02.01.10
Posted in Books at 2:16 am by JHaines
I’m quite pleased with this, let me tell ya. To save you some clicking, here it is in all its glory:
First of all, I’m excited that I got a pre-release copy of Hunted by the Others. That said, it was a great book! A fun and feisty vampire novel that reminded me of a kick-butt Sookie Stackhouse mystery, if Sookie was from New York and didn’t take crap from anybody. All in all, I loved it! Can’t wait for the next one!
Thank you, Julia! (Looking forward to that expanded review on your blog. *brow waggle*)
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01.26.10
Posted in Books, Entertainment at 4:44 pm by JHaines
All right, guys. Here’s the deal — Mark Henry, author of the Amanda Feral books (who also gave me an absolutely fabulous blurb — thank you!!) — needs our help.
You guys love zombie mayhem and twisted humor as much as I do, right? Right. So help a fellow author out, and buy his books from a retailer — not a used book store. This will help push his sales figures up enough that his publisher will sign him up for more in the series. In fact, he recommends you purchase his stuff from the University Bookstore in Seattle.
Mark is a new author to me, but I don’t want to see this series nipped in the bud. Help the guy out, ‘kay? Spread the word. Blog it, Twitter it, Facebook it — just get the word out. You can click here to see where to buy his books, and what brought this on.
(Thank you, Sidhe Vicious, for being the first to bring this to my attention! Blog on…)
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01.21.10
Posted in Entertainment, Movies at 4:24 pm by JHaines
Hot damn, was this movie good!
First, let me say this: the whole “Avatar = Pocahontas in Space” thing? Well, sure.
However, I’d like to point out that there was still a great deal of originality to this story. Mostly along the lines of the creatures and equipment being used and how these came into play rather than the story arc.
Let me explain. James Cameron had been working on this film for years, putting together a whole new world with different flora, fauna, races, languages, religious beliefs, etc. Most everything you’ll see there is something new, or old with a new twist. (*cough* Six-legged Gorean panthers, anyone? Wait, I don’t know anything about Gor! *innocent look*)
vs.
(Strange New Alien from Pandora, or Strange New Alien from Gor circa late-1960’s? You decide!)
The basic story is that a company wants to mine a rare, expensive element called “unobtanium” (please save your groans for later, folks) on the moon Pandora. They are being thwarted by the natives, a species of sentient humanoid aliens called Na’vi. To counter the natives, the company develops a scientific approach of cloning some of the Na’vi and mixing them with human DNA. The miracles of science enable the human scientists on board to link their minds with these “avatar” bodies and interact with and study the locals.
Our hero, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is chosen to command an avatar when his twin brother is killed. The trouble with this is that Jake is a paraplegic former marine with no scientific training to speak of. The lead scientist, Doctor Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), takes umbrage at the thought that Jake could possibly replace his highly trained twin on the project.
Yet, Jake excels at this, and soon finds himself a place as a trusted member of the Na’vi society, helped along by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a female Na’vi. His allegiance to the company and fellow humans is gradually stripped away as his love for Neytiri and the Na’vi people grows. Soon, he is forced to make a choice – assist the Na’vi to defend against the destruction of the natural beauty of Pandora, or help the company reach their goal of displacing the Na’vi from their sacred grounds and homes so they can reach the unobtanium beneath the village.
It’s very true you can compare this plot to Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, Fern Gully, whatever, and find more than a few similarities. Sure, the whole font thing was a cop-out. And, yes, I even detected some re-hashed Jurassic Park sound effects in the film.
However, that doesn’t make it a bad movie, or a bad story. It’s visually stunning, the music (courtesy of composer James Horner) is lovely, the plot gripping, and the message refreshingly clear and “clean”. It’s thoroughly enjoyable if you just watch the movie for the sake of entertainment rather than listening to the gripes about what’s wrong with it. Personally, I think its (fairly unobtrusive) message of peace, anti-war, and respect for the environment and others’ beliefs is something to get behind, rather than bitch about.
Plus, the helicopter-lizard things were freaking adorable. C’mon, people who’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. Don’t you just want to take one home with you?!
Of course, you can also make “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar” jokes ‘til the cows come home, but it doesn’t detract from the beauty of this film. I’d watch it again anytime.
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01.16.10
Posted in Books at 1:15 am by JHaines
Reasons Why You Should Enter This Contest (Deadline: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 )
1) Free book. Need I say more?
2) It’s a free book that sounds AWESOME.
3) This contest comes with an interview of Faith Hunter. Said interview includes nifty advice for writers. This wins the day.
Even if you don’t enter the contest, you should read the interview. Go check it out!
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01.12.10
Posted in Entertainment at 2:40 pm by JHaines
While this is aimed specifically at Los Angeles drivers, it can apply anywhere you’ll find a freeway:
The left lane is the FAST LANE. People who drive FAST are supposed to use that lane. NOT people doing 55 in a 65 zone with nobody in front of them for a mile and a half. Also, cutting off someone going faster than you — particularly when no one was in front of you in the lane you started out in? Not cool. Especially when you do it twice in a row. ‘Kay?
Love,
-J
P.S. To assist you in future driving endeavors, here is an amusing list of tips I found on how to tell which state a driver is from:
HOW TO TELL WHERE A DRIVER IS FROM
1. One hand on wheel, one hand on horn: CHICAGO
2. One hand on wheel, one finger out window: NEW YORK
3. One hand on wheel, one finger out window, cutting across all lanes of traffic: NEW JERSEY
4. One hand on wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator: BOSTON
5. One hand on wheel, one hand on non-fat double decaf cappuccino, cradling cell phone, brick on accelerator, gun in lap: LOS ANGELES
6. Both hands on wheel, eyes shut, both feet on brake, quivering in terror: OHIO, but driving in CALIFORNIA
7. Waving at everyone that you pass, eating a moon pie, sipping an RC, smiling and chewing and talking to yourself. TENNESSEE
8. One hand on 12 oZ double shot latte, one knee on wheel, cradling cell phone, foot on brake, mind on radio game, banging head on steering wheel while stuck in traffic: SEATTLE (Wait, isn’t that what people are doing on the 405 in LA?)
9. One hand on wheel, one hand on hunting rifle, alternating between both feet being on the accelerator and both feet on brake, throwing McDonald’s bag out the window: TEXAS
10. Four-wheel drive pick-up truck, shotgun mounted in rear window, beer cans on floor, squirrel tails attached to antenna: ALABAMA
11. Two hands gripping wheel, blue hair barely visible above windshield, driving 35 on the Interstate in the left lane with the left blinker on: FLORIDA (and, I have discovered, occasionally CALIFORNIA)
12. Knee up against steering wheel, one hand on Tim Horton’s coffee cup, cell phone in ear, accelerator to the floor, applying makeup/doing crossword puzzle/reading morning Free Press, knocking down orange barrels, changing lanes without turn signals: MICHIGAN
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01.04.10
Posted in Books, Cooking, Entertainment, Friends, Writing at 2:34 pm by JHaines
Well, the holidays have given me a chance to catch up with everything! I hope everyone else had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Solstice, New Year’s, [insert holiday of choice here], etc.
The first draft of the novella is DONE! I’m rushing headlong through edits. Which is just as death-defying and wacky as it sounds. No, seriously.
I’m always reading something, too. Over Christmas weekend, I finished the treat-like item won in The Rejectionist’s contest from a while back: A LONG, LONG TIME AGO AND ESSENTIALLY TRUE by Brigid Pasulka. I did a review on Goodreads. This is a book to be read and savored. Not my usual cup of tea, but a delightful read. It was refreshing to immerse myself in something other than SFF, horror or romance for a while.
Right now, I’m working on THREE DAYS TO DEAD by fellow AWer, Kelly Meding. I’m a little over the halfway point and am loving what I’ve read so far. I’ll give a detailed review after I’ve finished.
Speaking of reviews, I’ve been working on contacting book reviewers, and have sent out the first batch of advance reader copies of HUNTED BY THE OTHERS. Keep an eye out for reviews of the book (and some interviews I’ll be giving!) on these sites:
– Dark Faerie Tales
– SciFiGuy
– Sidhe Vicious
– Literary Escapism
– The Book Lush
– Bitten by Books
– Fiction Vixen
On the cooking front, I made some baked apples for dessert on New Year’s. They are delightfully tasty, and very simple/easy to make. Here’s the recipe:
6-8 large green apples
¼ to ½ stick of butter
Brown sugar
Powdered cinnamon
Powdered nutmeg (if desired)
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Core the apples – no need to take off the skin – and put them on a baking sheet (suggest covering the baking sheet with tinfoil first to avoid a sticky clean-up job later). In the cored center of each apple, insert a pat of butter, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and dust the top until the sugar is covered with powdered cinnamon. Add a dash of nutmeg to taste.
Pour a small amount of water in the bottom of the baking sheet. The sugar will burn if you don’t add it, so this is important!
Let the apples bake uncovered at 350 for one hour. Best consumed when still warm!
Lastly, I’ve made the following New Year’s resolutions:
– Submit my novella on time.
– Finish writing book #3 in the H&W Investigations series.
– Submit book #3 on time.
– Write more short stories.
– Figure out if I want to write book #4 in the series, or something else — and write it.
There you go! Feel free to share your own resolutions and thoughts in the comments.
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12.23.09
Posted in Friends at 2:36 pm by JHaines
Kristin knew exactly what to get me for my birthday. <3
Ryan Reynolds sings for me!
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12.21.09
Posted in Friends at 12:02 am by JHaines
Yes, this baby started out as a typical fangirl’s wet dream.
And now, I present to you… The Greatest Shirt in All the Land.
Evi has both “improved upon” and hijacked my Christmas present. Yes — that’s a Twilight — no, no, sorry, New Moon — t-shirt with a picture of Edward Cullen on it. Now with added eye-patch, mustache and goatee!
I love my friends.
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12.19.09
Posted in Writing at 1:03 am by JHaines
New and interesting news is at hand!
First — German sub-rights have sold on the first and second book! This means a German-language version of HUNTED BY THE OTHERS and TAKEN BY THE OTHERS will be made available at some point, courtesy of publisher Wilhelm Heyne Verlag. I’ll give more info on this as soon as I can.
The advance reader copies (ARCs) arrived yesterday! That means I need to get off my butt and find myself some reviewers.
Speaking of reviews, I stumbled across another interesting tidbit on my publisher’s website tonight. Aside from the blurbs on the cover, apparently a few other big name authors have read my book! Here’s what they have to say:
“Fresh and snappy, dark and sexy, Hunted By The Others is a paranormal treat you’ll gobble down in one eager sitting. Jess Haines is a talent to watch!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author
“Take a sarcastic, likable heroine out of her depth with a mysterious, seductive vampire, add lots of scheming bad guys, and you’ve got a delightful romp of a book. Jess Haines just became my autobuy!” –Angela Knight, New York Times bestselling author
“Fresh, hilarious, and action-packed. I loved every minute of it.” –Lilith Saintcrow, author of Flesh Circus
It’s stuff like this that really makes a girl’s day, you know?
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12.04.09
Posted in Books, Entertainment at 9:42 pm by JHaines
A fellow AWer is hosting a contest on their blog. Go check it out!
An excerpt from the blog explaining the contest, and the swag you can win:
All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me why you like urban fantasy, or if you haven’t read any urban fantasy yet but would like to. If you post about my contest on your blog, live journal, Twitter, etc. and link to it in my comments section, you get TWO entries in the contest instead of one. If you don’t link it, it doesn’t count. All entries must be in by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 2009.
Oh, and the prize? It’s something awesome! It’s a brand new signed copy of Faith Hunter’s SKINWALKER. And Faith agreed to add a goodie or two to my prize for the lucky winner!
Wait, what are you still doing here? Go enter the contest!
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