Nora Fleischer's Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Nora Fleischer's LiveJournal:
[ << Previous 20 ]
| Thursday, November 5th, 2009 | | 10:36 pm |
| | Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | | 8:51 am |
October Drollerie Blog Tour
It's Drollerie Press blog tour time! Today I get to host the talented Angela Korra'ti, author of Faerie Blood, which is available here: http://drolleriepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=83. This post will make you want to go out and buy her book right now: "October is of course best known for Halloween, but many of us authors at Drollerie Press only recently learned that it's also the month of a less well known holiday called Sweetest Day. The name might lead you to think that like October's more famous occasion, it could be candy-oriented; according to Wikipedia, there have certainly been criticisms that the holiday was made up mostly for an excuse to sell sweets and cards. But despite the name, the general point of the holiday is to celebrate those who have been helpful, kind, or encouraging to us. And since we're making Sweetest Day the general theme of this month's blog tour, I did a vignette about a moment of encouragement in the life of my protagonist from _Faerie Blood_, Kendis Thompson. Hope you enjoy! ----- Aggie Deveaux, Seattle, 1981 The scrape of a child-sized bow against the strings of a child-sized violin wasn't exactly the smoothest sound in the world. No--to be honest, Aggie had heard few more grating sounds in all of her born days, and that was saying a lot when she'd lived through volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. But she wasn't about to let on to her young niece that the noises she was making were only slightly more harmonious than the spitting of an angry cat; it was, after all, important to encourage a child to practice if she wanted to learn to play a musical instrument. Kendis, though, had already caught on. The fumbling arpeggio cut off abruptly on a noise that could be only charitably described as B flat, only to be replaced by the girl's outraged wail. "I sound _stupid_!" Even from the next room, that strident voice caught Aggie's ear the way the awkward practicing had not. She rose swiftly from her desk, leaving the half-balanced checkbook behind, and stepped down the hallway to the door of her niece's bedroom. "What was that you said, Kendie baby?" At age six, Kendis wasn't a big child; there was hardly any meat at all on her little bones, and the smallest violin Aggie had been able to afford was almost too large for her. Yet there was nothing tiny about the rage brimming in her eyes, or about the tears threatening to flood down her cheeks. "I can't get it right!" she howled. "I sound STUPID!" Violin and bow alike shook in Kendis' small hands, and Aggie blew out a breath as she stepped forward into the room. "Honey, you just go and put that fiddle down before you drop it," she said sternly. "We're paying good money to rent that, and you don't want us to have to take it back to the store broken, do you?" Her lower lip trembling, Kendis did as Aggie bade her, and laid the instrument more or less neatly down in its case at her feet. But self-disgust still roiled across her face as she muttered towards the floor, "Maybe we oughtta take it back. 'Cause I sound stupid!" Gentling now, Aggie scooped up the little girl and set her down upon her bed, then took a seat beside her and curled an arm around her shoulders. "You do," she admitted. Before a louder howl could erupt from Kendis, though, Aggie laid a finger across her mouth. "But it's _all right_. Do you know why, Kendie baby? Because you're just a little bitty thing with her very first violin and you're only just starting to learn. It's all right for you to not sound good yet." Kendis scrubbed a hand across her face and then grabbed hold of one of her own pigtails, twisting it about nervously. "It's not supposed to sound like that," she countered. "All creaky and stuff! It's supposed to be pretty!" "It will be, baby," Aggie promised. "But only if you keep practicing." "But how do you _know_?" At that, Aggie had to suppress a chuckle. There were many answers she could have offered--that she'd known it the instant Kendis' face had lit up the first time she heard a violin concerto over the radio, or how the music teacher at Kendis' elementary school had been startled to find a first-grader peeking into the room where the fifth-grade orchestra was playing. Then there were the answers she couldn't give, not yet--how Kendis' mother, strange and beautiful Elanna of the Sidhe, had drunk down music as though it were the very air she breathed. Or how, just over five years ago when they'd first come into the city and an old Warder woman had welcomed them in, infant Kendis had seized hold of Millicent Merriweather's tin whistle and tried to stick it in her mouth so she could play it too. There was no other sign of Seelie blood emerging in the girl, not yet. The good Lord willing, there wouldn't be for a while. Aggie had plenty to handle just trying to be a black woman on her own with a child to raise, without that child up and turning fey on her. She wasn't at all sure what she would do when the blood the girl's mother had given her would wake up. Until then, though, she was sure she could help Kendis find her music. "Because I'm your auntie," she said, dropping a kiss on the youngster's pigtailed head, "and I just know." ----- For the next stop in the Drollerie Blog Tour, swing over to Meredith Holmes' site and check out Heather Parker's post on Sweetest Day!" Thanks, Angela! | | Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 | | 1:09 pm |
Drollerie Press Mega-Sale
Hey, the weather is terrible, maybe you also have a giant cold like me-- why not buy a few new fun books to read? Drollerie Press is having a amazing sale. Check it out here: www.drolleriepress.com. | | Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | | 1:48 pm |
Oh my goodness...
I just got a wonderful review from Lexie at Poisoned Rationality. ( http://lastexilewords.blogspot.com/2009/09/e-book-review-over-her-head.html) Here's what she said: "[Garrett and Frances] are sweet and heart-warming, the both of them slowly trying to work towards their feelings (after a lifetime of feeling they didn't deserve the other), but wanting to hold onto the friendship they shared. Their friendship was important to them, almost as much as building a romantic one together. I liked that, and the fact that Fleischer didn't force obstacles." Thank you, thank you Lexie! | | Monday, September 21st, 2009 | | 8:35 am |
Guest Blogger: Meredith Holmes
Every month, my friends at Drollerie Press do a blog tour. This is the first time I get to participate, and I am excited to be hosting Meredith Holmes, author of Unseelie, ( http://drolleriepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41&products_id=36) a new twist on fairie tales. This month, we're talking about music. Okay, Meredith-- "I once had an ex boyfriend (well, he wasn’t an ex at the time) accuse me of not liking or caring about music because I didn’t share his ungodly passion for European “operatic” metal bands and Pink Floyd. There come a point where, once you’re “serious” with someone and don’t feign interest in their music or movies or other hobbies, where you have to say “Yeah, you know what? Dark Side of the Moon just doesn’t turn me on and Manowar kinda sucks…” (No offense to you Manowar fans or to those for whom Floyd is ‘mood music’.) Music is a very divisive issue for some people—if you’ve ever seen the movie High Fidelity, you know what I’m talking about. People break up over musical tastes. Fight over it, argue and yell and kvetch about it… The ex and I finally just had to agree to disagree (though I admit to being antagonistic and telling him his hard core euro metal bands probably went home at night to drink chamomile tea and wear fuzzy slippers and listen to NPR). Music can even be divisive for characters—at least in my experience. When I’m writing, I tend to have noise on, usually the television but sometimes a CD or the radio via the internet. Some music is more conducive to characters than others. When writing the short story Saturday Night, the supernatural creatures flowed when I listened to classical music and, oddly, classic rock. But when working on Widow’s Walk, neither brought the unnamed main character to life; what worked for her—what really made her come to my mind and then to the page—was turn of the century type music, the more wavery and creepy, the better. Each novel I’ve worked on, including the three I have in progress, the characters seem to prefer different music. For the first of the demon trilogy, steampunk (a la Abney Park) and The Dresden Dolls and Rob Zombie seem to get the demons going whereas world music (something I have a lot of around here, thanks to my belly dancing hobby/passion) perks up the human characters. Music has become interwoven in my writing—I may not write about it very much but it definitely influences what is going onto the page." Thanks, Meredith! Want to meet the rest of the Drollerie family? Come visit our live chat on Sunday, September 27, at 4pm eastern. There will be a link from the homepage at http://drolleriepress.com/. Win free books! P.S. You can visit Manowar, the Kingdom of Steel, at http://www.manowar.com/. I'm with you on this one, Meredith... | | Monday, September 14th, 2009 | | 3:25 pm |
| | Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | | 12:44 pm |
| | Saturday, August 1st, 2009 | | 1:31 pm |
| | Saturday, July 25th, 2009 | | 8:48 pm |
Over Her Head now available
I am delighted to announce that _Over Her Head_ is now available from Drollerie Press. "Over Her Head by Nora Fleischer is a sweet and charming turn of the 20th century romance novella. A bicycling young lady scholar writing her thesis on the historical meaning of merpeople tales visits a well-known collector of literature on the subject, determined to get him to let her read his books. She comes armed with cookies, that well-known advent to a man’s heart, and is surprised to discover he’s not at all the old curmudgeon she had imagined him to be. In fact, he’s almost dismayingly handsome, putting her far out of any running, were she so inclined, which of course she’s not. She just wants his books, despite what her landlady may say. Though she wouldn't say no to his friendship." You can see it here: http://drolleriepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=93&zenid=c6a9sf57bllgktjed9ut90pn85. | | Monday, July 6th, 2009 | | 8:51 pm |
| | Monday, June 8th, 2009 | | 7:14 pm |
| | Friday, May 15th, 2009 | | 9:31 am |
| | Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 | | 9:00 am |
| | Sunday, July 20th, 2008 | | 1:49 pm |
The way I wish Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog had ended....
Here's why I have a blog-- the chance to rant about things that annoy me. And now, it's the extremely depressing ending to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Whedon's main point seems to be that if you work for the Man (or the Horse), you lose your soul. But what about showing alternatives to working for the Man? Isn't that the point of releasing something TV-quality on the internet? What if the story itself reflected this? *** Part III opens: Billy has a new plan-- to capture Captain Hammer. He promises to release him when the mayor turns the building over to Penny's homeless shelter. But in reality, he plans to kill Captain Hammer. While Billy waits with the frozen Captain Hammer in the abandoned building, we see someone sneaking in. Billy hears a noise in the shadows, and is about to shoot, when he hears Penny's voice. "Don't kill him, Billy!" she says. "'Cause he's your boyfriend?" "Because I broke into your apartment and I found Bad Horse's letter." She emerges from the shadows, wearing a pair of overalls with a gold key embroidered on them, and a domino mask. "The Locksmith?" "I used to be." She explains that she once been just like Billy... nearly enough credits to join the Henchman's Union, and so on... She had wanted to join the Legion of Evil, but she realized that she would then have to spend her whole life obeying someone else's rules. "Why not start your own Legion?" she says. As Billy drops his death ray, a bullhorn sounds from outside, saying that the Mayor has agreed to Billy's terms. The police come in to find Billy and Penny gone, and a trussed-up and humiliated Captain Hammer. *** For the first time, Billy isn't alone while blogging. Penny and Moist, all kitted out, stand next to him. Billy is reading viewer mail. "Dear League of Social Change. There is a vacant lot on Elm Street that would be a great playground if only we could get the city to sell it to us..." The League looks at each other. **** On a streetcorner, Moist and Penny are standing with a petition. "Can you just take a moment..." they say to a businessman hurrying along. He grunts and starts to walk away, when to his surprise, he freezes in place. Penny gives him the hard sell, while Moist holds out a damp-looking petition. Meanwhile, Billy, concealed behind the trash bags with his freeze gun, winks at the camera. | | Monday, June 30th, 2008 | | 8:28 pm |
Over their Heads
I have good news! I have signed a contract to publish my merman romance novella at Drollerie Press ( http://drolleriepress.com/) More information will follow as things proceed... I look forward to working with the press, and to seeing my story in print! | | Sunday, November 25th, 2007 | | 8:17 am |
Two totally unrelated bits of news...
The first is a writing one. "Discovered Country" has just joined Dr. Pus's podcast anthology, "Library of the Living Dead," at http://dr-pus.podomatic.com/. This is a really fun collection of zombie-related stories and songs... check it out! The second is a personal one. My brand new daughter was born early in the morning on November 21st. She and I, and the whole family, are doing really well! She's as cute as a button, and her older brother totally adores her. | | Monday, November 5th, 2007 | | 9:47 am |
| | Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 | | 10:35 pm |
So, you like zombies? If you haven't seen the pilot for Babylon Fields, do yourself a favor and look it up. You should be able to find it easily using Google. Wow, is this great storytelling-- too bad it'll never make it to TV. | | Thursday, October 25th, 2007 | | 5:20 pm |
| | Thursday, July 5th, 2007 | | 2:46 pm |
|
[ << Previous 20 ]
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
norafleischer's journal