Veinglory

'The Call', now on fictionwise. (I'm eagerly awaiting my paperback copies).

Time to stop whining and starting writing. The current goal is a submission every week on Monday. I have just sent a short story out to Freya's Bower. Do the bunnies look worried?

Habeus greenus (June): $300
Time to write and submit more. Puppy needs a new collar. sigh.

Labels: habeus greenus

I love my dog, but there is a limit, surely?

“Father of Dragons” by Emily Veinglory
Genre: Gay-Lesbian Romance

ISBN: 1-59998-522-5
Length: Novel
Price: 5.50
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
Cover art by Anne Cain

One grieving man is forced to uphold an ancient bargain—by giving birth to a dragon. If only life were that simple.

Book 1 of the Ballot’s Keep series.

After his lover is executed for the simple crime of being a commoner, Xeras, a young nobleman of Tirrin, turns his back on his life of privilege and flees into the wilderness.

Weighed down with grief, exhaustion and hunger, Xeras awakens from one confusing night in the forest with the ghostly voice of his lover in his head—and the embryo of a dragon implanted in his side.

When Xeras encounters Carly, the charming Duke of Ballot’s Keep, he is far from ready to fall in love again. Still grieving, and angry about the predicament into which he’s been forced, Xeras accepts an opportunity to go after the dragons who have been making life difficult for the people of the local towns.

But there is sinister magic behind the machinations of the dragons, magic that emanates from Xeras’s distant home island of Tirrin. Magic that puts the lives of both Carly and the tiny infant dragon in danger. Xeras finds that he can’t turn his back on either of them.

For their sake he must face down his own countrymen and somehow thwart the Tirrin mages’ evil plans.

Warning, this title contains the following: Some M/M sex, some dragons, even some sex with dragons.

So, 'Son of a Bitch' is out, 'Nameless God' is submitted. I need to edit 'Wolf to Man' and then I will probably continue with 'Freelance'.

So they all roll over and I can start preparing what to write next. It really should be 'The Wicca Man 2: Family Ties' but I was looking through a few old partials as well. Here are some titles and first lines--

The Witchfinder I: The Kettle Black: Jerome knew he had found the witch as soon as he heard the shouting at the end of the street.

The Painted Veil: Harild’s small cell overlooked the gallows - it was an aspect that naturally led him to ponder the many mistakes he had made in his life.

Hounds of a Horned God: “Your Mom is getting crazier every day,” Tom said as he turned into the driveway and fumbled for the garage door remote.

Coming In: All of Brett’s friends in New York, which is to say both of them, had told him: you can never go home again.

Battle Cry: Lorenia gathered the reins of her two fine mares; Raven the black on the left and white Dove with her bristling mane upon the right.

I had to cancel a week in Mexico at the last minute. So now I am sulking. I think I will go shopping on Saturday as an indulgence. Any ideas about a new toy, book or other cool thing to buy?

p.s. like my new avatar?

OUT NOW! Yay! 'Son of a Bitch' appears in the novel-length anthology 'The Call' available in ebook and paperback formats from Torquere Press.

Okay, so that's the view from my office window. Dull, huh? At least my cube has a window. Not much happening today. My reply to the question "when will this blog have something good on it" is the same as the 7-11 guy's answer to "when will you have Starbucks Double Shots in stock again?"

Tomorrow, maybe?

Which I think is an artful statement of his hope I will be back to check, without being in any way a promise that I will find what I am looking for.

THE BALLAD OF THE QUEEN


The queen is the most powerful piece,

preening and casting her eye down deep diagonals
that others do not see or travel.
Knowing that...
the knight will always dodge aside.
the pawn lines (in the end) are always ragged.
castles always descend in straight lines.
and that black and white is anything but simple.

Knowing that despite everything,
the kingdom falls with the King.
(She circles him) turn after turn defending,
what she can never be.

Then finally flings herself forward in bold defiance,
and as she stoops,
in the very moment of defeat
she is,

pure majesty
and truly free







[poemtrain]

After a few weeks of working in my new job I feel compelled to admit that I have written nothing at all. I have a great many excuses for this. First I was moving and settling in, the place has no utilities, furniture etc--I had no clothes needed for office work and generally there was a lot to do. I have also gone four rounds with (not i must stress against) my editor with 'Father of Dragons', checked the proofs for a print version of 'King of dragons, king of Men' and one round of copy editing for 'Son of a Bitch'. Not to mention keeping three blogs more or less alive and kicking (well, twitching anyway).

Nevertheless I have not written a single original word, nor even done the 3-4 hours necessary to complete 'The Nameless God' or the one or two hours needed by the novella 'Sacrifice'. Nor have I been making much progress in reading the books I have lined up to review.

I think it does not help that the vast majority of my duties these day are now reading and writing. At the end of a long day I come home and find myself struck with hithertofore uncharacteristic urges to walk, ride the bike and generally make use of my musculoskeletal system, and that done feel like to doing nothing more taxing than watching TV and surfing through forums devoted to an activity I no longer feel a great urge to carry out.

Hopefully this will pass.

I am sitting down to do the edits on 'Son of a Bitch'--a m/m werewolf novella to appear in an anthology by Torquere press. 'Father of Dragons' is off to the copyeditor. Yay!

I do not think of myself as a gullible person, but I will occasionally give implausible promotions the benefit of the doubt. As such, when Amazon sent me an advertisement for their new shoe store ENDLESS.COM I was willing to test it out. One of the main selling points was, and I quote “FREE overnight shipping”. In fact if you opted for free overnight shipping $5 was taken off the purchase price.

As a new cube dweller I needed another pair of dress shoes (having previously lived in cowboy boots and sneakers, I have only one pair). As I surfed on Thursday the prompt at the top of the screen said that if I ordered in the next two hours I would have my shoes on Friday.

Needless to say, it is now Monday and still no shoes. I checked my order which clearly says “Shipping Speed: FREE One-Day Shipping” but in immaculate computer generated irony also states “Delivery estimate: July 16” – that being today so I will let you know if it makes it. I realize the weekend intervened, but still, the day overnight from Thursday is Friday.

So you can add overnight shoes to the ‘Magic Beans’ list—you know the one with products that claim more than they can deliver.

---

[Edited to Add] Shoes here on Monday. So, a day late. I guess I can't complain. When overnight delivery is $5 off what do you do for a refund? Give them 5 bucks?

white hart
to your red-eared hound

white swan
on your seas incarnadine

white ash
to your ruddy flame

(be it wood un-burned
or wood forever changed)

the white
unto the red is sacrificed

you'll find, my love
you need not ask me twice.




[poemtrain]

Is that just to sad? I bought it this morning from a very bored man at the sports shop who was really pushy about the service program that I made clear I was not, not N. O. T. going to buy. But when he finally shut up I was out on the road.

I am a born again bicyclist. I bought a back pack and went shopping on it. Even with my cardiovascular system saying 'you what?!' and my noodle legs, it was great! I can now zip off to the library or book store whenever I want! Given that the vet's office is a 2 hour round trip on foot I am wondering of you can get bicycle trailers designed for dogs?

I sat on a train for over an hour across from this:



My first thought was that victim chic is disgusting. Even more disgusting than heroine chic--but that's just me. My second thought was that by even mentioning this you make the movie easier for people to find and so reinforce this sort of advertising. I mean the movie seems to have a lot more going for it than gratuitous bimbo torture--other kinds of advertising were open to them.

Then I saw the billboard that had been up before this one:



I despair sometimes, truly. Movies can be about anything but I am afraid I don't think stuff like this should be on public streets.

best . birthday . present . ever

The significant puppy is all abuzz. He is scheduled to appear on 'the daily puppy' blog on July 13th (the grown-up puppy section). Checking this site is always a bright spot in my day :)

.

martyr to mortals--
dragon this shadow
tail through life
my hoard of days

shallow as gold
deep as luster
I scale
even the sky

I am the dark heart
that humans hide
the prize of myth
a piece of sky

the knights approach--
weaned on the virtue
of murder

they don't ask why



[poemtrain]

Labels: poetryMONDAY

Oh dear, I am in danger of being a Rnat victim. I have the second round of edits for 'Father of Dragons' and the first for 'Son of a Bitch'. And all I got done today was washing the dog....

If I do not submit 'The Nameless God' by Monday you are to send the Flying Rnats of Chastisement. Not the Flying Monkeys of Doom, mind you. Hold those in reserve to motivate me to get going on 'Family Ties'.

On an unrelated note, the hand written sign outside the deli I go to for lunch said 'Firday is Close :)' -- can anyone translate?

Oh, and someone in my apartment is wearing thong panties that are way too small. How do I know? I just fished them out of the dryer's lint trap. LOL.

...at Chicago's Navy Pier.

1) Most women's clothing stores are dull, most stores in a mall are women's clothing stores, ergo malls are mostly dull.
2) Even small rugs are heavy, and get heavier with time due to perculiar shopping bag physics.
3) My puritan upbring lasted about two hours. Evidence: price of first purchase $15, price of last purchase two hours later $285. Cue Emily running from the mall in horror.
4) Eighties retro fashions are back, see 3.
5) They make Lindt truffles in flavors I didn't even know about. Extra dark, mint, raspberry. OMG.
6) Tell me that I don't need a Hello Kitty toaster. Even if it does put kitty faces on the toast.
7) If God didn't want me to go to the mall there wouldn't be a free trolley service that starts outside my neighbour's place. Okay, my neighbour is a convention centre, but all the same.
8) How do they design a single building so that I get lost every three steps?
9) How can a whole enormous mall not have anyone who sells a simple padlock?
10) When is payday?

I just finished the edits for 'Father of Dragons'. The first edits that is, I think I'll be seeing this one a few more times. Bad Emily, the manuscript is a leeetle rough.

Shown right, the TBR pile ;)

Just finished the first draft of the Nameless God. A little buffing and finishing and then on to The Wicca Man II: Family Ties!