Back from OBLIVION

An old writing friend, Fern Cook, whom I hadn't heard from in several years, contacted me recently to say she'd started writing again, and was in the process of getting her first novel published. CONGRATS FERN! If anyone is reading this, please check out Fern's book, SOUTH DAKOTA WAY, a romance with inspirational flavoring.

I was so surprised to hear from Fern, it was sort of a wake-up call reminding me that I had pretty much dropped off the face of the writing world. I miss writing, and hope to get back to it soon. Sorry to anyone who may have been waiting desperately to read my next book. (Like I'm sure one or two of you who fit that description are out there somewhere!)

I have a lot of other (non-writing) stuff going on but hope to shove all that to the back burner and get back to what I really love - writing! I realize I do not work well in a vacuum and therefore need some semi-human contact to keep me motivated and on the path to produce quality writing. (Ok, just writing. Maybe the quality factor is stretching it a bit.) So writing friends and acquaintences one and all, feel free to say something here. I will respond, if not sooner, then later - but I will, I promise!

A dedicated critique group has worked in the past, but alas, most all those groups eventually go the way of the dodo bird. (Or is that doodoo bird?) Anyway, I am sure to the bone that those few writers who manage to find a steady and steadfast mutual support system end up being the happiest and most successful writers in the bunch. I guess I will have to try again to search for the elusive pot-o-gold, the perfect (or near perfect) online critique group. I have given up finding a real person face-to-face group.

But for now, the tax man cometh, and I'm not ready - as usual. Will return with new news as soon as the dreaded April 15th deadline is met! Or sooner if I can force myself to enter the world of creative accounting before the elventh hour. Until then, happy reading, happy writing, happy whatever makes you happy and isn't harmful to others or yourself!

MISC. COMMENTS: Dissing Dialup

OK, so I'm a dinosaur holdout, still clinging to dialup internet service. But not for lack of desire to upgrade to something faster.

Believe it or not, our phone lines three miles out of town can't get DSL - even though the neighbors at the corner entrance to our subdivision can. Oh, but not the folks across the street from them. No, that would be too simple. Something about the fiber-optics cable only stretching so far...

Cable TV services promises even faster speed - but at higher prices. What's a miserly cheapskate to do? Bite the bullet and empty my wallet, or suck it up and continue waiting TWO HOURS for a 19-meg download? My nifty sort-of-new laptop has wireless capability, but I either have to hang out at a snooty coffee shop in town to get internet access with it, or try to piggyback via my yuppy neighbors across the street who can't mow their lawn, but do have wireless cable internet service! (How would I know they have wireless? Well ... my nifty laptop took it upon itself to hop on their network one night, and I enjoyed the speediest access to the world-wide web this side of town - until they shut their computer down for the night.)

Curses! Now that I know what I'm missing, dialup is intolerable!

ARGH!!!

(Pirate lingo doesn't help the situation, but does make me feel a bit like a rogue! That's the best I can hope for until service prices and availability meet my expectations.)

MOVIE REVIEW: Wild Hogs

This is the perfect feel-good movie for aging Baby-Boomers and anyone else looking for a big mess of belly laughs. Four guys trying to reclaim the glory of their younger days, take off on their Harleys for a week-long cross-country ride, but take a wrong turn and end up on the classic road trip to hell and back. “Deliverance” meets “Easy Rider” for a day in the park.

I laughed out loud. This movie IS funny. And the cast was hilarious. John Travolta’s comedic streak has always been there - he plays villains over the top. Teamed with veteran funnymen Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence, with bumbling but endearing William H. Macy, he rounds out a foursome that keeps trying to avoid trouble, only to run into it head-on.

Instead of giving away anything, I’ll just say, GO SEE IT. You’ll have fun. And don’t leave before the credits roll. You won’t want to miss the last bit!

NEW BOOK, NEW TITLE, NOW AVAILABLE

Update ... THE PROTECTORATE: PATRIARCH is now available from New Concepts Publishing in ebook format! Check it out at www.newconceptspublishing.com/patriarch.htm

The cover art is kick-ass!

OLD POST:

My next book to come out from New Concepts Publishing just got a title makeover, and I think it fits very well! "The Protectorate: Vampire Daddy" will now be "The Protectorate: Patriarch." It sounds a little more formal and less ... well, let's be honest ... silly.

If this were a comedy like the "Undead" series then I'd probably have fought a little harder to keep "Vampire Daddy." But truthfully, when I conceived the premise and a working title to go with it, I wasn't sure what I was going to end up with. I guess I was shooting for comedy and ended up with dark romance instead. Oh well.

Thanks to the great folks at NCP for a great save.

The cover art's almost done. All I'm waiting for is an official release date.

If you want to read an excerpt, visit my web site at www.danawarryck.com

MOVIE REVIEW: The DaVinci Code

Yes, right after I went to see X-Men-3, (the next day in fact) I went back to the theater to see The DaVinci Code, starring Tom Hanks. I love Tom Hanks in nearly every movie he ever made (except maybe for the lamentably awful Joe and the Volcano - his first cinematic partnering with another favorite of mine, Meg Ryan). While I admire Mr. Hanks for his hilarious comedic mastery, I also salute him for his subdued portrayal of the very serious character he played in this movie.

The DaVinci Code is thoughtfully crafted and suspenseful, with a healthy dose of action and chase scenes that kept me guessing who the bad guy was until right before he(she?) was finally revealed. I like to be surprised by a plot twist or character revelation I never saw coming. Maybe other viewers guessed right away, but not me. And that's OK, cuz like I said, I like to be surprised. I also appreciated the way the end was left open ... what's he gonna do NOW? No beating the viewer over the head with heavy answers. It's left up to the individual to decide.

I fully intended to watch the movie after I'd read the book, but I loaned my copy to a friend and ended up not being able to wait to get it back before rushing to the theater to see the movie. (I do love movies!)

:-D

If you have not read Dan Brown's novel of the same title, on which the movie was based, or have not followed Biblical theories popularized on the History Channel, or have not attended a Christian church in the last year or so, you might not be aware of the premise behind The DaVinci Code. Rather than me messing things up for you by trying to explain what it's about, let me just say this...

What if Christ was not a celebate man during his time on Earth? Think about that for a New York minute, and you will start imagining some of the possibilities explored in the movie and the novel - which by the way was predicated on the theory offered in an earlier nonfiction book entitled Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Interesting stuff. Somewhat controversial perhaps, but interesting nontheless. Thanks, Mr. Hanks, for bringing it alive.

HATING COMPUTERS

This is sort of like biting the hand that feeds you, but hey, I hate switching computers. It's a pain. You have to go find all those old program disks to reload stuff, and re-enter all your personalized user settings. Passwords, URLs, the nightmare list goes on and on.

But I guess it's better than getting the old "blue screen" or some error message like "can't find registry."

Last time one of my computers bit the dust, it at least had the common decency to give me a warning by making funny clicking noises. In case you don't know, that means your hard drive's fixin' to crash. So back up those precious files and do a voodoo chant or rain dance, and hope your hard drive stays cognizant long enough for you to get another computer set up.

The worst is having all your stuff locked inside some computer that is dead as a dirt clump. All you can do is whimper and gnash your teeth and kick your expensive doorstop.

I thought computers were supposed to make life easier...

MOVIE REVIEW: X-Men 3

Well, I finally got to go to the cinema and...

I'm not going to bore you with a synopsis of the movie plot, because if you're even remotely interested in the X-Men trilogy, you already have a good idea what this third offering is about. All I have to say is...

OH YEAH BABY!!! I loved it! Well, of course, I loved the other two X-Men movies too. I mean how much better can it get - the fantastical unlimited possibilities of comic book characters with every super power imaginable, combined with great special effects, and character stories too. And good and evil - but not so easy to identify in black and white. Ambiguity is the spice of life. Some bad stuff happens to good characters. But I can't tell you what or who - that would spoil it!

:-D

Oh, and one important tip - DON'T LEAVE THE THEATER UNTIL AFTER THE CREDITS STOP ROLLING, or you'll miss it. Thirty seconds of...

Well, I won't spoil the surprise for you. Just go easy on the Coke and don't rush to the bathroom until you see the clip at the end.

Happy viewing!

BOOK REVIEW: Angel and the Flying Warhorses - Jacki Bentley

ANGEL AND THE FLYING WARHORSES
Jacki Bentley
New Concepts Publishing
ebook 2006

Ms. Bentley’s first published book is a mildly sensual (meaning satisfyingly romantic rather than naughty and nasty!) far-future science fiction romance with plenty of plot surprises to entertain.

Mastering space travel and terraforming inhospitable planets for colonization, Earth’s descendents have spread far and wide through the galaxy and have developed genetically dissimilar races with unique cultures and bio changes. The Alliance, a militarized governing body, helps shepherd these different populations toward civilized coexistence.

Angeni, a healer working aboard a medical ship orbiting the moon of her home planet Olandia, finds an unlikely soul mate when she supplements her medical training with some unorthodox techniques to save the life of Garek, a wounded Alliance Guard officer brought in after a skirmish with Aldorian warriors.

Aldorians, a primitive warlike faction, overrun other communities and steal their women, treating them as property suitable only for mating and producing warriors. The stories of fierce winged warhorses and the mystical healing powers of Aldorian women are more myth than legend. But Angeni – or Angel as Garek prefers to call her after his bout with semiconscious delirium aboard the hospital ship – soon discovers there’s more truth to the myth than any would believe. Angeni hides a secret about herself and her past she can’t let anyone discover. This secret puts her in danger from an old Aldorian warlord scheming to capture her, and a coworker planning to boost his political leverage by making her his second wife in a polygamous arrangement.

With economical description and crisp dialog, Ms. Bentley crafts a fast-paced read with believable world-building and characterization. Cultural differences and secret conspiracies combine to complicate and ensure this story is not just a simple love tale but a suspenseful struggle making the reader wonder whether Angeni and Garek can survive the dangers surrounding them – and each other – as they come closer to a level of intimacy neither admits they want until it happens.

I liked the story concept, and the romance was satisfying although fraught with doubts, conflicts, and interference from meddling characters. The economical yet lyrical writing style makes it a fast read. While I stumbled over a few instances of confusion involving punctuation and character points of view, I didn't feel this detracted from my enjoyment of the story as a whole. Readers who are used to multiple character viewpoints per scene (also known as "head-hopping," a writing convention often employed by romance writers) probably won't have a problem with it.

I’d recommend this book to anyone seeking a suspenseful and enjoyable romance in the sci-fi subgenre. I'd like to see this come out in print version too, and hope Ms. Bentley plans more stories in this setting. I’ll be eager to read them.

NEW BOOK under contract

THE PROTECTORATE: VAMPIRE DADDY has just been contracted with New Concepts Publishing. See my web site for an excerpt.

Here's a little one-line blurb...

When a protector hunting a rogue vampire finds an orphaned human infant and falls for a beautiful but bullheaded rookie sheriff's deputy, he changes their lives forever - but will they survive the consequences?

Stay tuned for a release date...