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Month: July 2012

Library Bookspotting for July

Published by Kelly on July 30, 2012

As many of you know, I volunteer once a week at my local branch public library. While I would never dream of bashing another author for his or her efforts (yes, even Stephenie Meyer), I often come across books that make me giggle (A Look At Uranus) or just say double-you-tee-eff a few times. Because many of these are just too good not to share, I’ve decided to make this a monthly feature on the site called “Library Bookspotting”. Are you looking for an RSS feed icon? It’s over there —>

I’ll also be live-tweeting a book each week while I’m at the library if you want to watch me on the Twitterz. For now, I’ll just share all the ones I have snapped pics of so far.

Oh yeah, did I mention I am in Texas? Of  course I am, because there is no way this book could exist anywhere but in Texas. For those of you who don’t know, Colt McCoy was the quarterback for the University of Texas, and is a regular folk hero here in Austin. The premise of the book was about Colt’s upbringing on a farm in rural Texas with an evangelical Christian family that worshipped football (as most of Texas does), just in case you couldn’t tell that from the ridiculous cover.

I’ve been curious about the images O’Reilly uses on the cover of their technology books for a long time. A book on XSLT with a horned owl on the cover? I suppose it makes about as much sense as anything else. But this one? Just how does an Olde West-inspired heist, complete with firearms, represent Open Source and Free Software Licensing? Are they implying the software is highway robbery? How could they? It’s free!?

Yes, this is a graphic novel (a young adult graphic novel, I might add) called “Night Head.” Now yeah, I’m sure that this didn’t originate in the US, but you’d think someone would take a second look at the title to make sure it means what you think it means. And definitely before putting in the young adult section of a public library. Yikes.

This is a children’s non-fiction whose sole purpose, I believe, is to train crazy cat ladies from a very young age. For the record, I am a dog person, and I would never tell my dog a riddle because she is too dumb to even understand the difference between food and dirty gym socks most days.

For some reason, mystery books (especially those in a series) have the cheesiest titles I’ve ever seen. For the record, cahoots is one of my favorite words, but even for this feline-themed mystery series, this title is REALLY reaching.

You can find all these books at your local library, but you don’t have to take MY word for it…

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Six Sentence Sunday 7/29/2012

Published by Kelly on July 29, 2012

Welcome back to my 6-sentence snippet series from my book, Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook. Over the next 11 weeks, I will be sharing with you snippet from each chapter. (Click here to see last week’s snippet)

Today we meet Lacey, a woman who’s struggled for 4 years to sell the house that she owned with her ex-husband, the last symbol of her old life. She always said when she sold the house, she’d cover up the tattoo she got the day after she got married.

She’d always said she’d treat herself to a Betsey Johnson swimsuit when the house sold, but they’d announced a month ago that they were going out of business. By the time the house sold, she wouldn’t have a chance. Oh well, it made a better early birthday present anyway, Lacey thought to herself, admiring the suit as she relaxed on the chaise. But the tattoo – she couldn’t really cheat with the tattoo. If she covered it up now, it would only remind her that those last ties still weren’t severed. For the millionth time, she pushed a familiar thought from her head… that it would never be over...

That’s all for today! Be sure to check out some of the other talented people over at www.SixSunday.com, and come back to visit next week!

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Six Sentence Sunday 7/22/2012

Published by Kelly on July 22, 2012

I have not fallen off the Six Sentence Sunday planet, I promise. Actually, I have been spending pretty much every spare minute editing the hell out of my new novel, Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook. Over the next 12 weeks, I will be sharing with you a 6-sentence snippet from this book, starting today.

Today we meet Jenna, a college girl getting her first tattoo with her sister and her father, the two closest people in her life. She has a complicated and tense relationship with her mother, who kicked her out of the house when she was growing up.

Jenna turned the corner to the narrow hallway that led to the house’s single bathroom at the end of it, walking by a large tin type photo they’d taken at Silver Dollar City for Jenna’s twelfth birthday.  They’d dressed them all up in olde tyme outfits, her father almost a spitting image of Jed Clampett.  Jenna sat on his knee in a bonnet and pigtails, the frilly frock they’d dressed her in gathered in a big pile of ruffles that fell well below her short legs.  Laura wore what looked like a christening gown even though she was nine years old, smiling softly under her bright white lace bonnet, her hand resting on the shoulder of their mother, the one Jenna struggled to call “Mom”.  In the photo, she looked tired, probably from chasing two high-energy girls who constantly caused trouble when they were together around a theme park all day.

Jenna was a spitting image of her mother, especially in this photo, but the similarities ended there.

That’s all for today! Be sure to check out some of the other talented people over at www.SixSunday.com, and come back to visit next week!

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The Versatile Blogger Award – Thanks!

Published by Kelly on July 16, 2012

Versatile Blogger AwardThanks to my lovely author pal Denise DeSio for nominating me for this award. According to the rules, I must now tell you 7 things about myself:

  1. I’ve just finished writing and editing my second novel-length work, a collection of short stories about women and their tattoos. It’s called Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook.
  2. My first book, The Redheaded Stepchild, is a self-published collection of disjointed short stories about Cady, a young woman dealing with the presence of a difficult stepmother. No zombies or vampires.
  3. The Redheaded Stepchild has been chosen as a semi-finalist in Literary Fiction by 2012 Kindle Book Reviews. Finalists will be chosen on September 1, 2012 and winners will be chosen on October 1, 2012.
  4. I finally, after four years, sold the house I owned with my ex. Stupid recession.
  5. I love all kinds of cheese, especially provel, which is apparently not a substance recognized by the state of Texas. Case in point: favorite meal = grilled cheese and tomato soup. Also not Texas appropriate, especially in July.
  6. I am a ridiculously skilled seamstress. Why buy a new summer wardrobe when you can be a glutton for punishment like myself, spend hours making it yourself, and spend just as much money?
  7. I’m a total geek. I drool at HTML5, can write specialized subsets of XML, and I love Battlestar Galactica.

I’d like to nominate the following people for this award:

Congratulations! If I didn’t send you the award by email, please feel free to grab the award image and post it on your site, and don’t forget to pass it on.

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Semi-finally, a best indie book of 2012

Published by Kelly on July 2, 2012

Some time ago I entered The Redheaded Stepchild in The Kindle Book Review‘s “Best Indie Fiction of 2012” contest, in their literary category.

I have to admit it made my July when I looked at their list of semi-finalists this morning and found my name. They’ll announce finalists in September – but for now, I can smile knowing I have a nice gold sunburst to add to my very short list of accolades.

Happy July, everyone 🙂

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