I know the year is coming to an end pretty fast and all of us have read a lot of book this year. So, what one male would you say is the sexiest hero you have read about?
Marie Rochelle
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Who is the sexiest hero you have read about in 2009?
I know the year is coming to an end pretty fast and all of us have read a lot of book this year. So, what one male would you say is the sexiest hero you have read about?
Marie Rochelle
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Coming to Texas!
The countdown has begun. Me and Mr. Zetta will be in the Lone Star State in exactly one week!!
Yeeeeee HAAAAAAWWWWW!
We'll be going to the State Fair in Dallas where I gotta introduce Mr. Jim to Big Tex and let them fight it out as to who's taller.
But before *that*, I'll be running into Miz Drea Riley, The Texas Tornado!!
She and her hunny are coming to meet me and my hunny while we visit my grandparents in that booming metropolis that IS Vernon, Texas.
And, of course, while there I gotta stock up on all the goodies you just can't find in Scotland. You know...staple goods.
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
Grape Soda, Root Beer....
Y'know...necessities of life.
We may also be making a trip to Austin but that's still up in the air.
Woo! Hoo! This Texas brat is coming HOME!!!
Zetta Brown
Messalina - Devourer of Men
www.zettabrown.com
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Getting off of the Dead Horse by Jeanie Johnson and Jayha Leigh
It’s one-ish in the morning and Jeanie and Jayha are sixteen hours apart, knee deep in edits, and school is back in so forgive the errors.
***
Katie Geneva Cannon is one down sister with some badazz prose. One of Jayha's favorite people to read, she once began a class by proclaiming: “I’ve already done in my life everything that I said I wouldn’t do!”(Cannon, Katie’s Canon, 10). That statement gave us pause not because of its candor, but because of its speaker. Dr. Cannon isn’t just someone who throws out words willy-nilly. A minister, an ethicist, she is heavy into womanist and liberation theology. Upon further reflection and deeper discussion, we realized that yes, while Dr. Cannon was all of these things, she is also … human. Sometimes we forget that for all of a person’s deeds, underneath the titles, the reputation, the infamy, notoriety, the rumors, they are first and foremost human.
***
We also forget our own humanness. In our rush to do for everyone else, please everyone else, live up to social and familial expectations, we neglect ourselves to the point of forgetting ourselves. That’s a dangerous, dangerous thing. To forget ourselves puts us one step closer to forgetting our humanity. To forget ourselves is to forget that we were made in the image of a Creator who so loved the world…you know the rest.
***
Advances in medicine allow us to live better, to feel better quicker, to feel no pain, to feel nothing at all. Advances in technology have allowed us to jam pack our days with more activities. The credit system has allowed us to fill our lives with more stuff. But for all of that, medicine, technology, and credit cannot get us more time. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and too many of us fill every waking moment with things to do, that we feel absolutely, positively just must get done. And we do them not necessarily because we want to but because we feel that if we don’t do them then they won’t get done. The truth is, those things will get done whether we do it or not and if we thought about it, we’d realize that. But we don’t want to think about that (in fact, it seems that we don’t want to think), because if we think about it we have to consider the state of our lives.
***
While we can face down monsters, we find it hard to face ourselves. Not the public self that we shrug into before leaving our homes, or even the public self that we wear inside of our homes, but the self that we are left with when all of the public, when all of the make-up, when all of the politeness comes off/is stripped off/wears off. The self that emerges in the dark, in the silence, in the nooks and crannies of our conscience doesn’t care about being polite; that self is busy speaking raw truth uncaring that it is tearing our carefully-constructed self to shreds.
***
We don’t like to visit that self just like we don’t like to hear the truth because living in denial, living in indifference and living in our dreams is so much easier then living in the truth. We claw, scratch, and fight to hold onto mediocrity (whether it is a lifestyle, a significant other, or a pre-approved future complete with white picket fence). Why do we fight so hard to hold onto a façade that in reality isn’t all that good? Is it because we’re more comfortable with our disappointments than we are with the possibilities of what we could be, who we could be, and what we could accomplish if we stepped out of our comfort zones, our prejudices, and society’s labels? If we had the courage, how would we answer Mary Oliver’s question from ‘The Summer Day’: “Tell me what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Do we appreciate the wildness of it? Do we appreciate the preciousness of it? Do we recognize the oneness of it?
***
We’ve been busy thinking about life for a few reasons. One, we read our sister-friend’s (Dréa Riley) poem “Closing Doors (Cleaning out My Closet). Actually, we keep copies of it close by. Like the Mona Lisa, there's something about the woman on the accompanying artwork that draws you to it. It’s that look on her face—the look that says she’s traveled down many, many roads. The look that says ‘damn’. The look that says so much yet has no words that can adequately describe it. And then there’s the prose itself. Each time we read it, we discover yet another thing that we need to clean out of our lives. While the states of our actual closets vary (mine is pretty clean; Jeanie’s not so much), we have to wade through our metaphorical closets and weed out the people that don’t uplift us, lifestyles that don’t fulfill us, words that don’t encourage us, love that doesn’t sustain us, practices that don’t liberate us, the gods (small g) that are punitive rather than loving … the gods that aren’t God. We have to clean all of that out of our lives so that we can actually get to our lives.
***
Another reason that we’ve busy thinking about life is because not so long ago, we just started new lives. It started with a story. And then there was an email, and then a letter, and then another and another until half a million words and twenty stories later, there was a universe. We don’t need a team of scientists to explain its creation. It was born in destiny, forged in the fires of belief and trust and love from women and men who believed in us, encouraged our dream even when it wasn’t fleshed all the way out. It’s sustained by their faith in the women we are, their enjoyment in the words we write, and their acceptance of our many imperfections. And we love and thank them for it.
***
A third reason that we’ve been busy thinking about life is because during a talk with our sister-friend Laura, and during the course of our conversation, I commented upon another event that we should attend. After her agreement, I suggested that we add it to our list. There was a pause in her typing before she remarked on the length of our list (of things to do before we die). In that pause it hit us all, right smack dab in the center of our existence. Yeah, our list was getting long and we’ve hardly crossed anything out as we’re always too busy to get to our dreams.
***
There’s twenty-four hours in a day and we don’t have time because there’s always something to do, always something that needs to be done. While that’s true, it’s also true that we are one of those things that should be on our daily to-do list. There are only twenty-four hours in a day, but there are only so many days in a life, and we’ve already used up thirty some years worth.
***
That’s humbling, and eye-opening, and heart-breaking. Were tired of having our hearts broken. And upon further reflection, we’re real tired of the woman in the mirror being the one who breaks it. J and J
***
Katie Geneva Cannon is one down sister with some badazz prose. One of Jayha's favorite people to read, she once began a class by proclaiming: “I’ve already done in my life everything that I said I wouldn’t do!”(Cannon, Katie’s Canon, 10). That statement gave us pause not because of its candor, but because of its speaker. Dr. Cannon isn’t just someone who throws out words willy-nilly. A minister, an ethicist, she is heavy into womanist and liberation theology. Upon further reflection and deeper discussion, we realized that yes, while Dr. Cannon was all of these things, she is also … human. Sometimes we forget that for all of a person’s deeds, underneath the titles, the reputation, the infamy, notoriety, the rumors, they are first and foremost human.
***
We also forget our own humanness. In our rush to do for everyone else, please everyone else, live up to social and familial expectations, we neglect ourselves to the point of forgetting ourselves. That’s a dangerous, dangerous thing. To forget ourselves puts us one step closer to forgetting our humanity. To forget ourselves is to forget that we were made in the image of a Creator who so loved the world…you know the rest.
***
Advances in medicine allow us to live better, to feel better quicker, to feel no pain, to feel nothing at all. Advances in technology have allowed us to jam pack our days with more activities. The credit system has allowed us to fill our lives with more stuff. But for all of that, medicine, technology, and credit cannot get us more time. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and too many of us fill every waking moment with things to do, that we feel absolutely, positively just must get done. And we do them not necessarily because we want to but because we feel that if we don’t do them then they won’t get done. The truth is, those things will get done whether we do it or not and if we thought about it, we’d realize that. But we don’t want to think about that (in fact, it seems that we don’t want to think), because if we think about it we have to consider the state of our lives.
***
While we can face down monsters, we find it hard to face ourselves. Not the public self that we shrug into before leaving our homes, or even the public self that we wear inside of our homes, but the self that we are left with when all of the public, when all of the make-up, when all of the politeness comes off/is stripped off/wears off. The self that emerges in the dark, in the silence, in the nooks and crannies of our conscience doesn’t care about being polite; that self is busy speaking raw truth uncaring that it is tearing our carefully-constructed self to shreds.
***
We don’t like to visit that self just like we don’t like to hear the truth because living in denial, living in indifference and living in our dreams is so much easier then living in the truth. We claw, scratch, and fight to hold onto mediocrity (whether it is a lifestyle, a significant other, or a pre-approved future complete with white picket fence). Why do we fight so hard to hold onto a façade that in reality isn’t all that good? Is it because we’re more comfortable with our disappointments than we are with the possibilities of what we could be, who we could be, and what we could accomplish if we stepped out of our comfort zones, our prejudices, and society’s labels? If we had the courage, how would we answer Mary Oliver’s question from ‘The Summer Day’: “Tell me what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Do we appreciate the wildness of it? Do we appreciate the preciousness of it? Do we recognize the oneness of it?
***
We’ve been busy thinking about life for a few reasons. One, we read our sister-friend’s (Dréa Riley) poem “Closing Doors (Cleaning out My Closet). Actually, we keep copies of it close by. Like the Mona Lisa, there's something about the woman on the accompanying artwork that draws you to it. It’s that look on her face—the look that says she’s traveled down many, many roads. The look that says ‘damn’. The look that says so much yet has no words that can adequately describe it. And then there’s the prose itself. Each time we read it, we discover yet another thing that we need to clean out of our lives. While the states of our actual closets vary (mine is pretty clean; Jeanie’s not so much), we have to wade through our metaphorical closets and weed out the people that don’t uplift us, lifestyles that don’t fulfill us, words that don’t encourage us, love that doesn’t sustain us, practices that don’t liberate us, the gods (small g) that are punitive rather than loving … the gods that aren’t God. We have to clean all of that out of our lives so that we can actually get to our lives.
***
Another reason that we’ve busy thinking about life is because not so long ago, we just started new lives. It started with a story. And then there was an email, and then a letter, and then another and another until half a million words and twenty stories later, there was a universe. We don’t need a team of scientists to explain its creation. It was born in destiny, forged in the fires of belief and trust and love from women and men who believed in us, encouraged our dream even when it wasn’t fleshed all the way out. It’s sustained by their faith in the women we are, their enjoyment in the words we write, and their acceptance of our many imperfections. And we love and thank them for it.
***
A third reason that we’ve been busy thinking about life is because during a talk with our sister-friend Laura, and during the course of our conversation, I commented upon another event that we should attend. After her agreement, I suggested that we add it to our list. There was a pause in her typing before she remarked on the length of our list (of things to do before we die). In that pause it hit us all, right smack dab in the center of our existence. Yeah, our list was getting long and we’ve hardly crossed anything out as we’re always too busy to get to our dreams.
***
There’s twenty-four hours in a day and we don’t have time because there’s always something to do, always something that needs to be done. While that’s true, it’s also true that we are one of those things that should be on our daily to-do list. There are only twenty-four hours in a day, but there are only so many days in a life, and we’ve already used up thirty some years worth.
***
That’s humbling, and eye-opening, and heart-breaking. Were tired of having our hearts broken. And upon further reflection, we’re real tired of the woman in the mirror being the one who breaks it. J and J
Monday, September 14, 2009
What makes you reread a book?
I know that alot of us have read a good book, but what makes you want to go back and read that one special book again and again?
Marie Rochelle
2009 Lub-Dub Awards
Several Badazz Authors have been nominated! If you all would be so kind as to vote for us...that would be awesome! You can submit your votes via e-mail to dreamwild1985@gmail.com, and names are bolded for easy finding. The deadline is today. Thanks in advance!
Best Hero :
Tim Capshaw in “Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
Dorian Christensen in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Tyson Kincade in “Kincade’s Rose” by Aliyah Burke
Adrian Redwolfe in “In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Heroine :
Ashaya Aleine in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Faith Wheeler in “Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
Tamara Holifield in “The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
Miki Kendrick in “Go Fetch” by Shelly Laurenston
Best Alpha Male :
Fenris in “A Guardian’s Desire” by Mya
Dorian Christensen in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Adrian Redwolfe in “In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Russell Crichton in “The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
Best Vampire/Warewolf/Shape-Shifter :
Jace Archane in “A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
Freya Daniels in “A Guardian’s Desire” by Mya
Adrian Redwolfe in “In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Dorian Christensen in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Dante Grimaldi in “Dante’s Wrath” by Eve Vaughn
Best Author of the Year :
Savannah J. Frierson
Eve Vaughn
LaVerne Thompson
Lena Matthews
Best Publisher :
Liquid Silver Books
Red Rose Publishing
Parker Publishing
Life Time Achievement Award :
Marilyn Lee
Sandra Kitt
Eve Vaughn
Best Website/Fan-Group/Blog :
The Official Marilyn Lee Fan Club
Fans of Interracial Romance on Goodreads
Fans of Interracial Romance on Yahoo!
Interracial/Multiracial Romance Readers Group
Best Fan :
Caylah Walters
Shawnette from Goodreads
Danielle Hill
Johnandvan
Best BBW :
“Eye of the Beholder” by Marilyn Lee
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Contemporary :
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal :
“A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
“Starstruck: Hunter” by Michelle Lauren
“Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
“The Alpha Promise” by Hayat Ali
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Erotica :
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
“Beg for It” by Minx Malone
Best Historical :
“Badazz Daddy Squad: Ragnar” by Jeanie Johnson & Jayha Leigh
“After the Lies” by Mandessa Selby
Best Fight Scene :
“A Guardian’s Desire” by Mya
“A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
“Go Fetch” by Shelly Laurenston
“Hold On” by LaVerne Thompson
Best Love Scene :
“Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
“The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
Best Choice to Become A Movie :
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
“The Megalodon Team Series” by Aliyah Burke
“Starstruck: Hunter” by Michelle Lauren
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
Best Cover Art :
“Rendezvous with Fate” by Jeanne Sumerix
“A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
“Beg for It” by Minx Malone
“Pursuing Zarah” by Jennifer Cole
Best Short Story :
“Tempting a Wolf” by Tressie Lockwood
“Promises” by LaVerne Thompson
“Tempting Neal” by Marilyn Lee
“Your Local Handyman” by Stephanie Williams
Best Novella :
“Starstruck: Hunter” by Michelle Lauren
“The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
“Boss Man” by Marie Rochelle
“Beg for It” by Minx Malone
Best Novel :
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
“Dante’s Wrath” by Eve Vaughn
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
“Eye of the Beholder” by Marilyn Lee
Best Series :
“The Undead Series” by Emma Petersen
“The Tycoon Club Series” by Marie Rochelle
“The Drace Brothers Series” by Marie Rochelle
“The Megalodon Team Series” by Aliyah Burke
“The Three Sisters Series” by LaVerne Thomspon & Stephanie Williams
Best Story of the Year :
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Hero :
Tim Capshaw in “Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
Dorian Christensen in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Tyson Kincade in “Kincade’s Rose” by Aliyah Burke
Adrian Redwolfe in “In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Heroine :
Ashaya Aleine in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Faith Wheeler in “Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
Tamara Holifield in “The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
Miki Kendrick in “Go Fetch” by Shelly Laurenston
Best Alpha Male :
Fenris in “A Guardian’s Desire” by Mya
Dorian Christensen in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Adrian Redwolfe in “In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Russell Crichton in “The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
Best Vampire/Warewolf/Shape-Shifter :
Jace Archane in “A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
Freya Daniels in “A Guardian’s Desire” by Mya
Adrian Redwolfe in “In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Dorian Christensen in “Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
Dante Grimaldi in “Dante’s Wrath” by Eve Vaughn
Best Author of the Year :
Savannah J. Frierson
Eve Vaughn
LaVerne Thompson
Lena Matthews
Best Publisher :
Liquid Silver Books
Red Rose Publishing
Parker Publishing
Life Time Achievement Award :
Marilyn Lee
Sandra Kitt
Eve Vaughn
Best Website/Fan-Group/Blog :
The Official Marilyn Lee Fan Club
Fans of Interracial Romance on Goodreads
Fans of Interracial Romance on Yahoo!
Interracial/Multiracial Romance Readers Group
Best Fan :
Caylah Walters
Shawnette from Goodreads
Danielle Hill
Johnandvan
Best BBW :
“Eye of the Beholder” by Marilyn Lee
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Contemporary :
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal :
“A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
“Starstruck: Hunter” by Michelle Lauren
“Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
“The Alpha Promise” by Hayat Ali
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Best Erotica :
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
“Beg for It” by Minx Malone
Best Historical :
“Badazz Daddy Squad: Ragnar” by Jeanie Johnson & Jayha Leigh
“After the Lies” by Mandessa Selby
Best Fight Scene :
“A Guardian’s Desire” by Mya
“A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
“Go Fetch” by Shelly Laurenston
“Hold On” by LaVerne Thompson
Best Love Scene :
“Hostage to Pleasure” by Nalini Singh
“The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
Best Choice to Become A Movie :
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
“The Megalodon Team Series” by Aliyah Burke
“Starstruck: Hunter” by Michelle Lauren
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
Best Cover Art :
“Rendezvous with Fate” by Jeanne Sumerix
“A Kiss of Ashen Twilight” by Rae Lori
“Beg for It” by Minx Malone
“Pursuing Zarah” by Jennifer Cole
Best Short Story :
“Tempting a Wolf” by Tressie Lockwood
“Promises” by LaVerne Thompson
“Tempting Neal” by Marilyn Lee
“Your Local Handyman” by Stephanie Williams
Best Novella :
“Starstruck: Hunter” by Michelle Lauren
“The Blacker the Berry” by Lena Matthews
“Boss Man” by Marie Rochelle
“Beg for It” by Minx Malone
Best Novel :
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
“Dante’s Wrath” by Eve Vaughn
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
“Eye of the Beholder” by Marilyn Lee
Best Series :
“The Undead Series” by Emma Petersen
“The Tycoon Club Series” by Marie Rochelle
“The Drace Brothers Series” by Marie Rochelle
“The Megalodon Team Series” by Aliyah Burke
“The Three Sisters Series” by LaVerne Thomspon & Stephanie Williams
Best Story of the Year :
“Trolling Nights” by Savannah J. Frierson
“Tempting Faith” by Crystal Hubbard
“In Blood and Worth Loving” by Marilyn Lee
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Dear Kanye West
This BLOG has been moved to http://drearileyandlauraguevara.blogspot.com/?zx=729df10bb65eed5
THanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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