West of Mars

Check out my review of LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout, now posted at Front Street Reviews.

Best line in the book? Near the end, when LL is telling the ladies not to worry about bulking up too much. “Believe me, ladies, I want to be the hardest thing in the bed.”

You’ve got to love a man who can slip a line like that into an exercise book.



And in Debut a Debut news…

Karen has featured one of our debut authors (and prize contributors). Make sure you stop in if you like historical fiction.

Looking to start a new series? Try Heather Hayashi’s To Save the World. I don’t know much about Hayashi (yet), but it seems that her series is directed at gamers. The Tour Manager will be pleased.

If you’re looking for an updated (or correct!) version of the authors for the Debut a Debut contest, head on over to the main West of Mars site, or else to Writing Aspirations. The list is huge, and I’m afraid that if you haven’t been here in a few days, you’ll miss some of the routine action that’s been happening. (Want a hint? Chelle’s got something on her mind and you guys have been strangely quiet about what she’s got to say.)

Time is drawing close… Twelve more days before entries should start arriving. Have you selected your book(s)? Are you ready to read and review?

What about Ali Liebegott — The IHOP Papers? Don’t be like me and freak when you notice she’s got another publication — it’s a poem. Ali still qualifies for the contest, and her book is on my wishlist. Check it out…

While we’re talking contests, I came across this one. I entered more to tell the story than to win; that story is only one of millions that I’ve got. And it’s true! Let me know what you think of it (read the comment trail to see it, but feel free to comment here; you guys have been scarily quiet lately).

See you guys in a few with a Thursday Thirteen that takes us back to Riverview. Anyone else miss it there amid all the Debut a Debut hoopla?

Thanks to everyone who’s been visiting as part of the Debut a Debut contest. I hope you’ll all stay, look around, and come back often. There’s room in my zany world for all of you, and I’d love to see you all delurk.

More authors are popping up daily, asking to be included in this list. Congratulations to all on the list; may your sales be strong.

I’ll keep on trying to feature authors who’ve been in touch with me in one form or another. Today, it’s Colleen Gleason. A fellow Thursday Thirteener and an all-around nice woman, Colleen is making it more affordable for any of you to choose her book, The Rest Falls Away, for one of your contest entries (and if you’re reading this, unless you’re the Tour Manager or Erica, you’re eligible to enter. Yes, even if you’ve donated a prize).

Here’s a coupon to use until February 4, 2007.

(of course, if you use my above link and buy it at Powells.com, you’ll help me afford prizes for future, smaller contests. Your pick; save a buck or chip in for a future contest prize. Both have their pros and cons)



On to other stuff…

I’m reading the March Guitar World magazine right now. (what happened to magazines not hitting the sales rack until the month listed on the spine?), and I about lost it when I noticed an ad for . Who do you think they have pictured as musicians who use their product?

Toki Wartooth and Skwisgaar Skwigelf. Of, yes, Dethklok. That most famous (and favorite) of fictional bands.

The Tour Manager thinks it’s a great idea if I order both Dethklok shirts and post pictures of me wearing them, so stay tuned for that. I know you regulars around here are dying to know what I really look like!

More later. I’ve got literary agents to query, books to write, and a knee to nurse.

As part of the Debut a Debut contest that Erica at Writing Aspirations and I are throwing, I thought that I’d start featuring some of our debut authors, too. First is Lila Shaara, whose Every Secret Thing is one of the debuts you can win copies of — an autographed hardcover or an audiobook on CD!

Now, on to Chelle and what she’s got to say today.

Now someone had better explain to me just what’s goin’ on here. Okay? I’m listening, so you all had better start speaking.

Now see here. I know I’ve encouraged letters and feedback from you all. And for the most part, what you people have to say rocks. I like that you don’t hold back in your letters, and I like even more that you show me some respect when we meet up face to face. Not a lot; just enough.

What I don’t like is this recent bombardment from you all about my horn-tooting of those little bands out there. Why? What’s your issue here? Don’t you know how big bands get made? They start out as little bands and they slug it out and they find a way to make sure they stand out. If they stand out enough to catch my cynical old ears, so much the better, don’t you think? Have you ever known me to go nuts for a band that was so terrible, you changed the radio station every time they came on?

Well, you gotta account for taste in there, too. But my track record speaks for itself: every single bitty band I’ve told you about has found their way to success of some size, and all of it’s been deserved. Sure, some of ‘em broke up before they made it as big as they could have, but that’s the nature of bands, boys and girls. They’re made up of people. People don’t always get along.

Sort of like you all and me, right now. ‘Cause sure as I know my name’s Chelle LaFleur, I know that you ain’t feeling this bitty band love the way I am. And I don’t know why, unless you’re just perfectly happy to keep on doing the same-old, same-old.

If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t be taking up the air I’m tryin’ to breathe, you know what I’m saying here, boys and girls? I’m here to find good music and not care about how big their arenas are or how gigantic their heads are or how humongous their staffs are, pushing their great big news down my fat throat. It’s about the quality of the music, and damn if I care who’s making it.

Okay, unless it’s those ShapeShifter boys, but they’re another story. They’re one of those bands who earn your respect, just because they’re so damn cute, and so damn into what they’re doing and we all know they won’t be a bitty band for much longer.

So quit’cher bellyaching at me already. If no one looks for the next ShapeShifter, how’s anyone gonna find them?

You heard it first, and you heard it here: Bitty bands rock. C’mon out with Chelle and give ‘em your support.

Okay, no wonder I’m tired and cranky. In just one week, our list of debut authors we know about has swelled from 40 to 173. And guess who is the keeper of the list? Rashenbo?

Well, I did volunteer, so no bellyaching allowed on my end. If you know of a debut author who qualifies under our rules, keep those names rolling in. And if you catch any mistakes, please let me know! There’s no malice intended, just an exhausted mom-writer-wife with a potentially torn knee cartilege (again).

I thought I’d post the list for you here, even though it’s fun to watch the hits on my main website. Guess I’ll watch ‘em in both places.

1. Alan Fox — The Seeker in Forever
2. Albyn Leah Hall — The Rhythm of the Road
3. Alex Espinoza — Still Water Saints
4. Alexandra Sokoloff — The Harrowing
5. Ali Liebegott — The IHOP Papers
6. Alice Greenway — White Ghost Girls
7. Aliya Whiteley — Three Things About Me
8. Amir Gutfreund — Our Holocaust
9. Amy Bryant — Polly
10. Ana Baca — Mama Fela’s Girls
11. Andrew Britton — The American
12. Antoinette May — Pilate’s Wife
13. Antonia Arslan — Skylark Farm
14. Benito Cordova — Big Dreams and Dark Secrets in Chimaya
15. Betsey Osborne — The Natural History of Uncas Metcalfe
16. Brian Martin — North
17. Brian Shuster. The Minerva Virus
18. C-Murder — Death Around the Corner
19. CA Belmond — A Rather Lovely Inheritance
20. Carolyn Turgeon — Rain Village
21. Cate Sweeney — Selfish Jean
22. Catherine Murdock – Dairy Queen
23. Cheryl Strayed — Torch
24. Christine Conrad — Mademoiselle Benoir
25. Cindy Woodsmall — When the Heart Cries
26. Clifford Chase — Winkie
27. Colleen Gleason — The Rest Falls Away
28. Cornelia Read — A Field of Darkness
29. Conor Corderoy — Dark Rain
30. Da Chen — Brothers
31. Daniel Judson – The Darkest Place
32. David Lynn Golemon — Event
33. Debra Dean – The Madonnas of Leningrad
34. Debra Ginsberg — Blind Submisssion
35. Derek Armstrong — The Game
36. Diane Setterfield — The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel
37. Donna Westover Gallup — White as Snow
38. Drew Bowling — The Tower of Shadows
39. Edward Charles — In the Shadow of Lady Jane
40. Ellis Avery — The Teahouse Fire
41. Faiza Guene — Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
42. Farrell O’Gorman — Awaiting Orders
43. Frances Washburn — Elsie’s Business
44. George Robert Minkoff — The Weight of Smoke
45. Gillian Flynn — Sharp Objects: A Novel
46. Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk — The Sidewalk Artist
47. Gordon Dahlquist – The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
48. Heather Hayashi — To Save the World
49. Heidi Pitlor — The Birthdays
50. Henry Chang — Chinatown Beat
51. Hisham Matar — In the Country of Men
52. Heidi Pitlor — The Birthdays: A Novel
53. Hisham Matar — In the Country of Men
54. Hugh Paxton — Homunculus
55. Jackie Kessler — Hell’s Belles
56. James Canon — Takes from the Town of Widows and Chronicles from the Land of Men
57. James Janko — Buffalo Boy and Geronimo
58. Jana DeLeon — Rumble on the Bayou
59. Jane May — Doggy Style
60. Jason Webb — The Ghost of Che Guevara
61. Jed Rubenfeld – The Interpretation of Murder
62. Jenn Reese — Jade Tiger
63. Jennah Sharpe — Along the Hibiscus Path
64. Jennifer Gilmore — Golden Country: A Novel
65. Jerome Tell — The Election
66. Jill Conner Browne (with Karin Gillespie) — The Sweet Potato Queen’s First Big Ass Novel
67. Jonathan Drapes — Never Admit to Beige
68. Joshua Cohen — Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto
69. Joshua Palmatier — The Skewed Throne
70. Joshua Spanogle – Isolation Ward
71. Judith Lindbergh — The Thrall’s Tale
72. Judith Marks-White — Seducing Harry
73. Julie Carobini — Chocolate Beach
74. Kat Richardson — Greywalker
75. Kathleen Jacobs — The Friday Knitting Club
76. Katherine Min — Secondhand World
77. KE Silva — A Simple Distance
78. Kelly Kerney — Born Again
79. Keith Donohue — The Stolen Child
80. Kevin Shay — The End as I Know it
81. Kirsten Sawyer — Not Quite a Bride
82. Laura Dave — London is the Best City in America
83. Laura Fitzgerlad — A Veil of Roses
84. Laura Ruby — I’m not Julia Roberts
85. Lauren Fox — Still Life With Husband
86. Lauren Lipton — It’s About Your Husband
87. Lauren Marks-White — Seducing Harry
88. Layne Maheu — Song of the Crow
89. Lee Merrill Bryd — Riley’s Fire
90. Liam Jackson — Offspring
91. Lila Shaara — Every Secret Thing
92. Lisa Fugard — Skinner’s Drift
93. Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum — A Day of Small Beginnings
94. Lisa Unger — Beautiful Lifes
95. Lori Lacefield — The Seventh Survivor
96. Lu Vickers — Breathing Underwater
97. Lucy McCarraher — Blood & Water
98. Marcus Sakey — The Blade Itself
99. Margo Candela — Underneath it All
100. Marie Arana — Cellophane
101. Marisa de los Santos — Love Walked In
102. Marisha Pessl — Special Topics in Calamity Physics
103. Mark Binelli — Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!
104. Mary E. Neighbour — Speak Right on: Dred Scott a Novel
105. Matthew Scott Hansen — The Shadow killer
106. Max Brooks — World War Z
107. Meg Mullins — The Rug Merchant
108. Melissa Clark — Swimming Upstream Slowly
109. Mia King — Good Things
110. Michael A. Fitzgerald — Radiant Days
111. Michael Graham — The Snow Angel
112. Michael Stephen — The Manuscript
113. Michael Thomas — Man Gone Down
114. Michelle Tea — Rose of no Man’s Land
115. MWF Curran — The Secret War
116. Naomi Alderman — Disobedience
117. Natalie Danford — Inheritance
118. Nora Gallagher — Changing Light
119. N.S. Koenings — The Blue Taxi
120. Olga Grushin — The Dream Life of Sukhanov
121. Pam Jenoff — The Kommandant’s Girl
122. Pamela Carter Joern — The Floor of the Sky
123. Patrick F. McManus — The Blight Way
124. Patrick Hyde — The Only Pure Thing
125. Paul Batista — Death’s Witness
126. Paul Rusesabagina – An Ordinary Man
127. Paul Wolfe — Choices
128. Peter Behrens — The Law of Dreams
129. Peter Bourne — The Deserter
130. Peter C. Brown — The Fugitive Wife
131. Peter Hobbs — The Short Day of dying
132. Racy Li — Ninja
133. Rae Meadows — Calling Me Out
134. Raymond Khoury — The Last Templar
135. Rebecca Drake — Don’t Be Afraid
136. RG Willems — Targets of Affection
137. Robert Dugoni – The Jury Master
138. Robert Fate — Baby Shark
139. Robert Gregory Browne — Kiss Her Goodbye
140. Robert Gussin — Trash Talk
141. Roger Morris — Taking Comfort
142. Roger Alan Skipper — Tear Down the Mountain
143. Roseanne Keller — A Summer All Her Own
144. Sam Barone — Dawn of Empire
145. Sam Savage — Firmin
146. Samantha Grosser — Another Time and Place
147. San Culberson — The Nick of Time
148. Sandi Ault — Wild Indigo
149. Sara Gruen – Water for Elephants
150. Sean Chercover — Big City Bad Blood
151. Sela Carsen — Not Quite Dead (http://www.Selacarson.com)
152. Sela Carsen — The Virgin Courtesan
153. Shane Gericke — Blown Away
154. Stephen J. Spignesi – Dialogues
155. Steven Hockensmith — Holmes on the Range
156. Steve Voake – The Dreamwalker’s Child
157. Sunny — Mona Lisa Awakening
158. Suroopa Mukherjee — Across the Mystic Shore
159. Suzanne Adair — Paper Woman (http://www.suzanneadair.com)
160. Tasha Alexander — And Only to Deceive
161. Tawny Taylor — Sex and the Single Ghost
162. Thomas Mullen — The Last Town on Earth: A Novel
163. Thomma Lyn — Thy Eternal Summer
164. Tinling Choong — FireWife
165. Toby Devens — My favorite midlife crisis (yet)
166. Tom McCarthy — Remainder
167. Tony D’Souza — Whiteman
168. Troy Cook — 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers
169. Wendy Wasserstein — Elements of Style
170. Will Beall — L.A. Rex
171. William Kittredge — The Willow Field
172. Yael Goldstein — Overture
173. Yvette Christianse — Unconfessed

Prizes:

• 2 $20 gift certificates from Borders
• A copy of RG Willems’ debut, Targets of Affection
• 5 free points from BookMooch.com
• A copy of Matt Curran’s debut, The Secret War
• An autographed copy of Lila Shaara’s debut, Every Secret Thing
• A copy of Suzanne Adair’s debut, Paper Woman
• A copy of Racy Li’s debut e-book, Ninja
• A copy of Sela Carsen’s debut e-book, Not Quite Dead
• A copy of Sela Carsen’s follow-up short, The Virgin Courtesan
• A copy of Michael FitzGerald’s debut, Radiant Days

And a hello to all of you dropping in from the Romance Divas bulletin board! I hope everyone visiting for this contest will stay awhile, poke around, and become as enchanted with my world of Riverview, USA, and my fictional band, ShapeShifter.

Go check out my latest post at Working Stiffs.

It’s a hoot, I tell ya! It’s a hoot!

(comments here and there both gracefully and gratefully accepted. Thanks to everyone for helping me create yet another successful Thursday Thirteen. And don’t forget to Debut a Debut!)

Those of you who’ve been around know that my fiction centers on the fictional band ShapeShifter, the men who make up this unique band, and the people who shape the rest of their lives. For the past two weeks, our focus has been on ShapeShifter frontman Mitchell Voss. Now that you guys have a better idea who he is, I thought I’d throw in some generic bits about ShapeShifter — sort of like a palate cleanser before we get to the next character.

Enjoy, and don’t forget about the Debut a Debut contest (and to check out the winners of my meme contest, too!)! The list of debut authors to check out is being updated semi-daily and can be found either at Writing Aspirations or my main website.

Thirteen things most people know about ShapeShifter: 1. They are four boys from Riverview USA who made it big 2. They are all roughly the same age. Trevor and Daniel are a year older than Mitchell and Eric. 3. They love all their fans, but show it most obviously to the female variety. The males just get autographs and pictures. 4. Mitchell and Daniel are the band’s heartthrobs and mouthpieces. 5. Mitchell can be quite cranky to the media. 6. Trevor came up with the band name. In the beginning, they had a typical ShapeShifter concept. Each band member had an animal: Mitchell the dragon, Daniel the bear, Eric the eagle and Trevor Wolff was … a wolf. 7. The concept was soon considered too hokey to be allowed to continue. But Mitchell is still considered a dragon by many. 8. The band’s first tour happened before they had a record deal. They piled into Mitchell’s father’s Bronco, attached a U-haul to the back, and off they went. 9. They did everything in the back of that Bronco. It’s a wonder the truck survived. But it did. 10. Mitchell is still driving it during Trevor’s Song. 11. They love to hang out in pools (witness Green Hair Week) — and in pool halls, shooting 8-ball. 12. They love to make commando runs on ice cream stands before leaving town. Fans often try to guess where they’ll stop. The ice cream shops love the added business. 13. They’ll stop and talk music with you as long as they possibly can. Make sure what you say reflects the fact that you’ve got a brain in your head (with the obvious exception of someone obviously tongue-tied at having a discussion with ShapeShifter). Don’t forget to Debut a Debut! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Nope, not the Debut a Debut winners. Yet. That’s next month.

But for you regulars, you’ll remember when I got tagged for a meme and decided that since this blog is about my fictional friends, I’d let you answer for them.

I’m proud to say that everyone who entered won an award.

Musie/Ali won a couple of awards. The “Oh, so perfect, I should have thought of that” award for declaring that Trevor’s middle name is Fuckin’ (as in: Trevor Fuckin’ Wolff, thankyouverymuch.)

She also won the “How’d you know what Trevor gave Mitchell and Kerri for their wedding?” with the response that his favorite book is the Kama Sutra.

Her prizes are my copy of The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana and Marian Keyes’ Last Chance Saloon. Of course, Musie, if you don’t want one or the other… tough.

No, seriously. I’ll swap out; I’ve got enough here!

Next on to my favorite giraffe, CheesyGiraffe. She won the Best Invention of a Pet, for inventing Brick, the yellow Lab that Mitchell had when he was a kid. I’d never envisioned the Vosses with a dog before, but I think there’s some merit in her vision.

She wins two books, also. Theresa Medeiros’s After Midnight (’cause I know she likes that paranormal stuff) and Jim Fergus’ The Wild Girl. But I promised her The Wild Girl almost a year ago, so it’s not really a prize. Just a nice plug for a book I’m really digging.

Then we’ll move on to my favorite Hoser, Lauren. She wins the award for Best Capture of Mitchell’s Innocence, a trait that I think really defines him. She’s the one who said that Mitchell’s secret weapon to attract the opposite sex was his no longer green hair.

And since we’re talking about Mitchell and his green hair (long live Green Hair Week, huh?), let’s give an award to lswriter, herself. She decided that Mitchell’s green hair was his worst injury. She’s got a great point.

Prizes… let’s see… Lauren wins C. David Heymann’s Poor Little Rich Girl, and John Martel’s The Alternate. I know she likes legal thrillers and Poor Little Rich Girl is a classic, and she likes classics.

LS gets a cool book: Farscape: Dark Side of the Sun, by Andrew Dymond. An homage to my favorite silver-haired character — Chianna — as well as one of my favorite TV shows of recent times. And since most everyone is getting two books, I’m throwing in one of my five copies of Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler (don’t ask!).

The Ace herself (Ace of hearts, don’tcha know) wins a special award. The I Admire You For Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone award. She can hear Trevor opining: There is no such thing as a hot dog. There are hot chicks and then there are dogs.

Fortunately, Trevor doesn’t find many of the dogs. To him, they’re all hot chicks.

And for being such a good sport, I’m sending Dana my copy of Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. I suspect the movie’s better, but at least you can have the bragging rights to the book now.

Nimrodiel wins the best potential outtake award, setting me up with a scene that’s typical Mitchell and total laughs. Mitchell buys Kerri an arm band while they’re in Santa Fe … among other things. *grin*

Two books for Nim, too. The first is McGonagall: A Selection. This is an important book because of how truly terrible it is. McGonagall was known as Scotland’s worst poet. The second is Allegra Goodman’s Kaaterskill Falls, just because.

Carol wins the Welcome to the Madness award. Our only newbie brave enough to wade into the fray, Carol, if you’ll e-mail me, we can talk about which books you’d like. I’ll even read one on the mountain in here! (I’ve offered Rebecca Drake’s Debut, Don’t be Afraid to about ten people now; no one’s bitten yet. Why not? Rebecca rocks.)

And lastly, we have the big prizes. The first goes to Dana, again, for stepping outside her comfort zone. She’s getting my much coveted copy of Clay’s Quilt. I suspect you’ll love it as much as I did.

The final prize isn’t a book. I was going to, but I send Karen enough books as it is, and I spaced on her birthday a few months back. Since she had the foresight to step into my closet and dress Kerri in my bamboo shirt (okay, mine’s more of a green than a true sapphire blue), I’ll buy her one. This is my pick. What do you guys think?

There were a ton of good answers to this meme; I’m going to print them and hang them on the wall. It’s a treat to see my fictional characters so alive to you guys, my groupies. Thanks to the small crowd of you who entered and now that you’ve seen how easy it is to win, the rest of you will join the fun next time, too, right?

Right?

In the meantime, it’s time to turn to Debut a Debut. This is a larger contest, with a larger scope, so I’m not going to even suggest that there will be prizes for everyone who enters. Things are gaining momentum, though; come be part of it.

Two more things before I go and leave you to your debut novel hunting. First is that I’ve provided links to most of the books I’m sending you. You probably won’t get that exact edition; the links are provided mostly to give you access to plot summaries and stuff. And if you buy something while you’re peeking around, I’ll get a commission which I promise to use on future contest prizes.

And secondly, the Tour Manager gets a special prize. Not just for wading into this estrogen field we’re creating (I know we’ve got some male lurkers, which is just disturbing. Show yourselves! Just … keep that trench coat belted, dudes; I’m a married woman), but for being my tour manager.

Besides, he’s just darn cute.

For those of you who’ve been looking for it, a partial list of debut authors for the Debut a Debut contest is now up at West of Mars.

If you are an author of a debut novel and would like to either see your name listed, or would like to contribute prizes, please contact me or Erica.

Happy reading, everyone! I’ll be back with a list of winners from my second contest tomorrow. And would anyone else like some fiction this week?