… lucky number 13!

Lesha Anderson!

You get a copy of Taming Him and a $10 Gift Cert to Amazon. Friend, please email me your info and we’ll get you all squared out. Congrats!

Hello, Friends. Our guest author for today, Skyla Dawn Cameron, is not here to talk about her work, writing, or personal life (although that stuff’s fun too). She would like to take this opportunity to introduce to us a very special project she is working on that will benefit our disenfranchised and persecuted sisters all over the world. Why is she doing this? Well, let’s give Skyla the floor, so she can tell us all about it. Sisters and Friends, please give a warm welcome to Skyla.

The Inspiration – On April 7th of this year, seventeen-year-old Dua Khalil Aswad, of Northern Iraq, was pulled into a group of men–some of them family members–who tore off her clothes, then beat and stoned her to death. The ordeal took about thirty minutes, and though the police witnessed the event, they didn’t intervene. All this was recorded on camera phones by several members of the “audience” and if you’re really curious, you can find the video on both CNN’s website and YouTube. Her crime? Dua Khalil was of the Yazidi faith, and she was seen in the company of a Muslim man that her family believed she intended to marry. She was brutally murdered to preserve the “honour” of her family.

One month later, popular filmmaker Joss Whedon posted his utter outrage at Dua Khalil’s death–as well as the larger issue of violence against women in general–on a fan-run news blog, Whedonesque. You can find the post in it’s entirety here, but to quote the bit that inspired the title of our project:

Because it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. I’ve always had a bent towards apocalyptic fiction, and I’m beginning to understand why. I look and I see the earth in flames. Her face was nothing but red.

As you see, among his words was a call to action. I was inspired to organize a response from some of us.

What We’re Doing – We’re putting together an anthology of short stories, essays, poems, and art work, called “Nothing But Red.” The book will be produced as both a trade paperback and an eBook through Lulu.com with the proceeds going to Equality Now. The book will be released on April 7, 2008 (the one-year anniversary of Dua Khalil’s death). We are pleased to announce, officially, that the first essay in the book will be Joss Whedon’s original post, “Let’s Watch a Girl Get Beat to Death.” Our website is currently located at nothingbutred.wordpress.com.

What We’re Looking For – People to both contribute work, as well as offer assistance as volunteers.

Contributions: Submissions will open August 1, 2007 and close November 1, 2007. Although inspired by Dua Khalil’s death, submissions need not be about her specifically; we’re looking for responses to the issues Whedon raised, such as violence against women and the inherent misogyny in all cultures. This could be a short story about a woman standing up to domestic abuse. It could be an essay on the continual need for feminism. It could be a poem exploring the brutality of honor killings.

What we aren’t looking for are ten thousand word rants attacking religion, politics, or men in general. We all have strong opinions about things, but let’s try to be grownups about this, m’kay folks?

For further submission guidelines, please visit the “Submissions” page on our website.

Organizers: We have about a dozen people right now organizing things behind the scenes. Although it’s a fantastic, dedicated group, when submissions start rolling in, we’ll probably need more help. If you have any specialized skills, such as editorial experience, PR/marketing experience, website design etc, and you’d like to volunteer your services, we’d greatly appreciate it. We’re also open to anyone who just feels like helping out by brainstorming ideas, proofreading, etc. Please, if this has inspired you to act, email me and I’ll invite you to our discussion group. Even if you don’t know what you can do to help, I’m sure you have something of value to contribute–even if it’s just acting as a cheerleader.

Who “We” Are – I’ve been using the collective “we” here a whole lot, and before you think that I’m a crazy person referring to her cats, let me assure you that there are several people other than me involved in this. There are a dozen organizers so far from across the world, all brought together by a shared desire to do something positive to promote equality. We range from multi-published writers to university students, people with experience in book design to professionals in various fields. I (Skyla Dawn Cameron) am the head organizer, and I have a background in similar ventures: I’m heavily involved in my local writers’ organization and I’m currently chairing Public Relations for their first conference. We’re all serious about this project and dedicated to seeing it through.

How You Can Help – You can volunteer to help organize NBR by sending me an email at SkylaDawnCameron@yahoo.ca. That would be, like, really awesome. You can also help by simply spreading the word. Attending any writer or artist events? Going to any activist meeting? Please visit the page on our website called “Spread the Word” for some beautiful flyers that can be downloaded and printed. We also have a Cafepress storefront set up (we don’t make any money from the designs) where you can purchase a T-shirt, tote bag, mug, etc.

Another way to spread the word is to blog about it, and if you do it this week, you can win a prize…

Post something on your blog or website, a message forum, or wherever else you can think of, then post a link to it in a comment here. As thanks for your help, next Tuesday afternoon (June 26), I’ll randomly draw a name, and the winner will receive a free eBook of RIVER (my award winning debut novel) in their choice of one of the supported formats and a $15 Amazon GC from Dionne.

Huge thanks to Dionne for letting me plug this project here!

Thank you for coming to our site and letting us know about this wonderful thing you’re doing, Skyla. You’re beautiful.

UPDATE: Stone Maiden, one of Ann’s out-of-print works, is up on Lulu.com for purchase. If you buy this book, she will donate her share to Nothing But Red. It’s a good, well-written fantasy read. Check it out. It’s for a good cause.

Technorati Tag: Dua Khalil

Remember May’s Contest? Our friend Bettie Sharpe was one of the finalists with this entry:

In another time and place, they would have been lovers. If they’d met on the street or in a smoky bar some Saturday night, Arden wouldn’t have hesitated to lock his gaze, lick her lips, and move in for the metaphorical kill. But tonight, the kill was all too literal.

He was asleep, but his eyes snapped open when she tightened her garrote. God and the Devil, what a beautiful man! Coal black hair; ice blue eyes; firm lips that she longed to taste before the life went out of him. He even struggled beautifully.

“I’m sorry.” She’d never apologized to a kill before. “I wish things were different.”

His last breath came with a sputter of blood. She kissed his parted lips. He tasted of coppery cold blood, of smoke and whiskey. His heart was motionless beneath her hand, but Arden imagined she felt it beat. She closed her eyes.

And then she was on her back, pinned by the muscled weight of his body. Below his square jaw, the mark of her garrote had healed to a thin pink scar that curved upward toward his ears; a gruesome parallel of the smile that curved his blood-flecked lips.

Apparently, this little bit mobilized her to write a 25000-word novella that she submitted to Samhain. Well, guess what? Bettie’s piece got chosen to be a part of their 2008 Valentine’s Day Anthology, Strangers in The Night. How awesome is that?

CONGRATS, BETTIE!

See what happens when you enter my contests? ::smirks::

Technorati Tag: “Bettie Sharpe”

Check it out. Here’s a new group blog hosted by the authors represented by the kickass Laura Bradford. Luuuucky. The members are: Ann, Anya, Cynthia, Jodi, Lauren, Marissa, and Vonna (yes, but can they sing and do kickass dance moves at the same time?). Go say hi. They have contests and stuff.

Here is an interview with Kate Rothwell slash Summer Devon (by Kate Rothwell herself… huh… like Ben Affleck interviewing himself on Premiere. How meta), whose kickass Samhain book, Revealing Skills, was released in print just this month. If you comment on this post, you will be entered in a contest to win a copy of Taming Him (which I enjoyed and reviewed here), plus a $10 Amazon GC from yours truly. The winner will be announced on Friday.

Let’s talk about your writing. Who’s your favorite character in your own books?

Right now I’d say the Victorian villain I’m writing as Kate Rothwell. He’s based on Walter, the anonymous Victorian pornographer. Complete sleazebag, but the fictional character has to be sort of appealing. Hard to do.

The hero has been hired to make sure the sleazebag never gets his hands on a potent aphrodisiac. The heroine is a hoot. She doesn’t put up with shit. I think I have a young and very polite Mrs. Giggles in mind when I picture her personality.

And I’m also really liking my hero in a paranormal space invaders story. He’s a half human who was brought up with second-hand knowledge of–

Wait, you’re supposed to talk about characters people can actually find in a published book. Not the heroes in books that might never sell. What about Gil, the hero of Revealing Skills? Aren’t you going to mention him?

Gil Who?

Naw, just kidding. I know who he is. Yeah, he’s okay.

Excuse me? Just a couple of months ago you mentioned Gil was your favorite character. You said how much fun it was to write a shapeshifter who doesn’t take himself seriously, but is a true mensch at heart.

Sure, that’s when I was writing and editing him. Once a book is out of my hands, I don’t think about it any more. When I met Edith Layton a few years ago, I went on and on about one of her characters and how much I adored him. She gave me a blank look and admitted she barely remembered him. I get what she means now.

That was the day I met Edith Layton and Barbara Metzger, two of my favorite writers. Wow, they’re lovely people, too. I wish Layton would get more contracts.

Back to Gil. He’s in the book you’re supposed to be promoting–the one that’s officially out in print today.

Ah, see, that’s taken care of with a contest. Other people are supposed to promo my books for me. The contest produced some really great reviews, as in reviews I like. This is the day and this is the blog where I will announce the winners of that contest.

The only review you’ve written about was a meh one from miladyinsanity. What about the others?

I’ll probably get around to posting them on my blog. Or putting in links or something. Here’s one link to a review of Futurelove.


You know you’ll forget to do that in your blog. You kept careful track of the names of the entrants—you wrote down the names on paper–but have lost two actual review entries people emailed to you. Come on, you basically suck at promotion, you know that?

No need to get personal. Yes, I know.

I’m occasionally worse at the slick professional thing in person. But in my own defense, some writers don’t get out much, so we tend to babble in public. I’m surprised the people at today’s meeting didn’t smack me ‘longside the face. They did ask me what diet I’ve been on (calorie-count.com) so I did eventually add something useful to the proceedings.

Do you have anything else useful to add?

Yes, absolutely.

The answers we’ve been waiting for: the names of the winners of the Pimp a Blog and Review A Book Contests!! Each winner will receive a thirty-dollar gift certificate to her choice of Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Samhain.

The Winners:

OOPSY DAISY on the Pimpin’ Contest

And

Book Lover on the Review a Book Contest–phew. She wrote a nice one too. (I did make sure all the reviews were in the hat, even the less than enthusiastic reviews.) Go read her review.

That particular review is not about Revealing Skills.

So? It’s a book by Summer. That’s good enough.

Thanks for coming, Summer & Kate!

And Kate’s contest is now over. Thanks for commenting, everyone!

Technorati Tag: “Summer Devon”