by Laura K. Curtis | Sep 4, 2014 | Crafts, Freebies & Giveaways |
It’s no secret that I love crochet. I’ll try my hand at almost anything, but my two favorite things are amigurumi and shawls. Recently, I made a skull shawl for a friend and decided I wanted one myself. But once I’d made it, I realized the colors I’d selected didn’t work for my skin tone, so now I am offering it up as a giveaway!
This is the perfect “back to school” item for the kid (or adult) that likes to be a little bit on the offbeat side. The colors are perfect for fall.
The colors in this image are true to life.
The shawl is a medium size, as you can see from the picture below.
Bad picture, but shows the size
To enter to win, simply comment on this post and be sure to leave me some way to contact you in case you win! I will draw a winner the morning of September 12, 2104.
Good luck!
by Laura K. Curtis | Aug 28, 2014 | Books, Romance, Writing |
This topic arose today on Twitter, particularly in the cases of “fated/cursed” lovers. In my first TICA—tropes I cannot abide—post I talked about alpha-holes. My dislike of insta-love isn’t as strong, but it’s still there.
I’m going to deal with the reason I dislike the “fated lovers” trope first because it’s simpler: when something is fated, there’s no escaping it. You can make it more interesting by saying they’re fated to love each other and cursed not be together, but since it’s a romance, I won’t believe the curse part. I know they’ll overcome it. And, most likely since the very concept of fate is paranormal, there will be some kind of magical “intervention” that serves as a deus ex machina, solving the curse. This is a big part of my issue with paranormal romance in general—love is hard in real life, and I prefer romance to be realistic enough to reflect that. (I know, you’re tired of me saying that, too.)
That being said, there’s plenty of insta-love in romance that isn’t fated/cursed. Boy meets girl. They fall in love right away. Events conspire to keep them apart, and the story focus is entirely on how they get back to each other. This can make for an exciting adventure story, but it doesn’t hold up as a romance for me.
Why? Because the point of a romance novel, as opposed to a novel with romantic elements, is the romance arc. If you take care of that in the first ten percent of the book, it’s not a romance. People may say “but don’t you believe in love at first sight?” Well…I believe in potential at first sight. I believe in lust at first sight. I believe in attraction at first sight. But before you know you’re in love with someone, you have to try things out. You have to find the ways in which you are, and are not, compatible. You have to spend time together…or at least have an epistolary or telephonic relationship.
I remember that after the very first time I met my husband I knew I wanted to date him. You might, given the fact that we’re now married, call it “love at first sight.” But I would call it “potential for love” at first sight. I knew we had a chance. The actual love part took longer.
When I read a romance, I want to see that potential becoming a reality. That’s the ride I sign up for when I open a romance novel. If you just say “they’re in love” and go from there, you’re cheating me out of the experience I paid for.
by Laura K. Curtis | Aug 19, 2014 | Books |
I stole this meme from my friend Ros Clarke, because I liked it and I knew she wouldn’t mind 🙂
Some of these I can’t answer because I honestly have no clue about things like the longest book I’ve read.
A. Author You’ve Read The Most Books From: John D. MacDonald
B. Best Sequel Ever: Hmmm… Nightmare in Pink or Dark Hollow
C. Currently Reading: Secrets on the Sand by Roxanne St. Claire
D. Drink of Choice While Reading: Infused water (lemon or watermelon) or iced tea
E. E-Reader or Physical Books: eReader. It used to be kindle, but I’ve been trending toward iPad of late.
F. Fictional Character You Would Have Dated In High School: The only “boy” I ever had a crush on in books in high school were the Greasers of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders.
G. Glad You Gave This Book A Chance: The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman
H. Hidden Gem Book: I don’t know any adult books I’d call hidden gems, but there are children’s books, like Mary Stewart’s The Little Broomstick or George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin that no one reads any longer that are really worth another look.
I. Important Moments of Your Reading Life: I was a huge fan of Arthurian legend as a child. After I read Mary Stewart’s Arthurian books, I searched out her other work, which was how I discovered the Gothic genre, which is still one of my absolute favorites.
J. Just Finished: Molly O’Keefe’s Between the Sheets.
K. Kinds of Books You Won’t Read: Noir. I read it when I was younger, but now it just depresses the hell out of me.
L. Longest Book You’ve Read: I have no idea. Moby Dick, The Grapes of Wrath, and My Antonia all seemed interminable to me, but they’re not physically that long.
M. Major Book Hangover Because Of: Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana. This gave me a reading AND writing hangover. For a long time, I thought I should just give up writing (I was writing epic fantasy at the time) and not bother reading anything else since I’d reached the epitome.
N. Number of Bookcases You Own: Most of mine are half-height, but I have a lot of those, so I will go with about 6 full or 12 half.
O. One Book That You Have Read Multiple Times: John Connolly’s Every Dead Thing
P. Preferred Place to Read: I usually have more than one book going. The bed/bath book and the purse book which travels with me.
Q. Quote From A Book That Inspires You: I actually have a whole Pinterest board of these!
R. Reading Regret: Moby Dick.
S. Series You Started and Need to Finish: I have the most recent Blackbird Sisters mystery by Nancy Martin but haven’t gotten around to reading it.
T. Three Of Your All-Time Favourite Books: I am going with authors, not books. Jane Austen, John Connolly, Oscar Wilde.
U. Unapologetic Fangirl For: Roxanne St. Claire, Molly O’Keefe, John Connolly
W. Worst Bookish Habit: Inability to turn the light off until I’ve finished the book. (Stole this straight from Ros, but it’s so true.)
V. Very Excited For This Release More Than Any Other: Whatever the next John Connolly book is after the one I am reading. Right now, having just finished the ARC of The Wolf in Winter, I have a long time to wait and no idea of the title.
X. Marks The Spot (Start On Your Bookshelf And Count to the 27th Book): Caxton’s Malory (Le Morte DArthur)
Y. Your Latest Book Purchase: I tend to buy loads of books at once, so that’s a tough one. Eliminating ARCs, freebies, etc, probably Carolyn Crane’s Into the Shadows.
Z. ZZZ-Snatcher (last book that kept you up WAY late): Molly O’Keefe’s Between the Sheets. (Though, to be fair, whatever the last book I read is is likely to be the last book that kept me up since I can’t sleep until I finish a good book!)
by Laura K. Curtis | Aug 16, 2014 | Stuff! |
I could tell you about it, but that would require far too many words. So have some pictures, instead. Click to enlarge.
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I couldn’t figure out what this was, and we didn’t have time to explore it. Some kind of monument!
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This is a Northern Gannett, much bigger and more colorful than our Gannetts.
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And this is a Puffin! The first one I ever saw in the wild!
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And some more Puffins, all around Puffin Island.
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Yet more Puffins…tired yet?
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Hope not, because here’s one last Puffin.
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It’s not all sunshine, you know. Sometimes there are rainbows, too.
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The sheep were just amazing. So sweet!
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We noticed that they often traveled in threes.
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They were very unimpressed by passers by.
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The odd landscape seemed to provoke people to do strange things, like pile up rocks.
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There were waterfalls everywhere.
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And giant cliffs
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And places where the earth simply splits apart to reveal streams
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It’s amazing to see
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Icelandic ponies are stocky and friendly.
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Giant waterfalls gush over the craggy earth.
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The scale is shocking.
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In other places, steam simply rises from pools of water in the earth
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Tiny geysers bubble up
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And giant ones explode
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The landscape looks as if it were part of a SFF flick.
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And you can see the effect of plate movements on on the surface of the earth.
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There are gorgeous valleys
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And lakes appear out of nowhere.
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Beauty everywhere.
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Eider ducks swim happily, whence all the lovely eiderdown pillows and duvets.
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Rocky islands spring up.
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I had phallic-themed fun at the Icelandic Phallological Museum.
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I am dying to know if the joke of this being a “handball” team works in Icelandic as well as English.
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But of course there were actual specimens as well. (This is sperm whale)
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They have beautiful churches, as well. That right there is an organ…of a different kind than the previous ones.
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And when you’re done with the museums and churches, nature has her own own surprises around every corner.
by Laura K. Curtis | Aug 12, 2014 | Stuff! |
I know they say you should never tell people when you go out of town, but we have a friend of my husband’s from the fire department who’s also former Army who stays at the house when we’re gone, so … you’d probably be better off breaking in when we’re there is what I guess I am saying.
My husband and my parents and I are in Iceland this week. It’s fabulous! I brought my “real” camera, which means I have little to show in the way of pictures until I get home and can upload them, but I will leave you with this, which gives you an idea of one of the things we’ve been doing a good deal of… eating! In fact, my return to the US may be delayed as they probably won’t let me through customs since by that time I will likely have turned into a large lump of gravlax.
What you see here is from our first night. The food here isn’t just delicious, it’s always beautifully presented as well. This is a heavy bread, filled with raisins and nuts, with sweet cream butter and “lava salt.” The waiter at the restaurant told us they smoke the salt to make this kind, but there are about a thousand different kinds of salt here, many locally harvested and mixed with locally harvested herbs, etc. I think I shall probably be bringing some of those home, too.
Tomorrow I visit the Penis Museum. You know I HAVE to go, right? It’s pretty much a requirement as a romance author.
