my first novel, Boots suffered through editing handwritten manuscripts, her edits also handwritten. Looking back, I wonder who had the harder time deciphering those scribblings. Boots kept reading and acting. I kept writing—all because we shared a passion for what we do, for what makes us who we are.

I miss you, Bootsie, more than words can say.

Love,

Dee

Ham and travel.

Say what?
This pix of sooooo many hams?
The Boqueria off Las Ramblas in central Barcelona!
Jamon, anyone? Iberico ham, cured to a melt-in-your mouth savory delight.
Expensive? As you can see from the signs, ABsolutely!
One of the many delights of travel is getting to taste the delicacies of other countries.
And since I like to eat....
What did I partake of in happy, hot Barcelona?
Anchovies. Fresh. NOT like those we get in the bottle or can. Sweet, crisp, large and used in everything.
Clams. You could tell these tiny shell-dwellers had come from the sea just hundreds of feet away that morning.
Lobster! Succulent.
Paella. Savory broth with prawns and clams and sausage, then done to a fine point.
CHOCOLATE! So many chocolatierias in Barcelona mean you could re-name the city! The finest I tasted were right around the corner from the Picasso Museum, where a 5" diameter and 1/2" thick disk (NOT kidding!) of luscious stuff cost 2 Euro. oh. be. still. my. heart. And it came in white, dark and milk chocolate, with or without almonds, walnuts, chocolate chips. I salivate to tell you.
And for 2.4 Euro you had a similar selection of truffles, filled with alternative chocolate creams.
Just as yummy were the luscious caramels made by the monks atop Mount Serrat. Making candy, aside from their publishing business, is how the Benedictine monks support their more than 1000-year-old monastery compound. Pictures of those to come!
And in the meantime, if you look for a new goody to read, do try my latest, LADY STARLING'S STOCKINGS, 99 Cents in Kindle http://tinyurl.com/3orc36e , Smashwords

and AllRomanceebooks.com at http://tinyurl.com/3h2b4b3 

EPIC Awards Finalist

Woman on Fire

is one of the finalists for Contemporary Romance!

It is wonderful to be a finalist in this competition...was one last year, but didn't win...so many fabulous books were entered!  At least this year I am not up against any of my friend in this category, but the competition is gonna be tough.  

On another note, I will be flying to Akron Ohio for the third annual Romanticon convention. I Plan to party til I drop and enjoy every single minute!  If you are coming to Romanticon, look me up.  We can get together for lunch or gather in a pal's room and have a blast.

I'm taking my laptop with me, so I will be taking loads of photos and uploading them to my website. 

Have a wonderful end of September!

Hugs!

Fran Lee
http://www.franleeromance.com

Musings

Lots of interesting goings on in the Brice household.

DH and I attended the Erotic Authors Association’s first annual convention in Sin City (Las Vegas, NV). Met lots of other erotic authors and hooked up with Tina Haveman, Publisher of eXtasy Books (EB) and Kelli Collins, Editor-in-Chief at Ellora’s Cave (EC. Passed out trading cards to a lot of people, including three young women celebrating one’s upcoming wedding and another group who were attending a belly dancing convention. Fun people!

On the not so much fun side (although I didn’t experience it myself) other EAA attendees heard the usual derogatory remarks from people who neither read nor appreciate our efforts. Too bad these folks can’t take our mothers’ advice: If you can’t say something nice, keep your damn trap shut!

On a happier note, I have an EB novel—Her Virtual Ecstasy—that will release on October 1, 2011. Another EB novel—Her Virtual Frenzy—is under construction and the Muse is behaving like an angel (If I’m mixing my deities, sorry.) so I’m on target to make the December 15, 2011 release date. This one has a touch of holiday cheer I hope you’ll enjoy, Irisa, my heroine, is definitely enjoying all three lovers. His Virtual Gift is also under construction—targeted for release on Valentine’s Day, 2012.

And then I wrote—well, I have two other novels at EC. It Takes a Thief (formerly titled Emerald) is awaiting edits. Temptress of Time (once titled That Other Diane) needs massive rewrites, but Kelli’s busy with other authors, so I can get my other commitments out of the way before I tackle ToT. Whew!

DH has been bitten by the Muse. Has complete one ms he hopes to submit to EC—once he cleans up the punctuation issues I refuse to do for him. Cruel? Yes! But I already have a full plate. He’s also busy working on a second novel.

For my part, I’m glad he has something to keep him out of my hair—er, keep him occupied. In the meantime, I’m working my fingers to the bone and emptying ink pens at an alarming rate.

The above cover is for my October 1, 2011 release. Stop by my website for a blurb and excerpt. Linger for a look at what else is happening.

Dee Brice

Erotic Fantasies Where Nothing is Forbideen

History and the movies?

As a professionally trained historian (with grad degree in the Old Stuff), I love to write historical fiction and read it.

Recently, a professor of American history gave a big slam on prime time TV to the new movie, THE HELP. Her critique was, IMHO, the one of the "More Knowledgeable Academician" telling the lowly world how inaccurate, improper and downright disgraceful the film was to have portrayed that time and place and characters with joy, humor or compassion. Her conclusion was that the film is a gross glossing over of the truth.

Now, first, I must tell you, I read this book months ago. Loved it for its humor, compassion and finely drawn characters. Most of all, I loved it for its portrayal of the times and the milieu. I lived through that time and I remember it well.  And while I lived in a fully integrated city and went to public school in one, I also went to college with women (and men) from the Deep South. I know what my friends thought and how they lived. I listened to them as we watched riots and hosings, the aftermath of the murder of Medgar Evers and Dr. King. I visited the South with my friends, met their parents and siblings. And while I am not a professional historian of slavery in America, I can say all of the following with certitude:

1. No book, non-fiction or fiction, can portray the total truth of a period or a people.

2. One book, non-fiction or fiction, can explore only one angle, hopefully, well.

3. One author, especially a fiction author, does not aspire to write the definitive picture of a person, place or period.  (If she does, she'll never finish that book.)

4. The author's job is to pick one premise, one theme and one or two morals of the story. If she's doing her job well, she's going to use the best of her talents to accomplish that limited goal.

5. This author chose to portray a group of white women and a group of black women whose intertwining relationships were representative of a culture and a period.

I think she accomplished her goal well.

If she didn't accomplish this TV historian's goal well, she didn't have to. 

And clearly, since THE HELP continues to strike a chord in hundreds of thousands of people who have read and continue to read it--and smile and laugh and shake their heads and feel the pain of those characters--the author did her job.

That is the only thing she was supposed to do.

The only job any author of fiction has or should.