America, the Beautiful

My younger brother graduated from college with his film degree and several internships and editing jobs on his resume, and moved to LA to live with his girlfriend with the hope of making it in the movie business. He knew he’d have to drive out here, and didn’t want to make the journey alone, and that’s how I ended up driving 1800 miles across the country with my brother. We didn’t take the interstate route, and instead, drove on state highways and county roads through small town America.

Chapter 6 of Darkly Dreaming and other stuff.

Hi everyone!

First, a few things before we get to the new chapter.

Chapter 5 of Darkly Dreaming

Hello readers, both new and old!

Though your local weather forecast probably doesn’t include this sort of information, space weather is all kinds of crazy. Solar storms are raging on our star, and these flares totally fuck with my sleep patterns and give me horrible insomnia (seriously. not lying here). What does this mean? It means that I was couldn’t sleep last night and subsequently wrote a little chapter of Darkly Dreaming.

What is this story, you ask? Oh yeah. That one I update so infrequently. The one I started as a one shot for the Dead Pan parody contest ages ago. Oh, yeah, you remember that Dexter spoof where Eric is a blood spatter expert for the Miami PD, but what were the details? Here’s a brief synopsis:

Eric is a blood spatter expert for the Miami PD whose hobby is ridding the city of other murderers. He’s a vampire; he’s got to get blood somehow but he doesn’t feed on innocent people. Godric, a human vampire hunter who spared him, taught him the Code: kill only killers (and don’t get caught). He’s got the police department fooled into thinking he’s got a rare sun allergy, which is why he only works nights. The arrangement is perfect for Eric. He gets to use his special skills to catch killers, and when the criminal justice system fails, he’s there to do the deed.

The homicide department is investigating a killer who leaves behind bloodless dismembered bodies—which intrigues Eric, especially when the killer leaves a container of blood in his fridge.

But things aren’t all blood and guts for dear Eric; he recently found out his girlfriend Sookie is a telepath. Her deadbeat ex-husband Bill just got out of jail and was drunk waiting for her when Eric dropped her off after work. Though it tests the ‘don’t get caught’ part of the Code, Eric invites her back to his place to spend the night after issuing Bill a warning.

The Names We Give Ourselves

I find it fascinating trying to guess why people choose the pen names they do, especially in an environment like the fanfiction community. I don’t think I’ve ever explicitly asked anyone why they’ve chosen the name they’ve adopted, mostly because I like dreaming up my own theories. Most nick names develop because other people repeatedly refer to someone as such, and it isn’t something that you get to pick. In an online world where you interact with avatars that people chose to represent themselves and a name they give themselves, I think those choices are significant.

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked how I came to choose the name I am known by in the fanfiction world, but I’m going to tell that story now.

Shelf Awareness

Last night I was working. Part of my job is posting on the library’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, so I get to spend time reading bookish things all over the Internet. Yeah, I know. Rough gig. Now I get paid for doing all the slacking off web browsing that would have been frowned upon at my old job. So I spent way too long laughing at Lisa Simpson’s book club. I also came across this interview with Charlaine Harris at Shelf Awareness in my Internet travels. I think it’s fun to know what my favorite authors are reading. I especially love it when they have active Goodreads accounts. I think blogging should be fun, and I love hearing about what others are reading or their favorite books, so I decided to post my own responses to the Shelf Awareness questions.

To Be A Fan

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a fan for a while now. Not just in the context of Southern Vampire Mysteries or fanfiction, but in other aspects of my life as well, but for now, I’ll limit my discussion to the SVM fanfic universe. Since this blog as always been more about me working through my own thoughts and a forum of discussion for others than advertising or promoting my stories, I thought writing about it would help me grapple with some issues that have recently come up.

Deadlocked (contains spoilers)

I’m hiding this all since it contains spoilers. Continue on if you want to read about my thoughts on Deadlocked and my experience reading it. It isn’t a review, and isn’t all encompassing. It’s a personal story of my initial reaction.

Status Update

I’ve been meaning to post about Deadlocked for a while, but I’d thought I’d say hi too. Amazen and I are working on ironing out the next few chapters of To Wish Impossible Things, which means there should be a slew up chapters soon, and the end is really in sight, because the final chapters are already done. Thanks for your patience, and I hope no one has lost interest.

In other exciting news, I’ve been making good (albeit slower than I’d like) progress on my original novel, Cold and Sharp. The first two chapters are at a place I’d be comfortable sharing, and I’d really appreciate it if any of you wanted to read them and offer your thoughts. I’m not looking for copyediting, just a general impression “would you keep reading” type of feedback. It’s not paranormal or vampire related in any way just FYI.

I won’t post it here, but if you would like to share your perspective on it, I’d happily share in Gdocs. If you’re interested, leave me a note and I’ll have your email to send it, or if you’d rather, email me (you can get my contact info on my gravatar thingy if you don’t already have it).

Hope all is well in the fandom! I’m considering participating in two challenges. The Random Fandom picture contest, because entries can be very short and I do writing exercises with picture prompts anyway, and the I Write the Songs, because I have several abandoned music-inspired stories from the first go-around already sitting in a folder, ready to be dusted off. If you’re needing some inspiration or what to jump back into the fandom with a one shot, these are two great opportunities!

cheers, mo

Dying for Deadlocked

Last year, I got an ARC of Dead Reckoning completely by chance. That didn’t happen this year, so I’m taking a different approach and not reading the teaser chapters or other reviews until release day gets here, so all I’ve read is the jacket blurb. I’m excited to see what will happen to everyone’s favorite telepath.

The synopsis, where we find out that Sookie walks in on Eric feeding on another girl, has haunted my dreams. And not because I think that it is something that Eric couldn’t do, but I’m anxious to see Sookie’s reaction.

I’m eager to see how Charlaine Harris handles another murder mystery in Deadlocked. It’s one of her strengths that I’ve felt has been missing from the last several books, and I think this one will be exciting, especially since the stakes are so high.

Of course, I can’t help but wonder how the series will end and how CH will tie up all the loose ends. As I contemplate what the next two books will cover, I can’t help but hope they resolve a few unanswered questions.

*gasp* a new chapter of To Wish Impossible Things

Hello there!

First off, thanks to everyone who responded to the polls I posted. The “what fanfic to focus on” poll was pretty evenly split, but I think I’m going to end up making everyone happy. The plan is to finish TWIT before Season 5 of True Blood airs, and I’ve got a great original plot that departs from the books and show for the continuation of My Private Eye, which will be titled Faster on Fire.

Sorry this chapter took so long to get out—regular excuses apply, as in Amazen and I weren’t really hearing from the TWIT muses and I was busy on My Private Eye and my original fiction. Hope you haven’t given up on the story!

And just in case you’ve been living under a rock and missed this, I want to suggest you check out The Elemental Mysteries by Ethehunter aka Elizabeth Hunter (if you haven’t already!). I’m currently giving feedback on the final installment, and let me just say, you are going to want to be caught up on A Hidden Fire, This Same Earth, and The Force of Wind by the time the last book is released! I you’re a fan of SVM, you’ll love this series, which is equal parts mystery and romance and features a kick-ass librarian heroine and a sexy vampire love interest

I also want to do a bit of self-promotion, if you’ll forgive me. I’m blogging more regularly at on my original writing blog about my original writing process and my experiences as a YA librarian, if you want to check that out.

Oh, yeah. Here’s the next chapter of TWIT: 17: Desperately Seeking Sookie.

cheers, mo