Assault on USS Liberty still covered up
The book “Desperate Deception”
The book “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II“
Archive for May, 2010
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Happy Vesak Day!
It’s a pub hol in Singapore and Malaysia today (as well as a few other countries in the region, I suspect). The good news is that it’s a pub hol for J and I. The bad news is that it’s a pub hol for the kids as well. So no sneaking off for a private, indulgent brunch. Rats!
Vesak Day celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha, presumably in that order. He must have been one exceptionally efficient dude is all I can say. Even Jesus Christ couldn’t manage to fit everything on the one day. Except, like Christ, Buddha’s day skips around all over the place, depending on the phase of the moon. And they say women are indecisive!
In any case, I’ll take whatever holiday I can get, which means we’re actually Not Here while you’re reading this. I don’t know where we’ll be, but not chained to a PC, that’s for sure!
Before I go, however, I’d like to say that The Romance Studio will be giving away a digital copy of Guarding His Body on Friday, 28 May during its Book-A-Day Giveaway. Wow! A Pirate’s Passion, then Cougars & Cubs (which has received two great reviews so far), now Guarding His Body and let’s not forget two copies of In Enemy Hands at the end of June. I think I would have given away more books in May/June than in the previous three years combined. Make sure you don’t miss out.
Have a good weekend and I’ll catch you all on Monday and, don’t forget, I’m at Ann Wilkes’ blog today (US time), talking about romance in science-fiction.
POSTSCRIPT: In Enemy Hands is available for adding to your wishlist at Amazon although you should know I get a better royalty if you buy direct from Carina Press. (No, the commercial part of their site isn’t up yet; I’ll let you know when/if it is.) However, if you’re an Amazon die-hard, then you can go there and I promise not to sic Sausage on you! Interestingly, I can’t buy my own book from Amazon because I’m not in the USA apparently. Hmmmm. This one will require more digging, methinks.
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Spin: PW to Roubini; plus, a review!
I don’t think anybody who’s up with publishing news hasn’t, by now, read the article at Publisher’s Weekly on JA Konrath’s deal with Amazon.
I also have Konrath’s blog on feed so was interested in reading his feedback on the article. Oh my. Konrath, while polite, doesn’t mince words, saying that “PW’s version of the truth is lacking in many areas.”
Oops. I tend to be fractally sceptical, so thought I’d compare something fairly easy to verify between the two accounts. PW says:
According to Nielsen BookScan, the first book in the Jack Daniels series, Whiskey Sour (2005), sold 32,000 copies, while the latest, Cherry Bomb (2009), has sold 4,000 copies.
Now, that’s damning, you have to admit. Oh what a has-been Konrath is! No wonder he moved to Amazon, the hack! But hold on. What’s this? Konrath says:
CHERRY BOMB, my last book in the contract, is not coming out in paperback until June [2010].
So, what sold 4,000 copies? Was it the paperback, as PW intimates (“Konrath … has been published by Hyperion in paperback for years”), or the hardback as Konrath insists? Amazon (and The Book Depository) confirm that the edition of CHERRY BOMB published in 2009 is, indeed, the hardback. So Konrath was right! Double oops. In light of this, one can only read PW’s statements, such as:
So Konrath essentially took a book no one wanted and instead of fully self-publishing it, signed with Amazon-Encore, which will bring the book out in paperback a year after the Kindle release this summer ….
as being somewhat spiteful. And here I was, thinking that a rag on publishing might be just a teeny weeny bit above spin. Le sigh.
It bit extra deep because I also got my free Top 5 daily email from Roubini yesterday. (What, you think I pay for my propaganda?) Because one of my abiding loves is economics (no, seriously), I have learnt to take anything to do with politics, economics, sociology, etc. with a grain of salt. So when I read this (I’ve highlighted the amusing bits):
The current financial and economic crisis—and in particular the still unfolding sovereign debt crisis in Europe—has highlighted a change in Germany’s attitude towards the so-called “European project” and the quickening pace of Germany’s emergence from what might be called its post-war transition. While in the past often putting its interests second to European unity, Germany has now become much more outspoken about its own political and economic goals. German pronouncements on everything from the need for new financial regulations to NATO expansion into former Soviet territory to the proper role of the ECB had already riled its partners to varying degrees, but since the onset of the Greek crisis, these tendencies have grown much more pronounced. Germany’s unilateral adoption of a deficit cap, initial resistance to a European bailout and, most recently, unilateral restrictions on short-selling all serve as evidence that the EU’s largest economy is increasingly focusing on policy goals more consistent with its own unique export-dependent, highly prudent economy, even if those aims come at the expense of its European partners.
the antennae immediately twitched. Germany as a selfless paragon of European unity? Where did this come from? The Germany we all know has pushed the agenda of the EU insofar as it would increase its own dominance in the group. Just ask any of the other nations. Remember Rumsfeld’s grizzles about “Old Europe” and “New Europe”? Germany and France were considered by him to be “Old Europe” — two big economies with their own axes to grind. Now we’re supposed to believe that Germany is some angel of European unity, selflessly putting itself last? Sorry, nobody who knows political history at all buys that.
The second snorting point is about Germany’s “unilateral restrictions on short-selling … com[ing] at the expense of its European partners.”
Oh, now Roubini is going past analysis and diving straight into fantasy. Anybody who doesn’t live within the censored media bounds of the USA knows that Europe can’t stand the kind of short-selling that inevitably led to the last financial collapse. Or, to put it another way, nobody in Europe likes short-selling, but Germany was the first to out-and-out forbid the practice. There is no “coming at the expense of” in this situation. There is no disagreement. The ONLY people who disagree with this move are the American investment banks.
I’ve noticed that Roubini often has a hidden agenda and it’s becoming more and more apparent in his group’s analyses. It’s still useful information. Remember that. It’s all useful information, but you gotta watch that spin.
TANGENT: And just to give you cognitive trauma coming on the heels of economic news, Two Lips gave the Cougars & Cubs anthology (featuring my short story, Singapore Sizzle) 5, er, kisses? Mouths? Lips? Whatever it was, it’s much appreciated. Thank you Two Lips!
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A nothing post for Monday
Man, I’m pooped and I haven’t even begun my promo push yet! Monday already and I really don’t know what to write.
J and I were discussing the sophistication of voters this morning and how a complete reluctance to even talk about politics leads, in my mind, to a lazy and uninvolved populace. I wanted to expound on this in a post, but it’s way too big for just one and I don’t have time for the moment.
I read in the papers that the Malaysian ringgit has appreciated and will continue to appreciate across major currencies. What does this mean for Singapore, besides the fact that the hordes to come over and buy up everything in the local supermarkets will find their Singbucks don’t go as far as they used to?
Malaysia is also in the top ten of competitive countries (list of 58, from memory). Switzerland put the list together and — oh surprise! — Switzerland is also in the top ten. Well, I suppose when you define the entire game, you’re entitled to include yourself in the winner’s circle, right?
There is talk that the subsidies on oil, sugar, flour and petrol in the country Must Go! Prime Minister Najib has a fine balancing act to contemplate. If the government phases out subsidies (and I can only see unsubsidised sugar in this diabetes-rich country as A Good Thing), a lot of people are going to be pretty upset. The only way he can make this work is to somehow encourage higher wages to offset the subsidy cuts or risk a semi-skilled drain to Singapore. The raw argument goes: why earn RM1,500/month in Malaysia when you can earn SG2,000/month in Singapore? (SG1.00 = RM2.30) Well, for one reason, RM1,500 buys you a helluva lot more in Malaysia than SG2,000 buys you in Singers. The smart ones will live in Johor and commute to Singapore and join 65,000+ other people doing the same thing. But what does this mean for Malaysia?
And, in writing, well I’m working on a new novel, so it’s just slog slog slog at the moment and — eek! — June next week. Back to my writing machine. See you Wednesday.
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Sticky! May & June & guests & CONTEST!!! Scroll down for new content
[THE INFO IN THIS POST IS A BIT VOLATILE; SHALL UPDATE AS APPROPRIATE] I’m on a big promo push over the next month because, as Oscar Wilde said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. While I may mention where I’ll be, please don’t think that you should only visit the mentioned blog on that day. I chose these blogs because that’s where I regularly visit, and I do that because the people have interesting stuff to say. So, without further ado:
1 June23 May: The very talented crew at Alien Romances told me they’d be happy to host a post from me, but it had to be about writing or the craft of writing. I kinda side-stepped that one but I hope you can understand why.
27 May: I shall be at Ann Wilkes’ blog. Now, Ann wrote a post recently about how she prefers male sf writers because females tend to put in that danged romance stuff! I told her I couldn’t take such an affront lying down and suggested a rebuttal (cunningly disguised as a blog swap). Ann is sharp, kind and wonderful, and readily agreed to hear my point of view. Because of writers like her, I’m terribly proud to be a Broad.
1 June: Liane Spicer. Liane lives in Trinidad and writes in UK English. Do you know how rare that is? Her posts are full of colour and balmy breezes. I write about being a linguistic rarity amidst an ocean of North American authors whose favourite word seems to be “scoot”.
2/8 June: Maria Zannini. If you don’t know by now that Maria and I are fast friends, you must be new to my blog. Maria’s eclectic blog covers topics from writing to marketing to permaculture. Being a masochist, I pick permaculture.
3 June: Rowena Cherry is the kind of astringent, straight-talking person I love being associated with. And she graciously gave me a spot at her blog, Space Snark, to spruik my stuff!
6 June: When I first met Heather Massey of The Galaxy Express, I was completely blown away by how utterly nice she is! She interviews me and I try to sound intelligent.
7 June: JK Coi is an eminently gracious paranormal and urban fantasy author. I write about never giving up and the somewhat torturous path to publication IN ENEMY HANDS had.
7 June: And I’m back at The Galaxy Express, talking about my Republic universe.
8 June: Joely Sue Burkhart is a fellow Carina author who first burst onto the scene with the magnificent “Survive My Fire”. At her blog, I tackle the unsung goodness of computer games.
8 June: If you’re in any way serious about writing and don’t have Maya Reynolds’ excellent blog on feed, you must have rocks in your head. In between her excellent analyses on all things publishing, I describe what I consider to be part of Carina Press’ value proposition.
9 June: Dee Tenorio. Dee is big into family. I’m not. Well, maybe….
10 June: Cindy Spencer Pape and I know each other, not only from Carina Press, but also from Total-E-Bound. In fact, I’ve even narrated one of her short stories for an audio version!
10 June: I go to Toni Anderson‘s blog just for the photos alone, never mind the locations. If I was going to show my face there, I needed something that would stand up even passingly well against the lovely photos she populates her blog with.
11 June: Jenny Schwartz always comes up with several blog posts a day on a multitude of topics. Where does she find the time? Not quite as eclectic, I’m reduced to straight promo.
15 June: I am interviewed by Charles Tan at the World SF News Blog. It’s fisticuffs at San Serif!
15 June: When Alice Gaines and I first ‘met’, we discovered that she’s a committed Christian and I’m an atheist. Of course I had to write about atheism and ethics at her blog, didn’t I?
16 June: Leah Braemel writes about cowboys. I write about aliens. I try to lure her readers over to the Starry Side.
18 June: Claire Robyns is an historical romance writer and I lurve historical romances! We swapped some questions and here I am answering them.
29 June: I’m at the We Write Romance blog talking about how distance isn’t much of a barrier to a writing career any more.
And I’ll talk about July … in July. In addition to all that, I’ll be having a whole swag of guests here.
- 8 June: Joely Sue Burkhart
- 9 June: Toni Anderson
- 10 June: Cindy Spencer Pape
- 1611 June: Jenny Schwartz
- 14 June: Leah Braemel
- 2116 June: Alice Gaines
- 18 June: Dee Tenorio
- 17 June 4 July: Claire Robyns
COMPETITION!!! Yes it’s win win win at Fusion Despatches for the month of June. And up for grab are two promotional kits for IN ENEMY HANDS. That means that, in addition to a copy of the book, you get bookmarks and a collection of items mentioned in the novel. A clearboard copy? Pieces of white and sage-green towel? The mysterious token Moon has never told anybody about?
All you need to do is comment on this post and tell me which of the above blogs you’re visiting from. It’s no good saying you’re a regular reader of this blog, I want you to go a bit further afield, then come back and tell me where you found me. (Or if you’re following from another blog, welcome and feel free to say something!) Every comment goes into the draw and I’ll be drawing two winners on the first of July.
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Anthology winner! But wait, there’s more….
I drew the winner of the Cougar & Cubs anthology as promised, but had to contact the winner to make sure she had provided a bona fide email address. Well, the winner now has a copy of the anthology and I believe she’s reading it even as I type! So congratulations Gayle O and thanks to everyone for participating.
But that’s not all. I’m giving away a digital copy of Guarding His Body at The Romance Studio Book-A-Day-Giveaway next Friday, 28 May (that’s US time). There are no residential limitations so the entire world can enter if they want! And if you tick the box to say you wouldn’t mind being contacted by me, you’ll be included in my rebooted newsletter mailing group.
Tomorrow, I’ll update you on a frenzy of promo that I’ll be participating in over the next month and I announce yet another competition, so please make sure you visit for that.
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Guest author: Ann Wilkes – Recycling Storylines Well
First, I want to thank Kaz for being such a great host and a frequent commenter on my blog. And for suggesting this blog post swap. She might even invite me back to talk about flash fiction. For now, let’s talk about recycling.
Human nature hasn’t changed much since man discovered fire or Cain killed Abel. People still have the same motivations. Man kills, steals or lies for land and money. The material things we fight over have changed, but the base motivations and plots have not. Our lives have grown more complex because of our possessions, but our motivations at their core are just as simple.
We’ve heard or read all the stories before. There is nothing new. That’s why writers recycle.
Recycling, in writing, is just as honorable as going green — if done well.
Many reading this have seen or at least heard a lot about Avatar, so I’m going to use it as an example. Avatar is the best movie I’ve seen since the first Star Wars movie came out in the 70s. I removed my 3D glasses and emerged from the showing feeling like I had not just gone to a movie. I had experienced something unique and amazing and I wanted to do it again. (And I did.)
The storyline is as well worn as a threadbare pair of jeans, but enough elements were put together in unique ways, with enough cool trappings that it didn’t bother me. But, most of all, the heights in CGI that the James Cameron event reached and the emotional ties to the Trail of Tears, made its basic unoriginality not matter to me.
In Avatar, people with stronger weapons and bigger egos, discover what they perceive to be an under-developed sentient species and take what they want from them with no regard for their lives, treating them like dumb animals. How familiar is that? Columbus or the early Americans were far from the first to do this. Remember Cain and Abel. And it still goes on in many parts of the world today. Ethnic cleansing, genocide.
>SPOILER ALERT<
In the end protagonist Jake Sully goes native. It’s so commonplace that we even have a term for it.
>END SPOILER ALERT<
Window dressing like blue skin, FTL (faster than light) spacecraft and floating mountains in the sky are how the writer dresses up humans and humanoids in stories that we’ve seen or read a thousand times. The writer must also combine story elements in unique, if not better, ways than we’ve seen before.
I just reviewed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. Talk about recycling! Hockensmith begins with Jane Austin’s characters and setting and adds zombies and ramps up the humor. It was great! I also have Android Karenina by (Leo Tolstoy and) Ben H. Winters waiting in my TBR pile. They’re both Quirk Classics. I think Quirk is onto something with these literary mash-ups; may Tolstoy and Austin still rest in peace. They work because they are putting two disparate themes together and having fun with it.
Some storylines were never meant to be recycled — especially not so obviously and unimaginatively. How many animals, insects, people or >wince< vegetables must we endure being mutated by into huge, man-eating menaces? Someone please convince the SyFy channel we’ve had enough!
And don’t get me started on the disaster movies that throw the bitter exes together to save the day.
I would love to give you some specific literary examples, but I’m coming up empty at the moment. I suspect I’ve never finished, quickly forgotten and disposed of the books I started that fell in this category.
The same is true of short stories. I know I’ve seen a lot of bad recycling in first contact stories, Pinocchio-like robot stories and military science fiction. And let’s not forget the Ender’s Game wannabes.
There have been times when I’ve read a major sci-fi magazine cover to cover and found it utterly forgettable; none of the stories surprising me. When I interviewed Wendy S. Delmater, editor of Abyss and Apex, she reiterated what she had said to me at World Fantasy last year. What she wants most in a story is to be surprised.
Ann Wilkes’ first book, Awesome Lavratt, is a tongue-in-cheek space opera with mind control, passion and adventure. And it’s also available as a book app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Her stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. She also maintains the Science Fiction and Other ODDysseys blog and reviews sci-fi for Mostly Fiction. She lives in California’s wine country with her husband, Patrick, son Daniel, a cat and two dogs. Visit her at www.annwilkes.com.
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News roundup: 17-May-2010
Of course there are things happening in Malaysia at the moment, but I can’t write about the news while ignoring Bangkok.
I think the pictures in Asian newspapers are more graphic than those in Western papers, and here’s what I opened to yesterday morning (click to enlarge).
I don’t know enough about Thai politics to speak definitively on this issue, although I do wonder where the Thai king is in all of this? He’s protected by a frighteningly devout population, as well as a number of punitive laws should you even breathe the wrong way while in the same city as him, and yet he remains ostensibly silent while his own subjects are being killed under the authority of an elected official. This is all too much for my feeble mind to take in.
Much more personally, I have friends in Thailand so am naturally worried about them. I’m not about to ask anybody to pray for them, because prayer achieves absolutely zilch in the getting-better-in-any-situation stakes. I’m just monitoring and hoping they are all okay.
In other news, after reading a post on minimalism at Smashing Magazine, I decided to apply that principle to my website and you’ll now find that the front page is bare of all those little updatey things that used to go at the bottom. I’m still thinking of how best to organise the other releases so it doesn’t resemble a hodge-podge of stories from all over the place, but haven’t come to any firm conclusions yet.
Tomorrow, I have a guest author. It’s Ann Wilkes, fellow Broad and fellow sf writer, so please make sure you visit. She has some interesting things to say about writing and recycling. You wouldn’t want to miss it.
And you still have time to enter the Cougar Growls competition by leaving a comment at any of the Cougar posts. I’ll be drawing a winner tomorrow evening, Malaysian time.
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Cougar Growls tour: Ashley Ladd
How To Be A Cougar
Are you tired of men your age and older who have let themselves go? Who complain about their aches and pains? Who expect to be coddled? Who are married to the TV?
Meanwhile, there’s a wealth of beautiful younger men in your orbit who are so buff they make your panties wet? They work out at the gym. They participate in fun activities. They’re on the go, living life…just like you are.
Obviously the younger, active men are much better mates than the couch potato.
- Be confident. Confidence is the sexiest attribute a person can have. It’s the number one reason younger men like to date older women.
- Be independent. This is the number two reason younger men like to date older women.
- Don’t be a drama queen.
- Be a gorgeous, sophisticated animal. Stay in shape. Go to the gym. Walk an hour a night. Eat well. Take good care of yourself.
- Put yourself together. Men look at the total package. Wear makeup. Style your hair nicely. Dress nicely. They’re much more likely to look at the sum, not single out your beautiful eyes or nice smile if the rest is frumpy or trashy.
- Be sexually savvy.
- Be energetic.
- Pounce. Be sleek, strong, sexy, and in control. Flirt. Give the younger man confidence to be with you.
- Don’t give the younger man your daughter’s phone number. Give him yours!
- Talk a good game. Keep the conversation happy, light, and positive. Many younger men like older women because they aren’t vapid like their younger counterparts. Older women have maturity, grace, and experience. They like themselves. They can hold an interesting conversation.
- Be fun. If you don’t enjoy being around a couch potato, neither will your younger man. Go line dancing. Play tennis. Ride bicycles. Be active in clubs and community events. Go to the beach.
- Have no shame. Don’t listen to naysayers. It’s survival of the fittest.
In a recent survey by the AARP, 34% of older women are dating younger men. This is women age 40 and older dating younger men, usually at least 10 years younger. Also, a recent survey by Cosmo found that 30% of men are willing to date older women.
Scene of the Crime by Ashley Ladd
Robin didn’t know whether to be relieved or appalled that the sexy man she’d fallen into bed with wasn’t her ex-boyfriend, but his adult son.
When Robin returns to her alma mater as a professor of history, she can’t believe her ex-boyfriend is still on campus, much less looking so young and buff after twenty years. The sexy-as-hell man she’d seen on her first day back, however, isn’t her ex but his adult son. Although she wants nothing to do with either of them, they won’t leave her head or her heart alone.
Buy link:
COMPETITION: We’re at the end of the week but there’s still time for you to win! I’ll be collecting all the comments for every blog entry for this week on TUESDAY! Everyone who comments will be in the draw to win a copy of the Cougars & Cubs anthology. I’ll announce the winner next WEDNESDAY, so start commenting! Next week, back to my usual ravings. Have a good weekend everyone.
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Cougar Growls blog tour: KS Augustin
A bit about Singapore Sizzle
I haven’t been writing romance for very long at all. It’s only been three years (April 2007) since my first erotic sf romance was published. But I’ve learnt a lot in those short years. Lots about writing, but lots about genres as well. And, in that time, I’ve started to notice the emergence of romance heroes who are not your standard, Western, pale-skinned man. Of course, Harlequin have always had the Greek shipping magnate and the Arab prince but what I mean are heroes from more far-flung areas, like Central Europe and Asia. And suddenly, when the call came for contributions to a Cougars and Cubs anthology from Total-E-Bound, the time seemed right to introduce Adrian Pereira, a Portuguese Eurasian from Singapore.
Eurasians in my part of the world have a couple of things going for them. Because they do not belong to any one major ethnic group, they’re regarded as being neutral players in south-east Asia. During colonial times, the British often hired them as government administrators and teachers at local schools. Also, they’re usually quite attractive, due to the mix of European and Asian genes that course through their bodies, and many parents still like to classify their children as “Eurasian” due to the aesthetic appeal such a label conjures up. (If all that sounds a bit weird, remember that we’re talking about a different part of the world here. This is how it is in south-east Asia.)
So, to have a bored divorced woman looking for adventure in Singapore, and finding it with a young, handsome Portuguese Eurasian, doesn’t require much imagination at all.
For the story, I put myself in Sophie’s shoes. She is a smart, accomplished woman finding her own path in Singapore after her divorced husband goes back to the UK. Singapore is a vibrant city, but Sophie feels an emptiness that the glitz of living in such a metropolis can’t satisfy. When a well-meaning matchmaker, George Chua, sets her up to attend a swanky masquerade ball, Sophie decides to take her courage in her hands and attend, with the idea of spending the night with some handsome buck. But when the buck she’s chosen wants more, what is she to do?
During edits, the anthology editor, Liz Delisi, and I discussed some of matchmaker George Chua’s vocal mannerisms. I enjoyed writing George because I know so many locals like him – cheerful, nosey, well-meaning yet sometimes insensitive with their good intentions. I cringed along with Sophie when she discovered she was the dinnertime topic of conversation between George and his family, an admission George made happily and openly! Although some of the patois is non-grammatical, I wanted to retain it because that’s the rhythm of the region and if anyone has visited Singapore and reads the story, I hope they’ll get a smile from George Chua.
I also hope readers will like the steady humour and smooth-skinned sexiness of Adrian Pereira. I could well imagine being tempted by someone like him, and I hope you are too!
* If you can’t think of any Eurasians, how about Keanu Reeves or Dean Cain?
Singapore Sizzle by KS Augustin
Sophie Woodward is English, divorced, living in Singapore…and bored, bored, Bored! But is she ready for handsome, exotic, young Adrian Pereira?
Sophie Woodward moved to Singapore with her banker husband, Tim. But that was years ago. When they got divorced, Tim moved back to the UK and Sophie decided to craft a new life in the modern Asian metropolis.
The problem is, things haven’t turned out the way she hoped. Although she has a rewarding career, she’s restless, wondering if this is as good as life gets.
Cajoled into attending a masquerade ball for charity, Sophie meets a charming stranger and spends the night with him in hot, steamy sex. The problem comes when he wants to see more of her, and Sophie has to confront her own insecurities. After all, she’s almost ten years his senior! Is there any hope for a relationship between them? Or was the sizzle a mere flash in the pan?
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