The Dynamic Trio - Blog

For my first post for 2008 I thought I’d repost my Thursday Thirteen about New Zealand authors who write romance. We have some real talent down this end of the world, and I’m really proud of my fellow Romance Writers of New Zealand members.

When I first started writing romance there were three published authors who gave members of Romance Writers of New Zealand real inspiration. They are Robyn Donald, Daphne Clair and Susan Napier. They are all published with Mills & Boon (Harlequin Presents) and at each conference they imparted their knowledge with enthusiasm. They inspired us all. We soaked up their advice on publishing and craft, entered writing contests and helped each other improve. Now, about ten years later we have so many wonderful published writers to emulate. I thought I’d mention a few and would heartily recommend that you check out their books. There’s a reason New Zealand has so many published writers!

1. Fiona Brand. - Fiona was the first who sold and she wrote initially for Silhouette Intimate Moments. She’s now writing thriller/suspense for MIRA.

2. Nalini Singh - I can truly say, “I remember Nalini way back when…” Nalini writes her excellent Psy series for Berkley and gets better with each book. Which reminds me - I must go and annoy her…

3. Tessa Radley - Tessa writes for Silhouette Desire and I’m positive we’ll see her in single title in a year or two.

4. Amanda Ashby - Amanda’s first book, You Had Me at Halo, has recently been nominated in the RT Reviewer’s Choice awards. If you like paranormal with a little humor definitely check out her book.

5. Sara Hantz - Sara’s debut book, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green, is a Young Adult from Flux.

6. Karina Bliss - Karina used to win all the unpublished competitions and it wasn’t a surprise when she sold to Harlequin Superromance.

7. Leda Swann - Leda is a husband and wife team who write hot and spicy romances for Avon Red and Ellora’s Cave.

8. Abby Gaines - Abby also writes for Harlequin Superromance and uses her interest in motor sport to write for Harlequin’s NASCAR line.

9. Helen Kirkman - Helen writes about brooding Vikings for HQN.

10. Emily Gee - Emily’s first book came out in 2007. She writes dark fantasy with a slight romance element.

11. Yvonne Lindsay - Yvonne is another Desire author. Her heroes - delicious!

12. Jan Colley - yet another Silhouette Desire author. There’s a lot of them down this way. In fact check out Diamonds Down Under. Several of the Desire writers from New Zealand and Australia are writing a series.

13. Natalie Anderson - Natalie’s first book released in 2007. She writes for Harlequin Presents new Modern Extra line.

There you have 13 New Zealand romance authors. I should also mention the founder of Romance Writers of New Zealand, Jean Drew who has an Egyptian time travel with Highland Press. We also have several very talented e-published authors, but that’s a post for another day. And of course, there’s me - Shelley Munro.

Have you read a book by a New Zealand author lately?

I was visiting Amarinda Jones blog the other day and saw this post. It was so funny I laughed out loud and had my kids thinking someone had slipped something illegal into my Starbucks. Amarinda is a fellow Ellora’s Cave author with a cool new book out called “Maid for Death.” Check out her blog - it’s a frickin hoot. In the meantime, I told her I was going to pass this around, so get ready to laugh…especially if you have breasts (wait, doesn’t everybody?). Here’s what she wrote:

“Breasts…what is the point of them? Yes, I know the various biological and sexual answers to this question but really aren’t there times when you wished you didn’t have them? Breasts can be painful and problematic. For a while now, I have held this belief that screw on- screw off breasts would be a distinct advantage. What am I talking about?

Advantages of screw on-off breasts:

• At period time when they start to ache – screw ‘em off and put them in a box until they are no longer painful to carry around.
• Mammograms are painful. Solution? Unscrew breasts – hand them to the technician to check while you wait outside in the waiting room.
• Gravity making your breasts sag? Unscrew ‘em and get new ones.
• Flat chested? Buy a bigger screw on size. Need a breast reduction? Buy a smaller size. No surgery involved.
• Using breasts to your advantage - “Hmm…a D cup today to get the boss off the subject of my slack arsed performance at work? Yes, I think so.” Men are so easy to get off track.
• Author Anny Cook’s suggestion - if you get mugged and you decide to fight back and chase the mugger, as you run you can unscrew a breast, throw it and bean him. The only problem with this is there could be case for assault with a deadly nipple and the legal ramifications of that.
• Author Kelly Kirch’s suggestions - public breast feeding would not be an issue as you could unscrew them and feed your child without moralistic people getting all offended. Also while taking a bath, if you don’t have a bath plug, unscrew a breast and use that. My only caution on that is make sure they don’t get suctioned into the plug hole too hard as you would be up for a replacement screw-on breast.
• Before you get dressed to go out women could look at an outfit and say “Does this need boobs or not?” Sort of like do I need a necklace or not? Think of all the clothes you could wear that would not pull across your bust.
• Twisted bra strap? Do you have permanent dints in you shoulders from wearing a bra? The answer is simple. Free yourself from bras. Get screw-on breasts that remain perky and need no hydraulic lifting.
• Weighing in for a diet check? Unscrew your breasts and be instantly pounds lighter.
• Not in the mood for sex but your partner is? Hand him the breasts and say “Knock yourself out.”
• Like to jog? Hate sports bras? Unscrew your breasts.
• They could be used for doorstops, exercise weights, ear muffs, paperweights, headrests – the uses are endless.”

So what’s your take on the subject. Tell us…after you’re done snarfing whatever you happen to be drinking while you read this!

TJ

I haven’t done Thursday Thirteen for a few weeks and thought I’d jump in with a topic that’s sure to help someone. It’s too damned hot! It’s been over 90 degrees for the past couple of weeks here in Colorado, and that includes the RAINY days (which are too few and far between for this West coast girl)!

Originally referring to a condition brought on by prolonged exposure to the sweltering summer heat, these days summer fatigue (Natsubate) can start as early as late June for some people, because of sudden changes in the weather and freezerlike air conditioning in trains, buses and buildings.

So these are some foods (yes, some of them are on the Japanese side of the house) that can help keep you cool.

1. Tomato (rich in antioxidants to help protect against ultraviolet light)
2. Eggplant (same here)
3. Cucumber (and ditto)
4. Watermelon (duh…actually, it’s rich in minerals that are lost during perspiration)
5. Pears (these, too)
6. Tangerines (rich in potassium and magnesium, plus the citric acid is good for recovering from exhaustion)
7. Believe it or not, pork (because it’s rich in B vitamins)
8. Soybeans (for the B vitamins, too)
9. Soba noodles (yep, the vitamins again)
10. Milk (ditto)
11. Ume plums
12. Plum juice
13. Cold Miso Soup (recipe below)

If you want to try something new, here is a recipe for HIYAJIRU (Cold Miso Soup over Rice)
1. Choose the type of fish you want to use. The most common fish used in many households is iriko (dried small fish). Fry the iriko in a pan, then crush them with a mortar. You can also use hiraki (fish cut open and dried), in which case grill them and separate the flesh from the bones.
2. To create a soup, fill a sauce pan with water, add katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings) and kombu seaweed and let the water boil for a few minutes.
3. Spread miso on tin foil and heat it for several minutes, giving it a nice roasted flavor.
4. Put the fish and some mashed-up tofu into the soup and bring it to the boil. Add the miso little by little, using a touch more of the paste than usual, because sliced cucumber (to be added later) thins out the taste.
5. Now the most time-consuming part: Let the soup cool to room temperature. Add the cucumber, chopped oba (Japanese basil) and ground sesame seeds. Prepare a portion of rice as usual.
6. Cool the soup in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Cool your rice to room temperature. Finally, don’t forget to chill your rice bowls in the refrigerator.

Don’t forget to link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

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1. Saigon Cinnamon
2. Bacon while it’s cooking in the oven
3. Fresh cut grass
4. The garage AFTER trash day
5. My daughter’s cinnamon rolls
6. My daughter’s fresh baked bread
7. Man sweat! (not funky teenager overdue-for-a-bath man sweat!)
8. The smell of a new book
9. The smell of my royalty checks
10. Fresh laundry
11. A field of blooming flowers
12. The smell of the aromatherapy incense and candle place that I can’t remember the name of
13. The smell of new babies (as long as they’re somebody elses! I have teens, I can’t go back!)

Link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

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1. Economics
2. Statistics
3. Philsophy
4 through 13. All the rest of ‘em except Computer Information Sciences and Video Production!

LOL!!

Link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

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1) Homemade seafood gumbo
2) Shrimp Creole
3) Fried Oysters (are you detecting a theme here?)
4) Boiled crab dipped in butter (REAL, fattenin’, cry-about-it-tomorrow butter)
5) Sushi - especially ahi tuna, yellow tail…I don’t do eel or octopus, but I do like…
6) Fried calamari
7) My daughter’s Miso soup
8) My daughter’s Okonomiyaki - what can I say, I love Japanese food
9) Smoked, grilled ribs, fish, chicken, yadda, yadda, yadda
10) Grilled peppers -green, orange, red, they’re all good
11) Shrimp quiche
12) Nekkid vampire on a cracker…a really big cracker
13) Nekkid werewolf rolled in a sheet sized tortilla made of 600 thread count cotton!

Link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

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1) Marilyn Lee’s Dumont brothers…all of ‘em! (Bloodlust series)
2) Virginia Henley’s Sean O’Toole (Dream Lover)
3) Lauren Dane’s Cade Warden (Cascadia Wolves series)
4) Judy Mays’ Brianna and Char Alalakan (Celestial Passions series)
5) NJ Walters’ Dalakis brothers…all three! (Dalakis Passion series)
6) Stephanie Burke’s Flame and Kendall (Keeper of the Flame)
7) Nathalie Gray’s Sekmeth Meroh (Femme Metal 1)
8) Sherri L. King’s Edge (Horde Wars series)
9) Barbara Karmazin’s Rulagh Lugraanrown (The Huntress)
10) Tiffany Aaron’s Kalan (The Veil-Angels and Demons)
11) Nia Foxx’s Lorne De La Roux (Gargoyle’s Quest)
12) Shelley Munro’s Felix Mitchell (Peeping Tom)
13) My own Kenoe Hatsept (Vampire Council of Ethics series)

Link up so I can visit you, then leave me a post, m’kay?

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Today is Thursday and I’m so happy I could just scream. I’m supposed to be doing the Thursday Thirteen, but it’ll have to wait until after work. Speaking of work - it has been from hell lately and I’m so ready to move on. Have you ever been in a position where you were so ready for something else, but were sorta afraid to take the leap because there’s nobody there to catch you?

So to take my mind off of things, I went hottie surfing and found a gorgeous Marine! This is Sgt. Reyes and he’s frickin’ hot!

Did you know that there’s a reality TV show called Manhunt - Search for American’s Most Gorgeous Male Model? And they’re good looking, too! Too bad they’re all so damned young!

Check it out… Manhunt

1…. Today is my BIRTHDAY!
2…. I can SING! For real!
3…. My favorite action movie is 13th Warrior (it’s really because Antonio Banderas is in it).
4…. I like hiking…though I hardly ever get to go.
5…. I have just discovered racquetball!
6…. I don’t like chick flicks…except for My Big Fat Greek Wedding and My Super Ex-Girlfriend.
7…. Carlos Mencia is funny as hell.
8…. I love scuba diving, but don’t like swimming!
9…. I love Japan, though I haven’t been there yet.
10…. Comedy is like medicine - good for the soul!
11…. I need a *!@#$! vacation!
12…. My favorite blog subject was about eggs.
13…. Cajun food is from GOD!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. J.C. Wilder

2. Lauren Dane

2. Night Whispers Authors