I'm still here, just been busy...

Finally got my zombie short story collection published. It kept me really busy, because it's been a while since I uploaded anything, and I put it on Draft 2 Digital and Google Plus, which are new sites for me. With all the other stuff I've been doing, I haven't had the time I'd like to get some stuff up on this blog. But I'll get there, I promise.

I've been thinking about the content I want to have here, and one thing I've come up with is to have posts about the different writers in this genre, past and present, with info about the books they wrote/write. If you'd like to see something in particular, leave me a note in the comments, with a link if you have one. I'll try to be more regular about posting here, once I get better organized. So many books to write, so little time!

Romantic Suspense author Mary Stewart has passed.

Ms. Stewart died earlier this week. I'm really behind on stuff (editing my urban fantasy book so it can be republished in early June), so I missed seeing the report before today.

I read most, if not all of her work in my teens and onward, along with Phyllis A. Whitney, Dorothy Eden, and others. I always loved Ms. Stewart's titles -- like Nine Coaches Waiting, Madam, Will You Talk?, and Airs Above the Ground.

Although not technically Gothic romance, romantic suspense has some of the same elements, at least to my thinking. Interesting locations, unusual events, a mysterious man:  all centered around a young woman with strength and courage.

RIP, Mary Stewart.

Writing the Gothic romance.

I used to read Gothic romances when I was a teen and young woman, checked out everything my local library (and all the branches) had, even bought some. I loved the spooky feel of the books, the supernatural overtones really hooked me. I also liked how the women may have started out weak, or timid or shy, but they mostly grew up and took charge.

Later on, I found the "bodice rippers" and romantic suspense books, even a few true romances. Add in all the science fiction and true horror books I was reading, and my imagination was in overdrive. Truth be told, I still mostly love SF and horror -- more what's called quiet horror than the gory stuff, though I get into that sometimes as well.

When I started getting back to writing, and learning about self-publishing, I knew I'd someday write at least one Gothic romance (you can use the lower case g, but your spell check will nag you). I've got one in the works, which I hope to finish this year. It's currently called "Widow's Peak", and is set in Arizona at the turn of the last century:  the early 20th, that is. The main character finds herself in a bad situation when her husband is killed trying to rob a bank. Turns out he was a well-known and much-sought-after robber. She miscarries their child, loses the farm, and is left without any money or family to fall back on.

When a man who says he's her husband's cousin turns up, she's left without much choice and returns to his ranch to help him raise his children and run the household. Of course, there's the mysterious death of his wife and other perplexing events to get to the bottom of.

I set the book in Arizona, in that time period, because it's a close approximation of the traditional setting:  isolated, unknown and with a rich background of the American settlers against the local residents, not to mention the harshness of the desert.

I hope I can get the feel of uneasiness that is the usual with Gothic romances, and stay true to the tropes without writing a TSTL -- "too stupid to live" female lead. And I don't want to have a man for her to fall for that is too damaged to be real. Hopefully it's only his heart that is broken, and not his mind!

Once this book is done, I have a couple of more ideas that would fit the genre that will likely have to wait until next year to get written. Lots of stuff on my plate right now, including getting my first novel rewritten, and the followup book finished. There are five books in this series, which I'd like to get halfway through this year, along with a SF novel and maybe a slightly erotic horror tale.

Anyway, that's my Gothic project in a nutshell. I'm thinking I might look for a gloomier blog background, as this one seems too -- oh, I don't know -- happy? Another task for another day!

I've added some more sites to the links page, though one of them is in the process of being redone due to a server loss.

Started a links page for readers and writers.

I've been doing a little surfing while working on the blog, that is, when my computer would let me. I've had issues since upgrading to Vista from Windows XP (I have an old drive, and it won't run anything newer than Vista), and things would just lock up on me. Turns out to have been an add-on I had for Firefox.

So once I figure out why the links aren't actually hyperlinked, it should be up and running. Look for more content as well as updates on my gothic romance in future posts.

Under Construction! Heavy Equipment: Hard Hat Required

I've decided to revive this blog, which was started by A. J. Hamilton a few years ago. Not sure why it fell off the blog-o-sphere, but I enjoyed the subject (Gothic romance novels) and wanted to see if anyone else was interested. I hope to post stuff about the genre, plus things about my own work:  I have a novel I'm working on.

Anyway, this is the under construction phase, and I have no idea how often I'll post, but let's see what happens, eh?