Happy Sunday, y'all!
Just wanted to share this awesome book review site with you. Called Books N Beans, it features book reviews as well as author spotlights. I'm featured today. Yes! I know.
And Kristi, the mistress of Books N Beans gave No One Knows You're Here an awesome review.
Ch-ch-check it out!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Kindle Fire Department: The View from Here: Kindle Book of the Day for 3/6...
Morning, Friends! If you haven't checked out Kindle Fire Department yet and you own a Kindle Fire, you are not human. I'm TELLING YOU -- go there now and learn about new, old, free, cheap apps for your Fire. They also feature great e-books... e-books like The View from Here!
Kindle Fire Department: The View from Here: Kindle Book of the Day for 3/6...: When we featured Rachel Howzell 's bestselling glimpse into the darker side of marriage, The View from Here, a few months ago, it was a huge...
Kindle Fire Department: The View from Here: Kindle Book of the Day for 3/6...: When we featured Rachel Howzell 's bestselling glimpse into the darker side of marriage, The View from Here, a few months ago, it was a huge...
Monday, March 5, 2012
Ink - A Handy-Dandy Guide
To make a world realistic, writers have to learn about all kinds of crazy ish.
Are there birds that can fly backwards?
Play-Dough: why?
Which bugs are first to arrive at a dead body?
I write stories about city-living and the people who inhabit that world. Some of those people are gang members. Since I no longer personally know gang members, I turn to other resources for information. Which leads me to:
Tattoos!
Yes, there are meanings behind those tattoos and Gawker posted a story about the comprehensive document Canadian border officials keep on gang-related tats!
Eight-plus pages of goodness, from Crips to Russian gangs.
Click away, my friends, and read!
By the way, hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards, Play-Dough was originally created to clean wallpaper, and blow flies come first.
Are there birds that can fly backwards?
Play-Dough: why?
Which bugs are first to arrive at a dead body?
I write stories about city-living and the people who inhabit that world. Some of those people are gang members. Since I no longer personally know gang members, I turn to other resources for information. Which leads me to:
Tattoos!
Yes, there are meanings behind those tattoos and Gawker posted a story about the comprehensive document Canadian border officials keep on gang-related tats!
Eight-plus pages of goodness, from Crips to Russian gangs.
Click away, my friends, and read!
By the way, hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards, Play-Dough was originally created to clean wallpaper, and blow flies come first.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Trust, It Ain't About the Money
What ain't about money?
Writing.
Writers don't write to make lots of money.
Okay, I shouldn't generalize. It only takes one red car to kill the statement 'All cars are white.' Or one literary novelist makin' it rain up in the hizzouse to prove me wrong.
So: many writers, the writers I know, the writers I admire, the writers I friend on Facebook, the writers who still have day jobs, don't write just to make money.
Money is nice. A nice, "Wow, and I get this, too?!" Money is validation. Money is gravy ... and I like gravy. In a house with a mouse, in a car, near and far. I like gravy. But I made gravy, ahem, money, before selling novels. Doing discovery for ARCO. Stocking the Levi's wall at Miller's Outpost. Stuffing envelopes for almost every non-profit organization I've worked for. Anyone can make money. That dog that was in 'The Artist'? He's made a lot of money. Whitney Houston, rest her soul, has made more money in her death than I've made in my life. So, yeah: Dead People see Dead Benjamins.
So, if it ain't about the ends, why is it about?
I love words. I love story. I enjoy my disbelief when observing people and their actions and I want to share that disbelief through the best way I know how: with a pen and pad. I sing but I don't pen great songs like Bernie Taupin. I play piano but I don't compose like Gershwin. I write.
And I write because I must. Because I can. Because someone has to tell you, yes you, that there's a dead body (real or imagined) in that alley over there because you need to know so that we can all stop the monster who's doing scary s*&t to other citizens.
And books are my vehicle for doing that, a modern day, Here Thar Be Monsters!
I hope that makes sense.
And yes, this is a reactionary post.
And no, they didn't say nothin' 'bout my momma.
Writing.
Writers don't write to make lots of money.
Okay, I shouldn't generalize. It only takes one red car to kill the statement 'All cars are white.' Or one literary novelist makin' it rain up in the hizzouse to prove me wrong.
So: many writers, the writers I know, the writers I admire, the writers I friend on Facebook, the writers who still have day jobs, don't write just to make money.
Money is nice. A nice, "Wow, and I get this, too?!" Money is validation. Money is gravy ... and I like gravy. In a house with a mouse, in a car, near and far. I like gravy. But I made gravy, ahem, money, before selling novels. Doing discovery for ARCO. Stocking the Levi's wall at Miller's Outpost. Stuffing envelopes for almost every non-profit organization I've worked for. Anyone can make money. That dog that was in 'The Artist'? He's made a lot of money. Whitney Houston, rest her soul, has made more money in her death than I've made in my life. So, yeah: Dead People see Dead Benjamins.
So, if it ain't about the ends, why is it about?
I love words. I love story. I enjoy my disbelief when observing people and their actions and I want to share that disbelief through the best way I know how: with a pen and pad. I sing but I don't pen great songs like Bernie Taupin. I play piano but I don't compose like Gershwin. I write.
And I write because I must. Because I can. Because someone has to tell you, yes you, that there's a dead body (real or imagined) in that alley over there because you need to know so that we can all stop the monster who's doing scary s*&t to other citizens.
And books are my vehicle for doing that, a modern day, Here Thar Be Monsters!
I hope that makes sense.
And yes, this is a reactionary post.
And no, they didn't say nothin' 'bout my momma.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Great Review for NOKYH!!!
Nina Sankovitch of Read All Day just posted an INCREDIBLE review for No One Knows You're Here. I was in tears as I read it. For real, though. I was. Here's is the part that really... whew.
Howzell is the Sue Grafton of her generation, with a bit more social conscience and street cred. Like Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, Syeeda is determined to be her own woman, solving crimes and facing down danger, and protecting her own body — and heart — as ferociously as she hunts down bad guys. I hope to see more, much more of Syeeda (Ms. Howzell, you hear me?) and I look forward to reading another novel starring the scrappy, savvy, and stalwart Syeeda.
Read the rest of the review here.
Howzell is the Sue Grafton of her generation, with a bit more social conscience and street cred. Like Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, Syeeda is determined to be her own woman, solving crimes and facing down danger, and protecting her own body — and heart — as ferociously as she hunts down bad guys. I hope to see more, much more of Syeeda (Ms. Howzell, you hear me?) and I look forward to reading another novel starring the scrappy, savvy, and stalwart Syeeda.
Read the rest of the review here.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
A Library for the New World
So NASA found a planet like Earth last month or whenever.
Yes, yes, yes! That means more closet space, more Starbucks and a new location to Facebook about. 'Rachel checked in at the AMC Theater on the south side of Kepler 22-B." Hopefully, Groupon will offer this as a Getaway Deal cuz my bags, they are PACKED!
Isn't she pretty?
But what will I read when I get there? Kepler-22B may not have WiFi capability so my Kindle will be useless since I read all the books loaded onto it once I awakened from hyper-sleep and had to read during the rest of the journey over. So: old-school books -- we have to send a capsule full of them for the first public library in New Los Angeles, Kepler-22B (Okay, and we'll have to have a write-in contest maybe sponsored by our new overlords to change that name. Sounds like something I should pour into my camshafts).
What should we stock?
Here are my ten picks:
1. The Bible (of course, cuz we need rules and poetry and stories about sex, redemption and salvation in this new world)
2. The Joy of Sex (I'm sure we'll lose a few space travelers so we'll need to repopulate) by Alex Comfort
3. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
4. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
5. The Odyssey by Homer
6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
8. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
9. Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
10. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
What other books should we stock?
Yes, yes, yes! That means more closet space, more Starbucks and a new location to Facebook about. 'Rachel checked in at the AMC Theater on the south side of Kepler 22-B." Hopefully, Groupon will offer this as a Getaway Deal cuz my bags, they are PACKED!
Isn't she pretty?
But what will I read when I get there? Kepler-22B may not have WiFi capability so my Kindle will be useless since I read all the books loaded onto it once I awakened from hyper-sleep and had to read during the rest of the journey over. So: old-school books -- we have to send a capsule full of them for the first public library in New Los Angeles, Kepler-22B (Okay, and we'll have to have a write-in contest maybe sponsored by our new overlords to change that name. Sounds like something I should pour into my camshafts).
What should we stock?
Here are my ten picks:
1. The Bible (of course, cuz we need rules and poetry and stories about sex, redemption and salvation in this new world)
2. The Joy of Sex (I'm sure we'll lose a few space travelers so we'll need to repopulate) by Alex Comfort
3. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
4. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
5. The Odyssey by Homer
6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
8. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
9. Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
10. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
What other books should we stock?
To Ill or Not to Ill...
So there's this awesome back-and-forth going on between the New York Times crossword editor and this freelance writer about the true definition of 'illin'.
From: Julieanne Smolinski
Date: Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Subject: Crossword Puzzle Correction
To: nytnews@nytimes.com
Dear New York Times,
The clue for 28 down reads "Wack, in hip-hop," and the answer provided is "ILLIN." These are not the same things, at all!
Sincerely,
Julieanne Smolinski,
Not Even a Hip-Hop Expert
Click on over to Gawker for the magila!
From: Julieanne Smolinski
Date: Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Subject: Crossword Puzzle Correction
To: nytnews@nytimes.com
Dear New York Times,
The clue for 28 down reads "Wack, in hip-hop," and the answer provided is "ILLIN." These are not the same things, at all!
Sincerely,
Julieanne Smolinski,
Not Even a Hip-Hop Expert
Click on over to Gawker for the magila!
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