Julia Barrett's World

Because I’m disappointed in Season Three of True Blood,

and the only person I know personally who watches it, or watched it, is my husband, (he quit the show after Episode Two this season) I’ve been checking around the blogosphere to see what others are saying. Of course I can decide for myself what I think of the show, but I’m curious.

Many posters seem to feel that those viewers who have read the books by Charlaine Harris are disappointed in True Blood or just flat out don’t like the series.

I fall somewhere in-between. I’ve read all the books and enjoyed them - I liked some installments in Sookie’s tale more than others. I knew from the get-go that while the television series would loosely follow the books, it would have its own separate identity. I accepted that.

Season One enthralled me, and yes, it did stay relatively true to the books - albeit, with a number of significant changes.

Season Two, strayed farther afoot. I found a lot of it gag-worthy, but not because it didn’t follow the Sookie Stackhouse series. It gagged me because of its overemphasis on the Maenad story, Tara, Tara’s mother and Eggs Benedict. Oh, and I wanted to smack the Queen of Louisiana something awful…smack her a good one. The highlights of Season Two were Eric naked, in bed with Sookie in a dream sequence, Godric and his engaging story, and the revelation of Eric’s relationship to Godric and his heartbreak over Godric’s decision…well, then there’s Jason who was entertaining in Seasons One and Two.

So far, Season Three reminds me of Night of the Living Dead and Night of the Living Dead Two and I didn’t much care for either movie. Once again, this has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the books. I’m willing to look at the television series as a stand-alone entity and judge it on its own merits. For me right now, those merits are sorely lacking. I guess it doesn’t much help that I can’t manage to get past the first five minutes of an episode. Oh…and all Jason accomplishes in Season Three is to make me jittery. I don’t find him entertaining.

Season One was must-see TV. Season Two was choke it down and wait for moments of sheer brilliance. Season Three is losing me fast as a viewer and I’m thinking of canceling the premium cable package. I agreed to pay something like $40 extra dollars a month simply to watch True Blood. I’m asking myself…is it worth it? Today the answer is - nope.

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Why I love my mother…

because even though she knows what I write and she will never read a word of it, she’s proud of me because I’m a published author! And that’s the next best thing in a Jewish family to being a doctor, an orthodontist or a lawyer.

Despite the fact that we did not always get along, we do now. At one point in time, she cursed me - she pointed a finger at me, saying - “May you have a daughter exactly like you.” Yeah, mom, got her. Thanks…

Seriously, I was the teenager from hell - I did have my reasons - and she didn’t have a clue how to deal with a teenager, let alone a demon child. Besides, my mom had her own issues. But, issues or no, she taught me the following - and these are things I put into practice.

She said:

1. Say thank you. In the old days, I wrote many a thank you note. I think it’s important to thank people who go out of their way to support you, help you, who are kind to you and who are generous with their time and resources.

2. Be grateful you have food on your table. My mom is an amazing cook! Because of her, so am I and so are all three of my kids. Everything my mom made was from scratch, and it was fresh! No store-bought food in our home! We had a garden, we canned, we froze, we even made pickles. No junk food and no pop, i.e., soda, unless we were on our death beds. She still cooks the same way, even though it’s mainly for my dad these days. I think her concept of healthy food and healthy eating is why she and my father are so youthful and active compared to their peers.

3. Be kind to animals and to those people less fortunate than you.

4. Despite what your father says, sports are fun. Mom…ICAM.

Hey Anna, thanks for hosting me yesterday!

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Damn you sportscasters! Damn you all to hell! I saw Andres Torres first! I picked him out last year as a baseball stud and I became a fangirl - now you all jump on my bandwagon! Ha - I say - ha ha! Really, ask my husband…the very first time I saw him play with the San Francisco Giants, I said, Who is that man and why doesn’t he get more playing time? Like, why isn’t he starting every game? Of course he had some injuries last year, but anybody with half a brain could see what kind of athlete he is!

Thursday’s San Francisco Chronicle - The Sporting Green headline - Torres, as in torrid.

I like it - Torrid Torres! On Wednesday, against the Marlins, he had a Splash Hit. He now has two. My other favorite Giants player, Aubrey Huff, also has two. So…here are my guys - and they have been since the first time I saw them - Andres Torres, Juan Uribe, Aubrey Huff, Travis Ishikawa, and Jonathan Sanchez. Yeah, sure, everybody likes The Freak, Matt Cain, and Brian Wilson. Man, that Bumgarner can throw and Buster Posey is amazing - why the heck wasn’t he brought up sooner??? Hmmmm??? I like every guy on that team, but I love me some Andres Torres!

Yes, there is no contradiction…you can write science fiction/romance and still love baseball. My guys have always been baseball players.

So…Thank you very much Steph, at Fangs Wands and Fairy Dust, for letting me take over your blog yesterday and many thanks to those of you who stopped by.

Today, Friday, I’m over at Anna’s place. She’s posted an interview with The Thousand Year Empress, Aja Bokina, a Daughter of Persephone. Come see what makes her tick and maybe win an e-copy of this fun, sexy, romantic, kick ass science fiction book. http://s7anna.blogspot.com/

The ladies at Happily Ever After Reviews informed me today that Beauty and the Feast is up for cover of the month. I’m going against some great covers. If you feel like voting, here’s the link: http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-book-of-month-and-cover-of-month.html

Off to play with my puppy! He has that sweet puppy breath and he gives me kisseeeees!

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A puppy, Daughters of Persephone and a nice book blogger!

Yes! We got a puppy, Jake, a long-coated German shepherd puppy, 8 1/2 weeks, suffering from big puppy syndrome - the poor guy is so big for his age that people expect more of him than he’s capable of delivering! But he’s sweet, smart and gorgeous! Of course my cats won’t come near him. They’re like…Crap! Not another dog! We thought we had the house and yard all to ourselves!

Daughters of Persephone is now available for Kindle and over at All Romance Ebooks. I’m happy.

Stephanie at Fangs Wands and Fairy Dust has a feature on Daughters of Persephone today (Thursday) - I’m the guest blogger. She’s running a contest - you can win an e-copy of Daughters or one of two hard copies of Captured. Yum!

http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/

That’s all for today - I have a big puppy sitting on my lap!

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Anny is an author of erotic fantasy. She just contracted for Book Six of her Mystic Valley Series, Blue Paradise. We recently had the most interesting discussion…

Let’s talk fantasy.

What attracts you to the genre?

I believe the thing that attracts me the most about the genre is the ability to create something totally new-the ability to create a mythos, a culture, a belief system, a new world (including flora and fauna). Think about how entranced people are with the new world created for Avatar. I am the “creator” every single day.

How do your characters pop into your head and evolve?

My characters evolve over a very long time. I’ve spent thirty years with my characters for the Mystic Valley series. Though I only began writing the stories four years ago, I’ve spent my life getting to know them. They are nothing like they were in the beginning. There were many compromises necessary before I could write their stories. And there will be more. Some of those compromises were necessary due to publishers guidelines. Others were simply changes the characters went through as they matured and evolved. “New” characters are usually pretty “old” for me. I’ve walked around with a huge cast populating my head for many, many years…just waiting for their turns in the spotlight.

How do you build your world…do you plan it out or does it just come to you?

I would estimate I spend about six to eight months planning a new world. I usually start by drawing a very basic map of the shape of the landmasses. Then I add mountains, lakes and rivers. And only then can I decide where the towns and villages would be placed logically. With the first version more or less complete, I start working on the overall culture. Are the people hunter/gatherers or farmers? What type of commerce do they have? What type of government, monetary system, and religion? What is their belief system? If there’s more than one, how do they differ? What type of oaths do they swear? What type of healing system/science and technology do they have? How is the flora and fauna of the world connected? Finally, I start developing the individual villages, deciding on building style, transportation, personal technology (how do they cook? what type of sanitary arrangements do they have? how do their markets work?) In that process I decide who lives in each village, what they look like, what skills they have, what their history is, and what type of clothing they wear. At each stage, I have forms I fill in so that I have them for reference. All of them go in my “bible” for that book (or series). When the initial stages are complete, I usually start thinking about story ideas. As I allow the story idea to gel in my head, I also let the world settle around me for a little while. Often I will put everything aside while I work on another project. When I get back to this new world, they may be changes or…additions. During the second round I will refine the world and it’s rules. This is a critical stage because once you’ve decided the rules for your world, your story’s characters must conform to the rules. Careful thought must go into deciding what gifts, talents, and limitations the characters will deal with. Finally, I start to write. I may not settle into the story until three or four trial chapters. I may have to begin all over at the beginning. But by the time I’ve reached this point, I pretty much know my world. Does all of this information make it into the book? Of course not. But if you write a contemporary novel, consider how much of the extraneous information you are aware of regarding our world will actually make it into your novel.

Do you like…hear your characters speak to you?

In some fashion. Some more than others. Some are very pushy. Others are shy and difficult to understand. Sad to say some I allowed to hide behind a superficial mask. For those, I did not do my best. I believe some were not ready to tell me their story. As I’ve developed as a writer, I’ve learned how to listen more carefully.

Do your stories head off in directions you never imagined?

Absolutely. The WORLD is planned meticulously. The story…well, I’m a consummate pantster. Occasionally, my characters careen off the road and we never get back on track. Chrysanthemum is a primary example of a story zooming off into the wilderness. It bounced off track at the second paragraph and never, ever made it back. By the second page I knew it never would. But there is a certain freedom in letting the characters do what they will while you as the writer stand on the sidelines alternately wringing your hands in dismay and wildly cheering their audacity.

Anny’s books can be found here: http://www.annycook.com/

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http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/?zx=94c63e54148e7932

Janna, at Erotic Romance Reader featured a clip yesterday from Daughters of Persephone, Book One Exile. Yikes! I wrote that, eh? Cool!

Here’s her main link in case you can’t get in the back door - http://erotromreader.blogspot.com/

All next week while Janna’s on vacation, you can read guest posts and win books - I’m giving away a copy of Daughters, Mia Watts and Bronwyn Green are also providing prizes. Make sure to stop by Janna’s place for some goodies!

Wiping the sweat from my brow! Whew! Sixteen hours straight of revising Anytime Darlin’ - my cowboy rancher/farm girl romance with Siren. I had to get it done…we may be getting a new puppy tomorrow. This was a major re-write and it took me days as this honey-bunny is a full-length romance/suspense.

I just this minute got a review for my very popular romance/suspense, My Everything, from Happily Ever After Reviews: http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-my-everything-by-julia-barrett.html Ben and Grace seem to be characters readers love. They are lovers reunited after ten long, heart breaking years apart. Five Tea Cups!

Drop by tomorrow as author, Anny Cook, gives us her take on fantasy. She writes very hot, very fantastic books - we’re talking major world-building!

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at Happily Ever After Reviews.

http://hea-reviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/giveaway-spotlight-daughters-of.html

You can win a copy….go!

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Pay it forward!

You want to talk True Blood? Head over to Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust for the best in discussions and spoilers. I’m struggling to watch this season as things have taken a turn for the bloody!

http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/

For some great misadventures in Stock Photography, a giveaway and pumpkin ravioli - head over to Stumbling Over Chaos.

http://www.stumblingoverchaos.com/

Jessica, over at Read React Review has posted some fascinating links, among them a link to Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent, and his excellent and very funny blog post: Top Ten Myths About Our E-book Future.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/07/top-10-myths-about-our-e-book-future.html

http://www.readreactreview.com/

If I get a chance, I’ll check out all my friends but I’m off to hike, run errands and then it’s back to the never-ending re-write. Sigh.

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For the first time in my entire life, I have a room of my own. No, not this room, although a few years ago I did rent a flat for a week that had this exact view. In fact, this picture is taken from a window in my flat! Yes!

But that’s beside the point. I went from my father’s house where I shared a room with my sister to college where I shared rooms with dorm mates to my first husband’s house to my father’s house where I shared a room with my infant son to my second husband’s house which we filled with kids and their friends. Although my husband has an office of sorts, my office had been the kitchen table or the dining room table or the back of the couch or a chair.

After packing up my daughter’s room and injuring my back schlepping boxes and boxes and more boxes, today hubby and I put together my desk and matching desk chair, a totally cool leather armchair with matching ottoman, and a mega-amazing daybed/sofa. OMG! We sat up there, each sipping a Kir Royale - yay Mia - enjoying the fruits of our labors! I have my own room with a glorious view of our backyard and its huge redwood trees and gigantic maple. Sigh! I’m an adult at last! (Not really.)

Now I can slip away to my writer’s retreat and write like a real writer. You think?

This week - still the major re-write. Anny Cook will be guest blogging here and I think I’ve been assigned a blog meme. Gotta check it out!

Oh yeah…email me at Julia@JuliaRachelBarrett.net if you want a signed hard copy of Captured. Just checking to see if you’re paying attention. No really, a signed copy. love, julia

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Songs and their movies pop into my head, like -

Everybody’s Talkin’ at Me…

and - Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head…

and - Mrs. Robinson…

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http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/

Steph is featuring her review of Captured today on her pay it forward blog. Check it out!

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Last American Cowboy, Monday Nights, Animal Planet.

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/last-american-cowboy/

You gotta watch this show! Seriously good TV. From Animal Planet:

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Homunculus, Latin for “little human”, plural: “homunculi”; from the diminutive of homo) is a term used, generally, in various fields of study to refer to any representation of a human being. Historically it referred specifically to the concept of a miniature though fully-formed human body, for example, in the studies of alchemy and preformationism. Currently, in scientific fields, a homunculus may refer to any scale model of the human body that, in some way, illustrates physiological, psychological, or other abstract human characteristics or functions.

Here is my homunculus! I met him last night…in my garage!

I could not sleep, so at 2:15 a.m., after tossing and turning for an hour, I rose from my bed and went downstairs to do…oh, anything other than obsess about how much I wanted to be sleeping soundly in my comfy bed.

Two cats slept upstairs. One cat slept downstairs on his cat tower. Yet…what was that? That noise in the garage? I opened the door from the laundry room, flipped on the light, and there stood a raccoon, standing tall on his hind legs like a little homunculus, staring right at me. I could see his brain working despite the mask he wore.

His first thought? “Busted!”

His second thought? “I ain’t afeared ‘o you, lady!”

I backed up and closed the door, sealing the cat door from the inside just in case he decided that the cat food in the kitchen smelled more appetizing than the cat food in the garage.

No, I don’t plan to shoot him. There’s a bobcat that patrols our neighborhood, taking at least a raccoon a week. She dragged one out of our backyard just a couple nights ago. Hey, it’s California. We live with nature. I’ve had coyotes in my yard, bobcats on my roof, hawks in my trees and a mountain lion in my driveway. My cats are smart enough to stay indoors at night.

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From Everyman, circa 1500.

Well, maybe tyde and tyme won’t wait, but edits will and I have family matters to attend to. Family comes before all.

I’ll post again tomorrow. love, julia

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Captured

Julia Rachel Barrett
Fantasy erotic romance
Available from Siren Publishing
ISBN: 1-60601-722-5
January 2010

Captured and caged in a cargo hold on a spaceship, Mari accidentally awakens to learn she and a few hundred other Earth females are headed to an extraterrestrial meat market to be sold as cattle. When her captors try to return her to stasis, she strongly resists. The male in charge, Ekkatt, begrudgingly allows her to remain awake even though she injured several of his men when she was first caught. Despite her understandable anger, Mari quickly realizes her survival depends upon connecting with Ekkatt. She must make him see her as a sentient being or she will end up dinner.

Ekkatt has never spoken to a human before. For him, all humans are beasts. They are valued for one thing only, the money they bring at auction. The Attun are vegetarians, but other species prize human flesh and Ekkatt makes good money trapping for them. Then the female with red hair awakens, speaks to him and forces him to admit she has a name. Ekkatt’s discovery of Mari’s sentience throws his entire life and its purpose into question. How can he participate in the sale of thinking, intelligent beings for food?

Julia Rachel Barrett has written an engaging novella in which she fully develops a world similar to, yet quite different from our own. Though the Attun appear technically advanced, their lives are reminiscent of Colonial life on Earth. The book also poses several interesting questions about colonizing different species together and allows its readers to reach their own conclusions.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mari and Ekkatt’s journey, and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys “other world” stories filled with three-dimensional characters living and working in a world that has a long, uneasy history with Earth. We weren’t the first intelligent beings to be created in this universe, and we probably aren’t last; the question is can we learn to live and play well with others?

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Very sensual

Reviewer: Kathryn
July 21, 2010

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