Are you a Holiday Movie fanatic?

PJ Sharon here on this fine and busy Tuesday. I’ll keep it brief today since I’m doing double duty. In addition to my Scribes post, I’m hanging out with my WG2E Beach Book Blast buddies who have a slew of new Christmas stories for sale today and tomorrow, all for under $5. We’re calling it a BeachBookBlast e-Book Extravaganza!

Since two of my YA romances culminate with a Christmas surprise and a heartwarmingly sweet ending, both Heaven Is For Heroes and On Thin Ice are part of this great sale. I hope you’ll stop by the site and check out the fantastic selection. Rest assured, we have plenty of uplifting Christmas stories to keep you in the holiday spirit. Speaking of uplifting stories…

One of my favorite parts of December is watching all my favorite holiday movies. Miracle on 34^th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life are two of my favorites, but I have to admit I’m glued to the Hallmark Channel’s 25 Days of Christmas. I know; the movies are sappy, unrealistic, sticky sweet, and totally romantic, and I love them. A cup of warm cocoa and a box of tissues are a must, however. So far this season, my top three Hallmark Channel movies have been, A Christmas With Molly, Come Dance With Me and A Princess for Christmas.

What about you? Are you a holiday movie freak? What’s your favorite classic? Have you seen any new ones this year that you’ve added to your favorite’s list?

Save the Liver! Happy Birthday, Julia Child!

Bon jour, my darlings! Suze here.

Yesterday was a special day. Julia Child would have turned 100 years old on August 15, 2012.

I said, “Dance!”

I grew up watching reruns of Julia on WGBY. Our small town in the boondocks didn’t have a lot of stations until later in my illustrious television-viewing career, so public television it was. Even as a kid, I understood on some level the magic that Julia had. In my real-life experience, women cooked to put food on the table and keep the kids and menfolk satisfied. It was a chore (granted, my grandmother on the dairy farm had ten children, and my mother was the oldest daughter–so they were cooking for and cleaning up after a small army three times a day). They did not enjoy it.

Then along came Julia, a six-foot-two preppie wearing an industrial-looking dress and pearls, wielding a giant cleaver, gleefully making a dead chicken dance on the small screen. Her joy came through, just short of palpable, for more than 30 years.

She inspired me to learn to cook something beyond the basics my mother produced for our family of seven. (One of Mom’s specialties was “Spanish Rice,” which consisted of hamburger browned with onion, cooked Minute Rice, and a jar of spaghetti sauce. Not sure where the “Spanish” part came into play)

In my adulthood, as I understood more of Julia’s story, my admiration for her grew. A child of privilege, she worked in Europe for the OSS, met and married Paul Child, the love of her life, and trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris as a chef when women simply did not do such things. If you haven’t seen the movie Julie and Julia, do it now! The Julie storyline is completely forgettable (sorry, Amy Adams!), but Meryl Streep’s performance as Julia Child is nothing short of mind-boggling.

Here’s a link to the Smithsonian’s virtual exhibit on Julia Child. You can hear that famous warbly voice, see her kitchen recreated, and even look at some of the individual tools and gadgets she used.

And click here to watch one of the funniest parodies of all time: Dan Aykroyd playing The French Chef. Julia Child was said to have loved this so much that she kept a VHS tape of it. Note: you may want to watch this after breakfast!

So, in honor of her birthday, how about a small gift for all of you loyal readers? Here is my Secret French Toast recipe. No liver required. Bon appetit!

Suze’s French Toast

6 slices white bread (potato bread is delicious, if you can find it)

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk or half and half

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla (orange or almond extract is also delicious)

1 tsp. cinnamon

In a shallow bowl or pie plate, mix up the eggs, milk/half and half, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. No need to drag out the mixer–a fork or whisk works fine. Dip the bread into the egg mixture, coating both sides. Don’t leave it to soak too long, or the bread will fall apart when you try to take it out.

Preheat an electric griddle or a skillet on the stove. Medium heat is best. Plop on a generous glob of butter. You want it sizzly, but not burning.

Take the bread slices out of the egg mixture, let them drain a bit, and place them on the griddle or skillet. Cook until golden brown and fragrant on one side (usually takes a couple of minutes), then flip and cook for another minute or two on the other side.

Serve with lots more butter, real maple syrup, and some berries or sliced bananas.

The Men Who Make My Heart Beat…

I saw Magic Mike today for um… research purposes. Was it well written? No. Did the male and female lead have any chemistry whatsoever? No. Did it have a satisfactory ending? No. Did I like it?

Hell yes!

There was man booty in it.  And Channing Tatum is probably one of the most physically perfect men I have ever seen. He’s got beautiful lips, and eyes and …. sigh… everything. But as yummy as he is he just doesn’t do it for me.

So in honor of Gratuitous Man Monday I’m going to share with you my list of men that I would sell my mama for.

1 The Rock. AKA Dwayne Johnson.  I fell in love with this man when I was fourteen years old. Not a girly crush. Not an ‘Oh I think he’s hot.’ But in total absolute LOVE LURVE LOOVVEE. Up until that point boys had merely existed. I had crushes on some, even liked others but when I saw The Rock on Smackdown asking the world if they could smell what he was cooking I was a goner. He was a man. A thick muscular man with pretty brown skin and perfect white smile and calves. Gorgeous calves! (I hate men with chicken legs.) I didn’t even like wrestling but I watched every damn show just for a glimpse of him. I bought his poster and even read his biography cover to cover. I’d watch him talk and get all flushed. He was my first and only celebrity crush and if it came between saving him or my mother from a burning building I’d have to think about it for a little while.

Jamie and Dwayne sitting in a tree K I S S I N G!

2. Simon Baker. I’m not usually a fan of blond men. But this man is so DREAMY. He’s the kind of guy you want to wake up looking at for the rest of your life.

What would you like for breakfast? French Toast or Waffles?

3. Old School Hottie Marlon Brando. Because before he began a love affair with food he was pretty damn yummy himself.

4. Javier Bardem. Because everybody needs a latin lover in their life

5. I haven’t ever seen an episode of his show but Joe Manganiello has got it going on. The man has got a twelve pack and if he let me I would count every one.

What about you? What man makes your heart beat?

Obsession

Hello wet campers!  It’s pouring here in CT…well it’s supposed to be pouring by the time this post goes live tomorrow am.  J Monkeys here on another happy Saturday.

If you’ve read any of my posts over the past year, this likely won’t come as a shock to you, but I’m just a tiny bit obsessed with True Blood.  Eric Northman, specifically.  I love him.  Especially in season 4, which I bought on DVD yesterday.  As soon as my kiddies nod off, and I’m finished with responsibilities like this post and getting stuff ready for an event I’m doing tomorrow, I’ll be right back in front of the TV.  I’ve got about 10 minutes of episode 5 left to watch – I had to turn it off when the school bus arrived this afternoon.  While I LOVE True Blood, I’m sure we can all agree that it’s wildly inappropriate for anyone under age…well…16ish at least!  And then there are 7 more episodes and some bonus features.  Yippeee!

No, your math skills haven’t failed you.  Somehow I’ve managed to watch 5 hours of TV in the last 24 hours – no mean feat with my brood.  Why am I obsessed with this show?  Aside from the obvious reasons,

Eric Northman

Alcide Herveaux

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as a writer, I love how the screenwriters manage to end every episode in a dear-Lord-what-will-happen-next kind of cliff hanger.   It’s very difficult not to watch the next DVD.  And it’s not just the beefcake.  This same thing happened with the first few seasons of 24.  I remember laying in bed at night thinking to myself, “Just one more episode,” at 3:00 in the morning because I needed to know what would happen next.

This is an incredible skill for a writer – making a story a page turner, something that people can’t put down.  I haven’t actually read any of Charlaine Harris‘ Sookie Stackhouse books.  I don’t know why…maybe because I understand that the HBO series follows them fairly loosely and one favorite character from the series didn’t make it out of the first book alive.  So I can’t say if the books have this same incredible momentum that just pushes you along with the story, but on HBO, it’s a wonderful ride.

Today’s Secret: Writer friends, study how True Blood, 24 and other shows do this because it is a very valuable skill.  Constantly hook and rehook your audience to keep those readers coming back for more.

Today’s Question: What other shows, movies, plays, books do this well?

Dead Men’s Houses

Hi, all. Suze here. Happy Thursday!

There’s something sad going on in my neighborhood. A house is coming down. Not just any house, though. It is (or was) a classic New England saltbox built in the 1740s. The last owner of the house was an elderly woman whose family had lived and farmed there for generations. She died a few years ago, and the place has been vacant since then, a victim of the economy. Her absentee heirs managed to sell off one parcel of the farm, which fronts on a busy road on one side, and a large medical building went up. The parcel with the house, which fronts on the same busy road as well as my residential road, did not sell, most likely because the heirs were asking an astronomical amount of money.

The old girl’s got good bones!

I’ll be honest. Until the “For Sale” sign went up, I had no idea the house was that old. I thought it was a newer home built to look that way. At some point it had been re-sided with shakes over the clapboards, and the place was in darned good shape. It didn’t have one of those name plates you see all over New England showing the name of the original owner and the date the house was built. I’d never been inside, only knowing the owner to nod and say hello as one or the other of us was taking a morning walk.

Now the house is nearly gone, and it’s bittersweet. On the one hand, my town is losing one of its ancient homes, and my neighborhood is losing a piece of history. On the other hand, the house isn’t actually being destroyed. A post-and-beam company is  dismantling it, tagging each hand-hewn beam and support so that it can be reassembled somewhere else for a person who truly appreciates its significance. I have hope for the old place. Not so much for my neighborhood. I’m sure a subdivision will go into that acreage eventually.

I may lose some of you here, now that I’m about to wax literary. Everytime I go past what’s left of the house, I can’t help but think about a passage in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables. Bear with me, okay? Matthew Holgrave, the mysterious daguerreotype artist, is a boarder in the House. He is speaking to young Phoebe Pyncheon, the last descendant of a once-proud family:

I ought to have said, too, that we live in dead men’s houses; as, for instance, in this of the seven gables!”

“And why not,” said Phoebe, “so long as we can be comfortable in them?”

“But we shall live to see the day, I trust,” went on the artist, “when no man shall build his house for posterity. Why should he? He might just as reasonably order a durable suit of clothes,–leather, or gutta percha, or whatever else lasts longest,–so that his great-grandchildren should have the benefit of them, and cut precisely the same figure in the world that he himself does. If each generation were allowed and expected to build its own houses, that single change, comparatively unimportant in itself, would imply almost every reform which society is now suffering for. I doubt whether even our public edifices–our capitols, state-houses, court-houses, city-halls, and churches–ought to be built of such permanent materials as stone or brick. It were better that they should crumble to ruin, once in twenty years, or there-abouts, as a hint to the people to examine into and reform the institutions which they symbolize.”

The Turner-Ingersoll House in Salem

Now, I’m fairly sure Hawthorne/Holgrave is not actually advocating tearing down every building on the planet every twenty years and building something new in its place. What he is saying is that we should examine our beliefs about who and what we are as individuals. The histories of our families and of our communities should not shape or define us completely. Ultimately, each of us is responsible for creating her own “house” — whether that’s the physical building in which we live, or our own consciousness. Take what you can from the past, but build a new future on it.

Done with the literary criticism here! (You’re lucky. I could go on and on. I absolutely adore The House of the Seven Gables and can talk about it ad nauseum!) Click here for more information about the Turner-Ingersoll house in Salem, Massachusetts, Hawthorne’s real-life inspiration for his novel.  I’m pretty glad this place is still around. It’s one of my favorite places to visit. As for Hawthorne’s other most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter, I’ll tell you a secret. I’ve always thought that would make a wonderful musical. Can somebody call Andrew Lloyd Webber for me?

What about you? How much do you allow your history to influence your life? Or if you’re not feeling self-reflective, what book would you most like to see turned into a musical?

HB-OMG!

Hello, ‘ello, ‘ello, Scribblers!  J Monkeys here.  I saw this nifty little joke a few months ago on Facebook and I thought I’d share it.

  He-he.  Cute, huh?  But it got me to thinkin’.  I love True Blood and Rome.  And lots of folks have been recommending something to me.  Even though it really isn’t quite my cup of tea, I decided to give Game of Thrones a try. 

Have you read this series by George R.R. Martin?  It took me a while to get through the first book, about a week (compared to the five hours it took me to read All for You, Lynn Kurland’s newest romance, out this week), but I liked it.  I had a hard time picturing Game of Thrones in my head, though.  See, when I read a book, I’m basically watching a movie in my head where I (of course) star as the heroine. 

I finished Game of Thrones (technically the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series) last week, and then on Tuesday of this week, my town library called me saying that something I had reserved a while ago and forgotten all about, had come in.  You guessed it: disc one of season one of HBO’s series, Game of Thrones.  

I picked it up today and watched the first two episodes whilst folding a mountain of laundry.  I loved the show, but I don’t think I would have liked it as much if I hadn’t read the book.  Does that make sense?  I loved seeing the world I had read about come to life, but again, since that kind of fantasy is just a kissin’ cousin to my favorite stories (medieval romance, especially time travels) I don’t think I would have connected with the story as much if I didn’t already know what was going on. 

HBO’s Game of Thrones is almost as good as True Blood.  Really, the only things missing are: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and  

Alcide and Eric Northman may have their obvious charms, but I’ve gotta tell you, Lafayette is truly my favorite True Blood character.  Nelsan Ellis is a brilliant actor.

Today’s secret: Try new stuff, you might find that you like it.

Today’s question: What have you read lately that was off the beaten path?  Or at least a stray from your usual path?  Did you like it?

 

The Book or The Movie?

Hidey-Ho Scribblers!  J Monkeys here with the time-honored question: Which do you like better, the book or the movie?  How’s this for a diplomatic answer?  I like both…  Of course, I’m inspired about today’s topic because of the opening of a movie I’m SO excited to see: The Hunger Games, based on Suzanne Collin’s best-selling book series.

I devoured this book last summer.  I loved it!  I loved it so much that I abandoned my other responsibilities to finish it.  I loved it so much that I used it as a cattle prod to finish writing the first draft of my own second novel.  I wouldn’t allow myself to buy the second and third books in the Hunger Games series until I finished my work.  I had to wait a whole month.

And, like is often the case with action oriented stories, I’m thrilled to see this one brought to life.  Hubby and I have a date for next week to go to the theater.  We have a babysitter and everything. Exciting times!

But what about other book/movies?  I lived the grittiness of Timeline by Michael Crichton…both the movie and the book.  I loved the sweeping views of Jurassic Park (the movie) and the terror of those scenes with the T-Rex…I had nightmares for months. 

Incredible cast of A Time to Kill

I remember being curled up in as small a ball as possible in my movie theater chair and freaking myself out with the noise of ice in my empty soda cup during a scary scene.

I thought the movie version of The Firm and A Time to Kill were better than the books by John Grisham, but I thought the book Skipping Christmas was much better than the movie, Christmas with the Kranks. 

I liked the Twilight movies just as much as I liked the books, which was very much, indeed. 

I thought the first two Harry Potter Movies were great, but I thought movies five and six had to cut so much of the story to fit it into a 2-hour movie that it barely hung together if you didn’t already know the plot.  There were aspects of the movies that I loved, though.  I loved seeing the Dementors brought to life…and the Thestrals.

Today’s Secret: I’m almost as much of a movie junky as I am a book junky!  Either medium is fine with me as long as it tells a good story.

Today’s Question: What about you?  What books turned movies did you love and which did you think didn’t work?

 

Something Old, Something New

Hey, friends, it’s Thursday again. Suze here.  They say everything old becomes new again. I think they, whoever they are, might just be right.

Have you heard about the new Disney movie, John Carter? Let me tell you a little secret. It’s based on a hundred-year-old story by none other than Edgar Rice Burroughs of Tarzan fame.  The original story is called A Princess of Mars, and is the first of a series. When I heard about this, I just had to check it out on Project Gutenberg. (Click here if you want to read it).

Those of you who’ve been following the Scribes for a while may have heard me mention Project Gutenberg. (Click here to check it out) Thousands of books that are now in the public domain (copyrights expired) are available, free of charge, on the Gutenberg web site. There are books everyone knows, and there are some wonderfully obscure titles. How’s this for a great title? The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar. Most books are in several formats so you can read them on your computer, or load them onto your Nook, Kindle, iPad, or other device.

But let’s face it. The classics can be a little, um dry sometimes. OK, maybe most of the time. But there’s a wonderful solution. Many, many books on Gutenberg are also available as audiobooks, also in various formats. A project called LibriVox has brought together some extremely talented amateurs who will read these classic books to you. (LibriVox has its own site as well. Click here) I just finished listening to a book I studied in college, a Victorian thriller called Lady Audley’s Secret, and let me tell I was astounded by just how good the reading was.

The story was far more vibrant and engaging when read aloud.  Not only that, but as I paid attention to the structure of the story, I realized that my creative mind was working overtime imagining new “what ifs.” What if this story were set in the present? How would I change the ending? What if I made one of the minor characters the heroine? Just from this one not-well-known novel I had a couple dozen ideas that I might be able to use in my current WIP, or in future works.

So today’s Secret Unlocked? If you’re feeling short on inspiration and even shorter on plot and character ideas, why not take a cue from the classics? It’s legal, it’s not as intimidating as you might think, and you just might be surprised at what you come up with.

What was the last classic novel you read? Did you love it or hate it?

Whip It Good!

Happy Friday everyone! Casey Wyatt here.

Last holiday (2010), I received a Nook for Christmas. One of the first books I downloaded was Shauna Cross’ young adult novel – WHIP IT. I had seen the movie and loved it! And the book was just as good (so I highly recommend both).  Shauna actually competed in roller derby using the name Maggie Mayhem. She also wrote the movie’s screenplay which, in my opinion, resulted in the book and movie being so good!WHIP IT re-introduced me to the sport of roller derby. Some of you may remember roller derby matches back on TV, where the skaters competed on a raised track and knocked each other into the rails. The story does a great job portraying that world – with awesome derby names like Babe Ruthless! And the teams – The Hurl Scouts or the Holy Rollers-  how could you not love that??

I’d heard that roller derby had made a comeback, but it wasn’t until my friend CLTracy invited me to a roller derby match that I actually witnessed it. My husband and I had a blast watching the CT Roller Girls - Stepford Sabotage take on their opponent – Suburban Brawl.

Unlike the movie, modern roller derby uses a flat track, but it was fast paced, intense and a boat load of fun. And there was more than just skating. They had local vendors selling cupcakes, clothing, speciality sodas, raffle prizes and more.

All the skaters have their own derby names, including the officials. For more information on the rules of roller derby, check out the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association.

Needless to say, hubby and I were smitten with roller derby. Finally, we had discovered a sport that didn’t cost a ton of money (about the price of a movie ticket) and I could (mostly) follow the rules and understand what was happening.

Happily, we were able to attend another match in November with a larger group of friends. We brought camp chairs and sat ringside.  Again, we had a blast. I even won the grand raffle prize which included an awesome Stepford Sabotage t-shirt with the big cupcake logo!

If you have a local roller derby team, check them out. Ticket prices are reasonable and it’s a family friendly sport.

In the spirit of roller derby – what would your roller derby name be? And have you ever attended roller derby? Or another fun sport?

Reviews-The good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

Hello my Tuesday Scribe’s readers. PJ Sharon, here today talking about reviews.

Reviews come in many forms. You have the all-important “Big Name” endorsement or the Editorial review from some well-known source like RT or Publishers Weekly. And then you have consumer reviews. Summaries and quotes from wonderful readers who take time to go onto Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc, to leave starred reviews. These reviews are essential to leading others to find your books

 For some reason, I don’t always listen to movie reviews. I do, however, tend to look to reviews when it comes time to buy books. It matters to me if others have enjoyed the story and the writing. But what about a bad review? A bad review can potentially derail a young career by lowering the author’s starred average and keeping them from being able to advertise on certain sites.  Some book review blogs and promotional sites require as many as five, ten, or even twenty, 5 star reviews to advertise on their site.

Let me say I’m happy that so far Heaven Is For Heroes hasn’t had (to my knowledge) a bad review. I had a Publishers Weekly review that was average but neither stellar nor derogatory. I was just thrilled that they actually read and reviewed my book. I’ve been lucky. I know lots of authors who have had bad reviews, and it seems hard for them to get past it. My thinking is that you can’t take anything personally in life. You have to expect that at some point someone will have something negative to say about you or your work. It’s the risk we take when we put ourselves out there. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but just because you have one, doesn’t make it right. I have to believe that the positive can counteract any negative feedback you get if, indeed, you have a great book.

I’ve recently started to review books and my feeling is that I will only review a book if,

 1) I am dying to read it. I have VERY little time to read so I’d better be having a good time. I’m picky about how I spend my reading time.

 2) If I like it enough to give it at least four stars.

3) If I have only positive feedback to offer. I don’t want to be responsible for saying anything negative about anyone or their work. If I felt strongly that I could offer the person constructive feedback, I would e-mail them privately or not post a review at all.

I might note as a sidebar that I won’t take points off for typos as much as I’m tempted to. I learned on my first book how hard it is to catch them all. The perfectionist in me who recalls a time when I rarely found a typo, is sad to see the current production of books in the digital world of the flawed spell check and the pinch of having to pay for many layers of editing. There are typos in most books these days, indie and traditionally published.

For today, I wanted to share with you my latest book review. If you haven’t read Renee Pace’s OFF LEASH, you must. It is a wonderful contemporary YA.

PJ’s Review for OFF LEASH by Renee Pace

OFF LEASH is a story of life and death, dogfighting, and discovering that a best friend, in any form, can save a life. Renee Pace’s debut novel takes you inside the life of poverty in a truly heartrending account of Jay Walker, a fifteen year-old boy saddled with a drug addicted mother and a little sister who’s dying from cancer. Jay’s life is one of desperation and hopelessness until he meets Ollie, a selfless and endearing Boxer that Jay is paid to walk. I don’t want to give the whole story away, because you should definitely read this book for yourself. I fell in love with the characters and found myself rooting for them on every page.           

I loved the voice of Ollie in a first person perspective of what life is like for a dog. This sweet, rambunctious canine steals the story. And Jay’s nitty-gritty account of his life and the hard choices he is forced to face, are spot on in their depth and meaning. The way that Pace reveals Jay’s character in many layers throughout his personal journey from boy to man is commendable. I felt like I was at his side from beginning to end.

Speaking of endings, Ms. Pace offers alternate endings for her books which I think is brilliant and I wish I’d thought of it myself. For me, I always choose the Hollywood ending. Although I couldn’t stop myself reading both endings and finding them diverse and poignant. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more from this author. I’m waiting patiently for her next book in the Nitty Gritty series, OFF LIMITS. To see more of Renee Pace’s books or buy information go to http://www.yabeyond.com/books/renee-pace/

 

How about you? Do you buy books based on reviews? Do you think it’s okay to trash a book if you don’t like it?