Use Me

Camelot & Vine has hit the big time! I'm dealing with some of the same issues that the big New York publishers deal with!

23 cents may seem cheap. But wait. Here's Diana Gabaldon's huge hit, Outlander:

I doubt she minds. Her book has been made into a big cable TV hit, with gorgeous stars and gorgeous countryside and gorgeous costumes and gorgeous gorgeousness.

I don't mind, either. After all, if they're selling it used, then it had to get used in the first place. And look at this, at the end of the Camelot & Vine used sales list. 

What? I mean, what? Do people pay that kind of money for a used paperback? Not unless it's a first edition, signed by Dylan Thomas. People don't even pay this kind of money for a new hardback. So I wonder what the motivation is behind this pricing. It's certainly not sales.

Pasadena Library's 2nd Annual Author Fair

Are you coming by Pasadena's Central Library (285 E. Walnut St.) this Saturday, February 21st? Of course you are, because it's highly likely that at least one of your author friends (me) will be there. And probably more than one.

It's the library's 2nd annual Author Fair, 10am-2pm, and oh boy! Everyone's going to be there! Look at this list of authors:

Marcella Adams, Maria Alexander, Cindy Arora, Ontresicia Averette, Anne Louise Bannon, Julie Berry, Boualem Bousseloub, Mary Brodsky, Petrea Burchard, Stuart Douglass Byles, Christina Cha, Justin Chapman, Regina Conroy, Joey L. Dowdy, Quoleshna Elbert, Carol Elek, Jamie Eubanks, Jess Faraday, Kenneth Grant, Anjeza Angie Gega, Steven Gibson, Ken Goldstein, Michael Paul Gonzalez, Reg Green, Claudia Heller, Lisa Hernandez, Rubin Johnson, Lloyd Kaneko, Gay Toltl Kinman, Sarai Koo, Ph.D./ Gail Taylor, Jay Mathews, Dan McLaughlin, Kay Murdy, Elizabeth Pomeroy, Adrienne Ramsey-Harris, Raquel Reyes-Lopez, Thelma Reyna, Susan S. Rosvall, Jo Anne Sadler, Kathy Salama, Gisele Samaan, Yvette Samaan, Yvonne Senkandwa, Jason Silva, Lucie Simone, Frederick Smith, Ellen Snortland & Lisa Gaeta, Lynn Martin Snowden & Kyle Sydney Powell, Rick Stepp-Bolling, Diane E.M. Tegarden,Mary Terzian, Larissa Theule, Alicia Thompson, Marcia L. Thompson, Sarah Thursday, Cherie Mercer Twohy, Erika Wain Decker, Nancy Woo, Nancy Young, and last but absolutely not least, Desiree Zamorano!!!

All during the Fair, authors will read from their works in the Auditorium. While Desiree reads from The Amado Women at 10:30, I'll be covering for her at her signing table (no, I will not sign her books). At 11:10am she'll cover for me while I read something funny, or maybe something poignant—poignant, yeah, that's it—from my new book, Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand.

You can buy an autographed copy from me and I'll have a few copies of Camelot & Vine on hand as well. Or just stop by and say hi. There's no pressure to buy anything, though you might want to get yourself a treat at the Espress Yourself coffee shop (pictured) on the library grounds.

All these authors will be there to sign their books and answer your questions. Or maybe ask you some!

Wilma's Last Sales Pitch Before Christmas

The reason her bed is soaking wet is she was deeply involved in her bone. The reason the floor in the foreground is scratched is she was deeply involved in a squirrel outside the window, and she thought it would make sense to try to get him.

I distracted her with fine reading material.

 

(As an aside, it is next to impossible to photograph her tail because it's always moving.)

But she seems calm now. Her tail is slowing down. She's—

She's literally a dog, not a literary dog.

Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand

(mostly) comic essays for the actor in your life

Camelot & Vine

"Intelligent escapism" for the armchair adventurer in your life

Buy, read, enjoy, review! And thank you for another great year.

Girl Friday Book Club at Kidd's Jewelry Heist

Best event ever! I was invited to speak about Camelot & Vine with the Girl Friday Book Club. I knew it was going to be fun when I walked into Kidd's Jewelry Heist and saw this display.

Girl Friday Personal Assistant Services is just what it sounds like: a small, personal assistant company so loaded with creativity that I don't know where to begin. It wasn't just the food, or how artfully it was presented, or the wonderful people, or the venue. It was all these things and more.

And what a venue! Kidd's Jewelry Heist is charming for many reasons, not least of which is the decor, and most of which is owner Kelly Kidd himself. I wouldn't call him a shopkeeper, I'd call him a curator. He and his partner Redd Carter have created a cozy space where your imagination is invited to create whatever it wants to.

I grabbed a few photos of the place before the people came. 

 

Then I forgot about photos for a while. We met new people, drank wine, ate hand-crafted candies, and talked about anything and everything. When it came to talking about Camelot & Vine, I found a good-sized group of engaged and interesting women, great questions, and acceptance. Maybe it was the wine. If so, that was some amazing wine.

After book talk, we picked out our favorite charms and made "medieval" bracelets! That's (L-R) Rebecca, Karie, Kat Ward from Hometown Pasadena, author Pam Tartaglio, co-hostess and creative talent Ellen Main, Kelly, and Redd.

Cindi Knight orchestrates it all. The business is her brain-child, and from what I can tell she's got a hell of a brain.

I regret that I didn't get a decent picture of Cindi, who created Girl Friday Personal Assistant Services and who organizes these book club events. But I got a good picture of Kelly (above), and he got one of me (below).

Many thanks to our hosts Cindi, Ellen, Kelly and Redd, and to everyone who came. I had a fantastic time and I hope you did, too.

Update 11/18:
Tada! Here's the bracelet Kelly and Redd helped me make:

photo by John Sandel

You can see my little dragon and my crown and my fuzzy thing. On the underbeneath side I have a feather and a pail, both made of the same material as the crown and dragon.

An Intimate Heist

Kidd's Jewelry Heist in South Pasadena is a cache of trinkets and treasures, surrounded by Victorian finery and cozy divans. It's the perfect place for an intimate party. And that's just what we're going to have on November 14th with the Girl Friday Book Club.

There's a lot of information on the flyer below, but basically what you need to know is:

• While we enjoy dessert and wine, we'll talk about my book, Camelot & Vine. You don't have to read the book to come, but you can read it free if you've got a Kindle.
• The leather necklace or bracelet you make, in keeping with the Dark Ages/Medieval theme of the book, is included in the price.
• Kidd's is behind the Dinosaur Farm at 1510 Mission in South Pas. Parking is in the rear and you can enter from there.
• RSVP to Girl Friday by this Friday, November 7th, and tell them you heard it from me, that your price is $30, not the $40 on the flyer.

Art Night II

Art Night Pasadena brings happy crowds to Pasadena's many art venues and last night that included the Central Library. It was a family-friendly event with local authors, artists, dancers and musicians and it was a huge success.

How often does my book get its picture taken with celebrities?

The Reiyukai Creative Recycling display was particularly striking. Their table was busy all evening, with kids making beautiful boxes and decorations out of milk cartons. They teach workshops! Contact them here.

Throughout the evening Terry Bailey was creating interactive books on her iPod with art and music along with the words. When Terry comes to your book group she brings her iPod and plays the book's music for you.

I'm constantly amazed by the high quality and sheer number of programs offered by our library system. Adults, kids, teens, Shakespeare lovers, manga lovers, you name it. I highly recommend you subscribe to their monthly newsletter and enjoy the free amazingness our libraries have to offer.

Freebies

Blog friends have been my online support through thick and thin. I think you've all read Camelot & Vine by now. You've certainly heard enough about it. But as the publication of Act As If approaches, I want to give you some chances to read Camelot & Vine or share it with a friend for free. I want you to take a chance on the book so you can find out you love it, because you will. And then you'll buy Act As If.

Through October 30th, Camelot & Vine is available exclusively through these Amazon channels:

Kindle Unlimited: This is Amazon's ebook service where you pay $9.99 a month and they give you access to over 700,000 titles, including Camelot & Vine. Kindle Unlimited is great for voracious readers who read more than one book a month. Members read all they want for a monthly fee. You also get to keep the book on your Kindle as long as you keep your subscription going.

Amazon Prime Lending Library: Members of Amazon Prime can borrow one free ebook every month. Camelot & Vine is available this way as well.

Kindle Owners Lending Library: Essentially the same as Amazon Prime Lending Library when it comes to ebooks. Either way you need a Kindle.

Camelot & Vine is also part of the Amazon Matchbook Program, where you buy the paperback and get the ebook for 99cents, and you don't have to be a member of anything. And remember, the holidays are coming! Books make excellent gifts!

I don't know if you can see the spine: my publishing company is called Boz Books.

I don't know why it seems fitting that my book should be next to the works of Burgess. It's not fitting at all, really.

Boz Books Biz

This just in: I'll be reading from "Camelot & Vine" Wednesday, September 3rd at 8pm in Selfies, a showcase of self-published LA authors, at Traxx bar in Union Station. This is a fun, casual venue and it's easy to get there. Everyone will read a few minutes of their work. Come find out why best-selling authors are leaving their publishers to hop on the self-publishing bandwagon.

**********

Did I ever tell you that Boz Books is an actual publishing company? Yup. The company pays taxes and everything. And it's about to publish its second book.

Woohoo!

Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood With Headshot in Hand will be out very soon. I learned from experience with Camelot & Vine not to give an exact date until it's absolutely certain. But soon. I hope to have a coming out party this time so watch this space, you'll be invited.

There's also news for Camelot & Vine. It's now part of both the Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited programs, as well as Amazon's Matchbook program where you buy the paperback and get the ebook for 99 cents.

Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's subscription service for readers in the U.S. If you're a member you pay a monthly fee to read as many books as you want from a huge (ebook) library.

Not in the U.S.? Camelot & Vine is also part of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) available to Amazon Prime customers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Japan.

All you have to do is go to my links, or go to your account, and join.

Borrow, read, love, let me know...

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photo: The Mystery & Imagination Bookstore in Glendale, CA

Digital Book Day

(Update 7/13/14: Camelot & Vine is currently #1 on the Kindle free Women's Historical fiction list!)

Digital Book Day is a response to failure. No. Wait. It's a phoenix, rising from the ashes. Either way, I get to participate in what's sure to be a success.

For the last three years, World Book Night has given millions of free books to readers all over the world. Volunteers hand out donated books everywhere. These are not cast-offs that the second-hand stores can't sell. These are new books by best-selling authors, donated by authors and publishers.

Or I should say they were, because World Book Night is not going to happen this year due to lack of funding.

Enter bestselling thriller author C.J. Lyons to save the day! Digital Book Day, that is. Lyons is organizing it, and Camelot & Vine is a part! On Monday, July 14th just go to the Digital Book Day link and search for Camelot & Vine, or your favorite author (how could that not be me?), or just browse. Then download your free copy of anything listed there.

Oh--and, you lucky dawg, you get a bonus because you read my blog. Nobody knows this but you: Camelot & Vine is already free through July 14th at Smashwords, where you can download it free in any electronic format including Kindle. So you can have C&V now, and any book on the Digital Book Day site on July 14th (Bastille Day! Alléluia!)

Birthday Month

It's birthday month and I'm celebrating in all my favorite ways: world travel, lavish meals, jewels--you know, jet-setting.

I've also got a couple of sales going on the Camelot & Vine ebook:

Get it now: only through tomorrow (March 8, 2014) at Smashwords, enter the coupon code REW50 at checkout and get C&V for 50% off, or $3.00

If you miss it on Smashwords, the book is on sale all month at Amazon for $3.99.

Feel free to review it, good or bad. I'm told that quantity rules over quality on Amazon. Go figure.

Off I go to Paris, Milan, Istanbul! Or somewhere.

Random Acts of Reading

Here's my way of keeping visitors from sitting on a bench that would collapse if they did. I call it backyard art. It has nothing to do with today's post, but I didn't have a picture of the library.

Come one, come all to the Central Library this Saturday, February 22nd, 10am-12pm, for the Love Our authors Celebration!

 

Many, many local authors and publishers will be in the auditorium with their books, looking forward to a chat with you. Even the Pasadena Symphony will contribute Random Acts of Music. I imagine if you don't show up we'll talk amongst ourselves, but it would be nice to see you.

You can buy a book or not buy a book or buy twenty. The event is free, so come and snoop/browse/schmooze. 

While you're at it, I suggest you sign up for the library's newsletter. There's so much going on there it's the only way to keep track.

Brown Bags & Books

Bonnie Schroeder and I posed yesterday in the local authors section of the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse, holding copies of our books. Bonnie's book, Mending Dreams, just came out; it's available in print and ebook form. You can read the first chapter at BonnieSchroederBooks.com. I haven't read it yet but I now have a signed copy!

The photo was taken by author and journalist Susan James Carr. Bonnie and Susan were both instrumental in getting me invited to the Flintridge Bookstore's Brown Bags & Books club, which meets once a month. Yesterday they discussed Camelot & Vine over delicious scones (homemade by head of Marketing, Advertising and Authors, Sandy Willardson) plus cookies, smoothies and gourmet coffee. There's always food and drink at a book club because sharing food is as convivial as talking about books. (In my experience there's usually some gossip and chat to start things up, too.)

It helps if people like my book, which they did, but it almost doesn't matter. So many other things made it memorable: the simple fact that they invited me to talk about it for one, and that they all read it and asked interesting questions and wanted to know more, and meeting the individual readers--all these things are valuable to an author. I had an absolute blast, which as you know is a very authorly thing to say. "Authorly" not being a word, and all.

I'll be visiting another book club on Friday via Skype. I'd love to fly to Chicago to meet with them, but Skype will have to do! I'm told there will be wine and food at their meeting so I'll have something at my desk to ingest and imbibe while we chat. Just to be in the swing of things.

I've read recently about authors charging fees for book club visits, but I'd be delighted to visit your club for the price of a few convivial comestibles.

While You Can

If you live in Pasadena you have very little time to load in supplies before The Parade. Soon the streets will be overwhelmed and tough to navigate. You don't want to starve, so plan ahead. Over here we're putting up vegetables and stacking bags of flour and coffee in the cellar.

I got a superb Christmas eve present: a double book review from Library of Clean Reads. (They have two reviewers and both read it and liked it so it got two reviews.) Library of Clean Reads is a great blog for those who like books without too much sex, too much violence or too much swearing. I can take some of the above, but too much and the book becomes all about the sex (or the violence, or the swearing) and not about the story. Camelot & Vine has some violence and "mild religious expletives." My heroine mentions sex in fond ways but never actually gets any. She's not exactly pious.

I appreciate that they took time to read and review it. It's hard for independent authors to get honest reviews without paying for them, but most book bloggers won't take money and they won't post a review if they can't give your book at least three stars. So if they read it and mum's the word, it probably means "ick."

I'm watching a squirrel tiddle-toe across the top of my back fence, switching his fluffy tail. I love my office but there are distractions.

Where was I?

Yes! I want to announce the winner of Saturday's "Casting Light Upon the Darkness" blog hop. John pulled Nicole Evelina's name out of the hat. Nicole will receive a free copy of Camelot & Vine. I'm happy to say she sounds excited. Nicole also writes about the Arthurian legends so she knows the subject and will know what liberties I took. Hopefully that won't mean "ick."

Here at our house we will make one more sortie for supplies, then hunker down for a few days. I hope I've thought of everything. If I haven't, that squirrel had better watch out.

Casting Light Upon the Darkness: A Solstice Blog Hop

photo: Robert & Mihaela Vicol at publicphoto.org

The Dark Ages fascinate for many reasons. First of all, they were really, really dark. Imagine living without street lights to show your way or a lamp to read by--not to mention a computer screen.

I once read a book about the dark and how it felt to live in those times. Some of it was interesting, describing how people feared the night's sinister possibilities and used ritual to protect themselves from what they couldn't see. Some of the book was obvious: of course you'd trip over stuff. Of course you'd bump into things.

Still, I like picturing it.

Research helped me set Camelot & Vine around 500AD. My goal was to tell the story of a modern woman's visit to King Arthur's war camp and make it as believable as possible, which meant I wanted to show what it was like to live then. They used torches and small fires for exterior and even interior use, as long as the smoke could be properly directed to an escape route. Candles were made from animal fat, which was stinky and messy but easy to recycle. Oil lamps were reliable as long as nobody knocked them over.

I kept track of where the moon was while Casey was in the Dark Ages--which nights it waxed, which nights it waned. Minor pollution from the fires of the smithy might have blocked some light but not much. The full moon would have been bright. The new moon would have been extra dark. Except stars--stars like a woman from Los Angeles has never seen.

My favorite thing to imagine was the wide Salisbury Plain at night. This wasn't easy for me to picture. Yes, your eyes would adjust after a while, but what about a night when clouds shroud the moon? Why would you be out there alone in the first place? How far ahead could you see the road as it unfolded before you? What if you had to ride horseback on that overcast night, alone across the open plain, to save a life?

You might have to listen for the brook that burbles alongside the road and let its sound guide you. You might have to stop to hear the hoof-beats of other riders, not knowing if they're friends or foes, your own heart pounding loud enough to interfere with the sound. Something might cross your path in the dark. You'd better trust your horse.

If you can't, and all you have left is ritual you don't believe in and a pair of expensive, painful boots to walk in, you had better figure out how to believe in yourself.

The Camelot & Vine ebook is on special at $3.99 until January 1st, 2014, and today I'll be giving a free ebook to a random commenter (comment deadline midnight, Los Angeles time, 12/22/13). So say something! (And remember, books make great gifts!)

Many other authors are participating in today's blog hop! I encourage you to check them out and see what they did with the theme. Many have included contests and giveaways with their posts.

1.     Helen Hollick : A little light relief concerning those dark reviews! Plus a Giveaway Prize

2.     PrueBatten : Casting Light....

3.     AlisonMorton ‎ Shedding light on the Roman dusk, Plus a Giveaway Prize!

4.     AnnaBelfrage Let there be light!

5.     Beth Elliott : Steering by the Stars. Stratford Canning in Constantinople, 1810/12

6.     Melanie Spiller : Lux Aeterna, the chant of eternal light

7.     Janet Reedman   The Winter Solstice Monuments

8.     Petrea Burchard  : Darkness - how did people of the past cope with the dark? Plus a Giveaway Prize

9.    Richard Denning : The Darkest Years of the Dark Ages: what do we really know? Plus a Giveaway Prize! 

10.  Pauline Barclay  : Shedding Light on a Traditional Pie

11.  David Ebsworth : Propaganda in the Spanish Civil War

12.  David Pilling  :  Greek Fire, Plus a Giveaway Prize

13.  Debbie Young : Fear of the Dark

14.  Derek Birks  : Lies, Damned Lies and … Chronicles

15.  Mark Patton : Casting Light on Saturnalia

16.  Tim Hodkinson : Soltice@Newgrange

17.  Wendy Percival  : Ancestors in the Spotlight

18.  Judy Ridgley : Santa and his elves  Plus a Giveaway Prize

19.  Suzanne McLeod  :  The Dark of the Moon

20.  Katherine Bone   : Admiral Nelson, A Light in Dark Times

21.  Christina Courtenay : The Darkest Night of the Year

22.  Edward James  : The secret life of Christopher Columbus; Which Way to Paradise?

23.  Janis Pegrum Smith  : Into The Light - A Short Story

24.  Julian Stockwin  : Ghost Ships - Plus a Giveaway Present

25.  MandaScott : Dark into Light - Mithras, and the older gods

26.  Pat Bracewell Anglo-Saxon Art: Splendor in the Dark

27.  LucienneBoyce : We will have a fire - 18th Century protests against enclosure

28.  Nicole Evelina What Lurks Beneath Glastonbury Abbey? 

29.  Sky Purington  :  How the Celts Cast Light on Current American Christmas Traditions

30.  Stuart MacAllister (Sir Read A Lot) : The Darkness of Depression

New Year, New Business

I must catch you up on what's what.

First, mark your calendar if you will and come visit with me and authors Desiree Zamorano (Modern Cons, Human Cargo and the upcoming The Amado Women) and Margaret Finnegan (The Goddess Lounge, Selling Suffrage) at the Crowell Public Library in San Marino, 7pm Monday, January 13 for "Three Local Authors, One Special Evening: When Authors Talk."

Not the usual "read for twenty minutes then take questions" evening, we'll read very short bits from our current novels then chat about such subjects as conflict, ideas and subtext. The audience will of course be invited to chime in.

Also, please reset your bookmark: PasadenaDailyPhoto.com will no longer lead you here after about January 7th. PasadenaDailyPhoto.blogspot.com is still good, as is LivingVicuriously.net.

The Camelot & Vine ebook is on sale for $3.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords until the end of December. It goes up to $5.99 after the first of the year, so get it now! (And remember, books make great gifts!)

Lastly, drop by December 21st for a special solstice blog hop called "Casting Light in the Darkness." A long list of authors interprets this theme. I'm working on my post to have it ready for that longest night of the year.