Cinephile: a devotee of motion pictures ~ Merriam Webster
I’ll make an admission that most writers won’t. I don’t read very much for pleasure. Between my own writing and editing jobs, I don’t want to spend more time looking at the written word for pleasure. But I consider movies a legitimate alternative to reading.
They really do help me fill my writer’s well. Last night’s movie night with my daughter is a case in point. We watched the movie Mud—not because we wanted so much to see a gritty depiction of life on the Arkansas river. We watched because it was filmed in Arkansas and a friend of ours sold a pickup truck to the film crew that was used by one of the film’s characters. 🙂
The acting was very, very good. Especially that of Matthew McConaughey, who played a man hiding on a tiny sandbar of an island in the middle of a river while he waited for his girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) to join him on the run. He was wanted for murder. And even though he stole every scene he appeared in, he wasn’t the protagonist, the main character, of the story. This was a boy’s coming of age story, and the boy who was at the center of the story shared many parallels with MC’s character. Both characters had strong arcs, both had problems to work through and events to overcome before the end of the movie, and that’s what makes for good fiction.
I’ll admit this kind of realism isn’t my usual cup of tea, but I recently watched another truly amazing movie—also about “real” folk from my region of the country. In Winter’s Bone, Jennifer Lawrence plays an Ozark Mountain girl who hunts for her drug-dealing dad to make sure he shows up for his trial in order to save her home. I never appreciated her as an actress before this film. But she was so real, so dead-on in her performance as the girl who had so many hurdles to overcome in her quest, I now count myself as a fan.
The point is, I watched those movies, but used the same eye I would have reading a book to dissect the story/craft elements. I studied the director’s transitions from one scene to the next. In Mud, I noted the symbolism of Mud’s lucky shirt—that he wore it until it was rags, that he discarded it when he gave up on himself, and that he tore it into strips to save the boy’s life. I paid attention to their dialogue, their voices. There can be poetry in “real” dialogue. And I find that when I need to “hear” a Cajun voice in my ear, I reach for movies like The Big Easy and Little Chenier. When I want gritty and real for a K&R rescue for a book, and a hero who has issues but needs to reawaken his heart, I reach for Proof of Life. Not to imitate, but to climb into that world and pull the rich, visual and aural details around me.
And if I need to wind down and want straight entertainment, which is mostly why I watch movies, I want the latest Star Trek or Fast and Furious. I love the cheap thrills like anyone else. And those are mostly what fill my DVD rack.
Have any movies inspired you lately?
Answer for a chance to win one of these recent releases.
Are you in the holiday mood? I have two Christmas books out—one new and one a little older. My earlier one, CHRISTMAS AT ANGEL LAKE, is on sale for only 99 cents! It’s book 2 of my Rescued Hearts series, and like all the books in the series, it stands alone. If you’re a dog lover, there’s a dog story in it that will touch your heart as much as the hero’s and heroine’s story. (There’s a cat, too, but the dog story is the one that will make you sniffle.) Get the book while it’s still on sale!
A LOVE & MURDER CHRISTMAS, book 3 of my Love & Murder series, is also a stand-alone. I just published it last week, and I’m so happy with it. This series is my contemporary romance/romantic suspense series. No paranormal. But early on in the book, I went to bed at night, and a word popped into my head: POOKA
I jumped out of bed, rushed to my office, and scribbbled down pooka. Sometimes you’ve got to listen to the crazy voices in your head. I’m so glad I did. I love the way this book ended up, even if it will be the only book with a five-foot cat pooka in my series.
Thanks to Delilah for inviting me to her lovely blog. 🙂
Below are the blurbs and links to the books, but I’m wondering what your favorite Christmas stories or movies are. I still love the Christmas scenes in LITTLE WOMEN, and my favorite Christmas movies are Love Actually and the original Christmas on 34th Street. What are your favorites? I’m giving away an ebook of A LOVE & MURDER CHRISTMAS to one commenter.
A LOVE & MURDER CHRISTMAS
Good will to all, and peace on Earth. Even to those trying to kill you.
Adam Donahue lives in the perfect vacation place – Door County, Wisconsin. But his life isn’t perfect. His wife was killed by a drunk driver three years ago, and his twelve-year-old daughter has type one diabetes. Now his daughter claims a mythical pooka, in the shape of a giant cat only she can see, is living in her bedroom. It scares him enough to do something he hates – ask for help from his late wife’s best friend.
Lauren Finney’s insurance agent husband disappeared four and a half years ago. Good riddance. Her Irish wolfhound is better company than he ever was. And she misses her best friend more than the missing husband, though Adam – her best friend ‘s widower – makes her heart beat faster. Now it’s time to initiate divorce proceedings against her husband, before the prenup restrictions expire and he comes back to claim half her considerable assets.
As soon as she starts the proceedings, bad things happen. Very bad things.
Then Adam asks her help with his daughter, and good things happen. Very good things.
It might be their very best Christmas … or it might be their very last.
Broke, pregnant and deserted by her boyfriend, Maddie Barrymore swerves to avoid a kitten while driving in a Wisconsin blizzard—and her life takes another turn. Like Puss in Boots, she stays in an empty house. She has the baby, the kitten, gets a job and a degree…yet every day she’s ready to flee if the real owner shows up.
Five years later, he does…
Dumped by the woman he loves, film producer Logan MacLeesh’s heart is as dark as one of his movies. He plans to hole up in his grandmother’s old mansion and throw himself into his work…until he discovers the sexy squatter and her four-year-old son. Before he can call the sheriff, Maddie’s tale of how she ended up there entertains him. They make a deal that as long as she tells him a story every night, she and her son can stay. Even the cat, though Logan’s always been a dog person.
A dog in need of saving…
Far away in another state, a homeless dog lifts his head, sniffs…and smells him. The human who’s meant for him. As he heads through the snow toward the scent, his journey seems impossible, even though it’s Christmas, a time when miracles happen.
It is never too late, in fiction or in life, to revise.~ Nancy Thayer
I love that saying. It’s so simple and so true.
I love the thought of new beginnings. Today’s the beginning of a new month. I have a bright shiny new schedule prepared to help me step out with vigor. Whether I finish everything listed on that plan is still up in the air, but I have hope.
This is the first of December, which means there’s just one more month to go before a shiny new year begins. December is always filled with planning activities for both personal goals and writing goals. I take New Year’s resolutions seriously. One resolution my sister and I shared at midnight, December 31, 1999, was to become who we were meant to be. Which led us to writing. We stepped out smartly in January 2000 with very specific goals, and look at where we are now. We performed the ultimate revisions of our lives.
My question to you is whether you make New Years resolutions or not. Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card.
Guilty pleasures… We all have them, don’t we? Whether it’s putting off that boring but important task you know you need to do (ahem…taxes!) in favour of watching reality TV, or eating the last double-choc chunk cookie you were trying to save for your spouse.
One of my favourite guilty pleasures is sneaking off at a party, and hiding out in an upstairs bedroom with a good book! Yes, all the other introverts are high-fiving right me now…
Speaking of books, I have a scorcher for you – Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest erotica anthology, Dirty Dates: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, which is full of pleasures, both guilty and not-so-guilty.
Cleis Press has generously offered to give away a copy of the book to one lucky reader!
Just tell us in the comments what your favourite guilty pleasure is, and on Tuesday 1 December I’ll draw the winner’s name out of a hat.
And now, because I like to tease, here’s an excerpt from my story “Switch”, included in Dirty Dates. The naughty little snippet below is the start of a reunion between two lovers…there’s a twist in the story, too, but I won’t spoil the suprise!
From “Switch”, by Mina Murray
“You’re early!”
I don’t mean to sound accusatory, but I’ve been practicing a new dance routine and am not exactly dressed for a sexy reunion. The yoga pants I’m wearing have bleach stains around the hems, and my tank top has also seen better days.
“Yeah? Well, you’re sweaty,” he says, and drops his bag in the hall.
“Sorry,” I say, grimacing. “Let me take a quick shower and I’ll welcome you properly.”
Grady kicks the door shut behind him and tugs me into an embrace.
“I’m just teasing, Cass,” he murmurs against my throat. “You smell amazing. You smell like woman.”
I groan at that. He always knows the right things to say, the things that get me wet.
Strong hands grip my hips and heft me up against the wall. I have no choice but to wrap my legs around his waist, unless I want to fall. My arms loop around his neck and I lean in for a kiss, but he holds himself just out of reach.
“I missed you,” he says.
“Oh baby, I know,” I purr, and rub myself against him. “I missed you, too.”
He lets me kiss him then, light brushes of my lips against his that gradually build into something deeper and more consuming. It’s been so long, I feel like I could almost come from this alone: from his tongue in my mouth, his breathless kiss, the pressure of his hips rocking against me. But it’s not enough, and eventually we have to break for air.
I unravel myself from around him. Even before my bare feet touch the floorboards, I’m reaching for his belt.
“Not yet.” He stills my hand. “Not till after I give you your present.”
“Grady, you shouldn’t have.”
“It’s something we’ll both enjoy.”
He smiles, a sly look that does nothing to warm his eyes. That’s when I start to get nervous.
See, Grady has this uncanny ability to change gears, right when I least expect it. One minute he’ll be all sweet and solicitous, then some hidden switch will trip inside him and he’ll become this domineering bastard who’ll make me crawl to him, make me beg. He’ll drag me to my limits and then make me take that final step into the void, alone—and fully conscious of what I’m doing. And when I’m on the other side—after I’ve fallen—he’ll praise me and tell me he’s proud of me, and that’s what will make me cry.
Sometimes I don’t know which version of Grady I love more. But I know which one I’m getting this afternoon.
I’m a fan of mythology in general, from Roman to Greek to Egyptian to Norse. I’m intrigued by the gods and goddesses, the mysticism, the magic and the creatures unique to different cultures and/or religions.
Most recently, I put pen to paper inspired by the myths and legends of the Norse people.
What is it about the Northmen that fascinates us? Is it their voracious appetite for violence? Their long hair and beards? Over the last year, I teamed up with a talented group of authors to answer those questions with fiction. In RISE OF THE NORTHMEN, each of us presents our take.
RISE OF THE NORTHMEN brings forth five stunning tales of sex, love, violence and triumph. From Vikings to Krakens to Berserkers to Valkyries, there is something for anyone who is a fan of Norse mythology and the mighty Northmen of days gone by.
This heart-stopping erotic anthology features Saranna DeWylde, Paul Goat Allen, Alyssa Breck, Mark Henry and Annice Sands.
For a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card, tell me what mythological character captivates your attention. The winner will be selected randomly from all commenters.
About the Author
Alyssa Breck is an author of horror/urban fantasy, paranormal romance and erotic fiction. She grew up reading Stephen King and V.C. Andrews. The Shining changed her life and sparked a love of all things scary, spooky and spine-chilling. Add some romance to that and she found her niche weaving paranormal and erotic romance stories. Alyssa hangs her hat in the South with her family of humans and fur-babies.
And there’s the reason I’m in Virgina for the holiday. All the kids together—noise, laughter, reconnecting. And this may sound very odd to you, but it’s our normal, I’m staying with my ex and his girlfriend (lovely lady and a terrific cook!). It’s how we do things. No drama among the adults. Just a real satisfaction in seeing that everyone’s well and thriving.
My son and I aren’t “telephone people”. So, it’s only when we can manage to get together that we really talk. Mostly about the kids, his job, his new house—and the things we both love: metal music and B-quality sci-fi movies. I turned him onto White Buffalo (not heavy metal, but an awesome voice!) and he had me watching videos by Highly Suspect. I really love their song, Bath Salts.
Enjoy Lydia below. I love the water and really feel like I may have been a mermaid in an alternate universe, but this video had me squirming I was so worried about her escaping…
For a chance to win a $5.00 Amazon Gift Card, let me know
what you’re doing for the holiday! And you don’t have
to be an American to enter! Pick a holiday!
One day, I was driving around my hometown of Las Vegas, taking in the sights. I’d been away for a bit, so I was looking through fresh eyes. So, when I passed the local watering hole with a huge banner on the side of the building that read, “Enter Our Giveaway. Grand Prize—New Boobs!” I did a double take. (Yes, I had to stop in. It was for real.) And then, as I was inching my way up the Strip, I stopped at a light to let a gaggle of showgirls in their G-strings, beaded bras, and feathers cross the street.
That’s when it really hit me—Deborah you are so not in Texas anymore.
And I remembered exactly what inspired me to set a series in Las Vegas.
Heck, most people can’t imagine living here. And everyone has an opinion—Vegas is a love-it or hate-it kind of place.
Or, it was.
Vegas has grown up.
When I first started my Lucky O’Toole series, Vegas still had that Wild West, naughty vibe. Trust me, I was trying to raise a then fifteen-year-old male there, so I was hyper-aware. The billboards often featured perfect female backsides and the kids’ idea of hanging at the mall was touring the Forum shops at Caesar’s wondering what trouble Michael Jackson was getting into.
Thank God my son LOVED golf.
I was breathing easy until my son decided he’d like to go workout on the way to high school—not a thought that would normally strike. I smelled a rat—but he really was going to the gym, so I let it ride. Later I got the real story—the strippers all work out when they get off work. Great.
One day I guess my son got too close and one of the ladies barked at him and that was the end of that little fantasyJ
Yes, Vegas is a different experience.
And, I fell in love with the silliness and the mischief. So, I wrote a romantic mystery with a bunch of snark that captured what I saw in this quintessential American creation.
A book targeted toward women… set in a city that everyone other than me thought was strictly for men. No, I didn’t know that going in. Totally clueless.
As if trying to launch a writing career wasn’t a large enough challenge. Marilyn Stassio chose Wanna Get Lucky? , the first in the series, as a NYT Notable crime Novel and it also garnered a double-Ritaä finalist nod, so thankfully not everyone was put off by Vegas.
And through the series I’ve tried to bring people along on my love affair with a city that doesn’t take itself seriously and just wants visitors to have fun and a bit of an escape. Vegas is now a HUGE foodie mecca with virtually all of the top-tier celebrity chefs well-represented with eateries of their own. The shows are spectacular. And A-list singers regularly cycle through town—some even stay for longer-term, in-residence gigs. We even have the Broadway touring shows.
Yes, it is possible to “Do Vegas” and never gamble or hit a “Gentlemen’s Club”—If THAT’s not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is—or perhaps, more correctly, a HUGE misnomer. But, I digress.
Vegas is so important to my series that it really is a character. I mean where else can you be sitting in a restaurant and watch the young women in their terribly short skirts try to sit on the stools at the bar, only to find the leather rather chilly. The minute their choochillalas hit the leather they popped up like a human version of Whack-A Mole.
Or where else could you take a posse of girlfriends to a true male strip club and be very glad you have the protection of a group? Who knew male stripping was a contact sport?
And there was the couple who come to Vegas every year, take different names, stay in separate rooms, only to pick each other up at the bar to have a torrid “affair.” And the lady who packed her cats…
Anyway, as you can see, setting is integral to my stories.
What about you? Does setting influence your reading decisions? Turn you off? Or turn you on?
Comment for a chance to win a free download of Lucky Break! There will be THREE WINNERS!
LUCKY BREAK
The Sixth Lucky O’Toole Vegas Adventure
On Sale November 20, 2015
Click to Buy
With Christmas a few days away, Lucky O’Toole, Vice President of Customer Relations for the Babylon, Las Vegas’s premier Strip casino resort, is in a festive mood. The upcoming wedding of her assistant to the Beautiful Jeremy Whitlock and her own engagement to her delish French Chef, Jean-Charles Bouclet have Lucky in full holiday cheer.
And even bigger celebrations are afoot. The national media is focused on the grand opening of Jean-Charles’s restaurant atop Lucky’s very own slice-of-heaven hotel. The opening gets a boost when Holt Box, a retired country-western singing legend lends a hand in the kitchen, adding mega-watt celebrity buzz.
Lucky’s life is humming.
The only sour note is her former lover, Teddie.
Teddie claims Lucky’s father, the Big Boss, has put an end to his return to the Las Vegas stage by handing that stage to Holt Box. Box is returning from retirement, a comeback of epic magnitude that will give the Babylon—and Lucky’s career—an incredible boost.
Taken by surprise, Lucky takes the high road. Or rather, she does what she always does when life overwhelms… She ignores it.
Until she finds Teddie and her father, bloodied and angry, standing over the lifeless body of Holt Box, a dagger in Teddie’s fist.
The media sharks are circling. A Macau heavy-hitter in town, flying under the radar but making his presence felt. An old nemesis of Lucky’s is out of prison and salivating for revenge. Lucky’s mother is ramping up her political campaign while juggling her new twins, who still don’t have names. And Christmas is racing toward a crescendo.
Time is short as Lucky must discover whether Teddie is a killer.
And why she still cares.
About the Author
My mother tells me I was born a very long time ago, but I’m not so sure—my mother can’t be trusted. These things I do know: I was raised in Texas on barbeque, Mexican food and beer. I am the author of WANNA GET LUCKY? (A NY Times Notable Crime Novel and double RITA™ Finalist), its five sequels, LUCKY CATCH, being the latest, and four between-the-books novellas. Currently I’m stretching my writer muscles working on a women’s fiction/contemporary romance series set in Napa, a dark thriller, as well as the next Lucky adventure, LUCKY BREAK, due out November 20, 2015—all very different projects. So, if you see me with a glass of Champagne in hand, you’ll understand. I can usually be found at the bar, but also at www.deborahcoonts.com.
They really do help me fill my writer’s well. Last night’s movie night with my daughter is a case in point. We watched the movie Mud—not because we wanted so much to see a gritty depiction of life on the Arkansas river. We watched because it was filmed in Arkansas and a friend of ours sold a pickup truck to the film crew that was used by one of the film’s characters. 🙂
I’ll admit this kind of realism isn’t my usual cup of tea, but I recently watched another truly amazing movie—also about “real” folk from my region of the country. In Winter’s Bone, Jennifer Lawrence plays an Ozark Mountain girl who hunts for her drug-dealing dad to make sure he shows up for his trial in order to save her home. I never appreciated her as an actress before this film. But she was so real, so dead-on in her performance as the girl who had so many hurdles to overcome in her quest, I now count myself as a fan.
Guilty pleasures… We all have them, don’t we? Whether it’s putting off that boring but important task you know you need to do (ahem…taxes!) in favour of watching reality TV, or eating the last double-choc chunk cookie you were trying to save for your spouse.
Amazon: 
And I remembered exactly what inspired me to set a series in Las Vegas.
