[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uea5ycY39LI]

Historical and paranormal erotic author Lacy Danes shares the six books she would bring if stranded on a desert island. Not only does she have a fabulous fashion sense, but she writes a damn good story. This interview is from the 2nd Rose City Romance book signing at Powell’s Cedar Hill Crossing, September 19, 2008. You can meet Ms. Danes and pick up a signed copy at the Emerald City Writers Conference book fair, October 11, 4-6 pm, Bellevue Hilton.

The Romantic Times gave ANIMAL LUST 4 1/2 stars, saying, “This fantastic novel keeps the reader engrossed. You’ll turn page after page and not be able to put it down! Each story of the cursed Ursus brothers starts off with a bang, thanks to amazing characters, and readers will feel as if they are in Regency England. Danes is a rising talent.”

ANIMAL LUST

In Regency England, there is a world ruled by feral passion and forbidden desire—a world where every fantasy is realized as four brothers take their women to rapturous new heights of carnal bliss…

The Ursus brothers are descended from a Viking clan whose ancestors doomed them to a life of all-consuming sensual urges. Haunted by their insatiable hunger, each brother knows that only one thing can tame their wild yearnings: claiming the heart and soul of the woman who is his destiny…

Surrounded by an aura of danger and driven by his unshakeable instincts, each brother knows immediately when he’s encountered the right woman, and they immediately instruct them in the art of giving and receiving pleasure. But once these women get their first sizzling taste of raw abandoned ecstasy, they only want more and more…

Celebrating Banned Book Week 2008, here is the ALA’s list of the 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990-2000. How many have you read?

How to Play:

1: Copy this list.
2: Highlight the ones you have read (or at least remember reading) in RED.
3: Tag five people to play.

Ciara’s (rather pathetic) list:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

TAG YOU’RE IT:

Christine from The Happily Ever After

Katie(babs) from Babbling about Books

Nicola from Alpha Heroes

Brie from Bibliophile Musings

Maya from Apprentice Writer

In a news day rife with anxiety and dire predictions, here is a light in the darkness: One woman making a difference. Author Joni Rodgers knocked my socks off with her completely inspiring story about spreading her beloved books throughout her neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Witty and moving, you simply have to read it. Dooooo iiiit. Snippet:

About an hour later there was a knock at my front door. Two teenage boys with too big pants and too small bicycles.

“Are you the book lady?”

I thought about it, liked how that sounded, and said, “Yup.”

They requested and rode off with “the scariest books you got”, which turned out to be Stephen King’s The Shining and Helter Skelter, the seriously chilling story of the Manson murders co-authored by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry.

I am reminded of Miss Rumphius, the title character of my favorite picture book by Barbara Cooney. Miss Rumphius has three goals in life: 1) travel to far off places 2) come home to live by the sea and 3) do something to make the world more beautiful. In pursuit of the third, she fills her pockets with lupine seeds and bicycles through the countryside and towns planting flowers. The town people start calling her “the Lupine Lady.” Ms. Rodgers has done the same thing with books – her favorite books no less – and is now known as “the book lady.” Seriously, both stories make me tear up!

Thanks to Jenna Black for the heads up on Twitter.

Edited to add:

This is a perfect opportunity to sing from the musical Mame:

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn’t snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry;
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I’ve ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.

Edited again to add:

I mean that in a completely non-denominational way. Mame sings the song in November right after the stock market crashes and she loses everything. Cheers!

September 27–October 4, 2008 is Banned Books Week, celebrating the freedom to read. Organized by the American Library Association, BBW is celebrating its 27th anniversary this year. Why do we still need it? Last year the The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 420 formal complaints asking for the removal of books from libraries or schools. What is so terrifying in this age of enlightenment, the twenty-first century? Language, sex and sexuality, violence. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was once again one of the most challenged books of the year. I’m impressed that almost a hundred years after his death, Twain is still causing a commotion. Most authors only dream of that staying power.

The Top Ten Challenged Authors 1990-2004: Alvin Schwartz, Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, J.K. Rowling, Michael Willhoite, Katherine Paterson, Stephen King, Maya Angelou, R.L. Stine, and John Steinbeck.

What can you do to celebrate? Read a book and start a discussion, or join in one of the banned-book-a-day reading challenges this week on book blogs around the internet.

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007”:

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman Reasons: Religious Viewpoint

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Reasons: Racism

The Color Purple by Alice Walker Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language

TTYL by Lauren Myracle Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Reasons: Sexually Explicit

It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Delightfully unusual, beautiful weather made for a weekend of great hiking on Mount Rainier, the fifth oldest National Park in the Nation. My family and I stayed in the historic Paradise Inn, built in 1917. Saturday, we hiked to Panorama Point and Sunday to Reflection Lake. Here are two of my favorite photos from the trip. Above is Mount Rainier and Reflection Lake. Usually photographers get up at dawn to take photos here when the pond is smooth. Dawn and I are not on speaking terms, so I hiked out in the middle of the day to snap a pic. The photo below is Paradise Inn with Mount Rainier in the background.

In other, romance-related news, I have more Desert Island Interviews to post from the Powell’s book signing, including video interviews with Lacy Danes and Meljean Brook and print interviews with Delilah Marvelle, Samantha James and Alexis Morgan. You can check out past interviews by clicking the category in the sidebar. A little background on the interviews (from Wikipedia):

Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme. It was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 and is said by the Guinness Book of Records to be the longest-running music programme in the history of radio. Guests are invited to imagine themselves castaways on a desert island, and to choose eight pieces of music to take with them; discussion of their choices permits a review of their life. Aside from music, they are permitted one book, excluding the Bible or other religious work and the complete works of Shakespeare, which are already present on the island to force more original choices.

Here in Seattle the local radio station The Mountain (103.7 FM) continues this tradition by playing listeners’ 3 Desert Island Disks in a row. This is the impetus for asking authors what their top 6 books would be if they were stranded on a desert island. To paraphrase The Mountain:

You’re stranded on a deserted island. It’s just you, the surf, the sand and three CDs six books. Remember – you’ll be listening to reading these CD’s books (and pulling sand crabs from your trousers) for the rest of time. Which three six would you choose to have with you? Luckily you don’t have to be stranded on a desert island to participate, but it is encouraged…

I hope you enjoy reading/watching them as much as I enjoy conducting the interviews. Please check out the other place I blog, the cadre of witty and voracious romance readers at the Desert Island Keeper Ladies Rule!, for tons more author interviews, givaways and pictures of hawt heroes.

Here is a fun writing opportunity from Sourcebooks and author Linda Wisdom. For more ideas on what to write about, check out Bitten by Books for an exclusive interview with the magic bunny slippers Fluff & Puff.

Give us your best HEX!

A Fan Fiction Contest with Linda Wisdom

Ever wondered why Jazz and Nick argue so much? Have you imagined a hilarious scenario with Irma? And I’m sure you’ve thought up a ton of escapades with Fluff and Puff! Why not write your very own Hex Fan Fiction piece?

Linda Wisdom and Sourcebooks Casablanca are pleased to present an exciting contest—Tell us your own short story starring the characters from 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover and October 1 release, Hex Appeal!

Rules (follow them or we might kick you out of the Witches Academy!)

1. Choose any character you like and give them an original story!

2. 1500 words maximum, sent in a Word Document or in the body of the email

Erotica is ok, but nothing too scary (no bestiality, necrophilia, pedophilia; no slander of public people; no black magic; no Wiccan or black magic spells, cursing in the regular sense is okay—we just want to have as much fun as possible!).

3. Send your story to Linda’s publicist, Danielle Jackson, at danielle.jackson [at] sourcebooks.com, no later than 5:00pm CST on October 25, 2008. (All stories submitted will become the property of Sourcebooks, Inc. to avoid copyright complications. Please email Danielle with any questions about this.)

4. The Winner, chosen by Linda, will be announced on her Myspace page the morning of Halloween!

So what do you get if you win? 2 runners up with received autographed copies of the first two books in the series, 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover and Hex Appeal.

The Grand Prize Winner will also receive the autographed copies, AND the winner’s name will be used as a character in the fourth book in Linda’s Hexy series, out in October 2009!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSC41BpGJr4]

Dina James, debut Paranormal Romance author, shares the six books she would bring if stranded on a Desert Island. She graciously agreed to the impromptu video interview at the 2nd Rose City Romance book signing at Powell’s Cedar Hill Crossing on September 19, 2008. Dina loves Jacqueline Carey, is goth, and has a very large tattoo on her back (with pictures on her website). She handed out vampire teeth at the signing, which were quite popular. In my humble opinion, authors should hand out more fun things, like stickers. I have too many book marks. One can never have too many stickers.

Dina’s debut is a short story called “Play Dead” in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance, edited by Tricia Telep. The anthology is chock full of great authors, including Sherri Erwin, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jenna Black, Jenna Maclaine, Raven Hart, Delilah Devlin, Keri Arthur, Kimberly Raye, Alexis Morgan, Lilith Saintcrow, C.T. Adams, Cathy Clamp, Susan Sizemore, Dina James, Colleen Gleason, Barbara Emrys, Savannah Russe, Shiloh Walker, Vicki Pettersson, Rebecca York, Rachel Vincent, Amanda Ashley, Karen Chance, and Nancy Holder. Phew!

In “Play Dead”, soulless vampire Nikolai travels to London to hunt down the outcast Kyle the Betrayer. Instead, he discovers his soul mate in a cheesy wannabe-vampire bar. With Kyle’s help, Nikolai protects his bride from the vampires sent to kill them and challenges the head of his vampire family, the Destrati, for control of the clan.

NaNoWriMo is in one month. (That’s National Novel Writing Month to the uninitiated.) Are you ready? Jump start your process by reading up on the craft of writing in October. Here are 13 recommended books by the editors, agents, and workshop presenters at the 2007 and 2008 Pacific Northwest Writers Conferences. Stay tuned for a list of 13 recommended books on editing, publishing, and the writing life at the end of NaNo.

1. NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty (the official NaNoWriMo writing book)
2. GOALS, MOTIVATION AND CONFLICT by Debra Dixon
   
3. WRITING THE BREAK OUT NOVEL by Donald Maass
4. SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder
5. THE WRITER’S JOURNEY: MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR WRITERS by Christopher Vogle
6. THE WEEKEND NOVELIST by Robert J. Ray
7. COMPLETE WRITER’S GUIDE TO HEROES AND HEROINES: SIXTEEN MASTER ARCHETYPES by Tami D. Cowden, Sue Viders, and Carolyn Lafever
8. CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT by Orsen Scott Card
9. SCENE AND STRUCTURE by Jack Bickham
10. HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY by Orsen Scott Card
11. ON WRITING WELL by Will Zinsser
12. ON WRITING by Stephen King
13. ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING: RELEASING THE CREATIVE GENIUS WITHIN YOU by Ray Bradbury

What books have you found useful in learning the craft? Good luck!

Title: Games of Command
Author: Linnea Sinclair
Publication Info: Bantam Spectra, February 2007
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

In honor of Ms. Sinclair’s last day on the Desert Island I am finally writing my rave review of 2008 RITA finalist GAMES OF COMMAND, which I lurved. The Book Smugglers also had an excellent interview with this fabulous author. Currently GAMES is the only book of hers I’ve read, but I intend to rectify that immediately.

Plot:
Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian is a former rebel trying to uphold a new alliance between her human United Coalition and the biocybe Triad. She is shocked to find herself under the command of her former nemesis Admiral Branden Kel-Paten. Why would the Coalition place her with the emotionless biocybe when the two spent the war shooting at each other across the galaxy? It is a disaster waiting to happen. But Kel-Paten hides a deep secret that could cost him his life – emotions get one reprogrammed. (Can we say Psy?)

Alliance crews are dying mysteriously. Kel-Paten and Sass rescue wanted rebel Jace Serafino from a dead ship. Only Sass’s friend Dr. Eden Fynn can reach Serafino around the traps someone placed in his brain to prevent him from accessing memories of his ordeal. (Cue secondary love story.) Clues point to sinister dealings within Triad.

In search of clues, the ship crash lands on a mysterious green planet where reality is not what it seems. Navigating space is child’s play compared to untangling the complex weaves of emotion, perception and memory in this new frontier. Together Sass and Kel-Paten must escape the perilous traps of the mind and find their way through the intricate mysteries of the heart.

Discussion:
GAMES OF COMMAND is a Desert Island Keeper not only for the original and complex world building, but because the love story between the spunky rebellious Sass and the cold seemingly-emotionless Kel-Paten catches hold of your heart strings and takes you for a wild ride. It is a gift to make the reader care so deeply for the hero and heroine’s happily ever after. There are many elements that make a good book – style, characters, plot, setting – but nothing is so important as making the reader invested in the outcome of the story. Ms. Sinclair has this gift. Almost as soon as I was introduced to the hero’s point of view, I fell for him. Hard. There is nothing sexier than a man who’s pretending to be a tough guy and trying to save the world, but inside is head over heels, vulnerably in love with the heroine. Be still my heart.

I admit I was hesitant to start the book. Typically outer-space settings and star wars plots aren’t my style, but Ms. Sinclair’s engaging characters quickly overcame my biases. My favorite characters – excluding the heartthrob hero – were the furzels, the cat-like furry companions who have special secret powers and inquisitive minds. The reason I bought this book, out of the two or three Ms. Sinclair was autographing at the RWA National Conference, was because Ms. Sinclair wrote her cat into the book and on the cover (see pic left). A cat person myself (and still morning the loss of my baby), I had to read the book. The furzels made me cry.

Sass is a great heroine – intrepid, down-to-earth, quick-witted – without the accompanying harsh cynicism that often comes with tough-chick heroines. Kel-Paten…What can I say? He’s the knight-in-shining-armor ever girl dreams of finding. Sass is one lucky gal.

I look forward to reading the rest of Ms. Sinclair’s books!

Don’t forget to check out the DIK three day interview with Linnea:

Day 1: About Me featuring Linnea Sinclair
Day 2: Linnea Sinclair – the Interview
Day 3: Linnea Sinclair’s last day

Read the Dear Author review of GAMES OF COMMAND here.

Please stop by the Desert Island Keeper blog today and tomorrow for a fabulous interview with RITA-winning science fiction romance author Linnea Sinclair. I met Linnea at RWA Nationals in San Francisco after hearing much squeeing about her books from Ramblings on Romance. After Ms. Sinclair told me she had written her cat into the book GAMES OF COMMAND (he even made the cover!) I had to have it. I admit I was hesitant at first about a star trek-like setting, but I was hooked as soon as I started the book. Complex world building, seat-of-your-chair action, and a knock-your-socks-off heartthrob hero. The Furzels made me CRY. I cannot recommend this five-heart book strongly enough.

GAMES OF COMMAND

Synopsis. The universe isn’t what it used to be. With the new Alliance between the Triad and the United Coalition, Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian finds herself serving under her former nemesis, biocybe Admiral Branden Kel-Paten–and doing her best to hide a deadly past. But when an injured mercenary winds up in their ship’s sick bay–and in the hands of her best friend, Dr. Eden Fynn–Sass’s efforts may be wasted.

Wanted rebel Jace Serafino has information that could expose all of Sass’s secrets, tear the fragile Alliance apart–and end Sass’s career if Kel-Paten discovers them. But the biocybe has something to hide as well, something once thought impossible for his kind to possess: feelings . . . for Sass. Soon it’s clear that their prisoner could bring down everything they once believed was worth dying for–and everything they now have to live for.