The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover Excerpt - Kickass Heroines

This excerpt comes from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover.

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"Give us the horses or you die," the lead rider demanded. He was a big man, heavily bearded and, like all three of the brigands, wearing a mask bound over his eyes and nose.

"No!" the Duchess said.

Henri grinned in reflexive agreement--never the horses!--then his belly went cold with horror. He should have spoken up immediately, said they had money. Except then the brigands might have demanded the money and the horses. Did that matter? There were other horses in the world, much as he loved them. There was only one Duchess.

The lead brigand rode towards the Duchess, blade held out. She backed Guirlande with consummate skill, keeping a distance between them. The brigand said, "Now, lady, we could use some nice mounts like these."

Henri opened his mouth. She cast him a warning glance, and he closed it. "I'm sure you could," she said. "However, they are mine."

"You wouldn't like to die in the road, would you?"

"You can't shoot us both," she said. "The survivor would make quite a lot of trouble for you."

The archer said, "Want to bet there'd be a survivor?"

Henri thought furiously. He could rear Tulipe and perhaps distract their horses, allowing the Duchess to run, but that would expose his horse's belly to both swords and arrow, and they might cut her down as she ran. How could he use his knife? Kaspar's singletail would have been of more use right now. He sidled Tulipe left, then right, trying to draw their attention away from the Duchess. Maybe that would be enough, a distraction so she and Guirlande could run.

"Don't move!" someone shouted.

Henri froze. Casting his eyes to the trees, he recognized Lilas first, the small figure on her back second. Sylvie held a long-barreled pistol in each hand. The brigands were easily in range of her shot, and he did not doubt she could hit anything at which she aimed.

The first rider wheeled his horse to face her, while the second took over menacing the Duchess. "There are three of us, if you haven't noticed," he called.

A shot ripped the air. Henri quickly controlled Tulipe. Guirlande barely flinched. The archer had lost his bow, and was clutching at his shoulder. Sylvie dropped her spent pistol, seized another from her belt, and shouted, "Two of you. I would go now, if you wish to live."

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c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Buy The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover.

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Jody Wallace
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
Ashley Ladd
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Lauren Dane
Vivian Arend
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Lacey Savage
Eliza Gayle
Sasha White
Shelli Stevens
Shelley Munro

Short Fiction Questions & Inspirations Playlist

While I'm at it with the Short Fiction FAQs, does anyone have any additional questions I should include? I'm going to make a compiled file and post it on my website.

And, since it's Friday and I should have some content, this is a version of my most recent playlist, all songs I find inspirational in one way or another. Well, except for the first one, which is the lead-in, and has a different mood.

Down at the bottom of the post is an Amazon.com MP3 widget I'm trying out, that has links to the songs. If you've got experience with MP3 widgets, please share!

1. "Crawling in the Dark," Hoobastank
2. "Song of Choice," Solas (Peggy Seeger cover)
3. "Rise Up," Yves Larock
4. "One-Trick Pony," Nelly Furtado
5. "Virus of the Mind," Heather Nova
6. "Another Train," The Poozies (Phil Ochs cover)
7. "Mainstream," Thea Gilmore
8. "Walk the Walk," Poe
9. "Hammer and a Nail," Indigo Girls
10. "Don't Fence Me In," David Byrne (Cole Porter cover)
11. "Learning to Fly," Tom Petty
12. "In These Shoes," Kirsty Maccoll
13. "Unwritten," Natasha Bedingfield
14. "The Rainbow Connection," Sarah McLachlan
15. "Turn the World Around," Harry Belafonte
16. "It's Not Easy Being Green," Jesse Palter (Kermit the Frog cover)
17. "Finale (Allegro giacoso, ma non troppo)," Concerto for Violin & Orchestra in A min Op_53, Dvorak





The theme for Snippet Saturday tomorrow is "Kickass Heroines."

Short Fiction FAQ: Part Three

Question: What is a possible path to breaking in to invitation-only print anthologies, if I have already sold stories to magazines?

I would first find out which publishers issue the sort of anthology that's suited to your stories, then look at the list of authors to see if you have any contacts: authors you know, friends of authors you know, authors who share an agent with you or one of your friends, that sort of thing. I would then simply ask how they did it and if they're willing to put you in touch with an editor. This method is probably restricted to those who've already published short stories.

Another option would be to contact the magazine editors who bought your stories and ask if they have any contacts in book publishing, for instance if the magazines and book lines are owned by the same corporation.

A third option might be viable after you have more of a track record with print anthologies: create and submit your own anthology with co-authors, for instance those with whom you share a publisher.

Question: I haven't been able to find a suitable market for a story within my genre. What are my options?

It might be helpful to think "outside the box." What are the other themes in your story? There are magazines that publish stories about travel, about environmental issues, etc.. If it's not an obvious fit anywhere, be prepared to submit to a wide range of places; sometimes a story that's slightly unusual for a given market is an easier sale. I've had stories hang around for years after I wrote them, and suddenly an appropriate market arises. My first novel came out of a story like that.

Browsing Duotrope might be helpful.
Writer Beware will let you know about dodgy publications.

Other options, if you still can't find a market, are to put the stories on your website as free reads; or accumulate enough stories to publish a collection of your stories, or for a chapbook. A small press is sometimes the best option for short story collections. A chapbook can be a useful publicity item that you could sell from your website or at readings, or simply give away, as a sampler of your work.

Related posts:
Choosing Short Fiction Markets.

Short Fiction FAQ: Part One.

Short Fiction FAQ: Part Two.

The Desire to Publish.

Short Fiction FAQ - Part Two

Question: Is there a market for erotic flash fiction? Will agents and editors think I can't write novels if most of my sales are short fiction?

There is not a huge paying market for flash fiction, but there are some markets. I would browse this page regularly.

For publications that don't specifically mention accepting flash fiction or short-shorts, it rarely hurts to ask. The editor might need something tiny to fill in a gap. I've recently sold a couple of flash fiction reprints for that purpose.

I don't think there's any danger of being thought incapable of writing a novel unless you never write one. In my opinion, it's always a plus to have some publication experience.

Question: What are the word count limits of various types of short fiction?

In general, the story should be as long as it needs to be, but I realize that isn't much help! I always check the specific guidelines of the publication first, as definitions vary. If a story seems really well suited to a particular market, and is close to the right length but a little too short or too long, I might submit anyway, or I might trim or expand it just a little.

Here are some rough length guidelines:

Flash fiction: usually means less than 1,000 words. Sometimes a market will specify a word count. I've done "flash fiction" that was only 100 words long.

Short story: from about 1,500 words up to about 7,500 words. Depends on the market, however. Often, longer stories are harder to place because they take up more room in an anthology. Many markets don't want anything longer than 5,000 words.

Novelette: 7,500-20,000 words in some markets; The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) defines it as 7,500-17,500 words.

Novella: 20-50,000 words by some definitions. SFWA defines it as 17,500-40,000 words, and anything over 40K as a novel. "National Novel Writing Month" says 50K is a novel. In reality, an adult novel shorter than 60K is very rare. Young adult usually runs 40-60K. I've noticed that a lot of electronic markets seem to prefer novella length to novel-length.

Related post: Short Fiction FAQ: Part One.

Short Fiction FAQ - Part One

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Writing is In the Mind

So much of writing is in the mind.

Not just coming up with ideas and arranging words into sentences. To write novels, to keep up the sustained effort necessary, a psychological approach to writing is often required. For me, that is. I have to bully myself into it. Cajole. Nag. Reassure. I have to be all things to myself, just to survive putting between 85,000 and 100,000 words on paper in sequence.

The chief obstacle to most writing is popularly called "ass in chair." If a writer doesn't sit down and write (well, I suppose you could stand!), and physically write or type, writing doesn't happen. It sounds silly, but it's true. The stories in our heads are not writing. Once they are laid out on paper, they are in a completely different form; I think of it sometimes in terms of space opera. We can write about a space opera battle, and it's two-dimensional, words on a page. In our minds, the space battle is full-color, three-dimensional, ships whizzing off in every direction. You can try to portray that in words, but the reader isn't going to get exactly what was in your head. They'll make their own pictures. But unless you write down what you can of that vision, there will be nothing for a reader to read.

So, there's getting yourself to write. Then there's making yourself keep writing. Sure, you can write a sentence a day, and eventually you will have a novel. My laptop screensaver says "One sentence at a time." But if you're on deadline, you don't have that luxury. My optimum pace is 1000 words every day, sometimes 500 words if 1000 isn't working out. I use that wordcount goal to keep myself writing. Didn't write 500 words yet? Keep writing. When it's done, you can stop.

Often, I have to push myself. I wrote 439 words. That's close to 500, but not quite. One more paragraph would push me over, that's 100 words, easily. So I go back to the file, and write one more paragraph. Whups! Only 479 words. That's close enough, isn't it? No? I write one more paragraph, and go over 500. Going over the goal is even better than meeting it. And if it's a good day, I might become involved enough with the story, at some point, to keep going long past my goal. Every extra sentence helps, because it is one less sentence I have to write tomorrow.

One sentence at a time.

Related posts:

Zero drafting.

How To Write a Novel in 72 Easy Steps.

The Daily Grind.

Siegfried Sassoon, "The General"

The General

'Good-morning; good-morning!' the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,
And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
'He’s a cheery old card,' grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

. . . .

But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

--Siegfried Sassoon, Counter-Attack and Other Poems, 1918

Moonlight Mistress Excerpt - Worldbuilding

Moonlight Mistress is out December 2009 from Harlequin Spice. This scene takes place during World War One while Gabriel Meyer, a British soldier, is searching an abandoned village for German soldiers.

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Both of the house's doors were shut tight, but not locked. Gabriel and Woods and Evans entered at the front door, Gabriel's pulse pounding like a drum, his boot heels even louder on the polished wooden floors. The house was deserted, the red brocade curtains drawn; though it bore signs of being abandoned in haste, a scattered pile of papers here and a fallen knickknack there. The air felt stale and close, as if it had been vacant for decades. He startled when Evans said, "Sir? Are we allowed to provision here?"

The inhabitants had fled, so there was no asking them for permission. It was also true that there'd been quite a bit of freely given hospitality on the long march. And his men were not only hungry, but working far too hard to go without food. He nodded. "After we search, we'll see what we can find."

He mounted the stairs, leading the two boys, and investigated a workroom for sewing, a dusty parlor, and a messy bedroom. The large bed bore distinctive stains on its sheets, and the smell of sex and sweat lingered like a memory in the air. Woods lifted the bedskirts with his rifle barrel, then poked the coverlet that lay in a heap on the floor. Evans peered into the wardrobe and behind the curtains, Enfield at the ready. Nothing but dust.

Gabriel scooped up a discarded doll with impassive porcelain face and laid it gently on the unmade trundle bed. Its human hair brushed disconcertingly against his bare wrist, and he yanked his hand away, feeling as if he'd touched a corpse. If he'd married Jemima, he might have had a child with a doll; what would he have done, forced to flee his home, with his family in tow? He tried to think of the real family that lived here, but could only focus on the empty bed.

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c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Pre-order on Amazon.com.

More excerpts.

More Snippet Saturday:

Anya Bast
Michelle Pillow
Kelly Maher
Mark Henry
Jody Wallace
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
Ashley Ladd
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Lauren Dane
Vivian Arend
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Lacey Savage
Eliza Gayle

Historic New York City

5th Avenue, New York City, 1900


Hester Street, New York City, 1903


Madison Square, New York City, 1908


Photos courtesy of WikiMedia Commons.

Another Snippet Saturday tomorrow - the theme is Worldbuilding.

Five Ways Of Thinking About A Writers' Conference

Five Ways Of Thinking About A Writers' Conference

1. Do I have enough contacts with readers and other writers?

Hint: The answer to this is always no.

Can I afford the time and money to attend this conference?

2. Budget - where is the conference located? Are there alternative ways to get there? How do those stack up against your budgets of a) time and b) money? How does the conference conflict with other events in your life?

3. Budget - once you arrive, where will you stay and what will you eat? How do those alternatives stack up against your budgets of a) time and b) money? If money is short, how can you save money? Are there additional costs, such as registration fees or promotional items?

4. Do I already know some people attending this conference? Do I want to see them while I'm there, or can I see them easily under other circumstances? If I do want to see them, I should contact them ahead of time.

5. What is my focus on attending this conference? Teaching, learning, promotional, or a combination? Meeting readers? Meeting other writers? Attending workshops that will teach me something? Teaching something to other people? Hanging out with people I already know? Or some combination of these things? Plan accordingly.

Related Post: My Top 5 Conference Tips.

Vampire Books I Like - Science Fiction

I am not a huge fan of vampire romance, so my favorite vampire books are mostly from the science fiction and fantasy genres. Here are my top three science fiction choices.

My all-time favorite vampire book is The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas. Not only is it a wonderful work in itself - it consists of four separate stories of the same vampire, each from a different point of view - but it gives science-fictional touches to the vampire myth that for me add to its realism. The vampire isn't sure how old he is; periodically, he hibernates and while asleep forgets his previous life, as a method of protecting himself from becoming too close to humans, who are his prey. So far as he knows, he is the only one of his kind, a species of one. And instead of fangs, he feeds on blood as a mosquito does, via an organ beneath his tongue, so his human victims rarely notice. As the story begins, the vampire is hiding himself in plain sight as a respected university professor, Dr. Weyland.

More about The Vampire Tapestry on the author's website and her essay about the book, Scarlet Ribbons (link is to part one of four - note that there are a lot of spoilers in the essay).

My second favorite vampire novel is a long, emotionally intense novel by C.S. Friedman, The Madness Season. It's set in a future where alien invaders have destroyed human society. The vampire protagonist, Daetrin, is also in hiding as a university professor, at one of the few schools the aliens allow; but soon they discover that he's not human, and capture him. He must confront his own nature and his own skills as a shapechanger in order to save both himself and the rest of humanity. There is more than one type of vampire in the novel, and it's interesting to see how Friedman plays the different species and their views off of each other.

The last book on my list is Fledgling by Octavia Butler. The book was published shortly before Butler's death. I love it because of her original science fictional take on the vampire myth. Here are a couple of detailed reviews, in Strange Horizons and The Washington Post. Butler's much earlier novel Wild Seed featured a character that, to me, was also vampiric, but not in the traditional sense; he lived by stealing bodies and inhabiting them, one after another.

Please share your favorite sf vampires!

Love of LIFE, not just a tv detective show

I'm in mourning for Life, a television detective show starring Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi. It went two seasons and has been cancelled.

I heard a lot about it from friends before I actually saw it; I wanted to see it myself as soon as I learned it 1) starred British actor Damian Lewis and had 2) Damian Lewis playing a cop (Charlie Crews) who'd spent twelve years in prison for murders he didn't commit. Not only an actor I liked, but a storyline with profound, undeserved angst. How delicious.

I got all that and more; Sarah Shahi as the angsty, ex-addict partner (Dani Reese) who constantly plays straight woman to Crews' wacky Zen-ish koans and love for fruit, and Alan Arkin as Crews' prison buddy (Ted Earley) who was convicted of insider trading and now handles Crews' enormous financial settlement for his false accusation. Arkin's portrayal is so engaging that I am not disturbed by his former crimes, which in real life would make me exceedingly angry. Shahi wowed me with her portrayal throughout.

Dani Reese is one of the best female characters I've seen on television in a long time. She is shown as flawed and vital, with a life that continues far beyond her role as Crews' partner. She's not only an excellent foil, but would have been an excellent protagonist in her own right.

In both seasons, the police captain is also interesting. In first season, the captain is a woman (played by Robin Weigert) who is the former partner of Reese's father, which leads to all sorts of complications, especially since her father might be implicated in Crews being framed. In the second season, the captain (Donal Logue) is a fish out of water character, transferred from New York City to Los Angeles, whose working methods conflict with those of Crews and Reese; and there are personality conflicts as well.

As for Ted, he's not just comic relief, but a character in his own right. Did he learn anything from prison? How has he changed since his wheeling and dealing days? How is he going about becoming a better man? How is that manifested through his friendship with Charlie? Is that friendship entirely a healthy one? (I still have no clue how someone in prison for insider training would end up in the same maximum security facility as an accused multiple-murderer, but I am overlooking that, the same tv-goggles way I overlook how Dr. Gregory House is still employed as a doctor.)

And all the while, there are threads of conspiracy that Crews is attempting to untangle without losing himself entirely to violence.

I love this show for the characterization and the acting, which is all wonderful. I'm still a bit dazzled by the way Lewis can demonstrate a man holding on to himself by his fingernails at the same time as he's spouting philosophy and picking up women on buses. It's clear that his sometimes fortune-cookie-like moments are really intended to distract himself from an emotional maelstrom. When he does achieve moments of Zen, it never lasts. It's a constant fight. The show provided me with all sorts of inspiration for new stories. And that, too, makes it a joy to watch.


Life: Season One

Life: Season Two.

Writing Elsewhere

Someone asked me recently about my office, and I told them I don't have one.

I live in an apartment, and there's no separate room where I can go to write. In fact, my bedroom and living room are really the same room, set apart mainly by furniture. If I write at home, I can write sitting on the couch, or I can write sitting on the bed. I've done both.

But more often, I go Elsewhere.

There's a reason for that. If I stay home to write, there's always the chance of being interrupted. People know where I live. They can call me on the phone (sometimes I turn off the ringer, but mostly I don't, as I don't want to forget to switch it back on). Banks and credit card companies and charities and educational institutions I attended will call, wanting to offer me stunning new services or ask for my donations, not knowing or caring that I never pursue such business over the phone. Even more than interruptions by people, though, are interruptions by ambience.

If I stay home, I can see the correspondence that's waiting to be answered. The bathroom that needs cleaning is just down the hall, and I'll have to see it periodically and be reminded. The laundry basket begs for my attention. Really, it talks. Even if I'm not looking at it, I know it's there. "Wash me! Wash me!"

So I leave. I pack up my laptop or netbook and hie myself to a coffeeshop or a teashop or a local upscale mall whose food court is often sparsely occupied on weekends. I sit myself down with a cup of something caffeinated and get to work.

There's coffee and tea and food readily available, and I don't have to spend writing time to fix it, only money. In the summer, there's the lure of free air conditioning. I can't stop writing to check a reference book, because those are at home. And sometimes, just being Elsewhere seems to have a stimulant effect on my brain.

It's true, Elsewhere has its own distractions. One major problem is that there's no one to watch your laptop should you have to slip away from your table. I work around that. In some venues, ambient noise is an issue, either music that's very loud or music that distracts me from writing. Sometimes, other people are talking loudly on their cell phones or talking loudly to each other. For that reason, I keep a pair of small headphones tucked into my laptop bag, and various music that I find congenial or simply loud. Finally, when I sit anywhere for more than an hour or two, I feel obliged to buy more coffee or tea. If I write all morning, I might be pretty jittery by the end of the session. Maybe that's why I so often go walking after I write!



But it seems to work for me. My early published stories were often written by hand in the coffee shop of a Borders on Walnut Street (it's now closed, and our downtown Borders is at Broad and Chestnut, and much more crowded, so I rarely go there to write). I wrote large portions of both The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover and The Moonlight Mistress in coffee shops. I'm doing the same with The Duke and The Pirate Queen. I'm also experimenting with other venues: libraries, lobbies, places around my day job. Until I have a larger place to live, I doubt I will stop going Elsewhere to write, and maybe I won't stop even then.

Just don't ask me to think about how much I spend on coffee.

Related posts:

How To Write a Novel in 72 Easy Steps.

The Daily Grind.

The Obligatory Writing-Music Post.

Zero drafting.

Siegfried Sassoon, "Remorse"

Remorse

Lost in the swamp and welter of the pit,
He flounders off the duck-boards; only he knows
Each flash and spouting crash, --each instant lit
When gloom reveals the streaming rain. He goes
Heavily, blindly on. And, while he blunders,
'Could anything be worse than this?' --he wonders,
Remembering how he saw those Germans run,
Screaming for mercy among the stumps of trees:
Green-faced, they dodged and darted: there was one
Livid with terror, clutching at his knees...
Our chaps were sticking 'em like pigs ... 'O hell!'
He thought-- 'there’s things in war one dare not tell
Poor father sitting safe at home, who reads
Of dying heroes and their deathless deeds.'

--Siegfried Sassoon, Counter-Attack and Other Poems, 1918

Moonlight Mistress excerpt - Emotional Fight Scene

Moonlight Mistress is out December 2009 from Harlequin Spice. In this scene, Pascal and Lucilla have recently been reunited.

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Pascal tucked the blanket back over her shoulder, from where it had fallen. "You didn't want me to see you again," he said. His voice gave nothing away, and his chin blocked her view of his facial expression, dimly lit by electric light shining in the window.

"You're in my bed now, aren't you?"

"I was already here. You could hardly push me out into the night."

Lucilla sighed. "I could have. I do want you."

"If I happen to be present. You would not have sought me out."

He had no right to be angry at her. She'd made no promises. Lucilla sat up and shoved at his chest with her hand. "I didn't think you wanted to see me again!"

Pascal captured her hand in his and kissed it, hard enough that she felt the pressure of his teeth through his lips. "I did not lie to you, at Le Havre! Why did you doubt me?"

His tone was angry, but his expression pained. Lucilla found she couldn't meet his gaze. It wouldn't be wise to tell him that she'd given up trusting men's words long ago. Clearly, he felt he should be an exception. So far, he had proven himself to be an exception. Everything he had done since his arrival spoke of a deeper attachment than Lucilla had dared imagine or hope for. "I'm sorry," she said, and she was. She hadn't meant to hurt him. She'd only worried about being hurt herself.

Pascal still held her hand. He kissed it again, gently this time, his mustache tickling between her knuckles. "If I misread your interest, I'm sorry," he said. "I will leave if you ask me to do so. Even now."

Lucilla snorted and squeezed his fingers. "You don't want to stride nobly out into the night. I appreciate that you offered, though."

"I would do it!" he protested.

"I don't want you to go," she said, took back her hand, and lay down again, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his bare skin. "I was afraid," she muttered. "Afraid I would never see you again."


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c. Victoria Janssen 2009

Pre-order on Amazon.com.

More excerpts.

More Snippet Saturday posts:
Lauren Dane
Leah Braemel
Jaci Burton
Elisabeth Naughton
McKenna Jeffries
Moira Rogers
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Anya Bast
Lacey Savage
Eliza Gayle