Cryselle did a great review of Hell Is in the Details, and gave it four out of five marbles.
==========
Benioth, the Demon of Laziness, is behind on his memos and has just found out he needs to corrupt a soul by midnight to make quota. Luckily the Demon of Sodomy doesn't mind sharing the fun, and Benioth runs into Andy, who's still innocent but eager to have someone fix that for him. It sounds like a perfect situation, but somehow things never go right for poor Benioth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I always suspected that corporate America got some of it's less attractive features from the Infernal regions -- Angela Benedetti makes that point very strongly, with memos and quotas, job reviews and last minute hustles to get it all right. Benioth needs to scurry -- corrupting someone beyond redemption using sloth takes a while and he -- really! -- doesn't have all night.
Now, in order for this all to work, you have to reserve judgment on one notion that had me going uhhhhhhhh but you know what? Hell really is in the details.
This was fun, and it gave the devil his don't.
==========
This was a fun story to write, too, and I'm glad she enjoyed it. :D
Angie
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Review of Reach Out and Touch
Cole at Jessewave's Blog is going through all my Hidden Magic universe stories, and this week he reviewed Reach Out and Touch, another Cal and Aubrey short story. He gave it 3.5 stars and said:
==========
Though Cal has been Aubrey’s apprentice for over ten years (and also his lover), he is still a “baby mage” compared to Aubrey, who is 220 something years old and has been a practicing mage for two centuries. Aubrey never lets Cal forget this — and to remind him, he is always setting little traps for Cal or finding some way to show his dominance. Yet, Aubrey really is the best master and no matter how much of a rascal he seems at times, he does know what is best for Cal. But whether Cal has a natural propensity for arrogance, or being Aubrey’s lover makes him feel the need to meet his lover as an equal in their craft, he sometimes does very foolish things against Aubrey’s advice.
...
I was a bit disappointed by this story. That sounds harsh, but it really is because I love the other stories and the novel these characters are from so much, so I have very high expectations. Cal and Aubrey have a really amazing, nuanced relationship that always shines through their witty banter. Here, though, most of the story is told by Cal when Aubrey is gone. It is only towards the end of the story, when a contrite Cal is seriously in danger does Aubrey come home to find the disastrous situation Cal has created. Also, this story had a couple of passages that I thought weren’t necessary to the story. They were pretty technical about the magic that Cal was doing that I thought went a little too far in trying to explain what was happening. Ultimately, they took away from the story.
==========
I can see where he's coming from, actually. This is more Cal's story than a relationship story. Aubrey doesn't come home until more than halfway through, and they don't start directly interacting until more than three-quarters in. If you're reading for the relationship and dialogue, there's not as much of that here as there usually is.
More Cole: "And I did like the story. I loved the ending in particular, which showed one of the rare moments between Aubrey and Cal that I love, when they’re finally on the same level and Aubrey shows his tender side to Cal. They are two of my favorite characters in this genre and I was very happy to revisit them."
I'll take that. :D
Angie
==========
Though Cal has been Aubrey’s apprentice for over ten years (and also his lover), he is still a “baby mage” compared to Aubrey, who is 220 something years old and has been a practicing mage for two centuries. Aubrey never lets Cal forget this — and to remind him, he is always setting little traps for Cal or finding some way to show his dominance. Yet, Aubrey really is the best master and no matter how much of a rascal he seems at times, he does know what is best for Cal. But whether Cal has a natural propensity for arrogance, or being Aubrey’s lover makes him feel the need to meet his lover as an equal in their craft, he sometimes does very foolish things against Aubrey’s advice.
...
I was a bit disappointed by this story. That sounds harsh, but it really is because I love the other stories and the novel these characters are from so much, so I have very high expectations. Cal and Aubrey have a really amazing, nuanced relationship that always shines through their witty banter. Here, though, most of the story is told by Cal when Aubrey is gone. It is only towards the end of the story, when a contrite Cal is seriously in danger does Aubrey come home to find the disastrous situation Cal has created. Also, this story had a couple of passages that I thought weren’t necessary to the story. They were pretty technical about the magic that Cal was doing that I thought went a little too far in trying to explain what was happening. Ultimately, they took away from the story.
==========
I can see where he's coming from, actually. This is more Cal's story than a relationship story. Aubrey doesn't come home until more than halfway through, and they don't start directly interacting until more than three-quarters in. If you're reading for the relationship and dialogue, there's not as much of that here as there usually is.
More Cole: "And I did like the story. I loved the ending in particular, which showed one of the rare moments between Aubrey and Cal that I love, when they’re finally on the same level and Aubrey shows his tender side to Cal. They are two of my favorite characters in this genre and I was very happy to revisit them."
I'll take that. :D
Angie
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Review of Unfinished Business
Cole over at Jessewave's blog did a great review of Unfinished Business, and gave it a a 4.5/5.0 rating. (And he's going to be reviewing the other three stories in the Hidden Magic verse too, which is awesome. :D )
In part:
Aubrey is a master mage and over two hundred years old, while Cal is his apprentice in his thirties. They are also lovers and it is very easy to see how much they love each other — in their looks, little touches, and the banter they throw back and forth like old lovers who have been together a lifetime. It is an extreme May-December relationship in terms of age, yet the issues that usually come to light in such a relationship, especially an inbalance of power, are dealt with humor between the two of them. In short, Aubrey likes to brag about his grandiose power and Cal loves to poke the beast.
...
This story was such a delight. Not only did I get to revisit a world that I love and two characters who make me laugh, but for the first time, we get to see Aubrey and Cal in private. We see them from Cal’s POV and we get a pure voyueristic treat: magical sex between the two men. The story stayed true to their characters as humor and the little games they play shone throughout the dialogue. Also, though not as proficient, Cal is a mage as well, and as highly magical mortals, I knew that their sex had to be interesting. It didn’t dissapoint.
I love that Cole focused on Cal and Aubrey's relationship, because that's what makes these characters so much fun for me to write. They love each other deeply, but it's all plastered over with joking and teasing. There's something about them that makes me smile, and I never have to wonder how they'd respond to one another.
The age difference is definitely a key factor, along with the huge power imbalance on a magical level. In some urban fantasy or paranormal romances, one character is hundreds or even thousands of years older than the other, and vastly more powerful, and how they fall in love or even relate to one another is just sort of hand-waved. I can't imagine having enough in common with a guy even 20 years younger than I am to want to get into a relationship, much less a few centuries younger. With Cal and Aubrey, I'm focusing on making the age/power difference work here in a realistic way, and the shared sense of humor is definitely a big part of it. I'm glad that's working.
Thanks to Cole for his great comments. :D
Angie
In part:
Aubrey is a master mage and over two hundred years old, while Cal is his apprentice in his thirties. They are also lovers and it is very easy to see how much they love each other — in their looks, little touches, and the banter they throw back and forth like old lovers who have been together a lifetime. It is an extreme May-December relationship in terms of age, yet the issues that usually come to light in such a relationship, especially an inbalance of power, are dealt with humor between the two of them. In short, Aubrey likes to brag about his grandiose power and Cal loves to poke the beast.
...
This story was such a delight. Not only did I get to revisit a world that I love and two characters who make me laugh, but for the first time, we get to see Aubrey and Cal in private. We see them from Cal’s POV and we get a pure voyueristic treat: magical sex between the two men. The story stayed true to their characters as humor and the little games they play shone throughout the dialogue. Also, though not as proficient, Cal is a mage as well, and as highly magical mortals, I knew that their sex had to be interesting. It didn’t dissapoint.
I love that Cole focused on Cal and Aubrey's relationship, because that's what makes these characters so much fun for me to write. They love each other deeply, but it's all plastered over with joking and teasing. There's something about them that makes me smile, and I never have to wonder how they'd respond to one another.
The age difference is definitely a key factor, along with the huge power imbalance on a magical level. In some urban fantasy or paranormal romances, one character is hundreds or even thousands of years older than the other, and vastly more powerful, and how they fall in love or even relate to one another is just sort of hand-waved. I can't imagine having enough in common with a guy even 20 years younger than I am to want to get into a relationship, much less a few centuries younger. With Cal and Aubrey, I'm focusing on making the age/power difference work here in a realistic way, and the shared sense of humor is definitely a big part of it. I'm glad that's working.
Thanks to Cole for his great comments. :D
Angie
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
A Sale and a Freebie
Torquere is the featured publisher over on Rainbow eBooks this weekend, so all their books there are 20% off, including my urban fantasy A Hidden Magic.
Also, the holiday story fest put on by the M/M Romance group on Goodreads -- the event for which I wrote "The Gift" -- is wrapping up with an e-book anthology of all the stories written for the event. The book is called Stuff My Stocking, and it's a free download on Goodreads. Lots of fun stuff there.
Also, the holiday story fest put on by the M/M Romance group on Goodreads -- the event for which I wrote "The Gift" -- is wrapping up with an e-book anthology of all the stories written for the event. The book is called Stuff My Stocking, and it's a free download on Goodreads. Lots of fun stuff there.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Review of A Hidden Magic
Cole over at Jessewave's blog did an excellent review of A Hidden Magic, with a 4.75/5.0 rating. :D
Angela Benedetti’s A Hidden Magic was a breath of fresh air for me. I love paranormals and fantasy, but usually they seem to be pieces of a few famous fantasy worlds cobbled together — not very original. Not here. This story took me by surprise and I found myself happily immersed in this unique universe that seemed to flow naturally from one page to the next. Before I started reading M/M, I used to read popular YA paranormals and many of them were about the Fey, in all different manifestations. I remember now why, although I loved the premise of these books, they always turned me off. I always felt like I was supposed to like the fey.
It's great that Cole appreciated this aspect of the book, because that was one of my goals in writing A Hidden Magic -- making the fey alien and dangerous, not just gorgeous people with pointed ears and a long lifespan. Not that I mind that kind of fantasy, but I wanted to do something different. Even when one of the fey seems to be on your side (like Willowen, or Azzy) they're doing it for their own reasons, and their motives are based on an alien point of view. I love that Cole caught that and enjoyed it.
There was also a particular device employed by Ms. Benedetti that I rarely see in M/M and really value if well written into the story. The prose changes very subtly with each characters emotions. The story is written in third person close, so if we’re viewing the action through Rory and he gets excited the prose will speed faster and the syntax will reflect his excitement. Conversely if Rory (or any character who has the lens) gets sleepy and is still trying to describe the scene, the prose will slow, the syntax disjointed, until it seems the prose falls asleep right alonside the character. This is done very subtley and when it is done will like it is here, it is a very effective tool in taking the reader along with the emotions of the character or the speed of the action. I was very impressed by this.
Cole's picking up on that made me beam, like, massively. There are times when I have to fight to keep some of my run-on sentences while going through edits. Yes, I go long at times [cough] but it's always for a reason, and Cole gets a hug and chocolate for picking up on how it works and how it enhances the reader's immersion into the POV character's head.
Read the whole thing here.
Angie
Angela Benedetti’s A Hidden Magic was a breath of fresh air for me. I love paranormals and fantasy, but usually they seem to be pieces of a few famous fantasy worlds cobbled together — not very original. Not here. This story took me by surprise and I found myself happily immersed in this unique universe that seemed to flow naturally from one page to the next. Before I started reading M/M, I used to read popular YA paranormals and many of them were about the Fey, in all different manifestations. I remember now why, although I loved the premise of these books, they always turned me off. I always felt like I was supposed to like the fey.
It's great that Cole appreciated this aspect of the book, because that was one of my goals in writing A Hidden Magic -- making the fey alien and dangerous, not just gorgeous people with pointed ears and a long lifespan. Not that I mind that kind of fantasy, but I wanted to do something different. Even when one of the fey seems to be on your side (like Willowen, or Azzy) they're doing it for their own reasons, and their motives are based on an alien point of view. I love that Cole caught that and enjoyed it.
There was also a particular device employed by Ms. Benedetti that I rarely see in M/M and really value if well written into the story. The prose changes very subtly with each characters emotions. The story is written in third person close, so if we’re viewing the action through Rory and he gets excited the prose will speed faster and the syntax will reflect his excitement. Conversely if Rory (or any character who has the lens) gets sleepy and is still trying to describe the scene, the prose will slow, the syntax disjointed, until it seems the prose falls asleep right alonside the character. This is done very subtley and when it is done will like it is here, it is a very effective tool in taking the reader along with the emotions of the character or the speed of the action. I was very impressed by this.
Cole's picking up on that made me beam, like, massively. There are times when I have to fight to keep some of my run-on sentences while going through edits. Yes, I go long at times [cough] but it's always for a reason, and Cole gets a hug and chocolate for picking up on how it works and how it enhances the reader's immersion into the POV character's head.
Read the whole thing here.
Angie
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The 2011 Koala Challenge
McKoala has the 2011 challenge page posted -- head over and comment to sign up. An explanation of how it all works and how to earn points is on the linked page.
I had a lot of fun with it last year, even the [mumblecough] months when I pretty much flaked out, and found it helped me with my writing, and particularly with my submissions. If you're motivated by this sort of month-by-month challenge then I highly recommend this one. :)
Angie
I had a lot of fun with it last year, even the [mumblecough] months when I pretty much flaked out, and found it helped me with my writing, and particularly with my submissions. If you're motivated by this sort of month-by-month challenge then I highly recommend this one. :)
Angie
Sunday, January 2, 2011
December Stuff and New Year Stuff
16,544 words written -- 7 pts
4 submissions -- 4 pts
TOTAL = 11 pts, yay!
My writing total for the year was 78,130 words. That's less than '09, which was a bit over 102K. :/ On the plus side, I sent out 26 submissions last year, which is more than any other year, and in fact I'm pretty sure that's more than total number of submissions I'd ever sent out before in my life, which is pretty darned cool, so I'm proud of myself in that area.
McKoala's Challenge definitely motivated me there; she's getting ready to start up a new round for 2011, and I highly recommend it. It's fun and motivating and you get cool graphics even if you flake off. :) I'll do another post with a link when the sign-up page is posted.
You know, I was sure I posted some goals for this year back in January, but I can't find them now. [squint] I was in the middle of getting ready to move at the time, so I might've been a bit delusional. :P What I remember was something like finishing and submitting the next novel in the Hidden Magic verse, plus some short stories (in any verse.) I didn't finish the novel :( but I had eight short stories circulating around, and three of them got published, so that's not too bad. Oh, and I wrote that SF romance for the Goodreads event, which is a freebie on my web site now
For the coming year, I will get that darned novel done and in (grrr!) and at least another eight stories. The 2010 wordcount was awful; I've got to improve that this year. I need at least one more free story for the web site, too. Ideally I want a free (stand-alone) story on my web site in each subgenre I write in, so people who want to check me out before paying money can try whatever kind of story they're into. So add at least one more free story to the total, bringing it up to at least nine.
And I want to be on Koala Approves every month this year. I should be able to do that -- 20K words written for the month earns nine points all by itself, and for each story submission I can subtract 2K words written and still make goal. That's not even counting editing points. It should be doable if I don't flake out. Given the realities of my variable brain chemistry, I'm sure I will flake out periodically, but if I shoot for a perfect score, maybe I'll only miss a few times. [crossed fingers] You've gotta aim high, right? :)
Best of luck to everyone for 2011. [wave]
Angie
4 submissions -- 4 pts
TOTAL = 11 pts, yay!
My writing total for the year was 78,130 words. That's less than '09, which was a bit over 102K. :/ On the plus side, I sent out 26 submissions last year, which is more than any other year, and in fact I'm pretty sure that's more than total number of submissions I'd ever sent out before in my life, which is pretty darned cool, so I'm proud of myself in that area.
McKoala's Challenge definitely motivated me there; she's getting ready to start up a new round for 2011, and I highly recommend it. It's fun and motivating and you get cool graphics even if you flake off. :) I'll do another post with a link when the sign-up page is posted.
You know, I was sure I posted some goals for this year back in January, but I can't find them now. [squint] I was in the middle of getting ready to move at the time, so I might've been a bit delusional. :P What I remember was something like finishing and submitting the next novel in the Hidden Magic verse, plus some short stories (in any verse.) I didn't finish the novel :( but I had eight short stories circulating around, and three of them got published, so that's not too bad. Oh, and I wrote that SF romance for the Goodreads event, which is a freebie on my web site now
For the coming year, I will get that darned novel done and in (grrr!) and at least another eight stories. The 2010 wordcount was awful; I've got to improve that this year. I need at least one more free story for the web site, too. Ideally I want a free (stand-alone) story on my web site in each subgenre I write in, so people who want to check me out before paying money can try whatever kind of story they're into. So add at least one more free story to the total, bringing it up to at least nine.
And I want to be on Koala Approves every month this year. I should be able to do that -- 20K words written for the month earns nine points all by itself, and for each story submission I can subtract 2K words written and still make goal. That's not even counting editing points. It should be doable if I don't flake out. Given the realities of my variable brain chemistry, I'm sure I will flake out periodically, but if I shoot for a perfect score, maybe I'll only miss a few times. [crossed fingers] You've gotta aim high, right? :)
Best of luck to everyone for 2011. [wave]
Angie
Friday, December 31, 2010
Free SF
For those of you who are into science fiction, there's a publication called Daily Science Fiction that started up September 1. They publish a story every day, M-F. You can subscribe to get the stories in e-mail each night, or you can go to their web site and read them there, a week's delayed. I subscribed to it early and have gotten all of them so far. They're generally good, ranging from "Okay, whatever," to "Whoa, awesome!" There aren't that many on the low end of the bell curve, which makes it at least as good as any SF mag I've ever gotten.
And it's free, did I mention that? :)
Highly recommended.
Also, I wrote a science fiction romance called The Gift for the M/M Romance Group's Holiday Stories event, on Goodreads. It was posted to the group on 25 December 2010, but I just put it up on my web site. Enjoy!
Angie
PS -- hope everyone has a great New Year!
And it's free, did I mention that? :)
Highly recommended.
Also, I wrote a science fiction romance called The Gift for the M/M Romance Group's Holiday Stories event, on Goodreads. It was posted to the group on 25 December 2010, but I just put it up on my web site. Enjoy!
Angie
PS -- hope everyone has a great New Year!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Cool Videos and a Potential Nab
Hey, all. [wave] I've been distracted by other things lately (who hasn't?!) but I've run into some things I want to share.
First, this is a great video. It's a medley of Village People songs, which is fun in and of itself, but take a good look -- there's only one performer out there. :) Thanks to Syd McGinley (and Charlie!) for sharing.
And another one, while I'm in a video mood. (It's pretty rare, so I need to take advantage before it passes.) A friend who's more into music than I am sent me this one. It's a group called Straight No Chaser doing the Twelve Days of Christmas. They're an all-male a capella group, and they rock -- great singing and they're funny too. Definitely poke around YouTube and watch more of them.
And a third. This one is more of a geek thing. :) There's a camera attached to the end of a long sword toward, and it's used to film several swordsmen doing sword-type maneuvers. What's cool about this one is that the sword stays still relative to the viewer, since the camera is affixed to it; it's the swordsmen and the room that are swooping around. I've never seen a better demonstration of relative motion. The husband sent me a link to this on BoingBoing; thanks to them for sharing it.
And finally, some excellent news reported by the Washington Post. Auditors from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) are questioning TSA's spending, saying they've been writing checks for technology which hasn't been proven, or for which there might not be a need. Nice to know someone in Washington has finally noticed.
They mention the puffer booths from a couple of years ago, which were supposed to detect explosives by puffing shots of air at travellers and screening the resulting whatever for explosive residue. TSA spent $30 million on those, and they're currently sitting in warehouses, "abandoned as impractical." The taxpayer in me is angry that the backscatter scanners, which cost more than the puffer booths and have more costs coming down the road, might end up similarly abandoned and warehoused. The citizen who still values my constitutional rights is hoping exactly that happens. :/
I loved this one, though:
Some say the fact that the United States hasn't had another 9/11-level terrorist attack shows that the investment was money well spent.
Whoever these "some" are, I hope they don't have any spending authority; post hoc ergo propter hoc isn't exactly a solid foundation for decision making. Hey, I'll bet if we'd tossed a human sacrifice into Mount St. Helens every year since 1980, these same "some" would take the fact that the volcano hasn't blown up again in all that time as proof that the sacrifices work. [sigh]
At any rate, I'm keeping a few pairs of virtual fingers crossed on the GAO reining in TSA. Someone needs to do it, and if they get zapped for misspending, the way Al Capone was finally zapped for income tax evasion, well, I'll take that.
First, this is a great video. It's a medley of Village People songs, which is fun in and of itself, but take a good look -- there's only one performer out there. :) Thanks to Syd McGinley (and Charlie!) for sharing.
And another one, while I'm in a video mood. (It's pretty rare, so I need to take advantage before it passes.) A friend who's more into music than I am sent me this one. It's a group called Straight No Chaser doing the Twelve Days of Christmas. They're an all-male a capella group, and they rock -- great singing and they're funny too. Definitely poke around YouTube and watch more of them.
And a third. This one is more of a geek thing. :) There's a camera attached to the end of a long sword toward, and it's used to film several swordsmen doing sword-type maneuvers. What's cool about this one is that the sword stays still relative to the viewer, since the camera is affixed to it; it's the swordsmen and the room that are swooping around. I've never seen a better demonstration of relative motion. The husband sent me a link to this on BoingBoing; thanks to them for sharing it.
And finally, some excellent news reported by the Washington Post. Auditors from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) are questioning TSA's spending, saying they've been writing checks for technology which hasn't been proven, or for which there might not be a need. Nice to know someone in Washington has finally noticed.
They mention the puffer booths from a couple of years ago, which were supposed to detect explosives by puffing shots of air at travellers and screening the resulting whatever for explosive residue. TSA spent $30 million on those, and they're currently sitting in warehouses, "abandoned as impractical." The taxpayer in me is angry that the backscatter scanners, which cost more than the puffer booths and have more costs coming down the road, might end up similarly abandoned and warehoused. The citizen who still values my constitutional rights is hoping exactly that happens. :/
I loved this one, though:
Some say the fact that the United States hasn't had another 9/11-level terrorist attack shows that the investment was money well spent.
Whoever these "some" are, I hope they don't have any spending authority; post hoc ergo propter hoc isn't exactly a solid foundation for decision making. Hey, I'll bet if we'd tossed a human sacrifice into Mount St. Helens every year since 1980, these same "some" would take the fact that the volcano hasn't blown up again in all that time as proof that the sacrifices work. [sigh]
At any rate, I'm keeping a few pairs of virtual fingers crossed on the GAO reining in TSA. Someone needs to do it, and if they get zapped for misspending, the way Al Capone was finally zapped for income tax evasion, well, I'll take that.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Speculative Law
I've recently found a really wonderful blog written by a couple of attorneys, and I have to share. It's called Law and the Multiverse, and it's full of great legal discussions of questions you'll never run into in a law review.
For example, what are the legal issues related to being immortal? I have an immortal character in my Hidden Magic series, so that post was particularly welcome.
Another post was about characters who are invulnerable or otherwise incredibly difficult to kill -- how would that affect crimes committed against them, such as murder and assault? Is it actually attempted murder if you knew at the time that your victim wouldn't die when you shot him 72 times?
There's a discussion of outlawry that starts with its historical precedents and projects it into a present or future where there are criminals conventional law enforcement can't deal with, and another discussion about resurrection, probate law and insurance.
The blog is oriented around comic book universes -- superheroes and supervillains -- but the info here would be useful for an SF world too, or a world where paranormal creatures or powers exist, or an urban fantasy type setting. And besides, it's just fun to read. Highly recommended.
Angie
For example, what are the legal issues related to being immortal? I have an immortal character in my Hidden Magic series, so that post was particularly welcome.
Another post was about characters who are invulnerable or otherwise incredibly difficult to kill -- how would that affect crimes committed against them, such as murder and assault? Is it actually attempted murder if you knew at the time that your victim wouldn't die when you shot him 72 times?
There's a discussion of outlawry that starts with its historical precedents and projects it into a present or future where there are criminals conventional law enforcement can't deal with, and another discussion about resurrection, probate law and insurance.
The blog is oriented around comic book universes -- superheroes and supervillains -- but the info here would be useful for an SF world too, or a world where paranormal creatures or powers exist, or an urban fantasy type setting. And besides, it's just fun to read. Highly recommended.
Angie
Monday, December 13, 2010
Review of Unfinished Business
Cryselle reviewed "Unfinished Business" and gave it four marbles. :) Here's what she said:
This was fun -- the author expanded on a little scene in a larger work (A Hidden Magic). Cal, the apprentice, gets a really funny, sexy lesson on paying attention under duress, and Aubrey, magical adept and Cal's master, provides plenty of hot, hot duress. If every lesson was that much fun, Cal will be an adept in no time at all!
I'd read A Hidden Magic a few months back, so I remembered the set-up for the whole asses-ears business, and that was my only quibble with this story. The beginning feels like a scene that was removed from the book for flow, and it doesn't really capture the purpose of the ears or why they even existed -- as a stand alone story they come sort of out of the blue. As a read with, it just follows right on. Following Cal around the restaurant at the beginning establishes that he's got a life outside magic, but it doesn't set up the rest of the story as well as it could. Asses ears --> creme brulee --> asses ears might have worked better than creme brulee --> asses ears.
All the same, the sex was hot, the relationship between master and apprentice was both loving and responsible, and the ending sweet.
You know, that one bit -- figuring out how much of the set-up from A Hidden Magic to recap, and how to present the info to the reader -- was the one big thing I was headdesking over for a while as I wrote this. I don't know that there's any one solution that would've pleased everyone, but it's a legitimate issue.
That said, though, it sounds like she enjoyed the story otherwise, and that's always very cool. :) Thanks to Cryselle for taking the time to review; I'm glad you liked it!
"Unfinished Business" is available here.
Angie
This was fun -- the author expanded on a little scene in a larger work (A Hidden Magic). Cal, the apprentice, gets a really funny, sexy lesson on paying attention under duress, and Aubrey, magical adept and Cal's master, provides plenty of hot, hot duress. If every lesson was that much fun, Cal will be an adept in no time at all!
I'd read A Hidden Magic a few months back, so I remembered the set-up for the whole asses-ears business, and that was my only quibble with this story. The beginning feels like a scene that was removed from the book for flow, and it doesn't really capture the purpose of the ears or why they even existed -- as a stand alone story they come sort of out of the blue. As a read with, it just follows right on. Following Cal around the restaurant at the beginning establishes that he's got a life outside magic, but it doesn't set up the rest of the story as well as it could. Asses ears --> creme brulee --> asses ears might have worked better than creme brulee --> asses ears.
All the same, the sex was hot, the relationship between master and apprentice was both loving and responsible, and the ending sweet.
You know, that one bit -- figuring out how much of the set-up from A Hidden Magic to recap, and how to present the info to the reader -- was the one big thing I was headdesking over for a while as I wrote this. I don't know that there's any one solution that would've pleased everyone, but it's a legitimate issue.
That said, though, it sounds like she enjoyed the story otherwise, and that's always very cool. :) Thanks to Cryselle for taking the time to review; I'm glad you liked it!
"Unfinished Business" is available here.
Angie
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
November Stuff
This is going to be really short, 'cause I have two pressing deadlines and I'm actually late on one of them. [flail]
First, this is a great video of Ian McKellan talking to a film festival audience about filming the balrog sequence in Rings. It's very short -- a minute and a bit -- and funny. Check it out. :)
Second, NaNo pretty much fizzled halfway through, but I got almost 20K words on the book, which is a great jumpstart. The Goodreads M/M Romance group is doing a holiday promo where writers write a story based on a photo and a request posted by a reader. One of the photos spawned a plot-bunny, so I volunteered. It's taking a lot longer than I thought to write it (so what else is new?) but I like the story, and it'll eventually be a stand-alone free read for my web site, which I've needed for a while. Also, for doing this I get a book-of-the-month promo slot in the group later in 2011, for a book of my choice, which I'll admit was attractive. I decided it was worth setting Emerging Magic aside for a bit to do this. I'll post here with a link when the story goes up.
Oh, I had a new story released and didn't even post about it! Gotta love the holidays.... [facepalm] Hell Is in the Details is a funny short story (okay, it's kind of long for a short, but it's a short on a technicality) about Benioth, the Demon of Laziness, who hasn't read his memos for a while -- like, decades. He's missed a few changes in policy and is in trouble with his boss. :)
November stats:
Writing 21,562 words -- 9 pts.
Editing 17,106 words -- 3 pts.
Wrote 1 synopsis -- 1 pt.
TOTAL = 13 pts, woot!
First, this is a great video of Ian McKellan talking to a film festival audience about filming the balrog sequence in Rings. It's very short -- a minute and a bit -- and funny. Check it out. :)
Second, NaNo pretty much fizzled halfway through, but I got almost 20K words on the book, which is a great jumpstart. The Goodreads M/M Romance group is doing a holiday promo where writers write a story based on a photo and a request posted by a reader. One of the photos spawned a plot-bunny, so I volunteered. It's taking a lot longer than I thought to write it (so what else is new?) but I like the story, and it'll eventually be a stand-alone free read for my web site, which I've needed for a while. Also, for doing this I get a book-of-the-month promo slot in the group later in 2011, for a book of my choice, which I'll admit was attractive. I decided it was worth setting Emerging Magic aside for a bit to do this. I'll post here with a link when the story goes up.
Oh, I had a new story released and didn't even post about it! Gotta love the holidays.... [facepalm] Hell Is in the Details is a funny short story (okay, it's kind of long for a short, but it's a short on a technicality) about Benioth, the Demon of Laziness, who hasn't read his memos for a while -- like, decades. He's missed a few changes in policy and is in trouble with his boss. :)
November stats:
Writing 21,562 words -- 9 pts.
Editing 17,106 words -- 3 pts.
Wrote 1 synopsis -- 1 pt.
TOTAL = 13 pts, woot!
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