Today the Dragon Wins

"Today the Dragon Wins" offers information from Fantasy Author and Professional Editor Sandy Lender. You'll also find dragons, wizards, sorcerers, and other fantasy elements necessary for a fabulous story, if you know where to look...

My Photo
Name:
Location: Misbehaving in Candlelight

Sandy Lender is the editor of an international trade publication and the author of the fantasy novels Choices Meant for Gods and Choices Meant for Kings, available from ArcheBooks Publishing, and the series-supporting chapbook, What Choices We Made.

Add to Technorati Favorites

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Word of the Day
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Invidious (adjective) – This word used to mean envious, but nowadays it just means rousing ill will; offending; causing animosity (the word originates in Latin)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Chariss must protect the gods from Drake’s invidious schemes with his goddess partner.

Your turn! You can be dark and mysterious today, folks!

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Word of the Day
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Argent (noun) – Silver, usually represented by the color white, but used for the word silver, it’s rarely used (unless you’re a severe Tolkein fan) because it’s an archaic word (the word originates in Middle English and Old French, from the Latin argentum)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, the argent sconces in Arcana’s dining hall are lined with sapphires.

Your turn! I bet visitors today can be inspired to beauty with this one…

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels: ,

Monday, January 29, 2007

That Dragon Sound? Fear It.
Or…How do you know that you no longer care that your brakes are failing?

1) When Top Line Automotive in Naples, Florida, owned and managed by Bill Evans, screws you over, you don’t let him fix your brakes on your car (thus the brakes on your car still DON’T WORK and you still skid to a stop when out driving)

2) You select harsh, angry, angst-metal music that can be played at jet-liner decibels in your car to drown out the squealing-and-grinding noise of your brakes (which, by the way, I actually hear when accelerating…how’s that for bizarre!)

3) You find yourself pleased that you own several harsh, angry, angst-metal-like Duran Duran songs that can be played at jet-liner decibels in your car to drown out the squealing-and-grinding noise of your brakes…and that makes you really happy (Virus, most live versions of Wild Boys, most live versions of Careless Memories, etc.)

4) You contemplate clever, pithy signs to display in reverse on your front window to alert drivers in front of you that your brakes don’t work

5) You contemplate clever, pithy signs to wave at drivers who cut you off in traffic to put the fear of God into them so they understand the ramifications of cutting off a car whose brakes don’t work

So! This article’s challenge to you is to come up with one of those clever, pithy signs for me. You don’t have to type it in reverse… Make each other laugh, folks! It’s good for the soul!

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Word of the Day
Monday, January 29, 2007
Interminable (adjective) – Unending, protracted tiresomely and endlessly and continually

Word in a Sentence: The interminable wait for Choices Meant for Gods’s release will be the end of my sanity.

Your turn!

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels: ,

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Word of the Day
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Now that we’ve run through the alphabet once, we’re gonna shake it up and go through a week or so haphazardly. For instance…

Theriomorphic (adjective) – Having the form of a beast (the word originates in Greek)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, more than one character displays theriomorphic traits, but at least one is keen to keep this troubling background a secret from the family growing amid the Taiman estate.

Your turn! Reach into your Greek Mythology if you need to!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Word of the Day
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Zoftig (adjective) – Plump; having an ample figure and full bosom (the word originates in Yiddish)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Mia could be described as zoftig with her grandmotherly form, but I wouldn’t say it to her face!

Your turn! Be kind…

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Friday, January 26, 2007

Word of the Day
Friday, January 26, 2007
Yearn (verb) – Okay, I doubt there’s anyone who needs this word defined, but, it’s just such a fabulous word that I couldn’t pass up the chance to use it today. The word means…to be consumed with longing; to deeply desire something; to crave something with insistent and lingering wishing. To feel deep tenderness and sympathy. To desire the attainment of something that goes unfulfilled.

Now isn’t that a great word? Can’t you just feel it?

(the word originates in Old English with “giernan or gyrnan” meaning “to strive”)
(Personally, I think the word must have originated with Abelarde pining for his Heloise, and if you don’t know the story, oh, man, it’s harsh! And it’s true…)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Nigel yearned to get back to the Taiman estate before anyone could threaten Chariss and her guardian into fleeing.

Your turn! And with a word like this, I yearn for passion from those keyboards, people!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Grammar Guide
It’s Versus Its

This one is my biggest pet peeve.

“Its” is a possessive pronoun. Example: I enjoy listening to the bass because its voice is deep and resonating. (In this case, “its” refers to the bass’s voice. Instead of repeating “the bass” and making it possessive, which would be cumbersome, I used the possessive pronoun.)

Because the possessive pronoun “its” is already possessive, it doesn’t require an apostrophe. The apostrophe is already “built in”, so to speak. If you put in an apostrophe, it makes my head spin around like the little girl in The Exorcist. (Same thing happens when people say “hungry like a wolf” instead of Hungry Like The Wolf in reference to the Duran Duran song. Don’t ask me why…it’s just a thang.)

If you really want to see my head spin, throw an apostrophe at the END of the possessive pronoun (which is just an insane construction that is NEVER correct in any instance). If you ever see an apostrophe at the end of “its”, you can assume that the individual who wrote it was either (a) on drugs or (b) half-asleep or (c) not an English-speaking native.

Now, it’s correct and appropriate to use an apostrophe in the “it’s” construction when it’s a contraction of “it is”. Let us turn to Supertramp for our example sentence: It’s raining again.

Here’s your shortcut: The easiest way to make sure you always use these two correctly is to pick at your sentence when you write it. The contraction test is the easiest “pick”. If you can insert the words “it is” in place of the word “its” in your sentence, then slip the apostrophe in between the “t” and the “s”. If you can’t use the words “it is”, then keep the apostrophe out. That’s not the most grammatically-correct way of thinking about it, but it’ll do in a pinch.

(Sandy Lender, author of Choices Meant for Gods, has been an editor in the magazine publishing industry for fourteen years.)

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels:

Word of the Day
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Xeric (adjective) – Able to survive in an extremely dry, arid habitat; suited to, adapted to, characterized by a dry climate (the word originates in Greek)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Emperor Darne Wold III brings his daughter to the Taiman household from his xeric desert land in the center of Onweald.

Your turn!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Word of the Day
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Wimple (noun or verb) – As a verb, the word means to cause something to form ripples or folds (or pleats, as in fabric/material). As a noun, the word represents a piece of material that’s wrapped around the head to frame the face (usually of a woman), and folded/pleated under the chin (this was popular back in Medieval times but some orders of nuns still wear them as part of their habits). (the word originates in Old English)

Word in a Sentence: Chaucer’s pilgrims would have included wimples in the descriptions of their ladies and nuns as they told their stories to entertain one another.

Your turn!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Word of the Day
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Vitiate (transitive verb) – To spoil something; to debase, pervert, ruin, morally corrupt something; to impair the quality of something (the word originates in Latin)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, The Master Rothahn knows of Nigel Taiman’s true heritage, and fears it will vitiate not only Chariss’s character and nature, but her resolve to do her duty.

Your turn! This word is rife with suggestion!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Monday, January 22, 2007

Weight Loss with The Dragon and Duran Duran
Or…Waiting until February to select my New Year’s resolutions

Here at The Dragon, cynicism isn’t always met with a smile, but I’m in a special mood this winter. Meeting the bass player for Duran Duran did much to stave off the shooting spree I planned for Christmas Eve (and, yes, for the Feds listening in, part of that complex phrase was a joke), and I’ve found that the pictures from the John Taylor event splayed about my writing den manage to keep the voices at bay. You know the voices…the ones that say “go for it”.

So I went to Borders with a girlfriend and, at the bargain shelf, happened upon a book entitled 50 Symptoms of Mental Illness. Curious, I flipped through the alphabetically listed symptoms. Funnily enough, I found that there are at least three that I don’t exhibit signs of.

This made me wonder…what should I have set as New Year’s resolutions this year? Slough off anxiety? I don’t think I can do anything about depression or sleep disruptions unless I succumb to a doctor’s desire to hand me mind-numbing pills that will alter my state of being until I believe the things they say on CNN (and do ya hear the paranoia there?). Besides, all those pills cause you to gain a couple hundred pounds over a two-month period, and I can’t afford the new wardrobe that would force upon me.

Although I’m convinced a clever woman can lose nearly two hundred pounds of unwanted fat through merely one clean divorce.

As for mood swings, I guess I should chalk that one up as “not a symptom I exhibit” since I’ve had the same mood since, oh, July. Anger. Anger is the correct answer for those of you trying to guess at home. (Oh, and anger is one of the symptoms…)

So here’s the 2007 New Year’s resolution for a woman waiting for the banks to take her house in a town where no one believes she’ll work for a lesser salary than the job that laid her off at the turn of the fiscal year and an aspiring author who’s been waiting on her novel that was supposed to be released back in August – oh, wait, October – oh, wait, make that December – oh, wait, maybe January or February or sometime in the spring:

I resolve to not go on a shooting spree this Christmas Eve, whether I meet up with members of my favorite band again or not. Promise. ;)

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Word of the Day
Monday, January 22, 2007
Undercroft (noun) – A crypt (the word originates in Middle English and Medieval Latin)

Word in a Sentence: Don’t hang around a vampire’s undercroft at the cemetery after dark or she’ll come out and bite your neck!

Your turn! Give us something dark and dangerous…

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Word of the Day
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Tanner (noun) – A person who tans hides

Word in a Sentence: William the Conquerer’s unwed mother was the daughter of a tanner. (Okay, I admit, I think Billy Boy was a marauding freak and his vulgar influence on Anglo-Saxon was a crime, so it does my heart good to make jabs at his less-than-glamorous heritage, of which HE was ashamed, whenever I get a chance. It’s the English degree in me.)

Your turn! Rescue the profession of tanners, if you please. ;)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Tracey’s Saving Vampires!
Congratulations to our positive and glowing vampire winner

Early on with this blog, I stated we’d be staying positive and glowing. We will.

You’ve probably also noticed a trend or theme to the articles here. Grammar Guide, Word of the Day, a visit from author Jamieson Wolf, mentions of books, music, Charlotte and Anne Bronte (Anne got her own article on her birthday this past week), etc. Basically, we’re staying focused on writing and entertainment from healthy stuff (and you can argue whether or not pop music is healthy on your own time – I think it’s saved me on more than one occasion).

Today, our injection for the entertainment milieu is an announcement!

Reader Tracey Monaghan will debut in Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise tonight in Scene 6 at the Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise!

Congratulations, Tracey!

She entered a contest with the reading group, and I pulled her name from the proverbial fishbowl Monday night. Now she’s got a leading role in a romantic/comedic/thriller serial novel online that promises to take readers for quite a spin through Southwest Florida before it’s done. If you’d like to see Teresah (Tracey) enter this fabulous fantasy, you can sign up to read the story along with us by clicking on the link to join the group. A teaser of Scene 1 appears on this blog in the January archives as “Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise”.

Enjoy!

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels:

Word of the Day
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Scute (noun) – A turtle word! This is a bony plate, a sort of chitinous scale like you’d find on a turtle (the word originates in Latin from “scutum”, meaning “shield”)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, the dragon fledgling that visits Chariss has thin scutes, delicate in his youth, and she fears for his safety.

Your turn! Surely someone has a reptile sentence!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Friday, January 19, 2007

A Week of the Wolf at The Dragon
Or…I hosted the villain from Choices with no worries

How did I get through the whole week without making a reference to Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf? Well, apparently, I didn’t. But it was a pleasure to host author Jamieson Wolf here at The Dragon yesterday to help promote his new fiction collection Garden City and to get some information out about eBook publishing. His first traditional publication, Hope Falls, will be available in about a year or so, and I intend to have us hear from him again! In the meantime, oh, Jamieson, that wait is a killer! I know because I’m still waiting on the release of Choices Meant for Gods. It’s hard to know your baby is in the womb, ready for the world, but the publisher’s schedule isn’t quite ready to let her go yet…

Now, to explain something. I met Jamieson through a writers group that you can find at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thewriterslife/ and I highly recommend them. Great people. (We chat a lot.) When Jamieson joined the group, I nearly fell off my chair. Who would have thought I’d run into someone with the name of the villain from Choices Meant for Gods? Sure, it’s a small world, but…THAT small? And, as luck would have it, he wasn’t offended when I told him he had the name of a mad, evil sorcerer who tormented my main character her whole life. ;)

I’d like to hear from the visitors who’ve read the review of Garden City and who’ve read the interview from yesterday (or who participated in the interview) to see how the coverage was useful in your writing life.

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels: ,

Word of the Day
Friday, January 19, 2007
Rallentando (adjective) – This is another great one…not sure why (probably because it’s musical), but this word appeals to me greatly. It means to slow down gradually; slacken the tempo (like a ritardando) (the word originates in Italian – of course!)

Word in a Sentence: In John Taylor’s Immortal, the rallentando near the end of the second verse manipulates my emotions as easily as any Hollywood movie script.

Your turn! I’ve left the Chopin and Vivaldi references to Ron…the Franz Ferdinand to Larry (Take Me Out!).

Labels: ,

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Author Jamieson Wolf Joins us at The Dragon
After the interview, you can post your questions for Jamieson through the comments feature

All this week we've featured articles that introduce both Jamieson Wolf and his latest fiction release Garden City. Now we'll dive right into the interview in which he'll answer some questions not just about that new collection of fiction, but about the business of publishing as well.

Sandy Lender: Your book Garden City contains stories that feature elements of the supernatural both as characters’ learned, “special” abilities and as the dénouement or deus ex machina. Tell visitors to The Dragon why speculative fiction elements are so intriguing to you. What inspires you about (or what first turned you on to) this genre?

Jamieson Wolf: I’m always inspired by what others consider the impossible. I keep telling myself that anything is possible, as long as you believe hard enough. Urban fantasy has always been intriguing to me because it’s the ultimate in conflict: a normal person confronted by something they do not believe in or do not understand.

When I first started writing, one of my big inspirations was Charles de Lint. Here was a writer who took the contemporary setting I loved and added mystery to it with magic. At first, I wrote stories loosely based around his stuff but found it lacking. While Charles de Lint is fantastic at what he does; I found I wasn’t as fantastic at writing Charles de Lint. So I started writing my own stuff with my own idea of what fantasy should be. I found that I could create my own worlds or, if set in reality, my own rules. I love speculative fiction because anything can happen; even the impossible.

Sandy Lender: For my novel, Choices Meant for Gods, I created a fantasy world where I could make up rules as I went along (within reason). For your book, Garden City, your characters live in the real world, but have supernatural encounters that many readers may recognize or expect you to have “correct”, such as the use of a pentacle or a ghost stopping in to get her story finally told to the world, etc. How much time do you typically spend in research of magic to construct something accurate and “within the genre rules” for a short story or a chapter in a longer work?

Jamieson Wolf: Oddly enough, I spend quite a bit of time in research, but not when I’m writing a story. I have a talent for being interested in what others would consider “useless information”. I love old myths and histories, urban legends, and tales of the unknown. I’m constantly delving into information about ghosts and spirits, cults, and witchcraft.

When I find something that strikes a chord, a story or a novel grows from there. My short story Sight Unseen, for example, came from learning about The Delphi Oracle. My short story The Three Fates came to me after I was reading about muses and their influences while I was preparing a course I teach; the Three Fates popped up in a variety of myths and legends and I wanted to put my own particular spin on this old legend.

While a lot of what I write is based in fantasy, I realize that it has to be grounded in reality, too. Having a contemporary setting limits the rules a bit and I have to make sure my information, such as it is, is correct. If I’m talking about witchcraft, for example, I have to make sure that it’s properly represented. The last thing I need is a coven of angry Witches out to get me.

Sandy Lender: Are you a member of the Speculative Fiction Society, SFWA, or any other genre-specific group? How useful do you think such groups are to a writer’s development as a writer? And—the all-important publishing question—how useful do you think such groups are to a writer’s C.V. or list of credentials when querying agents or publishers?

Jamieson Wolf: Actually, I don’t belong to any genre-specific groups. I do belong to a writers group, The Writersville Gang, and we’re from all walks of life and we all write different types of things. I used to belong to a Harry Potter fan fiction group when I first started writing, but I soon found that I wanted to write with my own characters, my own worlds; not someone else’s.

I’m not too sure the idea of a genre-specific group appeals to me, mostly because I write so many different things. I write fantasy, fiction, romance, horror, and children’s books. While a lot of those elements are sometimes melded together in one particular story or novel, I don’t like being boxed in. I’d like to think of my work as not being placeable in any particular genre but open to all of them.

Writers groups are VERY important to a C.V., however. They’re also important for your writing. Though constructive criticism is a hard thing to take for most writers, writers groups can be a great sounding board for your work and give you good experience as a writer.

Sandy Lender: When you realized you had enough short stories of a similar genre ready for publication in Garden City, what was your next step? I just mentioned querying agents and publishers, but, as most visitors to The Dragon will tell you, it’s difficult to find any of those folks who will represent anthologies. Do you regard Garden City as an anthology, and how did you go about getting it ready for consumers?

Jamieson Wolf: I resisted calling Garden City a book of short stories; instead I called it "collected fiction". The stories span almost my entire writing career; Crossroads, for example, was one of my first short stories, followed shortly thereafter by Thirteen. So, yes, I do look at it as an anthology of my work, my stories. Having started my writing with short stories, I’m quite fond of them.

I realized when looking through them that I had set them all in the same place, even some of the fantasy stories, without meaning to. I thought I had been placing the stories in my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, but in the story Time's Malaise, the Goddess of Time calls the place Garden City. Knowing that I had set them in the same place helped me to see I had a collection of stories, an anthology, rather than separate stories. As well, some of the characters are featured in a number of stories, linking them together. Owen, for instance, shows up in Crossroads, Bride, Pandora’s Box, Magic Man, Boozehound, and Reunion. Once I saw that the stories were all connected, it was easier to make them a collection.

To put them together in a collection, I started with three stories: Time’s Malaise, Sight Unseen, and Blue, as these are the three stories that are not in a contemporary setting. They were my beginning, middle, and ending. Then I looked through the stories with Owen in them and tried to place them accordingly, as it seemed he would be our guide through most of Garden City.

I played around with the placing of the stories for a bit, as I was unsure of how I wanted them to progress. I decided to keep the second half of the book consisting of Pandora’s Box, Dim, Beauty, People Watching, Realties Real, and Crow Dreams Vibrant the darker half, easing readers into the darker side of Garden City. I wanted to start the readers off with the lighter side of things as the darker underbelly of something is usually revealed after you get to know someone or get to know a place.

I then had to design the cover. This took longer than I thought it would. I wanted the cover to be inviting but worrying at the same time. I can only hope I succeeded.

All in all, to get Garden City ready for consumers, it’s taken me about ten years. It’s been a long stay in Garden City and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to leave.

Sandy Lender: You have three other fiction novels completed – Electric Pink, Electric Blue, and Hope Falls. If I understand correctly, the Electrics are available as eBooks and Hope Falls is under contract with a publisher to be released in early 2008. Will you correct my facts here and let visitors know how they can get their hands on these three novels (and when)? And tell us how we can order Garden City!

Jamieson Wolf: You’re correct. Electric Pink and Electric Blue, the first two books in the Electric Trilogy, are both currently available as eBooks. I will start writing Electric Red later this year, so it should be available next year as an eBook. No date set, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

Hope Falls is indeed under contract with a publisher and has undergone three rewrites with a possible publication date of early 2008. I’ll know more soon, hopefully. You can still read Hope Falls in its original form and the other three novels in the Hope Falls Series, Eagle Valley, Dragon’s Cove, and Hunted, at the web site I created for Hope Falls. You can visit Hope Falls here: http://hope-falls.tripod.com/

You can order Garden City, Electric Pink, and Electric Blue, as well as a nonfiction book I wrote called Finding the Muse, through my web site at: http://jamiesonwolf.tripod.com/

Sandy Lender: Thank you for visiting The Dragon, Jamieson. I’ve invited visitors to ask questions in the comments section so I hope we have some aspiring authors who’ve been inspired by your answers and your work to give you something to respond to today.

Jamieson Wolf: You’re welcome Sandy! Thank you so much for having me. I’ve enjoyed my stay and look forward to any questions readers may have!


"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Word of the Day
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Quaff (verb) – To drink something really deeply, heartily, fully, etc. (let’s guess where that originated…Anglo-Saxons?)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Henry Bakerson quaffs a good amount of ale when he meets up with his old friend Nigel Taiman.

Your turn! Got a quaffin’ in ya?

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Anne Bronte is 187 Today
Acton Bell is alive and well in our literature…

…as long as we keep telling the next generation about her and her sisters and their works. As the author of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Acton Bell (Anne’s pseudonym) received a variety of reviews while she lived—some were cruel and incendiary. Time has proved her reviewers but specks of dust on the proverbial wind whose names have survived in conjunction with the Brontes.

Anne has persevered.

There is a poignant story of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne seated by the fire at Haworth Parsonage toward the last days of Emily’s life, which were merely months before Anne’s passing. The two younger sisters are weak with illness and Charlotte weighs whether or not to read them a review she has received from the states. They agree to hear it, and so she tells this individual’s opinion of ‘The Bells’. Emily merely smiles it away. Anne gives a little gasp of surprise at the person’s rudeness. But Charlotte’s reaction is the one that moves me. Charlotte looks at her frail sisters and later records her thoughts for history. She wonders what the reviewer would think if he could see the real people, the real women that he has vilified with his callous words, and see them reduced as they are.

I dread what critics will say when it’s my turn with Choices Meant for Gods, but I’m thankful I have no older sister to watch me slowly slipping from life as I hear negativity and accusations against my character flung at me. My younger sister likely won't be reading my reviews to me, either.

But let us use this article to glorify Anne a moment longer.

My favorite poem from Anne is not her best. She has some that will blow you away, and I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Professor (by sister Charlotte) with The Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in the back, or any of the more modern adaptations and compilations of the girls’ poems to see just what treasures they provided us. But on this historic day, I couldn’t help posting here for everyone to see a poem that is believed to have been inspired by a dashing curate by the name of William Weightman…a man Anne never got to profess her love for, as far as we know.

“Oh, they have robbed me of the hope
My spirit held so dear;
They will not let me hear that voice
My soul delights to hear.
They will not let me see that face
I so delight to see;
And they have taken all thy smiles,
And all thy love from me.
Well, let them seize on all they can;
One treasure still is mine,
A heart that loves to think on thee,
And feels the worth of thine.”
--Anne Bronte, circa 1845
(although I would argue for closer to late 1841, early 42)

Happy Birthday to Anne Bronte, January 17, 1820.

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels:

Wolf's Bits
A more technical talk about Garden City

The collection of fiction from Jamieson Wolf entitled Garden City will be the focus of his interview here at The Dragon tomorrow. If you peruse the Garden City Review from yesterday, you'll find that the collection features character vignettes from a fictional/fantasy community where Wolf's imagination brings elements of the supernatural flawlessly into the "real world".

Here's the technical aspect for you. Garden City is an eBook comprising 133 pages. It contains 20 stories ranging in word count from quick to grab-a-cup-of-hot-cocoa-and-relax-for-a-little-while-you-deserve-it-after-a-long-day.

But I want to go to the eBook aspect for a moment because, as far as I'm concerned, it takes a bit of moxie to publish a book electronically. I mean, only 1 percent of the 196 million readers in the United States will purchase, download, and read an electronic book, according to Bob Gelinas, co-owner and editor/publisher of ArcheBooks Publishing, Las Vegas, Nev. At first, you may wonder if it's worth the effort to go after that marketplace. If you think about it long enough, you realize, that's a pretty sizeable group of people willing to spend dollars for your product. Let's go get 'em!

Wolf visits The Dragon tomorrow during his blog tour. He can answer questions concerning traditional publishing, which he experiences with his fiction novel Hope Falls, and e-publishing and self-publishing, which he has experienced with his fiction novels Electric Pink, Electric Red, and Garden City, and with his non-fiction novel Finding the Muse. Join us!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels:

Word of the Day
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Placate (transitive verb) – To appease; to calm down with a favor or concession; to pacify or allay one’s anger (the word originates in Latin)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Nigel can be placated if anyone mentions that something is Chariss’s will. In my life, I can be placated with Duran albums and chocolate.

Your turn! What calms you down?

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Garden City Review
Author visits The Dragon this Thursday

"Garden City" by Jamieson Wolf, Ottawa, Ontario, features 20 short fiction stories revolving around the lives of characters in the neighborhood created by Time when she got a little fussy about growing old. You just never know how women are going to react when they see that first wrinkle, but Wolf sure gives it an interesting twist in the opening story Times Malaise.

From there Wolf's "Garden City" takes the reader on a trip through an English teacher's dream of character development. The collection reminded me of Barry Manilow's The Mayflower album from a few years ago or Roger Waters's Radio K.A.O.S. from the '80s. Wolf doesn't just fling stories of speculative fiction at random at the reader of "Garden City"; he tells tales about individual people from this fantasy site. Elements of the supernatural blend with the everyday in some poetic prose. For instance, a character's "likes" are described with "Autumn was her in between, the middle of two extremes". Another character tells her great niece "It's not right to be ashamed of who you are. It promotes an unhealthy attitude towards life".

My favorite line out of the whole collection: "And even if curiosity had killed the cat, satisfaction had brought it back".

Wolf joins us here at The Dragon this Thursday, Jan. 18, to answer some of my questions and to take questions from visitors through the comments tool on the article's interview. Please join us to discuss his latest publication, "Garden City", or to ask questions about his publishing credits to date. For a bio on Wolf, see yesterday's post "Author Jamieson Wolf Visits The Dragon".

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels:

Word of the Day
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Obliterate (verb) – Destroy; completely do away with; to leave no trace; to wipe out; abolish (the word originates in Latin with “to strike out words”)

Word in a Sentence: In my novel Choices Meant for Gods, Lord Jamieson Drake wishes to obliterate Chariss’s bloodline from the world.

Your turn! This is a powerful word to work with today…

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Monday, January 15, 2007

Author Jamieson Wolf Visits The Dragon

NAPLES, FLA. – Local author Sandy Lender hosts Jamieson Wolf, Ottawa, Ontario, at www.TodayTheDragonWins.blogspot.com Thursday, Jan. 18, when he stops by the site to discuss his newest publication “Garden City”. Visitors can pose questions to either author through the comment feature in the discussion on the site and receive responses throughout the day.

Wolf, a senior reviewer for Linear Reflections, is also the author of "Electric Pink” and “Electric Blue”, the first two novels in an urban fantasy trilogy, and of the romantic thriller “Hope Falls”, which is now under contract. His short stories have appeared in such zines and anthologies as The Dark Krypt, Mytholog, Clean Sheet’s Erotica, The House of Pain, Twilight Times, Slow Trains Literary Journal, SunPiper Press, A Long Story Short, Rain Tiger, and Seasons Greetings by The Writersville Gang. His latest book, “Garden City”, is a collection of fiction about magic, people, and what happens when the two mix.

Wolf’s non-fiction credit titled “Finding the Muse” offers insight into finding inspiration for writing. Through his affiliation with A Long Story Short School of Writing, Wolf currently leads a course on writing from inspiration called “The Muse”.

It is this varied writing career that makes Wolf an ideal guest for aspiring writers and authors to query through The Dragon this Thursday. Visitors to the site can read a review of “Garden City” prior to Wolf’s visit by viewing www.TodayTheDragonWins.blogspot.com. For more information, leave a comment.

Sandy Lender is the author of "Choices Meant for Gods", available from ArcheBooks Publishing next month, and the proprietor of www.TodayTheDragonWins.blogspot.com. She brings a fifteen-year career in magazine publishing and public relations to the Southwest Florida media arena.

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: , , ,

Word of the Day
Monday, January 15, 2007
Notorious (adjective) – Well known, but not necessarily for good reason; infamous (the word originates in Medieval and Late Latin “causing to be known”)

Word in a Sentence: The notorious criminal was apprehended when a bystander pointed him out to police.

Your turn! Yes, all you Duranies, I left this wide open for you. Don’t disappoint me…

(And don't forget that the contest to be in Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise closes tonight. I pick a winner at midnight and put him or her IN the story! If you don't know what this is, the teaser of Scene 1 is further down this page at the aptly titled Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise with instructions at Vampires and Werewolves and Ghosts, Oh My!)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Word of the Day
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Magnanimous (adjective) – Generous, noble, giving, forgiving, gracious (the word originates in Latin)

Word in a Sentence: When Hrazon and Chariss seek shelter at the Taiman estate in the novel Choices Meant for Gods, Kora Taiman is the magnanimous hostess who takes them in without hesitation.

Your turn! Do you have anyone in your life who has been generous and kind? Shout it from the rooftops!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Word of the Day
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Lamia (noun) – Today’s word is fabulous. Lamia is a sorceress or a vampire! Excellent! In Greek mythology, it’s also a serpent-like monster with the head and breasts of a woman. The beast supposedly sucks the blood of children.

Word in a Sentence: I particularly enjoyed Lamia’s performance of Come Undone on Duran Duran’s 1993 tour and also keep her song Bring Me Men in regular rotation on my iTunes.

Bwuahahahaha. Your turn! Use it in a sentence, folks! And with a word like this, I expect fabulous creativity.

(And if you're looking for vampires, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise, or read the teaser on this blog below at "Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise".)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Friday, January 12, 2007

A Meme That Makes You Think
This viral message gets philosophical

A friend of mine at http://oldavonladysorders.blogspot.com/ tagged me to receive and pass along the following meme. (It’s not “Word of the Day” time, but I’ll define meme for you because I went to a great deal of trouble to make sure I knew just what this was: noun – a nugget of information or theme for a conversation; in the blogging world, a meme is a viral message that people seem not to mind receiving as it gives them something to blog about and drive some traffic to their site – I fall into that category.)

The meme I’ve received has been referred to as “the thinking meme” by its progenitors, and I find that I’m not so thankful that it’s the one I get to try my hand at. Wah. Look at this thing. Eleven questions of questionable “positivism”, and you know how I harp on positivism around here! So let’s give it a shot.

1. If you had to choose one vice in exclusion of all others what would it be?
I’d like to take on the vice of gratuitous intimate liaisons with a specific rock star. But something tells me maybe this question is asking what current vice I want to give up. Because gratuitous intimate liaisons with rock stars don’t happen in my life (often), I’m going to have to go with “cursing”.

2. If you could change one specific thing about the world, what would it be?
No more commercial fishing! Blasted shrimpers… Save the sea turtles!

3. Name the cartoon character you identify with the most.
I guess Marvin the Martian has my anger management issues, but I really have to applaud Pepe le Pew’s attitude. (Do the muppets count? ’Coz Animal and I are cut from the same cloth… And did I just butcher Pepe’s name?)

4. If you could live one day in your life over again which one would it be?
There have been pieces of days that have been fabulous (i.e.: Dec. 18, 2005; Dec. 15, 2006) for the specific-rock-star-related reasons, but a day that I’d like to relive involves Nassau and the crystal-clear waters of the vacation spot and a really great drink at a bar where my friend Bianca and I sat after this fabulous powerboat ride. I could live that day over and over and over…especially if it ended with a Duran Duran concert this time. There’s a picture of Bianca and me in the water with these sting rays, and we look euphoric. We look pretty content at the bar, too. And laying on these chaise lounge chairs on the beach… Yes, it was a good day.

5. If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person who would it be?
In this order:
My Savior
Charlotte Bronte
The guy who wrote down Beowulf

6. What is the one thing you lost, sold, or threw away that you wish you could have back?
No regrets

7. What is your one most important contribution to this world?
The Choices and Blood and Vine trilogies (but do they count if they haven’t “happened” yet?)
I think the most important contribution(s) I made was/were the eight years of leading Vacation Bible School at the church back home. You never know but one of those kids might have caught the right “stuff” out of all that and it’ll keep him or her on the right track later on when he or she needs the right track most.

8. What is your one hidden talent that nearly no one knows about?
I can write fantasy novels like Choices Meant for Gods.

9. What is your most cherished possession?
Is my bird a possession (or am I his)? If the house was burning down and I could only save one item, it would be Petri, my bird.

10. What one person influenced your life the most when growing up?
My great grandmother! She’s the one Choices Meant for Gods is being dedicated to when it comes out next month because she’s the one who encouraged me to write. She’s the one who read my silly little stories when I was a child and shared them with the people in her apartment building.

11. What one word describes you better than any other?
Oof…depends on who you ask. In social circles: Crazy. In work: Professional. How bizarre is that? But I guess that’s the Gemini in me!

I tag the following five people to participate next!
Jeff “Ski”
http://consultski.blogspot.com
NathFanJT
http://johnnath.skyblog.com
Tina
http://achancetosayyes.blogspot.com
Dwight
http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com
Michelle
www.elysianchronicles.com

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels:

Word of the Day
Friday, January 12, 2007
Kale (noun) – bland, disgusting, vile…oh…I’m not supposed to be subjective in this, am I? Let’s start over.
Kale (noun) – a cabbage-like plant you can eat with ruffled, loose leaves (the word originates in Middle English)

Word in a Sentence: My pancake tortoises love kale when I sprinkle it with calcium powder, but I do not.

Your turn! If you can do something with this one, I’ll be impressed…

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Word of the Day
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Juvenescent (adjective) – youthful, becoming young

Word in a Sentence: Birthday parties make adults a little more juvenescent; and I send best wishes for a happy birthday to my niece Robin Nicole Lender today in hopes that she has a fabulous party (without the adults making it frumpy)!

Your turn! My example was contrived today for Robin, so…you know…

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Things You’ve Always Wanted to Say
Or...what's your dream job?

See, there are some phrases that I’ve always wanted to say on the job. Things that you just don’t get to utter in this day and age…at least not in the “real world” kind of jobs that I’ve held. Most magazine editors like me don’t get to say “Fire at will!” and have their staff members obey. (Although “make it so” has passed my lips more than once with great results from talented people around me.)

So here are a few phrases I want to use at my job without getting fired or taken into psychiatric custody:

“This is Sandy. I’m taking over the fleet.”

“Take him to detention. If he resists, shoot him.”

“Bring me Duran Duran.” (When the peon appropriately asks, “Which one, Contessa?”, I would reply, “All of them.”)

What about you? In your fantasy world where the sky is whatever color you want it to be (but for some reason we’re still working for a living), what catch phrase or sudden impulse statement do you want to say? It doesn’t have to be violent like my first couple seem to be…

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Word of the Day
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Immaculate (adjective) – having no fault, no stain, no blemish, no marking (the word originates in Middle English “immaculate” and Latin)

Word in a Sentence: It is every writer’s desire to send an immaculate manuscript to a publisher.

Your turn! We must have some Marians in the crowd…

(Again, if you're looking for the vampire story, the teaser of scene one is further down on this blog at Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise.)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Word of the Day
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Horripilation (noun) – goose bumps on the skin and the standing/bristling of body hair from chill or fear (the word originates in Latin)

Word in a Sentence: Watching the first movie in the Aliens series no longer causes horripilation for me, but watching The Grudge certainly does!

Your turn! Get creative, folks because I know ya’ll can do better than my pathetic "fear" sentence.

(If you're looking for the teaser scene for the vampire story, it's way down the page now. Look for the "Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise" post in the list of articles at left.)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Monday, January 08, 2007

Word of the Day
Monday, January 8, 2007
Gynarchy (noun) – a government run by women (the word originates in Greek)

Word in a Sentence: The Amazons looked around for something to do once they’d established their gynarchy.

Your turn! There have to be some activists ready to leap on this one.

(And if you're looking for the link to Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise, it's at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise. The article far below labeled Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise has a teaser of Scene 1 to pique your interest.)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Grammar Guide
Noun-Verb Agreement
Or…Can’t we all just get along?

Getting your nouns and verbs to agree works out easily if you track where they are. Find them, separate them out of the sentence for just a moment, make them stand next to each other, pat them down and dress them up until they look like they belong at the same party, and send them back in among the other words.

Picking them out and putting them back is often the easiest part for some writers. It’s the ‘making them agree’ that gets tricky. We can’t all be diplomats.

Here’s the rule: Singular nouns get a singular version of the verb. Plural nouns get a plural version of the verb. (We’ll hit group nouns in another Grammar Guide post because those British people toss convention to the wind, doncha know.)

We’ll start with the singular constructions. You know a noun is singular because there’s no “s” on the end of it making it “more than one”. For instance: John, the cat, the bird, the candle, Chariss, etc. The verbs that match these singular nouns will usually have an “s” on them. (And, hey, it’s the English language, so you just have to accept the fact that this is convoluted.)
John plays bass.
The cat chases mice.
The bird demands his toys.
The candle glows brightly.
We hope Chariss saves the world.


Ooh, did you catch that last one? We is a plural subject (even though there’s no “s” on the end of it) and “hope” is the plural verb. You know a noun (or pronoun in this particular case) is plural…well…because it indicates there’s more than one entity “in it”. For instance: they, the dogs, the players, we, etc. The verbs that match these plural nouns will usually NOT have an “s” on them.
They play musical instruments.
The dogs bury bones in the back yard.
The players on the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.
We hope Chariss saves the world.

If you have difficulty determining whether the subject of your sentence agrees with the verb in the predicate of your sentence, you’ve got to go back to the original thought in this post. Pull them out of the sentence for a minute and make them stand next to each other. If you’ve got a complex sentence that’s losing the subject and verb amid a lot of other schtuff, you need to clear the clutter to figure it out. Just break it down to figure it out.

For example: Dressed up in layers of satin and lace, the bride Tiatha Wold, with her best series of smiles hiding her nervousness, holds in her trembling hands a bouquet of roses and gardenias.

(No, that travesty of a sentence does NOT appear in Choices Meant for Gods, and if it did, I’d have to discuss things with my editor.)

Take the subject “bride” and the verb “holds” out. Stand them next to each other to see the simple sentence. “The bride holds a bouquet.” Both “bride” and “holds” are singular, so we’re in agreement. No one was tempted to make “hold” agree with “smiles”, were you? We can talk of objects of prepositions in a future Grammar Guide, too…

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Labels: , , ,

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Word of the Day
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Febrific (adjective) – being feverish or causing a fever (the word originates in Latin)

Word in a Sentence: The febrific moment when my hero swept me from my feet cast me into another reality.

Your turn! I know you all can do something fabulous with this… It is cold and flu season, after all.

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Saving the Vampire
How to get to the Yahoo group

If you're checking in to see how to get to the Yahoo group, here's the scoop!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise

Even vampires can learn lessons of the heart...
...like how to alter a destructive course, once it's already set in motion.

Join us in the reading of
Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise
An exciting serial romantic thriller from the author of Choices Meant for Gods!

Sandy Lender takes you on a fabulously fun romp through the beaches of Naples, Florida, with Nathan Tearnshaw and Katy Crawford and various vamps and tramps (and other good folks, too) in a comedic action-adventure romance that will leave you breathless...and possibly bloodless!

Sandy is posting Scene 2 tonight!
"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels:

How Do You Use Your Voice?
Things we care about...

My friends Linda Rucker and Mike Morris have begun a site to assist in education about HIV/AIDS. While that isn't the "breath of fresh air" kind of topic this blog is set up to discuss, it is an important topic that I'll direct my readers to because it's a topic I care about. I have friends whose interests are at stake. So if I can use my "voice" by suggesting viewers/readers/visitors take a look at Linda and Mike's site, well, then, I've done my good deed for the day.

www.freewebs.com/justsaywhat

But viewing a site wasn't enough. Mike has a book he's written called Jessie Remembers. It hasn't been published yet, so I can't tell you where to pick up a copy, but there's a scene in the book that inspired me to complete an assignment for a writers' meeting this afternoon. I read my scene aloud, as each of us who completed our assignment was supposed to do, and, when I'd finished, I looked up at a lady across the table from me to see that her eyes were big as hubcaps and she had nothing to say. A couple of the other ladies were red-faced and on the verge of tears, which, I guess, is a good thing, considering the subject. The online writers I posted it to reacted more with anger.

So I'm not sure how my readers here will take it. I've posted it as the next article below.

My hope is that it just makes people think twice about the hate and indifference still present in our world. We can do something with our voices if we set our minds to it. Educating people about HIV/AIDS research isn't my calling. Those of you who know me know that animal welfare causes are my forte. Put a baby sea turtle in my path and you'll see all kinds of action. But when Mike and Linda started their "justsaywhat" site and program, I felt compelled to at least use my voice to help spread the word...

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

A Scene for a Meeting
And here's the scene I reference in the post above...

Why is There Still Hate in the World?

How could a day start with so much promise and end with so much pain? Susan knew more joy Saturday morning than she’d known her entire life. It was as if the sun shone brighter, the birds sang more beautifully, the grass looked greener, and, yes, strangers smiled at her.

“That’s a beautiful gown, Dear,” an elderly woman said. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Susan blushed, stuffing herself and her enormous white train into the back of a stretch limo.

On the short ride to the church, she wondered if the old lady thought it strange that this bride rode alone. Even so, she rode alone with a measure of happiness she’d never thought possible.

She stepped from the car in front of a fancy stone building in an honest-to-God bridal gown complete with veil and lace and beads and white patent-leather shoes. Patent-leather, people. Patent-leather! The dream was coming true. She wasn’t just in love. She was getting married to the most amazing person on the planet…the only person who could possibly save her.

After a confusing and complicated childhood wondering why Ken and Barbie liked each other so well when Barbie should have been attracted to the lovely and curvy Trixie, Susan finally got to high school and figured out that she was “different” from almost everyone else. That’s when things became not just confusing and complicated, but painful and joyless.

Enter Kayleigh Jancy, stage left. Oh, didn’t things turn around then? Kayleigh agreed on the whole Barbie and Trixie issue. Kayleigh held her hand in the dark at the movie theatre and let her have the last Junior Mint in the box. Kayleigh taught her how to drive a stick shift. When they got to college, Kayleigh kept the sorority chicks from harassing her about her obsession with the X-Files. Kayleigh actually laughed at Susan’s ridiculous elephant jokes. You know the ones: like why do elephants paint their toenails red? To hide in the strawberry patch!

Susan snickered to herself at this thought as she stared up at the church, wondering briefly what she’d ever done to deserve someone as wonderful, someone as kind, someone as thoughtful, someone as beautiful as Kayleigh Jancy. That’s when she realized Kayleigh was nearby. She glanced to her right and saw that familiar form. And she grinned.

Kayleigh stood in her own pretty gown, a much simpler one, about fifteen feet away, and whisked her bouquet up in front of her face, her eyes glittering with mischief. “Hey! It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!”

Susan laughed, hearing firecrackers going off like gun shots somewhere above them. Had Kayleigh even arranged fireworks for their big day? Of course she would do that. It would be just like her to surprise her with something big and grand for their entrance to the church.

“God, I want to be deserving of this angel,” Susan thought.

And then she thought it strange that the beautiful, sunshiny day should produce rain. “Aww, man, is it raining?” she heard herself ask.

The look of horror that suddenly gripped Kayleigh made Susan frown. She lifted her hand to her face to wipe at the wetness she felt there as Kayleigh shrieked something unintelligible.

“What? I asked, is it raining?” Susan looked up at the cloudless sky of their perfect day, and when she looked back down, she saw that the rain on her hand wasn’t rain at all.

It was red.

Red as blood.

She looked at Kayleigh questioningly and felt herself falling into the woman’s arms.

“Oh, dear. Kayleigh, something’s wrong.”

Kayleigh spoke. Her lips moved. But Susan couldn’t hear her words. She looked up into the beautiful woman’s face, looked up into her eyes that were wide with terror. Kayleigh embraced her firmly, solidly, and appeared to be yelling out now, yelling up at someone else, anyone else, someone passing by, perhaps.

Oh, now why was Kayleigh crying? She shouldn’t be crying on their big day! She’d make her mascara run, and that would be a shame. And what was she doing kneeling on the ground in her dress? She’d ruin it on the concrete! Kayleigh, get up, she thought, trying to will the woman to get up off her knees.

That’s when Susan realized something wasn’t just wrong; something was very wrong. Other faces came into view, but the edges of her vision started to smear with darkness that funneled into a single cylinder frame of just Kayleigh before her. The woman wept uncontrollably, holding Susan’s head to her breast, rocking her back and forth like a child, still calling out for help from anyone who could do anything besides stare in shock at the scene.

“I must be hurt badly,” Susan said, but it seemed that Kayleigh couldn’t hear her. “Am I dying?” she asked.

Again, Kayleigh appeared to be speaking with the people around them, trying to get them to act. My, she’s so beautiful, Susan thought. What a shame that I’m dying and I won’t get to be with her now.

She rallied her nerves to be strong. She didn’t want to cry in front of Kayleigh if this was really what was happening; didn’t want to make this more difficult for her beautiful bride. It occurred to Susan how blessed she was at this moment: What a wonderful thing that she’s the last sight I’ll see.

And as her eyelids grew heavier with life’s subsiding, Susan tried to say, “Oh, Kayleigh, don’t get my blood on your pretty white dress.”

the end

While it’s a fact that HIV/AIDS affects all segments of the population at large today, the gay community still suffers tremendously from this affliction. You can assist in the search for better medications and better education, and that assistance starts with action. How have you used your voice today?

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Word of the Day
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Enamor (transitive verb) – to charm someone or something; to inspire someone with feelings of ardor or love – keep in mind this verb is usually passive so it needs a preposition to help it out (the word originates in Middle English "enamouren", Old French (of course!), and Latin)

Word in a Sentence: In the novel Choices Meant for Gods, Nigel is enamored with everything about Chariss.

Your turn! Give me something so romantic that the computer melts!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Friday, January 05, 2007

Word of the Day
Friday, January 5, 2007
Dizen (transitive verb) – to dress someone (or something) up in fine and fancy garments and accessories, jewelry, adornments, etc. (the word originates in Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German “dise”)

Word in a Sentence: In the novel Choices Meant for Gods, Nigel determines Chariss will be bedizened for her audience with the emperor of Onweald.

Your turn! Give me something beautiful!

(And if you're looking for the Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise info, there are two posts just below that can help you out. Or you can go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise to sign up and enter the contest to be included in the story!)

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Vampires and Werewolves and Ghosts, Oh My!
Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise

Even vampires can learn lessons of the heart...
...like how to alter a destructive course, once it's already set in motion.

Let me take you on a fabulously fun romp along the beaches of Naples, Florida, with Nathan Tearnshaw and Katy Crawford and various vamps and tramps (and other good folks, too) in a comedic action-adventure romance that will leave you breathless...and possibly bloodless!

Sign up at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise to join this free group that's reading Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise! And win a starring role as a pivotal character in the story if you sign up by the January 15 contest deadline!

(A scene from the story so far is posted below, just to give you an idea of the treat you're in for!)

Welcome to Naples, the last place on earth you'd expect to find a vampire!
Nathan and Katy await...

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels:

Saving a Vampire from the Summer Sunrise
Copyright January 2007
By Sandy Lender

Scene 1
It seemed a strange thought to have flash through her mind before death: Why did he cheat on me with her? Katy could feel gravity and inertia and centrifugal forces wrenching her about the back seat of the cab, could feel Millie’s Juicy bag suddenly impact her head like a cannonball, could feel shards of glass shredding her shoulder, but the thought in her mind wasn’t for safety or fear or “what could I accomplish if God would just grant me one more day?” No, she had to think of that ridiculous bimbo with her obnoxious laugh and fake nails and bleach-blonde hair…

The cab spun to a stop on its side.

Millie groaned, and Katy realized, with some surprise, that they must both be alive. No one could experience such pain if dead. She heard music from her MP3’s earpiece, static-like and coarse somewhere in the back seat playing Transcendental Mental, and she silently mouthed, “Thank you, Simon, I need something light right now.”

Aloud, she heard herself moan: “Sake’s alive, Mill, I hurt.”

Then a pair of hands settled on her, seeming to shape into solidity as they fixed on her waist, lifting her effortlessly up out of the wreckage and into the blinding headlights of the car that had struck them. She felt herself cradled in a man’s arms and the scent of a spicy, almost floral cologne drifted over her.

She heard voices, people yelling, and someone’s footsteps pounding toward her. “Nathan, what are you doing out here?” a man demanded.

“Just get the other girl out of the cab. The tank’s been compromised.”

“Nathan Tearnshaw!?” some wild voice exclaimed. “Oh my God! It’s him! It’s Nathan Tearnshaw!”

“Please give us some space,” a woman called out now. “Everyone, please get back. This is the scene of an accident. The car could explode.”

Katy’s eyes shot open wide. “Millie!”

----------
Sign up to join the Yahoo group reading this story at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sandysvampiresunrise today!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels:

Word of the Day
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Cittern (noun) – a guitar with a pear-shaped body, from the 16th century (the word originates in Middle English “gitern”, which makes sense because it represents a Medieval stringed instrument)

Word in a Sentence: Sting’s next album should feature a cittern instead of a lute.

Your turn! Give me something musical…

Labels: ,

Guess Where I Am!
Or...I didn't realize I was freaking people out

A friend told me on the phone last night that I have this thing I do. I call up someone to share something exciting and I begin the conversation with "Guess where I am!" Turns out this frightens them. Who would have thought...

See, I have this propensity for living out that whole carpe diem thing. Used to be, I'd call and say "What are you doing on - fill in a date here - ?" and the person on the other end of the line would become extremely excited because I was about to invite her to go "seize the day" with me. I actually caused Jennine Goodman to hyperventilate (no exaggeration - she hyperventilated - you can ask her boss, who witnessed it) with that when I did this on a Monday after the weekend when we were trying to win tickets to a Neurotic Outsiders concert in LA. Considering my ability back then to win stuff, she knew what was coming after the "What are you doing September 19?" (or whatever date it was)

Now that I'm alone in another state with the majority of my "crazy" friends back in the other two places that I consider home towns, I don't have anyone I can rely on to be "crazy" with me (although I'm working on one gal in particular).

Anyway, my new catch phrase, it would appear, is "guess where I am". The answer is usually "the airport". And the answer usually involves Duran Duran. This was the case when I hopped on a plane (spontaneously) for a whirlwind (weekend) trip to England to see them play in December 2005. THAT was amazing. One of the best decisions I've made. (Another good decision is in the next paragraph...) I can recall making the calls from the airport before leaving the country because I hadn't sprung for the international cell phone. I don't remember if it was a matter of "not enough time" or "not enough money" or both.

Back in November '06, I called everyone and their brother to say "guess where I am" and the answer was "standing in front of John Taylor's microphone stand!" because I'd woven my way through the Gnarls Barkley and Modest Mouse crowds (good bands, by the way) to stand behind one single solitary gal (who was very cool) in front of the band. In December, I called Jennine to say "guess where I am" and the answer was "a parking garage in Atlanta". The rest of that story can be found on this very blog in Face to Face with the Muse; a quick thank-you to John Taylor.

Does anyone else do this? Or am I insane? Do you call up your friends in some bizarre state of excitement and give them cause for concern - on a regular basis? It would appear I do so...

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Word of the Day
Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Bawd (noun) – a prostitute, lady of the night, hooker, whore, woman of ill repute, woman who runs a brothel (the word originates in Middle English “bawde” and Old High German “bald”)

Word in a Sentence: In Choices Meant for Gods, Chariss must visit the bawds of Nigel’s past for assistance.

Your turn! Get creative, folks...and with fodder like this...oh my...

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Word of the Day
Tuesday January 2, 2007
Actuate (transitive verb) – to move or put something or someone into motion (from Medieval Latin)

Word in a Sentence: Joseph actuated prophecy when he took Mary and her unborn child to Bethlehem.

Now, I know there are creative people out there. Let's see what sentences you can come up with. (And, no, I don't expect you to be serious.) For instance, "I wish someone would actuate the members of Duran Duran toward the recording studio to finish their current album." (So it's a stretch, but do you get the point?)

Your turn! Actuate those keyboards.

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: ,

Monday, January 01, 2007

My Flasher Experience
The good life, perhaps…

At one of my writers' groups meetings, a couple fellows were complaining about an article on flash fiction in the association newsletter. They felt that the piece had defined flash fiction as flash fiction – so get started writing it. It's the latest craze for all those readers with short attention spans.

Being familiar with the travesty already, I hadn't found anything too annoying with the article. (come on – it's an association newsletter – did they expect Lehrer?) Flash fiction is simply another form of the short story (or freestyle poetry in some editors' minds) that limits the word count of the piece to something ridiculous. I've seen editors call for "stories" to be anywhere from 250 to 1,000 words. The vast majority request the piece be 500 words long. The subject ranges to anything you can imagine depending on the magazine calling for entries. It can be personal and memoir-like, which I've seen requested by Byline Magazine, or speculative, (fantasy) or anything in between. The trick is to walk that fine line between telling a story with a "pop" for an ending or merely setting a scene when you have only 250 words with which to work. Imagine my reaction to such a limitation when you consider Choices Meant for Gods once sat at 250,000.

Dangit, Jim, I'm a novelist, not a flasher. But here's my try (237 words, including title):

The Good Life at Last
By Sandy Lender
Carla smiled sardonically at the drivers license in her hand, believing she'd just pulled off the perfect crime, believing the Beverly Hills driveway before her held the promise of her new, fantastic lifestyle. How did the announcer say it? "Champagne wishes and caviar dreams of the lifestyles of the rich and famous." Well, she had it now. She had it all. She gazed up at the $15 million home before her through diamond-studded sunglass frames, breathing in the California air of freedom and fantasy. Carla Salvadores had died to an old, hard life and had been born again as a rich bitch. Who cared how Evana Troose came into it all; it was now all Carla's. And she was lost in the imagery of diving into the pool out back when she heard a man's voice.

"Excuse me, Ma'am? Are you Ms. Evana Troose?"

She turned with her pearly whites sparkling in the afternoon sun...and frowned at the police officer.

"Oh. Why, yes, Officer."

There was no way he could tell she wasn't Evana. The crime had been calculated down to the last detail. She belonged in this house, in this body, in this soul.

Her smile returned. "What can I do for you?"

"Ms. Troose, you're under arrest for fraud, money laundering, and embezzlement of company funds. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney..."

the end!
What can you guys post back for me? 25o words may not seem like much, but you can pack some punch in there. Share!

"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Labels: