Am I the last person watching Project Runway?

I'll admit, I still watch Project Runway. I have no delusions that it's good TV, or that it's not completely manipulated, or that it's about actual design and ability rather than product marketing. But I still watch because I love clothes, I love the process of creation (even in a fishbowl like this), and occasionally something marvelous comes down that runway.

All that being said...I do still get wrapped up in how wrong the final picks can be.

Which brings me to last night's episode. If you haven't watched and don't want to be spoiled, walk away now because I'm about to bitch about it.

I'm serious. I'm thoroughly flummoxed.

Because this?

Is a slap in the face to the other two in the top three.

Look, I can give Blake points for being innovative. He took a risk and it paid off as it was moving down the runway. But seriously, that dress is barely holding itself together, it's so poorly constructed. And when she's standing still, it looks awful. It's drama comes in the movement.

If I was Swapnil or Candice, I'd be so pissed about this. Because their dresses were well-made as well as being true to the challenge.

I thought Swapnil's dress was just a teensy bit too short, but the juxtaposition of the front to the back was marvelous. He also took great care on the fit, making sure details were precise. Lucky for him, too, that Tim discouraged the cheap shiny leather.

Candice might not have had the most innovative dress, but it was infinitely the most flattering of the top three and impeccably made. It looked so chic with the white jacket over it, but that leather dress (vegan leather, woo hoo!) is divine. From the way they were gushing over her, I thought she had it in the bag. Justifiably so.

At least I can cling to the belief that there is no way in hell Blake will make it to the end. He's just not good or consistent enough for that.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

TBT: Chains of Jericho

I did something earlier this week that I've meant to do since RT 2014. I finally joined RWA. It's been ten years since I published my first romance, but it took almost all of that for me to be comfortable joining the professional organization.

I couldn't do it for the longest time because I would've felt like a hypocrite. When I first started writing, e-publishing didn't count. Then when they couldn't ignore e-publishing anymore, they discriminated against LGBT authors. I couldn't, in all good conscience, be a part of an organization that wouldn't recognize so many hard-working people. It felt wrong.

That finally changed, and in all honesty, I was ready to join after having a long lunch with my old friend Denny Bryce at RT 2014. I didn't get around to it before the convention, then honestly forgot until RT of this year. It's been on my list to do, and finally, FINALLY, I applied.

I still have to join the LGBT charter and look for other charters to be a part of, but the first step is done.

So today's TBT is my very first romance that I ever published. It's an m/f vampire story that was originally published through Linden Bay Romance. When Linden Bay was bought out by Samhain, I got the rights back and re-released it through Liquid Silver. It was also an EPPIE finalist, which I'm very proud of.

Declan Jericho is a vampire with a purpose. His best hope for success rests on the shoulders of a brilliant young cancer specialist, but saving the undead isn’t exactly the career path Dr. Maya Sheldon has in mind.

When Dec kidnaps Maya from work, the last thing she wants to do is help him. Then she discovers what he wants her for: develop a cure for the mysterious illness killing the young vampires in his care. Vampires or not, she’s unable to abandon them. Her interest in Dec quickly shifts from professional to something more intimate, but as their attraction grows, darker secrets threaten their newfound relationship. Dec has his own reasons for wanting the young vampires cured, and he’s not telling…

For an excerpt and purchase information, head over to Liquid Silver Books!

Going through withdrawal

I'm in withdrawal.

Two weeks ago, we started on our mostly-vegan meal plan here in my household. Lots and lots of vegetables, a salad every day, virtually no animal products. It's not been impossible, but I'd be lying if I said it was easy, and not for the reasons I anticipated.

I love to plan, so that's not the hardship. It's the boredom. I get lots of flavors, but what I'm missing is texture. Creaminess. Crunchiness. Roasting vegetables can occasionally give me the latter, but it's a lot harder to recreate the former. Since I'm trying to avoid what I think of as weird vegan substitutes and concentrate on whole foods, I'm limited. Cauliflower mash is the only one to fill that void so far.

There have been some great new recipes added to our repertoire, though. Thug Kitchen's roasted beet and quinoa salad is one. Last Friday, we grilled portobello mushrooms and stuffed them with artichokes and pesto. Tomorrow, I'm switching up my chicken saag recipe to make it with eggplant instead. I have high hopes for that one.

But nights of great food are interspersed with meals that are just to satisfy hunger. Simple things that don't take much effort in the kitchen at all. For someone like me who loves to cook, that's a rough one to deal with. I'm hoping that once I've discovered more variations on complex options that'll fix itself.

In the meantime, I'm trying not to take my irritability out on my family. The health benefits are already showing themselves. My skin is better. We've lost weight. It'll all be worth it.

It'll just be more enjoyable once I'm past the withdrawal.

Chance to Win Anomalies

Today's my day over at the Amber Pax blog to talk about my story in the collection that came out on Sunday. There's a long excerpt from Anomalies for you to read, different than the one on the website. Even better, everybody who comments on posts this week has a chance to win all five stories in a random drawing on Saturday.

Check it out!

New release - Anomalies

My latest story came out yesterday, a sci-fi futuristic story called Anomalies.

On the planet of Kathtor, Midnight Creek is special. It houses a geo-spatial anomaly that crosses the distance between opposite sides of the planet with a single step. A hundred years ago, the warring Kimon used the anomaly to invade the peaceful Therlerians, only to be driven away by their advanced technology.

Now, a single man guards the point of entry. Warden Arie Vedebel is the best of his kind, a soldier in the Liberated Therler Federacy, determined to defend his people to the death. When an electrical storm sets the creek on fire, he races to extinguish it, only to discover a man in the midst of it—General Dennick Ginn of the Elds Regime, a highly decorated Kimon officer.

Arie’s orders are to kill on sight, but Dennick’s claims that’s he come through the anomaly to destroy it make him pause. As far as Arie knows, the man’s goal is impossible. Then again, he’d always been told his post was a precautionary one, that traveling through the anomaly was no longer viable.

Warily, Arie and Dennick form an alliance. While Arie strives to find the truth, the one fact he can’t dispute is that Dennick is not what he expects a Kimon to be. The two men have more in common than military training...and they just might have a future, too.

For an excerpt and purchase information, check it out at Amber Allure.

Friday Flash

I was too busy to participate in Siobhan Muir's #ThursThreads contest yesterday, but I still have a couple from previous weeks to share.

I have a feeling my tendency to go het contemporary in both this and the one that came after (that I'll post next week) is indicative of my desire for something different. I've been doing primarily m/m for a while now. I'm ready to mix it up again.

*_*_*

“He’s cute.”

“He’s a player.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Really? I can give you the names of six different women he’s dated from this building alone.”

From across the narrow table, I stared at Jenny. I loved her to pieces, but ever since she and her husband went into marital counseling, she’d been a real thorn in my dating side.

“I can give you the names of seven guys from this building I’ve dated,” I countered. “Does that make me a player?”

As her eyes softened, she patted my hand like she was my Nana’s nosy neighbor and not my best friend. “You’re just lonely. I know that.”

“Maybe he’s lonely, too.”

Jenny snorted. “Dating that many women? Not likely.”

Silently, I counted to ten. Our lunch hour wasn’t the time for a lecture on Jen’s willful blindness to the double standard she imposed on a total stranger. “I’ll take the chance.”

Before I could stand, she grabbed my wrist. “Remember Neil? He was the same way and broke your heart. Just do me a favor and say to yourself, ‘This is a place I don’t want to go back to.’ Then you’ll see I’m right.”

Carefully, I tugged free. “If I judged every guy by Neil, I’d never go on a date again. Let it go. I’m asking him out.”

I felt better as I walked away. Life was too short not to take risks. How could I know if he was The One if I didn’t try?

*_*_*

What I find so refreshing about this one is a heroine who owns her sexuality and doesn't believe in labels, and yet is oddly hopeful about romantic relationships. Plus, I know a lot of women like Jenny, who hold different standards for the same behavior depending on whether you're a man or a woman. They often mean well, but that sort of gender-bias thinking is dangerous, especially when it comes to how we raise our daughters. Hopefully, I'll get to this one some day.

I have a new release coming out on Sunday, so I'll be back on Monday to talk more about it. This weekend, I get more bonding time with my daughter and friends, though I have a ton of chores to do around the house before that can happen. Plus, meal planning for the next week. Since we've gone more vegan-oriented, it takes more forethought if I don't want to get bored. That's always my downfall. I want food to be interesting. When it fails, I make bad choices. I need to break that mindset. And I will. In time.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

TBT: Aria of the Eclipse

In honor of my new sci-fi/futuristic story coming out at Amber Allure this weekend, this week's Throwback Thursday goes to an earlier sci-fi story I had come out there, Aria of the Eclipse.

Nothing has ever excited Tylen Merodine more than being invited by the Regent himself to celebrate the first solar eclipse in his planet’s recorded history. It’s the party of the millennium, and if he has to restrain his normal exuberant instincts to fit in, that’s what he’ll do to be a part of it. His good intentions vanish, however, the moment he’s presented to the Regent. Because there, in a gilded cage, playing music unlike anything Tylen’s ever heard, is the most beautiful alien he could imagine.

For more than twenty years, Dek has lived in captivity, performing at the whim of those who see him as an animal. The Regent is just the latest in a long line of owners, and while he’s kind, he’s still blind to Dek’s sentient nature. Only music gives Dek a voice, until Tylen breaks the rules and sneaks in to see and speak to him alone.

The time they have together is stolen and precious, the minutes ticking away until the eclipse is past and they have to go back to the way their lives were before. But when the Regent shows an unexpected interest in Tylen’s future, they begin to wonder if their worlds need to remain so separate...

In actuality, the two stories are drastically different. While my upcoming release is about gritty military men trapped in political intrigue, Aria of the Eclipse was romantic and melodic, about two sheltered men of different species who find love within the constraints of their existence. It's one of those worlds I've longed to get back to, but time and obligations haven't been kind to those desires. I really need to tell the Regent's story more than anything else. To this day, he fascinates me the most out of all the secondary characters. If I can get to it, his will be the story I write.

For an excerpt and purchase information, visit Amber Allure.