Guest Blog- Christopher Beats - I am not an Engineer.

Hi everybody, meet my friend Christopher Beats author, family man and historian by trade:

From his blog, The Quantum Rumba

I am not an engineer. I know several and what's more, they tend to read my stories. None of them are soft spoken, either, creating a kind of pressure--amplifying the pressure that's already there really--to get my science right. They are the gearhead angels on my shoulder. Or demons, if you're a Luddite.

I'm also not a Luddite. In fact I try to be a very science-minded person. Though my background is in liberal arts, I enjoy reading Astronomy and Discover and that magazine the Smithsonian Institute puts out. When a friend sends me an article about photosynthesizing salamanders, I pounce on it like a hungry jaguar.

So there is a certain lingering guilt in me when, while writing, I violate the laws of physics, biology or good sense. But as an author (not to mention a reader), I know that sometimes science can get in the way of a good story. People enjoy learning but that isn't why they buy novels. This isn't a new dilemma, of course. It's not even unique to fiction. When Gordon Lightfoot was composing his masterpiece “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald,” he had problems getting his lyrics to jive with reality. He was only able to finish his song after a friend of his told him to drop the history and let his creativity guide him.

Steampunk is a thorny genre, even more so than other speculative fiction. We're looking at what could have been instead of what will be or even what was. That means we have lots of sources to look at for inspiration, from the actual technology to the speculations of 19th century authors. The problem arises in combining those two sources to create a coherent system.


I posed the question of Science vs. Steampunk on several forums and not surprisingly, most people answered that the most important thing, by far, was a system that was coherent and consistent. The best works have a rational system, a system that the readers get to know well enough that they feel they can predict what will happen next. The best outcome, of course, is to make the reader feel so entrenched in your system that they can make predictions…but then sideswipe them with a logical but wholly unexpected surprise.

I'd like to thank Christopher for stopping by His newest book Vacant Graves is out now. You can also find Facebook.

Guest Blog by Azem Odu

On the third Wednesday of every month I invite someone to share a little bit about themselves. 

This month, we have Azem Odu  otherwise known to me as AZ. AZ is a talented  graphic artist and from the day job. After talking to him for a while I realized that he has his own story to tell.  So without further adieu I'll let AZ tell you a portion of his journey.

So, I remember this being in, like, 2007, after I had graduated from college finally. I kinda felt I was almost entitled to certain positions since I now had a 4-year college degree. I was, like, no. you aren’t gonna pay me $7.25 an hour. I have a college degree! (chuckle) But, that quickly went out the window. I looked everywhere in Florida for a job in animation and game design and around the country too. Even flew out to California, Santa Monica, for an interview for a game tester position. That’s, like, entry-level in game development. I turned down a couple of jobs though. Now that I look back it was because of my pride. One of them was in California; it was a 3D artist working for a Scientology church. And the other one was some sort of Flash graphic artist for Home Shopping Network. The Scientology one was great pay, but I didn’t want to work for an organization that was gonna jeopardize my faith; I wasn’t comfortable doing that. Moved in with my brother, Mataye, he was working at Walmart at the time and I was doing freelance graphic work and had an internship at a production studio, Bluewater. They did a lot of “Sham-wow” type stuff, video production. I actually remember meeting the guy who invented Extenze, the male enhancement stuff. I remember applying all over Florida. Mataye would put, like, $100 here $100 there in my account to help me out. I remember getting hired at the YMCA. My friend Mike was a director there and got me a job like that! But, they were only able to pay me $8 an hour and I would only be able to work, like, one day. So, I didn’t take it. I probably should have; it may have turned into something else.

So, I applied to grad school. I told myself if I didn’t have a job in my field by December I was going to go to grad school. So, I applied to SCAD and The Academy of Art in San Francisco. I’d wanted to go there; my brother O’seremi was already there. But, they took too long to get back to me and SCAD replied back to me sooner and accepted me! I went to grad school at SCAD in Atlanta as an ultimatum. So, I didn’t succeed. I went there for a year and got kicked out; my grades weren’t good. Decided to stay there (in Atlanta) to support my brother who was finishing up his undergrad at SCAD. I really couldn’t find anything in my field there either. And I was shocked. I was thinking, okay, I’m in Atlanta, a more metropolitan city than a lot of cities in Florida. Why can’t I find a job in my field? Atlanta has Turner Studios, Cartoon Network; they’re a much bigger metropolitan city than most cities in Florida.

My parents were going through financial problems and I remember my dad calling me one time, without even greeting me, and saying, “Azem! You need to find a job quick!” They were financially supporting me, though I told them to stop. I was just using loan money to support my brother and I. I waaaay later found out that they had gotten sued, or something, by an employee or my dad had to pay back a bunch of money to the IRS; it was one of those. They both happened I just don’t remember which one happened at this time. The more I thought Atlanta was a growing hub for the animation community the more I found out it wasn’t. It wasn’t too much different from Florida. It was more than Florida, but still not that good. We met one guy that worked as an animator at Turner and said he was hired after college in January 2007 and Turner hadn’t hired an animator since! I laughed in disgust and just shook my head. I went on interviews, got call-backs, talked to a bunch of recruiters, nothing just stuck. One recruiter ended up finding me a position at a production studio similar to Bluewater; Blue Marble. It was a contract position doing work in After Effects; motion graphics work. Man, I was so excited! They were paying me $30 an hour, I was doing work in my field, etc. Then, I got let-go after two days. I felt I was put in a bad situation. The recruiters apologized, but that experience still plagues me till this day. It’s like things in the job market just wouldn’t stick. I would get passed the beginning stages of finding a job, and then they just wouldn’t stick. I finally get one that excites me and would be something I would like to do and this happens. As hard as it’d been to find a job I find one and this happens. I didn’t stop though. I even called and left them a message the night they let me go. I thanked them for giving me the opportunity. They really tried to accommodate me. After that I don’t remember really looking for a job in my field. It wasn’t because of that; I just had a change of priorities and my definition of success.

Right as I was about to go apply at Taco Bell for a shift manager I got a job at a restaurant. So, I’m working at a restaurant and am just trying to maybe get back into grad school; I felt like I still wanted that credential. I still wanted to teach college, so I knew I needed it. I applied to Georgia State and University of Central Florida and didn’t get in. I applied to USC too and didn’t get in. After that I was just, like, okay I’m good on grad school for right now. By this time I was already okay with going back to Florida; I had applied to UCF. I was so adamant about not going back to Florida when I left. How Florida treated me I really didn’t ever want to go back. A job market for the field of art and entertainment was just non-existent. But, my brother Simisi had just moved back from San Diego and my dad always says these old phrases; these ancient Nigerian sayings, “Sometimes you have to cross a river twice to know where you’re going” or something like that.

In, like, January me and my brother were reeeally thinking about moving back to Florida. I was just working at a restaurant. I couldn’t find a job where I could financially support myself much less one in my career; a freelance animation production project went south that I feel could have propelled a lot of our careers, that still lingers with me till this day; O’seremi had gotten kicked out of school too. I was really feeling down. I think people could sense it too. As a matter of fact, I know people could sense it. Some people at Pappadeaux I worked with would ask me what’s wrong. Dang, that was when I knew I wore my emotions on my sleeve! Life seemed like Groundhog’s Day. Now, at this time during these times I’m getting call-backs. I’m getting interviews. I’m getting emails from recruiters. Nothing is just sticking. I’m, like, I didn’t come to Atlanta to work at a restaurant. I can do this back in Florida and cheaper. And my reasons for staying in Atlanta were null and void now. And this is what I call God’s providence. Just as we were planning to move back to Florida when our lease was up in the summer we find out our mom was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. So, that just waaaay added on to our plans to move back home.

I came back home and my mom looked like she was 80. She was walking with a walker, her speech was very slurred. . .Man, this family has endured a lot. Every once in a while my dad shares his recollection of a statement Simisi made not to long after finding out our mom was diagnosed with cancer. “Dad, I would’ve never thought somebody in our family would be diagnosed with cancer.” So, I come back home and had a job already that a friend of mine found for me on Craigslist. Warren, Miami Warren. I have another friend named Warren that lives in Atlanta. This is a true friend man and God’s providence showed with how he happened to find this job for me that I applied to and got in March while I was still in Atlanta before I even knew my mom was sick. But, it was a summer job, so I was looking for jobs for after this one was going to be finished in July before I even started. Before I even moved! I was getting soooo nervous when it was getting closer to the end of my summer job man. Again! It was happening again! I was getting call-backs and scheduling interviews for after my job was done. But, nothing was sticking again. The reason why I didn’t want to come back to Florida was happening again; the trash job market that treated me so unfortunately when I was here before I left. I was more optimistic this time though. I had a different mindset and approach to finding work now. I was just looking for any kind of work! In my field, out my field, I didn’t care. I was open to almost anything that I felt could enhance my resume. Now, I’m creating profiles on all these job search engines during this time: Monster.com; Careerbuilder; Indeed; Florida Jobs, or something like that; etc., school websites, I applied to sub in two counties. My sister-in-law Stephannie actually got a job for me in Tampa working in the school system for a little over $8 an hour, but I didn’t think it was worth it. For me to move two hours away and live with my brother and his expecting wife for $8 an hour and I would be in an 8-month commitment. So, I couldn’t leave if I found something better. And even if I could leave I wouldn’t make Stephannie look that good for me working there, and then leaving not too long after I started. I actually had a job opportunity in Tampa at Home Shopping Network (HSN) too. Before I moved, but I stayed with the summer camp job because I had already committed to them.

Groundhog Day again. I was being productive in my days, but everyday just seemed the same man. I had been ready to settle down and dating wasn’t working out for me.  A girl I’d reconnected with from college, who I was interested in, I found out she had a boyfriend the day I was going to tell her how I felt about her (chuckle). I even sent her an Edible arrangement on her birthday. I knew things were going to get better, but it was just going to be a matter of time. So, I was a little bit down, but I was still anxious. I ended up applying to a graphic designer position at Daytona State College that I felt I was qualified for. I started applying to mainly jobs in Daytona because I didn’t want to go back to Tampa and at the moment if I found just something in Daytona that brought me some money I would’ve been okay. I applied to the same position at UCF (University of Central Florida). The pay at Daytona State was more and it was local. That was ideal. But, UCF called me first, on the house phone, to setup an interview. I went to the interview and I remember I felt like I talked too much. That’s what I told my mom. And you know, you can never read interviews. They’re like tests. You can go in and think you did good, but really you didn’t. Or, you can go in and think you did bad and really do good. They ended up offering me the position through an email and I was actually out of town. I didn’t accept it. I was waiting so badly to hear back from Daytona State! But, like I said, I had a different mindset and I couldn’t let this opportunity pass.  I accepted the job. And actually, actually around same time I was supposed to fill out an application for Finish Line.

You can find AZ at:  http://www.azemodu.com/

Guest Blog! Christopher Beats

Ladies and Gentlemen Let me introduce you to Christopher Beats. A good friend of mine. I didn't know he wrote until a few years ago. I knew him as one of the guys my husband played GURPS with (long story).

You know what I'll let you read his bio instead:

Christopher Beats is a starry-eyed idealist currently wandering the canals and boulevards of South Florida. He used to teach history at various levels and institutions but now focuses on writing beautiful lies.

Time-Ghosts




We are all prisoners of our time. When I was teaching history, I liked to use the word zeitgeist to describe this. Halfway through American History Part II (1866-Present), though, one of my students finally did it. He asked me what zeitgeist meant.



Up until that moment I thought everyone knew about zeitgeist. Everyone working on a college degree anyway. I made that mistake a lot--assuming people knew something they didn't. Unfortunately, the average student just didn't have the guts to correct me. The optimistic part of me likes to think that they scribbled it down and looked it up later on Wikipedia.



The negative part of me--some might call it the realistic part--knows better. A lot of people just plain don't care. A fellow instructor of mine, while discussing the Astor family in the late 1700s, mentioned that there was an Astor on the Titanic when it went down. In what can only be described as a Reader's Digest moment, a student asked “You mean John Jacob Astor lived until 1900?” To which the instructor replied sarcastically “Oh yeah, this guy lived over a hundred and fifty years.” Minutes passed and no one challenged her. Finally, she had to tell them it was a joke.



I had another fun incident in American History I (1492-1865; don't ask about before 1492, because evidently nothing existed). It was a night class in my first semester. I had this bad habit of throwing together my powerpoints the same day I did my lecture, often with disastrous results.



In this case, my powerpoint said we had twelve Supreme Court Justices and that US senators served four years. Hopefully, ninety percent of you are calling me an idiot right now. The other ten percent--I hope--are from other countries and have understandably filled their minds with useful information about their own political systems.



So for those ten percent from overseas: welcome to America, thanks for reading my post, and for your information we have nine justices and our senators serve for six years.



No one in the class challenged me or my powerpoint. I had fifty-five warm bodies in front of me with presumably warm brains and not a single one of them challenged me. These were college students. Didn't their high schools have civics classes? Did none of them know? Or was it that the ones who did know were afraid to challenge a professor? Even one so obviously young and inexperienced?



Whatever the cause, I have noticed that the world is full of people who don't challenge. It's easier to sit there quietly even if you know the right information. When I hear people talk about what is wrong in our country, this story always comes to mind.



Which brings me back to zeitgeist. I usually translate it as 'the spirit of the times,' meaning the attitude or feeling of an era. When that student in American History II finally asked what zeitgeist meant, another student explained it for me. She said it translates from German literally as 'time-ghost,' which is infinitely cooler than how I explained it.



Understanding the time-ghost is important to understanding a given period of time and its stories. The zeitgeist of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft was decidedly racist and, in a way, possessing of a certain brutal beauty.



Today the zeitgeist may be less racist but it's still quite cynical. It's also bitter. Blame whoever you want, but it's undeniable. I went to a wedding last year, stood and talked with four or five other men my age and not one of us had a job. We weren't lazy people (okay--maybe I am. But the rest weren't). We were educated. We even came from different fields: there was an engineer, a couple teachers, a woodworker, and others. Yet all of us were without jobs.



It's hard to overstate the importance of that moment when you're talking about my novella, Cruel Numbers. It's Steampunk in a divergent timeline, but the America in Cruel Numbers has a lot in common with our America. I don't mean for my story to be preachy, but that time-ghost rides me like it rides all of us, so that's inescapable.



In addition to being Steampunk, Cruel Numbers is noir. Noir likes to come in and out of fashion, like tall shoes or swing dancing. There's a reason it's caught on again now. The protagonist of Cruel Numbers, Donovan Schist, is a person who's put in a bad position. He quits his job because his employers use him to hurt people. Sometimes the people he hurts have it coming, other times they don't.



I've never broken anybody's kneecaps, but I faced my own ethical dilemma recently. It was made all the sharper by this sour economy. As with many people with an MA, I bounced around teaching at various levels and institutions, subbing here, adjuncting there. Most of my employers were the height of professionalism and always put academics first. Unfortunately, one employer (who I will not name) did not. I learned the hard way that there are institutions out there that put profit and student satisfaction above academic rigor and honesty. My first semester there, the institution put me in a position where I had to choose between towing the party line or following my professional ethics.



In the end, my sense of fairness won out. What they asked me to do just wasn't fair. So I squirmed out the door with my head down and dodged the next contract they offered. It helped, of course, that they were paying a miserable salary even for an adjunct. If they'd offered more money, desperate as I was to work, I'm not sure what would have happened. Maybe I would've swallowed my scruples and done what they asked.



This kind of situation happens with too much frequency. I'm not going to blame someone who tows the line to keep the boss happy. These are hard times and paychecks don't come easy.



But for those people who stand up--even when it screws them--Cruel Numbers is about you. There's nothing more noir than doing the right thing and being punished for it. Don't believe me? Watch Casablanca. It's a hard thing, standing up when everyone else is quiet. It's even harder when you're facing not just embarrassment, but the loss of income and prestige as well. Despite this, something drives people to do the right thing. This spirit--the desire to stand up and do the right thing even when it's hard--that should be our time-ghost.

Thank you to Christopher for stopping by. He can be found over at his blog The Quantum Rumba .

Third Wednesday guest Blog- Katie Reus

Things have been a little different on the blog lately. On of those differences is Third Wednesday guest blogs. This Wednesday it's my friend and author Katie Reus. If you've ever met Katie you'll know that she's funny and smart. So without further adieu I give you Katie.

Thank you so much to Chudney for having me here today!

About seven months ago I had my first baby and roughly three weeks afterward I was out walking in the mornings again. I didn’t walk the normal five miles I did pre-birth right away, but something was better than nothing and getting out of the house was a necessity for my sanity. Months later I found myself getting a little bored so I decided to mix things up. I’m not a big fan of gyms and even if I didn’t have a new baby, I’d never make the drive anyway. So, I bought one of those small step machines with resistance tubes (super cheap!) and whoa, talk about mixing it up. I actually sweat and can feel the strain of the different muscles I’m using so that’s a very good thing.

As a reader and a writer, I like to mix things up. I definitely have my go-to authors that are on auto buy (Lisa Marie Rice, Sherrilyn Kenyon) and there are certain genres that I’ve been reading since I was nineteen that I can almost guarantee will always top my book buying scales. But if I read a review (good or bad) that intrigues me or a friend recommends an author to me that’s not in my ‘normal’ reading genre, I’ll give them a try. I’m rarely disappointed.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter how much I mix things up, I always come back to my two favorite genres; romantic suspense and paranormal romance. Since those are my favorites, it only makes sense that I also write in those genres. This month His Secret Past released from Carina Press and in a few weeks Alpha Instinct will be releasing from Signet Eclipse. Can you guess which genre is which by title? ;)

Official His Secret Past blurb: Six years ago, Alexis Baptiste’s world was turned upside down when Hunter Cassidy disappeared without a trace, leaving her alone and pregnant. She’s finally moving on with her life when he resurfaces, just in time to rescue her from a would-be assassin. Forced to join him on the run to protect herself and her young son, Alexis is now in even more danger: danger of falling for Hunter all over again. Betrayed by rogue CIA agents after infiltrating an infamous drug cartel, former DEA agent Hunter Cassidy has spent years trying to clear his name. He’s not proud of the things he’s done, and knows he doesn’t deserve a future with Alexis, or the son he never knew he had, but he’s determined to protect them from the men who ruined his life. Convincing Alexis to trust him—and denying his feelings for her—is going to be the hardest mission he’s ever faced.

Official Alpha Instinct blurb:
Fear has a scent. So does desire… 

Ana Cordona has been a strong leader for the lupine shifters who survived after all the males and most of the females in her pack were mysteriously poisoned. As tough as she is, with no Alpha male, the pack is vulnerable to the devious shifter Taggart, who wants to claim both their ranch and Ana as his own. When Connor Armstrong comes back into her life, promising protection, it’s almost enough to make Ana forget how he walked out on her before—and reluctantly accept his offer to mate.

The minute Connor sees Ana again, it reawakens a raw hunger. He must have her for his bondmate—his wolf cries out for it. But his human side knows he must proceed with caution because of their complicated past. If he is to truly have her body and soul, he must go beyond his burning desire and win back her heart. Whatever it takes, he is determined not to leave her side again.

But Taggart and his rival pack are not their only enemies. A human element in town is targeting shifters. Their plan not only threatens Ana and Connor’s future, but the lives of the entire pack…

Purchase info: His Secret Past is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Carina Press &; all other major online retailers. Alpha Instinct is also available at Amazon, B&N, the Book Depository and all major retailers.

If you’d like to win a digital copy of  His Secret Past or print copy of Alpha Instinct, just leave a comment about today’s blog. I’ll pick two winners (US only for Alpha) January 20, 2012 after noon, Central time.
Please leave your email address in the comments section so I know how to contact you!

Another CONTEST alert: To celebrate the release of His Secret Past and Alpha Instinct, I’m having 7 weeks of contests with weekly prizes (books, books, books! from me and some really fab authors) and a grand prize of an Amazon Kindle. For more details on how to enter, please visit my website contest page.

A little about me: I’ve been reading romance since I discovered my mom’s hidden stash at a young age and the addiction stayed with me into adulthood. I write paranormal romance and sexy romantic suspense for Carina Press, Harlequin Nocturne, and NAL/Signet Eclipse. To learn more about me please visit my website, my blog, facebook or find me on twitter @katiereus.

Thanks again for having me!