Meljean Brook

Find out here on February 1st at 1pm PST.
(Yes, there are prizes involved.)

And just because:

Arrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

W000000000000000000000000000000000T!

*soooooooooooooooooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb*

D’oh!

Yayayayayayayay!

Gah!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! LMAO! LMFAO! ROTFLMAO!

WTF?

*cries*

*headdesk*

*crazy happy dance*

…okay, I’m almost ready for the release. Reviews are coming in (like this one). I’m putting my head down and going to pretend not to see (until, of course, I do a round up next week while massively pimping my book. I’m buying a pimp hat just for the occasion.)

I received an early copy of DEMON NIGHT today (my preciousssssss…)** and noticed that on the last page, there is a “coming in November” notice for my next book.

But it’s going to be DEMON BOUND, not DEMON UNBOUND as listed. It was changed between the time I gave my editor the tentative title way back in August and printing, so, whoops on me. And UNBOUND is really too long, anyway. Anything over five letters will throw the look of the title off.

So, if you do look for a Meljean Brook title in November, please don’t try to find DEMON UNBOUND. But do look for DEMON BOUND, because it’s going to be amazing, awesome, and fun (and probably long).

**Question: is “my precioussssss…” done? Like, if I use it, am I automatically OMG so totally last year?

I think your little girl is cute; I really do. It’s undeniable that she has a great head on her shoulders. But we really need to talk about your parenting skills.

Dora’s like, what — six years old? Seven? When I was that age, I was traipsing around the woods near my house, sure. I usually had my older sisters with me, but I was pretty capable when I was all by my lonesome. So it’s not exactly that I’m objecting to Dora running around the jungle with her Map and Backpack. I think it’s great when kids are allowed a certain amount of freedom to explore and learn about their surroundings.

But Mami and Papi, I really wonder: do you know where she’s been exploring? As responsible parents, how can you possibly condone this? And if you are unaware … well, I think it pretty much amounts to gross neglect. A dumb little monkey is not a responsible nanny!

Do you know that a thief is lurking in the jungle around your home, and he seems to lie in wait for Dora, stalking and attempting to swipe something from her every single day? I’m impressed that Dora knows exactly how to deal with him — but sometimes, she’s not fast enough. And then the thief always throws whatever he’s stolen as far as he can, forcing her to recover it. Once, he threw a necklace to the top of a mountain. A mountain! My GOD will someone tell me why a little girl is climbing a mountain all by herself? And not just any mountain, but the Tallest Mountain! Do you know how many people have died on Everest? I don’t either, but I’m sure it’s a lot.

Then, she almost got caught in Goo! Icky Sticky Sand! She’s almost been flattened by rolling watermelons! Don’t you care that your child is throwing herself into these dangerous situations, Mami and Papi?

And that’s just when she stays in the jungle. I’ve seen her ride rafts down snake and crocodile-infested rivers. I think it’s fantastic that she always remembers to wear her life jacket — but how will a life jacket save her from a crocodile? She’s confronted dragons and witches. She’s been chased by bears. She and her friends — not an adult among them — have commandeered a pirate ship and taken it through the seven seas (I know there were seven, because I helped count them — and I still shudder to think what might have happened if Isa hadn’t turned that wheel.) She’s taken a sentient plane to Antarctica with her cousin Diego (I seriously need to sit down with his parents, too.)

I do think you’ve done a great job raising her. She’s kind and smart. She can dance dance dance.

But maybe you need to take a page from the Backyardigans. They go on all kinds of cool adventures … but it’s all in their imaginations. They never leave their (child-safe, I’m sure) backyard.

Just a concerned parent with a little girl almost Dora’s age,
Meljean

AAR’s Annual Poll is still ongoing (until mid-February). Apparently, voting is slowing down early — don’t forget to cast your vote for your favorite book of 2007 (but, uh, not just that favorite book, because you have to enter several categories, and straight-ticket ballots are deleted, I think.)

Okay, and this is interesting — it looks like angel/demon romances are no longer “paranormal” but “fantasy” according to their new genre guidelines. Does that make DEMON MOON, which is set in the world of angels/demons, but stars a vampire hero, a fantasy or a paranormal romance? I don’t know. I’m guessing it’s the SF/F category? (Okay, lol — yes — it’s there, even though DEMON ANGEL was apparently in the paranormal? I’m so confused.)

Anyway, don’t forget to vote!

Also, don’t forget about the DEMON NIGHT contest lisabea is having over at Nose In A Book. And she said some really wonderful things about Charlie that pretty much had me bawling.

There’s a special excerpt of DEMON NIGHT over at the Good, the Bad, and the Unread. And there might be another neat announcement going up at that site sometime today. I’m not sure what their posting schedule is, but as soon as it goes up, I’ll link and edit this post.

Holly from the Book Binge put up a review of DEMON NIGHT. Here’s what she said.

I hate this book.

Nah, I’m just kidding.

There were times whilst reading this when I truly felt like my heart would break. My palms got clammy and a knot formed in my stomach. Other times I was so emotionally overcome I felt tears welling in my eyes. It was…amazing.

I’m also Guest Authoring over at the Book Binge the first week of February.

Finally — the funniest, strangest, most WTFiest thing I’ve seen lately is at Gennita Low’s blog: probably NSFW.

Susan C.! You won a copy of Richelle Mead’s SUCCUBUS ON TOP! Congratulations — I hope you love it, and I’ll be sending you an e-mail in about…ten seconds.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered!

**NOTE: If you read this post in its entirety, please also be certain to read the comments. I do not purport to be an expert on plagiarism or on writing — I’m just another crazy who’s doing my best to tell a good story, and to write it in an ethical way. I might be corrected in the comments, someone might disagree with me and we’ll have to discuss a point, and there are many people smarter and more knowledgeable than I with something important to add that I might have left out. Also, I am coming at this from the perspective of a writer trying to avoid plagiarizing, not necessarily trying to define plagiarizing. If you’re looking for a definition, ask for one, and I’ll try to find some good links. UPDATED: Jane at Dear Author has just put one up.**

**NOTE #2: For those of you who intend to read my book, DEMON NIGHT, and who prefer to NOT know about the process behind the writing, some of my allusions and inspirations (including a picture of a celebrity that I used as a visual reference for the hero) you really, really shouldn’t click past the “more” link.**

In response to my Red Shoes post, Micki asked this question:

How can you *tell* when you’ve borrowed a heel, and how can you *tell* when you’ve borrowed the whole damn shoe? And is it *such* a problem if you borrow the shoe, as long as you change the characters and genre and make the shoe a side issue instead of a lynch pin?

And this was my quick answer, with a promise of a longer one to follow:

[…] my short answer is, even if you don’t know the exact rules, you know it in your gut. Retelling Sleeping Beauty is one thing; retelling Robin McKinley’s version is another. Knowing that something your heroine says is similar to something another heroine says is one thing; making your heroine say it BECAUSE the other heroine said it (and because you couldn’t think of anything of your own to put in her mouth) is another. Reading a description of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and letting your character describe it in her words, or describing it in your voice is one thing; plopping that description into your work with a few looks at the thesaurus and moving around a few phrases is another.

My long answer is still the same: You know it in your gut. I’m going to explain that a little bit more after the jump — for those familiar with my blog and and my e-mails and my novels, you probably know what’s coming. For those of you who aren’t, here’s a warning:

When I say long, I mean “I’ve pretty much written a book, and it circles and veers off on tangents and eventually gets to the point.” And to save everyone with little time a lot of time, the point is: You know it in your gut.

Or at least you should.

(more…)

Lisabea’s having a contest at her wonderfully entertaining blog, Nose in a book! Details here.

“For me, The X-Files has always been a romance,” [Chris Carter] says. “They had an intellectual romance that’s very rare and restrained compared to so many relationships on TV. I think that’s what appealed most to the fans. And they’re back.”

And I cannot stop ::happy dancing::

(Pic and quote from USA Today)

Because more is ALWAYS good.

This is a quick roundup of links (usually posts that have links to other discussions, because no way can I get them all) — there are many people out there saying things much better than I could, and several discussions that are ongoing and fascinating. I’m still at the point where I’m trying to figure out a few of my own knee-jerk reactions, still being surprised by how something I thought was fundamental to a writer apparently isn’t, having a few preconceptions turned completely upside-down, and wondering how many comments I’ve misread and misinterpreted along the way. And I feel half the time like my foot is in my mouth, other times that I shouldn’t have responded at all because I probably got something wrong to start with, I have a huge bump on my forehead from the headdesking and only a tiny bit of hair left, but I’m always glad the discussion is taking place.

Oh yeah, and I’m trying to meet a deadline.

Both Smart Bitches and Dear Author have a handy roundup of their posts on their sidebars. Recent highlights — Jane puts a face on plagiarism, and Nora Roberts pledges to match donations to the Defenders of Wildlife (and black-footed ferrets) fund.  There have been responses from plagiarized writers who (aside from a bit of romance-bashing (which is unfortunate, but understandable given the circumstances)) respond with class and humor. The posts at both sites make fantastic points about the issue of plagiarism, but much of the discussion takes place in the comments.

Alison Kent has posted two responses, and Robin’s response to her second post. I nodded a lot reading through these, but don’t have much to add. Some of it, I’m still working out — and other bits relate to other posts that make me wonder if I was misreading people again.  There are so many posts and discussions, and so much information going around, and so many interpretations of the same information … sigh. At times, I want to scream, but at exactly the same time, I’m glad these discussions are taking place and that people are clarifying what they said, and bringing to light details within issues. It’s very, very difficult to get your point across exactly as you want, and then you can’t control how people take it. And in some ways, it’s easier to write a book than make one comment on a blog. Love stories are much simpler. Even *cough* mine.

Shiloh Walker has a couple of different posts on the topic (Why It Matters, A writer’s take on plagiarism, and Truth and Consequences), and I think she always makes great points — and primarily because they are basic points. I nod a lot there, too; she says many things I always assumed were a given … that should be a given to a writer, as simple as not stealing red shoes.

And on the lighter side: Gennita Low has written a play about the drama. Jenn — it was short on Nora. Maybe a rewrite … with more cow bell?