On the fence

I got great news from my editor yesterday--the second Gardella book has passed muster with only some minor things that need to be attended to. Yay!

But one of the things we're discussing is whether to give the details of something that happens in the first book in the second book. (Does that make sense?)

I wrote the second book without giving away exactly what happens to a main character in Book One because I wanted it to be a surprise for someone who reads Book Two first (and then feels compelled to go back and read the first book).

The debate centers around the fact that what happens to the character in Book One deeply affects my heroine, Victoria, in Book Two...and any other subsequent books. It was a sort of defining moment. The question is whether this defining moment, if you will, can be fully appreciated by someone who hasn't read Book One and doesn't know the details.

I hate to give away what happens in Book One, but I also don't want to dangle in front of the new reader the "secret" of what has happened prior. We get the basic idea of what happened--but not how or why.

So what do you think? Would having the broad understanding of something important that happened in Book One be enough for you--or would you feel cheated and excluded if you didn't know it all?

Does anyone have any examples of series where this occurs?

On the fence

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/on-fence.html

Moving on...

Well, now that we've spent the weekend admiring my new cover (thank you all for your excitement, both verbal, comment-wise, and email), I guess it's time to move on to other subjects.

I found this little snippet and thought it quite amusing. (It's certainly off-topic, but then, that's what a blog is, isn't it?)

Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterly's Lover has just been reissued by Grove Press, and this fictional account of the day-by-day life of an English game-keeper is still of considerable interest to outdoor-minded readers, as it contains many passages on pheasant-raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin, and other chores and duties of the professional game-keeper.

Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material in order to discover and savor these sidelights on the management of a Midland shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion, the book cannot take the place of J. R. Miller's Practical Gamekeeper.

(excerpted book review from Field & Stream magazine)

I'm guessing this is what the guilty husband tells his wife when she finds him poring over Lady Chatterly's Lover--"I'm reading it for the game-keeping aspects! Honest!"

Just like those Penthouses, right?

Moving on...

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/moving-on.html

My book cover!

I just love it! It's so different, yet it screams vampire, and intrigue, and even has a hint of the historical to it with that unlaced corset.

I think the art director at NAL is brilliant and I told my editor to say so! And I love the branding, and the really big quote at the top!

What a way to start a weekend!

My book cover!

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-book-cover.html

Okay, so I liked the Da Vinci Code....

Since I must be the only person in American (the world?) who hasn't read The Da Vinci Code, I went into the movie last Friday with only a vague idea of what it was about.

Sure, I'd heard that the premise of the book/movie was based on Jesus and Mary Magdalen having a family, etc., etc., but I didn't really know how it all fit together.

I have to say, I liked the movie, with all of its flaws (unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard the reviews). I liked it a lot.

Except for one thing that bugged me. Everything made sense, and followed along logically in the story except for the clue to open the cryptex (cryptix? I dunno; I haven't read the book so I don't know how it's spelled. Yeah, I could look it up, but I'm in the throes of a blog entry.).

Why was the word "apple" the password? It's English. Why would the Priory of Scion make their code word to open its most important document in English?

It should have been in Latin, the universal language of the Church and Opus Dei or barring that, in French, which was the original language of the Knights Templar. It made no sense for me for the word to be in English.

Granted, I haven't read the book, so if I'm missing something, by all means, clear it up.

But as a writer who has created a world and legends and secret societies, I've taken great care to keep in mind the language these people would have used when creating their passwords, terminology, etc., that are meant to span centuries and geography. It seems like such a small thing, yet, to me, it's a big flaw in the story.

As I was watching Tom Hanks try and figure out the word, I kept thinking of Latin or French words that would work; and when he finally divulged the clue, all I could think of was Gwyneth Paltrow's baby.

It totally didn't work for me.

The other thing that niggled at me--and always does in a Tom Hanks movie (even though I absolutely adore him)--are those big deep lines he gets between his eyebrows when he's serious. They're getting deeper and deeper, and unfortunately, whenever I see them, I'm always reminded of that scene at the end of When Harry Met Sally... when Harry is telling Sally all of the reasons he knows he loves her, and he says, "...and I love the way you get that little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm crazy....and I love...."

It makes me want to massage them away, or at the very least, call him up and tell him he's giving himself wrinkle lines!

It's probably too late for that.

Okay, so I liked the Da Vinci Code....

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/okay-so-i-liked-da-vinci-code.html

My little sis's small-screen debut

Here's an image of my sis on "24" tonight, courtesy of my stepdad, just to prove I wasn't yanking your chain:

My little sis's small-screen debut

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-little-siss-small-screen-debut.html

Classic books I have read...

What have I read?
These are the 25 most popular classic books at What Should I Read Next?

I liked it!

I didn't like it!

I want to read it!

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Emma - Jane Austen

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

Candide - Voltaire, Norman Cameron

Complete Tales and Poems - Edgar Allan Poe

King Lear - William Shakespeare

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

Take the 'What have I read?' test now!
Eight different categories to try!
Buy your books at Amazon US or Amazon UK

Classic books I have read...

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/classic-books-i-have-read.html

Don't forget!

Tonight. 8 pm EST. Your local FOX channel. My sis as the flirtatious homeland security gal.

Be there or be square.

Don't forget!

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/dont-forget.html

Learning Curve

I'm such a sucker for teacher stories, and this one is fabulous! I snapped it up when it first hit the bookstores at the beginning of the month and read it the same day.

LEARNING CURVE
Terry McLaughlin's debut novel
Harlequin Superromance
May 2006



What it's about:

High school history teacher Joe Wisniewski may be in a rut, but he dug it himself and he's not planning on getting out anytime soon. The last thing he wants is to mentor a starry-eyed newcomer, so when he gets an unexpected assignment—Emily Sullivan, a student teacher with a steamroller smile and dynamite legs—he digs in deeper and ducks for cover.

Emily has looked up to the legendary "Wiz" for a long time. In her opinion, the man is coasting these days, and she's sure a little change in his routine is exactly what he needs. The question is: Will Emily get Joe fired up or just plain fired?

What others are saying:

"...a skillfully developed story with wonderful characters and excellent dialogue..." 4 Stars from Romantic Times

"...sassy, sexy and riotous entertainment..." 5 Stars from CataRomance

"...snappy, entertaining, compelling...richly drawn characters and laugh out loud dialogue..." National Bestselling Author Roxanne St. Claire

To learn more about Terry, visit her website.

Learning Curve

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/learning-curve.html

One of the summer's hottest reads!

My dear friend Diana Peterfreund, debut author of what is sure to be one of the summer's hottest reads, is giving away ARCs (advance review copies--and with the old cover on them) of her novel Secret Society Girl!

So if you've been dying to get a sneak peek at this fabulous, funny, witty, suspenseful novel about an Ivy League student, Amy Haskell, who is the first woman invited to join one of those secret societies (eg, the infamous Skull & Bones), get thee over to Diana's blog pronto and toss your name in the hat!

There are two ways to win, and since I'm not giving away my copy, you'd best check out her blog for details on how to win.

Or visit her at BEA this Sunday, where she's signing 30 copies in person!

One of the summer's hottest reads!

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/one-of-summers-hottest-reads.html

O, Sun, wherefore art thou?

This is about the sixth day straight of clouds and rain. Where is the sunshine we're supposed to get in May?

When I first woke up this morning, the sky was blue with puffy white clouds. It looked like such a promising day! But within a half hour, the sky gave way to grey clouds and a hidden sun.

I'm ready for sunshine and picnics, so in honor of the potential of the grilling season to soon be upon us, I'm going to share my famous recipe for hamburgers on the grill. I adapted it from my favorite meatloaf recipe.

Ready? Here goes:

Colleen's Best Burger Recipe
1.5 pounds hamburger
two slices of bread, crumbled (or stick'em in the food processor to crumble)
1/4 c. catsup
1 cup total: chopped red peppers, carrots, spinach, green onions, garlic (or any combination thereof)--if you have time, cook them first in a sautee pan
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T cumin
1 egg
1 t cayenne pepper

Take all ingredients and mix in a large bowl.

Form into patties and grill as desired. Serve with whatever condiments you like; I'm particularly fond of jalapeno peppers, green olives, and Swiss cheese.

N.B.: These burgers are more delicate than most; they fall apart easier and are harder to turn, so take care.

Let me know how it goes. And let me know if you have any other best-burger tricks!

O, Sun, wherefore art thou?

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/o-sun-wherefore-art-thou.html

Broadway Bound

I'm heading for a quickie trip to NYC in June, and plan to catch a Broadway show, but I'm torn. Which one?

I just learned that Disney's Tarzan opened on May 8th, and I love the original animated movie. It has a soundtrack by Phil Collins (whom I've always loved, wayyy back to Genesis|Three Sides Live days). This is my first choice, but tickets are hard to come by.

I've been wanting to see Spamalot since it first opened last year. I'm a major David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry fan, and even though I know Tim's not in it anymore, and DHP may not be either, I'd still like to see the Monty Python musical. Alas, my co-traveler has already seen it, and I hesitate to subject her to it again when there are many other shows to see.

And then there's Wicked, which I've been dying to see. I've read the book, and I must admit, it wasn't one of my favorites.

I think the idea is brilliant, and Gregory MacGuire did a marvelous job with layering in all kinds of social and civic lessons (makes me think of a contemporary Animal Farm)...but it's not a book I'd probably read again. However, I understand that the musical is quite different from the novel--and that makes sense, as the musical could never do justice to the depths of the book.

There's also Lestat, which, I'm thinking, could possibly be construed as "research" since I do write vampire novels...and I've never read one of Anne Rice's vampire novels. But I haven't heard good things about it.

And finally, there's my old favorite, Phantom of the Opera, which I've seen numerous times, and know every word and every note on the entire two-disc original London soundtrack. There's nothing like seeing it in real life, even though I can watch Gerard Butler and the movie any time I want.

So...what a quandary. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

Or, more importantly, anyone have connections who can get me tickets to Tarzan???

Update: Tarzan won out! We got pretty decent seats for the show we wanted, so we're going!

Broadway Bound

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/broadway-bound.html

Ten things I learned camping with 16 Girl Scouts at the zoo in the rain....

1. The zoo isn't that exciting in the rain and 40-degree weather.

2. Even if you tell them three times to wear their coats, hats, sweatshirts, mittens, etc., there will still be at least two girls who don't listen and who will make you, as the adult chaperone, look bad to the adults in the other troops, when they are standing there freezing and looking miserable, thus inducing an adult from a different troop to give them one of her jackets.

3. Separate the girls into buddies or groups in such a manner as to keep your sanity, not by the girls' configuration.

4. No matter how you separate the girls into buddies or groups, someone will be pouting because they aren't with who they want.

5. When the other troop leader is a tall, chubby Rick Moranis with a mouth like a bullhorn, don't expect to see many animals.

6. Nine-year-old girls are equal-opportunity ignorers--they ignore the camp rangers as well as they ignore their troop leaders.

7. Giraffes have really long, black, slimy tongues.

8. Only the young can get a good sleep on concrete thinly covered by indoor/outdoor carpeting.

9. Getting up at 6:45 after the last whispering/giggling girls quieted down after 1:30 am is about as much fun as sleeping on concrete.

10. Even being away from your husband, you won't miss him, because one of the Girl Scouts will thoughtfully snore exactly like he does--all night long.

Bonus Lessons:

11. Yes, things can be worse than you imagined they'd be when you agreed to go on the camping trip.

12. But you still love your daughter and would do it again if she asked.

Ten things I learned camping with 16 Girl Scouts at the zoo in the rain....

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/ten-things-i-learned-camping-with-16.html

Can I just say...yum?

Check out this cover!

A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston
Harlequin Historical, ISBN: 037329400X

This is the book she finaled in the RITA
with!



Cyprian Sloane's reputation is of the very worst. A gambler, smuggler,
rake, and a spy, he now faces the greatest
challenge of all--respectability!

He will force Society to accept him.  Nothing will stand in his way...

Until he meets Morgana Hart, whose caring nature thrusts her
into the company of ladies of the night and risks a scandal
that will destroy them both.

To become a gentleman, Cyprian must sacrifice the lady
--or is there a way to save them both?


Diane also writes under the name Diane Perkins, and she is a
dear friend of mine and a member of the Wet Noodle Posse.

Can I just say...yum?

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/can-i-just-sayyum.html

Jeff & James

About ten years ago, my husband introduced me to Jeff Buckley's album Grace. I remember the first time I really listened to the lyrics to Hallelujah and realized that it was about King David and Bathsheba--a story I've always been fascinated by. This, on a pop album! (Granted, the song and lyrics are by Leonard Cohen, but still.)

And then there's Lover, You Should Have Come Over (I know I've blogged about this song before, too). Breathtaking lyrics, wonderfully smooth voice.

When people ask, I describe Jeff Buckley as operatic rock, but nothing can do justice to his words and music and voice. You have to hear it for yourself.

I told my husband we needed to see Buckley in concert, when he came back around again. I knew he was going in to record his second album, and I told my own Music Man that this was one show I didn't want to miss--and it had been years since I'd felt that way about a musician.

One day, my Music Man came home and said, "I've got some bad news for you." Turned out that the night before Jeff was supposed to leave to go record his new album, he decided to go swimming in the Mississippi with a friend. He disappeared; and weeks later, they found his body.

I was devastated that there would be no more Jeff Buckley music, but I couldn't help but wonder if the pressure had been too much for him. Grace was so brilliant and moving, and I'd read enough interviews with Jeff that it sounded like the pressure was on...and that he wasn't sure he wanted to do what his recording studio wanted him to do. That implied he'd lost his artistic license now that he'd produced such an amazing album.

I can't help wonder if he meant to follow in his father Tim Buckley's footsteps--a folk singer who also died much too young.

Fast-forward to January of this year. I was surfing around on a gossip website (yeah, I admit, it's a guilty pleasure) and one of them mentioned a musician named James Blunt. Since my husband is usually the one to "find" good music, I like to one-up him sometimes, so I'm always on the look-out for something good.

I popped over to Rhapsody and downloaded James Blunt's Back to Bedlam...and immediately fell in love with it. I felt like I'd found Jeff Buckley, sort of, all over again.

Amazing to me how, shortly after, Blunt's album became "news" and his music was being played everywhere--including as the music for one of the men's figure skaters at the Olympics.

So now, I have Jeff & James, and their two albums that I'll never tire of...music that is still fresh and emotional and brilliant.

Jeff & James

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/jeff-james.html

Calling all "24" fans...

...and any other curious folk:

My sister Kate has been busting her hump in the acting business (just like her big sis has been in the writing biz) and she just shot a role in the season finale of "24".

It's airing on May 22, at 8:00 EST (yes, that's an hour earlier than usual) on your local FOX station. It's a two-hour show, and she says she'll be showing up around the 8:30-9:00 as the flirtatious homeland security gal. So check her out.

Here's a photo of the gorgeous gal so you can find her.

(click on her pic to go to her site.)

Calling all "24" fans...

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/calling-all-24-fans.html

Puffy trees

When we were in France, and driving out of Paris to Taize, we noticed these weird- looking things on some of the trees.

They look like masses of vines and branches and leaves. We thought they might be nests of some sort, but there were so many in each tree, I'm not convinced that would be the case.

Anyone out there have any guesses? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

Puffy trees

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/puffy-trees.html

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

...about the research trip to Paris.

So I never finished my travelogue about the Opera Garnier, which is the opera theater that figures in the original Phantom of the Opera, and how the tour was.

(that's me, standing in front of the Opera House on a very cold, dreary, yucky day!)

Well, the tour was great--it was fabulous to be inside the opera house! And, yes, there is a lake under the building--nothing like the one we see in the movie, but there is a lake there. I guess Gaston LeRoux took very appropriate artistic license when he described the Phantom's underground lair and its lake. It's really no more than a very large tank--not that I got to see it.

That was the disappointment of my tour. We got to see pretty much where the patrons would sit or congregate, but nothing backstage or beneath the stage! In that sense, it was very disappointing.
However, the building itself is magnificent! The grand staircase alone (where the Masquerade scene is in the movie/musical) is made of six different kinds of marble--all different colors, from different geographic locations, and it's just stunning.

(This is a very dim pic of me standing on the grand staircase--Music Man used a flash, but I still had to lighten it up in Photoshop, and this is the best I could do. But you get a sense of the grandeur of the staircase.)

These other pics I had to get from elsewhere--but this is what the interior of the Opera House looked like for real. One of the things we learned during our tour was that this was the first theater constructed out of steel, so that it couldn't burn to the ground as so many opera houses and theaters did. So even when the Phantom drops the chandelier in that ending scene of the Webber/Shumacher movie, the Opera House wouldn't have been completely destroyed. Just a little!

This second, well-lit picture is actually of the boxes. Not the infamous Box Five (which shall be kept empty for the O.G.), because these are the boxes on the right side of the stage--where the women would have sat. The first box actually was made for the Emperor Napoleon III's wife, Eugenie. Her husband would have sat in his box across the stage from her on his own side...the better to flirt with and take notice of the dancers, of course.

However, neither of them ever attended a performance at the Opera Garnier, for they were overthrown before it was finished!

This picture below shows the chandelier made famous by Webber and his version of the Phantom of the Opera. Yes, the chandelier does fall in the original book, but it's not as magnificent of a disaster, in my opinion, as the way it's portrayed in both the musical and movie done by Webber & Co.

It would have been pretty impossible for the massive light to fall the way it's been described in literature and film because it's held in place by counterweights and a very stable structure. But, in fact, the whole idea of the chandelier falling was based on a real event in which one of the counterweights fell from its moorings and landed on a woman, killing her. There was a fire in the attic of the Opera House, and it melted the steel mooring, thus weakening the cable enough to let the counterweight fall.

So there you have it: some of the myths from The Phantom of the Opera explained!

Now, I have to get back to finishing my version of the story--I'm more than halfway done, so in order to keep the juices flowing, I've gotta post a bit of inspiration here...

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/back-to-our-regularly-scheduled.html

A visit with Mickey

I'm behind on my postings here because we were down in Florida visiting a very special mouse.

We had a great time: the weather was wonderful, the crowds weren't bad at all, and I'm the consummate Disney-World-Planning person.

In fact, if you hoo over to the WNP blog, you'll find my Ten Tips for making the Disney trip smooth and fun!

Here we are with our faces painted:











And here are the famous cornrow-wannabes that I did for my daughters before we left. Eighteen braids later (ten for the older, eight for the younger), my fingers were cramping! They lasted for about three days, though, and we got lots of compliments on them from everyone!

A visit with Mickey

http://colleengleason.blogspot.com/2006/05/visit-with-mickey.html