Just bringing my log of books read so far this year up to date.

To April's list I need to add Last Words by George Carlin and 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal. Two bios by two very different comedians. Carlin's book is more a retrospective of his life and the things he's learned along the way. Sprinkled in among the memories are some great stories of the people he met and worked with as well as excerpts from some of his more famous routines (remember the Hippy Dippy Weatherman? With your hippy dippy weather, man!). Crystal's book is more a tribute to his dad and to other family members. He tells tales about his aunts and uncles and, of course, his love of baseball comes through as well (I'd include a link to his website, but it appears he doesn't have one).

Of the two, Carlin's was a much better read. Although Crystal's book is shorter (by nearly a hundred pages), Carlin's is more insightful about the human condition. As always, he has wonderful plays on words and a cutting cynicism of pomposity. Crystal's is a book of stories. Period. If you're looking to read one or the other, I'd definitely recommend George Carlin's last book. In pace requiscat.

I also read a biography of William Shakespeare (okay, so I'm a closet bio fan. Sue me!). Written by Bill Bryson and entitled Shakespeare; The World as Stage, this is as unpretentious and delightful biographer of the English language's best writer (yes, I said best and I'm sticking with it!). Bryson's incredible research exposes many of the wilder theories regarding our old friend Will while giving fun explanations of the big holes we have in the playwright's life. It's a short read (less than 200 pages) filled with humor and an obvious love and respect for the man who gave so much to English literature.

I think that catches me up! Look for another short story this Thursday. Till then,

Play safe!
Diana

It's Thursday, so it must mean a new story from Diana! This one is available for a small fee ($1.25). I'm still looking for input regarding the price.

Today's short story is called "One Last Dance". It's one of my favorite short pieces and tells the story of an elderly couple's last dance together. Get your hankies ready!

(removed. Story now available in TIMELESS LOVE, an anthology of four short, romantic stories from Diana)

As you may have guessed, I've started publishing some short stories to Scribd. The Tales from the Ramayana are free stories, the others cost a nominal fee (I had to charge $1.25 in order to cover the cost that goes to Scribd for each purchase. Do you think that's too much? Not enough? Leave me some feedback so I can adjust as needed!). I have enough of these written to publish a new work each Thursday for the next four weeks. And since today is Thursday...

Below you'll find "Laksman Falls in Love" and it's free. Since this is going to be part of a series of stories, I actually gave it a cover. I hope you enjoy it!

(Removed. This story is now a part of the Tales from the Ramayana, a series of short stories from the ancient epic as retold by Diana)

Play safe,
Diana

You can vote now for the Bondage Awards. Please cast your vote for me for Best Writer!


You can vote once a day till the voting ends...so you know I'll be pestering! The person with the most votes wins. :)

Play safe,

Diana

The Diana Hunter Scribd store is now open with the launch of Love at Third Sight -- a personal tale of love and romance. I will be publishing several of these short stories over the next few months and am charging a nominal fee ($1.25) for them. Rest assured, the episodes of Tales from the Ramayana will remain free, however.


(removed. This story is now part of TIMELESS LOVE, a collection of short, romantic stories from Diana)

I've been laid up the past few days, recovering from arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday. While I'm getting around much better than I thought I would, I still spend HUGE amounts of time sitting still. And what better activity to do when sitting still but reading and writing books?

To that end, I've begun writing a Quick Quickie. I'm stuck with this enforced non-activity for a week and I'm thinking I can write one hot, short, sexy story in that time. Aiming for 8-10K in length...and 2K are already done.

I also read an entire book yesterday. Well, that's not fair. I started it the day before but only ready about 40 pages before the drugs knocked me out and I slept through the night. So yesterday I finished Laurie R. King's book, Locked Rooms. Mary Russell is the protagonist of the book, helped along by her husband, Sherlock Holmes. Yes, that Sherlock Holmes.

This book is obviously part of a series of Mary Russell novels and refers back to those other adventures several times, much the same way A.C. Doyle did with the Holmes mysteries. In fact, she employs several of Doyle's techniques in telling the story, sometimes to great effect. Although I found the start of the story somewhat long to get through, once the hunt was on the story sped right along.

That said, I doubt I'll read any of the others in her series. I really like Sherlock Holmes and all his oddities. Messing around with a beloved character just isn't my cup of tea. He's a perennial bachelor in my head and will remain that way. Ms. King's stories would work just as well without the Holmes connection.

Oh! I forgot to mention I read Dangerously Funny 'way back in January. Written by David Biancully of NPR fame, it's a great look at how the Smothers Brothers changed, and were changed by, television. WONDERFUL book! A must-read if you care about censorship...and if you think it's not still going on today, you definitely need to read this book!

That's all...be sure to check here for a free read from me in the post below. Just something fun :)

Play safe,
Diana

To all you travelers who are stuck in places you don't want to be, I offer a free story to take you away from your troubles for a while. Feel free to download and read at your leisure!

The Ramayana is an ancient tale from India and one I've enjoyed expounding on for many years. I never tire of telling the story to a group of students and watching their faces as they become enthralled with the adventure, the feats of derring-do and the romance of the hero and heroine. Two years ago I was asked to write a series of short stories for a Valentine's presentation in Second Life and naturally I turned to this beautiful epic for inspiration. The story attached tells my version of the very first meeting between Ram and Sita as told through Sita's eyes.


Tales From the Ramayana; Ram and Sita Meet by Diana Hunter

My mom is a long-time romance reader. She loves Debbie McComber and Nora Roberts, Sarah Brown and Jude Devereux among others and she’s always passing books onto me that I then pass to my mother-in-law who is also an avid romance reader. My mom reads about 15 books a month; my m-i-l reads an average of 25. They expect me to keep up.

I don’t, obviously. And while I enjoy the occasional romance novel, I like to vary the genre I read. I tend to be a news junkie, so I read a lot of non-fiction. I also enjoy fantasy (have I mentioned lately I’ve been a Tolkien geek long before it was fashionable?), science fiction, and historical novels that may or may not be romantic in nature (love Michael Sharra’s books!).

All that said, this year I’m keeping track of the books I read. The most recent additions to the list are two books by Judith Devereux: The Summerhouse and The Duchess.

I enjoyed The Summerhouse very much. The plot had a cool hook that fed into the fantasy lover I am and, of course, her characters are wonderfully drawn as always. The story follows a group of women who are given a chance at a “do over” in life. Watching them analyze their respective pasts and make decisions about their futures made for a good two-day’s reading. And it’s thought-provoking, too. Makes you think what parts of your own life you might like to have an opportunity to do over.

So The Summerhouse had qualities I look for in good books: characters I can believe, a good plot hook, and it stuck with me after I read it. I didn’t want to jump right into another book, I wanted to carry this one around in my head for a few days after I was done reading.

I can’t say the same about The Duchess. Oh, it was a good story, if a bit traditional in the historical nature genre. I found only one anachronism when the female protagonist walks into a room and “flips on a light.” In 1883. Both the action and the phrasing were too modern for the story and I had to flip back to the start of the book to make sure I had the right period.

Other than that, I really did enjoy the story…right up to the ending. Won’t give spoilers, but I felt cheated. It was almost as if she’d gotten tired of writing the book, so she wrapped up all the loose ends in an epilogue and closed the file. But some of those “loose ends” were actually subplots that deserved their own climaxes. Such a let down at the end of the book. I wanted to throw the darn thing across the room and yell at her for being a lazy writer.

So, two Jude Devereux stories, two Diana Gabaldon, one Debbie McComber and a Neil Gaiman. Three and half months into the year and I’ve read six books. Not a bad start to the year!

Shameless begging alert!

The Bondage Awards nominations are now open. Please use this link and nominate me for Best Writer; don't forget, my website is http://www.dianahunter.net/.

This is for nominations only so far, NOT voting. You only need to nominate me once. When the voting starts, THEN I'll be pestering you every day :)

Play safe!

The time is almost here...get ready to vote in this year's awards for Best Bondage sites. Please click on the banner below starting on Sunday, April 4th and nominate http://www.dianahunter.net/ as the Best Writer!

Wrote the following to my newsletter and thought I'd post it here, too. This makes for an easier forum for replies -- and I do want to know what you think!

My apologies. I've been writing to the blog on a semi-regular basis, but haven't sent out a newsletter in FAR too long. I hope everyone's holidays and new year went well?

I've been busy on a new story that has had several false starts. Last night I finally had a breakthrough, but I'm not sure my fans are going to like it. The story (tentatively entitled "Services") follows Lauren and John as they meet, date, and fall in love. The problem is, neither of them seem to like their sex kinky!

I've been trying to force them into a scene that neither one of them wants to go. As a result, I haven't written a word on the piece in three weeks. Last night, in mulling over the problem, I realized I'm trying to control the characters too much. They're not interested in going where I want them to go...they have their own minds and want to go slower, to take their time in getting to know each other more, and then -- when they do have sex -- they want it to be slow and passionate with few (if any) toys.

So at the risk of alienating my readers who enjoy the hardcore BDSM, I think this one's going to be on the softer side. Tamer, quieter -- a sweet romance. Will you still love me if the next book I release isn't what you're used to? I really want to know what you think, so leave a comment!

I've a new blog post at the Scribe's, stop by and take a look. As always,

Play safe!

Diana

I'm up over at the Sizzlin' Scribes. Come on over and leave a comment...what do YOU do?

Have read two books this month and they couldn't be further apart in style and substance. First up came 92 Pacific Blvd. by Debbie Macomber. This book is part of her Cedar Cove series. My mom and my mother-in-law are both big fans of Debbie's work; I've read several in the past and have enjoyed them as an afternoon's fun (to be fair, I read fast. Really fast).

This was my first Cedar Cove book, however, and probably will be my last. As an author, I love the hook she's come up with. She's created a mythical town and populated it with all sorts of wonderful people who enter and exit each other's books on a semi-regular basis. As a market tie-in, Ms. Macomber has published a cookbook of recipes, each one containing a little story about the person from Cedar Cove who donated it to the book. I bought the cookbook for my mom for Christmas and loved leafing through it before I wrapped it up and gave it to her. Brilliant concept brilliantly executed!

So why would it be my last Cedar Cove book? Because I just can't keep that many characters straight no matter how hard I try. There's a character list at the start of the book, but to be honest, I hate having to stop the reading and go back to look things up. I can keep the twenty-seven plus characters of the Lord of the Rings straight because some are dwarves, some are Rivendale elves, some are Lothlorian elves, some are human. But even the humans are divided between Rohirrim and Gondorians with Westfold men thrown in for good measure. Those divisions help. When everyone is pretty much a normal person from a normal town, I start to get Faith mixed up with Megan mixed up with Tanni.

The second book I read was American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Now this author has a reputation as an Internet Wonder Boy (I even followed him for a while on Twitter to see what the fuss was about). He's definitely got Internet saavy I'll never have, I'll give him that. I picked up this book at the bookstore on a whim more or less because I wanted to see if he was as good as his hype. In short? He is.

The plot was an interesting twist on the "do gods exist" question, uniquely answered. I found myself dusting off all my knowledge of mythology to try and guess who some of the gods were before they were revealed. I was right on several of them. A few (only a few) I'd never heard of. Some of them I teach when I tell the Ramayana. And I know who Louise Brooks is. I didn't know where she was born, but I can tell you where she died.

That said, I really don't care for books that are as gritty as this one is. I'm the wrong demographic for this kind of book. This is more a book written for men or boys who are on the cusp of being men. The language is coarse in a bathroom sort of way and I can take that only in small doses. To be fair, there are only a few characters whose minds are perpetually (literally) in the gutter and Gaiman does a good job of creating individual characters who stand out from one another. This book, however, suffers from the same problem I had with Macomber's Cedar Cove book: too many characters. A cheat sheet would've been helpful since several people I met at the start come back again two hundred pages later and I found myself scrambling to remember just which person Whiskey Jack was (among others).

So, two books inside two weeks. Not a bad start to the new year. And yes, I am still writing my own, too! Am working on a new one that just crossed the line from novella to novel. Darn hero and heroine want more of their story told! :)

Play safe!
Diana

New post's up at the Sizzin' Scribes. My turn this week!

I probably should've written my reactions to Diana Gabaldon's Breath of Snow and Ashes before I read Echo in the Bone. The story so captivated me, however, I just kept reading from one book straight into the next. This is the Diana Gabaldon we've all come to know and love. The place-marker pace of The Fiery Cross is gone and Jamie, Claire, Brianna, Roger and everyone else are off at breakneck speeds once more. Both books keep up the energetic pace and...wait. I'm getting ahead of myself.

One of the hallmarks is a good story is evident when the reader can't get the story out of his/her head, even when doing mundane tasks like laundry or grocery shopping or teaching a class. Okay, the last isn't mundane, but shows the depth to which these characters and the events that happen to them (or they cause to happen, which is more often the case with Jamie) stick with the reader. Breath of Snow and Ashes has a scene that made me put down the book and sit and think about it for a good, long time.

I need to put in a small spoiler here, so if you haven't read the book and don't want any spoilers, stop reading at this point and go here to read something on a completely different topic.

(I'm putting my badge here as a way of helping to put space before the spoiler. You've been warned!)

SPOILER ALERT:

Claire is abducted; Jamie comes to her rescue (he darn well better!). But when she's given the opportunity to take justice on the men, Jamie steps forward and says, "I kill for her."

The entire incident really made me stop and think about my relationship with my husband. Would he kill for me? Would I want him to? The question is, perhaps, moot in 21st century America, but the question still lingers. Just how far would you go for your spouse? What are the limits of what love should do?

END SPOILER ALERT

A more appropriate question for today is "Would you fight for me?" since today's courts of law would not take vigilante justice kindly. And "fighting" doesn't mean with fisticuffs either anymore. When I was poorly treated by a medical so-called professional and came home in tears because of it, my husband immediately went to the phone, called the office and laid them out in lavendar. He got me an apology from the office manager (poor woman, she wasn't the one at fault, but I applaud her stepping up), a new appointment with a different doctor and most importantly, made me feel like I was the most important person in the world to him.

And at the heart of it all, isn't that truly the kernal of truth Diana Gabaldon has illustrated in this book? That marriage isn't just flowers and candy and nights of hot sex (although none of those should be discounted, by any means!), but that marriage means going to bat for one another no matter how much needs to be done. When you get right down to it, marriage is holding one's spouse as more important than oneself.

Thank you, Diana G, for reminding me of that.

Play safe,

Diana H.

Putting down Breath of Snow and Ashes when I'm only 150 pages from the end was very, very hard to do last night. I won't write a full review yet, but let me say...she's back! I was afeared, after The Fiery Cross, that maybe the steam had run out on this engine. It has not! This book has all the action, angst, passion and detail I fell in love with in the first two books.

So why am I writing instead of finishing it off? I'm about to give this book the highest compliment a reader can give an author: I don't want the book to end!!!

When I mentioned to a friend recently that I'm re-reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series in preparation for reading Echo in the Bone, she grinned and said (I paraphrase), "I'm Claire, you know."

I grinned back and said, "Of course you are. So am I."

And there, in two sentences, is the magic of the series. Diana Gabaldon has created a heroine we all can identify with -- her foibles and passions, her talents and desires -- but most of all, her incredible love for Jamie Fraser. Claire is who we all want to be. An independent woman, intelligent and educated, who has a love so deep it withstands the travails of time itself.

The Fiery Cross is the fifth book in the Outlander series. In it we follow Jaime and Claire Randall as they build a life together in the wildnerness of North Carolina. The year is 1771 and the task is no small feat. There's a forest to tame, a community to build and a war looming on the horizon. Our hero and heroine are assisted in these endeavors by their daughter, Brianna, and her husband Roger as well as a host of minor characters who keep the action moving.

Hmmm, on the surface, that doesn't sound like much, does it? What keeps this from being a mundane historical read is the twist Diana Gabaldon brings: Clare, Brianna and Roger were all born in the 20th Century and have travelled back in time. They're often torn between acting on the knowledge they've brought back with them or letting events unfold as history will have it. This sets up some wonderful internal conflicts in the characters that adds depth to their lives and brings them into focus.

That said, I found this book to be, in places, skimmable. The first four books I read every word, slowing down as I got towards the end because I didn't want to finish too quickly. Those books balanced plot action with character development so each got their fair share.

But with The Fiery Cross, there were sections I found that were over-long and my eyes skipped over the page looking for the next bit of action or character development. Most of those sections had to do with the description of the scenery. While I appreciate a beautiful sunrise or scenic view, to have entire sections of chapters dedicated solely to description of the scene made my eyes wander along the page till I found the action again.

To be honest, description has always been something I've skimmed. Taylor Caldwell was one of my favorite authors when I was in my teens, yet I found her pages and pages of description unnessary for my imagination. I painted in the picture as I saw it...give me the broad brush strokes and I was ready to go. The same with JRR Tolkien. I love The Lord of the Rings and appreciate the descriptions of the Shire and of Ithelien, but tend to skip over them from time to time.

Which is probably why I tend to use such broad strokes of description in my own writing. I don't really want to know every detail of the dungeon, or the car, or the house, or the hero and heroine for that matter. I want general shapes and that way my imagination can paint in the details the way I want them to be. Don't confine me with your vision -- let me have my own. And so, I skim over the descriptions when I find them going on too long as I did in The Fiery Cross.

I'd consider this the weakest of the five so far based solely on that drawback. The characters of Claire and Jaime are fun to watch as they move into middle age; Roger and Brianna take center stage several times and acquit themselves admirably. All in all, a good read rather than a great one.

NOTE to publisher (that would be Dell): consider including "Who's Who" appendix. There were several characters who made a reappearance in this book (Sergeant Murchison comes to mind) that made me stop and have to think, "Now who is that again?" A listing in the back with a one or two-line description would be most helpful!

Feel free to comment whether you've read the book or no! Oh dear -- now I'm sounding Scottish!

Diana

A few months back I decided to read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series again. I'd been introduced to the series years ago when a student of mine wrote a book report on Outlander. She and her mother had loved it and were anxiously awaiting Dragonfly in Amber. She loaned me the book...and I was hooked. I've followed the adventures of Jamie and Claire ever since, getting my own mother hooked on the series as well. I'm now working on my 19-year-old daughter and she's informed me she's in love with Jamie and wishes he were real. Don't we all!

Why do I bring this up? For two reasons.

First off, I've been searching for a way to make myself blog more often and thought maybe if I kept a running tally of the books I read throughout the year, I'd keep that New Year's resolution. Inspired a little by Julie and Julia, I thought about the conversations we could have about those books. Since I just finished The Fiery Cross, that'll be the first one on my list and will be in a separate post momentarily.

Second off, I just found this very cool site (thank you, Leontine!) that has thrown down a gauntlet worthy of Claire Randall Fraser herself: to read the entire Outlander series throughout the 2010 calendar year. Since I'd already started, I joined the challenge just for fun. I've not yet read Breath of Snow and Ashes for the first time -- that's coming up next. And Echo in the Bone just came out in hardcover. But I'll wait for paperback to purchase it. Much easier to handle -- and cheaper!

I throw down the gauntlet to all of you now...whether you've read the series before or are discovering it for the first time, come join in the discussion! I tend to lurk, but love reading what other people think. Watch for my post on The Fiery Cross on this site soon! Till then,

Play safe!

Diana

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The second decade of the second millenium I've been alive has begun. Wait. That didn't come out right. I'm older, but not THAT much older. I mean I've lived in two millenium and we're starting the second decade of the second one. Okay, maybe I'd better quit while I'm ahead... :)

Like everyone else, I've begun the new year with a host of resolutions (lose 20 pounds, get rid of the extra stress in my life, write more on my blog...nothing new and exciting). Some I'll keep, some I won't. The exciting part about today is I have no idea which resolutions are which. Next December 31st will tell what I managed to actually do.

Obviously write more books is top on the list. I'm working on one at the moment (I always have one in progress) that I hope to have out by late summer. I was aiming at the 4th of July, but I think I've missed that deadline already. The last few stories I've written have really pushed the extreme limits of the BDSM genre and I have to wonder if these characters are the backlash. So far their very tame -- and this is turning out to be a sweet romance. Nothing wrong with that, just different from anything I've written so far.

But its good to break out and do something odd...something unexpected...something strange every once in a while, right? Shake things up again and then come back fresh. So I'm going to finish the book and then decide what to do with it. We'll see if they stay sweet or if these two have a hidden streak I don't know about yet :).

Hmmm...on my reading list this year is a host of books to go with my host of resolutions. Started Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series all over again last October and read my way through the first four fairly quickly. Had to wait a few weeks to get The Fiery Cross from my mom; she also has Breath of Snow and Ashes, which I haven't read yet at all. I'd stopped after The Fiery Cross because I'd lost the train of the story, in fact, that's one reason I started at the beginning and am going all the way through. I'm figuring by the time I get to An Echo in the Bone it'll be out in paperback and I can afford it. Still have to read Lord John, too!

Admission of guilt here: although I write erotic romance in the BDSM genre, what I really like to read are fantasy and historical fiction. My TBR pile is filled with books in those genres! If you have any suggestions for me, leave 'em below! I'm always looking for good reads :).

Happy New Year!

Diana

I've a new blog post over at the Sizzlin' Scribes blog. Go on over and take a look!