I’m Irish Today

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Silver James

St. Patricks DayMy mother was a Ryan on one side and a West on the other. My dad had Welsh, Irish, Scottish, and Swedish ancestors. I grew up thinking I was probably pretty much the same, given I was adopted and the deal back then was to match up things like that. Turns out I’m 1/4 Choctaw, 1/4 Bohemian, and 1/2 French. Uhm…ho-kay… Yeah, the French sort of threw me. Still, there could be some Celtic roots there so I remain Irish in my heart. 😀 That said, almost everyone is a little bit Irish today.

No Thursday Thoughts today, just an Irish toast that sums up my feelings for everyone who drops by here, whether to read and run, or stop to visit for a bit.

Irish toast

What about y’all? Are you Irish today, too?

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Wednesday Words: Now

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Silver James

MS-Secrets-Lies bannerChanging things up a bit because MOONSTRUCK: LIES released yesterday so I’m not giving y’all new words from a WIP but words from the new book. Almost the same, right? 😉 This is a snippet that always makes me laugh and really describes the relationship between Jacey and Nate. Enjoy! (And buy the book if you haven’t already! Links at the bottom…)

****
Her face scrunched up as she glowered at him. Part of him liked putting her off balance, but this was too serious a discussion to get distracted. She poked a finger into his bare chest and he growled.

“What? You gonna bite me?”

Oh, he and his wolf liked that idea. Liked it a lot. He shook the thought out of his head. It was his turn to glower. “They’re dangerous, Jacey.”

“Not to me.”

He opened his mouth then snapped it shut. She was utterly certain of that, he had no doubt.

She ignored him and continued her argument. “Now you listen to me, Nathaniel Connor, and you listen to me good. Those men may technically be human but they’re…more. Not quite Wolves, but not just human either. You’re their Alpha. They live or breathe by your command. And I’m yours. They know that. Know right down in their very DNA. They’d protect me. Probably die for me, as they would for you, but hurt? No way on God’s green earth. Not intentionally.”

She stepped around him, jerking the cart after her. One of the wheels ran over his foot but he ignored the quick nip of pain. He stared daggers into her back but she simply waved him off with a one-fingered salute. His. She was his in a way he was just beginning to understand. And to appreciate.
****

How about y’all? Have anything for the “now”? 😉

To read more, here’s where you can find the book!

MOONSTRUCK: LIES (Moonstruck Genesis Book 2)

AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER at Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | Barnes and Noble Nook

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Tuesday Treats – St. Patrick’s Day Donuts

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Silver James

MI-Chocolate-galzed-guinness-donuts Come Thursday, we’re all a little bit Irish. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m always a lot about donuts! When I discovered this recipe, I danced an Irish jig because it’s the best of both! In fact, I may just have to buy a donut pan! Which I should have considered before today because today is RELEASE DAY for MOONSTRUCK: LIES. I hope y’all got your copy! Price goes up next week so grab it while it’s still $3.99. In meantime, I think I’ll run to the kitchen store at the outlet mall in search of a donut pan…

Ingredients:

Donut-

1 cup flour

⅓ cup cocoa powder

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup Guinness Extra Stout

1 egg

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

⅓ cup melted butter

Glaze-

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tsp Bailey’s Irish cream

2 tsp water

Method:

Preheat oven to 325F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together Guinness, egg, sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Stir dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Spray donut pan with nonstick spray. Fill each cavity ⅔ full.

Bake for 12 minutes.

Combine all glaze ingredients and stir until blended.

Dip the top of the donuts in the glaze and place on wire rack to dry.

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Monday, DST Style

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Silver James

Grumpy Cat DSTHave I mentioned how much I absofreakinglutely hate with fork-stabby-eyed hatred Daylight Savings Time? I didn’t see the reason for it back when it was first started during the energy crisis of the 70s. I remember the gas lines. I remember the alleged energy savings messing with time would create. Lies! And to think we still have it? After what? FORTY YEARS?!?! Just goes to show that once the government votes something into being, it never goes away. Like chewing gum stuck under a school desk. Like the taste of gin after a hangover. Like…well, just think about the nastiest, most everlasting thing ever. Yeah. That’s how I feel about DST. It makes me grumpier than Grumpy Cat. It makes me wake up at odd times, tired and gritty-eyed. It makes me have weird dreams and not the good, Iffy-had-a-light-bulb-moment kind.

Moving on.

Tomorrow is release day for MOONSTRUCK: LIES. I’m not holding my breath for huge sales, or even good sales, which is rather sad. Granted, it’s a book that takes two previously published novellas and combines them with all new material and deleted scenes. Still… I’m working to get more original work out. First though, I have to finish up the SMP submission just in case. If they don’t take it, it’ll be all but ready for release so that’s a plus. I know those who commented were leaning toward Moonstruck Foundation as a series title for the new set of books. I’m leaning toward Moonstruck Alphas. Thoughts?

[6 a.m. Edit: As B.E. reminded me, I forgot the links. Derp. Here…]

MOONSTRUCK: LIES (Moonstruck Genesis Book 2)

AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER at Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | Barnes and Noble Nook

Reading: I did some. And some listening. The listening was to books I’d already read. I listened to the first 3 books in Anne Bishop’s The Others series in preparation for reading MARKED IN FLESH, book #4. I ❤ this series like damn and whoah. MARKED did not disappoint. I can't recommend this series enough if you like fantasy/alternative history. This is also NOT a series to jump into in the middle. Read it from WRITTEN IN RED. You need the character and world-building arcs. Besides, why deprive yourself of all the goodness! I'm currently reading T.M. Causey's SAINTS OF THE LOST AND FOUND. This is a book I first read years ago in an early draft. The characters and story haunted me while Toni rewrote, revised, and refined the story. It released last week and I am reading it in tiny sips and nibbles because I don't want it to end. I'll intersperse other books (mostly audio) in between. SAINTS is Southern Gothic at its very best and I'm so glad Toni found this book within her and drew it out so the rest of us can relish it.

TV: Baseball! And Lucifer. I did a marathon catch-up of Rizzoli and Isles. I'm not sure why I was reluctant to watch it this season but I DVR'd it and didn't watch. The stories have been awesome and there's some real depth to ALL the characters coming out this season. Of course, it is nice to zip through the commercials. Except for the Subaru Dog-tested ones. There are new ones out that crack me up!

Writing: You got a dose of that above after my mini-rant. I'm about 20K words into the SMP project. Speaking of, how many saw that LaNora (Nora Roberts/JD Robb) left her publisher of 20+ years (the Randy Penguin aka Random House/Penguin) and signed with St. Martins Press. Yeah. That was a real stunner! In other news, I'll have some to reveal in a day or two that is peripherally linked to writing. 🙂 Still waiting to hear on the next three Red Dirt books. I should nudge because I need to get my 2nd quarter schedule set up. I'm looking at finishing Nightriders #2 – NIGHT MOVES (Wizard and Lainie's story) done and out by the end of April. Preliminary work on Roman's book (PP#4) continues, as does Hard Target #2. Iffy is sort of ignoring those guys at the moment. 😦 The SEALs, Wolves, and humans on the team will get their story this year. Eventually. I'm also firming up an idea for a 2nd Kindle World novella with Paige Tyler's Dallas Fire & Rescue and a Wolf from the Moonstruck world. I think he's already shown up in NIGHT MOVES. Okay, I'm pretty sure he has. He's a law man but not sure which alphabet agency he belongs to yet. 😉

Weekend: We celebrated Stormageddon's 2nd birthday with family and friends. He's not technically two until a week or so from now but we had fun. I also discovered that Golden Chick (a chicken fastfood franchise) has excellent fried catfish. Yay! We had rain, which is also a yay. Oh, I did finally have daffodils last week. A week late for my birthday but close enough. 🙂

What about y'all? What trouble did you get into this weekend?

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Saturday Sale and Stuffs

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Silver James

Don’t forget to pre-order MOONSTRUCK: LIES at the special price of $3.99. It will go up a week after it’s release date of March 15th!
MS-Secrets-Lies banner
And other stuffs… The Moonstruck world keeps expanding. First, it was only the Moonstruck novels and novellas. Then came the spin-off worlds of Hard Target and Nightriders. Now I find myself spinning off in other directions as more Wolves pop up out of their dens and insist they have stories to tell. As y’all know, there’s a Kindle World Nightrider/Dallas Fire & Rescue cross-over novella coming in October. I’ve been asked to write a second KW book in the same DF&R world for a January 2017 release. I’m excited about that and my first thought was to just keep it in Paige Tyler’s DF&R world. But the hero kept insisting he was a Wolf. Not a “Moonstruck” Wolf (meaning the original group) or any of the Wolves in the Hard Target series (there are two Wolves on the HT team) and he definitely was law enforcement, not Nightrider material. So…

In order to keep numbering of volumes where they made sense, I created a “new” series with the compilation novels that are also going into print. That series is now MOONSTRUCK GENESIS, because they get deeper into the overall plot arc and world-building. Makes sense, right? So, here’s my dilemma. I have a new story (that’s been submitted to a publisher) that expands the Moonstruck-verse. I’ll self-publish if SMP doesn’t contract for it. Then there’s the KW story. How do I identify these tales with the Moonstruck world? How do I number them? I can’t really put them under the aegis of Genesis. I’ve come up with some ideas and I’d love to have your thoughts on them. They are listed in no particular order and I won’t tell you the one I’m leaning toward until people weigh in.

Moonstruck: Dominion
Moonstruck: Foundation
Moonstruck: Alphas
Moonstruck: Control

Which is your favorite? Do you have any additional suggestions? And I hope you’re having a fun weekend!

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Friday Sinema: Biggest Silence

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Silver James

I was a huge Simon and Garfunkel fan when I was young. I even saw them in concert at the old Fieldhouse on the OU campus when I was in high school. Their “Sounds of Silence” was a song I can still sing along with to this day (when I can’t remember the name of a secondary character without checking my list). The heavy metal band, Disturbed, has released a cover of this song. It is powerful. It is prophetic.

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Thursday Thoughts: Universal Past and Future

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Silver James

universeWhen I went looking for a Universal tidbit to share today, I’m not quite sure why this one claimed my attention from those I’ve tucked back. I’ve had a few bumps in the road lately, but nothing that would cause twists and turns or other upset on the road I’m traveling. Still, there’s something to be said for the message the Universe is passing along. Writers know all too well the sting of disappointment (low sales, rejections, writers block). We face setbacks and detours all the time as we type “Chapter 1” and proceed to add words to a blank page on the road to typing “The End.” I’ve been a lot of places in my career, and I have a lot more places I want to go. I hope the Universe is right. I hope everywhere I’ve been has prepared me for everywhere I’m headed.

Ironically, Silver, had it not been for every disappointment, setback, and detour in the road of your life, you wouldn’t have come so far.

Nice strategy.

Love, love –
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Of course, Silver, had you not been everywhere you’ve been, you couldn’t now go everywhere you will go.

What about you? Where have you been that will help you get to where you’re going?

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Wednesday Words: Smile

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Silver James

wurkn-on-mai-plan-for-word-domination-caleb-pupToday’s #1lineWed theme is SMILE. There are sexy smiles, sweet smiles, wry smiles, fake smiles…here a smile, there a smile, everywhere a smile-smile… Okay, maybe I’ve been up since way early and have had a bit more caffeine than usual… shiftyeyes

Anyway, here’s a snippet from NIGHT FIRE. This darn book can’t decide if it wants to be 1st POV or 3rd, so if I mixed it up, just ignore. This is a rough draft. This is the book where my Nightrider arsonist discovers his mate is an arson investigator, because: Where there’s Smoke, there’s heat…

I hope you enjoy today’s quick look.
****
Leigh:

Smoke watched me wearily. The crinkles fanning his eyes, normally put there by a sexy smile, were drawn now by pain and proof of his exhaustion.

“You won’t talk or you can’t?” I kept frustration out of my voice but I needed to know.

“Living is tricky, babe. The club, it’s all about the brothers. We live together. Die together. Betrayal isn’t an option.”

I unclenched my fists, forced my fingers to stretch. This was not the time to lose my temper. “So…your motorcycle gang always comes first?” Sarcasm warred with hurt.

He straightened, eyes as sharp as a hawk’s now, his gaze raking me. “Club, Leigh. A brotherhood. We aren’t a gang. What did you do?”

Smoothing the hair prickling on my arms, I braced for his anger. “I spoke to the DA on your behalf.”

His reaction was immediate and visceral. “You just signed my death warrant. And yours.”

I shivered from the energy emanating from him as nerves propelled me to my feet. I knew better than to reach for him so I put my chair between us and shoved my hands into my pockets. “Not true. The DA will protect you.”

His howl of laughter wasn’t what I expected. Nor was the feral glint in his eyes. “You don’t get it, babe. And you never will.”

He jerked on his leather vest then paused at the door. “We’re done. Finished. I’ll try to protect you before I die.”

The door snicked to a close. He was gone.

What had I done?
****
What about your characters? Are they smiling? Share if they are.

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Tuesday Treat: Southwest Scrambled Eggs

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Silver James

SW EggsWe love breakfast for dinner and I’m always looking for the easy. This is about as easy as it gets. I don’t use the SW mixed veggies, though. I add chopped onions instead. You could also add chopped olives and top with sour cream. 😀

Ingredients

PAM® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
1/2 cup Egg Beaters® Original
2 tablespoons frozen Southwest mixed vegetables (corn, black beans, red peppers)
2 tablespoons shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 teaspoon chopped nacho jalapeño pepper

Directions

Spray inside of large microwave-safe mug with cooking spray.
Stir together Egg Beaters, vegetables, cheese and jalapeno pepper in mug.
Microwave on HIGH 1 minute. Stir; microwave 45 seconds more or until set. Serve immediately.

Cook’s Tips

For a take-with breakfast, wrap scrambler in a warm tortilla. No pickled jalapenos on hand? Substitute a little ground red pepper. The scrambler puffs up and fills the mug while cooking. It falls quickly once removed from microwave. Use a large (15-ounce) microwave-safe mug to hold the ingredients and to reduce the chance of overflow. Mugs that are wider and shorter work best. A 2-cup glass measure may be used as well. Microwave wattages vary; adjust cook time as needed. Cook the scrambler just until the egg is set. For gluten free preparation, confirm all recipe ingredients are gluten free by reading product labels each time you make this recipe.

To get full nutritional info and other ideas, check out the Ready-Set-Eat link.

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Monday Mumbles

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Silver James

Monday again coffee girlMoving slow today. Obviously. LOLOL Been many years since I had to be “Tournament Fit.” It was a lot of fun. Baseball Boy has a great group of kids and they are awesome with Stormageddon. Lawyer Guy and I spent a lot of time entertaining him too. He wants to “pay basaball. Hit, Big Daddy. Watch, Jammie.” And of course, we did what he asked. 😉

It was nice to take the weekend off. I didn’t check email (regretting that this morning!), or social media (also regretting!) so today is some catch up time and then back to writing. I needed the time away. I hope for lots of words today after getting caught up in the other areas of life as a writer. 😉

Reading: So MANY books, so little time. I’m doing a reread/listen of Anne Bishop’s The Others series. The fourth book, MARKED IN FLESH, comes out tomorrow. I ❤ this series like damn and whoah! I'll finish up the third book before my copies arrive! Like the IN DEATH books, I buy the Others in all formats, adding the audio to list. Once I finish MARKED, I'm finally going to get to the other books that have arrived recently. No more contest books until April. Maybe. Depends on some things.

TV: This is easy. LUCIFER and baseball. Except I'm pissed at MLB. They black out the St. Louis Cardinal games because–like every Cardinal fan takes off two months to go to Florida for spring training and oh, yeah, we all have season tickets and drive TWELVE FREAKING HOURS there and TWELVE MORE back numerous times a week to see the games in person. Grrrrr. I wish I could sic Lucifer on them. 😉

Writing: MOONSTRUCK: LIES releases one week from tomorrow. I hope to have another book to release in April, but not sure which series. I'm doing that whole AADD thing. (Author Attention Distraction Disorder) 😆 And I'm looking into the possibility of audio books. Sort of a friend of a spouse who does voice-overs and teaches… We'll see.

Okay, that's a quick rundown of my life. What's up with y'all?

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