In defense of Jace EXCERPT #2 Three Weeks with a Bull Rider…

It’s interesting to sit back as an author and watch readers react to your characters. I’m finding that particularly so with Jace from the Oklahoma Nights series. He’s not perfect. I know. I wrote him that way. There are reasons for his flaws and for his behavior, but you, the readers don’t get to see all that until his book, Three Weeks with a Bull Rider. Some readers of Book 2 complained about Jace as a character. What I would hope is that readers realize that if I can make him bother you in Book 2, I have the skill to turn both your opinion and his character around in Book 3. In real life no one should judge another person until they’ve walked a mile in their shoes because what we see of each other is only the tip of the iceberg of a complete world that makes up each of us. More than that, not one of us is perfect. George RR Martin, author of Game of Thrones, says his favorite characters to write are the ‘gray’ characters because they are the most true to life, and I think, more interesting. I want to throttle perfect characters. They are cardboard, […]

Put on your cowboy boots, it’s time to kick some plagiarizing ass…

*****UPDATE****** As of 10:25 PM Eastern time her site is down and her Twitter feed, which we obtained from the links on her own site, is saying it’s not her. However, this author on her blog posted screenshots of Alison promoting her twitter account on the Weebly where the work was posted. HERE **NEW** Woke Saturday morning to find her Twitter account is also disabled 🙂 ************************************ **ORIGINAL POST** We have a serious situation. Author Lorelei James has found her work ALL JACKED UP from the Rough Riders series (2009) being plagiarized word for word by a woman who is posting it one chapter at a time and claiming it as her own. Legal threats have not worked so now it’s time mobilize the reader community to come together and shame this woman off the web and educate all her “readers” that the work they are commenting on and so enjoying is stolen. She’s on Twitter at @AlisonGilmore . Not on Twitter? Her website has a comments section! The stolen works are posted on http://ihadthestrangestdream.weebly.com/index.html . Though I hate to give her any public attention at all this is Lorelei’s last resort. We’re rallying the troops and I’m counting on all of […]

Insight into the mind of Tucker from ONE NIGHT WITH A COWBOY

I’m a woman. I’m a civilian. I’m not a testosterone-fueled man. I’m not career military personnel. In light of all of those points, I do one thing to help me write my military characters…I talk (on IM, by phone, on Skype, etc) to active duty, career military personnel as often as possible. Below, paraphrased because I don’t always take notes during these conversations, is what I’ve heard some of them say… 1) “They came by the shop today asking for volunteers to go be door kickers in Afghanistan. If I was 10 years younger I would have volunteered to go.” …Let me interpret this statement for you. This was about 4 or 5 years ago, before the troop reductions had begun. This active duty Marine, nearing his 20 year mark, was safely stationed  in the US. Someone from the Corps came to his squadron to ask for volunteers to go to Afghanistan and become part of a team whose job was to literally kick down doors to inspect the residences and search for insurgents, and men were going, while others who didn’t volunteer wished they could. 2) “I had to pull one of my guys off the Afghan det. He’s […]