More on The Swordswoman and its book report

I like to think, somewhere underneath it all, there’s a little bit of The Swordswoman in Otherness: Rift. Granted, I like to add in more characters and have many points of view and I tend to stay in this world, but add lots of magic and mysterious phenomena, but underneath it all, it was that book that got me fascinated by fantasy and parallel worlds and thinking outside of the reality of this world. The usual sword and sorcery, dragon books were too far from where I wanted to be.

As an added bonus, when I found the Swordswoman book report, I also found the very first book I’d ever written. It was for school, bound in a cardboard and shelf paper cover (probably an arts and crafts component in combination with the creative writing one), and I got a resounding A on it, but what’s more fascinating is that tucked away with it was a complete character and world outline…and a sequel I’d written just for the fun of it.

Seeing those extra pages reminded me of a time when I first started thinking that maybe someday I’d like be a writer. It also reminded me that since that first book, I really did keep writing for pleasure one way or another. Sometimes fiction, sometimes more like memoir in my journals, but never letting longer than a month pass between entries or stories…even to this day.

If I can muster some nerve, I’ll post that first book here… I’d even illustrated it! It’s called The Fighting Four, it’s sequel, The Engaging Eight. (Yes, even back then, I was good at bad alliteration [see Orgasm Fairy by Ashleigh Raine. I wrote all of the bad erotic poetry in the opening scene…one of my many hidden, brilliant, useless talents.])

According to the title page of The Fighting Four, it was written in 1986. I was in 6th grade. About 12 years old.

That was the same year I wrote The Three Witches From The Planet Zebtron. I am still trying to find Zebtron again, but in the mean time, I’m enjoying the other treasures I’ve unearthed while in my quest for my first story… See, even back then I was mixing genres. No romance yet, though. But I hadn’t really discovered boys yet, either. That’d come a few years later.

…And include my best friend Jennifer, a troll, a flying sword, a now cult classic movie, a whole lot of imagination, determination and a bunch of miscellaneous scribblings that to this day I continue to find folded amid other unimportant schoolwork. Yeah, The Swordswoman happened for me in 1986, followed by The Fighting Four and various little stories until the genesis of Talisman Bay with Jennifer in 1989.

From then on, everything was somehow connected either to Talisman Bay or used elements of it. Read Otherness: Rift. and then Lover’s Talisman (being re-released from Samhain Publishing in January, 2008) and tell me about the similarities…

Revisiting my childhood…well, pre-young adulthood

Revisiting my childhood…well, young adulthood

My dad had been collecting and reading science fiction books since he was a kid. He still blasts through them at an alarming rate. He never wanted to write them, though, just read and read and read and read.

Sometime around fifth or sixth grade, I asked my dad what to read. I’d been introduced to Madeline L’Engle, Anne McCaffrey and of course J.R.R. Tolkein by this point in school, but I didn’t know of any others I might like.

Dad’s book collection was monstrous although most were stored in boxes rather than on shelves. We’d had a basement in our old house, but after moving, my dad had to give up the bookshelves in favor of boxes in the garage because very few houses in California have basements. At least not where we’d moved.

Anyhow, “I want to read something science fiction, Dad.” I interrupted him from one of his Ace Doubles. “What should I read?”

“Well, there’s a lot of books out there. What do you really want to read?”

“I dunno. That’s why I’m asking you.” I figured if I had the same taste in books as my dad, I’d probably never have to buy a book ever because I’d just work my way through his library. (Yes, I have always been cheap, but I like to think of it more as ‘making the best of what’s around’.)

“Hmmm… Well…” He thought on it for awhile. And then awhile longer. “Let me see what I’ve got that you might like.”

It took him a while of hunting, but he produced The Swordswoman by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. “I think you might like this. You seem to be more into fantasy and I just don’t have a whole lot of that, but this one, I think you’d like.”

“Thanks Dad!” I took the beat-up paperback (I don’t think Dad ever bought brand new books, in fact, I think he still gets all of his books at thrift stores and flea markets!) and shut myself up in my room.

I read The Swordswoman in about a week.

And then was assigned a book report for school, so I read it again.

After that, the book was stored with my growing collection in my closet for a few years before being swallowed up and overtaken with romance novels a few years later when I discovered Jude Devereaux and the used book store that had moved in about six blocks from home. I don’t know what eventually happened to that copy of The Swordswoman, but I do recall the cover falling off and the book breaking in two halves at the spine. It’d been thrashed when I got it and continued to decay as I grew up.

I’ve looked to replace my copy a few times since then because I remember that book being, like, the best book I’d ever read, but I couldn’t remember who’d written it.

Until last week. While sifting through boxes of some old stuff of mine (hunting for an old story I’d written), I found that book report! And jumped with glee because now, the next time I was in a bookstore, I could look for it.

Well, that time came while I happened to be at Powell’s Book City in Portland, OR. I was in town (dragged by Jason) for a few days and was staying a couple blocks away. Even though I wasn’t going to the convention with him, he figured he’d offer to bring me along so that I could get some writing done.

I did.

And I got to start reading The Swordswoman by Jessica Amanda Salmonson and it is every bit as good as I remember. Complete with a little romance in it, too. And the copy I found at Powell’s is in way better shape than the one I’d read years ago.

Yay!

Blue Root, technology and change

There’s a peculiar thing about writing a near future novel… If you’re not careful, technology might change before the book gets published.

I wrote Blue Root in early 2004. At the time, I didn’t know about Teledildonics yet. The ultimate in sex toy geekery. In fact, Jason found it somehow and sent me a link. I was beside myself just to see that I wasn’t the only one thinking about remote controlled sex toys. Just the other day, I found slashdong.org and was awe-inspired. I mean, I could totally write a sequel to Blue Root now. So many great new ideas!

Also, back in 2004, I didn’t know what a blog was. I barely knew what a forum was. Yeah, so I was a little behind the times, but still, I wrote variations of them into Blue Root. Well, that’s not entirely true…I had to go back and put in correct terminology for the nebulous ideas I’d sorta written about. Still, it was another thing that I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one thinking about and could see how it was supposed to be done. I know, I know, sometimes it really looks like I’m living in a box. Well, I’m a writer…I live in my own little world(s).

I wrote Blue Root for fun. It was kind of a joke that I took pretty far and had a whole lot of fun with to the point where my friends were amazed and astounded at times that an idea that seemed so small could be so big.

As the last few years have gone by, I’ve watched as Second Life got bigger. At the time I wrote Blue Root, I didn’t know about Second Life or any other virtual world for that matter. If I had…well, I really could’ve had a field day! Much of the book would’ve still been the same…but different. There would’ve been more possibilities to play with and that would’ve been awesome. In fact, it was through Second Life that slashdong.org found me. There’s even programming now for toys hooked up through SL. How freakin’ amazingly cool is that?!?!?!

I dunno. I just find myself blogging right now, thinking about all the cool shit that’s happening that I never could’ve imagined. I suppose this is why Jason likes science fiction so much. Me, I just happened to like the idea of an upgradeable, programmable sex toy that could almost take over the world. That idea is what I explored and found it funny at the same time. Blue Root is the product of that fascination…and a whole lot more than I bargained for!

Otherness: Rift is now available in print!

Magic is only a small part of the real dangers lurking in a future of dark otherness.

It’s official. Otherness: Rift is now sitting on my coffee table. It just didn’t seem real until that moment. I dunno know why.

…And I just did a video for it. Oddly enough, I had to move my book in order to shoot some of the footage for the video, too!

What an experience this has been. From research, to writing, to rewriting, to editing, to rewriting, to release in ebook, to release in paperback and now doing this video. Wow. Life is insane, but very, very good.

LaLaCon 2006

This past weekend was a blast! My hubby, Jason Stoddard, was the Writer Guest of Honor at LalaCon 2006 and I got to sit in on a couple of panels with him.

This con is a very relaxed, fun one that I’ve done for two years in a row now and absolutely love it. Of my favorite moments, one of the best was discussing the future of writing with Jason, John DeChancie, George Van Wagner and Larry Niven. Had this been more of a writing conference, that would’ve made for a fantastic panel discussion with all of us having different ideas. Very fascinating stuff.

Here’s a shot of the panel I did with Jason. Special thanks to fellow Fictionado George Van Wagner for snapping this pic!

We’re seated at the head of the hall where all LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) meetings are held. Jason was probably talking about his short stories or the novel he just finished. Me, however, I’m listening intently, trying to think up another question to ask, but failing miserably. This con is so relaxing, it relaxed all the good questions out of my brain!

Okay, I can’t resist… I need to point out and explain a few things in the shot. Starting with the buttons on my shoulders. One’s the con nametag. The other is my geeky scrolling LED badge that I tried out for the first time this weekend. Definitely a worthwhile purchase. It’ll get loads of use at the Romantic Times Booklover Convention in a few weeks.

Also of odd note, the way I’m sitting… I had no idea that yoga has permeated into my regular habits. Also, of note are my shoes. Outside the panel, I was engaged in a conversation about them. They are real Victorian shoes and are super duper narrow and pointy. They might not be quite 1800s, but darn close to it. They aren’t copies, they’re the real deal. I can’t believe they’re in such great shape for their age, either. I love them to pieces, but can only wear them once or twice a year for fear of damaging them.

I’ll be getting to my bits of England soon. There are so many pics, I might just have to choose random shots from all of my trips there.

In other news not quite suitable to announce on my website because it isn’t really worth shouting about just yet, my new novel, _Otherness:Rift_, has a cover even though it won’t be coming out until this Fall. I’m so excited! I’ll share the artwork as soon as it’s officially finished.

Duh…

I did have something newsworthy to report and I have no idea how I neglected it!

Okay, other than that I hadn’t been sure which day Jason had a book signing with Tim Powers until the day was upon us…which had made it very difficult to mark my calendar and mention it here ahead of time. And with the constant flow of life’s activities lately there hasn’t been much time to dwell on events past.

Over the weekend, Jason Stoddard got to share a signing table with Tim Powers. And good golly, I had a wonderful time with Tim and his wife, Serena. They’re a hoot!

I’m still kicking myself for bringing my camera, but forgetting to snap pics. Duh. Duh. Duh. Duh. Duuuuuuuuuh.

Next time, of course.

The store, Bookman in Orange, CA, was phenomenal! I scored some Jude Devereaux titles I’d been needing to replace since a rather unfortunate spring cleaning accident a few years ago in which a bag of ‘keepers’ got tossed because it was next to a bag of ‘giveaways’. In most cases, I even managed to match the old covers, too.

See, it’s Jude Devereux’s fault for hooking me on romance. I was in either 8th or 9th grade–perhaps the summer between the two–when my best friend (the other half of Ashleigh Raine) loaned me KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR–which actually belonged to one of her friends and she was worried she’d get in trouble for loaning it to me without asking first. Well, I got it on a weekend and gave it back the following weekend. From then on, I was hooked. Time travel. Romance. I was soooooooooooooooo into that!

A few years later, I discovered Virginia Henley–who at RT 2005 judged my costume as one of the winners! Needless to say, I was in absolute awe.

Oops! I digressed… Sorry, I got a little excited. Books take a person to more places than just the fictional worlds therein.

Anyhow, the signing was fantastic–got to meet a lot of people and then talk amongst ourselves over pizza afterward. That was tons of fun.

…And I’ve already learned a thing or two from the big fat sewing book from 1972 that Jason sprung for. I swear times have changed so much that I get more use out of old sewing books than new ones!

Learning about myself

Here I go again having recently had something happen but yet I was lame about blogging. I honestly have no idea why I do that. It’s not like stuff’s a big secret or I’m afraid or whatever. I mean, I’ll shamelessly wear my geese with stripes shirt in public. Hell, ya’ll should see what I wore over the weekend at the two book signings in Northern California.

[Wow! I just accidentally segued into what I’d set out to blog! COOL!]

There’ll be pictures up soon at ashleighraine.com but I’m not quite ready to post them yet. They need to be resized and stuff. Plus, I’m digging out from the pile of other, older updates that still need to be done.

Anyway, over this last weekend, Jennifer and I (and our great friend Donna) went up to Northern California for book signings in Monterey and Santa Clara. Special thanks to Borders Express because they’re awesome for having such a huge group of authors signing those two days!

Jen and I used those two signings as an excuse to stay at my parents’ house and visit with as many of our old friends as were around.

I could go on and on and on and on about how much fun we had at the signings and getting caught up with friends and all that excitement, but that’s not what I’d intended this blog entry to be about.

I wanna write about what I learned. I was rather surprised, too.

Y’know how you’ve got friends that you don’t see all the time, but whenever you talk to them it’s like you’d never lost touch…aside from all the ‘so whatcha been up to?’ catching up stuff? Then there’s the friends that are always around, but they tend to call you before you call them… And then there’s the friends that you always call first–whether it’s because you need their help or they’re just the person you need to talk to right then.

Well, all of the friends Jen and I were with fall into all of those categories. Our friendship range was diverse and we were all wishing the whole crowd was there, but happy with the crowd who made it.

Anyhow, at the end of the first night, my old friend Carrie was making a run up to the corner store for a few things and in passing, I’d thanked her for letting me tag along because I needed to “decompress”. She questioned what I meant and I replied that there are certain expectations of me when I’m out with Jen, etc. and that when I’m out with Carrie, those expectations aren’t the same.

At the time, I didn’t really ponder that thought, but later on, I totally did…And started to realize just how many personalities I have in certain situations–which got me realizing that it’s not conscious…and that they go along with the company I keep.

From there, I realized that I hang out with the people I hang out with–when I hang out with them–because of what they bring out in me. Seriously, if I want girltalk, I call Jen. If I want tomboy, crawling around at the junkyard, I call Eddie, the best man at Jason and my wedding. Obviously, I choose to hang out with my husband Jason the most, but still. I found the whole thing rather fascinating. Just in those three examples, there were three almost completely different ‘me’s. They all intersect, but are not limited to the same list of traits–some are louder than others.

Everyone probably does the same stuff without realizing it, but then I started wondering if there were facets of me I should put forth more often; which ones do I like more? Would it work to mix those facets…say, drag Jen to a junkyard or girltalk with Eddie? Probably not. And that’s what makes them unique and my friendships with them so wonderful. I dunno. To me, discovering this kind of stuff about myself is fascinating.

Of course, from now on, I’m gonna be analyzing the characters in my writing to see if they’re true to life in how they operate with other characters in their stories…see how they mesh and dive a helluva lot further into what makes them who they are and why. I geek on characters already, but this quantification will only make me geek harder and I think that’s awesome.

Jason and I in Locus Magazine!

A few posts down the list, I mentioned that I was pouting and sighing because my issue of Locus had yet to arrive…

Well, it finally showed up and I scanned the shot of myself and my wonderful hubby, Jason Stoddard!

And what a fitting shot for the first one I’ve put up here on my lovely blog…

Look! 2 in 1 day!

I love making the best of what I’ve got…or taking a nothing and adding elbow grease until that nothing sure is something.

On Christmas Eve, I’d gone thrift shopping and picked up a handmade tent of a dress for about $2. Hell, it might’ve even been the one I got free in the buy-one-get-one-free deal. Anyhow, over the weekend, I dove into it. The lady who’d made it–probably some time in the late 70s-early 80s judging by the fabric and the cut of the collar and cuffs–had thought she was making a dress.

Well, me being itty-bitty, I often buy big $2 dresses to make them smaller or salvage the cool fabric or whatever. In this case, when I pulled out the dress to really look at it, my first thought was “The lady who made this got it all wrong. It’s not a dress. It’s a jacket!”

Roughly 5 hours over three days later, I have a damn kickass jacket which I was going to post a picture of because it turned out a million times better than I’d expected, but darn-it-all straight to hell and then some, I can’t find my camera! I have no idea what I did with it.

Ugh.

But on Saturday, I’ll be at the BookLadies, signing as half of Ashleigh Raine and I’m gonna wear it there…so someone’s bound to get a picture of it somehow.

Good golly, I hope so at least!

Getting louder, I hope

Yes, this is going to start as an apology post because I’ve been so quiet lately. I assure you much has been happening…

For starters, as of January 13th [yes, that was a Friday the 13th!] I have an agent. Deidre Knight of the Knight Agency.

I have no idea why I didn’t announce it sooner…even in a two line post. Perhaps, I wanted to spend more time on it. I dunno.

Anyhow, she picked up Ashleigh Raine and by default, me, too. Pretty nifty stuff. We really dug in and the ride is full of excitement so far.

I’ve picked up a project I’d dropped for awhile. Y’know…having an agent now, I feel like my hope has been somewhat renewed. See, there are only so many rejection letters plus comments that I can get before the “almost there”–as the pros excitedly say–turns into “that’s nice, but it still means no.” I was starting to reach that point…and that’s doggone sad.

But this blog has never been about ranting and grumping and various icky stuff like that. I’ve tried to keep it about nifty life-happenings…things I’ve learned, etc.

So, that being said, let me get back to having hope and picking up that project I’d dropped. Oh. My. God. Lots of fun. I hope I can keep up the pace!

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