Melanie Marttila

What kind of “-ist” am I, anyway?

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Over the past few months, I’ve been seeing a lot of blog posts and articles on sexism and misogyny in writing and publishing.

Just to refresh your memory:

There have been scandals involving Penguin and the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).  Patty Jansen has posted extensively on women in SF.  Being one of those women, she has an inside track 😛  Just search by that string, “women in SF” on her blog, and see the results.

John Scalzi frequently posts about online and real life harassment and recently talked about his thoughts on feminism and whether he considered himself a feminist.  He wouldn’t be insulted, btw.

Being a woman writer who writes fantasy and SF, among other things, I have a stake in these issues.  I share much of what comes across my desk on these topics on Facebook, my primary avenue for curation.

Yes, I know, get with the times, Mel.  Why aren’t I doing this on Pinterest or putting out a Paper.ly on the topic?

Cause I’m writing.  That’s why.

So what the heck am I?

This all has got me to thinking: what variety of “-ist” am I?

I don’t think I’m a feminist.  I espouse feminist views and support the goals of feminism.  The problem is that I’m a bit more than that.

I believe that everyone, man or woman, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, of any religion, spirituality, or world view (including atheism), of any culture (I don’t believe in race, we’re all human) to do or say what they wish, so long as it does not violate the law, or the civil rights of another human being.

There’s a pagan tenet that sums up my philosophy: an’ ye harm none, do what you will.

I also believe that bullying should be a crime, because of the evil it fosters.  Yes, I said evil there folks.

I believe that animal cruelty is a gateway crime and that penalties for it should be increased and enforced.

I believe in the right of a woman to do what she wishes with her body.

I think I’m going to stop there, before I get into trouble 😉

So what does that make me? I don’t know.  Maybe you’ll have to sort that one, dear reader.

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Caturday Quickies: Bun and Bucket

/ Melanie Marttila / 5 Comments

Those of you who have been following me on Facebook, know that Phil and I got a new car last year.  It was a pretty big deal, because it was our first new car.  We figured it was about time we treated ourselves.

The car is a 2012 Hyundai Sonata.  We went for the previous year’s model, as they gave us an incentive.

This be Bun

This be Bun

With a new car came a conundrum: what do we call her?  Naming a car is important, donchya know?

When Phil picked up the licence plate, the first four letters were BNVN.  He suggested we call her Bun Oven, a mnemonic for the licence plate.

“Why don’t we just call her uterus and be done with it then?” I said.

Sadly Bun Oven stuck, and Bun she remains.  We love our Bun, though.

This year, Phil wanted to get a pick up truck, “an old beater,” as he put it.  As we’ve tackled out home reno projects over the years, he’s lamented the lack of a truck to tote supplies.  We’ve either had to pay for delivery, or beg/borrow/steal a truck from someone we knew.

Initially, he was thinking of looking in the fall or winter, but when his mom announced that she’d be moving in October, he wanted to get one now, so we could help out a little more.

The result: Bucket.  It’s short for Rust Bucket and has nothing to do with her licence plate. She’s a 2003 Ford F150.

And this be Bucket

And this be Bucket

Do you name your vehicles?  My high school science teacher named his car Bucephalus. My friend Margaret, named her bicycle (when we were kids) Star-jumper.  Do you think the practice is silly, or endearing?

I’d love to hear from you 🙂

Caturday Quickies

Creative connections: On Dala, civic responsibility, and unexpected acts of yoga

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

This Wednesday past, one of my favourite musical groups, Dala, was in Sudbury.  I watch their web site for local concert dates, because I just love them.  Their pure vocal harmonies and soulful folk really touch me.

Dala at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre

Dala at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre

I first discovered them courtesy of the CBC’s Stuart McLean.  They were his musical guests on one of his Vinyl Cafe tours.

On Wednesday, Dala and Adam Crossley performed a free concert as part of the Vale Concert Series at the Grace Hartman Amphitheatre in Bell Park to support the Sudbury Food Bank.

Adam Crossley

Adam Crossley

Here are a couple of articles, for your reading pleasure:

Donation, in cash or food, was voluntary, but I donated what I would have otherwise paid for a ticket.  There are still a lot of people who need the food bank’s services.  Should I ever become one of those people, I’d like to think that others would take an interest in helping me.

It’s a great thing to get out and do something artsy, but non-writing related.  All work and no play makes Mellie a dull girl 😉  I also learned last year that I have to keep my well replenished.  It’s a Julia Cameron thing.

Like any endurance sport, writing is a marathon.  And really, it never stops.  If you continually draw on your creativity, eventually, that well runs dry.  Cameron suggests that you get out and experience the arts as a form of levelling that creative water table.

Art begets art.

On the way out, I saw a group of people in the park doing yoga.  There were letters pegged into the ground by the roadside that spelled out Zenlife.

Zen Life yoga from across Paris Street

Zen Life yoga from across Paris Street

Pretty cool, I thought.

What do you think? Do you have favourite musical groups you like to see?  How do you feel about your civic responsibility?  What about fresh air yoga?  Want to try it?  Already have? What was the experience like?

Why I hate flying

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

Now before I get too far into this post, let me preface it by saying I had an absolutely fabulous time in Michigan City with my friend Stacey Hembruff and her fiancé (now hubbie) Erik Lawrence.

For the day and a half I was there, I met Erik and his family, went to Carlson’s, a local landmark replete with car hops and brewed-on-site root beer (made me reminisce about the A&W of my childhood), went to their wonderful beach, and partied the night away at the local Elk’s lodge.

I had a blast and it made the trial and error of getting there so worth it.

Still.  I had a bit of an adventure.

Hater’s gonna hate

I’m not afraid of flying.  Sure my gut lurches a bit on take off, and when the ride gets a bit rough, I can’t read (legacy of childhood car-sickness) but I have nothing against the mode of transportation itself.  Sometimes it’s the only way to get from point A to point B.

Getting the ticket and dealing with the airline and insurance was a breeze, too.  I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.  And I was looking forward to flying with Porter, as several of my friends have and have reported that it was a great experience.

I’m the problem.  I’m a control freak.  I hate being at the mercy of someone else’s schedule.  If possible, I’d much rather drive because then if I’m late, I have no one to blame but myself.

So this is all on me 😉

My tale begins when I checked through security at the Greater Sudbury Airport.

The woman behind me turns to me as we’re collecting our belongings from the bins and says, “Is this your first time?”

Excuse me?  She went on to explain that her flight, earlier in the day, had been cancelled.  She didn’t say why and the day so far both in Sudz and in Toronto wasn’t stormy.

I should have known then that I would be in for a few unexpected delays.

The flight departed a half an hour late, and when it arrived at Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island, I had 15 minutes until the next boarding.  Would I make it?  Would my checked bag?  I was escorted to the lounge to await the boarding call and about when I expected to board, the announcement was broadcast that due to thunderstorms, all flights were grounded.

Okay.  I texted Stacey to let her know that I would be a bit late and she said that she and Erik were running late themselves and that all would be well.

When the boarding resumed, Porter started with flights to Boston and Newark and the boarding time was now listed 50 minutes after the original.

The boarding call was announced and the lot of us trouped down to the gate where we stood.  And waited.  Additional problems would cause another hour’s delay. We returned to the lounge and I texted Stacey again.  The issue wasn’t weather, she told me.  The skies were clear in Chicago.

The next announcement that went out was that there were weight allowance issues and that any passengers who would volunteer to wait until the next flight would receive a voucher for $250 dollars off their next Porter flight.

If I knew what would happen next, I’d have gone for the deal, but hind sight is perfect, as they say.

When we board, nearly 2 hours after we were supposed to, I noticed that the next flight to Chicago was boarding in 15 minutes. Le sigh.

When we got on the plane, it was one of the smaller ones, and it was packed to the gills.

English: Porter Airlines Bombardier Q400 landi...

English: Porter Airlines Bombardier Q400 landing at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) in July 2008. Français : Un Q400 de Porter Airlines atterrissant à l’aéroport Billy Bishop de Toronto (YTZ) en juillet 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No wonder they had weight allowance issues.  Because of the smaller size of the plane, though, we’d have to stop for refuelling in Windsor…wait for it…for 15 minutes.  I’m willing to bet that the next flight was on the larger plane that could make the hop in a single flight.

As compensation, in addition to Porter’s usual snacks and beverages (and yes, before you ask, Porter serves actual alcohol on their flights) we were served a chicken pita sandwich, coleslaw, and Lindt chocolate.  I wished that I hadn’t purchased a late dinner in the airport lounge.

We stopped over in Windsor and flew to Chicago with no further problems.  I arrived, made it through customs and claimed my baggage.

But I couldn’t get a signal for my cell phone.  The airport had a Boing hot spot, but apparently, it can’t be used to text or email.  I tried texting Stacey again, because I didn’t know where she was, and I tried to text Phil, because I just wanted to tell him that I’d arrived safely.

I turned on the roaming and tried to latch onto some other network, but no dice.

I found Stacey, she introduced me to Erik, and we drove to Michigan City, about an hour and 15 minutes outside of Chicago.  We arrived without further incident at 11:30, 12:30 my time.  We were staying at Erik’s grandfather’s house and I tried again to find some kind of signal.  My poor phone searched and searched but couldn’t pick anything up.

After a day of travel, me by air, and Stacey and Erik by car, we were all of us pooped.  We dropped, and in the morning, Stacey texted Phil for me.

When I returned to Canadian air space, all my stored up texts were sent.

This is the way of air travel.  It must be accepted.  Still.  I had an adventure 🙂

And that’s why I hate flying.

How about you?  Do you like to fly?  Are you afraid of flying?  Or are you a control freak like me?  I’d love to hear from you.

Writerly Goodness, signing off.

Supper calls!  And tonight: True Blood 🙂

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Review of Scott Overton’s Dead Air

/ Melanie Marttila

This review is considerably overdue.  My apologies, Scott.

The Amazon blurb:

dead airWhen radio morning host Lee Garrett finds a death threat on his control console, he shrugs it off as a prank—until a series of minor harassments turns into a set of undeniable attempts on his life. The suspects are many—he’s made enemies—and the police are strangely uncooperative. The radio career he loved has turned sour, leaving behind a dwindling audience and the wreckage of his marriage. Then the friendship of a newly blind boy and the boy’s attentive (and attractive) teacher offer unexpected hope. Maybe he can make a fresh start. Maybe he can admit that he’s the source of a lot of his own problems. But when the deadliest assault yet claims an innocent victim, Garrett knows he has no choice—he has to find his persecutors and force a confrontation. The extraordinary outcome will test the limits of an ordinary man. In Dead Air career broadcaster Scott Overton creates the disturbing scenario of an ordinary man whose life is threatened by an unknown enemy.

My thoughts:

I wasn’t in love with the character of Lee Garrett. In fact, I didn’t like him much at all, but that’s exactly the way it had to be for Dead Air to be a successful thriller.

Lee Garrett has made enemies over the years, enough to fill a room with the usual suspects, and his wife left him, taking their two children.  She’s making a new life for herself while Garrett’s disillusioned and jaded and not a bit depressed.  He’s a bit of a schmuck, steeped in a good dose of self-sorrow.  Not an attractive package.

Garrett has his redeeming qualities, though.  The reasons he’s made all those enemies is because he generally tried to do the right thing and exposed their varied douchebaggery in the process.  He’s still in love with his wife, and the friends he has are the dependable kind that come through when the going gets tough.

Then he makes friends with Paul, a boy who recently lost his sight, and Candace, his CNIB counsellor.  As the relationship develops, Garrett learns a lot about himself, and how he is the author of his own misery.

He also makes a staunch ally by virtue of an act of kindness.  He even wins over the detective assigned to his case despite having been black-listed for ruining another officer’s career.

By the time Garrett exposes that act that haunts his life and underpins many of his poor decisions, I realized I liked Garrett, despite his not inconsiderable flaws.  I could even think of him as Lee 🙂

Dead Air is a novel about hard-won redemption and a fascinating character study as well as being a thriller with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the end.

My rating:

4.5 stars out of 5

About the Author:Scott Overton colour high res

Scott Overton hosts a radio morning show on Rewind 103.9 in Sudbury, Ontario. As a broadcaster for more than thirty years (twenty-four of them as a morning man), he knows the world he writes about in Dead Air.

To most readers, morning radio is as much a part of their breakfast routine as a hot cup of coffee. On the air, Scott has become a friend to thousands as he entertains and informs. He brings those same instincts to his writing, with clear prose and honest feelings.

His short fiction has been published in On Spec, Neo-opsis, and anthologies such as Tesseracts Sixteen, Canadian Tales of the Fantastic, and In Poe’s Shadow. He’s also a regular contributor of theatre reviews for a local newspaper.

His other passions include scuba diving and a couple of classic cars.

Terra Luna guest post by Vikki and John Woodward

/ Melanie Marttila

Vikki and John Woodward are a married couple in Tallahassee, Florida. They are the authors of TERRA LUNA, an epic VikkiandJohnurban contemporary romance, which they have published on Amazon Kindle. Two sequels are under way, and they recently completed IN THE CAT’S EYES, a paranormal romance and thriller which they hope to publish soon.

You can buy TERRA LUNA here: http://amzn.to/1bPsfY7

You can learn more about their universe of Faeries, bagpipers and the world’s greatest scones at their blog, http://mactamicksfinestscotchltd.com/

In this guest blog post, they talk about writing together as a married couple.

_______________________________________________________________________

Vikki:

Every day I would sit in my car under a giant oak tree, and wait for my sister to finish work so I could give her a ride home. I’ve amused myself by making up and telling stories all my life, and during those weeks of sitting under that oak I made up a story about the tree: a Faerie and many other critters lived in and around it.

I started writing my story down in a notebook. Whenever my sister would finally leave work, I read her the next installment of the story. She was impressed and encouraged me to continue. I mentioned to my husband John I was writing a story about a Faerie that that had to live in two worlds: our Human one where she pretended to own the Faerie Lands (a private “wildlife preserve”) and her Faerie community, where she never fully fit in or was trusted.

Although I had never seen or heard of Little Five Points in Atlanta, Terra Luna’s Human community, when I described to John what I saw in my mind’s eye he said that L5P was exactly it. Weeks later he took me there. It was strange, because it was just as I had imagined.

I have a lot of stories and characters in my head, but it is hard for to put solid words into a story the way I’d like. John is great, really super at research and the technical stuff, whereas I provide the ideas. Honestly, my grammar and syntax need help, which John gives me. I am the creative and emotionally wise half of the team. My characters need me to write their life story and I need John to help, because honesty I could not do it without him. I can tell to my stories to anyone that would listen, but I really and truly need John to write in a comprehensive way so people can appreciate them.

John:

I used to write nonfiction, mostly articles for magazines that dealt with disability issues. I learned the mechanics of getting to the point, cutting excess, keeping the grammar good and simple and so on. I offered to help Vikki write TERRA LUNA because she needed help with the Prologue, in which a jumbo jet crashes at take off and only the baby Terra Luna survives. The scene had to be tragic and was just too sad for her. I wrote it so she could begin the main story. A few pages later, I decided that the minor character Barry Davie should be a doctor who would eventually become the hero’s best friend and deliver the heroine’s baby. That was my start as a creative contributor.

Vikki created all the major characters in our book, and half the minor ones. Nothing gets in without her approval. The final decisions about plot, descriptions and continuity are always hers. My job is to get it into the computer file. We began writing together at night, with her describing what should happen and me writing it. We switched to a system where she described to me every night what should happen next, and I would write it the next day while she was at work. Then I would read it to her in the evening, she would correct any mistakes and we would repeat the cycle. Later on I invented a few scenes of my own, to give the characters extra room to grow.

My own “growth” as a writer has mainly been a steady improvement in my skills as an editor and re-writer. We spent hundreds of hours writing TERRA LUNA — it’s an epic — but I spent almost twice as long on editing and re-writing.

TerraLunacoverWe have now finished our second book, IN THE CAT’S EYES. Whereas TERRA LUNA is urban fantasy, CAT’S EYES is a paranormal romance set in New Orleans. It started as our National Novel Writing Month book for 2012. We are currently writing the second book the TERRA LUNA series, RAVEN. We don’t know when CAT’S EYES will be published, or when RAVEN will be finished, but we are looking ahead to Labor Day Weekend, when we will join the Novel-in-Three-Days challenge and November, when we will do National Novel Writing Month again.

It’s strange that I always envisioned myself as a “writer,” but never had any plots that excited me enough to sit down and write. Vikki gave me the gift of her imagination, and that made all the difference.

 

Review of K.M. Weiland’s Dreamlander

/ Melanie Marttila / 6 Comments

I’d been meaning to get K.M. Weiland’s Dreamlander and read it for a while now.  Well, not long ago, Katie posted on Wordplay about Story Cartel, where readers can get free books in exchange for an honest interview.

I missed the deadline for her challenge, which might have won me an Amazon gift certificate (moar books!), but since I always intended to write the review up anyway, I figured I’d just carry on and post when I actually finished the book.

I don’t read as fast as I used to.  I blame it on the day job, but I have a feeling that even if I wasn’t working I wouldn’t be consuming a book a day like I used to. Besides, I wanted to savour Dreamlander.  If that doesn’t give away the nature of my review, I don’t know what will 😉

One of the reasons I was so keen was the concept: a man goes to sleep in this world and wakes up in a parallel world.

Any of you who have followed my blog for any length of time will know about my tonsillectomy trauma and the dream that I had upon my return from my second visit to the hospital.

For those of you who haven’t seen the post and don’t want to take the time to read it, here’s the short version: I had a near-death experience, and as a result, I dreamed that I had, in fact, died.  I fell asleep in one world and woke up a new person in another world.

So you can see how Dreamlander kind of fed into my life-long fascination with dreams and dreaming.

DreamlanderThe Amazon blurb:

What if it were possible to live two very different lives in two separate worlds?

What if the dreams you awaken from are the fading memories of that second life?

What if one day you woke up in the wrong world?

Only one person in a generation may cross the barrier of dreams to reach the other world—a world of war-scarred countries and fallen faiths. When a Chicago-born journalist finds himself on the far side of his dreams, he must hurl himself into battle to save a princess from her own people, two worlds from annihilation, and himself from a dream come way too true.

My thoughts:

I loved Dreamlander (did you see that one coming?).  Weiland has created a flawed protagonist in Chris Redston who wins our hearts over as he attempts to undo the damage caused by the mistakes he’s made.

Having lost his mother and one sister in a car accident he survived, and having subsequently lost his father to alcoholism, Chris is done with alternately lending his father money and bailing him out of jail.  He can’t find his focus though.  Once a talented writer, Chris finds himself blocked and unable to support himself.  Then there are these bizarre dreams he keeps having…

Chris turns out to be The Gifted, a rare man who can cross over into the land of his dreams, a very real world where he lives an alternate life.

Allara Katadin, princess of Lael and Searcher, is equally damaged.  The last Gifted who crossed over sent her world spiralling into chaos and she feels it was her fault.  She can’t trust Chris not to be the man his predecessor was, and when he initially proves her right, she shuts Chris out, not understanding that life is about taking chances and about giving second ones when it matters most.

Dreamlander is true epic fantasy, with not just one, but two worlds in jeopardy.  Chris and Allara must work together and sacrifice everything to do the right thing, even as Allara’s own people cry for her blood and that of the Gifted.

The denouement was both heart wrenching and satisfying, Weiland proving that the writer must be cruel to her characters to be kind to her readers.

My highest recommendation.

My rating:

5 out of 5 stars.

About the author:

K.M. Weiland grew up chasing Billy the Kid and Jesse James on horseback through the hills of western Nebraska, where she still lives. A lifelong fan of history and the power of the written word, she enjoys sharing both through her novels and short stories. She blogs at Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors, where she mentors other authors and shares the ups and downs of the writing life.

Now I’m off to post my review to Story Cartel, Amazon, and Goodreads 🙂

Later, ‘taters!

Caturday quickies: What I did this afternoon

/ Melanie Marttila / 8 Comments

Hi all!  I went to the local Chapters and hung out for a bit with my friend Kim Fahner, who was doing a book signing with her new writing friend Sarah Lashbrook.

Kim and Sarah talking to fans :)

Kim and Sarah talking to fans 🙂

Of course, I bought Sarah’s book, Where the Stream and Creek Collide, and asked her if she wouldn’t mind doing an interview on Writerly Goodness 🙂  Look forward to that in the coming weeks.

Of course, I had to feed my book addiction and spent $80 altogether on Sarah’s book, YA fantasy and adult fantasy novels.  In the past couple of weeks I also scavenged a pile of books from the several boxes my mom was taking to a book sale, and got the StoryBundle of ebook classic SF for a nominal donation (excellent deal – go, consume).

Yes, I read procedurals, classics, and other stuff as well as fantasy ;)

Yes, I read procedurals, classics, and other stuff as well as fantasy 😉

Did I mention addiction?

Yeah.

In other news, I’m going to take a short blogging holiday next weekend.

I’m off to a friend’s pre-wedding celebration in Michigan City, IN on Saturday.  If I was independently wealthy, I’d be going to her destination wedding, but this seemed a happy compromise for both of us.

Try not to miss me too much 😉

Next up: I’m finally finished K.M. Weiland’s Dreamlander and I’ll be reviewing that today.  I joined Story Cartel and got the ebook free for an honest interview.  This is another great ebook site I’d highly reccommend.  Free books!  ‘Nuff said 🙂  I also hope to have a guest blog coming up for you tomorrow.

Upon my return, I’ll get Sarah’s interview up and continue on my merry way.  There are a couple of fun things coming up in August: a Dala concert and a Great Big Sea concert.  I’ll be blogging those as well as keeping you up to date on the work sitch.

My current acting will be up as of August 31 and I still have no idea whether I’m heading back to my old unit (absolutely fine with me), if the pool I’m in will result in a new assignment, or if my application on an internal competition will result in something else.  I’m not good with uncertainty.

So lots of Writerly Goodness yet to come 🙂

Another great webinar with Marcy Kennedy

/ Melanie Marttila

This past week, I signed up for another WANA International webinar.

Yesterday, between 2 and 3:30 pm, Marcy Kennedy spoke on the topic of showing and telling.

First, she defined her terms and gave examples, demonstrated the difference between showing and telling, and let us know that she would not only be sharing tips for showing and for detecting when telling isn’t appropriate, but also that she would be discussing instances in which telling actually works better than showing.

She covered several telling ‘tells’ in writing and shared strategies for detecting and eliminating each.  Each of her strategies was accompanied by more examples, which was great, because it’s good to have something solid to base your own efforts on.

She also mentioned that her strategies were suggestions, or guidelines, rather than rules, per se.  There are always exceptions, and she’d be getting to those.

When it came to when telling, while I won’t give away the content of her webinar, I will share one suggestion with you: use telling in your first draft.  This was very interesting and Marcy shared her experience and how she came to this conclusion.

Marcy used to be a slow writer. Her first drafts might have emerged in nearly perfect form, but they took forever to write.  Then she decided to try tactics to write a fast first draft.  Using telling as a way to help her get her ideas down and give her a cue for where to deepen her narrative on the next draft was something she found very effective.

Overall, it was a very insightful webinar and I took away lots of good information.

I’d highly recommend Marcy’s sessions.  Visit the WANA International site to view their course calendar.  Marcy will be giving her pitch, tagline, and logline session again in the fall.  I attended that one as well. Awesome good.  She’s also a Twitter and Google+ maven, so if you want tips for the social media, look for those too!

WANA webinars are very reasonable and many are held at times convenient for the writer with a day job 🙂

I’ll also encourage you to visit Marcy’s site (linked above) and to sign up for her newsletter.  It’s good stuff!

That’s it for this week, my writing peeps.

Review of Finding Meara by Lara Schiffbauer

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Once again, I finished Lara’s book a while ago and am just catching up on some overdue reviews.

The Amazon blurb:

FindingMearaCoverTo keep her safe, twenty-six-year-old Hazel Michelli’s parents never told her she was adopted, or that her birthplace was in an alternative land where magic and monsters exist. She found out the truth the day a ferocious winged creature stole her from her Denver apartment and delivered her to Lucian, the sadistic Lifeforce magician who happens to be Hazel’s biological father.

“Dysfunctional family” takes on new meaning when she learns Lucian must sacrifice a daughter to maintain immortality and take over the Realm. When Hazel’s younger half-sister disappears just days before the Rite, Lucian moves Hazel to the top of the sacrificial short list.

Afraid, yet compelled to protect her four-year-old half-sister, Hazel races between both worlds, searching for Meara while being hunted by Lucian. Their lives, and the future of the Realm, leave her no room for failure.

My thoughts:

At the outset of the novel, Hazel (love the name, by the way, unusual and old-fashioned, but made quirky by the character) only knows that she’s lucky, so dependably lucky that she makes a comfortable living by gambling. Then something huge and hulking bursts through the door of her apartment, calls her “Meara,” grabs Hazel, and leaps off the balcony, spreading its wings to fly her to a place she never suspected existed.

The action doesn’t relent as Hazel is taken prisoner by someone named Lucian, escapes (with the help of a talking bird and a flaming cat), finds her way back to Colorado, and reluctantly enlists her friend’s help.  When an insect-like monster attacks them on the road, it is both a validation of Hazel’s bizarre story and a warning: Lucian isn’t finished with her yet.

Though unwilling to involve her parents in this strange series of events, Hazel has questions only they can answer.  Those answers change Hazel’s life forever and send her on a worlds-spanning adventure, teaching her that her luck is only the tip of her magical iceberg, and that family is worth killing for, and dying for, if it comes to that.

The author weaves a great story, with just enough quirk to please the trope-weary reader.  She moves between Boulder, Denver, and the Realm deftly, and has created a unique and charming world that both recalls childhood favourites, and provides enough romance and danger to satisfy the New Adult audience.

I also appreciate that despite the romantic potentials (small spoiler alert!), Hazel remains happily independent at the end of the novel.  The denouement felt a little rushed, but was satisfying nonetheless.

Am eagerly awaiting Lara’s next novel 🙂

My rating:

4 out of 5 stars.  Really, I wanted to give her 4.5, but I had to give her some room to grow as an author 🙂

About the Author:

Lara Schiffbauer was born and raised in the Western United States. As a child she got in Lara Schiffbauertrouble at school for talking too much and daydreaming. She believed in Santa Claus until she was in the third grade, and thought she saw angels at the Catholic school she attended.

Unwilling to lose the magic of childhood, as a teenager she spent her years reading novels that let her live in fantasy worlds where she could vicariously experience the romance and adventure sadly lacking in her everyday life. Piers Anthony, Victoria Holt, and David Eddings were some of her favorite authors.

Many years later, after obtaining a Masters of Social Work degree and growing a family, Lara decided to recapture some of the magic found in creativity. In 2010, her horror flash fiction story “The Copier” was published in the anthology Daily Bites of Flesh 2011: 365 Days of Flash Fiction. In 2011, her erotic horror story “Phantom Deposit” was published in the anthology Steamy Screams, and in February 2012 her urban fantasy short story “Bear Hug” was published online at Hogglepot. She then turned to writing novels, and her first contemporary fantasy novel, Finding Meara, was released in March, 2013.

Lara loves connecting with others! Besides spending time on Twitter and Facebook, Lara also has accounts on Pinterest and Goodreads. All social media links can be found at her website, www.laraschiffbauer.com.