MuseTracks Guest – A.S. Fenichel – Characters You Love and the Ones You Love to Hate

Sucker for mythology, here. I also happen to like sexy love stories, too. How cool to mix the two? That’s just what author A.S. Fenichel has done – mixing Atzec mythology with erotic romance. Lucky for us, she’s out guest today.

Take it away, A.S.

Hi Jenn!

Thank you so much for having me on Muse Tracks today. I’m so happy to be here. I thought we’d have a little fun and talk about good guys and bad guys. You know, like Kevin Costner’s sexy, troubled, Robin Hood to Allen Rickman’s off the wall Sheriff of Nottingham. Or the Tim Burton 1986 Batman movie, where Michael Keaton is our Dark Knight, and how can you not love to hate Jack Nicholson as the terrifyingly crazy Joker?

In my new book, Mayan Craving, I offer you Asher Dove. He’s the sweet and sexy hero who just wants to save the woman he desires from Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of the Dead. We meet Asher in my first book, Mayan Afterglow as the very young and quirky pilot who helps get everyone down to Mexico in one piece, the perfect little brother. Skip ahead five years, and he’s a whole different story. Asher has grown into the kind of guy who will save you from the demons and then be so furious he can barely speak, just before he cleans your wounds and takes you to bed in the sweetest possible way. J He has lost none of his charm from the first book but in Mayan Craving he’s a whole lot of hunky, and the last five years of hard labor and constant threat, have matured him, making him the perfect hero, kind, tough and just a little bit dark.

On the other hand, I found Mictlantechuhtli (meek-tlahn-tay-COO-tlee) (Mictlan) during my research into Pre-Columbian mythology. Though the book is called Mayan Craving, I borrowed Mictlan from Aztec mythology. He was a principal god to the Aztecs and often referred to as the Lord of the Dead. He’s depicted by the Aztecs as a blood splattered skeleton or a large head with big teeth and no eyes in his sockets. In some descriptions he wore a necklace made from human eyeballs. Pretty yucky stuff! He has his horrifying moments in my books, but for the most part, in both Mayan Afterglow and Mayan Craving, Mictlan appears as an extremely good looking man of about thirty. In fact he’s so perfectly handsome, he’s an abomination, and the characters find him hard to look at. When he loses his temper…well that’s another story. Mictlan has taken advantage of the End of Days, an apocalypse that occurred on December 21, 2012, in order to take over the realm of humans. He goes through ritual after ritual in an attempt to enter our world and end the reign of humankind.

Our hero (Asher) and heroine (Nancy) have their work cut out for them. They have to defeat Mictlan, save Nancy’s sister from Mictlan’s harem, and deal with their own issues of falling in love.

It’s not easy being the star of a romance novel.

Thanks again for having me here today, Jenn. It’s been a blast!

Don’t forget Mayan Craving is available in electronic formats at http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10057-mayan-craving.aspx. You will also find it really soon at http://www.amazon.com/A.S.Fenichel/e/B007W5VEXI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 and

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/a.s.-fenichel

Here is the blurb and you can read more at my website www.asfenichel.com

Surviving the End of Days was only the beginning of the journey for Nancy. After years of searching, she’s finally found her missing sister, but when she attempts to rescue Robyn, she enters her worst nightmare. Captured by demons and about to be sacrificed, Asher is her unexpected hero. Asher’s kindness and bravery arouse her lust, and leave her wanting much more than just his friendship.

Asher has been in love with Nancy since he first laid eyes on her, but her infatuation with another man always left him standing in the background. Her sudden craving for him couldn’t turn him on more. He can’t help finding rapture with Nancy, but the attraction could only be fleeting.

While danger and passion pull them together, doubt may rip them apart. They’ll need more than a carnal connection if they’re to survive.

About the Author:

A.S. Fenichel adores writing stories filled with love, passion, desire, magic and maybe a little mayhem tossed in for good measure. Books have always been her perfect escape and she still relishes diving into one and staying up all night to finish a good story. Originally from New York, she grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in the southwest with her real life hero, her wonderful husband. When she is not reading or writing she enjoys cooking, travel, history and puttering in her garden.

Other Links

Website http://www.asfenichel.com

Blog http://www.asfenichel.com/Blog–Mayan-Mentions.html

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/A.S.Fenichel

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/asfenichel

MuseTracks Guest – Suzan Harden – Hot Guys and Literary Influences

Today’s Special guest Suzan Harden is a real hoot. And she’s a straight shooter and offers loads of irony and snark. No wonder I like her so much.

Welcome to MuseTracks, Suzan.

When Jenn said I could blog on Musetracks, I asked her if I could have pictures of hot guys. She’s a pirate wench, so of course, she said yes. (Her actual quote was “Hell, yeah!”)

So, for the ladies, here’s Taylor Kitsch. (Hush, guys, I’ll get to you.)

Why am I on a Taylor Kitsch kick? Because he’s starring as one of my favorite literary characters in his latest move, John Carter.

I can hear you. “John, who? You mean the guy from ER?”

*facepalm* Yeah, I know. The title is where the folks at Disney really screwed up. It should have been John Carter of Mars. Or at least A Princess of Mars, the title of the book by Edgar Rice Burroughs on which the movie is based.

Yes, that Edgar Rice Burroughs. The guy who also wrote Tarzan of the Apes.

For the last several years, people have been asking me where I get my ideas, who are my influences are as a writer. It wasn’t until I started re-reading A Princess of Mars a couple of weeks ago that I realized how far Mr. Burroughs sunk his literary ideas of what a hero should be in my adolescent, hormone-riddled mind.

Tall, dark hair, intense eyes. Someone who truly believes in honor and duty. Someone who loves intently and without reserve. Someone who’s ego isn’t threatened by an equally powerful woman.

And the geeky, teenage me wanted to be Dejah Thoris. Exotic, smart, and as handy with a sword as any of the guys.

I subconsciously carried Mr. Burroughs’ theme of a stranger in a strange land into my work, though my characters don’t run around naked through most of the book, like John and Dejah. (Look at the 1917 original cover versus the Michael Whelan cover for the 1979 paperback reissue, my first encounter with the Barsoom series.)

Hmmm….maybe they should.

I’m not the only writer influenced by Mr. Burroughs. Sci-fi greats Robert A. Heinlein and Ray Bradbury cited him as influences. And yes, Michael Crichton named Dr. Carter from ER after Mr. Burroughs’ hero. Dynamite Entertainment produced a prequel series starring Dejah Thoris. (Hope this satisfies the guys. *grin*)

But no matter how many derivations and adaptations are created, in the end, the romance and adventure of Mr. Burrough’s original stories still ring true a century after he created them.

Suzan Harden grew up on a working farm in Ohio Amish country, though she’s not Amish. Mucking out pig stalls gives a girl lots of time to make up stories. She currently lives in southeastern Texas with a husband who believes writing is a practical career option, a kid who thinks she’s too enamored with zombies, and a beagle who wants his belly scratched. Her latest novel ZOMBIE WEDDING is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

Zombie Wedding blurb:

Samantha Ridgeway thought being turned into the walking dead by a freaky lab experiment was the worst thing that could happen to her. She was wrong.

Not only did her creation cause an uproar in the paranormal community—the fairies want her dead permanently—but her vampire boyfriend is pushing for an eternal commitment, she’s a bridesmaid in her brother’s shotgun wedding, and now a necromancer has emerged, wanting revenge on her for something she did when she was still alive. The hungry corpses he raises from the dead are relentless killers. Can Sam protect her brother’s wedding guests from becoming appetizers for the flesh-crazed zombie army? And how can she keep herself from ending up as the main course?

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the day: Say It by Evans Blue

Today, I was going to post a blog about the Lone Star Conference held over the weekend. But unfortunately, an unforseen circumstance prevented me from drafting up a post. No worries, all is fine. Sometime life happens, and it’s simply more important than blogging. *gasp*

But because I’m a pretty awesome chick, I’ve provided you with another installment of Hump Day Kick Start.

 

So, who do we have here? Pirate hat, dog tag, way too modern jeans, goin’ commando, tats, sudden urge to do laundry, these are tasty, er, wonderful visual treats for your muse. Tell me about him. Who is he and what’s on his mind.

Can’t wait to hear your take on today’s prompt.

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the day: Bad Romance by Halestrom (Yes, it’s a rockin’ remake.)

Photo by Tom Cullis

Well, well, well. This prompt looks, um, captivating.

Tell me about these two. Who are they? A cop and her perp? A bounty hunter and her catch? Maybe he’s the good guy. He was going to ‘run her in’ but somehow, someway she got the upper hand.

Let your imaginations run wild and tell me their story.

I’d love to hear from you.

Simon Says…William Simon That Is

By: Stacey A. Purcell

If you get stuck writing your novel, bring in a man with a big gun! – William Simon

How many people do you shoot in your novels?

Since I write suspense, death and mayhem show up on my pages with great frequency. There’s nothing worse than watching a movie or reading a book when you come across something that you KNOW is wrong. It pulls you completely out of the story.  We need to avoid this at all cost! If the reader puts your book down, all bets are off as to whether they’ll pick it up again, especially if you just annoyed them.

I’d like to introduce William Simon who is the owner and lead investigator of a professional investigations firm specializing in computer forensics and computer evidence. He is asked to participate on cases across the country and has worked with multiple branches of the law. His fiction has been published in the anthology MURDER BY MAGIC, “Suspense Magazine”, and the forthcoming THRILLER 3 from International Thriller Writers.

Hi Everyone. Thanks for having me here at Muse Tracks.

A couple of months ago, Stacey and Jennifer put together a night trip to a local gun range.  Several of the members had never fired a gun before, and everyone had a great time.

Over the course of the evening, we all talked about guns and shooting as shown in the movies and television, and there was enough conversation about it that Stacey asked me to write a blog about it.

Starting off, my all time favorite is the Hero inching his way along a wall to the corner so he can shoot Bad Guys.  Almost without exception, he’s holding the gun pointed up, near his face with his finger on the trigger.  If he pulls that trigger by accident, here’s what will happen: he’ll get gunpowder and shrapnel in his face, possibly his eyes, he won’t be able to hear properly for a while, if ever again.  If it’s night, he’ll be night blind for a considerable amount of time, not to mention disoriented.  Bad move, all the way around.  Professional law enforcement officers know better, and hold a drawn weapon pointed downwards and way from themselves.

Snatching a pistol from someone’s hand is a wrong move.  Period.  It always makes me cringe to see that.  When a pistol is loaded and the hammer’s back, it takes very little force to move the trigger.  And once the trigger moves, we know what happens next.

Tucking a just fired weapon down the belt right above the crotch area…. YEOUCH!  First off, firing a full cylinder of six or a clip of eight or more, and the barrel of the gun is almost hot enough to light a cigarette.  Sure, people have done that, just jammed a gun down their waistband.  It’s happened often enough, there’s a name for it: “testicide”.  Use your imaginations, you can guess what happens!

Holding an automatic pistol sideways is a guarantee that hot cartridges are going to smack you in the face.  Just what you want in a serious situation.

Here’s the really big one:  Guns MUST be reloaded.  Revolvers usually hold six shots, although some of the newer models can hold seven or eight.  Okay, fair enough, but that’s nowhere near enough to cover some of the gunfights in the movies.  Automatic pistols can hold more, usually between ten to sixteen.  The famous Beretta 92F does have a specially made clip that can hold thirty-two rounds, but it sticks out from the butt a good inch or so, making impossible to conceal, and adds substantial weight.

A fully loaded pistol is heavy.  Specially made belts are needed for a comfortable concealed carry; clipping the holster to your beltless pants doesn’t work in real life.  Neither does shoving the gun into a back pocket.

Holsters are a different matter altogether.  Shoulder holsters look cool, but are awkward to draw from.  Simple physics:  in an emergency, using your strong hand, you have to reach across your body, pull the gun, then reverse the move to be on target.  It may not seem like a long time, but in a crisis, that half a second can make the difference.

If you’re writing a scene where there’s a gunfight, be sure and do your research!  Gun collectors can be fanatical about spotting errors, and they won’t hesitate to let you know you got it wrong!

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the Day: Say You’ll Haunt Me by Stone Sour

Back by popular demand, I bring you another, um, inspiring, yes, that’s the word, photo of Theo.

So tell me about him. Who is he? A Greek God? Personally, I don’t think that is far from the mark. In fact, I bet he hears women screaming his name often. Maybe he’s a demi-god much like Hercules? Perhaps he’s a Cirque du Soleil performer. Tell me about the ropes. Is he a stunt man who somehow lost his clothes in a scene gone horribly wrong? Could he be a shape-shifting wild animal who had been snared by a hunter’s trap?

Oh, the possibilities.

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the Day:  What Do I Have to Do? by Stabbing Westward

 

Photo by Jo Graetz

 

Facial expressions can speak volumes.

Tell me about this couple. Who are they? What are they after, besides the obvious. How did they end up pawing over one another? Is she the dominant one, or is he simply allowing her to think she’s in control?

For some reason, they remind me of characters in a paranormal romance. But what do you think? I’d love to hear your version of this couple’s story.

Are You A Peeping Tom?

Song of the day: Red, Red Wine by Ub40

I recently found out some troubling information about someone I know. Though I’m not surprised by the news, I am surprised that I had no inkling of this person’s bad behavior happening right under my nose.

That left me wondering – am I a good judge of character?

If not, if I live in some fantasy land where everyone I know is either good or bad with no ulterior motives, then how could I possibly write 3-dimensional, complex characters?

First impressions are important, but I reserve my opinion about others until I get to know them better. As a rule, I give people the benefit of doubt. If an acquaintance is using a guise, I’m likely not going to catch on . . . unless that person directly tries to snooker me. Tsk tsk. I pity the fool.

It’s not that I’m not observant, but, rather, something needs to trigger my awareness.

Sadly, if I was a crime victim – *snort* See this chip on my shoulder? Pretty impressive, huh? – and the police sketch artist asked for a description, well, the page would be woefully sparse.

I’m simply not a people watcher.  I’m a face value kind of gal. I don’t read into things. Especially with strangers or passers-by in my life. I’ve my own agenda, my own very full life with a load of responsibilities and demands looming in every crevice of my mind. There’s simply no room to register the goings-on of the neighbor with nocturnal yard work habits, the broke softball coach with the addiction to pain killers, or my daughter’s friend’s recently divorced Girls Gone Wild mom.

I’m no peeping tom, but I am fairly good at reading people’s body language. From an author’s prospective, the ability comes from conveying emotions, actions and reactions on paper so that the reader identifies with characters.  Everyone’s body language is different, but there are commonalities in movements and shifts in speaking patterns that indicate truths, lies, and swings in personalities.  The lack of eye contact with every lie, giggles when nervous, erratic hand gestures when livid, most people can read these non-verbal communications. But what of more subtle clues, such as a repeated movement each time a fib is spoken, shifting weight when anxious, or the single twitch of the jaw line when angry. One must watch others closely.

So is it possible to write characters that not only leap from the page but put the reader in a stranglehold without submersing yourself in other people’s lives? Yes! (I hear introverts everywhere cheering.)

T.S. Eliot said “No real vital character in fiction is altogether a conscious construction of the author. On the contrary, it may be a sort of parasitic growth upon the author’s personality, developing by internal necessity as much as by external addition.”

Nice. Need more?

Often, we don’t have to look further than our own circle of nut jobs, I mean, family, friends and coworkers. But sometimes even that is not enough.

If I want to people watch, I watch a movie. It dawned on me that watching a flick is one way I assemble character traits to which I am not accustomed. Not always consciously either. Truth really is stranger than fiction and often not as believable. Movies are the perfect place to gather tidbits, quirks, and overall personalities. And I don’t have to leave the comfort of my recliner. A myriad of individuality and behavior is as close as the push of my remote control button.

Don’t know a murderer?  Need a visual cue on the mannerisms of proper nobles in a high court? Not familiar with a vampire’s intense hunger? How about the intense hunger of a Casanova?

Larger than life on-screen characters may yield (or trigger) traits or idiosyncrasies for your own characters. Think Sergeant Riggs in Lethal Weapon, James Bond, Jack Sparrow, Indiana Jones, John Wayne in ANY movie, and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra or as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Or maybe not so larger than life characters, Jimmy Stewart as the paranoid Scottie Ferguson in Vertigo, Natalie Portman as manipulating Anne Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl,  Christoph Waltz as the scarily calculating and sadistic SS Col. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds.

Great guns, the possibilities are endless.

Honestly, why sit at the Starbucks eavesdropping or stalk people the mall? Watch a movie. Assemble traits, plug in quirks, add your own bolt of lightning and scream “It’s Alive! It’s Alive!”

Note: I do not recommend movies as a substitute for proper and thorough research.

Got any of your own favorite people, real or imaginary, that you use as a model? Let me hear from you.

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the Day: Shine by Collective Soul

I said I wouldn’t. Then I said I would. Then I wouldn’t, then I would . . .

Reserve your emails, I realize this is probably photo magic at work. But really, do you care? I sure don’t.

This photo can be a legitimate writing prompt. (If not a serious jolt to your muse.)

Go ahead, wipe the drool and tell me what’s going on in this picture. What’s he thinking?

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the Day: Lollipop by Framing Hanley

Really gets the heart pumping, doesn’t it?

I’ll start with an apology to my male followers. 

I had a tough choice this week. I could have gone with the cowboy, or the hunky city boy, but I chose Mr. Nekkid instead. Don’t have a clue why….

What’s his story? Who is he? A prisoner of war? A teacher of the fine art of Kama Sutra? A slave tied up by an Amazon princess? Where is he? On an island? Out West? In the desert? What do you suppose is on his mind?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.