From all of the pirates to you…  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We’re thankful you’ve hung with us for another year.  Enjoy your feasting and have a safe and happy day!

 

Okay, so we all know how I love the sci-fi dudes. And Kate Beckinsale. I can’t deny she’s hot in skin tight black vinyl. For my last edition of the hotties blog for the month of October, GPS (If you don’t know, my uber awesome best friend, the Grand Pixy Sita) and I have derived some of the hotties of the hot sci-fi dudes to ever step into a bad paranormal situation.

::Shoves Sin out of the way:: Ok… and don’t forget the uber bad ass Ryan Reynolds and his contributions to the world of Blade. I mean who really thought he’d come back and save the day?  I sure didn’t.. but I tell you he can come and save my endangered panties anytime.

*shoves GPS out of the way* A few years ago, I made the GPS go with me to a little movie by the name, “Underworld”. Simply because I can’t NOT see a commercial for a hot vamp movie about the war between the Lycans and the Vamps. Seriously. If a vamp ever worked for Fredericks of Hollywood, Kate could definitely pull it off. Jeez.  Q, I want you to remember this moment. I posted eye candy just for you. Well, and Sita too. Because she’s got this thing about boobs.

Now, onward about the Lycans and Vamps.

The war between the Lycans and Vamps is quite vicious with one helluva background story. Through three movies (Underworld, Underworld Evolution and Underworld Rise of the Lycans) we see the story unfold between these two Underworld sects. The leader of the Lycans, Lucian, is so fine, I have dreams of actually being his alpha bitch one. Not to mention, Michael Sheen is soon to be playing the most devious of vamps in the Volturi clan in the upcoming movie, New Moon. Aro. Deadly, red eyed, evil future seeing vamp. You know I’m down.

::shoves Sin out of the way again:: And then we segue into the best vampires of all vampires… Angel… better known in the real world as David Boreanaz. And it doesn’t matter that the plots were a bit weak and the special effects were super cheesy. What was super important was seeing David Boreanaz half naked, wet, and in skin tight leather pants

And last but not least… we have the Chuck Norris for poor people… MacGyver… or for those of us who are hard core sci fi fan, Col. Jack O’Neill. I really can’t say enough about Jack.. he was funny and in charge and while he may be older, I could handle him tying me up with tube socks and duct tape and having his merry intergalactic way with me any day of the week..

Sweet jesus, every time I turn around the picture goes inactive. Sorry, no pic of Richard Dean Anderson today. Apparently Photobucket and WordPress don’t agree with him being hot.

Now, who is your favorite sci-fi/fantasy dude or dudette?

Blog AKA: Now where did I put my nerd?

I couldn’t have lost him already. Where was he?

“What is she doing? She’s lost her ever loony mind tearing up my ship like this!”

I threw the feather boa over the basket and it drifted away in the wind. I shoved my hair out of my face and shot a look down below. “I heard that, Hells!”

“I’ve never know you to lose a man, Sin!” Lisa snickered as she stroked the cannon. “Losing the magic touch?”

“Bite me!”

“That’s what Ranger said last night!”

I made a rude sound in the back of my throat and dove head first into my trunk. Little bits of satin, lace and spandex flew over my head as I looked for the one thing I was missing.

And not my mind, if that’s what you were thinking.

As suddenly as I misplaced it, I found it. This wonderfully bright orange sticky note crumpled in the very bottom of my trunk. I whipped it out and squealed. The pirates below groaned and covered their ears. Haters.

“That’s what you’ve been looking for? You gotta be kidding me. It’s not even a man!” Bo’sun crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. “Hells, you pulled me away from hottie auditions to watch this clown look for a piece of paper? Un-freakin-believeable.”

“Hey!” I grabbed for the ropes and slid down to the deck. “Finding hot nerds is like finding a unicorn. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work.”

“And you needed a piece of paper for that?” Lisa snorted, “Wench, please. I’ve seen you eye a nerd at 200 yards. You don’t need a piece of paper for nothing.”

Marnee ripped the piece of paper from my fingers and turned her back to the rest of us. “Wow. These suck.”

Hal laughed, “Whoa, that was cold, Marn. Lemme see.”

They both laughed. The rest of the pirates gathered around.

“You suckat this.” Hellie patted me on the head. “But that’s okay. Practice makes perfect when it comes to eye candy.”

“Yeah. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Okay, now that I’ve put some nerds out there, what nerds did I miss this fine nerd hottie Sunday?

 

Happy second anniversary RWR. I have enjoyed every minute aboard the ship and have wonderful friends because of this opportunity. Now enjoy this little show of affection because it’s not going to happen again for another year.

*****

I sighed. “Really? Dishing on the NYT life? You make it sound like I’m high society now.”

Sita crossed her legs and leaned forward. “At least pretend for me that you have some class now that you are famous.”

“I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that only because I am not famous, Sita!”

“You’re so in denial. Have you been to your fan websites? Every day there is at least a dozen new fan fiction stories posted about Ryla, Cass and Fallon. You’ve hit the big time.”

“Gah, it’s like talking to a brick wall with you.”

“Pot meet kettle.”

I flipped her off and crossed my arms over my eyes.

Booty Magazine (Sita): Nika, so great of you to have agreed to this interview! I hear you’re big on music. So first things first, what’s playing on your iPod right now?

Nika Riley: “Cold” by Crossfade. It’s Kiki Michaels, my current heroine in Double Vision, theme song.

Booty Magazine (Sita): Does music play a pretty big role in your writing?

Nika Riley: I would say yes. Music is the key to my creative well being. All of my characters have theme songs. All of my scenes have individual playlists even if it’s only a few songs. Music is my Zen.

Booty Magazine (Sita): I heard through the grapevine that you majored in journalism in college. Is that what pushed you to become a fiction writer?

I snorted. “You gotta be kidding me. You’re not actually going to put that as an actual question in the magazine, are you?”

“You knew what you were getting yourself into asking me to interview you. Deal with it.”

I took a deep breath and tried to settle into my writer persona. I looked over at Sita and offered the biggest fakest smile I had ever accomplished. It made my face hurt. “I had a best friend I wanted to kill and the only way to do it legally was to write her in a book and off her.”

“Gimme a break. You love me.”

“That’s debatable.”

“Just answer the question.”

Okay. I was a big girl. I could do this.

Nika Riley: “I’ve always enjoyed fiction. I was consumed with the reading bug early on in my life and since I’m prone to daydreaming there was always a story or two running wild inside my head. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I realized maybe I was supposed to be writing fiction instead of just reading it.”

“You effectively avoided the journalism question.”

“I plead the fifth.”

“You can’t plead the fifth in an interview. It’s unconstitutional.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): You didn’t start truly working on At First Taste, the first book in your Blood Wars series, until just a couple of years ago. Did you work on other fictional outlets before you started this series? Anything gathering cobwebs underneath your bed?

Sita grinned like the Cheshire cat.

“That was below the belt, babe.”

“Only because you don’t want to admit you’ve been writing since you were a teenager.”

“Ms. Yount’s English class crap doesn’t count.”

“I’m not talking about that.”

I had a bad taste in my mouth. I was in a hell of my own creation.

Nika Riley: “Yeah, AT FIRST TASTE was a fluke accident while I was working on a fan fiction story at Halloween. I heard my heroine, Ryla, telling me about her life as a captive when she was a kid and couldn’t get it out of my mind. Obviously that story line wasn’t suited for a fan fiction story involving bounty hunters.”

“While, everyone writer has a novel underneath their bed gathering cobwebs, I have two. Three years ago, I got this overwhelming urge to pick up a pen and write. I’d just finished reading, ELEVEN ON TOP by Janet Evanovich, and was determined to write something between the heroine, Stephanie, and the reluctant hero, Ranger that suited me.  One little chapter turned into about 80,000 words. From there, I wrote about 25 stories under a fan fiction pseudonym.”

“You didn’t talk about the sci-fi fantasy book you were working on out of high school. Dude, it was classic.”

“Classic crap. Next time we have a bonfire, it’s getting pitched in.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Interesting. So, I’ve heard rumors of an upcoming tour.

I leaned up from the hammock. “How did you hear about that?”

She shrugged, “I read it on a fan site.”

I blew out a breath and laid back down. There was no such thing as privacy anymore.

Nika Riley: “The tour dates were finalized this week and I couldn’t be more excited! Some of my fans have been with me since my first fan fiction chapter. It’s truly a blessing to have such great fans.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Talk to me a little about how each of these places inspired your books. What is it about Phoenix that captures At First Taste? I got a preview look at Double Vision and was pleasantly surprised to learn the story has been set in Columbia, Missouri. Any particular reason for setting the story in a small town?

Nika Riley: “It’s more character driven moments that capture each location for me than plot oriented. In DOUBLE VISION, the story is based off a family- three of the Michaels’ sisters in particular- who were born and raised in Missouri. I’m from Missouri, grew up loving everything about country life but always wanting to get out of the small town. Kiki grew up knowing she didn’t want to stay and was going to get out as soon as she was old enough. Kady grew up knowing she was being groomed for something more than a sedate country life and Sadie spent her time daydreaming in hay fields never thinking about more than one day at a time. The sisters are so very different from one another and Missouri is a state that is in constant change from the seasons, the beauty of the first thaw in the spring, the blistering humid summers, the breathtaking colors of autumn, and the crisp arctic air as snow falls gently from the sky in winter. I just wanted that to reflect in their personalities.”

“In AT FIRST TASTE, the main thing I wanted to capture the complete antithesis of change. These characters are Otherworldly, unchanging for centuries, customs old and barbaric. Cold, unfeeling, impersonal. I wanted to convey all this through imagery of barren landscape from harsh temperatures and the only way I could do that and still keep a little piece of reality was to mesh it with my idea of the desert. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world without being ostentatious and that’s the way the Otherworlders live.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): You have a bit of a mysterious and hard to crack reputation. What the readers of Booty magazine really want to know is what kind of life are you out living in-between writing these bestsellers that gives your story such a real feel?

“Sita,” I warned. “I told you…”

“Just go with it.”

Nika Riley: “A writer’s life is mostly spent in solitude with your thoughts to keep you company. The only way to actually write about life is to live some in-between all those nights spent staring at the computer screen.”

“I can’t believe you expected me to answer that.”

“Miracles do happen.”

“Not in this lifetime.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Since it’s obvious you’re going to keep your air of mystery, how about throwing your readers a bone. Do any of your personal preferences translate to your characters? Do you write the romance you have in your life or the romance you’d like to have in your life?

“Oh hell.”

“Oh, c’mon, it’s hardly a taboo subject.”

Nika Riley: “A good friend once told me: Write what you know. Write what you love. And write about who you loved and lost. Writing relationships, regardless if it is a romantic relationship or purely physical, is mostly about role playing inside your head. It’s not about being the school teacher to the student, or client to the stripper, or captive to the pirate. It’s about that brief second in time; you have the opportunity to completely fulfill everything you’ve ever wanted with a few brief strokes of your fingertips on the right keys. What I enjoy is taking advantage of that opportunity not necessarily because it’s a reflection of what I’ve had or what I would want, but simply because I enjoy pushing buttons.”

Sita sat the paper down and laughed. “I hate when you avoid questions.”

I gave her a look that said I really didn’t care. “What did you just tell me at the beginning of this interview? Deal with it?”

“I really dislike when you toss my own words back in my face.”

I shrugged. “Learned from the best, babe.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Don’t we all like to push some buttons. Talk to us about the difference between emotional mindsets of the Double series and Blood Wars. You write characters that definitely aren’t afraid to push some boundaries.

“That was sweet, Sita. Did you just give me a compliment?”

“I can play nice sometimes. Unlike some people I know.” She gave me a look.

I flipped her off. “I wake up in the morning thinking about playing nice. I get an A for effort, right?”

“Keep dreaming.”

Nika Riley: “Each series is different for me emotionally. Nothing about Otherworlders are human like because they don’t feel the same sort of emotional attachment to one another. Writing that separation is a challenge because being human myself, emotional attachment is unavoidable no matter how hard you try. So while writing the Blood Wars books, it’s a constant battle for what I want to write, and what needs to make it to the page. When you flip the coin back to Kiki and Sadie, I have the opportunity to write about emotional redemption and second chances. Everyone deserves a chance to right an emotional wrong in the past and a guilty conscience is a great motivator.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Alright, I’m dying to know more about Sadie and Kiki in Double Vision. I think all the readers will want to know more about the dynamics between them.

Nika Riley: “Sadie and Kiki have a unique relationship as sisters. When I first started the Double series, the story was of Sadie, a sister dealing with the gift of precognition during her REM cycle. It gave me the opportunity to write about a heroine who had completely shut herself off from any sort of emotional life for fear she was psychotic. In the beginning of DOUBLE VISION, you’re faced with her day to day life and how she copes with it as her imaginary world comes crashing down.”

“I had a parallel story I was working on that involved a thief by the name of Kiki, who was looking to go legit and live a normal, respectable, somewhat law abiding life. Once DOUBLE VISION evolved more in my head, I threw Sadie and Kiki together as sisters knowing that they could offset and keep each other from going past redeemable characters. Kiki keeps Sadie grounded in a life where she sees nothing but death. Sadie keeps Kiki from becoming too cynical and distant about living life.”

Sita looked up at me. “Why does Sadie and Kiki’s relationship sound a bit like ours?”

I grinned. “When you can’t make it up, borrow from real life.”

“Great. I don’t know whether to be flattered or pissed that I didn’t realize it when I was reading the book.”

I laughed, “That means I’m an awesome story teller.”

“Whatever.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Well I must say Nika, you’ve certainly given your fans something to look forward to. I personally, can’t wait to get my grubby hands on your next installment of your Blood Wars series. Can you reveal the title?

Nika Riley: “The second book in the Blood Wars series has yet to be released yet; but in honor of my first interview- SECOND NATURE.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Second Nature, I like it. Can you tell us how many books you have planned for the Blood Wars?

Nika Riley: “As of right now, there are three planned books of the Blood Wars, with the option of three more depending on the sales.”

Booty Magazine (Sita): Then let’s drink to all six making it to the shelf! Look for Nika’s genre bending novel, Double Vision, coming out soon in a bookstore near you.

I want to thank you for granting us access to your wonderful ship here, RWR pirates and thank you to Nika for giving us a sneak peak at all things Nika. Until next time, this is Sita saying rock some ships, and steal some booty and raise the Jolly Roger- now where’s my rum?

Any questions for Ms. Nika Riley that you didn’t get answers for? Do you enjoy when an author writes two different genres or prefer when they stick to one thing and perfect it?

PS. I just want to say a huge thank you to my BFF in real life, Manda, for really bantering back and forth as if we were really doing an interview for a couple of days. I heart you, babycakes. Thanks for always believing in me no matter what the situation and making me buckle down and do this.

Now, someone turn up the music and let’s have us a party!

Coxswain hal [adjusts her feather boa and tiara, plops down onto the deck, and pouts] Of course, my interviewee is late. She stood me up, I just know it.

 

Marnee [sits down beside her and offers to share her rum.] I’m sure she’ll be here. She’s just running behind. The ship is hard to find sometimes – there was that storm and all last night. Maybe we drifted off course.

 

Cap’n Hellie: We did no such thing. I would never let us drift off course [she stumbles over and falls on top of Hal as the boat pitches]

 

Hal: Hey! Don’t break my tiara! I have to look pretty for my interview!

 

Sin: [snorting and throwing back the rest of her drink] Honey, she isn’t coming. Just face it, you got stood up. Chance! Where are more drinks?

 

Chance: [scurrying over, her face shiny with excitement, a pitcher of something blue and frothy in her hand] Okay, I got it. The perfect drink for losers who get stood up. It’s blue, it’s sad, it’s a little bitter, but a little sweet too.

 

[cups are being passed around, as the pirates toast Hal’s bad luck of getting stood up by her author to interview]

 

Cap’n Jack: [saunters onto the deck, re-tying his swashbuckler] Uh, were you pirates looking for some author chicky with brown hair? Cause I found one.

 

Hal: [lurches to her feet, desperately trying to straighten both her tiara and feather boa at the same time] Cameron! There you are! Where have you…..[narrows eyes at Jack, and then looks closer at Cameron with her smudged lipstick and mussed hair]. Wait a minute. You found the ship okay?

 

Cameron: Sure. You were right where you said you’d be.

 

Hellie: [jumping up] See! I told you I wouldn’t go off course! [spins to Jack] And you! You and I have some things to discuss, mister. I told you, you can’t just kidnap our guests. It sets a bad impression [lecture fades as Hellie grabs Jack by ear and drags him below to her cabin to continue, uh, reprimanding him. Yeah, that’s what she’s doing down there]

 

Cameron: [blows a kiss at Jack and looks a little forlorn that he’s gone.] Okay, so who’s doing this interview? And where can I get one of those drinks? I need to rehydrate.

 

Hal: [scurrying around, getting a drink for Cameron, generally gushing] Oh, I’m just so glad you’re here. I have all sorts of wonderful questions for you. I just love, and I mean LOVE, your new book. [crams drink in her hand] So Cam, oh, can I call you Cam? [barely waits for amused nod before rushing on]. Okay, Cam, first question, tell us about FALSE MOVE. I just loved it, I mean really, loved it.

 

Hellie: [watching Hal trip over herself, leans over to Sin] Do you think she was a cheerleader in high school?

 

Sin: Had to be. [slight shudder] She’s not going to break out the pom-poms is she?

 

Hellie: God, I hope not.

 

Hal: Shh! Let her answer!

 

Cameron: [looking around with a slightly ‘what have I gotten myself into’ look] Well, FALSE MOVE is a romantic thriller of sorts. It features a woman named Naomi who is forced to take matters into her own hands. When she’s told her CIA husband stole weapons and was selling them on the black market, she doesn’t believe it. But he’s dead, and she’s the only one left to clear his name. She spends six years undercover for the British as a black-market weapons facilitator, and after sacrificing so much, she’s to the point where she can hardly bring herself to care anymore. But she’s in too deep to get out, and when she finds the weapons up for auction in Belfast, she’s sure she’s found his killer, and this whole thing will be over.

 

Hal: [eyes wide] Wow. So she does it? Finds the killer and avenges her husband and lives happily ever after?

 

Cam: Uh, no. When she gets to Belfast, it’s her husband selling the weapons.

 

Hal: [gasping, eyes wide]. Holy crap! He wasn’t dead!

 

Cam: [grinning]. Nope. So that’s where the story starts. Naomi has to figure out who to trust and what’s real and what’s not, and of course, there’s lots of hot sex, and a few good torture scenes to balance it all out.

 

Hal: And you’re working on the sequel now, right?

 

Cam: Yes, featuring Josephine, a secondary character in FALSE MOVE. At the end of the novel, she goes to prison. So WHITE LIE, Josephine’s story, starts with her being moved to Spain. The Spanish government wants her to go undercover into a terrorist group to foil a bomb attack. She’s a prodigy with explosives, after all. And there’s this hot Spanish cop she’s stuck with. And she drives him nuts. He can’t decide if he should throttle her or…

 

Hal: Well, this is a romantic thriller after all. We know what the hot Spanish cop does to Josephine [sassy smile]. What’s his name? The cop?

 

Cam: Luken Ibarra. And he looks like Clive Owen, with that dark hair and brown eyes and a sexy accent. Mmmm.

 

Hal: Wow, he sounds hot.

 

Cam: Oh, he is. Luken is very hot. [takes a drink] Hmmm, this is a little odd tasting. It almost makes me sad to drink it.

 

Hal: Yeah, it’s the losers’ drink. Cause we thought you stood me up.

 

Cam: [gasp] Never! I would never get on a pirate’s bad side!

 

Hal: Well, since we were so late getting started, let’s see if the rest of the crew has any questions for you. How about it pirates? Any questions for Cam before she disappears with Jack again?

I love extra days off of my landlubber job. Columbus day is a wonderful excuse to take off an extra day to celebrate adventurers who’ve dared to defy gravity and countries to explore and conquer new horizons. Brad Pitt- ala Achilles in Troy- could conquer this horizon anytime he wished.

Anyhoo…

Since most historical conquers were not HOT by any means, I’m making it up for today’s hotties blog.  So turn a blind eye if you must, but we’re going to pretend those men who were lacking in the looks department can be replaced by Hollywood’s rougher, prettier version.

So while there are quite a few conquerors throughout history, I say today we take the opportunity to give these men a fresh new face. Anyone wanna give it a shot? I’m think Gerard Butler makes number one as my favorite man to use as a historical conqueror. He’d make a kick ass Julius Caesar.  He’s just got that look.

And I’ll give Mr. Orlando Bloom the role of recasting Christopher Columbus.

And since tomorrow is a day where someone sailed into the sunset and founded a new world, I will concede to put up Capt’n Jack. He is a legend in his own right. This is a bit how I imagine him when he’s on the ship. He’s kinda hot like that.

When I was a little girl, listening to records was common place. The old record player would spin music and the tunes played statically through the air as the wood stove cracked and smoked and kept us warm. Sunlight streamed through the window beside the record player as we thumbed through the records.

Patsy Cline. Benny Goodman. Glenn Miller Orchestra. Those are the ones I remember the most.

Today, I’ve been assigned the hotties blog and I’m taking it old school. We may have need for carpenters and plumbers, and well oiled machine’s of men to take care of business, but I think we need some old school class to church up the ship a bit.

October the fourth was my grandpa’s birthday. I dedicate this hottie day to my grandpa who was the original gentleman. Who wore his best of anything when we went to town. Who drove like a maniac in his Cadillac and danced like his feet never touched the ground. Cary Grant. Marlon Brando. Clark Gable. *sigh* Oh to be alive during that time period.

Or another title could be: Writing a sex scene is about as awkward as getting stuck in your t-shirt as you try to pull it over your head while your boobs flop in the night air and you can hear laughing across the room.

 

Or, you have a new boyfriend and you see a movie that is so funny you snort while you’re laughing. And not the pretty type of snorting, but the kind that makes him get out of his chair and not come back. Nor return your phone calls.

 

And also, how you can kill two challenges with one pen. My 500 words (Yes, yes!! I did it! I wrote more than 500 words this weekend! Get the smelling salts, I think Ter passed out on me.) In my defense, Hellion threatened me. (You think I missed that in Friday’s comments, didn’t you?)

 

This week’s influential music is:  ”Pain” Three Days Grace- One X

Random music for Hal: “Curse of the Broken Hearted” Papercut Massacre- If These Scars Could Talk

 

I met Hellion on Saturday to partake in a movie (The Proposal- hilariousness wrapped up in a romantic comedy package). After the movie, Hellion and I walked to our cars, which were neatly parked side by side after she tore into the parking like a bat out of hell. (I say that affectionately, Hellie, because you know I adore you, but you drive like the Mad Hatter. And I always imagine you as an evil laughing pirate as you drive the blue beast attempting to take out those annoying bystanders.)

 

Anyway, Hellion and I discussed strip clubs.

 

I’m pretty sure Hellion’s never been in one. I could be wrong. She is a bit of a wild child. She’s writing something that has a strip club in it. We discussed the merits would be of what characters could see what and where. We discussed about lap dances and whether they are in private rooms.

 

When I got home, I made eyes at Mattycakes, then cornered him and asked about strip clubs and what goes on. The look on his face was priceless. *laughing* Bless his heart. I can tell by the look in his eyes, he sometimes rethinks his decision to make me a permanent fixture. It’s okay though because he’s a fountain of naughty information that I need and I’m not afraid to ask and hear the truth.

 

Mattycakes confirmed that it depends on the city. (And now in my own words) Like maybe in smaller towns, low key lap dances are done out on the floor and around the stages and the hands on stuff is done in a private room. In bigger and better clubs, it sometimes is done all out in the open. So it’s safe to say, Hellie, that in a place like Vegas, it might be no holds barred out on the floor. Which means, the main character we discussed getting the lap dance in the back could be getting it out on the floor and all hell breaks loose when character G comes through the door and spies character A and character L having a good time.

 

After speaking to the resident male of the household, I’m feeling a little left out. Hellion, it’s like we’re living in the 1800’s when women were sheltered from male social clubs and it was immoral and improper for “ladies” to go there because of our feminine sensibilities. It’s not like we couldn’t go to one and scope it out.

 

*crickets chirping*

 

Okay, okay, okay. I’ve been to one. Don’t act like you’re surprised.

 

Though, using my imagination for such scenes is so much more fun, and a lot cleaner in my mind. I have a pretty vivid imagination and I don’t need more nightmares than I already have on rotation.

 

I’ve been planning a strip scene for Sadie for years now. I know- that statement smacks of plotting and I don’t plot. Since Sadie lacks emotional intimacy and hates people invading her personal space, I thought it would be great to show Sadie you don’t always get put into situations where your fears are easily avoided.

 

Sadie puts up with Ruiz being in her kitchen butt naked in the first book. She closes up when he kisses her and locks herself in her bedroom. Only because she’s fearful of losing her ability to keep everyone shut out. She’s afraid to care. But what happens if she’s put into the situation she can’t run from? She could run but if she does, she could lose the only lead she has on finding her half-sister. The main objective is to make it a “do or die” situation. And I do love writing those. Kiki sends Ash to keep an eye on her skittish cousin, Sadie, and there ends up being a whole lot there between them in this scene. Even though Ash swears there is nothing between them- he thinks she’s a whole dose of annoying and too stubborn for her own good- he’s drawn to her. In his character arc I’m hoping to make Ash sensitive to emotional change, and Sadie has a lot of emotional issues. Due to, well, a lot of emotional heartache in her past.

 

The reason for all of this is- I want to teach Sadie a lesson about herself. And in life, we often miss the point of those lessons on a daily basis.  We forget to look inside ourselves for the answer and forget to grow from the experience, choosing instead to close it off and try to forget. Writing is about character growth and the ending. What happens along the way is just a part of the adventure. I want her to open herself up and I want her to grow. If she remains in her cocoon, she’ll never have wings and that’s one of life’s biggest regrets. You can’t be scared to stumble along the way.

 

So today let’s discuss awkward moments and how your character(s) grow from such ordeals. If you don’t write, tell us a little bit about a character in a book you’ve read that has gone through lots of awkward moments. What’s your favorite? 

I’m furiously writing my final paper for school (YES I’ve known about it for 10 weeks and just started it yesterday – so sue me) so this is going to be quick.  Eye candy inspired by the Captain & Sin’s viewing of The Proposal this weekend.

Nice, huh?  And I had to put this one in for Chance, the dog lover on the ship.

 

So cute.

 According to Hellie, the movie is great and the best parts weren’t in the trailer, which is always what I want to hear.  I’ll be taking this one in next weekend.  After I see Transformers 2, of course.

Two more great guest board the ship this week.  J.K. Coi, author of The Immortals series, was gracious enough to grant us an interview and you won’t believe who we lined up to do it.  A new visitor to the ship who definitely knows a little something about being immortal. 

And Friday, Chance brings Julie Rowe, author of Medical Romances to the ship for a fun workshop day.  Come prepared with a notebook and be ready to learn.  (We can’t be all hotties all the time *g*)

Oh, and HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!! (That’s mostly for Q. LOL!)

 

 

Hahaha, I always love when you suckers come here to the ship and find out it’s not Ter who’s posted, but it is I, the Sinner.

 

Ter and the Hellion are off dressing up like Indians and drinking all the good rum. Probably dancing around the mast buck naked and calling on the moon gods. Don’t mind me, I’d had a little of the rum myself.

 

 

Oh, oops. Darn. How did he get there. My bad.

 

Not.

 

Hotties, hotties, hotties. Every week Ter brings us the finest beefcake on the open seas. When Mr. Mattycakes heard the message left by the Hellion for me to take over this week, he was offended. Offended mostly because not only is it my sworn duty to find the hottest of hot new pirate crew today, but I told him that I was going to type hot underwear models into google and see what it turned up. Honestly this job is tough, but someone’s gotta do it.

 

 

I just finished reading Lover Avenged, a novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward (love those books). There is nothing better than a dark, demented hero with a mohawk and amethyst eyes. This hottie is hot in a whole other way. Inked back, buns of steel, dark gleam in his eyes. I just want to run my fingers through his hair and claw my way down his back.

 

 

Now, this hotties blog can’t be complete without a shout out to my Twilight fixation. I could stare at this picture all day and never go cross eyed.

 

 

I hope everyone has a great mother’s day. Happy Mama’s day, mama.

 

 

And only because I wouldn’t want my own personal hottie to be offended by me writing a hotties blog and not including him.

 Have a happy hotties day.