Oh, look. Fanfic. Without the fan part.

ita gets it in one. Exactly!

And don't get me wrong -- I love paranormal stuff, vampires, demons, what have you, but these are big mushy "body demons" and "mind demons" and there are Vampire Princes (again with the capitals) and everyone is connected by their thoughts and mates Imprint upon each other, and the author is so fucking in love with the sound of her own voice, she has no idea that it's absolute crap.

And it's being published. This is, in fact, the second book in a series of five. I know the editor, and I think she's lost her mind. For one, she doesn't usually like or "get" paranormal stuff, and she told me, "This is going to change the face of romance! Just like Diana Gabaldon did!"

Um, no. If it changes romance, it will be for the worse.

And that, my friends, is just how fucked up publishing can be.

Because there weren't a lot of Cinnamon's and Isabella's running about in pre-Roman Britain.

No, they're half human (or something) but have leftover Druidic DNA (or something) which somehow has been activated.

::cries more::

Baby Zeus, OTOH, kinda turned on.

Well, who do you think taught the Demon all he knows?

I should be precise. CRAP fanfic, without the fan. And not even averagely crap.

Part of me is thinking "if that takes off, I could totally break into that market...I can write crap!"

But a much larger part will be very sad if that actually sells.

I am doing this book, one big tight fraught breathless suspenseful look at that world from the POV of the elite men in it. It's going to be so damned good, it'll leave any editor breathless. I'm going to write it and knock it out of the park. This one is going to make some Barry Bonds' splashdown home runs look like bunts.

Ah, the joys of the publishing world. Really, this is the only way to win against this.

The book/column/et al package has the makings of being something really spectacular, but you just don't get to that without having to shake a lot of small "c" conservative publishing types, first.

I am now attempting to write copy for a book with a character named Cinnamon. Yes, it's a romance. I want to barf.

Close your eyes and think of England...?

I'm actually hiding in here. We have a grammar discussion going in my usual digs and today, of all days, I need to not be near that shit.

Today, I seriously don't give a flying moose dong whether it's lay or lie. Someone find a typo, let me know, I'll fix it. Lord knows, I get itchy enough over "For pity sakes!" to have actually question Robertson Davies about to his face - and Davies was my literary god. Turned out that spelling was actually the usage in the area (as well as the time) of rural Canada he grew up in; he used it for accuracy, but it made him itch as well. His was deliberate.

But you know, if I was going to be tightassed enough to discard the book over that? I would have missed the Deptford trilogy, the Salterton Trilogy, the Cornish books, High Spirits, One Half of Robertson Davies. And it would have served me right.

To each his or her own, but today, I am in No Damned Mood.

No word back from Marlene after an hour of tense cross-purpose blather back and forth earlier. Probably a good thing.

Dear universe: This book is getting written. Deal with it or fuck off and die, your choice. I do not give a damn.

Apparently she is the half-Druid sister of another half-Druid (named Isabella, which is one big WTF?!) who has "mated with" a Demon (capital D), and is now a Fledgling learning her Druidic powers.

No, they're half human (or something) but have leftover Druidic DNA (or something) which somehow has been activated.

Now all it needs is a song. I don't know how well Vercingtorix is gonna scan, though.

New drabble time!

Challenge #114 (photos from the Look At Me website) is now closed.

Challenge #115 is describe someone [a character, yourself, someone else -- whoever] by what's in their trash can.

Hit it.

But a much larger part will be very sad if that actually sells.

Unfortunately, the first one is already out in the stores. I made the mistake of picking it up and actually looking at it for a few minutes. I put it back down, very quickly and very quietly. I've been seeing a lot more "paranormal" romances out there lately, but just because they're "hot" right now, doesn't mean they're all done well. And I'm sure that is half the problem with all the hip-hop books that didn't sell. They tried to sell crap and now when someone who really knows how to write is interested they're saying "but it won't sell!" Bullshit. Well-written is well-written and will always sell, no matter what is popular.

Unfortunately, the first one is already out in the stores. I made the mistake of picking it up and actually looking at it for a few minutes.

Can't be the same one -- the first book doesn't come out till December. But a lot of the "vampire" and "demon" books out there are, at least in romance, are very similar. In a very sad way.