Episode 2 Rough Draft is DONE!

I HAVE FINISHED EPISODE 2!

Jeez, Louise, that was a marathon. There was a whole lot of write - take out - write more - take out - rethink theme - take out - character revelation - rewrite, etc.

It's 59,000 words long, which is 9,000 words longer than I thought it would be, but the natural break is right there.

The good news is that, because I wrote some scenes ahead, I'm about 25% done with Episode 3.

Hey: Here's some of Episode 1, a sneak peek!

Review: Descent and Ascension Series by SM Reine

Once in a while, I’ll recommend some books that I’ve enjoyed. No spoilers here, but I will set up the premise.

Also, I am ALWAYS looking for new books to read. Please feel free to recommend books in the comments. Amazon links are helpful but not necessary!

Caveat: I read widely, across many genres, so I’ve specified what genre each book is. If you don’t read in that genre, that’s cool. Check out the next book.

Urban Fantasy:

 I recently pointed y’all toward Angelfall by Susan Ee, and if you like that book, I have an enormous treat for you.

I am now a huge, massive, rabid fangirl of SM Reine. The Descent series is simply one of the best series that I have read, ever. The sequel series, Ascension, is also incredible. For both, the plotting is amazing, with some of the most perfect pivots I have ever read. The characters are flawed and striving and deeply felt. The core relationship between Elise and James is, to say the least, complicated, and it is developed deeply enough to more than sustain the 12 books SO FAR in this series. At least three more are planned. The prose is—and I hate the word for its snobby Byattesque connotations but it applies—numinous. The world-building is impeccable and thorough in ways that Tolkien and George RR Martin could only aspire to. If you think Susan Ee’s angels are malevolent, wait until you meet Metareon. I will never look at blue eyes the same way again.

One of the most masterful feats of writing that I have ever witnessed is that the entire Descent series is foreshadowed and contained in the very first scene. Main character James Faulkner has one of the most astonishing character arcs that I have ever seen in fiction. There may be no parallel. Main character Elise Kavanaugh may be the most kick-ass heroine who has ever lived, and yet changes so profoundly during the series that she will break your heart and make you wish you were her, and yet she will still kick your ass. She grows up, from a damaged, traumatized teen to a woman who can convincingly become a Hell Lord and (it is suggested) will invade Heaven itself.

I reread books rarely, like Orlando by Virginia Woolf and Lolita by Nabokov, and I have read probably tens of thousands of books in my adult life. I have read this whole series at least twice now, and parts of it several times beyond that. These are some of the best books that I have ever read, and the first three are free on your reader. You should read these.

If there are any caveats, they are that the occasional sex scenes are explicit and heart-wrenching and that there are three more books still to be published. The next one, Lost in Prophecy, is due in March, 2014. I just want to ask SM Reine to wear her seat belt. Oh, yeah, and she’s writing three other series at the same time and throwing down a full-length novel every month. Jaw-dropping.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Descent-Series-Books-1-3-ebook/dp/B009YADS38/ 

Recommended Reading: WOOL by Hugh Howey

Once in a while, I’ll recommend some books that I’ve enjoyed. No spoilers here, but I will set up the premise.

Also, I am ALWAYS looking for new books to read. Please feel free to recommend books in the comments. Amazon links are helpful but not necessary!

Caveat: I read widely, across many genres, so I’ve specified what genre each book is. If you don’t read in that genre, that’s cool. Check out the next book.

Science Fiction: WOOL by Hugh Howey. 

Reviewed in many other places. As good as they say. This is a book that I tell people they must, must read.

My book club passed a rule that we would read no more books by men with female main characters, because we read four in a row that sucked giant, radioactive donkey balls. (No, I won’t say, but they were all literary and prize-winners.) 

Hugh Howey is one of the very, very few men who can write a convincing female character, and he does it incredibly well, several times in this series of interconnected stories. His female leads are complex, feminine and yet not girlie, and deeply human. He doesn’t go for the nubile stereotypes. Some of his leads are mature women.

The twists and turns in the plot will spin your head, in a good way. The premise is that a nanotechnology apocalypse has forced mankind to retreat to an enormous bunker, called a Silo, like they are the stored seeds of humanity. The symbolism in these books is perfect in that it flavors and enhances the prose but does not overwhelm the reader by stomping around, screaming, I AM A SYMBOL! The prose is subtle, evocative, and carefully done.

As with many excellent series, the first one is free for your ereader.

Another book that I can’t say enough about, and Ridley Scott is directing the movie. You should read this.

Sneak Peek Scene: The Devilhouse Books: Lizzy.

~~~Spoilers for "The Devilhouse Books: Rae" Below~~~

No major spoilers for Lizzy's book.

Just teasers.

Review: Angelfall and World's End by Susan Ee

Once in a while, I’ll recommend some books that I’ve enjoyed. No spoilers here, but I will set up the premise.

Also, I am ALWAYS looking for new books to read. Please feel free to recommend books in the comments. Amazon links are helpful but not necessary!

Caveat: I read widely, across many genres, so I’ve specified what genre each book is. If you don’t read in that genre, that’s cool. Check out the next book.

Urban Fantasy:

I have been on an urban fantasy/dystopia kick lately. My grad school roommate dragged me kicking and screaming into the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, and then I loved them, but I never really read much Urban Fantasy. I prefer science fiction to fantasy, given the choice, and I rarely delve into sword-and-sorcery at all since high school.

Angelfall and World’s End by Susan Ee are fun books with good world-building, nicely drawn characters, and excellent plot points. Some of the incidents and characters are obviously inversions of overused devices in other urban fantasy pieces, but she does them well. 

The premise is that the world has been invaded by angels, a warrior culture that has destroyed civilization. In the first book, major character Penryn is just trying to survive the apocalypse and ensure the survival of her younger sister, a paraplegic, and her schizophrenic mother. An angel is nearly killed in front of her, just as another angel makes off with her sister. She kidnaps the grievously hurt angel to try to force him to help her retrieve her sister. This series verges on Paranormal Romance (PNR) and throws some SF in the second book, as well as some trite references to the Rafe (Raphael) being rather Alpha and Dominant. These minor detractions are probably slips. 

Fun, although unfinished, series.

http://www.amazon.com/Angelfall-Penryn-End-Days-Book-ebook/dp/B008ELHBAO/

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE KIND AND LOVELY READERS WHO ARE CONCERNED ABOUT RAE AND WULF.

SPOILERS BELOW, RE: THE DEVILHOUSE BOOKS: RAE

Thank you so much for your kind notes, several of them, over the last couple days and weeks. It means the world to me that y'all have connected with Wulf and Rae. I love them, too, so I won't be leaving Rae and Wulf to their own devices. There is more coming, I promise.

I'm working on Lizzy's book right now. It should begin publishing in April, 2014, if the stars remain aligned. It will be 4 much longer episodes, rather than 9 shorter ones. It begins at the Delta Chi frat party, and we see Lizzy's POV of that and later scenes.

~~~SPOILERS FOR RAE'S BOOK BEGIN HERE.~~~
Click to jump the break.

COMING SOON: The Devilhouse Books: Lizzy -- April, 2014!

COMING SOON:
The Devilhouse Books: Lizzy -- Begins publication in April, 2014!

Lizzy has been drifting, trying to find a life for herself after failing at her life goal that was decided for her when she was five years old, but generally having a good time in college and working at The Devilhouse.

At a Devilhouse party, she meets Theo, a handsome, bright lawyer who just seems to want to talk, and Mannix, an ex-pro-football player with a taste for the disturbing. When someone starts shooting at both men, Lizzy struggles to figure out if the would-be murderer is someone from Theo's work as a prosecutor, someone from Mannix's background in the seedier side of pro sports, or someone who is gunning for her.

Romantic and suspenseful, The Devilhouse Books: Lizzy sizzles with sex and explores the power of love to heal the deepest wounds.