DECADENT Is On the Bookshelves!

Fabulous romance writer Shayla Black has a new release. She's visiting to tell us about it.

MR: Shayla, thanks for coming. Tell us about your latest release.
SB: Decadent is a contemporary erotic ménage romance released by Berkley HEAT. If you read Wicked Ties and wanted to know more about Deke, this is all about him. Here’s a blurb:

Two men are better than one…

How can a virgin seeking happily-ever-after with a hot pop star who has a penchant for threesomes win her fantasy man? Kimber Edgington desperately needs a plan to convince Jesse McCall, who’s been her friend and secret crush since they spent a summer together as teenagers, that they are meant for each other. But all the tabloid stories about his sexual escapades make her feel oh-so inadequate.

Determined to prove she’s woman enough for Jesse, Kimber turns to bodyguard Deke Trenton for sexual education. Bold and brash, Deke warns Kimber that playing with him is playing with fire. But he can’t bear to imagine the innocent beauty in someone else’s arms. So Deke and his super-sexy friend, Luc, take Kimber under their wings and dangerously close to the edge of ecstasy. Though she’s saved herself for Jesse, Kimber soon learns, he’s not the man adept at stoking her aching, endless need. That’s Deke, and he can’t resist when Kimber begs for more–-and more…

MR: What was it about this book and these characters that made you want to write it?
SB: I adore erotic romances about ménage relationships. Most focus on how the ménage unfolds, not why. After appearing in my first book, Wicked Ties, Deke compelled me to explore this fascinating question.

In Decadent, the threesome hooks up for hugely different reasons: Kimber to get an education, Luc for a cause that will break your heart, and Deke because he just couldn’t say no to Kimber any more. They join in combustive desire, melt the layers around one another's hearts, and reveal their shocking secrets. Will they realize too late that what they want isn’t what they need?

Decadent contains really hot sex, but it’s also a poignant romance with a happy ending. I hope readers will take this journey with me and give Decadent a chance!

MR: You write under two names. Why is that?
SB: My contemporary romances as Shelley Bradley are always one man/one woman books. Definitely sexy, usually with some adventure and humor involved. Shayla Black's books are darker, more tense, and anything goes. I didn’t want readers used to lighter, more traditional romance from me to assume that books like Wicked Ties and Decadent would have similar content. This was intended to help readers delineate.

MR: What do you know now about publishing that you didn’t know before you became published?
SB: Wow, that’s a broad question. The simple answer is: everything. When you’re unpublished, you tend to focus very heavily on your craft. And you should. Sometimes, however, that leaves the new author a bit unprepared to deal with the realities of sell-ins and sell-throughs, renewals, royalties, self-promotion, distributers, wholesalers… I could go on, but suffice it to say that many things about this business you just can’t really know until you have to go through them.

MR: Talk about your writing process. Are you a plotter or a more organic writer?
SB: Both. I’m going to suggest that you can plot and still be an “organic” writer. I’m not a pantser (i.e., writing by the seat of my pants). I definitely plot 90% of the book in advance. But as I’m writing, things sometimes change. Not big things usually, but enough to keep me amused. As I like to tell people, freeing my brain up by knowing the plot in advance allows me to focus on dialogue, emotion, transitions and wordsmithing as I’m writing, rather than wandering around the story, trying to figure out where I should be.

The plot process, however, comes from really KNOWING your characters and being able to insert them into the situation you’ve devised. If you know these people well, then the plot will unfold for you in advance. It’s just like the “organic” process, except I don’t have to write the characters in order to know them. They just come to me, which allows me to see the story before I get there, rather than while crafting it.

MR: Did you do anything on the way to becoming published that you would change today?
SB: No. I learned a lot about writing and craft, the writing community, etc. I made a lot of good friends…some I didn’t get to keep, but some I did. I pursued relentlessly and kept trying for 7 years until someone finally said yes!

MR: What are you working on now?
SB: My first paranormal romance for Pocket Books called Tempt Me With Darkness. It will hit shelves September 2008. I’m hoping it will be the first in a series of books about a magical warrior society called the Doomsday Brethren. I’ve got a placeholder site for these books at www.doomsdaybrethren.com. Come by and take a peek! I’m very excited about this book. It’s a dark, sometimes funny look at a world that’s adult Harry Potter meets Heroes with a whole lotta sexy going on. I’m having such a blast with this group of magical British bad boys!

MR: Ohhh, I'll look forward to that series. How do you maintain balance between your writing life and the rest of your life?
SB: Every day is a new day, and you just fit in what you can. I have rhythms I like to get into. Certain times of the day and evening are reserved for certain activities. That way, I squeeze in a little bit of every area of responsibility. I also try to devise a little bit of down time every now and then, too. But basically, it’s living by the principle that work comes before play—-most of the time.

MR: Thanks for visiting us, Shayla. I got my copy of Decadent the day it was released. And you're right. It's a hot, hot read with terrific characters.
SB: Thanks for the interview!

You can buy a copy of Shelley Bradley/Shayla Black's Decadent here.

We're On The Cusp, On The Brink . . .

I've just returned from more than three hours in the dentist's office--the first dental emergency I've ever had.

I'm pretty compulsive about taking care of my teeth. I brush and floss and have my teeth cleaned twice a year. While this is all part of good hygiene, I have a special reason for doing this: Novocaine, Lidocaine and Xylocaine don't seem to work on me. The nerves in my mouth just refuse to give up the ghost.

When I was thirty, I had surgery to break both my jaws because I suffered from TMD (commonly called TMJ). While I was considering the surgery, I asked for references and spoke to three patients who had previously undergone the operation. All three said my surgeon was correct when he told me that the nerves in my jaws would be so traumatized by the surgery that I would have no pain following the operation. In fact, two of the three told me it was months before they got all the feeling back in their jaws and one still had a dead spot just below her lips. All talked about difficulty in speaking correctly for a period of time.

I woke from the five-hour surgery with my jaws wired shut and in pain. When I tried to tell the surgeon, he patted me on the shoulder and said, "Go back to sleep."

For the next twenty-four hours, I continued to tell anyone who visited my room--doctors, nurses, residents, cleaning people--that I hurt. Everyone said, "Go back to sleep."

Twenty-seven hours after my surgery, my best friend told me the surgeon was lecturing a group of medical students in the hallway, explaining about "phantom pain." I muttered through my wired jaws, "Get that bastard in here NOW."

My surgeon later told me I resembled the head-spinning demon in The Exorcist when he walked into my room. He said he'd never heard a patient shout through wired jaws before.

I told him to test me for feeling, and I'd show him some "phantom pain." Five minutes later, after he blindfolded me and tapped my face in various places with the end of a pen while I pointed to exactly where he was tapping, I had all the morphine I wanted. The next few days passed in a blissful haze of non-feeling punctuated by visits from various hospital administrators trying to ensure I wouldn't sue the hospital.

A psychologist friend of mine later suggested that, given my background, I was unwilling to surrender my most powerful weapon--the ability to talk my way out of tough spots. According to her, my body just complied with my unconscious.

I'm saying all this to explain that, when a tiny piece of tooth fell out of my mouth recently, my first thought was, "Sweet mercy, not the dentist."

I wasn't having any pain, but tooth fragments falling out of one's mouth suggest a visit to one's friendly, local dental expert might be in order. My previous dentist retired a year ago, and my new dentist had done nothing more than clean and check my teeth. We hadn't had the "Xylocaine doesn't work on me" conversation yet.

The dentist confirmed what I already knew. The cusp of a lower right molar was missing. She advised I'd need a filling to replace the missing cusp because otherwise food would keep getting caught in the tiny space between the molars. Since I'd already experienced the singular pleasure of frantically searching my desk and bag for dental floss in the middle of the workday, I signed on for the filling.

The only catch was that she would have to shave the existing filling before doing the new filling.

I really have an objection to being put to sleep by someone other than an anesthesiologist in a hospital. So I decided to go with the flow and see whether I could make it through the filing of the filling.

She gave me a shot and, fifteen minutes later, she started shaving the filling. By gripping the armrests, I lasted almost twenty seconds (I was counting) before I jumped.

We waited another fifteen minutes for the local anesthetic to take firmer hold of me. This time, I lasted twenty-three seconds before jumping.

My dentist decided a second shot of anesthetic might be in order. A half an hour later, we had another go at it. I lasted all of thirty-seven seconds.

I'll spare you the gory details of the next ninety minutes. Suffice it to say, I now have a filling where my cusp once was.

I have not as yet dealt with the fact that I've been clenching my jaws together tightly enough to crack a tooth.

I'm also not feeling up to commenting on the several interesting bits of publishing news I uncovered before leaving for the torture chamber.

Talk to you later.

Postscript: It's 3:30 AM, and I've just woke with my jaws aching. Looking for the ibuprofen.

A Place To Write

Back on December 30, 2005, I established a Yahoo group with my name. I didn't really have anything in mind for it. I just wanted to secure the name for future use in the same way I reserved my domain name.

I'm thinking it's a nice place to run our early "Write a Novel in a Month."

If you'd like to join us on October 10--either by committing to write or edit 50,000 pages in 30 days, send an email to: mayareynolds-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You'll automatically be enrolled.

No pressure. You do what you can. We're going to encourage each other and keep track of our progress as we write or edit for a month.

Feel free to sign up.

Heads Up

I mentioned in my post of September 25th here that I would like to participate in NaNoWriMo, but couldn't do it in November because of the upcoming holidays.

My critique partners and I are talking about doing our own version of NaNoWriMo from mid-October to mid-November.

We discussed it again this morning, and it looks like we're going to start on Wednesday, October 10th, and end on Thursday, November 8th.

That means we're making a commitment to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty days. That's 1,667 words a day or a little bit under seven pages a day (double spaced, 12-point font, with one-inch margins). The idea is to focus on output, rather than editing. The editing comes later.

For the past two weeks, I've been working on an outline so that I'm clear on the flow of events and conflicts. I'm hoping that having a roadmap will help me to turn off my internal editor.

If you're interested in joining us, start sharpening your pencils, filling the cupboards with food so that you won't have to waste time shopping and preparing your loved ones to get along without you for thirty days.

When the going gets tough, the tough get writing.

More on the Frankfurt Book Fair Survey

I just read my copy of today's Publishers Weekly (PW).

I said earlier that I suspected the results were slanted toward a Euro-centric point of view. I just didn't know how right that was.

PW reports: "Although the survey received responses from 86 countries, 85% of the responses were from Europe, where bookstores, particularly in the U.K., are facing more problems than in the U.S."

And where rights issues are high on the list of concerns.

Survey of Book Industry Professionals

The Frankfurt Book Fair is scheduled to take place this week from the 10th to the 14th.

The organizers of the Book Fair recently conducted a survey of book industry professionals, including publishers, agents, retailers and librarians from around the world. The survey was intended to "identify the challenges and threats facing the industry, and to predict emerging trends and areas of growth."

Over 1,300 people responded from 86 countries. The survey organizers reported that almost half of the respondents were at the level of a CEO, director or senior staff.

The breakdown of those 1,300 individuals by profession were:

*** Editorial (20 per cent)
*** Marketing and PR (13 per cent)
*** Rights Management (10 per cent)
*** Sales (9 per cent)
*** Booksellers (8 per cent)
*** Literary Agents (5 per cent)
*** Librarians (4 per cent)
*** Scouts (1 per cent)

I did note that this leaves 30% of the respondents unaccounted for by profession.

Here are the answers to some of the questions I found most interesting:

What is the most important challenge currently facing the book industry? (Some respondents chose more than one answer)

• Digitisation 53%
• Globalisation 24%
• User-generated content 22%
• Rights issues, eg European Exclusivity 15%


Which is the biggest threat to the publishing industry today? (Some respondents chose more than one answer)

• Competition from other media and sources of entertainment 50%
• Over-publishing 31%
• Piracy 23%
• Literacy levels 17%
• Conglomeration 15%
• Censorship 7%


Who is currently driving the industry? (Some respondents chose more than one answer)

• Publishers 37%
• Marketeers 31%
• Customers 22%
• Retailers 20%
• Agents 11%
• Authors 8%


Which of the following do you see as a major area of growth in coming years?(Some respondents chose more than one answer)

• E-books 44%
• Audiobooks 41%
• Educational publishing 27%
• Books in translation 27%
• Graphic novels and comics 18%
• Children’s literature 17%
• Commercial fiction 15%
• Literary fiction 10%
• Biography 8%
• Poetry 3%

In looking at the survey, I suspect it may have a Euro-centric slant, which makes sense for an event held in Germany. There was a question asking which market would dominate the coming decade. The top three answers were Europe (36%), North American (32%), and China (29%).

If you're interested in the entire survey, go here.

Thanks to Publishers Marketplace for directing me to the survey.

Another Writing Contest

It was a busy weekend. I was grateful to my friend, Sloane Taylor, for agreeing to be interviewed because that interview offered me extra writing time. My very patient editor at NAL, Tracy Bernstein, is expecting a submission from me. I hope to email it today.

I had a party to go to on Saturday night and stock to sign at local bookstores. I have another booksigning this week and am speaking to a writers' group in two weeks.

Don't get me wrong. I'm THRILLED to see the release of Bad Girl, but I'm damn near exhaustion, too. Over the past month, working full-time, writing, blogging and marketing hasn't left time for much more than eating and sleeping. I sent my cat Bob under my high-poster bed this morning to move the dust bunnies around before they get too comfortable down there.

Another writing contest has been announced.

This time, Borders Books is teaming up with Court TV and Gather.com to find "The Next Great Crime Writer." The three will act as sponsors for the contest.

Entries (in English only) will be accepted at Gather.com from October 1 through November 11th. "Each entrant’s . . . entry into the Contest . . . must be an original, previously unpublished (excluding self-published and vanity press-published), completed, book-length manuscript in the mystery/crime genre, i.e., the central plot and core drivers of the story must involve the uncovering and/or unfolding of criminal actions." Two chapters will be judged. Each must be between 2,000 and 10,000 words. There is no limitation on published authors entering the contest.

Like the previous Gather.com contest, the first round is a popularity contest conducted on Gather.com from November 15 to December 9th. Readers are invited to read the first chapter of the entries and vote.

That vote will choose fifteen submissions to advance to the next round. However, an additional ten will also be selected by the editorial board--presumably on merit rather than popularity--making the total number who advance to Round Two twenty-five.

Round Two will also take place on Gather.com where readers will vote upon the second chapter of the semi-finalists' manuscripts from December 13 to January 2. Five finalists will be selected to advance to Round Three. Three finalists will be determined by the vote and two by the editorial board.

"Sponsors will send the Submissions of the 5 finalists to a panel of judges composed of entertainment industry professionals selected by Sponsors (the “Grand Prize Judging Panel”) for review. . . The Grand Prize Judging Panel will select one (1) potential Grand Prize Winner who will have the right to enter into a written publishing and exclusive distribution agreement with Borders, with a $5,000 cash advance against royalties, for the publication of his/her Submission by Borders." That "potential" winner will be announced on or about February 4.

Here's the Grand Prize Judging Panel:

• Bill Adams, Buyer, Borders, Inc.
• David Baldacci, Bestselling Author
• Sandra Brown, Bestselling Author
• Harlan Coben, Bestselling Author
• Tom Gerace, Founder & CEO, Gather Inc.
• Ed Hersh, EVP, Current Programming & Specials, Court TV
• Cathy Lashinsky, Buyer, Borders Inc.

Language in the rules I didn't care for:

• The royalty rates to be paid will be set forth in the publishing and exclusive distribution agreement; such rates will be in Borders’ sole discretion . . .
• Sponsors will be collecting personal data about Entrants online, in accordance with Gather’s privacy policy. Please review Gather’s privacy policy at http://www.gather.com/privacy.jsp. By participating in the Contest, Entrant hereby agrees to Sponsors’ collection and use of his or her personal information as set out in its Privacy Policy and in these Official Rules and acknowledge that he or she has read and accepted Gather's Privacy Policy.
• EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THESE OFFICIAL RULES, THE TERMS OF THE PUBLISHING AND EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT SHALL BE IN BORDERS’ SOLE DISCRETION. BORDERS SHALL BE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO NEGOTIATE OR OTHERWISE CHANGE ANY SUCH TERMS.

Go here for more information.

Part Two of Interview With Sloane Taylor

Today is the second of our two-part interview with Sloane Taylor, fellow writer, Brazen Hussy and friend.

MR: Thanks for coming back, Sloane. Let's start by talking about your writing process. Are you a plotter or a pantser? What are the advantages and drawbacks of your approach?

ST: I’m in the “P” category alright, but it’s called a procrastinator. LOL.

Actually, I’m quite anal about my writing. At least that’s what my critique partners claim.

I do a spiral notebook for each book with the cast of characters and their characterizations. Each chapter has its own page and what has to go into that section to move the story forward. It also shows me where I can logically drop in snippets of back story. Every day I list the number of words I want to write and how I feel the story’s progressing. It’s also where I lambaste myself or my computer.

This process works good for me even though it is time-consuming. Without it, I flounder and play Mah Jong for hours on end. Not good when deadlines are looming.

MR: Can you talk about your road to publishing? How long did it take?

ST: Actually, it was very short by anyone’s standard. I started the first book in 2003. It took almost two years to write because I hadn’t a clue as to what I was doing. That’s when Beth Anderson came along and set me straight.

A Silhouette editor, at a spring conference in 2005, asked me to send her the book and, a couple of months later, told me it was too explicit for category romance and suggested I consider going mainstream.

The next fall, I attended a writer’s conference and met one of the honchos from Triskelion. We talked for over an hour, and she requested my book. Off it went and, a month later, she offered me a nice contract. That book was released in June 2006 and my career’s been going well ever since.

MR: Your books are primarily e-published. Can you talk about how e-publishing differs from print publishing?

ST: Hmm, I may not be the best person to answer this, but I’ll give it a go. Rumor has it that print publishing editors are the best and that e-pubs simply scan for punctuation. It’s also said e-pub editors become editors because they love to read. In many houses, that’s probably true.

My publishers, Aspen Mountain Press and Eternal Press, aren’t like that. Those editors come with a long list of reputable credentials that make my head spin. It was one of the main reasons I chose to sign with both publishers. There isn’t an author out there who couldn’t use a good edit.

Of course, there’s the more commonly known reason, e-books are cheaper. I’ll go along with that. We’re in an age where monies are tight for a lot of people, so why spend $15.00 for a paperback you’ll probably never get back if you loan it out.

We’re in an electronic/conservationist age. Everything has to move faster while we save our resources. Anything a person could want can be found on the Internet, some good and some bad, but it’s all there. I truly believe that, within twenty years, print books and newspapers will be obsolete.

MR: You're one of those writers who has secured contracts with multiple e-publishers. What’s your secret?

ST: No secret, Maya, just great luck. After my first publisher went bankrupt, several others contacted me to sign with them. Pretty amazing, huh? I checked them out and chose the ones I thought were the best for my needs. I also had to think through what I wanted for my career. I decided I’d never be exclusive to one publisher again.

MR: Any tips for aspiring writers?

ST: Writing is a business. You have to treat it as such. It’s just like working at any 9-5 job, only a writer has flex time.

You must sit yourself in front of your computer and work. It’s tough, but if you’re serious and writing is more than a hobby or a game, you’ll do it.

The writer should prepare a schedule. If you commuted to a job every morning, five days a week, you’d have a routine. It’s the same with writing. If you don’t do that, you’re lost.

MR: What’s next on your agenda? Tell us about your next book.

ST: Currently, I’m working on the second of five books in the Naughty Ladies of Nice series, French Delights, which will be released in December.

Hopefully, the blurb says it all. LOL.

Lisette Hugo arrives in Nice, France to first rescue her irresponsible friend and then to pamper herself with an overdue vacation. As an added delight, her rundown rental cottage comes complete with a sexy French gardener well equipped to satisfy all of her fantasies.

Paul D’Laquois, an impoverished research scientist scraping by on the remnants of his family’s estate, has poured his meager resources into his work. He couldn’t be happier when a wealthy tourist rents his dilapidated cottage. That she’s beautiful, seductive and more than interested in him convinces Paul he’s not as dried up as his orchard.

Sloane, thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Thank you, Maya for having me visit. It’s been fun.

I invite your readers to visit me. Here’s where they can find me when I’m not traipsing through Europe researching new material;

Website: http://www.sloanetaylor.com/

Blog: http://www.sloanetaylor.com/blog

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sloanetaylor

My contests are run through my short, quarterly newsletter for Members Only. The sign-up form is on my home page.

Thanks, Sloane. Let's take one last look at your book covers:






Francine on Fire is published by Aspen Mountain Press. The link to the book is here.








French Tart is published by Eternal Press. Their website can be found at: http://www.eternalpress.com.au/

Interview With Sloane Taylor

I'm on a deadline this weekend, and my good friend Sloane Taylor agreed to visit and talk about her books, writing and her life as a writer. Sloane is one of the nicest, most humorous people I know.

MR: Sloane, thanks so much for visiting.

ST: Hi, Maya, thanks for having me come out and play this weekend. I love your blog. You have wonderful information that’s helped me a great deal.

MR: Let's jump right in. Why erotic romance? Why did you choose this genre?

ST: I’ve kept a writing journal since before books were bound and rarely miss a day of writing an entry.

One day, my insides simmered and then boiled into a story that just had to be told.

Like every other writer, I was sure if I hadn’t written the Great American Novel, it was at least in the top two. I sent it off to an editor who told me it was too explicit, not fit for category romance.

Explicit? thinks I. Okay, so maybe there weren’t any “shafts of hot steel” or “womanly cores,” but…come on…who the hell really has those?

Surprised by the editor’s response, but not disillusioned, I turned to my mentor, mystery writer Beth Anderson. She taught me the technical side of writing and how to bring out my voice, loud and clear. And she had this 2' x 4' with lots of rough edges that she had no problem wielding across my bony backside…hmm, sounds like the start of a new novel.

We were soon joined by Yasmine Phoenix, who can spot a scene that needs more sexual tension and how to do it faster than I can reach for another Fanny May. She tortured me into taking an online class with Jan Springer, the Queen of Hot, who encouraged me to be more serious about a God-given gift. Erotica, here I come, no pun intended.

Following Jan’s class, several of us formed what has become the Brazen Hussies group. These fine authors are a great group who honestly help one another. Although I’ve never met any of them in person, I feel like they’re some of my best friends.

With the help of these patient and talented people, my life has become very sweet. Now I have the best of all worlds, writing erotic romance set in exotic foreign countries.

MR: You have two books out right now: French Tart and Francine on Fire. Tell us about them.

French Tart is the first of five books in the “Naughty Ladies of Nice” series.

Donatienne Dubois is determined to prove herself and shed her party girl image. She pins her hopes on an exclusive cooking school in Nice, France.

One by one, Doni’s expectations are shattered by a foul-mouthed parrot, a bogus Michelin chef and a headmistress with a heart of tungsten steel. Her lifesaver is a bad boy hunk she longs to get into her bed.

Sebastien Reinard is a classmate of Donatienne’s, incognito and hating every minute of the cooking school. To pose as a student while protecting a rich wild child is his version of hell, until he’s partnered with a slice of crème brule good enough to eat.
Class takes on a whole new meaning as Doni and Sebastien heat up the kitchen and discover honey has better uses than sweetening tea.


Francine on Fire is Francine Daniels' story. She doesn’t trust men--two husbands and a con artist have guaranteed that. After years of struggle – during which she took back control and soared to new heights – there is no place in her plans for a German hottie…Even if she does burst into flames at his touch.

Heicke Brewer already made one disastrous trip down the aisle, and has no plans to go that route again. He prefers the parade of international beauties who line up outside his bedroom door to enjoy his ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ reputation…until he meets an American pixie too hot not to handle

MR: Where can we buy them?

ST: French Tart is published by Eternal Press. Their website can be found here:
http://www.eternalpress.com.au/

Eternal Press doesn’t link to specific books, but if you'll click on "New Releases," you'll find French Tart for $2.95.

Francine on Fire is published by Aspen Mountain Press. The link to the book is here.

MR: I've read French Tart and was delighted with your sense of humor and your hot storyline. That brings me to the question: Your heroes are usually European and very alpha. Is there a reason for this?

ST: I started traveling to Europe during the Ice Age. LOL. I found the men there so very different from what I’d experienced back home. There was an instant appeal that I’ve never quite figured out, but thoroughly enjoy.

As for the alpha heroes – I’m a strong woman. If I don’t have a man with as much or more oomph, I’d run over the poor guy and come to resent him.

MR: You also feature exotic locales. Do you travel much?

ST: I’ve been fortunate to travel a great deal in my adulthood. It started as pleasure. At one point, I owned a travel agency. Almost all my travel became business-related. For more years than I care to remember, I escorted groups throughout Europe. It was also necessary to go over in advance and make all the arrangements like tours, hotels, meals.

My very first tour was all set up through phone and fax. Not good. I’d inadvertently booked the group into a revamped brothel in Rome. LOL.

After that embarrassing episode, I made it a point to check out all aspects of what my clients were purchasing.

MR: Tell us more about your personal life.

ST: I was born and raised in Chicago, then lived in Houston for two years with my first husband. A second marriage brought me back to the Midwest where I’ve remained to be close to my wonderful daughter and her terrific family. Not too proud, am I?

Every possible moment is spent with Studly DooRight, my mate for the remainder of my life, either at our home in Lansing, IL or our weekend cottage in Highland, IN.

I love to cook for Studly and my daughter whenever they’ll let me. They claim I’m good at it. You can check Stud’s waistline if you need proof.

MR: LOL. Let's stop for today. Tomorrow we can talk more about your writing process and your journey toward publication.

In the meantime, check out Sloane's website here.

Mark Your Calendars!

Over the next ten days, two events will occur which may signal potential changes in the music and publishing industries:

• October 10 - Radiohead's seventh studio album, In Rainbows, makes its debut without a record label and with flexible pricing
• October 15 - The rumored release of Amazon's new Kindle e-reading device

On September 30, the British rock band Radiohead posted a message on its website here.

The message said:

Radiohead have made a record. So far, it is only available from this website. You can pre-order it in these formats: Discbox and download.

The band is offering the download on October 10th. The ground-breaking part of their announcement is that they are not establishing a price for the download. Fans can determine what price they will pay for access to In Rainbows.

By contrast, the discbox has a fixed (expensive) price of Ł40 or about $82 including shipping.

According to The New York Times, "'It could change the feelings about free downloading,' said George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh. 'If the band is willing to trust you to pay what's fair, all of a sudden, for the people who have been saying it's not stealing to download the song for free, it's much more difficult to rationalize that. I think it may be a brilliant move in that dimension'."

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday that the average fan appears to be willing to spend $10 for the digital version, the going price on Apple's iTunes.

The WSJ took a look at "the economics of the average CD. It retails for about $16 and costs about $6.40 to manufacture, distribute and sell . . . These costs are essentially zero when music is sold online. That's why iTunes can charge roughly $10 for a downloaded album."

Radiohead's approach "slices out even more cost." The band dumped their record label EMI, one of the Big Four of the music industry [the others are Sony BMG, Universal and Warner]"so it doesn't have to share profits or help pay the label's overhead. As a well-known band, it's also able to take the knives out on marketing and promotion costs, cutting these by as much as two-thirds. Subtract these expenses and Radiohead may be able to distribute an album for as little as $3.40 a copy." (WSJ)

The New York Times cautions, "Though some musicians have already begun to ponder a future of alternative payment plans, experts inside and out of the music industry say they do not believe that Radiohead's model can work for everyone. For one thing, only established acts with an extremely dedicated fan base could prosper that way . . . For another, the novelty would wear off quickly."

Let's move from music to publishing. I last wrote about Amazon's Kindle e-reading device on September 7th here. At that time, rumor had it that Amazon would release the Kindle in October.

Since then, Engadget reported that the Kindle's likely release date is October 15th. Engadget says: "an Amazon search of "Kindle Edition" responds with 631 books of which a couple dozen can be 'auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle'."

The question remains whether the Kindle is the e-reading device that will capture the public's interest. Since September 13th a year ago, I've written about the Kindle a half dozen times. I've also repeatedly said that I thought the electronic book market would explode when a viable e-reader finally appeared on the market. Despite Sony's best efforts, its Reader does not seem to be that e-reader.

One of the key issues will be how user-friendly the Kindle is in terms of the e-book formats it can handle. Amazon purchased Mobipocket.com in 2005. Mobipocket produces the Mobipocket Reader, a universal reader for PDAs and Smartphone devices like Blackberry.

The New York Times reported the retail price for the Kindle would be between $400 and $500. While that price sounds exorbitant, if the Kindle can wirelessly download magazines, newspapers and books in a variety of formats, it may attract attention.

Also, remember Amazon's willingness to provide price supports for loss leader items. They sold Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at such a discounted rate that Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, told shareholders the company didn't expect to make a profit on the book. If Amazon offers a deeply discounted special introductory price on the Kindle, they may entice customers to buy the new e-reader.

It remains to be seen whether Radiohead and the Kindle have a lasting impact on the music and publishing industry.

On Crushing Dreams

It happened again last week. I received an email requesting HELP in all caps.

I'm always ambivalent about opening this kind of email. Most of the time, it's someone from Nigeria who has heard that I'm trustworthy and wants my help sneaking money out of the country. They'd have better luck enlisting my help if they wouldn't call me "Dearest Madame," which leaves me feeling like the owner of a brothel.

But, every once in a while, one of these emails will turn out to be a newbie writer wanting advice. Since Bad Girl came out and I did interviews everywhere in the world, I've been getting more of these kind of emails.

Sure enough, it was a young writer asking for help finding an agent. Like all such inquiries, it was infused with a tremendous sense of urgency.

Sometimes I think the formula is: The younger the writer, the greater the impatience. This is interesting to me because, of course, the young have more time available to them than anyone else. Why are they so frantic?

This is not verbatim, but it's close to the email's content: "I just finished my manuscript. I wrote a terrific query letter and sent it to fifty agents last week. I've gotten two rejections already. What did I do wrong? Can you send me the names of more agents?"

I winced. My first reaction was, "Do you want the list of mistakes alphabetically or chronologically?"

Of course, I didn't say that. I said that I wasn't sure he'd done anything wrong, but I did wonder what all the urgency was about.

Over the course of two or three email exchanges, he brushed off my suggestion that a just-finished manuscript might need editing, and that he might want to wait a little while to get some distance from the story before jumping in to edit it. He said he'd paid "a professional editor" to look at the manuscript and was confident it was fine.

By then, I doubted whether he was actually open to feedback, so I ignored his request to review his "terrific" query letter. Instead, I suggested that he relax and wait to see the results of his query letter blitz. In the meantime, I encouraged him to continue writing.

Although he remained polite, I could sense his disappointment in my fuddy-duddy response.

The real shame is that he may be a terrific writer, but his impatience is working against him. I'd be willing to bet that he didn't personalize those fifty queries; he just wrote "Dear Agent" as his salutation.

The agents I've encountered have been pretty savvy people. They can tell from a query letter whether someone has photocopied and sent it to every literary agent in the book instead of carefully researching available agents and selecting the ones most likely to be interested in the specific manuscript in question.

Why does it matter? Your query letter is the equivalent of an interview for a job. Which candidate would you hire? The one who tells you, "Yeah, I'm filling out applications everywhere. I just need a job," or the one who says, "I really want to work for your company. I've researched it and like the idea of working for someone who's listed in Forbes as one of the hundred best places in the U.S. to work."

If I had to bet, I'd wager, by the twenty-fifth rejection letter, my young friend will be exploring self-publishing, and--by the time the fiftieth rejection arrives--his wallet will be $2,500 lighter and his dining room table will hold one hundred unsold, self-pubbed books.

I've recently been criticized for what self-pubbed writers see as my "crushing of young writers' dreams" when I warn of the poor probability that a self-pubbed book will be successful.

I find this a really interesting response. Are these writers better served if they spend their hard-earned cash in what is (likely) a fruitless endeavor? How will losing several thousand dollars be more helpful to them?

There are no shortcuts of substance. Sure, you can shave a bit of time by sending a couple of pages with every query letter instead of waiting for permission to send a "partial." But that only cuts a few weeks off the process. Most people (not all) still have to pay their dues.

If you wanted to be a real estate broker, you'd first have to study and take the tests and then serve time as a real estate salesperson under a licensed broker.

If you wanted to be a physician, you'd first have to go to college and then to med school and then serve time as a resident.

In almost every profession from electrician to teacher, there's a learning curve and an apprenticeship of sorts. Why, then, is it that people who want to be published authors think all they have to do is write a manuscript and...Voila...they'll be published?

Losing several thousand hard-earned dollars to a vanity press is hard for anyone; however, the blow can be devastating to a young person earning little more than minimum wage. Every time I get an email like the recent one, I want to say, "I'm thrilled you have a dream. Now let's put some effort into taking your dream from Cloud Cuckoo Land to reality."

If you're biking through Europe and need to be in Denmark in ten days, it's not a shortcut if, instead, you end up in Greece in eight days.

Another Voice Heard From

The New York Times had an essay by Stephen King on Sunday titled "What Ails the Short Story."

King edited The Best American Short Stories 2007. In addition to reading submissions sent to him by the acquiring editor, he bought dozens of magazines like Harper's, The New Yorker and Zoetrope. He bemoans the fact that those magazines are not found on the top shelves of bookstores. He had to get down on his hands and knees to find the publications he wanted.

After reading hundreds of possibilities, King concludes: "Last year, I read scores of stories that felt ... not quite dead on the page, I won’t go that far, but airless, somehow, and self-referring. These stories felt show-offy rather than entertaining, self-important rather than interesting, guarded and self-conscious rather than gloriously open, and worst of all, written for editors and teachers rather than for readers. The chief reason for all this, I think, is that bottom shelf. It’s tough for writers to write (and editors to edit) when faced with a shrinking audience."

But, he says, "Talent can’t help itself; it roars along in fair weather or foul, not sparing the fireworks. It gets emotional. It struts its stuff. If these stories have anything in common, it’s that sense of emotional involvement, of flipped-out amazement. I look for stories that care about my feelings as well as my intellect, and when I find one that is all-out emotionally assaultive — like 'Sans Farine,' by Jim Shepard — I grab that baby and hold on tight."

Some of you will remember my post from a month ago here when I said the purpose of all fiction is to evoke emotion in the reader.

One of the classic errors newbie writers make is focussing too much attention on details like events or descriptions and neglecting emotions. I'm not sure why this is, but I do know a novel that does not evoke emotions in me leaves me cold and unsatisfied.

I admire clever plotting, but I treasure those books that make me feel.

Read King's essay here.

New Opportunity for Unpublished Authors

Yesterday's Publishers Weekly (PW) reported on a new opportunity for writers.

Amazon announced the first "Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award" in cooperation with Penguin and Hewlett-Packard.

Amazon is accepting submission through November 5. They will accept up to 5,000 entries. The winner will win a $25,000 advance and have his/her novel published by Penguin.

"The contest is free and open to unpublished authors in 20 countries who have English-language manuscripts." Go here for complete contest rules.

Amazon plans for the reviewers who have posted the most and best reviews on its site to be the preliminary judges for the first round, cutting the submissions to the top one thousand. Then a panel put together by PW will give a full review to each manu-
script. Each review together with an excerpt will be posted online for comment. "The PW team--of existing and new reviewers--will be paid to administer the reviews, and reviewers will remain anonymous. Amazon is paying PW's administrative costs only."

Penguin will serve as the second round judges, cutting the 1,000 manuscripts down to 100. Those hundred will go through the complete editorial review process, expected to cut the submissions to ten.

Those final ten will be posted again on Amazon where customers will vote on them.

"Voting will close March 31 and the winner announced April 7." Penguin will release the book "in the appropriate format" and will plan to have the galley available at BookExpo America in Los Angeles (meeting May 29 to June 1).

Get busy, writers!

Back to Basics: Suspension of Disbelief

I watched another of the season premieres this past week.

The show was Moonlight about a vampire private investigator. I won't be watching it again.

"Why?" you may ask.

Because of a bit of writing advice I have taken to heart, what Samuel Taylor Coleridge called "that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment..."

Coleridge, writing in 1817, was referring to the fact that readers will often suspend their disbelief in the fantastic in order to go along with the writer on a ride that promises to entertain them.

Wikipedia defines the concept this way: "It refers to the alleged willingness of a reader or viewer to accept as true the premises of a work of fiction, even if they are fantastic, impossible, or otherwise contradictory to 'reality'...the audience tacitly agrees to provisionally suspend their judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment."

I think (although I'm not absolutely certain) it may have been Stephen King who said that readers will forgive a writer one really large suspension of disbelief; however, you must honor your contract with them and not keep throwing another and yet another inconsistency or plot hole at them. If you break covenant with the reader, s/he will put your book down and walk away without a backward glance.

When I sat down to watch Moonlight, I was willing to suspend my disbelief and accept the show's premise that a 90-year-old vampire named Mick St. John might be working as a private detective in Los Angeles. The opening "interview with the vampire" was a silly device, but I went along with it because I really do like vampire stories.

The dealbreaker for me was when Mick and a pretty TV reporter named Beth broke into the apartment of a victim of a serial killer and stole crucial blood evidence. Then Beth casually handed the evidence over to the cops, suggesting they might want to test it. Instead of going apeshit and throwing her into the hoosegow for tampering with chain-of-command, the detective checks the evidence out and then agrees that it does connect the suspect with the killings, but says just-as-casually, “but, of course, now the evidence is inadmissible.”

Give me a freaking break.

Here I suspended my disbelief to go along with the show’s fantastic (in the “fanciful and unrealistic sense,” not the “tops in quality” sense) premise, and they throw this kind of garbage at me.

Maybe if the show had been fantastic in the “tops in quality” sense I might have overlooked this.

Naw, I don’t think so. AND this show was mediocre at best. A pretty-faced hero ain’t enough to cut it.

Two thumbs down from me and Samuel Coleridge.

Postscript to the Booksigning

One thing I did do right: the temptation to bring a friend along to my booksigning to keep me company was enormous. However, that companionship would have taken the edge off for me. I don't think I would have been as motivated.

I've heard the argument that having multiple authors present creates more sales. I suspect that is only true if the authors already have a fan base OR if the signing receives advertisement that generates traffic. For debut writers, I think you're better off going it alone for two reasons: (1) You're more hungry when you're out there alone, and (2) You're easier to approach when you're alone. Of course, if you can do a signing with a better-known author in your genre, and if that author is generous enough to direct people to pick your book up, you could benefit from the company.

I don't know if my assumptions are correct or not. I'm looking forward to opportunities to find out.

Autopsy of a Booksigning

Yesterday was my first official booksigning.

I've done stock signings before; they're exactly what they sound like. You stop by a bookstore and sign their stock of your books. The store slaps on an "autographed" sticker, and that's that.

A formal booksigning involves a lot more time and effort. I spent four hours from 1:00 to 5:00 PM on Saturday, meeting and greeting customers at a Barnes & Noble store.

The staff at the B&N in south Arlington couldn't have been nicer. They set up a chair and table right at the front of the store near the door with copies of my books they'd ordered. Jessica, the store's customer service rep, brought me a drink and checked in on me frequently as did other members of the staff.

That four hours taught me a lot. For future reference:

• Arrive about an hour early so that you'll have time to walk around the store, meet the staff and familiarize yourself with the layout. As the first person customers meet at the door, you'll be asked all kinds of questions: "What time does the store close?" "Where's the bathroom?" "Where are the books on becoming an electrician?" "Where are the inspirational books?"


• Wear comfortable shoes. You'll need them :(


• Do not spend your time sitting in the chair. Get up, move around and--above all--meet and greet the customers. Make eye contact, smile and say "Hello" to everyone who enters. Say goodbye to customers who are leaving.


• Use open-ended questions. Don't ask, "Do you like romance?" which just requires a "yes" or "no." Ask instead, "What kind of books do you like?" That promotes conversation.


• Personalize your table so that you attract foot traffic. I brought a dark maroon plastic tablecloth at "Party City" (on sale for $.99) along with a large plastic bowl ($2.99) that I filled with a variety of wrapped candies ($6 on sale, and I have enough left over for a second signing). I also borrowed three bookstands from B&N so I could have copies of my books facing in all directions. I had my 2'x1' free-standing model of my book cover in the center of the table.


• Whenever a customer entered with children, I said to the parent, "May s/he have a piece of chocolate?" Of course, the kid/s made a beeline for my table, and the parent (who might have walked by without stopping) was forced to make conversation with me while the child made his/her selection from among the different candies.


• At the end of the afternoon, I left the plastic bowl with the remains of the candy for the staff. I'd had large 3" round stickers with the central part of my book cover (including the "Bad Girl" title and my name) made up. I left half a dozen stickers in the bowl as calling cards for the staff. They were so thrilled with that bowl of candy, I was almost embarrassed.


• During quiet moments, I made time to talk to staff individually. Thereafter, each time they passed my table, I spoke to them, using their names. I suspect they'll recommend my book to customers.


• Be sure to autograph a number of books and ask the store for the "autograph" stickers to put on them. I made the mistake of waiting a couple of hours before doing this, thinking I would personalize the autographs as I sold the books. I discovered I sold many more books after those autographed books were on display than before.


• A surprising number of people thought I was B&N staff rather than the author. Next time I'll wear one of my book cover stickers on my lapel instead of my usual gold pin.

I developed a routine. For forty-five minutes of each hour, I would stay in close proximity to my table. Fortunately, the "Romance" section was nearby, and I kept an eye on the persons visiting that section. If I saw someone browsing Romance, I'd walk over. Otherwise, I stayed close to the table for the bulk of the hour.

For fifteen minutes of each hour, I roamed the store, but kept an eye on the table. I noticed that people who weren't comfortable stopping to talk to me sometimes visited the table while I was away from it.

For five minutes each hour, I let myself sit :)

Forty percent of my sales were to men (only one to a couple; and I knew the couple). The men were often interested in writing and publishing and asked a lot of questions about the industry. I suspect they felt they should buy the book after monopolizing my time although one guy just walked up to me and announced, "If you have to stand here, the least I can do is buy your book." I was hard pressed not to leap into his arms and offer to bear his child.

A surprising number of women who identified themselves as Christians stopped to talk to me. Initially I think it was that Texas friendliness among evangelicals that prompted them to stop. While none purchased my erotic romance, several asked about my website and about publishing in general. I also spoke to at least three writing teachers/coaches and a very lovely graphic artist who empathized with hand selling a product.

The first two hours were deadly. Several writer friends had told me that an average of two sales an hour was good for a debut erotic romance author. Although I had been thinking about staying for four hours, I had not given B&N a specific time I would leave. When I'd only sold a few books in two hours, I was thinking about buying three books myself during the third hour to get my average up to two books [grin] and calling it quits.

Fortunately a friend called to see how I was doing. When I finished reporting my progress (or lack thereof), he offered to "buy the damn things" for me so I could go home.

Even though I'd been thinking the same thing, his offer put starch in my spine. I told him "thank you," but I was going to stay put until 5:00 PM.

That call was the best thing that could have happened to me. After I hung up, I became more assertive in my sales efforts and, in that last two hours, sold eight books.

That was a very good lesson, and one I'll remember for the future.

All in all, it was a good first. Now that I have it under my belt, I'll be better prepared for the next time.

Merchandising 101

I have a confession.

I am not among those people who love to shop.

Comedian Rob Becker did a one-man show about ten years ago called Defending the Caveman in which he argued that, based on evolutionary instincts, men and women are different. Men are essentially hunters; they leave the cave intent upon the hunt with the goal of bringing home a specific item. They search until they locate their target, kill it (buy it), and bring it back to the cave.

By contrast, Becker argues that women are essentially gatherers, wandering from place to place, looking for the good fruit (bargains), and being open to finding something other than what they expected to see. Unlike the male targeting behavior, women are more willing to change course and gather something they weren't looking for (when they discover a sale). Gathering is often a social affair, involving a group of women together.

Perhaps God screwed around with my DNA because I am definitely not a gatherer. The only time I step into a store (whether it be a grocery store or a department store) is when I have something specific to purchase. My life is way too busy to regard shopping as either a diversion or pleasant interlude.

Although I've often described myself on this blog as a creature of impulses, those impulses rarely relate to shopping.

The only exception to this rule applies to hardware stores.

I LOVE hardware stores. I'll happily wander the aisles for an hour, picking up gadgets, examining them and sometimes buying on impulse.

When it comes to clothes, I'm pretty simple. For decades, twice a year, I visited Sakowitz to refurbish my wardrobe. Then the chain experienced financial problems and pulled out of Dallas. So I switched my custom to Foley's, a department store that had the advantage of being nearby. Foley's best sales were called Red Apple Sales and included coupons with significant markdowns. I adapted my buying habits so that I only shopped at the department store when they mailed me Red Apple coupons.

About a year ago, Foley's was absorbed into the Macy's fold. The merchandise was upgraded, which I didn't object to--except that some brands I liked disappeared completely. And they eliminated the coupons, to which I had a serious objection. Since that time, I've visited Macy's twice and walked out empty-handed both times.

Turns out I wasn't the only shopper who felt that way. Today's New York Times has an article on Macy's "boldest stroke in American retailing in decades."

The Macy’s chain completed its takeover of 410 department stores around the country a year ago and renamed them all Macy’s, vowing to lure shoppers with innovations like price scanners in the aisles and exclusive fashions from the likes of Oscar de la Renta. So far, the grand plan is not working.

A big reason? Macy’s forgot a basic law of human nature: Shoppers love a deal.

For years, the department stores that Macy’s acquired, like Marshall Field’s and Filene’s, had relied on 15- and 20-percent-off coupons to alert people, like a Pavlovian bell, that it was time to shop. As part of its reinvention, Macy’s tried to wean shoppers off them.

Apparently hunters and gatherers alike were annoyed by Macy's highhanded treatment in mucking with their favorite department stores.

According to The Times, Macy's did three things that ticked off loyal customers: (1) They changed the name of favorite stores to Macy's (which didn't matter tuppence to me); (2) They reduced "reliance on midprice clothing brands like Levi’s and Dockers" (which did tick me off) and (3) They eliminated coupons (which was the deal-breaker for me and lots of other customers).

Macy's chief executive admits the dropping of coupons contributed "to four consecutive months of falling store sales this spring. Macy’s stock has dropped more than 40 percent since it bought the May stores."

"...the changes amounted to 'too much, too fast,' Mr. Lundgren acknowledged in an interview. It turns out that men, in particular, are creatures of shopping habit. They want to go to the local department store and find the Dockers where they have always been."

And it's not just the men. We women hunters go to the Serengeti, expecting to find gazelle and wildebeest grazing on the savannah where they belong, too.

Shape up, Macy's!

Booksigning

I'll be doing a booksigning tomorrow, Saturday 9/29, at the South Arlington Barnes & Noble Bookstore, starting at 1:00 PM. The address is 3909 South Cooper, and the B&N is sitting in front of The Parks Mall.

If you're in the area, stop by. I'd love to meet you.

Regards,

Maya

Absinthe Is Back

I read a story in USA Today this morning that surprised me.

Absinthe, also known as the "green fairy," is back and in vogue at fashionable bars and restaurants nationwide. Banned in the USA since 1912 because of its supposed hallucinogenic effects, authentic absinthe returned in legal forms this year.

According to Wikipedia:

Absinthe...is a distilled, highly alcoholic (usually 68-80%) beverage--anise-flavored spirit derived from herbs including the flowers and leaves of the medicinal plant Artemisia absinthium, also called grand wormwood...Absinthe is typically green (either naturally or with added color) or clear and is often referred to as la Fée Verte ('The Green Fairy'). Although it is sometimes mistakenly called a liqueur, absinthe is not bottled with added sugar and is therefore classified as a liquor or spirit. Absinthe is uncommon among spirits in that it is bottled at a high proof but consumed diluted with water to the strength of wine...

Absinthe originated in Val-de-Travers, Switzerland as an elixir/tincture. However, it is better known for its popularity in late 19th and early 20th century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers whose romantic associations with the drink still linger in popular culture. At the peak of its popularity, over 2 million litres of absinthe were consumed annually in France alone...absinthe was portrayed as a dangerously addictive, psychoactive drug; the chemical thujone was blamed for most of its deleterious effects.

USA Today describes absinthe as a favorite of Picasso and Oscar Wilde and repeats the rumors (not true) that the liquor was responsible for Van Gogh's cutting off his ear in 1888 and for causing epilepsy and delusions.

The newspaper goes on to say:

Absinthe's bad rap is said to have been cultivated by French winemakers, who lost business as the sale of cheap absinthe increased in the late 1800s, and by people against alcohol abuse and public drunkenness. Bans took effect in the USA and some European countries in the early 1900s. But its name was kept alive, thanks to travelers and pop culture. Some tourists were introduced to it while visiting the Czech Republic, which produced extremely harsh versions called absinth, and brought back bottles. Absinthe also showed up in films such as Moulin Rouge (2001), Alfie (2004), From Hell (2001) and Murder by Numbers (2002).


My favorite movie reference to absinthe was in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 version of Dracula. Like most women, I find Dracula a very seductive story. My two favorite film portrayals of the vampire are Gary Oldman's in the Coppola movie, which I saw in the theatre, and Frank Langella's in the 1979 John Badham version, which I saw on PBS years after it was made.

Neither man was handsome by conventional standards, but both were very sexy to me.

Variety described the Coppola film as "the most extravagant screen telling of the oft-filmed story and the one most faithful to its literary source, this rendition sets grand romantic goals for itself that aren't fulfilled emotionally, and it is gory without being at all scary...this Dracula could have been less heavy and more deliciously evil than it is, but it does offer a sumptuous engorgement of the senses."

I agree. The movie was completely over-the-top in the Grand Guignol tradition, including Oldman's Romanian accent. But it is both seductive and visually spectacular and fit my vision of the Dracula legend.

Here's the absinthe scene from Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula with Winona Ryder playing both Mina and Dracula's lost love Elisabeta.

Note the way Dracula serves the liquor. He decants it, then dilutes it by pouring water over a cube of sugar, melting the cube and sweetening the bitter anise (licorice-flavored) taste. This is an accurate portrayal of the way absinthe is served.

Net Neutrality Comes Up Yet Again

There was an interesting story that started Tuesday with one of the two largest mobile carriers and ended abruptly on Wednesday.

A Washington, D.C. Pro-Choice group called NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) Pro-Choice America approached Verizon Wireless, asking to use the company's network to set up a text messaging program. The program allows people to sign up to receive text message updates by typing in a five-digit number. These five-digit numbers are called "short codes" and permit people to get the latest sports, stock reports and gossip.

While all the other major carriers agreed to NARAL's request, Verizon turned the group down on Tuesday. According to Fox.com, a company spokesman said "the topic of abortion is prohibited from mass distribution based on the company's code of content...[he] hinted that the policy could change, as Verizon's code of content 'was initially developed at a time before text-messaging became a mass-market phenomenon'."

NARAL didn't take it lying down. Nancy Keenan, the advocacy group's president, talked to The New York Times, which reported the story on its website on Wednesday. Keenan said, "No company should be allowed to censor the message we want to send to people who have asked us to send it to them...Regardless of people's political views, Verizon customers should decide what action to take on their phones. Why does Verizon get to make that choice for them?" (Fox.com)

NARAL's website here reports that this activist approach resulted in 20,000 people calling Verizon in less than two hours to protest that decision.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that Verizon has changed its mind.

"The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect," said Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon, in a statement issued yesterday morning, adding that the earlier decision was an "isolated incident."

...But the company did not retreat from its position that it is entitled to decide what messages to transmit.

Legal experts said Verizon's position is probably correct under current law, though some called for regulations that would require wireless carriers of text messages to act like common carriers, making their services available to all speakers on all topics.

"This incident, more than ever, shows the need for an open, nondiscriminatory, neutral Internet and telecommunications system that Americans once enjoyed and took for granted," said Gigi B. Sohn, the president of Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group.

She's talking about Net Neutrality, the grass roots effort to uphold "the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet." That quote and the one below are courtesy of a Help site set up here by Google to help to explain Net Neutrality:

Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online.