Fingers to keys.

What quality in your best friend are you most envious of and why?

Miss Jun

She's s ORGANIZED.  I wouldn't be as (barely) organized as I am today if I didn't have her as an example.  Also, she's a smart cookie, a sharp dresser, and a sweet person. 

<3

Hellboy Boys 01

Boys with nailpolish?  Boys with eyeliner?  Beer or wine?  Calluses or manicures?  Product, ponytails, brushcuts?  Do

you like a matching set or opposites that attract?  May or December?

Apparently, I'm on a May&December kick.  There's 20 years between the characters in the novel I just finished, and at least that between the main character and his two future partners in the one I'm writing now.  It's not really intentional, it's just that someone who's established, a pillar of the community and all that, is likely going to have a lot of years on someone who's still mucking about with his life or just reaping the whirlwind of his/her teenage follies. 

I really like looking at what happens when someone takes an accomplished, (contemporary) socially acceptable life, and throws it to the winds because it's not living if you're not yourself.  One man has a chance run-in with an angry, explosive junior employee, unlocking his stifled desires.  The other finds himself in charge of a newborn baby and faces conflict internally and externally as he falls in love with the idea of a family made on his own terms. In Mistress Dalibor, a SF f/f piece I wrote in December, a woman who's 'past her prime' starts over again on a new world and finds her own value outside of being a doxy for a wealthy man.  I'm all for people throwing caution to the winds and finding a new life after others might think they should be on the decline.

Sorcery or technology?  Humans or hybrids?  Vampires or mutants?  Suits or jeans?  Leather or silk?  Silicon or steel?  Stealth or force?

Also, I'm on a completely unexpected contemporary kick.  That's from someone who 'doesn't write contemporary'.  Oops?  I love high fantasy, and I'm good at it (I've written more than one magic system for game design, world building is a hobby of mine, and I used to do a lot of it), but I haven't come back to it in a while.  I am a mad fan of cyberpunk and if you're not familiar with it, you can pick up the classic Neuromancer (William Gibson) or, better yet, take When Gravity Fails (George Alec Effinger) for a spin.  I also write SF, but it's more along the lines of 'space opera'; the science is less important than the setting (that would be Look of a King).  Is it harder for people to get into those genres as readers?  They do tend to get a little grungy and dark sometimes (I know Tomorrow's">http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=19&products_id=238">Tomorrow's Gambit is rather dystopian).  I just can't stay away, though.  Maybe it's because I have a sooty little cracked silicon and rusty steel heart.

icon.musewhipped

Nothing cures ills likes a bit of story.  Really.  Not much makes me feel better than writing.  I'm so lucky. 

So, I recently had my first novel,

The Look of a King

The Look of a King published by Torquere Press.  I am really happy with this book; it was going out of my comfort zone to write something this size, and I feel like I did a good job with it, especially with the characters.  I've just finished a novel yesterday called Uneven and I can tell how much I've learned from the process around LK. 

I've got to get a move on now, writing a novella that needs finishing.

You can find LK and purchase it here: The Look of a King @ Torquere Press.

What products can't you live without?
Submitted by galindafied.

Oh, I can live without a lot of products.  But I rely on things like Perrier (my favourite mineral water), Dragon Naturally Speaking (because it lets me write), IBM and Apple computers (I like them best)... I can't think what else.  My favourite organic/fair-trade coffees, and diet Dr Pepper, I suppose. 

I've moved from LJ because I wasn't very happy with their new ownership.  Vox really seems to do everything I want anyway!  So, here I am.