The Exotics Debacle From Zanesville, Ohio...

My family has been calling me today and last night to let me know about the news in Zanesville, Ohio. Yes, I live in Kentucky now, but I used to work at Muskingum County Sheriff's Department, the agency in the news right now trying to corral the exotic animals.
I remember Terry Thompson as being an ass. He had too many animals to keep track of, and they were always getting out and causing trouble. He had cattle on another property (which I thought he used to feed his exotics) but he was always too busy to build fence to keep them in properly. So it was left to the S.O. to block traffic and take property damage reports when the cattle trampled lawns. I was once sent on a call to look for his bear, which had somehow gotten loose. The bear was handleable, but it still gave you chills when you got near it. Terry walked it home like you would a dog.

If Terry did take his own life, it's a shame, but I think it's more of a shame that all of those animals had to die as well. They had no choice in the matter. I also feel bad for the deputies who had to kill the animals. Deer and the occasional dog are bad enough, you expect it with the job, but to have to take wolves and cheetahs and lions is heartbreaking.

The one tiny piece of hope I have is that the animals enjoyed their brief time free. And I hope that the animals left over find better homes in the zoos and parks than Terry could have ever given them.

10 Sites for Self-Pubbed Pre-Made eBook Covers

I have a lot of friends getting into self-publishing, and I plan too as well, so I've been investigating sites to buy covers for ebooks. Let me tell you, there are some fantastic cover artists out there. All of the ones listed below have pre-made designs for sale, with prices ranging from $18-$65. The prices usually include title and author name change, but be sure to check for yourself. And most of the sites of course offer design services for individuality. Here are some sites and designers worth investigating:
1) Dara England~~ I have to give props to Dara, because she did the covers for the two Decadent books I have. I absolutely love them both, and I have the utmost respect for Dara as an artist. Unfortunately, Dara's so freaking awesome that she's not accepting new clients. BUT, she has a nice page of pre-made covers for sale.
2) RomanceNovelCovers.com ~~ Jimmy Thomas. That should be all I have to say, but since some people are just getting in to the business, I will explain. Jimmy Thomas is a romance novel cover GOD. Tall, Dark and Handsome, mouth-watering bod. He has created his own company with stock images as well as pre-made covers. You may have to register, but it's easy, and well worth the access.
3) Razzle Dazzle Designs~~ They have beautiful pre-made covers and pages of stock photos.
4) Fantasia Frog Designs~~ I just love the name of this site. No, really, they're doing covers for Decadent Publishing, and they're pretty freaking awesome. Again, pre-made covers and stock photos.
5) Hot Damn Designs~~ Didn't see very many pre-made covers, but I know they do a lot of design work.
6) Purple Ink Graphics~~ They have some beautiful designs on their website. I had to make them purple.
7) Book Graphics~~ Thay have oodles of pre-made covers. A little more basic perhaps.
8) Delle Jacobs~~ Actually created a lot of the pre-made covers on the Jimmy Thomas site. She looks to be really good at Historicals.
9) Tibbs Design~~ Has a lot of good solid authors as clients.
10) Spittyfish Designs~~ You kind of have to navigate around through the categories to find all of the covers, but they look really good.

Hope this helps you out. If you know of others, maybe leave them in the comment section. Also, too, a word of caution. There are a lot of Joe Schmo's popping up thinking they can design book covers. Investigate the company as thoroughly as possible before sending money.
Thanks for stopping!

Archangel's Blade

It took me a while to find this book, and I was so aggravated. Wal-mart, for some reason, will not carry Nalini Singh's books. I looked at several different stores the week it was released. Could not find it.

Two weeks after it's release, I had to go to Lexington for an errand, and I stopped at Barnes and Noble. Found the book, bought the book, read the book in one day. And I loved it.

This is one of the most impressive series I've come across in a long time. I rank it right up there with the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward.

I think Nalini's niche is writing powerful action blended with heartstopping emotion. The heroine in this book has been physically, mentally and sexually abused, and you genuinely worry about her being with the hero, an unyielding, cold, vampire enforcer.

I'm going to let this percolate in my mind, and then go back to read it a second time. Actually, I may read all four books in the series again, just because she's such a gifted writer.

If you have a chance, look up this heartstopping, thrilling Nalini Singh series. You won't be disappointed.

Something new...

I've struggled to keep up with my blog. I don't post very often, and I think it was too little. I'm hoping that by creating a new, pretty blog, I'll want to go to the blog and create.
I know. I've pretty much said that before. I still like my website, but I needed something to keep me engaged. I hope you like this.
Just to clarify too, this won't be just for writing things. There's too much that goes on in my life that isn't writing related that I'd like to talk about. Kids, animals, Kentucky, you name it I may blog about it. So, bear with me and I look forward to your feedback.