Sneaking back from my hiatus to share with all lovers of story that a number of authors have banded together for a special online promotion this weekend.

First, my thoughts are with everyone along the East Coast who is facing Hurricane Irene.  It’s hitting the Outer Banks of North Carolina as I write this.  In fact, it’s hitting the Cape Lookout National Seashore, a place I know well because I volunteered out there for a summer (many years ago!).  I hope everyone from the Carolinas up the coast stays safe and suffers no lasting impacts from this storm.

But, it’s likely that many people in the storm’s path will lose power.  This means no television.  No WiFi.  Many may turn to their e-Readers, tablets, smart phones and other G3-powered devices to stay in touch.  And those with backlit reading devices may want a good book to help while away the hours when you’re stuck inside.

#IReadIrene features authors who have posted their digital books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble* at a 99¢ price for this weekend.  It’s a great opportunity to discover a new author and load up your Kindle or Nook with great stories in all different genres.  You can visit the event’s Facebook page, follow and comment via our hashtag on Twitter, and I’m even including the current list of authors and titles here.  The Facebook page shows all the covers and includes buy links where you can read full descriptions of the books.  Note:  These books range from middle grade books for the kids to erotic romance and graphic paranormal and suspense books.  Check out the Facebook page for a quick reference to covers and short descriptions that won’t make you blush!

*Note:  Our apologies to other e-tailers and indie bookstore websites that also carry our books.  We’d love to mention all sites where our books are located.  Amazon and Barnes & Noble were the sites that gave us the agility to quickly discount our prices for this weekend.  Please check that authors’ websites to find other places where you can purchase all their books.  Our decision to feature links in this post is not an endorsement for any e-tailer site.  Also, none of the links in this post are “embedded” with affiliate information.  I will not profit in any way from anyone clicking on any of these links.

Featured authors and books are listed below.  Click on an author’s name to visit that author’s website.

Amy Atwell — AMBERSLEY on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Clover Autrey — DEMON TRACKERS: THE ANOINTED on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Kathy Bennett — A DEADLY DOZEN ROSES on Amazon

Gabrielle Bisset — MASQUERADE on Amazon

Kat Brookes — CHASING PUBERTY on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Chicki Brown — HOLLYWOOD SWINGING on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Kathy Carmichael — KISSING KELLI on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Jennifer Chase — COMPULSION (and its sequel) on Amazon

McKenna Chase — A TOUCH IN TIME on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Carol Ericson — SMOKESCREEN on Amazon

Misty Evans — JINGLE HELLS on Amazon

Lucy Felthouse — SUCCUBUS COMES HOME on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords

M.A. Golla — TO GNOME ME IS TO LOVE ME on Amazon

Tallulah Grace — TIMELESS TRILOGY: FATE on Amazon

Elysa Hendricks — COUNTERFEIT LOVE on Smashwords

Emma Jay — EYE OF THE BEHOLDER on Amazon

Morgan Kearns — THE SEDUCTION OF DAMIAN on Amazon

Gordon Kirkland — multiple books on Amazon

Toney La Tripp — multiple books on Amazon

Abbey Macinnis — HIS FIFTH AVENUE THIEF on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Stacey Joy Netzel — CHASIN’ MASON on Amazon

Stacey Joy Netzel & Donna Marie Rogers — WELCOME TO REDEMPTION series on Amazon

Annemarie Nikolaus — MAGICAL STORIES on Amazon

Bev Pettersen — JOCKEYS AND JEWELS on Amazon

Edie Ramer — GALAXY GIRLS on Barnes & Noble and CATTITUDE on Barnes & Noble

Donna Marie Rogers — GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY on Amazon

Isabel Roman — SHADOW STATE on Amazon

D.D. Scott — BOOTSCOOTIN’ BLAHNIKS on Amazon

Tori Scott — SATISFACTION GUARANTEED on Amazon

Bella Street — multiple titles on Amazon

Norah Wilson — THE CASE OF THE FLASHING FASHION QUEEN on Barnes & Noble

Happy reading this weekend, and those along the East Coast, please stay safe!

Me (age 7) and Tanya the husky. We read Charlotte's Web together that summer.

We all have them.  Come on, admit it.  Somewhere in your past is a story—be it book or film—that you love so much, it’s a guilty pleasure.

Guilty pleasures are stories you return to again and again.  They lift you when you’re feeling down or comfort you when you’re sick or blue.  They prepare you fight back when life has dumped on you.  They’re a welcome interruption when life is screamin’ by you.

With books, I tend to think of them as “keepers.”  These are the faded, stained and tattered books we will never part with.  For me, the keepers includes titles by Elswyth Thane, Robert Lawson, Rudyard Kipling, E.B. White, Dorothy L. Sayers and Kathleen Woodiwiss.

With movies, well, any movie that I stop to watch over and over is a prime suspect.  My guilty pleasure movies?  Any Harry Potter film, nearly any Disney animated classic, Sense and Sensibility and, of all things, The Fifth Element.

Yeah, you could say I have eclectic tastes.

But WHY is a story a guilty pleasure?  Where’s the guilt?  For me, it’s because I consider storytelling to be my profession.  By the time I’ve read a book or watched a movie a half dozen times, there’s very little left for me to learn from that story.  It becomes pure entertainment value.  And I always feel I should be out “broadening my horizons.”  I mean, if I’m going to be entertained, shouldn’t I at least seek something new?

All logic disappears when I’m flipping channels and I find The Fifth Element.  I can now enter that movie at almost any point.  I don’t have to follow the plot—I *know* the plot and I know how the story ends.

Where, then, is the point in watching it again?

For me, it’s the characters, the situation, the careful revelation of secrets.  It’s the nuances in gestures, specific tidbits of dialogue.  With movies, it’s often action sequences or the quest that pulls me in.  With books, it’s because I’ve grown to love the characters as if they were part of my family.

So what books or movies would you rate among your Guilty Pleasures?  And what draws you to that story again and again?

But as a writer, I’m also intrigued by how the media turns so many elements of sports into STORY.  First, there are the many personalities and life stories of the players.  These bring stories like The Blind Side or Bend It Like Beckham to life.  Then, there’s the fact that many sports provide the central conflict necessary for a good story: football, soccer, basketball, baseball, horse racing, NASCAR.  These sports pit individuals or teams directly against each other.  As fans, we root for our favorite (the hero) and despise the opponent(s) (the villain).  Our hero may have allies and enemies out there on the field, court or track.  Numerous events play out during the game providing our hero with obstacles to overcome as he tries to win.  There may be a black moment—that point as the contest/game is nearing the end when it looks as if all is lost for our hero.  Sometimes, our hero doesn’t overcome this, and the event ends “tragically” for us (i.e., our hero loses).  But other times, our hero defies all the odds and comes back to win.

For a case in point, I recommend this play from last season’s Jaguars-Texans NFL game.  Note, when the video loads that there are 3 seconds left in the game on the clock.  Be sure to watch the replays to really see what happened.  This is the Hail Mary throw to beat all Hail Mary throws.

Now, THAT is drama at its best (with apologies to the Texans, because they played great football that day, and this Jaguar win was, in may ways, a fluke).  There was great conflict throughout the game, and there were wonderful twists and surprises that kept fans on the edge of their seats.

Let’s face it, sports events where one team trounces the other are not that entertaining.  It’s the close competition we crave.  The anticipation of a great play, the fear of imminent disaster.  The Kentucky Derby is referred to as the most exciting two minutes in sports.  And it is!  But you’ll notice the television coverage starts a couple hours before post time.  And, oh how they build up the conflict, the favorites, the underdogs, the long-shots.  Drama, drama, drama, so we’re compelled to stick around and watch that two-minute story.

Most sports also have a certain amount of pageantry.  The national anthem.  The coin toss.  The line up at the starting gate. The traditions give fans a chance to celebrate their team before the competition even begins.  At this moment, every participant is a winner.

Professional sports are big business.  They attract a lot of fans.  For years, I didn’t watch much sports.  I couldn’t quite understand what all the excitement was about.  But over the past few years I’ve started to watch more and more football.  I like the intricacy of the rules.  The strategies that come into play.  (I also adore Curling after watching enough of it during the 2010 Olympics to appreciate the strategy involved in that—amazing!)  I’ve tried to watch basketball and baseball, but they’re just not working for me yet.  I prefer to watch golf.

How about you?  Are you a sports fan? Do you enjoy the stories that play out during sporting events and media coverage?  Do you have a favorite sports story from books or movies?

Of course, there are heroine twists on the Protector, too.  Sigourney Weaver’s character in Aliens must protect the orphaned girl, Newt.  And John Grisham has a boy who witnessed a suicide hire an attorney (played by Susan Sarandon in the film) to protect him in his story The Client.

The big name superheroes tend to be Protectors.  Obviously, they’re protecting mankind in the larger sense, but the films tend to give us a specific heroine who becomes the focus of that attention.  Superman has Lois Lane.  Batman has Vicki Vale. Spider-Man has Mary Jane Watson.

In romance fiction, Protectors abound.  Firefighters, cowboys, Navy SEALs, cops.  In today’s world, the heroines aren’t necessarily shrinking violets—they’re capable women who can take care of themselves.  But when faced with overwhelming odds or life-threatening circumstances, the Protector still arrives to provide comfort, support and to help defeat the villain.  They never intend to fall in love, but when they do, it’s forever.

One of my recent favorite Protectors is The Fifth Element.  Bruce Willis plays a retired military officer driving a cab in a futuristic world under siege.  He protects a girl who literally lands in his lap, only to discover that she’s the key to defending the Earth.

And I’ll be honest–I’m thinking about Protectors because my nephew just graduated from basic training at Fort Jackson.  He’s starting his advance training today.  A huge cheer for all the men and women who help protect our country!

Do you have a favorite Protector character?  Why do you think this role has survived as a hero icon for hundreds of years?  Do you find Protectors romantic?

Great Expectations

The Grapes of Wrath

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Red Badge of Courage

Julius Caesar

Macbeth

Hamlet

I read Great Expectations in high school.  Don’t tell anyone, but I *loved* it!  I was always two chapters ahead of the class.  Yeah, Dickens was a little long-winded in his descriptions, but Pip and Magwich and Miss Haversham—wow, what characters.  Dickens provided an emotional roller coast my adolescent heart found so appealing.

I remember wading through The Grapes of Wrath.  Our teacher even got us the movie to watch, in addition to reading the book (although, I suspect many students stopped reading the book and just waited for the movie).  Nope, neither of them appealed to me.

Shakespeare gave me such an appreciation for drama that I majored in it in college.  I read plays by the Greeks, the Romans, medieval mystery plays (which weren’t mysteries at all, I learned).  I’ve read most of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as some Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe.  I read Restoration comedies and existential dramas from France.  I even read Neil Simon plays.

I’m such a nut for “classics,” that I’ve even read a few of Jane Austen’s books, and some by Jules Verne and Alexander Dumas.  I’ve got Colette and Truman Capote hiding in my To Be Read pile right now.

I see a timeless quality to classics.  Sure, they may be steeped in the morals or cultural attitudes of their era, but beneath the period costumes or formal language beat human hearts.  These stories share the universal emotions that haven’t changed in hundreds of years—the vices and virtues we all recognize.  Greed, envy, love, faith, to name a few. These stories “hold up” even in our evolving world.

Just curious—did you enjoy the classics you had to read in school?  Have you read others?  Are their classics you’d like to read?

However, the blog must again be put on hold.  I have a few family events to attend, some upcoming snowy travel, and a lot of catching up to do with my siblings and cousins.

I hope to be back in gear by early February.  Thanks for your understanding!

I have always loved the majestic beauty of horses. No one else in my immediate family rides, but from the time I could walk, I was horse crazy.  I pretended to be a horse.  I learned to make sounds like a horse.  I tried my best to draw horses.  Instead of Barbie dolls, I played with Breyer horses.  I still have a collection of over 200 of them around my office.  I may be practical enough to know I can’t own a horse, but I still love them.

I was also one of those geeky kids who read a lot.  Naturally, I sought out horse stories.  An early one was Little Black, A Pony.  Little Black is saddened when the boy who rides him chooses to ride Big Red instead, but when the boy gets into danger, it’s Little Black who rescues him.

I had a number of Marguerite Henry’s classics.  The stunning illustrations by Wesley Dennis in Album of Horses made me sigh with longing for a horse (and sent me for paper and pencil, but I was just never able to capture the beauty myself). Henry’s stories Misty of Chincoteague and King of the Wind were two of my favorites.

By the age of ten I had moved onto The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.  And when I discovered there was a whole series of books featuring The Black and Alex?  There was no stopping my visits to the local library. I think every book report I gave through fifth grade was about a horse story.

Hollywood has given us wonderful horse stories, too.  National Velvet features a vibrant pre-teen Elizabeth Taylor as a girl who wins a horse in a town raffle and trains him for Britain’s greatest horse race, The Grand National.  Pop up the popcorn and grab a box of Kleenex.  This is great stuff.  (Movie Trailer here, but the video quality is a bit rough.)

The Black Stallion came to the big screen in 1979 in a stunning film, but I still love the books better. And since then, we’ve enjoyed Hidalgo, Spirit—Stallion of the Cimarron, The Horse Whisperer (never saw the film, but the book was amazing), Seabiscuit and most recently, Secretariat. By the way, Secretariat clippings adorned my bedroom walls in 1973.  You can watch his races on YouTube—brilliant runner!

And one of my guilty pleasure favorites, Arwen’s determined ride to save Frodoe in Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.

Enjoy!  And if I left off your favorite horse story–in book or movie–please let me know!

Now that I’m finally reading Harry Potter from start to finish—and it has been worth my time, plus it’s been fun—I find I’m digging into what others are reading more and more.

Of course, there are always dozens of people reading J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson, Stephanie Meyer, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Stephen King, Tom Clancy and other big name authors.  That is to say, dozens of people I meet.  I’m sure there are millions reading those authors. But there are also individuals who love to share their latest finds in authors like Therese Walsh, P.J. Alderman, Courtney Milan, Barbara White Daille, Susan Gee Heino and Kris Kennedy.

Since so many readers I meet love to mention what they’re reading, I’ve started to wonder: how many of them belong to some sort of book club or forum to discuss their reactions to books?  Do YOU belong to one?

Some readers are more than happy to say what they’re reading, but they’re not as prepared to share their thoughts.  I often get, “I liked it,” or, “I really liked it.”  Occasionally, a writer friend will dish specifics, such as “the use of key adjectives in the setting description not only set the scene, but made the setting another unsettling character in this urban fantasy.”

Okay, not all readers talk this way.  Heck, not all writers talk this way, but a lot of us did some term papers on “compare and contrast” various books, plays, stories in college.  So, yeah, some of us actually do talk this way.

So, here’s what I’m dying to know from READERS, i.e. people who read books:

Do you belong to a formal book club or discussion forum?

Do you look beyond the basic plot to discuss character, theme, symbols, and such?

Do you read book reviews, and do they encourage/discourage you from buying a book?

If you do belong to a club, how’d you find it?

If you don’t belong to a club, is it because you couldn’t find one, or are you not interested in discussing the books you read?

Thanks, all.  And hey, if you know any links for online resources about book clubs or forums, please include them in your comments.

All of this is to say that during the next two weeks, my ability to post here will be curtailed.  And I’m guessing that anyone receiving this as an RSS feed might that they don’t need extra reading material.  I’m running with the assumption that many people out there could use a breather, a chance to regroup.

And so, I’m putting What’s the Story? on hiatus again until January 3rd.  I may pop in briefly to send some quick season’s greetings.  And yes, I brought the tiger back.  I told you, I’m crazy about him!

Thanks for understanding.  Best wishes to you and yours!

So what better time to discuss our favorite Christmas stories? I have a lengthy and diverse list (instead of a gift wish list!).  Watching these movies or television specials is an important part of the holiday tradition at our house.

First off, I love the Christmas specials from my childhood:  A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman.

Then, I’m a sucker for old movies, so TCM is my buddy this month.  Christmas In Connecticut (Barbara Stanwyck is a stitch—and I covet that farmhouse in Connecticut,especially the fireplace!), Miracle on 34th Street (Edmund Gwenn is the best Santa Macy’s ever had!), The Bishop’s Wife (Cary Grant as an angel, David Niven as a bishop, Loretta Young as the wife who inspires both—and when Cary trims the tree?  Brilliant!), The Shop Around the Corner (because what’s Christmas without Jimmy Stewart?), Holiday Inn (Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as country mouse/city mouse), and White Christmas (beautiful singing by Bing and Rosemary Clooney, divine dancing by Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye at his possibly most charming).

My dh turned me onto It’s A Wonderful Life.  Can’t believe my mom never had me sit down and watch that as a kid.

Some newer films have grabbed my attention.  Will Ferrell is so wonderful in Elf.  And Love Actually celebrates Christmas—and love—in such a beautiful, poignant way.  Plus it’s got a killer soundtrack.  And dare I admit that I loved Bad Santa?  Go ahead, put coal in my stocking, but I laughed so hard at Billy Bob Thornton in that film.

My dad loves A Christmas Story. A little secret about that film—my cousin Mia appears in the opening sequence when all the kids and adults are looking in the shop windows. The scene was filmed in downtown Cleveland, and Mia showed up in a WAC uniform and they popped her into the crowd scene!

And then there’s the completely non-Christmas film that has become a bit of a holiday tradition in our house.  We watched it one year on Christmas Eve, and decided it was a great way to celebrate.  The film?  The Great Race, Blake Edwards’ romp about an around-the-world auto race starring Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk.

The season isn’t all about movies and television.  I also try to reread some of my favorite holiday stories.  From The Night Before Christmas (yes, I read it to my cats at bedtime on Christmas Eve) to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Have I left your favorite off my list?  Please share it!  And feel free to include which holiday stories are part of your family’s tradition.