Ignorance is Bliss - Sometimes

For the last year I’ve been dealing with well, a high risk pregnancy, a new baby and other stuff. During that time one of my publishers fell apart and I was oblivious. Now I’m not one to bad mouth a publisher, but enough is enough.
Aspen Mountain Press has failed to provide me with royalty statements for the last year. I’ve received exactly 2 checks since October 2010 and both were under $15 for seven books. I’m sorry, but even if my books weren’t selling on their site, they are on the third party vendor sites.
As of today most of the third party sites have taken down books from Aspen Mountain and their home site seems to be unavailable due to maintenance. Yeah right. I’m hoping this is the demise of them so I can finally get my rights back and self-publish my seven books.
I have made several attempts to contact the publisher via, email, phone, snail mail and certified letters. Said publisher has ignored all attempts.
So this blog today is to request that if any readers want to purchase my Aspen Mountain books – PLEASE DON’T. Wait until the end of the year and you’ll be able to get them for cheaper when I self-publish them!
The moral of this story is to stay current with your publishers and make sure you’re getting statements and the money owed. I wish I wasn’t so oblivious and discovered this far too late in the game. Maybe I wouldn’t be battling to get my rights back.

Need 7 Sassy Tails? TALES?

What happens when 7 women get together for wine and giggles...and a sex toy party?
YOU get stories at 99 cents from a group who did just that!
To the left is my story, A LONG TIME COMIN' about a woman who is not going to wait any longer for her man to decide the time is right NOW for them to make love--or part forever.

Win a PRINT book or e-book of your choice! Oktoberfest is here!

Want to win one of my print books?

(Or would you prefer one of my e-books?)

Check out my blog and you could win your choice of any one of my books.  It's heading for the holiday season, and I am feeling particularly giveaway-minded. LOL!

Just got back from a week at Romanticon, and I had so much fun, I just had to share...so if you don't have a particular print book of mine, and want to enter the contest, please do.  All entrants will win a prize...unfortunately, there is only one print book available.

The contest is easy.  And it ends at midnight on Halloween...so get going and have fun!

Hugs!

Fran

Lets Talk Scary Movies

I realize that with DVDs, On Demand, DVRs, Netflix etc, one can watch almost any movie at any time, but I positively love the plethora of shiver inducing films and programs on my cable channels during the month of October. Bring on the vamps, ghosts, witches, zombies, monsters and slashers!!

Being prone to nightmares at any time of year, it’s extremely weird that I enjoy watching scary stuff, but I do. With my heart pounding, a pillow clutched at the ready to cover my eyes, and the little voice in my head screaming, “turn the channel”, I can be glued to the TV for hours.

Watching in the comfort of my own home allows the experience to be interactive. Along with gasping, flinching, and crying out in surprise, I’m able to shout out, offering my much needed advice to the players on the screen; “Don’t go in there.”, “Run!”, “Oh, you did not just leave the knife on the kitchen counter.”, “Seriously, in the basement without a flashlight?”!!!!

Horror films have the highest amount of too-stupid-to live characters of any genre, don’t they? I guess it makes sense, though. Slashers would be out of a job if there weren’t vacuous young adults cavorting together in all states of undress while not paying attention to creepy shit going on around them! Zombies are slow movers; it really helps them when people wander into the cemeteries at night. Werewolves appreciate lovers taking long walks under the full moon, and evil spirits rely on amateurs whipping out the Ouija board!

Here are some of my favorite movies:

Dracula – the Frank Langella version. He can suck anything of mine he wants to!
Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween.
The Exorcist
Night of the Living Dead – the original.
Rawhead Rex - rarely plays on TV but well worth a rent.
The Blair Witch Project – full of stupid, but the last two minutes still freak me out hard.
Pumpkinhead
The Shining
Aliens
The Sixth Sense
The Amityville Horror
Poltergeist
Predator

And here are some I cannot watch again or never finished watching:

Pet Cemetery
A Nightmare on Elm Street – all installments!
Saw – all installments!
The Cell

What movies cause you to sleep with the lights on??

Have a great weekend~

Tessie

www.tessiebradford.com

George Harrison "Living in the Material World"

If you have HBO lucky you! I don’t have HBO, I cancelled it a while ago because I was watching so little television and the movies HBO offered just weren’t my thing. I thought it wasn’t smart to pay for something I wasn’t using. But as soon as I turned my back HBO popped up with gems like “Game Of Thrones” and now this clincher Martin Scorsese’s documentary on the life of George Harrison “Living in the Material World”, which premiers tonight. Dear god, why did I cancel HBO!

I love George Harrison. Since the time I was little bitty girl he was my favorite Beatle. There was something very earthy and soulful about George’s face. All the Beatles have amazingly expressive faces. Paul McCartney’s brows floated upward in almost impossibly surprised arches, but George’s eyes pulled downward and his heavy brows seemed to reflect an older more serious soul that clearly felt the weight of the world and I was attracted to that.

I have two older sisters, ten and sixteen years older than me. By the time I was old enough to notice, their Beatle worship was well under way. My sister Christy had a little shrine in her corner of the “girls’ bedroom” where she lit candles and incense, chanted, mediated with prayer beads and drove our parents nuts. The central altarpiece of the shrine was a black and white poster of George Harrison riding a horse through the woods. I loved staring at the poster. I had a favorite book filled with N C Wyeth illustrations that I also loved looking at, and I remember thinking George Harrison was a mythical person, like the medieval knights N C Wyeth illustrated. I’m not sure when I put it together that Harrison was also the man singing and playing guitar.

“Living in the Material World” looks like it’s going to be something special. Martin Scorsese’s rock documentaries are wonderful. “No Direction Home” about Bob Dylan and “Shine a Light,” about the Rolling Stones, are must see documentaries for any fan of rock and roll. “Living in the Material World” was made with the full cooperation and blessing of Harrison’s widow Olivia, who also wrote the excellent coffee table size biography “Living in the Material World”. (Ssshh… My husband who’s a big George Harrison fan doesn’t read this blog, so please don’t tell him I just bought the last copy of “Living in the Material World” at our local Barnes & Noble and hid it for Christmas.)

Harrison’s son Dhani (who looks eerily like his dad) said the documentary was emotionally hard to watch because it felt like seeing his father’s life flash before his eyes, including the most painful moments. He suggests viewers “Plan on making an evening of it and don’t plan on going out afterward.” I’m sure it’s good advice to anyone who’s emotionally invested in George Harrison.

Part one of “Living in the Material World” premieres tonight on HBO.  Enjoy.

This is the link to the official website of “Living in the Material World”

http://www.georgeharrison.com/

Do you have a favorite George Harrison or Beatle song, or a favorite Beatle memory?

XXOO Kat

October

Yesterday on my blog I talked about cutting ties. In life sometimes we have to cycle things much like the seasons. October is in full swing now and while I’ll miss the summer I do enjoy a lot of things about this month.
The fall foliage in New England is just gorgeous. The brilliant colors of the leaves before they fall; reds, gold, and orange brings awe to me every year. October brings hot apple cider, doughnuts, apple picking and let’s not forget Halloween.
Up until eight years ago every October my mom, aunt, cousin and our kids would go apple picking every year. Watching the kids climb ladders or reach with little hands for the precious fruit was always rewarding as a mother. They’d pick out their pumpkins on the way out, not before going on a hay ride, ride the ponies and visit the haunted house. The orchard we went to every year had hundreds of vendors and the adults would come home with lots of goodies.
Then there’s Halloween. The DH decorates the outside of the house and has creepy stuff to scare the kids when they arrive for their treats. There have been a few years where some kids went running back to their parents without their treats.
That’s what I like about October. How about you?

The Girl with Laryngitis, the Wave and the Smile!

Who? Me. As you read this today, I wing my way home with Desiree Holt, Allie Standifer, and Brenna Zinn, all on same plane from Romanticon, EC's annual conference.

Yes, I was the one who waved and smiled, but did not talk. Couldn't. A WILD case of sinus and laryngitis (brought home from Barcelona and Sorrento?) shut my mouth. (And my doc set me up with STUFF so that, no, I was not contagious.  Just mute!)

Maybe a good thing!!!!

At left?

The Boqueria off Las Rambla in central Barcelona!  Jamon, anyone? Iberico ham, cured to a melt-in-your mouth savory delight. 

Expensive? As you can see from the signs, ABsolutely!