Teaser Tuesday - 2/2/16

Photo credit: Jane Green's website

I just finished physically reading my first biography since high school (though I've listened to a few audiobooks), so as a reward for my accomplishment, I decided to take it easy with a fun, chick-lit book. And nobody does that better than Jane Green, who happens to be the author of one of my very favorite books of all time--Bookends. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys these sorts of books.

This, however, is not Bookends. It's a slightly newer release called Swapping Lives (or Life Swap, for those in the UK). I'm about halfway through and really enjoying myself.

What if a successful, single Londoner and a comfortable, Connecticut mother of two were to walk in each other's shoes for a month? Vicky Townsley is the director of Poise! magazine and lives a glamorous London life. She has everything she wants-except marriage, children, and a house in the country. Amber Winslow has a stone mansion in Connecticut, two kids, and a nanny, but she hasn't found the fulfillment she had expected from being a wife and mother. When she spots an intriguing contest in Poise! Amber impulsively enters, never expecting to be picked. ​

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Then hit up A Daily Rhythm to add your link.

And the teaser:

Vicky is sitting on the floor of the tiny second bedroom that doubles as her office, sifting through yet another pile. Thus far she has found four unpaid bills, all of which are a minimum of four months old; two invitations to parties, both of which she realizes she not only missed, but never even rsvp'd; a press release about a new method of laser vein removal that she'd brought home from work, not wanting anyone to know she was about to get the spider veins in her legs treated, and had been looking for for weeks; her driver's license--how in the hell did that get there? Wasn't it always in her bag?--and some readers' letters that she had brought home to respond to, but that had swiftly been eaten up by the pile.

Grammar Check - Quotation Marks

A new year, and I'm reintroducing Grammar Check to my blog. This is a monthly installment where I break down a concept in grammar, such as the difference between "affect" and "effect," the semicolon, and the difference between "then" and "than."

Today's post is about the quotation mark. Specifically, it's about the double quotation mark. Quotation marks are used for a few different purposes, the most obvious of which is to denote speech. When it comes to speech, the rules surround quotation marks are pretty simple. There should be a quote at the beginning and end of the dialogue. If there's an attribute at the end, the punctuation should be inside the quote, before the attribute. If the attribute is at the beginning, the punctuation should be after the attribute, but before the opening quotation mark. For example:

"Can you throw the ball?" Jamie asked.
"Throw it here," Todd demanded.
Alice shook her head and said, "I don't want to throw it."
"Throw it!" yelled Josh.

As you can see, it doesn't matter what kind of sentence the dialogue is (interrogative, imperative, declarative, or exclamatory). The punctuation mark goes inside the quotation marks, but before the attribution (if the attribution is after the dialogue). If the word that follows the quotation mark isn't a proper noun (so if it's something like "yelled" in the above example), that word is lowercase, no matter with what punctuation mark the dialogue ends. And no matter what, the punctuation mark that's after the attribution is always a period (or a comma or semicolon, if the sentence is going to continue. But it's never a question mark or exclamation point).

There are other uses for the quotation marks as well. One is for certain titles. The rules about grammar and titles have changed a lot since I was in school, with the more widespread use of computers and their ability to italicize. But there are still times to use quotes, especially for shorter works, like articles, song titles, short stories, poems, TV episodes, etc.

Now, I know the next question is, "Where do I put the punctuation if the title of an article is also the end of the sentence?" And I have to admit, this one has tripped me up a time or two, and it's because there's a geographical component to it. In America, commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks. Semicolons and colons always go outside. In Europe, commas and periods go outside the quotation marks when it comes to titles. So that's something to keep an eye on when you're writing.

More informally, quotation marks are also used to indicate sarcasm or skepticism. I'm sure everyone has at some point in their life used air quotes in conversation to refer to something in a disbelieving or sarcastic tone. That works in writing too, and the rules are the same as with titles.

I know it seems like a lot of rules (and some of them were difficult to articulate without making it more complicated than it is), but the more you use them, the more comfortable you'll get. Like with anything else, practice is the key. Good luck!

If there are any topics you want me to cover in this series, leave me a comment or email me at tobisummers@writeme.com.

Flash Fiction Friday - Purple Swirls and Orange Spots

Prompt: Essence of ______

Purple Swirls and Orange Spots

​

Cecily liked auras. She liked that they were sparkly and shiny. She liked all the different colors, and the ways they swirled and danced. She liked that she knew someone's mood just by the way their aura crackled.

And mostly she liked that she was the only one who could see them.

For all twelve years of her life, Cecily had been last. She was the last child in her family. The last to walk, the last to talk, the last to potty train, the last to read. In school, she was last in her class. Last to finish tests. Last to be promoted from primary school. Last to get a hit in softball, last to finish the mile run.

Last, last, last. Always last.

But none of Cecily's brothers and sisters could see auras. None of her classmates knew how passionately red they got, or that "green with jealousy" wasn't just a metaphor, or to never approach anyone who was ice blue. Even her parents and teachers didn't understand why they were drawn to someone with a sparkly aura or repelled from someone whose aura was turned in on itself.

But Cecily knew all that.

She just didn't know what to do with that knowledge.

So when the strange man in the park said, "You're full of purple swirls," to her, Cecily didn't keep walking like her parents' Stranger Danger videos had suggested she do. She gave him a considering look before replying, "Well, you're yellow with orange spots," partly because it was true and partly to see what he would say.

He smiled broadly, displaying every one of his white, straight teeth. "I thought so," he said. "But you can't see your own aura, you know."

"I know."

His smile got even bigger. "I thought you would know, too."

"So you see them too then?" Cecily asked because she was too excited to wait for him to get to the point.

"Of course I do. How else would have known about you?"

"You could be lying about me. I can't see it, remember?"

He looked like she had been particularly clever. "How about that boy on the swingset?" he asked, motioning with an open palm. Cecily thought that was much less rude than pointing.

"I see him," she said carefully.

"Bright yellow, with sparkles and a green swirl, right?"

Cecily felt like her whole face had split into a grin. "Yes! He's jealous because his mother won't let him go on the monkey bars, but he's having a good time on the swing too!"

"Clever girl," the man murmured. "There are others like us. Not many, but some. I know how to find them, if you want."

"Yes," Cecily gasped, then paused. "But... but I shouldn't go with you. I don't know you."

He considered that. "I'm Decker. Colin Decker."

"Cecily Brookside." She shook his proffered hand.

"What if I give you the address, Cecily Brookside?" Decker asked, digging in one of many pockets on his coat and drawing out a scrap of paper and a pen. "And you can decide when and if you want to come. There's always someone there. I'll tell them to expect you."

She took the paper from him. "I... okay." She bounced on her toes for a moment before adding, "Thank you."

"I hope you come," he told her honestly. "I think it could be just what you need." There was a faraway look in his eyes when he added, "I think you could be just what they need too."

And then he was gone. Not in a flash or a blink like some silly movie, but with a thumbing of his nose and a brisk walk, his aura swirling until it was a glowing, cheerful orange. Cecily looked at the address again. Tomorrow, she decided. I'll go see them tomorrow.

Teaser Tuesday - 1/12/16

Photo credit: Amazon

I don't know if anyone else out there watches "The Librarians" on TNT, but I'm completely addicted to it. I fell in love with it when it first premiered in November of 2014, and I think I've watched every episode of its two seasons at least twice. The only problem I have with it is that it only airs for ten episodes.

So once the second season finale aired a couple weeks ago, I've been jones-ing for books and/or other shows that are just like it. Some online research led me to a series called The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman. The books are on the young side of YA and the characters/stories are a little flat, but the world she created is just so interesting that I've been breezing through them. I'm on book 3 now, but I''m going to put the summary and teaser from book 1. All three books follow different characters and different objects, but they all revolve around the New York Circulating Material Repository.

Elizabeth has just started working as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository - a lending library of objects, contemporary and historical, common and obscure. And secret, too - for in the repository's basement lies the Grimm Collection, a room of magical items straight from the Grimm Brother's fairy tales. But the magic mirrors and seven-league boots and other items are starting to disappear. And before she knows it, she and her fellow pages - handsome Marc, perfect Anjali, and brooding Aaron - are suddenly caught up in an exciting, and dangerous, magical adventure.​

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Then hit up A Daily Rhythm to add your link.

And the teaser:

This had to be the strangest interview I'd ever heard of. Was I going to lose the job because Dr. Rust didn't like the way I sorted buttons?

New Year's Resolutions

Sooo... last year didn't go so well with the whole New Year's resolution thing. I was really only able to keep one of my four resolutions, and even that one only lasted about six months. But with a new year comes a new chance, so here's what I'm going for this year:

1. Publish Pack Supremacy - No, really! I know it's been on my list for the last two years, but this one will be it. Honest! Alright, so I know I'm starting to sound a little like the girl who cried wolf, but hey, it's got to go up eventually, right? K.S. Lewis has it for one last pass, and my other CP has already signed off on it. After that it's just line edits and formatting. I'd really love to have it up by March, so it'll be ready for the Liberty State Fiction Writers' Create Something Magical conference.
2. Consistent blogging... again - I know, I know. I'm starting to get really repetitive. But these are areas I really want to work on. I was able to maintain a consistent blogging schedule for six months last year, and I hope I can make it 10 or 11 this year (there's no way I'll be able to keep up with my blog during NaNoWriMo, so I'm trying to be realistic).
3. Finish writing CH3 - Of all my resolutions, I think this is the closest to a "sure thing" I could have. I wrote over 50,000 words of CH3 during NaNo a few months ago, so if I haven't finished it by November, that'll be my project again. I think this one will require a little less editing than Pack Supremacy did at least.
4. Publish a paperback version of Pack Mentality - This has been something I wanted to do for a few years now, but I put it on the backburner so I could finish Pack Supremacy. Now that that's almost done, it's time to revisit the paperback. I'd love to have a physical copy of my book.
5. Begin to take the business side of writing more seriously - This is the vaguest of my resolutions, and the one that will probably take more than a year to complete. I was told to wait until I had three books published before I really invest time or money into marketing myself. If the rest of my goals go according to plan, by the end of this year I'll have two books published and the first draft of the third finished. At this point, I think it'll be time for me to start making some decisions about it.

I know some people think making resolutions is silly because no one keeps them, and I can't exactly argue, with my track record. But I like taking some time--whether it be at the beginning of the year or at any point along the way--to assess where I want to be and what I need to do to get there.

Did anyone else make some New Year's resolutions?

Teaser Tuesday - 6/16/15

Photo credit: The copyrights for the images are held by Katie Little | Dreamstime.com, James Hearn | Dreamstime.com, and Michael Shevlin. The copyright for the cover is held by Patricia L. Miller.

As I'm finishing up what will hopefully be my last round of edits for Pack Supremacy, I thought now would be an appropriate time to use it for Teaser Tuesday. This book has really been a labor of love, but there are so many things that I'm realizing I'm proud of, and I can't wait for you all to be able to read it.

If you're interested in reading more than the teaser, the prologue is on my website.

The Big Bad Wolf is loose in New York City...

Quinn Dunlap has never been the most involved member of the Mid-Atlantic Werewolf Pack. She isn't like her brother Carson, who's been training for his role as Beta since they were little kids. She isn't even like her best friend Lucy, who signed up to be a Guardian the day she turned 18.

So even with their help, Quinn's not handling her new responsibilities very well. Nor is the Pack handling all the recent changes that well either. They're in turmoil, and things are about to get even less stable when little girls start dying and all the signs point to a rogue werewolf.

...and he's got a connection to Lucy.

Lucy has always been a "hit first" kind of girl, but she's had to step up recently and start using her brain before her fists. She knows that letting her temper get the best of her can have dangerous consequences, especially with a rogue werewolf in town. But when things get a little too personal, Lucy's recklessness lands her in a situation she might not be able to escape.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

I'd never considered myself a violent person. I mean, just because I'm a werewolf doesn't mean I'm bloodthirsty and uncivilized. But if I had to listen to Carson and Lucy go one more round about whether we should allocate more Pack funds toward buying new Guardian equipment or reinforcing the fences at our borders, I was going dig out the gun Geoffrey had left in his office and shoot them both.

I just wouldn't load it with silver bullets.

Probably.

Apologies, or The Things Sports Do To Us

Sorry about the impromptu month-long hiatus I took. For those who don't follow me on Twitter, I've grown into a pretty big hockey fan in the last couple years, and the Rangers seemed to play every Monday this month, which is when I normally write my posts. But, sadly, I won't have to worry about that again until next year, so starting next week I'll be returning to my regularly scheduled posting.

A quick update on where I am right now: After having two very productive conversations with my beta readers, I'm midway through what should be final round of edits on Pack Supremacy (excepting line edits). I hope to have that done by next week at the latest, after which I can begin preparing to publish. While I waited for feedback, I began outlining Capitoline Hill #3 and continued to work on my outline for Bex Addison. I hope to begin writing CH3 in November, and Bex sometime next year.

I also had the opportunity to attend The Book Con last weekend in NYC. I wasn't able to go to any of the panels, but I visited all the exhibits, had some interesting conversations, got a few free books, and had a great time. (And then I got to see Finding Neverland on Broadway, which was as magical as you'd expect, and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes Peter Pan.)

I hope you all had a good May and are looking forward to June!

Flash Fiction Friday - Hi

Prompt: Chance

Hi

Her tongue darted out nervously to wet her lips, and she stared across the room with uncharacteristic determination. Her fingers tapped out a staccato rhythm against her thigh, and eventually one foot joined in, keeping the beat. When she realized what she was doing, she tamped it down furiously, blushing even though no one was paying attention to her.

You can do it, she coached herself. Just go over there. Introduce yourself. Say hi.

And then what? a malicious voice in her head sneered. Make small talk? Impress him with your comprehensive knowledge of quadratic equations? Wax poetic about the beauty of pi?

Shut up, she thought back angrily, then shook her head to clear away the ridiculous conversation. Great. Now I'm hearing voices.

She snuck another look at him, five and a half feet of stocky muscle and curly red hair that he kept running his fingers through endearingly. And even though she understood about pheromones and chemical reactions in her brain, her heartbeat quickened when his lips curled into that wide, easy smile.

Maybe he wouldn't think she was weird because she preferred to spend her days with numbers than with people. Maybe he wouldn't mind that relationships overwhelmed her and that he had to take it slow so she had time to adjust. Maybe he'd like it if she spent too long looking at his face because she was looking for patterns in the lines and pores.

Maybe, just maybe, he would be the one to understand.

She wet her lips again, then squared her shoulders, and forced her feet to move across the room, to where he was finally alone, pouring himself a drink. She sidled up next to him, and he looked at her. And he smiled.

She took a deep breath and smiled back. "Hi," she said.

Flash Fiction Friday - Hockey

Prompt: Three Reasons

Hockey

"Give me one good reason."

Mike glowered at me, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because I'm bigger than you, and I can beat you up."

I rolled my eyes and glared just as hard at him. "You wouldn't hit me. I'm your little sister. Try again."

"Because you'll get hurt playing street hockey. You're just a little kid."

"I'm the same age you were when you started playing with them!" I shot back. "And I'm just as big as you were too."

He made a sound in the back of his throat that sounded like it was either a growl or a laugh. Probably a growl. "You are not!"

"Sure I am! Go ask Mom if you don't believe me."

He didn't move, except to ball his hands into fists. "Well... well, none of my friends want you to tag along with us!" he finally snapped.

For a second, even though I knew something he didn't know, I felt hurt by that. Mike and I were only two years apart, and we'd spent nearly every summer of my life hanging out together, sometimes with his friends, sometimes with mine. I'd always considered his friends to be my friends too.

Then I remembered the thing I knew. "Oh yeah?" I challenged, and for a second he looked smug. "Well, Charlie was the one who asked me to play, and he said JT and Danny want me to play too. He said they're inviting a new guy from school, and they need someone else to make the teams even. So there!"

Mike huffed angrily, then shoved a hockey stick at me. "Fine," he snapped. "But don't come crying to me if I hurt you trying to get to the puck."

"Fine," I agreed, shoving his helmet back at him, "as long as you don't either."

Writing Update

Things are still a little on the slow side when it comes to my writing. Pack Supremacy is still with one of my beta readers, and it's due for another round of edits once she's done. I came up with a better ending to the B story, so I'll start working on that once I get all the feedback. Hopefully this will be a shorter round of edits than the last few times.

I haven't done much work on Bex since my last post, but I have outlined more of the third Capitoline Hill book, and I accidentally started a new MG novella project. I say accidentally because it was supposed to be a short story, something I could throw up in a weekend or so. And then I made a map, and then it became a three-book project. But book one is fully outlined, and I've started writing, so maybe I can keep that one weekend from stretching more than a month.

I also spent some significant time this month redesigning my website. I wanted to create something more static, a separate entity from my blog. So if you have some time and are interested, you can check it out at www.tobisummers.com (the permanent link for this blog will now be www.tobisummers.blogspot.com).

And, because it's the playoffs and I'm listening to a hockey game while I write this, LET'S GO RANGERS!!!

TV Review - CSI: Cyber

Photo credit: CBS.com

The latest addition to the CSI family this season is CSI: Cyber. It centers around a unit in the FBI devoted to solving cyber crimes.

I've never watched a CSI before, aside from an odd episode here or there. I was too young when the original came out to really be interested in crime TV, and neither Miami or NY caught my attention. But this one did. As a child of the digital age, I'm fascinated by (and terrified of) cyber crimes, so I was highly anticipating this when they first announced it last year.

Five episodes in (at the time of writing this post), I have mixed feelings about it. My favorite parts are the cases, which are fortunately the driving force of the show. Though I sometimes feel like they over-explain the technical elements (cyber crimes for people who don't really know much about computers), I occasionally find myself learning something. The pace of each episode moves pretty well, and there's a strong element of suspense that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

What I find lacking are the characters. If you've read any of my previous posts, you know how important characters are to me. I can forgive a lot of sins if the chemistry is there, and I don't feel it in CSI: Cyber. I don't like Patricia Arquette's Avery Ryan much at all, and I'm not invested in her backstory or her emotions. In fact, the only character I have any real interest in is Brody Nelson, the blackhat hacker that Avery brought into the team. The other secondary characters--including James Van Der Beek's Elijah Mundo--have the potential to be engaging, but they haven't gotten there yet, even though we've been giving significant looks into the lives of Elijah and Daniel Krumitz, one of the other team members.

So I'm still up in the air about this one. For now, I enjoy watching the episodes enough to keep up with it, but if the characters don't start stepping up soon, I'm not sure how much longer I'll stay invested.

Anyone else watching this?

CSI: Cyber airs at 10:00 on Wednesdays on CBS.

Teaser Tuesday - 4/14/15

Photo credit: Kate Wilhelm's website

I first read Death Qualified back in high school, and I remember enjoying it enough to buy two other books in Kate Wilhelm's Barbara Holloway series, but I don't remember any of the details. And since I've been in a mystery mood lately, I thought I'd start from the beginning and read the series in order.

Nell Kendrick's husband disappeared seven years earlier, abandoning his young family. Nell hasn't seen him since, until the day Lucas Kendricks arrives at the edge of her property and is shot and killed. Accused of his murder, Nell turns to lawyer Frank Holloway for help. But Frank knows he cannot win this case alone. He calls upon his daughter, Barbara, who remains "death qualified," legally able to defend clients who face the death penalty if convicted.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

"Isn't that why? And you think when the time comes, when I have pushed and poked and probed and got nowhere, I'll help you persuade her that it's the only way out for her, the only way to be able to have any time with her children before they're both grown up."

Flash Fiction Friday - Unpacking

Prompt: Where Will It Be Found?

Unpacking

With a grunt of exertion, Cade shoved the last box toward the back of the attic and used the bottom of his shirt to wipe sweat out of his eyes.

"Everything alright up there?" Jeffrey called from the bottom of the ladder.

Cade's head poked through the opening so he could peer upside-down at the man whose belongings he was currently stacking next to his own. "Just about done. How's the kitchen looking?"

Jeffrey looked stricken. "It's a disaster. Did you not label a single box when you packed your apartment up?"

Cade couldn't help but grin. "It's more fun when it's a surprise."

Jeffrey's hands fluttered in the air for a minute as if he didn't have the words to properly contradict that statement. Cade's smile widened. "Besides," he added, ducking back into the attic for a second so he could spin his body around and descend the ladder, "you're cute when you can't find your apron."

Jeffrey gave him a half-hearted glare that morphed quickly into a pout. "Two weeks ago, you said I was cute while I was wearing the apron."

"Funny how that works."

Jeffrey was right, Cade decided, following him through the house. The kitchen was a disaster. But the bedroom was completely unpacked, and the living room had neat piles near the bookcases and entertainment center so Cade could put their books and movies away (because there was a system that Jeffrey just couldn't get the hang of, no matter how many times Cade explained it). The office was just a pile of boxes at this point, but they'd agreed to unpack that last.

"Come on," Cade said, flopping onto the couch they'd taken from his apartment that looked just right sitting next to the squishy armchair from Jeffrey's. "We can finish the rest tomorrow."

Jeffrey hesitated, dark eyes darting toward the kitchen door. "Come on," Cade insisted. "I promise I'll help you go through every one of those unlabeled boxes."

Jeffrey glanced at the door again, but followed Cade to the couch reluctantly. "No, you won't," he grumbled, twisting so he was leaning most of his body weight against Cade. "You'll do two boxes, and then you'll tell me you have to go sort the books."

"You never do it right."

"Your system is weird."

Cade laughed in a way that was more like a sigh, kissed the top of Jeffrey's head, and closed his eyes, letting the rhythm of Jeffrey's breathing lull him to sleep.

New Website!

Go check out the new TobiSummers.com! It's a more static website that I feel will better showcase PACK MENTALITY, PACK SUPREMACY, and my future books. I'll continue to update this blog at this address, or you can view the most recent posts here.

Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!

Grammar Check - Then vs. Than

I took one of those quizzes the other day, the ones that test your knowledge of the trickiest parts of English grammar, and I got a few new ideas for Grammar Check posts. This month, I thought I'd tackle another of those confusing homophone pairs: then and than.

Then means "at the time mentioned¹." It's used to denote the passing of time.

For example:

Michael went to the movies, then he picked up his groceries.

Than is comparative. It's "used as a function word to indicate the second member or the member taken as the point of departure in a comparison expressive of inequality²."

For example:

Michael would rather go to the movies than go grocery shopping.

Much like with "affect" and "effect", you can use a little trick to help you remember. Then allows you to cycle through events. "This happened, then this, then this." If you use than, you are comparing things against each other. "I'd rather sleep than work. I'd rather have ice cream than spinach."

I'm a big fan of mnemonic devices like that. English is a... quirky language, to say the least, and it helps to come up with a few shortcuts for particularly sticky situations. Hopefully this one will help you out in the future.

Cover Reveal - A Change of Mind and Other Stories

Cover design by Rebekah Romani

It's my pleasure today to be part of a cover reveal for A Change of Mind and Other Stories, a collection by Nick Wilford. The collection consists of a novella, four short stories and one flash fiction piece. It puts the extremes of human behaviour under the microscope with the help of lashings of dark humour, and includes four pieces previously published in Writer’s Muse magazine.

Here's a little bit about the works included in A Change of Mind and Other Stories:

In A Change of Mind, Reuben is an office worker so meek and mild he puts up with daily bullying from his boorish male colleagues as if it’s just a normal part of his day. But when a stranger points him in the direction of a surgeon offering a revolutionary new procedure, he can’t pass up the chance to turn his life around.

But this isn’t your average surgeon. For a start, he operates alone in a small room above a mechanic’s. And he promises to alter his patients’ personality so they can be anything they want to be…

In Marissa, a man who is determined to find evidence of his girlfriend’s infidelity ends up wondering if he should have left well alone.

The Dog God finds a chink in the armour of a man with a megalomaniacal desire to take over the world.

In The Insomniac, a man who leads an obsessively regimented lifestyle on one hour’s sleep a night finds a disruption to his routine doesn’t work for him.

Hole In One sees a dedicated golfer achieving a lifelong ambition.

The Loner ends the collection on a note of hope as two family members try to rebuild their lives after they are torn apart by jealousy.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait for this to come out. A Change of Mind and Other Stories is scheduled for release on May 25th, but you can pre-order it now (I already have!) on Amazon US or Amazon UK. You can also check it out on Goodreads.

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working, he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. You can find him hanging out on his blog or on Goodreads or Twitter.

Flash Fiction Friday - Liar

Prompt: Can't Be

Liar

"Can't be."

"Says who?"

"Says... says me. That can't be true."

"Of course it can. Don't you trust me?"

"Not even one tiny bit, Tom Holden. You've been lying to me since we were six years old. Why the devil would I think you'd stop now?"

"Alright, so you've got your reasons not to. But I ain't lying to you. Swear it on my grandmother's grave."

"You'd sell out your own mama if you thought it'd help you get one over on me. I don't believe it one bit."

"Such suspicion in one so young. May God strike me dead if I'm lying."

"If I had a nickel for every time you were supposed to drop down dead, I'd be a rich woman."

"Can't I say anything to make you believe me?"

"Nope. You can either prove it or shut your trap."

"Fine. Fine, I'll prove it to you. Come on down to the barn, and I'll show you."

"...okay. But if one of your brothers is there to put worms in my hair or drop something from the loft, I'll tan all of you, see if I don't."

"Please, Sherrilyn, give us some credit. We don't do that stuff anymore. We ain't little boys."

"You did it to Mable just last week, you big ol' liar! See why I can't trust a word you say?"

"Okay, okay. We won't do any of that. Just come in, come on. Hurry."

"..."

"See? See? I told ya."

"Well, I'll be. That's about the funniest thing I've ever seen. Tom Holden, that damned colt of yours is actually taking care of a litter of wild puppies in your barn."

Writing Update

There isn't too much to report on the writing front, but I'm trying to write at least one post a month that's focused on my books, so here it is.

Pack Supremacy is with my beta readers right now. One just finished it, and I'm mulling over her notes; the other is reading it now and should have feedback for me soon. I was pleased by the critique I've received so far, and I'm really looking forward to getting the rest. I feel like I'm finally coming in for a landing with this book. Right now my expected publication date is June or July 2015. I'm hoping to have it up on Amazon for pre-order in the next couple weeks.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to write while I wait for the comments on Pack Supremacy. I've been intensely plotting the untitled Bex Addison project I've mentioned before, as well as Capitoline Hill #3 and another book that I'm not ready to discuss yet. And I'm trying desperately not to work on anything else, which is a lot easier said than done.

Like I said, not too much to report right now. Hopefully I'll have some good news for you about Pack Supremacy for my next update.

TV Review - The Odd Couple

As many of you (at least the Americans) know, CBS recently revived the 1970s TV show The Odd Couple. The show was based on the 1968 Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau movie, which was based on the 1965 stage play written by Neil Simon. It aired on ABC for five seasons and spurred two previous resurrections in the late 70s and early 80s. It's also used as the butt of nearly every "opposites attract" joke that's been made since 1965.

If you're unfamiliar with it, however, the show revolves around two main characters, Felix Unger (played by Thomas Lennon in the 2015 remake) and Oscar Madison (played by Matthew Perry). In the pilot episode, Felix--an obsessive neatnick who's on his way to getting a divorce--comes to live in Oscar's apartment, which--like the man himself--is a pig sty. Oscar is a playboy sports talk show host whose wife also left him. Together, the two unlikely friends try to learn to live without them... and with each other.

I have to admit that I never watched the original film, and if I say I've seen two episodes of the 70s show, I might be exaggerating. However, my parents were fans, and I've heard references to Felix and Oscar for most of my life, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into when I sat down to watch the pilot a few weeks ago. But this does mean I won't be comparing it to the originals in this review.

I was surprised when I heard Matthew Perry was going to be cast as Oscar. To me, he makes more sense as a Felix. Chandler, his character from Friends, had some quirks that I could easily have seen allowing him to make the transition. However, when I found out that Thomas Lennon, whose most recent TV credit was Sean Hayes' boss on the short-lived Sean Saves the World, was going to be Felix, it suddenly all made sense. Lennon does a great job with the minute mannerisms necessary to make Felix obsessive but not obnoxiously so. There's so much he gets right in the little details. Sometimes I want to smack him, but most of the time I just want to hug him.

Perry does a better job in the role of Oscar than I expected. He yells a little much for my taste, but I'm told that's pretty typical of Oscar from Odd Couples past. But he straddles the line between abrasive and just easily frustrated pretty well, and there are some genuinely warm scenes between him and Lennon that really tie the show together.

The secondary characters--Oscar's friends, Roy and Teddy; his assistant, Dani; and his neighbors and romantic interests, Emily and Casey--have developed nicely over the three episodes that have aired so far. They enhance the show's chemistry, and I'm curious to find out more about them as the series airs, but they don't take away from the main focus.

So far the plot has been pretty focused on Oscar helping Felix get over his ex-wife. Since the series is so new, this is pretty appropriate, but I'm looking forward to a time when that's not quite so front-and-center. There's plenty of potential there.

All in all, I've been pleased with this show so far. I wouldn't yet list it as one of my favorite sitcoms, but I enjoy it when I'm watching it, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

The Odd Couple airs at 8:30 on Thursdays on CBS.

Teaser Tuesday - 3/10/15

Photo credit: Jennifer Lynn Barnes' website

Killer Instinct is the second book in The Naturals series. I loved the first book and the entire premise, really. The best description of this series that I've heard is that it's "Criminal Minds for the YA world." And the best part is that Jennifer Lynn Barnes has a PhD in Psychology, so I feel confident that the books are accurate. I highly recommend checking these out if you like YA mysteries.

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother's murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean's incarcerated father-a man he'd do anything to forget. Forced deeper into a murderer's psyche than ever before, will the Naturals be able to outsmart the enigmatic killer's brutal mind games before this copycat twists them into his web for good?

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

People are allowed to care about you, and don't tell me that when people care about you, they get hurt. That's not you talking. That's something you were told.