Writer Wednesday - Dialog

The art of writing dialog is a tough skill to learn. We learn all the basics. We punctuate properly. We avoid excessive dialog tags. We avoid modifying our dialog tags with adverbs. We read it aloud to make sure it flows right. And we never make our characters give long speeches unless they have a damned good reason.

But still, we get told our dialog is stilted.

Joining us today as Featured Writer is Lisa Shearin, a master of witty dialog. She is the author of Magic Lost, Trouble Found, Armed and Magical and The Trouble with Demons. Her books have consistently been available on the shelves of bookstores everywhere since she was first published, and her books are notable for their laugh-out-loud dialog. It's a real treat to have here here today. She provided two excerpts from The Trouble with Demons to give us some discussion fodder. I had a really hard time choosing between them, but here it is:

~*~

Piaras wasn’t having a good day; yesterday had started off the same way and by last night, it had slid downhill into a cesspool.  Today was showing all the signs doing the exact same thing.  

There was no easy way to ask what I needed to ask.  Sure, I could just come right out and say it; it was a simple enough question, but the words just refused to come out.

“You and Katelyn like each other, right?”  Yeah, I know, it was the cowardly way in, but at least it was a related topic.

Now the kid was completely confused.  “Yes, we do.”

“A lot?”

“Yes, a lot.  Why do you ask?”

“The two of you haven’t . . . done anything about really liking each other, have you?”

Now he was confused and concerned.  “Not yet.  I . . . that is, we want to . . . we think . . . but . . .”

“But what?”

“Before I came to class, the archmagus and I had breakfast together.”

I pressed my lips together so wouldn’t snicker.  Oh, I knew what was coming.  Uncle Ryn had done the same for me.  Any boy—or a couple of years later, any man—who wanted to see me socially had to go through The Talk.  One of my hopeful suitors said going through The Talk was like being forced to walk through fire, except without the fun parts.  You tried to get through it as quickly as possible and told yourself the pain would be over soon.  To the best of my knowledge, Uncle Ryn had never actually laid hands on one of my suitors, but he’d always made it plain and clear what behavior he expected, and what actions would be taken if he was “disappointed” that the boy/man’s behavior fell short of those expectations.  Needless to say, I didn’t date all that much.

Piaras was looking at me.  “What?”

I swallowed a snort.  “Nothing.  Go on.”

Piaras glanced at the door; it was closed, but he lowered his voice anyway.  “Archmagus Valerian said he would know if Katelyn and I . . . you know.  Raine, I’d like to live long enough to graduate, or at least graduate in this form.  He can’t really turn me into a squid, can he?”

“Is that what he told you?”

“And a couple of other things.”

“He can’t do it, at least not the squid part.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Piaras let out a relieved breath.  “That’s good.”  His look turned suspicious.  “Why are you asking about me and Kat?”

I really didn’t want to come out and say this.  “I need to find the Scythe of Nen.  And by the way, you weren’t too far off the mark.  It is a dagger.”

“What’s it look like?”

I told him what my dad had told me.

“Something that small won’t be easy to find,” Piaras noted.

“No, it’s won’t.  And apparently a certain type of person is helpful for finding this kind of thing.”

Piaras’s eyes narrowed.  I had a sinking feeling he’d figured out where I was going with this.

“What type of person?” he asked.

I winced.  “Uh . . . a virgin type of person.” 

His lips narrowed into a thin line to match his eyes.  “And when you found out you needed a virgin, you immediately thought of me.”

“Not immediately.”

“What, so you had to wait two seconds?”

“More like five actually.  Don’t feel bad about it.”

“You think I’m the only virgin on this island!  How’s that supposed to make me feel?”

I grinned hopefully.  “Special?”

Piaras gave me a look.  You know the one.

I threw my arms up.  “Okay, I’m sure there are other virgins on this island, but I don’t have time to find them.  I was pretty sure you were qualified—”

Piaras glowered.  “As a virgin.”

I held up a hand.  “No, no.”  I was just getting myself in deeper.  “I knew you were qualified in other ways to help.  Level headed, good in a fight, that kind of qualified.”

Piaras arched an eyebrow.  “Nice try.”

I hung my head and sighed.  “Kid, just help me out here, will you?”

Silence.  I looked up.  Piaras was grinning.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked. 

I told him.

“One question,” he said when I’d finished.

“Shoot.”

“This virgin thing, does thinking about it count?  Just because I haven’t done it doesn’t mean I don’t think about it.”  He lowered his voice again.  “A lot.”

~*~

As usual, please keep your excerpts to 300 words or fewer, and please put your excerpts and your critiques in separate posts.

And let's have some fun!

Interview With Lisa Shearin!

Lisa Shearin is the very first author I featured here at Fantasy Debut, with the incredibly fun Magic Lost, Trouble Found. The Trouble with Demons is her third novel, so she's technically not a debut novelist anymore but it was always my intention to follow the careers of authors whose books I particularly enjoyed.

Lisa has taken time out of her furious writing and release schedule to answer a handful of questions.

~*~

Tell us a bit about the direction of the Raine Beneres series. Personally, I think it has high potential to morph into an open-ended series, like an urban fantasy. Do you know how many books we can expect in the Saghred storyline? Do you see it extending beyond the Saghred storyline? 


Since I’ll be pitching some of those books to my publisher in the next few months, I can’t say how many books there will be to wrap up the Saghred storyline. And yes, I do see it extending beyond the Saghred storyline. Again, since I haven’t pitched the idea yet, I can’t go into any details, except to say it will produce a huge and collective “SQUEEE!” from my fans. Other than that, my lips have to be sealed.

Which would you rather be, an elf or a goblin? (Your goblins, of course.) 

I can see myself being both—I just love my goblins. But my husband says that I am Raine. Only personality wise, of course. I’ve never taken on evil mages, psychotic goblins, and the Queen of Demons. And Raine’s snark comes quicker than mine. I’m one of those who thinks of the perfect snappy comeback after the chance to deliver it is gone.

As a reader, which fantasy world has most engaged you (such as Tolkein's Middle Earth)? By that I mean, whose world will you always return to, no matter how many books the author produces in the series? 

I adore David Eddings’s Belgarian, Malloreon, and Elenium series. And I adore Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Saga. I absolutely devoured those books.

I think it's safe to say that you've established yourself as an author. Where would you like to see yourself five years from now? 

I’d like to be able to look back and see that I’ve continually raised the bar for my writing, and that I’ve continued to grow and learn as a writer. I want each book to be better than the previous one. I want to be able to feel that I’ve taken chances and gone beyond what I felt comfortable writing. If a project excites me, scares the crap out of me, and I’m not sure if I’m good enough to write it—that’s an idea worth writing.

And wow! You have yourself a new writing gig as a columnist for The Writer! Please share all the juicy details. 

I’d written about The Writer being my favorite writing magazine because it had articles that a writer could use at any point in their career—pre-published, newly published, and established author. And I felt the articles did more than scratch the surface; they dug down into a topic and gave me information that I could actually use. Well, apparently Sarah Lange, the associate editor, had Google Alerts set up for mentions of her magazine online. She commented on my blog that day, which was a huge thrill. And she apparently became a regular reader of my blog. About a month ago, she emailed me and said that she liked my blog and wanted to offer me my own column. And yes, when I read that email there was some serious squeeing involved. I’d always dreamed of having my own column in The Writer magazine. We haven’t come up with a name for my column yet, but it’ll be toward the front of the magazine in the “Take Note” section. My first article will appear in the August 2009 issue, which will be out in July. I can’t wait to see it!

~*~

For more information about Lisa Shearin and for information on how to purchase her books, visit her website.

Debut Graduate: The Trouble with Demons

The Trouble with Demons (Amazon USA, UK, Canada)
by Lisa Shearin
Ace Books - MM Paperback
Excerpt

I can't imagine anyone who enjoyed Magic Lost, Trouble Found and Armed and Magical being disappointed by The Trouble with Demons. For this novel, Ms. Shearin turned up the darkness, turned up the romantic tension, and turned down the snark. All without sacrificing action or fun. Plus, it's thicker!

Raine's chaotic world gets even more so in The Trouble With Demons when someone opens a Hellgate, releasing a legion of demons on the Isle of Mid. They want something, and naturally, Raine is at the thick of it. The sentient rock known as the Saghred is also up to some unexpected tricks, and is snaring all of Raine's friends in its clutches. Talk about piling on the problems!

I was glad to see the reduction in snarkiness. Armed and Magical bordered on being a bit too snarky for my taste, but in The Trouble with Demons, Raine doles out the sweetness as well as the snark. I was afraid that my Raine was going to turn out to be a bit too sharp-edged, but happily, it is not so.

Ms. Shearin has been teasing her blog readers (myself included) all year with hints about the triangle between Raine, Tam and Mychael, which she brings to a new level in this novel. It wasn't what I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was also glad that there aren't too many sexual things going on, or too much rivalry. After all, only two weeks have passed since the events in Magic Lost, Trouble Found. And I think I can see Raine developing a preference between the two men.

I'll get my nit-picks over with. When there isn't mind-reading going on, a surprising number of characters are able to not only guess Raine's thoughts, but respond to them as if she said them aloud. I think this sort of thing should be done only occasionally, otherwise Raine will start to seem too transparent. Also, the timing in the ending seemed a bit off. The tension seemed drawn out over too many pages. If you imagine the novel's tension as a hill, it rose up to a plateau and then stayed there for quite a while before the final resolution. At one point, it seemed like a certain female demon waited around until Raine was finished with what she was doing before continuing with her evil schemes.

Enough with the critiques. The action is nonstop. When you have a demon infestation, it does tend to keep you hopping. Especially when they start popping out of the toilet. The actual ending was great, including some very welcome developments with Sarad Nukpana, Rudra Muralin and Raine's father, Eamaliel Anguis. Raine also has a new determination to focus her efforts on parting herself from the Saghred. The novel is very racy, but not at all sexy. Does that make sense? Map lovers will be thrilled with the new map at the front of the book. Now all it needs is a appendix full of names, concepts, and foreign words and phrases. Hint, hint!

Some fun speculations: I think--THINK--I know how the Saghred storyline will resolve. In this novel, two new concepts are introduced, which I won't give away here. I can imagine how Raine can bring these two things together to destroy the Saghred. I love being able to guess at these things, but I also like it when I'm completely wrong. One thing I hope to see in the next volume--a return to Mermeia, the canal-city locale of the first book. I just loved that setting, with all its districts, each having its own mood and character. Especially the Ruins.

The Trouble With Demons delivers shovelfuls of fun, which is exactly what we have come to expect from this series. This series is great for urban fantasy lovers who might need a vampire break. It's Jennifer Rardin meets Terry Brooks, but substitute sexy goblins for vampires. The action is nonstop, the relationships are deepening, the ending was satisfying (for now) and there are lots of twists and surprises. The final two chapters serve as a sort of epilogue, which only whets the reader's appetite for the next book in the series.

An Interview with Lisa Shearin!

I have mentioned Lisa Shearin often on this blog. Back in June of last year, when I first started this blog, I interviewed Lisa after I had featured her first novel, MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND. Here is a follow-up interview.

What is the best thing that has changed in your life since the release of MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND?

My fans. There is absolutely nothing better than getting fan emails when I’m having a tough day at the keyboard. I love hearing how much they love my characters, whether they’re “Team Mychael” or “Team Tam”, that they “devoured” the books, read the books multiple times, can’t wait for the next one, and urge me to write faster. One of the main reasons why I stuck it out for over 20 years and was so determined to get published was that I had these stories to share and I just knew if I could get them out there that readers would love them and my characters just as much as I do.

Please tell us—if you can—about any unexpected drawbacks you have encountered about being a published novelist?

Before being published, it’s all about the writing, the joy of creating, the dream of being published and sharing your work with the world. After being published, it’s still about those things, but now it’s also about the books (which are now products), increasing your sales, promotion, having your work out there to be embraced & adored, or kicked to the curb. I’ve found out that my skin isn’t as thick as I thought it was, but I’m working on growing a couple of armored layers. ; ) You have to. Otherwise all of these things can distract you from what’s really important—your writing and creating something that you and your fans will love.

Admit it—you like torturing readers, don't you? Please tell us how you craft your twisty plots.

Actually I like torturing my characters. ; ) Sometimes I forget that you all haven’t read a certain plotline yet—you’ve only read two books, I’ve written three and am starting on the fourth—and I’m thinking about Books Five and Six. Occasionally I’ll let something slip that I probably shouldn’t have. Ooops. ; ) I’d love for my readers to be able to know things as I write them, but of course books aren’t printed that quickly. Okay, okay, I like teasing you all by alluding to things that are going to happen because I know you’re gonna love it when you finally get to read it.

Please tell us about when you first realized that you are a storyteller, and about any authors who may have inspired you.

When I read Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment) I was blown away. I said to myself: “I have got to do this.” I haven’t read them since then, and I definitely should. I loved David Eddings’s The Belgariad and Malloreon series of books, and Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Saga (Magician, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon).

You hinted recently on your blog about other novels outside the Raine Benares world. Can you give us a teaser about them?
(grins) Okay, one tiny teaser. . . Have you ever tried running up a ladder in stilettos and a little black dress being chased by armed and highly annoyed museum guards? Me either. I don’t recommend it.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

A word of advice for all of you pre-published authors—When (not if, but when) you’re at a conference and fans want you to sign their t-shirts or tote bags, use a light touch with your Sharpie. If you press down like you’re signing a book, the Sharpie gets bogged down in the material and your signature can look like crap. A light touch gives you a more even ink distribution. It makes for a happy fan, and an author who doesn’t feel like a complete doofus. ; )

Thanks, Lisa!

Links!
Magic List, Trouble Found Revisited Post
Armed and Magical Post
First Interview with Lisa
All things Lisa on this blog (lots of posts!)
Lisa Shearin's Website

Armed and Magical by Lisa Shearin

Armed & Magical (Amazon UK, Canada)
by Lisa Shearin (website, blog)
Ace Books
Mass-Market Paperback
Excerpt

Blurb:
Ordinary sorceress. Extraordinary power.
Suddenly she's the most popular girl in town.

My name is Raine Benares. Until last week I was a seeker—a finder of things lost and people missing. Now I'm psychic roommates with the Saghred, an ancient stone with cataclysmic powers. Just me, the stone, and all the souls it's ingested over the centuries. Crowded doesn't even begin to describe it...

All Raine wants is her life back—which means getting rid of the stone and the power it possesses. To sort things out, she heads for the Isle of Mid, home to the most prestigious sorcery school, as well as the Conclave, the governing body for all magic users. It's also home to power-grubbing mages who want Raine dead and goblins who see her as a thief. As if that's not enough, Mid's best student spellsingers are disappearing left and right, and Raine's expected to find them.

Lives are at stake, goblins are threatening to sue, mages are getting greedier, and the stone's power is getting stronger by the hour. This could get ugly.

* * *

Wow; I've had to sit on this book for months. They sent out the ARCs really early. However, in the tradition of Fantasy Book Critic, I wanted to post this on the day of the release. I'm a day early.

As I mentioned in last week's Magic Lost, Trouble Found revisit post, Lisa Shearin was my first debut. Well, at least she was my first debut that I wrote about here at Fantasy Debut. Since she's neck-deep in deadline hell, we have postponed the interview that we had planned until sometime in May.

Armed and Magical picks up almost right where Magic Lost, Trouble Found left off. It's a week later and Raine is on the Isle of Mid with her cousin, Phaelan ("He was a pirate. Excuse me, a seafaring businessman."), and the leader of the Conclave Guardians, Mychael ("an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, coated in yum"). Raine's young friend Piaras is also there as a student. He is the most powerful young spellsinger to come along in decades.

I don't know what to make of Piaras. He's way too powerful to be a sidekick. He gives Raine some serious competition power-wise, even with her Saghred-induced "resume enhancement". I like being befuddled like this. I keep wondering if before the series is over, Raine might find herself facing Piaras. It could be heart-wrenching. However, this is all idle speculation. I have no insider knowledge!

As the blurb suggests, the protective Raine finds herself hunting down some missing students. She makes a trip to the library and makes her library-use roll big-time. She finds a tiny, almost unimportant-looking volume that turns out to be a journal of sorts, and the author is mighty interesting. Naturally, getting out of the library with the book is a lot more interesting than going in. Raine really can't go anywhere without running into excitement.

Remember Sarad Nukpana, the power-mad sorcerer who tried to get his hands on the Saghred in the first book? Well, now that he's safely nestled inside the Saghred, they've become bosom buddies. And he's anything but neutralized.

At my year-end post on my favorites of 2007, I named Raine as my favorite female character. In this novel, Raine is a bit darker and a bit snarkier. She's still every bit as protective over those younger and/or weaker than she, so you still gotta love her. Still, the novel reads, very subtly, as if the Saghred is affecting her personality. In fact, it is so subtle that I applaud the author. There's no overt struggle, no in-your-face "Give yourself to the dark side, Raine" (although Sarad Nukpana does get cocky a time or two).

The love triangle between Raine, Mychael and Raine's ex-boyfriend Tam continues to develop. Considering the compressed timeframe of these two novels, it's good that Shearin has not taken it too far. After all, in novel-time, only two weeks (or so) have passed. Raine is attracted to Tam and Mychael for different reasons. Tam has some fascinating developments that the reader (me) and Raine both should have seen coming, but did not. And there is some truly wicked kissing going on between them. Mychael gets his kiss in as well, and it ain't no good-boy kiss.

The hilarious situations continue and are one-upped. Raine's magic has grown so powerful that it often works much better than she expects, with sometimes-hilarious results. I don't want to give it away because it is so funny, but there is one scene where Raine disguises herself that had me rolling with laughter.

This followup does not disappoint. It continues to be as fun as the first novel, with lots of "how the heck is Raine going to get out of this" moments. It's a fast read with a lively conclusion that again points the reader to the next volume, The Trouble with Demons.

* * *

Lisa is very active on her blog, and posts a lot of writing-related posts along with reports on her novel-in-progress. Sometimes, her posts even have teasers! Also, here is a Q&A with Lisa by her publisher.

Magic Lost, Trouble Found - Revisited!

Back when I first started this blog, I covered Lisa Shearin's debut, MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND. In fact, her novel was the book that inspired me to finally get off my duff and start this blog, which had been a seed germinating in my mind for months. Since I had hardly any visitors back then, I thought I'd kick off Lisa Shearin week here at Fantasy Debut with some excerpts from my as-I-read-it review of MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND. Here's the first one.

* * *

I found that it took a few pages for the story to suck me in, but it did. Raine--the half-elven main character--is loyal and protective over her friends. She is concerned for society as a whole when she learns that a group of baddies wants this amulet. I detect a strong Janet Evanovich influence. I would be very surprised if the author had not read the Stephanie Plum series. However, Raine is no Stephanie Plum--she can handle some tough situations.

One thing that I absolutely got a kick out of was the sexy goblins. Who knew goblins could be sexy? Shearin's goblins are tall, thin and elf-like, except for the gray skin and the fangs. They apparently have this dangerous appeal, and so there are lots of half-goblins running around. In fact, I think it might have been fun to make Raine half-goblin, rather than half-elf.

* * *

It amuses me to read this again. Half-goblin indeed! I did turn out to be right about Lisa reading Stephanie Plum. Here's an excerpt from the next post.

* * *

I picked this book up for odd ten and twenty minute intervals throughout the day. New characters are popping up like daisies. There is this mysterious Guardian character who seems to be some sort of elven hottie who also happens to command a platoon of other Guardians. There his Raine's uncle and his student, who is a sort of kid-brother type to Raine.

She's also in touch with this elven intelligence network, which I find intriguing.

* * *

At this point in my blogging, Lisa Shearin popped in to leave some comments. I don't know why this was so unexpected--I should have realized that authors Google their own works. I guess I didn't expect this blog to appear anywhere on the first page of the Google search results. She was my very first commentator on this blog, which is fitting, in my opinion. It was also a huge thrill!

I went back and counted--I put up eleven posts on MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND! This blog had absolutely no content other than Lisa's novel. Nowadays, I feel like I'm losing my blogging audience if I put up more than three posts on my reading progress for any one novel.

Here are some highlights from the remaining posts:

* * *

Chapter Five was meaty with information. I finally know how old Raine is. I hate it when authors refuse to give an exact age for their character. Raine discovers several nasty things about the amulet, which by now she is quite stuck with. And the hottie elf Guardian tried to cast a spell on her.

Oh, and did I mention that she kicked him in the nether regions when they first encountered each other? There's nothing like first impressions!

* * *

I had a laugh-out-loud moment when a police-officer type called for a "containment box" to hold a suspicious magic item. How many D&D gamer types would have loved to had containment boxes when transporting dangerous artifacts? I know that Frodo would have loved to have one. Temptations from the One Ring? No problem! I've got this handy little box here in my Bag of Holding!

* * *

The title of this book so fits. Trouble Finder would be an apt nickname for Raine. She's just taken a decadent bath and she went out looking for trouble . . . and naturally, she found even more trouble than she expected.

* * *

Long ago, I read that a good story plunges the hero against "almost insuperable odds". Shearin has mastered this advice. Her story may be light, but what Raine faces is not. It was a good dash of sobriety, yet still she maintains her lighthearted tone.

It reminded me of the First Crusade. During the First Crusade, the crusaders found this spear that grew to be a legend. It was said to be the spear that had pierced the side of Christ. The legend grew and the crusaders went absolutely bananas over it. Why? Study your history, because I don't want to give too much of the plot away. (I'll give you a hint. The spear was found in Antioch.)

* * *

The book ended in a satisfying smart way. It was the kind of ending that I like. No magical brawls, which I find tedious. Just one character outsmarting another. It was not a cliffhanger, but it definitely points the reader squarely toward book two.

I can see myself rereading this book, because I think this is the sort of book that will present "nuances" to the reader upon rereading. And of course, I'll want to read it again when book 2 comes out.

* * *

I actually did read most of it again, between books, for the last three months. I still have about an eighth of an inch to go, but I felt I had read enough to be able to read Armed and Magical. Some of those promised nuances did came out during the rereading, especially early in the story when Mychael, the Guardian, was casting a spell on her. I'm a great fan of rereading novels, but I haven't had the opportunity to do much rereading since starting this blog!

Feel like reading all eleven posts? Here's a handy link. It brings up a bunch of other stuff too, so just scroll down.

Links!
The book
The sample chapters
The website
The blog

A Look Back

This blog is only two months old, but it has seen significant readership expansion in the past three weeks. Thank you to everyone who has linked here and who stops by from time to time. Thanks especially to Pat's Fantasy Hotlist for his recent shout-out of this blog and others. Pat is the Godfather of fantasy review bloggers, so recognition by him was an honor. I also owe a lot of visits to David Anthony Durham's weblog. Thanks, guys!

With that in mind, I'd like to post a look back on my first three debuts, which I featured before many of you knew this blog existed. I loved every one for different reasons, and I want to make sure that they're not forgotten.

Lisa Shearin, who wrote Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Canada, UK), discovered this blog practically the instant it was born. She told her friends, who came leaping to her defense when I had some quibbles with the plot. It made it all great fun. Lisa writes to her weblog every weekday, and she often includes out-takes from her novel "from the cutting room floor."

Magic Lost, Trouble Found is the story of a Raine, mediocre detective-sorceress who did something that every AD&D player knows not to do: she put on a magical amulet without having it thoroughly checked out, first. To be sure, her friend had it on first, so she thought it was safe, but the amulet liked HER much better than her friend. And after that, it got QUITE possessive.

The plot takes place over three action-packed days. Three is also the number of the fascinating guys that she works with or against during this time. However, the book ends with Raine still delightfully uncommitted. If you want a fast read, a heroine that makes you smile, and a tense plot, pick up Magic Lost, Trouble Found. For all the posts I wrote about this title, click here.

Emily Gee does not appear to be very active on the Internet, but she just occasionally pop into her MySpace page. Just the same, I enjoyed her novel, Thief With No Shadow (Canada, UK) very much.

Thief With No Shadow is a deeply personal fantasy, with a scope that only touches the remnants of two families. It is about a young woman named Melke, her brother, the crimes that they commit during times of desperation and its ramifications. By the time the story opens, the crimes have already been committed. The rest of the novel deals with their attempts to make amends. In this world, crimes can become curses that are passed from generation to generation, and supernatural creatures are horrific and wholly alien. Gee does a great job making you wonder how on earth the characters are ever going to find a way to solve their problems. You can find all the posts that I wrote about this title here.

Jennifer Estep showed up when I put a post up about her debut, Karma Girl (Canada, UK), in one of my debut round-ups. She has a very fun website and an active blog.

Karma Girl is a laugh-out-loud take on superheroes. Estep called it a comic book for women in one of her comments, but I think men would enjoy it as well. When Carmen's fiancé cheats on her, she takes revenge on him by exposing his superhero identity -- along with his ubervillainess girlfriend. From the on, she's on a tear, exposing every superhero that she can. She seems to have a special gift for rooting out secret identities.

Then, when she exposes a member of the Fearless Five, she attracts the wrong sort of attention. A troupe of ubervillains decide that she needs to work for them. They give her a month to expose the leader of the Fearless Five, the sexy Striker. You can find all my posts on this title here.

I'd love to know if you read any of these books, or if you intend to add any to your reading lists.

MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND Update

Magic Lost, Trouble Found is now available as an eBook!

MLTF Cyber-Launch Book Party!

Kimber An and Lady Bronco are throwing a cyber-launch book party for Lisa Shearin, author of MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND, starting tomorrow.

Place: Enduring Romance
Time: All day, for two days!

Lisa Shearin Blog!

Speaking of author blogs, Lisa Shearin has a blog up now at http://www.lisashearin.com/blog.cfm! She indicates that she intends to post every weekday, and have her husband fill in when she cannot post.

Lisa Shearin Interview!

Lisa graciously took the time to answer a few questions about MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND.

Can you give us a teaser about Raine's next big adventure?
Let's see. . .by the end of page three of Armed & Magical, Raine's already got big problems -- an assassination attempt on the archmagus, an encounter with an enemy from her past, and an entirely too public display of her Saghred-enhanced powers. Later. . .Tam has not one, but two, deep dark secrets from his past that he'd rather keep buried. Piaras is now a Conclave college student studying spellsinging, and that voice of his attracts way too much of the wrong kind of attention. Mychael has his hands full with Raine, and with trying to keep her from falling prey to the darkest side of the Saghred. Let the fun continue!

What is your favorite scene in MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND?
Mychael and Raine in Mychael's bedroom is definitely a favorite. I also had a lot of fun writing the scene at the goblin king's masquerade ball.

What scene gave you the most trouble?
The final confrontation between Raine and Sarad Nukpana in The Ruins near the end of the book. That took a lot of time and rewrites to finally get it right.

Can you recall any particular sources of inspiration for this novel?
I read in a lot of genres: fantasy, detective, romantic comedy, mystery, romantic thrillers, political thrillers. I think that over the years they all just sort of melded into MLTF.

Have you finished any other novels besides MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND?
Oh yeah. I have two finished books. Small pieces and parts of them made it into MLTF.

If so, can we expect to see any of them in print or are they permanently trunked?
They're in the closet in my office and that's where they belong. ; ) I consider them my 'practice books.'

Your website mentions that you have a day job. When do you do most of your writing?
Lunchtime, break time, nights and weekends. I keep a notepad in my pocketbook, Jeep, and pretty much every room in the house.

Do you have a copy of your cover pinned to your office wall at work?
On the wall isn't necessary. ; ) I have a huge monitor -- the MLTF cover is my wallpaper. I'm going to have a poster-size print made and have framed for my office at home. Aleta Rafton is the artist and she did such an amazing job -- that cover deserves to be 24 x 36.

Is your boss worried that you might leave?
I've assured them that I love my job and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

Please share your publishing story and/or any writerly advice that you may have.
My first two manuscripts were rejected by every publisher in New York. I kept writing, and reading, and rewriting, and learning -- and most importantly, I refused to be discouraged or to give up. I wrote every day, regardless of if my 'muse' was visiting or not. Muses are fickle creatures; don't depend on them for inspiration. Believe in yourself and don't let anyone belittle your dream. I was blessed to have the complete support and understanding of my husband and family. Believe me, it helps. Writing is solitary; the only way you're going to get to where you want to be is through discipline and determination. I've been told that I was just too stubborn to give up. ; )

Read, write, rewrite -- and don't give up!

MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND - Goodbye Post

Lisa Shearin is the Janet Evanovich of fantasy.

She writes with a fun, unpretentious style, and she has mastered writing with humor. In many ways, this is better than Evanovich's Stepanie Plum series. As I said before, Raine is competent, whereas Stephanie bumbles her way through her adventures, surviving by luck and instinct rather than skill. The joke wears thin after a while. (At least on me -- since there are thirteen Stephanie Plum books out, then she obviously still appeals to a lot of people.) Raine is the type of girl who rescues dudes in distress. She comes up with daring plans. She kicks butt, but she's all girl.

There are some slight spoilers ahead.

The book opens with a character that is discarded after the first chapter or so. I kept expecting to run into him again, but I didn't. He is referred to both as Raine's sometime employee and as her partner. He basically kicked the story off and went off into obscurity. Will he turn up again in book two? Hard to say, since book two looks like it will take place elsewhere.

I thought her fear of drowning would lead to some horrifying drowning scene. Maybe that's coming in a later book.

Some wishes? I got to see lots of Mychael, but I wish I could have seen more of Tam. However, this book is rather short, as far as fantasies go, and it takes place over the course of only a few days. There was not a lot of time to develop any romance. Tam did get the most kissing time in. And he got the best kissing scene, hands down. He is definitely the more complicated character. It's hard to say if Raine is in love with either of them, which leaves open the possibility for some other guy to come along and totally sweep Raine off her feet.

And then there's the prince. I know I have not seen the last of him.

The book ended in a satisfying smart way. It was the kind of ending that I like. No magical brawls, which I find tedious. Just one character outsmarting another. It was not a cliffhanger, but it definitely points the reader squarely toward book two.

I can see myself rereading this book, because I think this is the sort of book that will present "nuances" to the reader upon rereading. And of course, I'll want to read it again when book 2 comes out.

And a HUGE thanks to Lisa Shearin for stopping by so often and making my very first review so much fun!

The book!
The sample chapters!
The website!
The blog! (I'm waiting for a link; I'll edit this when I get it)

MLTF - I'm Done!

I have finished reading MAGIC LOST, TROUBLE FOUND. I won't give the ending away, of course, but it was in keeping with the rest of the book -- smart, satisfying and tense. There was a nice little epilogue, cleverly disguised as a final chapter, where Lisa propelled Raine on her next adventure and kept me in the dark about which guy Raine's going to go for.

I'm going to cogitate about it for a while before I post my final impressions. Expect another post on MLTF tonight.

MLTF - A Forgotten Detail

Oops; I forgot! The way that Raine met up with Mychael again was most fascinating and unexpected. And here I thought she was just going to go to sleep! It was a great way of imparting some necessary background information. Rather than just another conversation about what is going on, spice it up with some sexual tension and unexpected states of undress. Then it becomes anything but boring. Not that it would have been boring, but this made it even better.

MLTF - Plots Within Plots

I gave myself a breather at chapter 17.

As Lisa promised, I definitely got to see more of the Guardian, Mychael. Raine seems to like him. They're even on a first-name basis, now. However, the goblin Tam moved in for a kiss -- maybe he sensed competition. Raine wasn't exactly fighting him off, either. And what a naughty kiss it was, "topped off with just a nibble of fang . . ."

Raine is still capable of a blush (as is the Guardian), which I found an unexpected treat.

Lisa seems to be using something that I see a lot in mystery, but not so much in fantasy -- two fascinating leading men, with the leading lady attracted to both. How to choose; how to choose?

Raine and her two men have just extracted some information from a particularly nasty goblin, and Raine has learned a bit more about her family history. Quite a bit more. I sense action ahead.

I will post more later today.

MLTF - Three Guys

I just started chapter thirteen. The intervening chapters were a whirlwind of action, with bad guys at every turn, not to mention monsters. For a while there I thought Raine was going to be a hostage, but she got herself out of that situation. Unfortunately, she ended up in a nasty place full of evil kings, mad sorcerers, scary fairies, horrific shadow-things and goblins everywhere.

The prince did something to creep Raine out, but I'm not sure if he's totally off the "hot guy" list.

In fact, here's a rundown of the hot guys encountered so far:

The Guardian. The only heroic one in the bunch. And I have to admit that I have a soft spot for heroes.
The Gambler. I have not seen much of him, but he has his charms as well.
The Prince. By far the most complicated. Appears to be a sympathetic villain. I could be deceived.

MLTF - The Big Conflict

Long ago, I read that a good story plunges the hero against "almost insuperable odds". Shearin has mastered this advice. Her story may be light, but what Raine faces is not. It was a good dash of sobriety, yet still she maintains her lighthearted tone.

It reminded me of the First Crusade. During the First Crusade, the crusaders found this spear that grew to be a legend. It was said to be the spear that had pierced the side of Christ. The legend grew and the crusaders went absolutely bananas over it. Why? Study your history, because I don't want to give too much of the plot away. (I'll give you a hint. The spear was found in Antioch.)

Raine doesn't just have one enemy. Her enemies seem to be everyone who wants to find a similar artifact. But Shearin doesn't stop there. She raised the stakes by throwing in a good way of compelling Raine to help one of the artifact-seekers. And, she added a new mysterious man!

MLTF - Trouble Finder

The title of this book so fits. Trouble Finder would be an apt nickname for Raine. She's just taken a decadent bath and she went out looking for trouble . . . and naturally, she found even more trouble than she expected.

I've just started Chapter Ten. Since Chapter Nine ended up as a cliffhanger, I didn't go to bed as I planned. And truth to tell, I'll probably take the book with me when I do.

MLTF - Contacts are Everything

Raine has some valuable contacts. I don't want to give anything away, but she knows people in all the right places. There is nothing wrong with making friends. She even does nice things for them. Gotta like that.

I've finally encountered one of the scoundrels from her past. And oops! I don't want to give that away, either. Suffice to say that he is intriguing.

I had a laugh-out-loud moment when a police-officer type called for a "containment box" to hold a suspicious magic item. How many D&D gamer types would have loved to had containment boxes when transporting dangerous artifacts? I know that Frodo would have loved to have one. Temptations from the One Ring? No problem! I've got this handy little box here in my Bag of Holding!

Of course Raine can't use one -- she has this TINY problem when she tries to take off the amulet (which is evident from the cover blurb, so I don't feel like I am giving anything away).

Still enjoying . . .

MLTF - Finished Chapter Five

I love the way Chapter Six starts:

You know it's going to be a bad day when you can't get privacy inside your own head.

This is why I love first-person novels. You just can't get this sort of connectedness with a character when its written in third person. Besides, its impossible to head-hop when writing in first person.

Anyway, that first sentence is going to make it REALLY hard for me to put this book down and go to bed. Not that I'm complaining.

Chapter Five was meaty with information. I finally know how old Raine is. I hate it when authors refuse to give an exact age for their character. Raine discovers several nasty things about the amulet, which by now she is quite stuck with. And the hottie elf Guardian tried to cast a spell on her.

Oh, and did I mention that she kicked him in the nether regions when they first encountered each other? There's nothing like first impressions!