I love the paranormal, that goes without saying. I also love anything that is on the edge; occult, mystic, unexplained and especially covert, cover-up’s and conspiracies.

So with that being said, my blog is going to be in addition to my writing. Yes I’m still a writer, and from time to time I’ll be introducing you to new authors and I may even talk about something I’ve read, but for the most part I’m going to be discussing whatever topic that exists in the realm of unexplained, unknown or unbelieveable. I promise to try to stay out of politics and I will mostly try to stay out of religion though it’s hard.

Bear with me while I get stuff linked up, synced up and connected and hopefully I can provide you with at least an amusing respite from your day!

My first breakfast here in Man-World consisted of going to ‘the cafe’. Bill & Rosa’s is a typical small-town restraunt with a wood plank porch, screen door and assorted stuffed heads hanging on the wall. The interior is decorated with old Americana signs, license plates and farm equipment and there isn’t a matching table in the room. Rosa,(god bless her) watches over the entire establishment from a bowling ball on the counter where her ashes are forever immortalized in her favorite past-time. A big screen hanging on the wall bridges the generational gap between post-war small town and technology that isn’t going away any time soon.

Entering the cafe is like entering any other cafe in any other small town. Smells of coffee and food cooking assault the nostrils while the eye and brain rush to process all of the visual overload hanging on the walls. At the center of this whirling mass of color and Americana is ‘the table’. It’s the center, the sun, around which the small town universe revolves. It is the beating heart of any small town eatery; I refer to it as the ‘old guys club’. Here are the over 50′s who sit and bitch about the government, the weather and the aches and pains life has recently dealt them. They are good men who have served their country, worked hard, go to church and love their mommas. They are fathers, grand-fathers, brothers and uncles. They are the guys to go to when when you need your truck fixed or your roof patched. They are every man in every small American town.

As my husband introduces me around the table, it’s a bit intimidating as each one stands in turn, offering a hand and a “nice to meet’cha”. (And yes, they really do stand. Just like in the movies!)
The last man sits at the head of the table. Worn chambray shirt and dark cowboy hat, his skin is weathered and his eyes are bright and a little flirty. My female radar goes on high alert. Here’s one of those my mother warned me about. He is a picture worth far more than a thousand words. That cowboy hat at an angle tells me he’s ready to show a girl a good time. His smile is confident and genuine, meaning a girl is safe from bank robbers, rattlesnakes and rogue bronco’s with him. He takes my hand and his is warm, firm and rough from honest work. But it isn’t his hand that gets me, it’s his eyes that catch and hold my attention. Narrowed from the sun, but clear and intense, he removes his hat and reverently says, “How do you do ma’am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I think I melted into a puddle right there.
It was the heady mixture of flirtiness combined with just the right amount of reverance that made me want to sit down next to him, listen to his stories and laugh at his jokes.
My romantic ‘write’-brain was already trying to break down his parts to define the summation that was the man. Which characteristic intrigued me more? The mischieveous challenge daring me to join the fun? Or the alpha male who would take charge, club the female over the head and drag her back to the cave? (Which would be completely unnecessary since apparently more than one female had gone quite willingly from what I would later understand.) Here was my quintessential cowboy! Suddenly, in less than eleven words I had a character bigger than Texas! Flirty? Yes. Handsome? Check. Respectful? Yep. Polite? Absolutely. I had a character that I could write thousands of words about and still never begin to define him!
I think that’s the draw for me as a writer. It’s like finding the Rosetta stone or Tut’s tomb. Discovering one multi-layered individual that is the muse from which all others spring. A diverse palette comprised of the colors of life, where each layer, each color reveals a new depth, a new perspective of the soul. It’s that depth that I seek to create, it’s those layers I strive to show.

My friend ‘Larry’ says that ‘all men are simple’, and to a point, he’s right. But all men are also complex in their simplicity (or maybe we females just make it that way?) but how can any one male epitomize so much of what we love about cowboy culture? Dedication, bravery, integrity, grit, determination, tenderness, protectiveness: These are not random qualities tossed about higgeldy-piggeldy, they are precisely measured elements that give us things we love and long for. Some of us females just happen to prefer them packaged in a cowboy hat.

Recent events have required us to make some interesting changes, one of these being that I will be living with said spousal unit in a 32 ft. travel trailer for the next two weeks. Joining myself and my lovely husband will be our 3 four-legged children (of the canine variety)one of which is apparently a nervous pee-er but that’s a story for another day.

As if that weren’t enough, we have yet to discuss things like travel trailer bathrooms, storage (or the lack of it) and my personal favorite, views of south Texas cornfields. Ugh!  However, the REALLY interesting part of all this was my introduction my new life.
 
You see, I was advised by said husband that I will be entering ‘Man-World’ and therefore my behaviour, actions and reactions will need to be adjusted accordingly.
For example, recently my husband gave me my ‘briefing’ on how our day would proceed:

 We will rise promptly at 6:00 am to have breakfast at the ‘cafe’. The cafe is where ‘all the guys’ go. “The guys” all sit at the same table every morning, probably all graduated from the same high school, are definitely  all from the same generation, are all retired and all watch Fox News (really, it’s on a big screen in the restraunt). Here they discuss (and solve) all problems known to mankind. (Apparently the Pentagon has not been made aware of this South Texas think tank.) Since I am neither an early riser nor a fan of the fanatical Right, I’m not sure how my presence at a meeting of the He Man-Woman Hater’s Club will benefit me, but, hey, all in the name of education and broadening my horizons, right??
 
After finishing breakfast, said husband will go to ‘work, (a term I apply loosely here) as it consists of him spending long hours in the presence of additional ‘man world’ inhabitants discussing things like ‘rotor head balance’, ‘landing gear assembly’ and of course, the all important ‘what do you want for lunch’? I often wonder if the Y-chromosome factor is in direct correlation to the amount of work actually completed and if said correlation raises exponentially based on the number of said Y-chromosomes in the room. However, since he has graciously allowed me this free time to spend as I wish, I’ll forgo the algebra equations for a rainy day.

Upon completing his ‘work’ day, the spouse will arrive at home where he will then proceed to “Larry’s” camper (names have been changed to protect the innocent, former as well as current undercover operatives and/or those who may be wanted in certain states.) We are to arrive at “Larry’s” RV  with a contribution for dinner (typically wine and vegetables) where we will then relax in our testosterone induced fog (i.e. watch tv) until 9pm at which point we are allowed to retire to our own humble abode-on-wheels so that we may go to bed only to start the entire process over again.

As you may have deduced, these said ‘pilots’ are a curious lot: appearing dashing and noble with their flight suits, headsets and industry specific vocabulary but in reality they tend to resemble a band of gypsy’s roaming the countryside (except instead of stealing babies they spray corn with interesting compounds with names that end in -cide.)

So now that you are in the loop, I encourage you to join me as I post about my experiences of living in ‘Man-World’. Tomorrow I will be sharing with you my ‘breakfast experience’ of meeting a real-honest-to-goodness-Texas-cowboy. I assure you ladies, you will not want to miss this little bit of excitement in an otherwise dull day…it was quite a ‘hubba-hubba’ moment.

Turn off your damn cell phones and don’t talk during the movie!!!

Same applies to texting: DON’T DO IT!! It is distracting (rude) to the people around you and trust me, I am not too shy to shout at you during the movie to turn your cell phone off!

Waco (my current point of exile) is especially bad about this. I don’t know if people have forgotten their manners or if they simply never had any to begin with, but talking and cell phones at a movie are my two biggest pet peeves. My theory is: you are not so important that you can’t turn that damn phone off for 120 minutes, and if you are that important, then rent the theatre by yourself!

If you want to talk, rent it at home and talk all you want but while you are in the movie theatre: Shut your pie-hole!!

You see, I paid for a ticket just like everyone else. I view my ticket as a contract between me and the movie company. The movie company provides me with 120 minutes (+/-) of UN-INTERRUPTED escapism, and I do my part to insure that everyone around me is afforded the same courtesy!

So there you have it. I hope you are looking forward to ‘New Moon’ as much as I am and I hope I am able to enjoy it as much as I want to!

For day 15 I think I will shift our topics slightly to discuss secondary characters and who I would like to see developed into a main character. After all, romance authors do it all the time.

Who is your favorite secondary/supporting character?

I think for most of us it’s probably Alice, but I think that’s partly because she plays a larger role in Edward and Bella’s relationship than the others. I wasn’t too fond of Rosalie until I learned more of her story, but even then she still isn’t a favorite. It’s that free will thing, she chooses to be catty and nasty so I’m not one of her biggest fans, I just understand her motivations a bit better. Of the remaining, Carlile is my favorite simply for his heroism and character strength but Esme is the character I would truly like to know more about. She seems to have an inherent sweetness to her, even as a vampire, that Rosalie just doesn’t.

What is Esme’s story? Oh I know the whole ‘fell off the cliff’ routine, but really, what was Esme like when she was human? Did it bother her to leave her humanity behind? Was she happy from the beginning with Carlile? Had she maybe noticied Carlile before her change? (If I missed that in the books, someone feel free to correct me, at this point I’m going on what I remember.)

I would love to see Stephanie Meyer take some of the ‘perimeter’ characters and develop their stories.

I know, I know, rumor has it (her website) that she is working on Midnight Sun, and I will probably be a good little marketing victim and buy it, even though I question it as a career move. I don’t think she would be a success with it in the adult fiction/literature world, but the teenage mentality is quite different and I think it could be quite successful from a marketing standpoint. With that being said, I would still like to see some of the other character’s stories developed. Who, you might ask? I’m so glad you did.

Demitri for one. Remember some of the unspoken vibe between him and Bella? I think Demitri has a sense of humor and would make a great main character in a spin-off. The whole shadowy cloak coupled with the vampire mystique, there is some good story fodder there my friends! Jane and Alec, Felix, and don’t forget the Wolves! Who doesn’t want to know more about Leah and Seth, even Emily? All of these characters have a great story to tell us.

Tell me what you think:
Do you have a favorite secondary or supporting character? Why?

Autumn Shelley
“Blood Moon”
available NOW
from
The Wild Rose Press
www.autumnshelley.com
www.thewildrosepress.com

Since we’ve been discussing characters, let’s save Edward for later and talk about someone that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the overall ‘Twilight’ scheme. That would be Chief Charlie Swan.

 I think that Charlie should get an Emmy for his supporting role in the series. Really. He is a quintissential father who wants to be a good parent but isn’t quite sure how to go about it. To his credit, rather than hover and smother, he takes more of a hands off approach that I know I certainly would have appreciated as a teen!

Charlie worries about Bella, as is evident from his brief discussion with Alice in “New Moon”, as well as his reaction to Edward’s return. I find it comforting that Bella had a dad willing to stay out of her personal life but make his point known when he felt his little girl had been wronged. Charlie is truly angry at Edward’s return, thinking that Jacob is by far the better choice for Bella, and understandably so, considering Charlie is the one who lived with the ghost of his daughter for several months.

Charlie is also very typical male, at least in my world. They dont’ have a lot to say, and he may not be very proactive, but he’s solid, steady and secure. In the scheme of things, that consistency is a rock that some of us cling to. Bella cares more for Charlie than she lets on and this is evident from her constanct concern for how her actions will affect me. Once again, Bella is more mature than most teens in that respect and I think that is part of her appeal to adults. She doesn’t completely behave like an addle brained teen.

I have to say that of Bella’s parents, Charlie is my favorite. Her mother is just a little too scatterbrained for me, but then, maybe that’s because it reminds me too much of myself?

What do you think?

Was Charlie the stronger parent?

Should he have interfered more or stayed out of the way?

Tell me what you think!

 Autumn Shelley

 ”Blood Moon”

 available NOW in

 ”Taming of the Wolf”

from The Wild Rose Press

 www.autumnshelley.com

www.thewildrosepress.com

Bella Swan is an interesting mix of anti-social introvert and strong willed woman. Let me explain: In Twilight, Bella is presented to us as making this big sacrifice for her mother whom she loves very much. In order to perpetuate her mother’s happiness, Bella elects to move to Forks where it’s a given that she (Bella) will be miserable. This kind of self-sacrificing behaviour is unusual in a teen, and I think it’s part of the appeal of the series for me. Bella may be in high school for all intents and purposes, but her personality and maturity level are beyond high school and beyond some 40 year olds. I’m not saying that it was wrong to to create the character that way, I’m just saying that it made it much easier for me to become emotionally involved with the character as an adult than I have been in say, LJ Smith’s “Vampire Diaries” characters. (Sorry, LJ, I”m glad they (the books) do well for you as YA, but I couldn’t have empathized with those characters even as a teen).
Bella has some endearing traits that appealed to me as an adult, her insecurities, her intelligence and her feelings for Edward were all more mature than they were youthful. She was obviously operating on a higher sophistication and education level than the average high school age female, and while this was subtley explained away in the book, it blurred the lines of her youth even more. Her interaction with other students was minimal and focused more on generalized social aspects as opposed to day-to-day inanities like note passing, locker meetings and cheer practice. It was this subtle handling of her dailiy life that even adults could identify with and I believe that therein lies the magic of ‘Twilight’. Stephanie Meyer did such a good job of balancing the adult characteristics, which by far outweigh the teenage tendancies, with the ‘sprinkling’ of high school angst that the story found much wider appeal. I don’t know if this was planned or if it’s just how it was written, but either way, it worked.
While Bella’s clumsiness felt a bit contrived at times, it was necessary as it affected later parts of the story and as a reader, I was quite ready to forgive it for the benefits the story provided. There are times when I wonder how well we really know this character? What would we have learned about her if Edward and the Cullens had never entered the picture? Would she have been more focused on attending college? Would she have ‘settled’ for Mike Newton? Would she have continued to be as withdrawn or would she have bloomed under the attention of her Forks classmates? The beauty in the answer to these questions is that because Edward and the Cullens did show up, we didn’t care! From the moment Bella saw Edward, she was fixated on him, focused so intently that he truly became her life. That is the true love we all long for, that one individual who (to quote the lamest line in Hollywood history) “completes us”.
What do you think?
Was Bella too mature to be believable as a teen age character?
If so, then why does she have such wide appeal to young (under 18) women?
Was Bella’s characterization vague or did you feel like you really knew her?
Tell me what you think!

Autumn Shelley
“Blood Moon”
available NOW
from The Wild Rose Press
www.autumnshelley.com
www.thewildrosepress.com

We will be doing all sorts of fun, tricksy-treatsy things to celebrate the month! Drop by, say ‘hi’, ‘boo!’ or whatever gets ya goin!

Oh, and don’t forget to get your copy of ‘Taming the Wolf’ here: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

Just type in “Taming of the Wolf” in the search bar, and boom! there ya are!!!