Friday, January 28, 2011

Just A California Girl With A British Heart

Help! I’m a British soul in a surfer girl body. Awe, poor you, I hear you a’thinking. You could be Bi Polar stuck in an Elmer Fud physique. Not really the point though, because I’m not complaining.







One of the most amazing things that could ever happen to a person happened to me in July of 2005. I discovered that my long ago year of university in London jumped to the forefront of my life with the deluge of a story I simply had to tell. My love for the people and place of the United Kingdom finally found a home in writing a good tale!


This Tuesday Liverpudlian hard rocker Colin Dunlow’s struggle to re-launch his career as lead singer of the world renowned Dumbarton will be told in all its messy, wonderful frightening glory. It doesn’t help matters that his AA sponsor has forbidden him any serious relationship and that someone is taking pot shots at him with deadly intent. He’s a tough Scouse, a man from Merseyside with a big heart and a disease that would challenge the strongest of men.





What’s an author woman to do when she knows a novel can touch the lives of so many readers-- can uplift and inspire? When a place and her people are at the root of so much of popular culture, when artists from that place are amongst the most beloved in the world, when a character, a man-- from that place can learn to overcome one of the most difficult circumstances in life to reengage the world-- how much better a reason to shout from the rooftops---this is a great read!





Shadows Steal the Light
will entertain, inspire, uplift and educate. Be prepared to fall in love with not one, but two fabulous men. Live the life of a woman catapulted into fame under the auspices of one of these men—a woman with the heart of a tiger and the voice of an angel. A woman who hates rock and roll. Experience the glare and thrill of the spotlight, the rush of audiences bewitched, the love of two men who just happen to be business partners and best friends. What’s a woman to do when two fabulous men reach out for her?

I'm just a California Girl With A Bristish Heart---care to join me?




Blurb:
It’s love at first sight for rock star Colin Dunlow when he runs into sultry jazz singer, Jenna Lindstrom, with a few complications. The woman of his dreams hates rockers and there’s someone who wants him dead.


Except:
He heard the pop of a gun. Diving behind the mailbox bolted to the edge of the curb, heart racing in his throat, he rolled back into a crouch. The silver coupe had turned and was now coming at him along the sidewalk. He bolted across the street and ran, full tilt into a side street bordered by old twenties houses interspersed with more modern apartment complexes. Craning his neck for a brief backward glance, he spilled over the tire of a bicycle and into a row of similarly parked bikes outside the entrance to an apartment building. Tumbling onto the grass easement between sidewalk and street, he scrambled to his feet, looking for the coupe. It was turning the corner from 32nd Street parallel to the Shrine, onto his side street. Searching frantically for someway, something to slow the vehicle down, he picked up one of the bicycles, now flattened in a domino effect against the others and flung it into the street.

He looked back toward the approaching coupe: a maelstrom of jacaranda blossoms swirled in its wake as it accelerated toward him. He took off down the sidewalk again, this time not looking back. The centrifugal force behind the speed of his flight projected him out into 30th Street as he flew around the corner toward Figueroa. At an all out sprint, he dashed across the major artery, dodging the still clogged traffic exiting the Shrine toward the freeway. Running past Carl’s Junior, he headed for the overpass just the other side of Flower Street.

His mind raced on ahead of him as he pumped his arms in Olympic exertion. Having the green chain link mesh of the overpass fencing in clear view, he risked a glance back. The coupe was weaving around the cross traffic of Figueroa in perfunctory fashion, nearly clipping the bumper of a black SUV. Only one way out; he bolted toward the fence, leaping in upward propulsion, reaching for the top crossbar, propelling himself over with raw strength, determination and adrenaline.

His body slammed against the freeway overpass sign, dangling like the condemned from the gallows. Hands clamped tightly to the crossbar, teeth gritted, he lowered his chin to look below him. A catwalk of sorts, supporting lights for the sign, was but a few meter drop. He stole one more glance toward the street, just catching a blur of silver going north around the corner on Flower, toward downtown, the freeway flyover and against traffic. The metallic clunk and reverberation up his legs as his feet landed on the catwalk jarred him into a contracted crouch. Looking behind and down, he saw the rooftops of lethargic traffic scooting forward in preemptory battle to get ahead.

The unmistakable sound of large masses of metal being compacted came from the direction of Flower Street. An ivy cover fence screened any view of what had occurred. It wasn’t thirty seconds later, as Colin assessed the distance to the pavement, that he saw the form of a man catapulting over the ivy clad fence, leaping onto the overpass.

Head and face covered with a black ski mask, the identity of his pursuer was impossible to detect. Judging from the agility and muscularity of the man, Colin was in for some serious trouble. Damn! He timed his descent to coincide with the eighteen-wheeler passing under him. Pulling in a resolute lungful of air, he leapt.

The roof of the truck gave slightly with the impact of his weight. Its forward movement was slow enough, that it jolted him from his feet onto his knees, but did not propel him head over heels. Palms flat, he braced himself in anticipation of greater force. Shooting a glance at the receding over pass, he saw the darkly clothed athletic figure of the man in the ski mask land on a truck with a short red trailer, not two lengths behind him. Colin searched three hundred sixty degrees, twisting his crouched body to obtain the widest possible panorama of the rapidly degrading situation. His options were narrowing.

As the red truck moved forward, its driver signalled a lane change toward the left. Traffic was beginning to pick up speed as the effects of the merging onramp were diminishing. Wind now played a factor in not only his stability, but his ability to see as his long hair whipped about his cheeks and eyes. He moved along the roof toward the cab, remaining crouched to preserve what advantage a lower center of gravity might afford.

He felt, rather than saw, his assailant landing on the cold reflective grey of the truck’s roof; vibrating shockwaves caused by the weight of his body striking the rear of the trailer telegraphed through the metal like a seismic shock. Colin turned to see the man leaping across the long surface of the roof. Who is this…f**king Spiderman? Colin’s racing thoughts jumbled in an upset of twisted incomprehension as he tried to force his mind to cooperate through the serge of adrenaline-laced resolve coursing through him.


Available February 1st

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/



Shadows Steal The Light - Cover

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Shooting Myself In The Foot

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Shooting Myself In The Foot

Writing is hard work. I was reminded of the fact by a recent blog written by Eric of Pimp My Novel—employee extraordinaire of a New York Publishing house.

That’s stupid, I hear you thinking. Everybody knows that. Authors certainly do. Aspiring authors do as well. What about Joe Q. Public? Does the man on the street have any notion that the vast majority of published authors have to have day jobs? They get up early/stay up ungodly late to get those few words down that push their novel, their dream forward. It’s spending money on conference fees, writer meetings, professional group membership, printer ink, promotional swag and classes that most folks use to go on vacation, go to sporting events, movies--- you know, fun. It’s hours in front of that threatening blank screen instead of watching TV, catching up on chores, spending time with family or chilling with friends.

“Commitment and discipline,” Eric reminds. If you don’t want to make it as an author more than life, you probably will not. Even if you do—you probably will not make anything more than pocket change. It means doing things your introverted writer’s heart abhors just slightly less than death. Promotions. Meeting scads of new people, public speaking, ‘selling’ your product which means selling yourself, learning the ins and outs of computer-eze so you can Facebook, Tweet, MySpace, Blog interact on Yahoo groups, build a website, make a book video trailer, have posters, postcards, business cards set up and printed, find the right people to send press releases, read your work out loud at signings, meet, meet and meet more people, schmooze with publishing big wigs, pound the pavement to meet and greet bookstore owners/bookclub members/mentor authors, read, read and read technical craft and industry journals, books, blogs and oh yes---your colleague’s work.

Do authors have families, hobbies, interests and personal lives? Depends on how many hours sleep willingly sacrificed. Of course—we all have these. We simply want to be professionals bad enough to put in the required time and effort to grow in skill and connect to the right people. You have to be ‘good enough, smart enough and dedicated enough’ and oh yes---‘lucky as hell’.

All the former eclipses good old-fashioned talent. Apparently talent is not enough, or even at times required. Just look at some of the swill that has been published. You’ve read it, scratched your head and wondered who ever had the chutzpah to commit that to paper.

Here’s the gunshot wound to the foot part—seems there are many readers that view the written word as free. Anyone can punch out some words on a screen. Magazines are in doctor’s offices with articles free to read. Books are in libraries for the borrowing. Friends have shelves full of paperbacks they are willing to share. There are sites on the internet that offer free book downloads. Free, right?

Only to the dishonest. Those corrupted by a society that views access to art as a birthright.

Bitch, bitch, bitch. Another creative person bemoaning her lot in life. (Bang) Nothing worth doing or learning comes easily. If that were the case there would be no satisfaction in achievement. “Hard is what makes it special,” so says Nora Roberts. Keep working, reading, writing, promoting or get out of the pool. It will all pay off eventually.

Yes. Maybe.

Should there be some reciprocity? Should those that enjoy an author’s blog, free reads and excerpts actually shell out the five or ten bucks to buy one of her e-novels? I don’t know. You tell me.

I’ll go limp back to my computer now and work on my next novel... thanks.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

So Excited About This...

...A First for me.."Available for PRE-ORDER!" My novel Shadows Steal the Light is not released until February first, but can be pre-ordered now through All Romance E-books! Dang...makes a girl feel pretty special.
Shadows Steal the Light

Shadows Steal the Light

By: Christine London | Other books by Christine London
Published By: MuseItUp Publishing
ISBN # 9781926931340
Word Count: 95863
Heat Index
Available in: Adobe Acrobat, HTML, Mobipocket, Epub
add to cart

About the book

It’s love at first sight for rock star Colin Dunlow when he runs into sultry jazz singer, Jenna Lindstrom, with a few complications. The woman of his dreams hates rockers and there’s someone who wants him dead.

An excerpt from the book

He heard the pop of a gun. Diving behind the mailbox bolted to the edge of the curb, heart racing in his throat, he rolled back into a crouch. The silver coupe had turned and was now coming at him along the sidewalk. He bolted across the street and ran, full tilt into a side street bordered by old twenties houses interspersed with more modern apartment complexes. Craning his neck for a brief backward glance, he spilled over the tire of a bicycle and into a row of similarly parked bikes outside the entrance to an apartment building. Tumbling onto the grass easement between sidewalk and street, he scrambled to his feet, looking for t he coupe. It was turning the corner from 32nd Street parallel to the Shrine, onto his side street. Searching frantically for someway, something to slow the vehicle down, he picked up one of the bicycles, now flattened in a domino effect against the others and flung it into the street.

He looked back toward the approaching coupe: a maelstrom of jacaranda blossoms swirled in its wake as it accelerated toward him. He took off down the sidewalk again, this time not looking back. The centrifugal force behind the speed of his flight projected him out into 30th Street as he flew around the corner toward Figueroa. At an all out sprint, he dashed across the major artery, dodging the still clogged traffic exiting the Shrine toward the freeway. Running past Carl’s Junior, he headed for the overpass just the other side of Flower Street.

Shite. Who the hell? His mind raced on ahead of him as he pumped his arms in Olympic exertion. Having the green chain link mesh of the overpass fencing in clear view, he risked a glance back. The coupe was weaving around the cross traffic of Figueroa in perfunctory fashion, nearly clipping the bumper of a black SUV. Only one way out; he bolted toward the fence, leaping in upward propulsion, reaching for the top crossbar, propelling himself over with raw strength, determination and adrenaline.

His body slammed against the freeway overpass sign, dangling like the condemned from the gallows. Hands clamped tightly to the crossbar, teeth gritted, he lowered his chin to look below him. A catwalk of sorts, supporting lights for the sign, was but a few meter drop. He stole one more glance toward the street, just catching a blur of silver going north around the corner on Flower, toward downtown, the freeway flyover and against traffic. The metallic clunk and reverberation up his legs as his feet landed on the catwalk jarred him into a contracted crouch. Looking behind and down, he saw the rooftops of lethargic traffic scooting forward in preemptory battle to get ahead.

The unmistakable sound of large masses of metal being compacted came from the direction of Flower Street. An ivy cover fence screened any view of what had occurred. It wasn’t thirty seconds later, as Colin assessed the distance to the pavement, that he saw the form of a man catapulting over the ivy clad fence, leaping onto the overpass.

Head and face covered with a black ski mask, the identity of his pursuer was impossible to detect. Judging from the agility and muscularity of the man, Colin was in for some serious trouble. Damn! He timed his descent to coincide with the eighteen-wheeler passing under him. Pulling in a resolute lungful of air, he leapt.

The roof of the truck gave slightly with the impact of his weight. Its forward movement was slow enough, that it jolted him from his feet onto his knees, but did not propel him head over heels. Palms flat, he braced himself in anticipation of greater force. Shooting a glance at the receding over pass, he saw the darkly clothed athletic figure of the man in the ski mask land on a truck with a short red trailer, not two lengths behind him. Colin searched three hundred sixty degrees, twisting his crouched body to obtain the widest possible panorama of the rapidly degrading situation. His options were narrowing.

As the red truck moved forward, its driver signalled a lane change toward the left. Traffic was beginning to pick up speed as the effects of the merging onramp were diminishing. Wind now played a factor in not only his stability, but his ability to see as his long hair whipped about his cheeks and eyes. He moved along the roof toward the cab, remaining crouched to preserve what advantage a lower center of gravity might afford.
He felt, rather than saw, his assailant landing on the cold reflective grey of the truck’s roof; vibrating shockwaves caused by the weight of his body striking the rear of the trailer telegraphed through the metal like a seismic shock. Colin turned to see the man leaping across the long surface of the roof. Who is this…f**king Spiderman? Colin’s racing thoughts jumbled in an upset of twisted incomprehension as he tried to force his mind to cooperate through the serge of adrenaline-laced resolve coursing through him.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

How Is It Possible To Fall In Love With A Character In A Novel?



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How is it possible to fall in love with a character in a novel?

I posed this question on a tweet recently. My head was all about Kyle, a character I had been performing edits around, but my tweeple were all about Jamie Fraser, the hero of the beloved Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

“I’ve been in love with Jamie Fraser for a ‘verra long time, indeed’” I replied. True. The magic of Diana’s character lies not in the perfection of the man, but how he navigates his insecurities and shortcomings.

“Jamie Fraser is an imperfect perfect man. With all his foibles, we love him fiercely.” I responded.

This comment brought out even more sighs and wistful memories of this eighteenth century fictional Scot.

“To know and understand the Scottish heart is to know the true meaning of loyalty, love of land and its people.”

There does in fact seem to be reality behind the much-touted romanticism of the Scottish heart. Much like the Native Americans, Scots have historically been fierce protectors of their country and those that inhabit it.

But is it fierce loyalty alone that enamors?

“A strong infusion of bad boy, a weakness for his woman and masculinity that permeated every cell. Irresistible.”

Perhaps. But there are a lot of fantasized versions of strong males that operate just this side of the law and morality. Most women would not stay together with a true bad boy, a real all alpha male, even if they have their initial appeal.

So what is it about Jamie? What truly causes a woman to fall for a man—real or fictional? I rather like the response of one reader, Trish Davis-Kissinger of Indiana

“In a scrawny, red haired, damaged boy we all found love and a part of us."



It is in weakness and humanity that we find our true stars---our diamond in the rough that will fight for, struggle and love us beyond measure and reason. Does it take the struggle to triumph over imperfections-- physical, psychological and emotional, that truly wins our undying admiration and love? As none of use is perfect and we all struggle to be a better us—yes.



Perfection? No.

Genuine?

Forevermore

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Excited In Anticipation

Hello fellow Readers!

I've been reading over February MuseItHot release, Shadows Steal The Light, and getting enthused all over again!

It's been awhile since I've lived with charismatic rock singer, Colin Dunlow and his amazingly magnetic agent, Kyle Matthews. WHen these two men start after the same woman, it just makes my blood pressure spike (and I know what's going to happen..lol!) Hope y'all get drawn into their world in a tumble of emotion just like I do every time I read..

Shadows Steal The Light

Colin Dunlow is caught in a web of alcoholism precipitated by his skyrocketing fame as lead singer of the world's hottest hard rock group, Dumbarton. When he bumps into legal activist and sultry jazz singer, Jenna Lindstrom, he's no idea what's in store. How can he maintain his newfound sobriety whilst navigating a comeback and investigate who might want him dead? All of this and he has an AA sponsor who won't allow him any serious relationship, not if he wants to live. What's a rocker to do? Especially when the woman of his dreams hates rock and roll.

Shadows Steal The Light - Cover

COMING FEBRUARY O1, 2011

MUSEITHOT!

http://museithotpublishing.com/

Christine London

Author of Romance With a Twist

Visit my website at www.christinelondon .com for the latest!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Twas the Month After Christmas

*Thought you'd all appreciate these sentiments...** ** (Author Unknown, but could be any of us, no?)

Twas the month after Christmas,
And all through the house,
Nothing would fit me,
Not even a blouse. *

*

The cookies I'd nibbled,
The chocolate I'd taste
At the holiday parties
Had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales
There arose such a number!
When I walked to the store
(less a walk than a lumber), *
*

I'd remember the marvellous meals I'd prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese
And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt...
I said to myself, as I only can,
"You can't spend a Summer, disguised as a man!"

So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie, not even a lick.
I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie.
I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore...
But isn't that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
**Happy New Year to all, and to all a good diet.