New portrait of Rust from True Detective. A long time planning.
Rustin Cohle
My Life
These books I read
I used to read a lot, back before the writing bug bit me last summer. I would devour books, one after the other in quick succession. Sometimes up to 200 or so books a year.
This year, I think I've read three books so far. I'm currently reading Existence by David Brin, which I am greatly enjoying, but it's been weeks and I'm only at 10%. I think the only time I read is when I'm in the loo.
What did I use to read, you ask? Well... let me tell you! Wait. It might be easier to tell you what I don't normally read.
First off, I don't really read romance. I've been told on many occasions that I don't have a romantic bone in my body. I don't know if that's true or not, but I just don't get 99% of romance in non-romance books, so an entire book of romance would be lost on me, I think.
I also don't read erotica. I have a book somewhere in my collection that is pure smut. I think it's called Pick Up/Picked up, written in the 70's or 80's, and it's about a guy with a 12 inch cock. I found it in my grandmother's library when I was ten - I figure it belonged to my uncle when he was living there. Anyway... that was good for a few years, and so were the stories in my dad's Penthouses. But then I started having sex... and then the internet happened, and, well, words just didn't do it for me anymore.
(Porn. Porn does it for me. I'm very visual.)
I don't read YA. Twilight is YA right? I know that Hunger Games is (...right?). I didn't really like either. Though, I also have a hard time identifying with books written from a female perspective, and I think both of these were (...right? Sorry - I really don't know/remember much about either).
(And... what the hell is NA?)
I read everything else. On the very top of that huge list of genres are: Sci-fi, fantasy, distopian, and KGB/CIA/military/conspiracy books.
Some of my favourite books?
- Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett (and pretty much everything else I've read from him has been pretty fucking awesome)
- The Charm School by Nelson DeMille (almost anything he writes floats my boat, but this one's my favourite. Up Country is my second)
- The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
- Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice (I know I said above that I don’t really do romance, but I have a thing for opera and the history of the castrati... and the relationship between Tonio and Guido hit something in me. I also rather enjoyed some of her vampire books.)
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by HST
Apart from books, I read medical journals. It's a weird hobby that started years ago when I started researching torture techniques used during the Inquisition. I'm absolutely fascinated by medical procedures, both ancient and new. I've also got a thing for genetic disorders and extreme body modification.
Maybe once I finish Spires, and Sword... and the third book in Baal's Heart I'll get back to reading? Maybe?
On pain, injury, and recovery… and how I’m an idiot.
I tend to put my characters through some really tough scrapes that they have to recover from so I thought I'd share some of my own experience with injury and recovery... I have nearly died from the result of injury or illness more times than I can count on both hands, but I'll only touch on injury and leave illness to another time.
I grew up in a family of superheroes when it comes to injury and recovery. Last year my dad nearly cut off his toes while cutting out rotten flooring in the boat. Bleeding everywhere, he laughed and took out a beer to drink before making his way to the emergency room to get stitched up. That's just the way my dad is.
When watching movies with my dad and brother, we tend to mutter things at the screen like: "Oh for fuck's sake... It's only a broken arm! Just splint that fucker and quit your whining!"
My brother and I both wound up with boxer's fractures (both fifth metacarpal). He laughed when the bone was reset. Me? I cut my cast off after three days because I had to take an exam and didn't want to reschedule (see, that wasn't exactly smart... I have a hard time opening jars with my right hand now).
It hurt, but it didn't hurt.
I've been hurt loads of times:
- When I sprained my back about ten years ago, the doctor couldn't understand how I had walked there.
- I'm pretty sure I broke my radius when I was seven years old but, because I wasn't crying enough, my mother didn't believe me, and I never went to the doctor.
- I severely bruised three ribs, but I went out clubbing the next night.
- I had major surgery a few years ago, and I was on my feet within hours.
- I've run on sprained ankles, I've hit my head so hard my skull is now dented, etc.
I tend to just brush off pain.
There is, however, one exception: luxating patellas aka "trick knees"
I am loose-jointed. What that means is that my limbs all hyperextend to a certain amount. It's a genetic thing, and it means I'm really flexible (oh yeah). It also means that my kneecaps are a little loose. There are exercises that I'm supposed to do to get the muscles to help keep my kneecaps from slipping... but they don't always work.
When you dislocate your knee it hurts like hell. I've done it three times now.
The joys of getting older is that you don't heal as fast, so the last time I dislocated my left knee (the trickier of the two) took nearly three months to heal properly. It actually still hurts.... I should probably see a doctor at some point.
Because I'm an idiot, and I should take better care of myself. Right?
Sex sex sexy sex sex sex
In starting this blog, I've been worried (ok, maybe not worried... I don't worry about a lot) about oversharing.
It's one thing to read about about fucking. It's another thing to read about an author fucking. Right?
See, there's a difference between fiction and reality, and I never know where that line is in terms of what folks want to hear from me. Notice how when people write reviews of really hardcore erotica books, they rarely ever mention the sex except to say whether it was hot or not? You don't generally get something like "omg, I almost came when Leo started fisting Guiseppe" etc. At least not that I've seen.
All this is on my mind because in trying to come up with things to say on my blog, I keep coming back to sex. I have a lot to write about when it comes to sex, and it's not explicit or anything. It's just fun stuff... but do you want to hear it?
If you don't... just skip this entry.
If you do, by all means, come right in.
Saturday morning drawing
A new pic in the NSFW gallery.
Three is never a crowd.
Still need to finish Rust Cohle though. Maybe I'll work on that, but Spires is calling to me.
Giffy blog post because all the cool kids are doing it
This summer can bite my shiny metal ass... so far it's been nice a handful of days, but, in between, the barometer's been playing yo-yo. Nicht so gut for my sinuses.
I hit a slow spot with the writing. Just staring at the page going "B... lover, please just trust me, ok?" It'll get done, it just feels like cat-wrangling at the moment.
I wonder if I'm ever going to get any better at replying to fan mail? My responses of "Glad you enjoyed it!" and "Thanks so much!" are so impersonal. I lack the words mostly because I've got a d’aw shucks kind of thing going on.
You might think I'm all:
when I get fan mail, but in truth I'm more like:
OH!
You know what? Somewhere between today and Sunday marks the one year anniversary of the day I started to write stuff! I can't remember exactly when. I keep thinking the 28th but it may have actually been the 26th.
It's been a really weird year, and I've rather enjoyed it as a whole. I wonder what the next year will bring? More writing, definitely.
Cheers to everyone who's been part of the process... my friends, family, fans, and the lovely folks like my new editor (hi Starr!) and fellow authors who have been there for me. Here's to you!
Mid June already?
Where does the time go?
New things!
1 - Caged is being edited. Professionally. Nothing of the story changes... just tightening up the text a little and fixing the niggling little typos/errors. I'm also adding a map at the beginning - might help the immediate assumption that it's historical fiction rather than historical fantasy.
2 - Spires is at 70%. I'm pretty sure that the final title will be Heart: Beyond the Spires. I like long titles. But we'll see.
3 - It's fucking gorgeous out these days. Between the beautiful weather and The Sopranos, my productivity is taking a hit; but, you know what? I'm my own boss, I make my own schedule.
4 - Sword is not officially on hold just yet. I may still want to continue while I'm working on Spires. Might be nice to jump tracks every once in a while.
5 - Murphy got a little surgery to remove some growths on his leg. He would like everyone to know just how miserable he is.
Saturday with a Smile
I had an acquaintance tell me that I only draw people being serious.
So... here's a sketch of a Hardy smile for this relaxing Saturday:
More in the gallery
Murphy hates the rain.
Things that make me go blech.
I often say that I have no triggers and nothing makes me squeamish.
But that's a bloody lie.
Here is what makes me squeamish: spoiled food.
I can't for the life of me open an old container of food if I know there is a strong possibility that there is mould in it. Or if it might smell bad, even to my limited sense of smell. I will just throw the container out to avoid that.
Right now there is a container of old coleslaw that someone left here a few weeks ago. My eyes go fuzzy every time I spot it because I know that it has gone bad and the container is see-through. I don't want to see that.
