Ethan's Makeover Continues...

Recently I unveiled a new cover for DEMONIZED (coming back soon, definitely!), and Ragnarok treated me to a new cover for UNDERTOW, and all things being equal, I decided it was only fair to give the Ethan Banning short stories their own update.

I already have all the covers picked out, but I'm spacing out the purchases because, well, things cost stuff. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may already have seen the new covers for UNGRATEFUL DEAD and STAKEOUT, and I have updated the Ethan Banning page here on the blog too. However, I didn't ~officially~ unveil either one, so here they both are!

Aren't they awesome? The two I have picked out for ICE, ICE BABY and GONE TO THE DOGS follow the "hand" theme, and I can't wait to get them sorted out. The Ethan Banning shorts can be read in any order, but all come chronologically before DEMONIZED, so if you're after a quick Ethan fix and want a glimpse of his life when he was just a regular loser and not a demon-possessed loser, these are the stories for you!

Wednesday Snippet - Thrown To The Wolves

You know, I don't think I've actually said that the short werewolfy romance I'm working on at the moment is called Thrown To The Wolves. But it is, so there we go. I'm aiming to have it wrapped up and submitted this week, and by my reckoning I'm about 4k away from that goal, which is very doable, even allowing for the fact that I'm out Friday night and in London on Saturday. That's two social occasions in a row, which for me is pretty bold. We're going to see Scandal at the O2 Academy on Saturday night, which should be loads of fun. If all goes according to plan, I'll have Thrown To The Wolves ready to submit on Sunday, then I can spend the rest of the day sessioning Lucha Underground and mentally plotting Blood Canticles 3 some more.

Anyway! Enough talk. Here's a snippet from Thrown To The Wolves.

Guest Blog - Libby Bishop brings the thunder!

The word "Friday" comes from the Old English meaning "day of Frige," after the Germanic goddess, Frigg. So it seems appropriate that my guest today is bringing us a Norse-themed romance...although we're leaning more towards Thor than Frigg here. I suspect that won't be a problem for anyone! Take it away, Libby...

Her hunt for a murderer is his way home.

Rune is the grandson of Thor, and just as strong. Exiled to the realm of Earth for nearly killing his brother–it was a little misunderstanding– he has to find a way to redeem himself so he can get back to Asgard. And when he lands—literally—in the bed of a fiery redhead with an FBI badge, he realizes that she may be the key to going home. But helping Liv hunt a killer has one big consequence—chemistry. He can’t keep his hands off her, and there’s no way they can ever be together.

Six years ago, FBI Special Agent Liv Winter’s best friend was murdered. Since then, she’s taken a two-week vacation around the anniversary of the death to try and solve the case. She’s used every available resource. Yet, her friend’s killer is still on the loose. She refuses to give up—willing to do almost anything to bring the person to justice.

Apparently, almost anything includes trusting a god. And while she might need Rune’s help with her case, there’s no way she’ll ever trust him with her heart.

Read on for an excerpt!

Your Adventure Ends Here

I'm not quite sure where I picked up my first Fighting Fantasy book. Possibly my older brother had some. My school library definitely had some, but I think I found those once I was already fully hooked. Second-hand bookshops around Cambridge often had them too, but again, I hunted those down after becoming addicted. Either way, all I know is that some time in my early teens, I discovered Fighting Fantasy game books and my life was changed forever.

At the time I was pretty much exclusively reading all the high fantasy I could get my hands on, so the idea of a book full of fantasy elements (dungeons! Warlocks! Dragons!) wherein I could be the star was just a magical thing. I didn't know anything about role playing and I definitely didn't bother with the whole "roll the dice and track your stats" elements of the books, but I played wholeheartedly nonetheless. I fought ice witches and warlocks on Firetop Mountain. I battled the armies of the undead. I explored the island of the lizard king. I died many times.

Many, many times. But always I found victory eventually. Whether it was by having the right magical dagger or knowing the answer to the gryphon's riddle, whether it was facing down giant scorpions or Satanic priests, I always triumphed in the end.

Well, almost always. One book defeated me. I played it solo, I played it with a friend, I played it as a teen and in my twenties, I went through two copies, and I still never conquered...

The Creature of Havoc.

This book is hard, you guys. You play said creature, working to find out why you became a creature and avenge yourself, or transform yourself back maybe. I don't remember. Maybe both. I don't know because I never fucking completed it because it's super fucking hard and I died all the fucking time. I died in a furnace. I died of poison. I died of being cut open by a witch. I ate my best friend and then wandered back into the furnace and died again. I died everywhere, in every way possible, and no matter how often I replayed and (yes) cheated, I never beat the book.

I feel like this is something I should be over at age 33, but I'm not. I hadn't thought about this book in years until Amazon recommended me a Fighting Fantasy adult colouring book (which I am absolutely buying, thanks Amazon), and then all the old bitterness and trauma came flooding back. And it turns out second-hand copies of Creature of Havoc are really cheap, so I determined to conquer the unconquerable.

After all, it's been a good eight or so years since my last attempt. I've grown as a person. I've played DnD. I'm no longer liable to throw the book across the room in a screaming fit if I get stuck in the furnace again. I can do this. I owe it to myself, and my beloved adventuring companion, Skelly* to do this.

I will do this. I will defeat the Creature of Havoc.

Or...not, because I will be the creature. Anyway. It's definitely going to happen this time. I've got a good feeling about it.

*I didn't kill Skelly. She's not the best friend referred to above. She's fine, okay? She's fine.

When in doubt...werewolves

If there's one thing you probably already know about me, it's that I love writing about werewolves. In fact, I just love werewolves. So, having just finished a really tough-to-write book about werewolves, I decided to go for a palate cleanser and write a short story about werewolves.

To summarise: werewolves.

Well, actually, I did the edits for my next Amber Morgan release first, but then I moved onto this story, which will definitely stay as a short story and not turn into a novel at all. I'm aiming to have it all wrapped up within the next two weeks, and then it'll be on to Blood Canticles 3. Huzzahs! Just to prove this is definitely a werewolf story, here's a snippet.

Guest Blog - Mackenzie Williams and Her Temporary Boss

Not Mackenzie's temporary boss. Well, sort of. Anyway! Mackenzie is here today with her new release, HER TEMPORARY BOSS, and she's naturally a better choice to talk about it than me, so away we go!

Morgan White is in the middle of a rough patch in her life as she begins her new job. She has just broken things off with her fiancé after finding out about his unfaithful ways. As she starts her temporary job at Slade Incorporated, she feels unworthy of love.

Connor Slade is not your typical boss. He isn't just looking for someone with great secretarial skills. Can Morgan be what he wants her to be? Will this man destroy her or save her?

Read on for an excerpt!

Barb V Nancy: Why not both?

***Contains spoilers for Stranger Things!***

So like most of the world (it feels), I watched Stranger Things when it launched in July and I loved it. I love the 80s vibe, I love the story, the characters, the themes, the potential future plot threads...Everything. I've loved the fan theories about the show and I was really excited when season two was confirmed earlier this week. I can't wait to see where the story goes next, and what the fallout from season one will be for everyone. I'm not a huge TV watcher, so for something to really capture my imagination like this is a big deal for me. I get invested and excited and passionate, and I want to seek out opinions and information and theories and just really immerse myself in it all.

And I've done that with Stranger Things, and in doing so found something that irked me at first. And the more I've thought about it, the more it's gone from being irksome to aggravating.

It's Barb and Nancy.

So, let's start with who Barb and Nancy are. Nancy is the older sister of Mike Wheeler (one of the show's key protagonists). She's shown to be a serious student entering that weird liminal teenage stage where boys are kinda interesting, brothers are kinda annoying, and parents are kinda restrictive. Barb is her best friend, the quintessentially bookish, awkward kid who maybe isn't developing the same way Nancy is, and is starting to sense a strain in their friendship because of it. They're both well-drawn, relatable characters. And they are friends. Best friends, who share secrets and look out for each other - not always in the best way, but hey, they're teenagers. If you never made a bad decision as a teenager, please applaud yourself now. Maybe they wouldn't be best friends forever in real life, but in the confined space of this TV series, they are.

So why are memes like this everywhere?

Huh? What's up with that, apart from the misplaced apostrophe? What's wrong with Nancy? What did Nancy do to deserve to end up as the default "bad one" in that pairing?

Well, let's see where Barb and Nancy go from the status quo they start out in as Stranger Things begins.

Nancy is being courted by Steve Harrington. On the surface he's the stereotypical bad boy: arrogant, bullish, and only interested in getting into Nancy's pants. He's popular, cool, attractive, etc, etc. You know this guy. He's every new adult/young adult hero ever. Barb worries that Nancy's tentative relationship with Steve will threaten their friendship, and (in my opinion) she worries that Steve will hurt Nancy. So there's tension there, not helped by the fact that Nancy is definitely receptive to Steve.

I get that. I was a Barb at school - bookish, awkward, introverted, and with a tendency to compensate for what I saw as my personality faults by being outlandish and weird in social situations. I fiercely prized my friendships because I didn't have many, and I was hurt when they fell apart. I so get Barb.

In episode two, Nancy and Barb go to a party at Steve's, where the rift between them (caused by Barb's discomfort and Nancy's failure to understand it, among other things) is obvious. It's clear Nancy and Steve are headed for sexy times, and it's clear Barb hates this, and I could write a million words on why I think that is, but the bottom line is this: Barb is uncomfortable and Nancy tells her to go home.

Barb doesn't. Barb sits by Steve's pool, probably worrying about Nancy and the fact that they've lied about where they are that night, and possibly wondering what's wrong with her that Nancy prefers Steve and his douchey friends to her all of a sudden. (I was Barb. I'm pretty sure this is what she was thinking, and Barb, there was nothing wrong with you).

Anyway. Barb then gets dragged into a parallel dimension by a hideous monster. This is where Barb and I diverge.

And you know what? Once Nancy realises Barb is gone, she devotes every ounce of herself to finding her friend. She puts that fledgling relationship with Steve aside, teams up with potential-stalker Jonathan Byers, and she gets shit done. She pieces together clues nobody else found. She finds Barb's abandoned car. She gets out in the monster-infested woods and looks for Barb. She follows a trail of blood through a portal in a tree and finds herself in another dimension. She escapes a monster. She heroes up, kits herself out with a ton of army surplus gear and resolves to go kill that monster.

My friendships were important to me, but I don't think I would have taken on an actual monster over any of them.

Nancy did. Nancy's great. So where is the Barb V Nancy dynamic coming from? Is Nancy getting hate because she has a boyfriend and has sex with him? For prioritising that first sexual encounter over her friend's comfort levels? Sure, that wasn't the most thoughtful moment of her life, but again...if you never made a thoughtless choice as a teenager, applaud yourself now.

Maybe it's just that more people watching saw themselves in Barb than in Nancy. And I get that - representation is important and people want to see themselves in our media. But you can relate to Character A without throwing Character B under the bus, and I think you should definitely not be pitting Characters A and B against each other if they're both girls. You know what memes I'm not seeing? "In a world full of Steves/Jonathans, be a Jonathan/Steve." Because men aren't pitted against each other in quite the same way that women are. They just aren't. You might be asked to pick between Captain American and Iron Man, but it's not going to be worded in such a way that you feel bad about your choice. In Civil War, Steve and Tony were presented as ideologically at odds, but neither was presented as The Bad Pick. Fan wars will rage forever over whether you should be Team Cap or Team Stark, but Nancy and Barb? That's boiled down to this:

Nancy is a slut because she has a boyfriend and Barb is superior because she doesn't? I don't know. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what it seems to boil down to. And the fact that Nancy searches desperately for her friend, and puts her life on the line, is ignored because it's more fun to make girls fight than have them fight for each other. That's tiresome.

We can have both, you know. We can have girls on TV who are bookish and still finding themselves, and we can have girls who are ready for boyfriends and sex. We can have bookish girls who are ready for sex, even. We can have girls who are introspective and would really rather not go to the stupid fucking party, and girls who are social butterflies and want to get out there. We can have girls who are serious students and can swing a mean baseball bat when required. We can have girls who support each other even when they disagree with each other. We can have Barbs and Nancys, and both are valid and both are fine, and what we really need in a world full of Barbs and Nancys is for people to appreciate both the Barbs and the Nancys.