Anthony Stevens' Weblog

The Dream King

anthonystevens — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:44:11 +0000

Many, many years ago, when I was a kid of about eight or nine, my folks had this old guy over for dinner. They laughed and joked like adults do and, as soon as possible, I escaped to play outside. We had eaten early and it was still light when he came out by himself and asked me what I was doing. At that point, I was just sitting on the concrete steps feeling bored and told him so.

He walked a few paces out on the sidewalk, turned around and started humming “Me and My Shadow” softly to himself. Then, he started to dance. It was a slow, simple little shuffling kinda dance and I just stared, mesmerized.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked at me. “You know what that is called?”

I shook my head.

“It’s called a soft shoe and this is one of the basic steps.” He proceeded to do a little sliding step. “Come on. Don’t just sit there. Get up here, stand alongside me and do what I’m doing.”

I did and a few minutes later, we were shuffling off to Buffalo in the best vaudeville style. I asked him to show me more, but he said he had to go home. He would give me two little pieces of advice, however.

“Always start out with a dance and always leave them wanting a little more.”

A few days later, we moved back north for the summer and when we returned, that fall, he had passed on.

After reading Tara Newlands’ Dream King, I was reminded of the old man’s advice.

The story opens with a carefully choreographed magical battle where the bad guy appears to win. Our lovely heroine Amanda, is torn from her lover by the wonderfully evil Jonathan.

Despite his best efforts, Octavian loses Amanda and vows to find her, no matter how long it may take. As someone who is effectively immortal, this may be a while.

What happens if part of the curse separating them is the loss of all of Amanda’s memories? And what’s worse, Jonathan can’t seem to hold on to the feisty lass he kidnapped.

The Dream King is the first of a new series and I’ll admit I consumed it in less than two days. It’s a lovely amusement park tunnel-of-love ride, filled with passion and magic that did exactly what the old man had advised… “Always leave them wanting more.” Well done, Tara!

Title: The Dream King – Tales of the Lucnan Magi Book One

Author: Tara Newlands

Publisher: Red Rose Publishing

Webpage: http://taranewlands.webs.com/

All Steamed Up!

anthonystevens — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:11:26 +0000

“Steamed: A Steampunk Romance” by Katie MacAlister

Printed by Signet, a division of Penguin Publishing

Okay! I’m a man. I admit it. When I first laid eyes on the cover art for Steamed I was hooked. It has to be one of the best covers I’ve seen in years.

Let me digress… Awhile back, someone noted that covers for almost all the big-name urban fantasy and paranormal romances have a back or three-quarter view of a shapely young woman with a dark background the hints of great danger. Occasionally, a lusty male figure will be in the background. In very few of these cases, do you see the woman’s face. This is done on purpose, so that the reader can imagine themselves or their loved one in the heroine’s shoes, boots or calluses.

The cover art for Steamed takes a slightly different twist in that it is not a photo or photo-realistic painting, but rather a garish comic drawing in shades of reds, browns, gold and flesh-tones. It fairly jumps off the rack at you.

Enough about the cover. That’s why I picked it up in the first place. But what about the story, itself?

This is the first time I’ve read any of Katie MacAlister’s works and I’m going to remedy that oversight with the next few visits to my local bookseller. Steamed was a fun read! The promise of the cover, the premise hinted at in the synopsis and the tagline are fulfilled perfectly. This really is a wonderful tale of steampunk romance.

The hero is a member of the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. This is a religious group that actively practices non-violence. As our hero demonstrates, that doesn’t mean they are pushovers or won’t defend themselves or those they love.

The action is a roller-coaster of melodramatic scenes that play in your head like Indiana Jones movie trailer. Airship warfare is offset by highly-charged romantic trysts that are never X-rated and yet leave little to the imagination.

The heroine is the captain of an airship full of incredible characters and is perfectly depicted on the cover. That should say enough.

If you need a fun read to offset some of the dystopian steampunk and urban fantasy novels that fill the shelves, you won’t go wrong with Steamed. I give it five pasties!

Bravo, Katie! I’m a fan and eagerly awaiting a sequel.

Great Customer Service!

anthonystevens — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:02:43 +0000

I was over at my favorite Borders book store a little while ago. While poking through the computer to see if a new title was available, a lovely young lady asked if she could help. We chatted about various books and she was extremely polite, knowledgeable and helpful.

Please take note that this is one of the main reasons I purchase books at a store rather than at Amazon or other online venues. The lady’s name is “Dez” and my favorite bookstore is located at 5871 Crossroads Center Way, Baileys Crossroads, VA 22041. That is near the intersection of Rt. 7 and Columbia Pike.

If you’re looking for some reading matter and are in the area, I would highly recommend you stop by and browse their selection. Who knows? You might get lucky and meet Dez.

Ranting About Lazy Neighbors

anthonystevens — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:36:43 +0000

I just got back from a marvelous vacation in south Florida.

There are tons of old, grey snow up here and I live in a row of townhouses that share a sidewalk. That is what brings me to the topic of this rant.

The guy on the back end (away from the street and two doors down from me) shoveled and iced his walk towards the back. The other five townhouses have ‘pushed’ some snow from their walks to make little, slippery trials to the main sidewalk.

The management waited until there was already 3-4″ of crushed snow and ice on the main walkway with two foot of snow on top of it before they made a single pass with a snow blower. The result is what you would expect… Sixty feet or so of lumpy, treacherous ice between our door and the parking lot.

Oh, and to make matters even better, the two small evergreens that stood alongside my neighbor’s side broke a few feet off the ground and toppled so they covered our short walkway. The neighbors have been too friggin’ lazy to grab some gloves and drag them to one side. Instead, they kicked a narrow path around them that is going to turn our lawn side into muck when it starts to thaw.

The last snow storm, when we were up here, I shoveled and salted the front steps, the entire walkway (20 foot) that we share with our immediate neighbor and more than 3/4 of the main walkway that leads to the parking area. For that two and half hours of work, not only did I not get thanked, but the kid next door actually bitched that I hadn’t shoveled it wide enough in places. I asked him why he wasn’t out helping and he muttered, “I don’t have a shovel and they don’t pay me to do that kinda shit.” He scampered back inside and slammed the door before I offered to loan him my shovel. Actually, no one is going to pay him to do any kinda shit, because he’s a semi-literate, lazy, sullen, rude little snot who’s only skills involve handheld video games.

Such is the life I have come to know and expect in the big city. Damn! I hate cities in general.

Now, I know that there are some fine, generous and hard-working folks in many parts of every city, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Gimme some country folk and good neighbors.

Final Set of Vacation Pictures

anthonystevens — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:39:51 +0000

Here are three shots I took today.

We’ll be back home in a few days and I’ll share some more images after I’ve had more of a chance to sort them.

Still More Pictures

anthonystevens — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:18:30 +0000

Y’all up north need to stay warm and safe!

A Few More Vacation Pix

anthonystevens — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:34:33 +0000

Vacation Pix

anthonystevens — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:18:48 +0000

Here are a few of the photographs I’ve taken so far.

Please note that these are the unedited images. I’ll be posting a gallery of the ‘best’ shots after I get back home.

Florida!

anthonystevens — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:35:19 +0000

We’re in Florida for the next ten days or so. When we left Falls Church, Virginia, it was 17 degrees and when we pulled into our driveway in Martin County, Florida, it was 75 degrees. I’d call that a nice change of pace.

People have accused me of being odd at times, but I will stand by my declaration that a beautiful Christmas is when you hang ornaments on the palm trees and go for a swim before dinner.

And just in case you hadn’t guessed it already, I’m going to be taking a LOT of photographs. Some of the better ones I’ll share in the next few weeks.

New Release Dates

anthonystevens — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:31:19 +0000

I just heard that Red Rose Publishing will be releasing two more of my books in the near future.

Bondage Fantasies is an Erotic Anthology of bdsm tales will show up on May 27th.

Cambio is the next release in the Saga that started with Shifter Born and it is scheduled for July 3rd.

I will share excerpts and cover art as soon as they are available.