As promised, here is the 8th installment of Ember. If you haven’t already, please read: one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.

But first, a blurb:

Everyone loves Prince Charming. They have to—he’s cursed. Every man must respect him. Every woman must desire him. One look, and all is lost.

Charm is a curse. Love is a fire. This story is no fairytale.

And now, the continuation of Ember…

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There’s a very eloquent, very interesting discussion over at Dear Author (duh, where else would it be? That Jane’s got her finger on the romance-reading pulse of America) on why the romance genre needs a makeover. I don’t have a very strong opinion one way or another— kind of “meh” about it—but there is something to be said about picking up a Harlequin romance novel and knowing EXACTLY what you’re getting. Man-titty in a firefighter outfit. Man-titty in OR scrubs (O… R they?). Man-titty lookin’ all serious and using Jack Bauer as his motivation. Kief, you’re a pirate, man! Awesome.

I totally thought of Zoolander. They look so earnest!

Brint: Or the way Hansel combs his hair?
Meekus: Or like, doesn’t, it’s like, ex-squeeze me, but have you ever heard of styling gel?
Brint: I’m sure Hansel’s heard of styling gel, he’s a male model.
Meekus: Uh, earth to Brint, I was making a joke.
Brint: Uh, Earth to Meekus, duh, okay I knew that!
Meekus: Uh earth to Brint, I’m not so sure you did cuz you were all ‘well I’m sure he’s heard of styling gel’ like you DIDN’T know it was a joke!
Brint: I knew it was a joke Meekus, I just didn’t get it right away!
Meekus: Earth to Brint…
Derek Zoolander: GUYS! Can we stop with the Earth to’s!

Thanks to my buddy Harley Quinn for forwarding me this link.

[Now with paragraph breaks!]

I promised Bam a blog post after I finished moving, so here I am with the cover for Seducing the Hermit.

The author is Suz deMello, with whom I’ve worked before, and bless her heart—she specifically requests my cartoon covers, AND she is one of the very few whose books actually justify the illustration style.

The last time I worked with Suz was for the cover The Wilder Brother, and we went through so many drafts doing that cover that I decided to skip all the potential communication problems and read the manuscript for myself. I normally don’t do this as I often have too much to do and too little time, and I don’t like to read a lot of what’s out there, but it’s different with Suz. I really liked The Wilder Brother, and it turns out, I really liked Seducing the Hermit, too. The manuscript was clean and tight, even before it went into editing, and reading it was actually more a fun break than research work for a cover. Reading Suz is never a chore.

The important thing? I had the entire story in my head now, along with all the character descriptions. It was time to work.

I imagined the scene I wanted to illustrate, which was the funnier one of two Suz suggested and which happens very early in the book. Simply put, the California blonde heroine loses control as she drives her overpacked VW bug off a ferry, onto an Alaskan fishing pier, and into the hunky Asian hero and his truck.

The first thing I did was search for references for my sketches—for guys falling back, kicking, or leaping and for Volkswagen bugs. These were the references I used:

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by Denise Rossetti

Okeydoke, here are the winners. I had so much fun with all those personality quirks, I threw in a bit extra! Thanks for your company, folks, I had a great time. And mucho thanks to Bam for letting me borrow the real estate.

Emmy, Jaded_Bee and Bettie Sharpe, you each win a set of autographed oversized, colour postcards of my EC covers. HAWT!!! Email Bam to claim your prizes!

“So come up to the lab,” warbles Tim Curry, “and see what’s on the slab. I’m makin’ a man, with blond hair and a tan…”

Oh my. Sure Doc baby, I’m right there. I loved your work in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and hey, I’m making a man too. Just call me Ms Frankenwriter. I make heroes. And heroines. Uh, and villains and innocent bystanders and spear carriers and cooks and bottle washers. Whole worlds really. Heck, it’s fun.

Like most authors, I’ve been asked numerous times where I get the inspiration for characters. One reader said, “So thinking about the fabulous men in your stories, have you been lucky enough to know men like that and have pieced them together to make wonderful characters like Mirry, Jan and Fort? Or do all these luscious men just reside in your mind and we get to share them with you from time to time?”

Well, if I did know any beautiful men with magnificent wings and tails, let alone a sex shaman with inexhaustible stamina and a dragon tattoo on his ass, I’d be too busy to write this post! (Or in Intensive Care.) What I am is shameless – shameless about “borrowing” bits of people – a smile here, a personality trait there, a gesture or two, a pair of beautiful eyes. But it’s always bits, because human beings are so complicated it’s almost impossible to portray them accurately in print. It’s too damn hard. And anyway, there are laws about that sort of thing.

For Sam Jones, the hero of COMING ON STRONG, my novella in the Avon Red anthology, A RED HOT NEW YEAR, I blended together all the things I love about Australian men – the laid-back charm, the Aussie drawl and that dry as dust Down Under humour. The bodies. You might like to check for yourself. Of course, close observation of Hugh Jackman, David Wenham and Eric Bana didn’t hurt either! But somehow, Sam underwent the mysterious alchemy that’s the gift of the Muse and turned out to be his own self, ocean eyes and all. And he’s a nice guy. Which brings me to my next point…

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As promised, here is the 7th installment of Ember. If you haven’t already, please read: one, two, three, four, five, and six.

But first, a blurb:

Everyone loves Prince Charming. They have to—he’s cursed. Every man must respect him. Every woman must desire him. One look, and all is lost.

Charm is a curse. Love is a fire. This story is no fairytale.

And now, the continuation of Ember…

(more…)