Good morning, everyone. I hope you did something cool for Earth Day yesterday. My employer was giving out bare root plants to anyone who wanted one so...I sashayed over to the office to get a lovely little Rose of Sharon. Then I found out that they had a whole slew of plants left over (no one wanted them?!) so I finagled a Forsythia and a Lilac to add to my collection :-) I've always been a bit of an environmentalist, preferring to plant a tree to taking it down. It's always baffled me why people prefer to have sterilized lots with no trees but my dh pointed out that no trees equals no leaves to rake in the fall. For my part, I'd rather see all my trees stay unless they become diseased and create a hazard to houses or passers-by. And generally if one has to come out, it'll be replaced. I think my husband believes I'm related to Mother Nature and would prefer to live in a forest. He might be right about the forest part, LOL
The two-fer part of the title of this post is because I really didn't have a subject for today. I did want to speak about Earth Day but didn't have a whole lot to say. And I did promise, earlier this week, to give a brief review of Cheryl Brooks' book, SLAVE, the first in The Cat Star Chronicles.
Way back when, I used to do book reviews for the Writer's Club at AOL (loved doing it though occasionally I'd get the heavy duty SF tome that had pages and pages of convoluted sentences and twenty dollar words designed to impress the reader with how brilliant the author was). I much prefer easy-to-read, fast-paced books with a high entertainment value. SLAVE fits my demands easily. So on with the review...
THE CAT STAR CHRONICLES: SLAVE
by Cheryl Brooks
Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN: 13-978-1-4022-1192-8
$5.99 US/#8.99 Canada
314 pages
Told in first person, SLAVE is the story of Jacinth's journey to find and liberate her kidnapped sister from a life of slavery. When she discovers that Ranata is on a planet where women are bound in sexual servitude to men, she realizes that she must have a man she can trust to help her find and free Ranata. She finds that man, bound in chains himself, in a slave market. Though she violently opposes slavery, she purchases the man only to free him almost immediately when he announces that it's his duty to attempt escape. She really doesn't have time to deal with issues of keeping a reluctant slave and she can't use a man in chains in her quest to find her sister. No, he has to appear to be 'in charge' and she has to appear to be the 'slave' without risking actually becoming one. That's why she needs a man she can trust.
To her surprise, Cat follows her back to her ship; he has no where to go, he's still in chains and he feels a debt of gratitude to her for his freedom. That's not why he stays, however, his attraction for Jacinth, and hers for him, is apparent from the beginning. And his being an alien with distinctly feline characteristics makes him a very interesting character. Who doesn't love a guy who can purr?
Their journey to the planet Statzeel, where her sister is supposedly located, takes place in what seems a single day. And therein lies my single fault with the story and that's due no doubt to my SF background). Jacinth has spent 6 years trying to find her sister, visiting a score of planets as she follows Ranata's trail. A journey from one star system to another in a single day just doesn't seem...reasonable to me. HOWEVER, this is a fault that I easily overlooked as the story progressed because the world building, in general, was so fresh and vibrant. And Cat was so darned...well, Cat!
SLAVE is a wonderful blend of humor (Jacinth's habit of using slang taken from ancient Earth and Cat's blank confusion when she uses it is marvelous), passion and adventure. There's a touch of eroticism but while it's a sexy read, it isn't what I call an erotic romance...which is fine since I don't believe that it's intended to be erotic. SLAVE is a great way to spend your down time, which is my way of saying...buy a copy. I think you'll like it.
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Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What if...scent is a factor in mate selection?
As a speculative fiction romance writer and reader, I've seen many a book where the heroine's intrinsic scent is what clues the hero that She is his mate. That's kind of romantic, no? But it's not something common to our olfactory abilities. A shame really, if you think about it, because it could aid us in selecting a more physically appealing mate. I'm not talking about his or her looks. Physical appearance changes due to time or accident. What I'm talking about is something I've seen in the movie, Species, and which has been determined to exist in mice. If you recall, in the movie, the alien hybrid who was desperate to mate and procreate had a willing partner but something in his scent warned her he had a physical disease (diabetes, IIRC) that would not make him a prime candidate for fathering her offspring.
Well, recent studies have shown mice to have this very same ability. Apparently a receptive female mouse was put with several willing male mice who were inbred. The female wasn't receptive to their advances and the scientists think it was due to that inbred factor. You can read more here.
Maybe not as romantic as knowing a potential mate is yours but I can see a wealth of story ideas in something like this anyway. What about you?
Well, recent studies have shown mice to have this very same ability. Apparently a receptive female mouse was put with several willing male mice who were inbred. The female wasn't receptive to their advances and the scientists think it was due to that inbred factor. You can read more here.
Maybe not as romantic as knowing a potential mate is yours but I can see a wealth of story ideas in something like this anyway. What about you?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
What If...Biofuels Harm the Environment?
Yeah, I know, I already posted a What If :D But I had a little down time before I had to get to work and this subject really spoke to me. I've been in favor of less Earth impact since my teens (we only have the one planet, after all) and try not to do more damage than necessary. At first, I thought, hey, biofuel -- what a great concept! But then I started hearing alternative thoughts and theories. Now, I'm not so sure.
I've been seeing stories about biofuel and its impact on the world's food production. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, world grain stocks have fallen to a 25 year low of 5 million tons, which is claimed to be barely enough rations for eight to 12 weeks. This year the U.S. will divert 18 percent of its grain output for ethanol production to break dependency on oil imports.
It's interesting because I've heard reports that biofuel, particularly those produced from grains, don't reduce dependence on foreign oil and can actually be more harmful to the environment than the fossil fuels they would replace.
Scientists have questioned the sustainability of biofuels, warning that by increasing deforestation for crops, the energy source may be contributing to global warming.
John Beddington, England's current chief scientific adviser, has expressed skepticism about biofuels. At a speech in Westminster, he said demand for biofuels from the U.S. had delivered a "major shock" to world agriculture, which was raising food prices globally. "There are real problems with the unsustainability of biofuels." He added that cutting down rain forests to grow these crops was "profoundly stupid".
But even worse is that I've heard that turning plants such as corn, soybeans and sunflowers into fuel uses more energy than the resulting ethanol or biodiesel generates. For example, corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy to raise, harvest and convert than the fuel produced from it.
So maybe biofuel isn't the way to go. We definitely don't want to cut down rain forests or contribute to the starvation in third world countries. And if the production of biofuel exceeds its cost-benefit ratio, what's the point?
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I've been seeing stories about biofuel and its impact on the world's food production. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, world grain stocks have fallen to a 25 year low of 5 million tons, which is claimed to be barely enough rations for eight to 12 weeks. This year the U.S. will divert 18 percent of its grain output for ethanol production to break dependency on oil imports.
It's interesting because I've heard reports that biofuel, particularly those produced from grains, don't reduce dependence on foreign oil and can actually be more harmful to the environment than the fossil fuels they would replace.
Scientists have questioned the sustainability of biofuels, warning that by increasing deforestation for crops, the energy source may be contributing to global warming.
John Beddington, England's current chief scientific adviser, has expressed skepticism about biofuels. At a speech in Westminster, he said demand for biofuels from the U.S. had delivered a "major shock" to world agriculture, which was raising food prices globally. "There are real problems with the unsustainability of biofuels." He added that cutting down rain forests to grow these crops was "profoundly stupid".
But even worse is that I've heard that turning plants such as corn, soybeans and sunflowers into fuel uses more energy than the resulting ethanol or biodiesel generates. For example, corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy to raise, harvest and convert than the fuel produced from it.
So maybe biofuel isn't the way to go. We definitely don't want to cut down rain forests or contribute to the starvation in third world countries. And if the production of biofuel exceeds its cost-benefit ratio, what's the point?
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What If...Dinosaurs Walked the Grand Canyon
Okay, we all know the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona was presumably formed by the Colorado river and we knew it's been around for a long, long time. But now there's evidence that the Canyon is older than we thought. In fact, it may be older than 55 million years old (now I don't feel so ancient, LOL)
And there's thoughts that the river ran in the opposite direction at one time. The Colorado is a pretty powerful river (understatement :D) so a course change is rather remarkable. You can read more here.
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And there's thoughts that the river ran in the opposite direction at one time. The Colorado is a pretty powerful river (understatement :D) so a course change is rather remarkable. You can read more here. Technorati Tags:
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Monday, April 14, 2008
Market News
Sorry to get haphazard here, I've had to start working a bunch of OT at the day job and it's not leaving a whole lot of time for other, more interesting pursuits.
Anyway, this is from Cindi Myers whose link is at the bottom. Enjoy -- Lynda
_________________________________________________________________________
Senior Editor Shauna Summers is looking for 'big, contemporary romance' for Bantam Dell
Dianne Moggy, director of Global Single Titles at Harlequin Books, says HQN is looking for contemporary romance, sexy historical romance and romantic suspense. Mira is also looking for romantic suspense manuscripts.
Jennifer Enderlin, Senior Editor of St. Martin's Press, shared her four-point checklist for deciding whether or not she wants to work with an author:
1. Do I love this author's writing?
2. Do I like working with this author?
3. Is this author reliable?
4. Does this author sell?
While an author who meets all four criteria is great, three out of four is pretty good. If the author meets none of the four, that's not the author for her. (And yes, she is still looking for a big, really sexy western historical romance.)
Tom Colgan of Berkley Prime Crime has no plans to cut back -- the imprint is doing well.
Betsy Mitchell, Editor in Chief of Del Rey Books, said they plan to increase their offerings of 'female-oriented' science fiction and fantasy.
Amy Pierpont, Editorial Director of Grand Central Publishing is very interested in western historical romance. She and Lucia Macro, Executive Editor of Avon would both like to see western historicals featuring real, known historical figures.
*******************************************************
Emily Lawrence, former assistant editor at Harper's has been hired as associate editor at Aladdin.
********************************************************
Grantville Gazette (http://www.grantvillegazette.com) is a very interesting, paying market for alternative history short stories. But not just any stories. All the stories center around the alternative universe of Grantville, Virginia, which has been transported to 1632 Germany. From the website "In April of the year 2000, a six-mile sphere centered on Grantville, West Virginia was displaced in space and time to Germany and May, 1631. The inhabitants of Grantville decided to start the American revolution early; the nobility of Europe were not amused." The first story, by Eric Flint, has spawned numerous anthologies and the Grantville Gazette magazine. Anyone is welcome to submit a story, but they must be familiar with the world Flint created, and must follow very specific submission guidelines. Payment is six cents a word. If you're interested in pursuing this, I suggest you first check out http://1632.org/ This site provides a wealth of reference material, tips as to what's been overdone, things not to submit -- everything a writer might want to know. Then go to http://www.grantvillegazette.com/submissions and familiarize yourself with the submission guidelines. Good luck!
**************************************************************
As always, feel free to pass along this newsletter and to encourage others to sign up to receive it. If you reprint or forward the newsletter, all I ask is that I be given credit for it. Anyone can sign up by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Anyway, this is from Cindi Myers whose link is at the bottom. Enjoy -- Lynda
_________________________________________________________________________
Senior Editor Shauna Summers is looking for 'big, contemporary romance' for Bantam Dell
Dianne Moggy, director of Global Single Titles at Harlequin Books, says HQN is looking for contemporary romance, sexy historical romance and romantic suspense. Mira is also looking for romantic suspense manuscripts.
Jennifer Enderlin, Senior Editor of St. Martin's Press, shared her four-point checklist for deciding whether or not she wants to work with an author:
1. Do I love this author's writing?
2. Do I like working with this author?
3. Is this author reliable?
4. Does this author sell?
While an author who meets all four criteria is great, three out of four is pretty good. If the author meets none of the four, that's not the author for her. (And yes, she is still looking for a big, really sexy western historical romance.)
Tom Colgan of Berkley Prime Crime has no plans to cut back -- the imprint is doing well.
Betsy Mitchell, Editor in Chief of Del Rey Books, said they plan to increase their offerings of 'female-oriented' science fiction and fantasy.
Amy Pierpont, Editorial Director of Grand Central Publishing is very interested in western historical romance. She and Lucia Macro, Executive Editor of Avon would both like to see western historicals featuring real, known historical figures.
*******************************************************
Emily Lawrence, former assistant editor at Harper's has been hired as associate editor at Aladdin.
********************************************************
Grantville Gazette (http://www.grantvillegazette.com) is a very interesting, paying market for alternative history short stories. But not just any stories. All the stories center around the alternative universe of Grantville, Virginia, which has been transported to 1632 Germany. From the website "In April of the year 2000, a six-mile sphere centered on Grantville, West Virginia was displaced in space and time to Germany and May, 1631. The inhabitants of Grantville decided to start the American revolution early; the nobility of Europe were not amused." The first story, by Eric Flint, has spawned numerous anthologies and the Grantville Gazette magazine. Anyone is welcome to submit a story, but they must be familiar with the world Flint created, and must follow very specific submission guidelines. Payment is six cents a word. If you're interested in pursuing this, I suggest you first check out http://1632.org/ This site provides a wealth of reference material, tips as to what's been overdone, things not to submit -- everything a writer might want to know. Then go to http://www.grantvillegazette.com/submissions and familiarize yourself with the submission guidelines. Good luck!
**************************************************************
As always, feel free to pass along this newsletter and to encourage others to sign up to receive it. If you reprint or forward the newsletter, all I ask is that I be given credit for it. Anyone can sign up by sending a blank email to cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
What If...Hunting wasn't the sole reason for the Mammoth die off?
I saw an interesting article about the possible causes for the demise of the mammoth. Most often, humans are blamed for hunting them to extinction but recently scientists have theorized that a climate change combined with human predation may be the ultimate reason for their disappearance. You can read more here.
Another interesting tidbit surfaced on possible organic chemicals found on one of Saturn's moon. Apparently, Enceladus is thought to have liquid water, which along with the organic chemicals, could support life. You can read more here.
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Another interesting tidbit surfaced on possible organic chemicals found on one of Saturn's moon. Apparently, Enceladus is thought to have liquid water, which along with the organic chemicals, could support life. You can read more here.
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