Kim Harrison Says 'Excuse Me, You Got Your Romance In My Urban Fantasy'

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this guest post at SF Signal this morning by Kim Harrison  -  Kim Harrison Says 'Excuse Me, You Got Your Romance In My Urban Fantasy' . It is an intelligent and articulate look at the difference between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genre writing. Kim is the talented author of the New York Times Bestselling Hallows series, a nine book series with the latest being Pale Demon.

I recently discovered the series. I had seen her books before at Barnes and Noble and had been intimidated by the sheer number of them. I love a series but I didn't know where to start. After taking a class and hearing how wonderful they were I downloaded the first one onto my Kindle and the rest was history. I devoured them. The books are amazing. Kim's world building is fantastic. There is never a cliche and she's not afraid to beat up on her protagonist :)

But she does write Urban Fantasy and not Paranormal Romance and that is the lesson today. She didn't just throw in some pixies, werewolves and vampires to sell it in the trending market like so many these days. She's created deep characters with real histories not the two dimensional ones we get in most romances. And for that we love you Kim. Tink's Contractual Hell, write another book soon!

Memorial Day Weekend, Life & Death

This weekend we celebrate our soldiers. We remember their sacrifice and affirm our devotion to freedom through it. In my own personal life I've gone through some milestones this weekend as well.

My daughter went to her senior prom last night. She was beautiful. Sending her off was a culmination of many years of worry, nuturing and hardwork. It was truly a bittersweet moment. It was a moment meant to mark an important milestone in a young woman's life and she did it gracefully.

This morning my aunt died after a long struggle with brain cancer. She passed peacefully in her sleep. Her children had been with her. The last important milestone in a woman's life.

The irony of the two events occuring hours apart did not pass over me. It gave me a lot to think about. My young daughter starting her life out with hopefully many wonderful new experiences. My aunt leaving hers with many wonderful adventures behind.

As we go about this weekend, let's remember the reason we have the holiday. Our service men and women. But also that it is an affirmation of life and death and the freedom to pursue it. Always pursue life, don't wait for it.

Coroner vs Medical Examiner

Every county or parrish in every state has either a coroner or a medical examiner (ME). The terms are used interchangeably but the two are different. The word coroner comes from the English office "crowner of the King" or "the keeper of the pleas of the crown".

As early as the 11th century the coroner's duties were many, including determining cause of death. He would also investigate and judge said deaths. Early English settlers, in the 1600's, brought with them the office of the coroner and it's inquisitional way of investigating and judging death to America.

The medical examiner traces its origins to Scotland and France in the 1800's. You must hold at least a MD to hold this office and often the modern ME also has forensic and pathology training.

Since the King had appointed the office of coroner it was ran like a popularity contest and continued that way in the States, leading to elections today. Your coroner may be a sherrif, a mortician or a MD. In 1940, Congress passed a law to make it uniform in all states to have the medical examiner system but some have held out. California for example. Usually when you have a coroner today, he is a medical doctor and he/she hires forensic pathologists to do the actual work.

What system do you have? Did you know there was a difference? Does it surprise you that anyone can be a coroner? Maybe I should run? Hmmmmmmm......

An Excerpt From Still Sucking in San Francisco

We pull up to a beautifully restored Victorian with wildflowers planted in every square inch of the lawn. Humming bird feeders and bird baths are squeezed in. Wrens, bushtits and buzzing iridescent hummingbirds dart through the air, chirp or make use of the stone baths. The whole house pulses with magick but it was blue magick and beautiful. A simple sign hangs near the door that reads ‘Starbird’.

     “Starbird?! The Starbird! You know Starbird?”

     “I’m her Goddess mother,” Helena nonchalantly says. “I was there when she came into the world, glowing of magick even then.”

     “How is that possible?”

     “The gift is very strong in some of us. She was born with it. Her mother was a Wiccan too. She has a lovely soul and has made her life’s work educating others. I'm truly proud of her. But even I need to make an appointment,” Helena says with a bit of irritation. I hid a smile.

Just a little snippet from what I am working on this morning. This is a book about vampires but also has witches and magick resonating through it. A touch of humor and hopefully some twists and turns. Happy reading. ~

Vampires and Texting

I'm doing some rewrites on my WIP (work in progress) Sucking in San Francisco and I am considering having my vampires text each other. They call each other, why wouldn't they text? The main character uses an iPhone and an iPad, she's savvy. Charlaine Harris, for goodness sake, has her vampires and King of the fairies calling each other on cell phones during battle. If she can get away with something like that shouldn't I?

But that's the rub. She's Charlaine Harris :) Would I get away with it, should I? Oh reader... the few of you there are... what do you think? Are vampires 21st century enough to text and use gadgets or should they stay mysterious and dark?

Social Media and the Universe

So I've been blogging and tweeting and facebooking for a day now with awesome results. The world really does revolve around social media. I'm beginning to think life's answers are out there if you just dig hard enough. Twitter was ablaze yesterday with tweets about the rapture and zombies. It seems that my blog was apropos. Towards the end of the day people were saying enough already and started talking about other things. It seemed the rapture came and went via facebook and twitter.

The funny thing is, I would have missed it all if I hadn't taken on this trek to higher enlightenment. I have to ask myself if I would have missed the poignant and funny posts and the answer is: Hell Yes! I've found my fountain of youth. Next will be a smart phone and texting. My daughter groans, my mother rolls her eyes and my husband is oblivious. But I will soon be the Queen of the Universe. (If I can figure out the language.) Captain Underpants watch out!

Facebook & Twitter

So I haven't been very active on here and I am about to change that. I am breaking into the world of twitter as we speak. Very nervous and honestly feeling like a mega geek. But in today's world that's a good thing. I'm getting ready to publish an author's page on FB. Technically I'm not a published author in fiction, I'm still a writer but I've been published mutliple times in the non-fiction world so I'm using it in the name so I can have it as my FB title :)
On to some things paranormal. I recently went with a wonderful group that I am a member of, Sisters in Crime, to a shooting range, across from San Quentin, for some target practice. We had a very thorough class on guns and shooting from Adam and then went downstairs to pick out our targets and gear so we could shoot. I of course I picked the ZOMBIE target. Oh Yeah!
When it was my turn, my good friend, Reina Williams (check out her blog) and I took our targets into the range and loaded them up. I used a 1911 gun and aimed. First shot was in the head and the remainder of the clip went into the heart. That's right... I double tapped.  Can't be too sure with zombies!
What I learned. Well, I'm a pretty good shot if I have to be. I don't really like guns but could probably get over that with some practice. I really love shooting zombies and will happily defend my home against them. Apocalypse... I'm ready.