With Friends Like This...

Book promotion is the bane of many authors' lives these days, both traditionally and self-published. One of our options is to go to a company who will charge 98% of your royalties to do a spot of bugging the public. But, if you have a wonderful friend like mine, she'll make you something brilliant all for free!!!
Super-talented Elin Gregory made me this advert for...for...nothing!!! And she made the banner at the top of the page.

Really don't deserve it, Elin, but thank you, thank you. Um...now what am I going to do with it?  :-D . (Any constructive suggestions duly appreciated.)

She made one for herself originally and I was so jealous, I pestered her until she did one for me. This is fabulous, isn't it?

O n a Lee Shore by Elin Gregory

Urban Legends - True Spook Stories and Elin Gregory

Elin Gregory doesn't usually wander into the realms of horror and fantasy, but since she's a brilliant all-round writer (preferring to concentrate on historical m/m literature) she's made an exception for me today. Here's Elin (and thank you!):



We've all heard these. They are often told in pubs by men who will swear blind that they are true, having had the original story from someone 'who was actually there and saw it with their own eyes'.

Such as the story of the couple who came home from a night out to find their german shepherd dog choking on the landing. An emergency dash to the vet ensues and the vet, appalled, pulls two human fingers from the dog's throat. The dog owners call the police and a fainting burglar is found bleeding under their bed.

Or the one about the joy riders in a stolen Mercedes who are stopped by police who discover a dead body and 10 kilos of cocaine in the boot.

We all love these stories but it is given to few of us to start one. (Ahem - that might've been me, Elin :-) )

*preens*

A-Z = S for (True) Spook Tale and Steve Emmett

First of all, sorry, sorry I disappeared from view. A family member had to go into hospital and last week was fraught. So, I know, I've failed this year's A-Z challenge :-( Never mind I have a True Spook Tale for you today!

Steve Emmett is a British author, occasional book reviewer and a member of the Society of Authors. Born in Harrogate, the genteel Yorkshire spa town where Agatha Christie hid away from the world thirty-two years earlier. He's also the acclaimed author of the wonderful horror novel: Diavolino

Read on for the spooky tale:

Steve Emmet

A-Z Blog Challenge - M = Marmalade - be careful, very careful

They say that if you don't learn a language before you're 25 you'll never be bilingual, no matter how much you speak the second language.

How true. Speaking another language can be a minefield of different meanings (or false friends) that can lead, in most cases, to hilarity (at your expense).

Examples:

• Vou fazer marmelada. Nope, that's not 'I'm going to make marmalade'. That's 'I'm going to do some heavy-petting' (foreplay);
• Do not ask the grocery store man if he tem tomates? Because you're asking him if he has b**ls. Tem tomate? (singular) is much better if you're really want to know if he has any tomatoes (for sale).
• Do not say this in a supermarket in a loud voice: Não gosto desta compote tem muitos preservativos dentro. The intention is to say that you don't like that jam because it contains too many preservatives. Except preservativo in Portuguese means a condom - or rubber to my American friends.
• You can tell your dinner guests that you made the meal in your kitchen (cozinha), but if you change the sex of the word to cozinho, then you tell them you made the meal in your as*h*le.

Take great care...

A-Z Blog Challenge. L = Lisboa Linda

It's Sunday (I know, I'm a day late), so let's take a day off and take a walking trip around Lisbon. The title of this post is Beautiful Lisbon, which I think you'll agree that it is. It's a gloriously sunny, warm day - so enjoy it.

All photos were taken by my niece Ana Rita Pinto who has just graduated from university as a fully-qualified nurse - she's a talented photographer too.

Thank you Rita! 

A-Z Challenge K = Kisses and Kink - Not Necessarily

Why oh why do reviewers, publishers, readers assume that if a book is gay literature then it must be classified under erotica? If a book is about two men, or women, it doesn't necessarily mean that kink or steamy sex (which, let's face it, is mostly just wet and sticky) is going to be included in the novel.

Here's an excellent post on the mismarketing of this genre with a discussion led by two talented writers of gay fiction: Elin Gregory and Alex Beecroft. Both authors concentrate on a cracking plot rather than explicit sex scenes in their own work which is what I tried to achieve with my own novel, Perfect Score. But because Perfect Score was often grouped with erotica I received reviews that said, "I was hoping for more sex scenes". 
What do you think? Join in the discussion here: http://coleriann.com/2013/04/08/alex-beecroft-elin-gregory-discuss-erotica-vs-romance-mismarketing/

A-Z Blog Challenge. J = Just for the girls

I know this is gross but it is oh so true.

A-Z Challenge - I = Inside the Village

Dona Rosa sits in the shade of an orange tree just outside her whitewashed cottage, crocheting a waistcoat for her husband, Joaquim, which he'll probably never wear.
She looks across at the sandy beach, empty except for piles of nets, buoys and a couple of upturned skiffs that are waiting to have their hulls patched.
She squints against the glare of the glittering waves as they break on the shore. The sea's in a good mood today and, hopefully, she'll yield her fruit willingly so they have a good catch. Another hour and the sardine fleet will be in and Joaquim will be ready for his dinner. 
Seventy-five years old and still out at dawn and sometimes again during the day, he says the day he can't go to sea will be the day he dies. Dona Rosa had a quick word with her son-in-law, the skipper, and now Joaquim's job is restricted to measuring the fish and checking for bycatch. 

Caldeirada - fish stew

Joaquim will be hungry but Dona Rosa's caldeirada has been simmering all day with fish they brought back yesterday with the sardine: squid, bream, cuttlefish and hake. The onions, tomatoes, coriander, garlic, lemons and peppers she took from their small back yard; the olive oil came from the local press and the wine from Serafim's vines. Further along the street Serafim's already getting his bar/café ready to receive the fishermen  by setting cold bottles of beer and plates of petiscos, still warm from Prazeres's frying pan, on the metal tables outside.  

petiscos 

The children will be back soon from school on the bus. They'll gather round Dona Rosa for their daily song in English (today's will be A Life on the Ocean Wave) and then she'll let them pick the ripe oranges from the tree that's burnt from the sea air but produces the juiciest fruit every year. The strawberry tree in the small backyard is full of fruit too and they can pick those so that Joaquim can make his heart-stoppingly strong medronha brandy at the weekend.
Dona Rosa sits in the shade, squints at the horizon, and prays to Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes for the sardine fleet's safe arrival. 

Dona Rosa, her husband Joaquim and Serafim are characters from my WIP. It is set in a fishing village in the Alentejo.

A-Z Blog Challenge - H = Happiness

Happiness is:

from Morguefile

 A trip around Lisbon by tram

from Morguefile

A trip by ferry to the South Bank of Lisbon

from Wikipedia

They say there are seven hills in Lisbon - there are actually thousands. Climb one and enjoy the view or just go down into the city and look up:

permission and copyright: Rita Pinto

And finish the day on the Tamariz Beach in Estoril (thank you Rita!!!)

copyright Rita Pinto

With a full glass of wine: 

from www.morguefile.com

A-Z Blog Challenge. G = Great Writer

Wikiquote

Of the many excellent Portuguese writers one in particular (for me) stands out: José Maria Eça de Queiroz. He's been likened to Dickens and Tolstoy but has been largely ignored by the world outside Portugal.
Born in 1845 to unmarried parents, he grew up either with his grandparents or in a boarding school. Although his parents later married, his father only acknowledged him as his son when Eça de Queiroz was forty. 
Having served as consul in the UK and Paris, he had a sophisticated view of the world which translates into his books and enables them to be read with ease today.

There are a couple of his quotes that I can relate to (they're my translations):

"There are those who prize what others think and forget to live their own lives."
"Don't be afraid to think differently to others. It's far worse to think the same as them and then discover that they're all wrong."

My favorite books: 

The Maias: A portrayal of Portuguese life in the 1870s, the spoilt rich and the desperation of the poor (just my kind of thing!)

The Crime of Father Amaro: A controversial theme (and we all have to read those, don't we?) of corruption in the church in the 1870s when a new parish priest seduces, or rather is seduced by, the landlady's daughter. This was also a film but it bombed, unfortunately, even though I enjoyed it.

A-Z Blog Challenge F = Famous

Susan - the Queen's corgi

Confession time! I was chatting to my good friend and talented author Elin Gregory yesterday when I told her I was thinking of taking the weekend off so I could write. "You can't," she said. "What about the A-Z? Tell you what, I'll write your post for you."

Isn't that the best type of friend to have? Please take time out to nip over to her blog. Her theme for the A-Z is history and, I tell you, what she doesn't know about her subject isn't worth waving a stick at. 

And here's Elin's post written specially for me! Famous Susans:

Some days you need a reminder that you're not doing so badly and it's quite nice to speculate that your name could be up there in lights.

There are a shed load of famous Susan for instance, some of whom are even real people!

How about Susan Saradon? She's pretty spectacular. Or Susan Pevensie who kicked ass in the Narnia Series until she discovered boys and got boring. Or Susan B Anthony, leader of the US suffragette movement who in the 19^th century laid the foundations for the feminist movement – we've come a long way ladies. As a result of changing attitudes it was possible for  Susan La Flesche Picotte to become the first Native American woman to qualify and practice as a doctor.

There's a Susanna in the bible, due to be stoned, but some sharp talking by Daniel got her off and her accusers consigned to the pit instead. And a Saint Susanna who lost her head to Diocletian – remember her next August 11^th.

And finally my favourite Susan who spent so long in the service of Queen Elizabeth II that she was viewed as a family member.

Can you think of any famous people with your name?

Do visit Elin, you won't regret it: http://elingregory.wordpress.com/

A-Z Blog Challenge - E = Exploring and Eclectic Scenery

Taken from Wikipedia

Feel like coming on a journey with me? Let's go from the north of Portugal right down to the south in thirty seconds (warning: don't ever try doing this in real life, it'll make your head spin).


When people think of holidaying in Portugal they think of the Algarve, but that's only a tiny, weeny strip right at the southern end. True, it gets the best weather, doesn't necessarily have the best beaches but the sea in the east does get mixed up with the Mediterranean so the water's a bit warmer. Anyway, it's full of tourists, so let's start in the north.

image taken from www.morguefile.com

Lush, green and mountainous, the north is fascinating for its tiny villages that date back hundreds of years and yummy for its food (it'll stick to the cockles of your innards).

Onto the north-east for a spot of exercise and hiking after all that food. And where better than the National Park of Gerês, a protected area where wolves still roam, but don't worry, I'll protect you.

from www.ferias.pt

Time for a spot of culture and plenty of port wine tasting in Porto (or Oporto which foreigners for some reason call it). If there's time, we can whizz along the Douro River on a boat cruise and see the huge vineyards that run along the banks where they catch the most sun to ripen their delicious grapes.

from www.portugaltours.com

Time for a change of scenery further south but still north of Lisbon. The area of Ribatejo where the best cattle and Lusitano horses are bred.

The scenery is getting drier and the weather warmer now, but we're going to skip over Lisbon, because there's enough about Lisbon on this blog to fill a book, and hop over the River Tagus down to the Alentejo.

Here it's hot and dry with a Mediterranean climate. It's mostly agricultural with a spot of mineral mining, marble quarrying and carpet-making going on. But it's spectacularly beautiful at all times of the year with its rolling plains, pine forests, cork and olive trees dotting the low hills.

above photos from http://pinterest.com/sueroebuck/my-novels/

visitportugal.com

And this is where we're going to stop for a while because THIS is where my new novel is set. The Algarve can wait, it's not going anywhere.

A-Z Blog Challenge - D = Discovery

The Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon.
That's Henry the Navigator at the front. Each
figure held some place in history (his mum's behind him)

Portugal might be a teeny country right on the western edge of mainland Europe (I said mainland oh you Irish who might want to lynch me right now), and right on the edge of bankruptcy (who said that?), but the country had an enormous influence on our world as it is today.

Did you know:

1. Portugal is Britain's oldest ally? Ratified by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386. The Portuguese, in general, are pretty proud of this; the Brits, in general, are pretty ignorant of the fact.

2. Portugal introduced tea into Britain. Catherine of Braganza brought it with her when she married Charles II of England. She didn't bring it with milk though.

3. It is said that Christopher Columbus first tried the King of Portugal about his theory that he could reach the east Indies by sailing west but was refused because Portugal already had its wealthy Indian routes established. It is also said (allegedly, thought...you check it out) that Columbus married a Portuguese noblewoman (daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrelo, who had a hand in discovering Madeira Island) and lived for a time on Madeira's teeny sister island, Porto Santo.

4. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided up the newly discovered lands between Spain and Portugal and excluded any other European nation. That's the reason the language of Brazil is Portuguese and the two countries have a very close rapport even today.

5. Over 240 million people across the globe speak Portuguese. (240 million and one - because I do too).

6. Prince Henry the Navigator never went to sea - he directed the great Age of Discoveries from land.

7. The great Age of Discoveries probably started in the 13th century but it was really the 15th and 16th centuries that saw the greatest movement when such famous names as Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral, Fernão de Magalhaes and so many others formed important trade routes and colonies, creating incredible wealth from the East (see: Wikipedia if you're interested).

8. The problem with Portugal, though, was its size. Tiny but full of people with a pioneering spirit (as they still are today). With a population of around a million at the time, more than half set off to battle writhing sea monsters, huge whirlpools and a boiling sun until they could land in their minute caravels in distant, exotic lands. And the result? Hardly anyone was left in Portugal to take care of the place. And thus started its downward economic trend...

If you'd like to read more, try this site

A-Z Challenge - C = C Beaches on the Lisbon Coast

Cascais Praia dos Pescadores (Wikipedia)

There can't be many capital cities in Europe with golden beaches just twenty-minutes away.

Jump on a train in Lisbon and you'll be in Carcavelos in twenty-minutes or Cascais in thirty.

Carcavelos

Carcavelos is the place for surfers with...so I'm told...a wonderful beachbreak and cylindrical left rolls (hope that makes sense). And if my source is correct, the waves are currently at 3.5m - so quick, grab your board and come on over. But you won't see me there - don't forget it's the Atlantic and I only get in the sea when temperatures rise above 22ºC.

I asked a friend of mine, Eva Sanches, who's had the innovative idea of building two cottages and renting them out for holiday lets in the hills above Cascais, where she advises her guests to visit. So she sent me this picture of the wild and rugged beach at Guincho, just ten minutes down the coast by car or cycle from Cascais in about twenty. You can even walk there...

The boardwalk to Guincho Beach. Photo by Eva Sanches

Take a look at Eva's site

A-Z Blog Challenge - B = Bica

A Brasileira in Lisbon (from
Wikipedia)

As promised the theme for this year is Portugal. Except for yesterday when I went haywire and off course (but you've probably come to expect that). I live in Portugal, although I'm English, and my next  novel (still a WIP but will be whipped into shape this year) is set in a small fishing village on the west coast.

Today's word is Bica! Eh? Bica. It comes from the saying, "beba isto com açucar" or, drink this with sugar. Coffee.

Coffee is interwoven into the Portuguese way of life. Expresso machines are everywhere and a true Portuguese cannot live without his/her daily dose(s), so it's essential tourists coming here know what they're in for.

Portuguese coffee is strong and good (thanks to Portugal's connection with coffee-growing Brazil) and no Portuguese can last for long in the morning without popping into a café (there's at least one on every corner - some just holes in the wall) for a quick expresso shot.

If you want to have the best coffee, you have to know how to ask for it. Imagine:

Tourist: A white coffee please
Café tender: galão, garoto, pingado or meia de leite escuro or claro?
Tourist: um...how about just a coffee?
C.T: bica curto, bica longo, bica normal, Italiano, café duplo?
Tourist: oh forget about it, I'll have tea.

Translation: 
bica = an expresso shot (in small cup)
galão = milky white coffee in a tall glass
garoto = milky white coffee in a small cup
pingado = an expresso shot with a couple of drips of milk (my favorite)
meia de leite = milky white coffee in a larger coffee cup, all frothy and half the price of a cappuccino.
bica curto = a bica with less water (maybe three quarters of the small cup)
Italiano = a bica with a tiny amount of water (full expresso shot). About a quarter of a small cup (almost just pure coffee and nothing else)
café duplo = double bica.

If you're in Lisbon, visit the famous Café Brasileira (picture at top) in the Largo do Chiado. This was one of Portugal's greatest poets Fernando Pessoa's favorite haunt. Have a bica with him - his bronze statue sits on the pavement outside.  

Fernando Pessoa enjoying a coffee

A-Z Blog Challenge: A = Award

my award

I wasn't going to, I promise. But I couldn't resist. My main theme of this year's A-Z Challenge will be based on aspects of Portugal that a tourist generally doesn't get to see (because my new novel is set in Portugal).

But today is Award, as in book awards. 

Reviews help sell books but awards do too. One of the most prestigious in the digital world is the EPIC Annual e-Book Award (often known as an EPPIE).

In 1998 when most people were laughing at the idea that an ebook could ever exist, let alone be popular, EPIC (the Electronic Publishing Coalition) was founded. Its membership has grown substantially since that time and comprises people from all walks of the publishing industry. Its mission is simply to promote ePublishing. To see more, take a look at their website: http://www.epicorg.com/.


Besides the eBook Annual Awards, EPIC runs other annual awards:

• the Ariana eBook Cover Art Competition
• New Voices Young Writers Competition

I have been a judge for the eBook Annual Award and I thoroughly recommend it as a rewarding and interesting experience. Here's why:

• You can choose how many or how few books you want to read and which categories. You can't, obviously, be a judge in a category in which you've entered one of your own books, nor can you be a judge for a book that is published by any of your own publishers. You also shouldn't judge friends' books if you come across one (obviously), which is unlikely since you are assigned the books to read in whichever categories you've chosen.
• You can decide how many rounds you want to judge. There are hundreds of judges, although I never knew who my fellow judges were. And there are three rounds: the first is where the judge reads the first three chapters only to see whether a book should go onto a second round (you can read the whole book if you want to, but you only judge the three chapters).
• There's a second round to decide on the finalists - and here the judge will be reading some great books.
• Finally, there's a third round to decide on the winners.
• If you're a finalist in your category, you receive a certificate.
• If you're a winner, you receive a nice trophy (see above) which is awarded and announced at the EPIC annual conference which lasts several days in which participants attend workshops, book fairs and presentations by major professionals in publishing.

So, far from being a popularity contest, this is one of the awards that judges a book on its merits.

(Ahem, I won one this year :-)  )

True Tales of Spook #3 - Shelly Arkon

Friday, and the third tale of spook this week. All these are coming from published authors - so expect a good yarn and a true one at that!

Today's chill is provided by Shelly Arkon, author of Secondhand Shoes (I've linked it to Amazon - it's FREE today only. Go...go.. but come back again). I've put in a blurb at the end of the post, so you can calm down and recover after...the true spook story...

True Spooky Tales - Catherine Cavendish

click to buy from Amazon

This is the second in my True Spooky Tales brought to you from published authors (first one from Julia Kavan here: http://www.susanroebuck.com/2013/03/true-spooky-tales-julia-kavan.html).

Today I'm welcoming Catherine Cavendish who is rapidly becoming the Queen of Paranormal author. I've read all of her books and she has a lovely distinctive voice which is easy to read and downright enjoyable. Here's her true tale of spook: 

True Spooky Tales - Julia Kavan

Happy Monday to everyone - including any spooks hanging around. I think it's time to bring them out into the open (spooks, that is) so I asked some friends for their true stories of paranormal experiences they've had.

Let's kick off with Julia Kavan, author of the excellent horror book Dreaming Not Sleeping. I've read it and I really recommend it, in fact I dare you to!

Stop Press. Read all about it!

Recent Tweet from the  EPICorg conference in Vancouver where the 2013 eBook Awards were announced:

"Congrats Horror winner Hewhay Hall, Susan Roebuck, Etopia Press #epicawards
— EPICorg (@EPICorg) March 17, 2013"