E Is For… Emerald Keep!

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emeraldkeep

I am very excited.  This Wednesday, our book Emerald Keep is out into the world.  In celebration of its release, I figured I’d take today and share a little bit with you.  If you are a long-time reader of ours, then you may already be aware of the book’s release; if this is your first visit, then hello, and welcome.

The most exciting part, to me, about writing a science fantasy novel is that I get to create a world.  My coauthor, Rachel Wilder, and I worked hard to build a place that is both foreign and familiar.  We asked ourselves, what would it be like to live somewhere, 400 years or so after humanity colonized the place?  What would the culture have evolved to be like?  That required us to know something about the culture of the original settlers.  That’s a good question.  What kind of a person travels for long, long distances, probably years, and lands on a hostile planet with few easily-accessible resources other than breathable air?  The surface of the planet is blisteringly hot all year round, and completely uninhabitable one month out of every year.

Which begs another question:  how long is the year?  A year on Earth is twelve months.  A year on Mars?  687 days.  Jupiter?  Twelve years.  (Well, okay, twelve Earth years.)  So we had to know how long the Persis year is – which we decided, incidentally, is fourteen months.  It’s punctuated by Daymonth and Nightmonth.  Those of you living near the poles will be familiar with a month of sun, and a month of moon; because of the planet’s tilt, that happens up there (you’ve heard of the Russian White Nights, yes?).  Daymonth, like it sounds, is a month of days: and because the surface is so hot, the residents have to live underground, much like they do on Earth at Coober Pedy, a town in South Australia and the hottest one, by all accounts, on our planet.  The homes there are built underground.

Not so alien after all, then, this Persis of ours.  When one looks at a problem objectively, as a logic problem, one is able to world-build more easily.  Ask yourself, if I had to go somewhere to settle, somewhere completely new, like the wagon trains did when settling the American West, what would I bring?

Well, Dear Reader?  What would you put in your imaginary colonizing go-bag?

And, especially for you, I also want to remind you that the Rafflecopter is open until April 8th; please feel welcome to join in even if you are here for the A-Z Challenge and not for the book tour.  Whatever your reason for visiting, we’re glad you’re here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

D Is For… Delete

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delete-cookies

What with internet kerfuffle this, crazy news that, and more in-flow of information than ever before, the Delete key is the most important one on the keyboard.  A good friend of mine, who’s name also happens to begin with the letter “D,” pointed out that each email exerts a silent pressure on us to read them.  I followed her advice and have started unsubbing from newsletters that I haven’t been reading.  I do find it easier to open my inbox and not feel pressured to read through stuff to delete it.

That got me thinking.  How much of our daily round is simply that, sorting through things to delete them?  Watching ads on television that we don’t like?  Throwing away advertising circulars and junk mail?  Double-checking our spam filter to make sure that we aren’t missing something we actually want to read?  Reading our Facebook feed for news we don’t really want?

Another friend said something to me recently, that she is becoming interested in “stillness.”  That word caught fire in my mind and has been filling my thoughts lately, as I decide what to do with my spare time.  I’ve been paring down, and clearing the decks so that I can hear myself think.

What about you, Dear Reader?

How much quiet time do you give yourself in a week?

C Is For… Cat’s Cradle

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

2015-04-03 Pic 1

The holidays are over.  March Madness is now April Fool’s.  And Cat’s Cradle, one of the Chicagoland Shifters novels, is coming this summer.  I figured I’d give you a sneak peek – Mitch gets to settle down.  Or does he?

When you’re an ex-Marine tiger shifter, love comes with a high cost – is it too much to pay?

Mitchell Brayden is an ex-Marine tiger shifter looking for love in all the wrong places. When he decides to rescue a young ocelot shifter from a rich, spoiled playboy, he embroils himself in a conflict that goes back generations.

Guadalupe Salazar grew up as a pampered pet of a benevolent patron. After his patron’s untimely death, he stays on with the patron’s son – a self-centered, weak man who got ensnared by the drugs and fast living in the States. One night, it goes too far and Lupe is beaten nearly to death. He is taken to a secret shifter clinic where he meets an unlikely knight in tarnished armor.

Together, Mitch and Lupe confront the playboy and his friends – but will their actions draw the rest of the jaguar familias, not to mention the ocelot clans, into a battle over Lupe’s future? Will the delicate balance of power destroy everything that Mitch’s small band of tiger shifters has built in Chicago?

What about you, Dear Reader?

What book or movie are you looking forward to this summer?

B Is For… Books!

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

20141201_193155Books.  That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?  Life, the Universe, and Everything?  (Yeah, yeah, 42.  But I’m serious, here.)  Books are refuge, friend, and opiate.  They console, engage, and educate.  They can change the world and, sometimes, end it.  Endings lead to new beginnings, and so it begins again.

When Rachel and I started writing together, we talked about length.  We still do, periodically.  “Oh, this will be a short story.”  (Which became the Chicagoland Shifters series.  Of novels.)  “This one is a quickie.”  (Said four years ago about a book we’re finishing to submit now.)  In the intervening time, I’ve realized that I am a novelist, in particular.  I am also other types of writer – essayist, diarist, poet, etc.  But my favorite fiction medium is the novel.  I love the format, the way one can tell a story, the blending and interrelationships of characters to each other, the setting, and the plot, all of it.

There are others who like short stories.  It’s not that I don’t like them, particularly, it’s just that I read so fast that it’s over before I’ve had a chance to engage with the story.  I think that’s why I like series:  even though one book is over, there are others to eat.

I admire writers who can do short.  I’ve tried.  By the time I get through saying what I have to say, nine times out of ten it’s not enough room.  Rachel and I have done shorts (under 8,000 words) and they were, I felt, very tough to write.  I couldn’t add any of the layering I wanted to, or follow side plots back to the main one.  The discipline of learning to write short has been useful, but at the end of the day, I like a good, long novel.

What about you, Dear Reader?

What’s the “right” length of story for you?

A Is For… A. Catherine Noon

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20150112_0040Greetings from the cockpit of Noon and Wilder!  I’m A. Catherine Noon and I’ll be your host this month and Rachel Wilder and I complete the A-Z blog challenge.  I’ve got posts for you that show the A-Z of Noon and Wilder, which of course means that today, it’s about yours truly.

Aside from writing, I’m an avid diarist and essayist.  I’m a textile addict who adores not just knitting but just about any fiber art out there except quilting.  It’s not that I don’t like quilting, it’s just that I’ve amassed such a yarn stash that I’m loathe to begin another art form that requires the building up of supplies and fabrics and lovely stuff like that.

I could be so happy as a millionaire with nothing to do but be in the textile studio all day, the writing studio by night.

But sadly, the world doesn’t work that way and toil I must.  By day, I’m an intrepid member of the insurance industry.  I adore the job because I get to help people protect themselves from risks and recover from the unexpected.  By night, I write stories and, together with Rachel, craft world that will keep our readers up at night too.

That’s why they invented coffee, after all.

I also adore writing about cooking, which is why we have a section called In the Kitchen, that’s all about food, cooking, eating, restaurants, and beverages.

So, I write, I knit, I drink coffee.  What more is there to life?

What about you, Dear Reader?  What’s your favorite hobby?

Emerald Fire

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

Emerald_Fire_Cover_webThe harsh desert world of Persis has developed its own customs far from Old Earth. Keepers are cherished as caregivers and helpmeets to Hunters. During Emerald Keeper Teeka’s first Contract with Senior Hunter Brant, disaster strikes. Brant is killed and Teeka is stranded, surrounded by strangers, and unsure of who to trust. A dark and moody Hunter steps forward with an offer of partnership and protection. Teeka wonders what motivates the scarred and solitary Senior Hunter Quill.

Both have hidden motives for agreeing, and both are suspicious of each other. But the Great Valley will force them to work together and build a trust born out of necessity and survival. Between the dangers of the harsh desert and the malice of a hidden enemy, Teeka and Quill must learn to believe in each other to find the truth.

Burning Bright

Noon and Wilder Posted on by

Cover-Art-for-WebCuriosity never killed this cat, but love could have deadly consequences.

Sasha Soskoff has two reasons for moving to Chicago: secure a tenured position in veterinary research medicine, and widen his horizons. After a night at the city’s hottest new club, though, a wrong turn down a dark alley narrows his focus to surviving three muggers. As consciousness fades, he catches a glimpse of his rescuer, whose mere appearance is enough to chase the attackers off.

Neal Harrison doesn’t often have to call on his skills as an ex-Marine to maintain control at his club. But with Sasha, he can’t seem to keep his hands to himself. Yet there’s danger in allowing any close relationships, particularly with a naïve young newcomer. The safety of his business depends on the iron-clad secret he and his ex-Marine buddies all hide.

While Neal seems happy to satisfy Sasha’s insatiable curiosity about the erotic scenes played out in the club’s private rooms, Sasha senses his new lover is holding something back.

When the truth claws its way out amid a night of tribal blood and violence, Neal discovers his lover has a secret of his own. And that the forces arrayed against them all could make a mugging look like a walk in the park…

Warning: Contains explicit, adult situations: male on male, more males on several more males, no-holds-barred erotic scenes, no-claws-barred violence, and love forged in the heat of desire.