Enjoy!

So you’re thinking, what does Slice of Cherry even mean? Well, the murderous sisters in the story have a grandcestor named Cherry who had abilities like theirs, so they are “slices” of Cherry. Also they like to cut people. Also cherry has other, you know, nonfruit meanings. So, as all the best titles do, it works on a bunch of different levels. But to all of y’all who tried to help me out, thanks a lot. Even the lame titles–I’m looking at you Kay–were really fun. xD

It just kills me that no one’s ever heard of these books.

The first one, The Melting Season by Celeste Conway, has kind of a girly, fluffy cover which does NOT match the tone of the novel AT ALL. I mean this is me, folks–you know if I like it, it’s got to have some element of darkness, right? It isn’t supernatural or anything, but it’s very gothic: there’s this frail beautiful heroine named Giselle who lives in old penthouse with a decaying garden–her father’s garden which hasn’t been touched since his death–and dark family secrets. And romance. When people ask me who my favorite YA crush is, I usually say Will, Giselle’s love interest. He’s sweet, but very straight-forward, even pushy, which is just what Giselle needs because there are many things in her life she doesn’t want to face. Here’s a cookie from The Melting Season, which is told from Giselle’s point of view:

My mind sort of blanked as Will (I absolutely loved his name–willpower; act of will; will to live) started giving directions. He used his hands to demonstrate. His beautiful right forearm represented the various streets, and he used his left hand, held in a karate chop position, to indicate the compass directions. It was very intense to watch.

Giselle comes from a family of famous ballet dancers and she herself is studying to become one. She’s worldly and well-traveled, but kind of embarrassed by her own sophistication. Her observations tend to be grim yet hilarious. She’s such a great character, and The Melting Season is an awesome read.

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon has everything going for it that The Melting Season doesn’t from a marketing point of view–great cover and jacket copy, plus it’s paranormal which is huge right now–yet no one is reading it. It boggles the mind.

Silver Phoenix is about a girl named Ai Ling who decides to go to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams to try to find her father who has been missing for a long time. If Ai Ling finds her father, she can save herself from a forced marriage to a lascivious jerk. But while making the long journey to the palace, Ai Ling keeps getting attacked by monsters, almost as if she was attracting them in some way. Here’s a cookie:

[She] walked with her arms folded tightly around her, the hairs on her neck rising each time she heard the rustle of leaves or soft scrape of dirt. Ai Ling did not have the courage to look back, imagining dark shapes following her–Master Huang on a horse in pursuit or even lost ghosts, seeking the warmth of a living being.

She cursed herself for ever reading The Book of the Dead.

How can you not want to read something like that? Plus the writing is literally delicious; after reading all the food descriptions, I guarantee your mouth will be watering by the end of the book.

I think that people who like Bleeding Violet will really like Silver Phoenix because, like BV, there are monsters (there’s a monster in SP made out of CORPSES which is so twisted I can only bow to Cindy Pon in awe)  and a few disturbing sexual situations, if you’re into that sort of thing–and admit it, you are–so seriously, if you liked BV even a little bit you’ll LOVE Silver Phoenix.

So go find The Melting Season and Silver Phoenix and give them a try, and then when you swoon from the awesomeness of these two books, send me a thank you note–it’s the least you can do. ;p

Now as far as writing advice goes, this article got me to thinking about my own responses. The two things I tell people when they ask for advice are a variation of the following:

Just write it; you don’t have to ask for permission. If you do have to ask for permission, then the answer is no because if you’re that timid, you shouldn’t be writing anyway.

Believe in yourself and your work–but prepare to have your heart broken.

And that’s it. So if you’re thinking about asking me for writing advice, there you go and happy birthday. Why ask me for advice anyway? I’m a rookie, remember, not a rock star. Yet. ;p But not even the rock stars can tell you how to write. Every writer has to find his or her own way through that particular mindfield.

1. What is your favorite word?
curiosa

2. What is your least favorite word?
heady

3. What turns you on?
people who get me

4. What turns you off?
intolerance

5. What sound or noise do you love?
people singing in harmony, like choirs or madrigal singers

6. What sound or noise do you hate?
squealing tires

7. What is your favorite curse word?
f*ckwit, but only in theory–I’ve never said it to anyone, but I think it at certain people real hard sometimes

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
pianist (even though I can barely get through Jingle Bells)

9. What profession would you not like to do?
I don’t know what the proper name for it is, but I wouldn’t want to be the person who has to masturbate race horses. I saw it on an episode of Dirty Jobs, and it just seems like the worst job ever.  How would you even explain it to people?

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
I can explain everything.

From Brightly Woven:

I let myself admit that he had a roguish charm about him. Some hint of softness in his eyes, at least. No, he wasn’t a soldier, but he was still a stranger, a vagabond, maybe. Even if I hadn’t seen his face, his worn boots and torn cloak would have told his story. The pressure of his hand on my arm became nearly unbearable, yet it wasn’t until I let out a gasp of pain that he released me.

I can already tell I’m gonna like this book. I haven’t read a good old-fashioned fantasy novel in forever.

From Strange Fruit:

Claudine Street looked as though it had been unzipped, bricks scattered everywhere. Cars and trucks were flipped over or teetering at weird angles as hard white water from a burst hydrant swept past the sisters’ tires in a flood.

The sisters pedaled onto the dry, deserted sidewalk and parked their bikes at the nearest bike rail. Then Kit took Fancy’s hand and lead her up the street, deftly maneuvering around the pools of blood on the sidewalk.

“What do you think did all this?” Fancy asked, clinging to Kit’s hand, passing shop windows where wide-eyed people watched them go past.

Kit only shrugged. That was the problem with living in Portero—it could have been anything.

Kung Fu Theater is something my mom was into. After the cartoons were over, they’d show a martial arts film, usually a Shaw Brothers epic or something with either Bruce Lee or Bruce Li. The best thing I remember seeing during Kung Fu Theater was 36 Chambers of Shaolin. Best kung fu film EVER.

And so of course I have playlists for my books. Here’s a sampling from the Bleeding Violet playlist.

It’s super low-budget though (the people who made the film couldn’t get any money or studio support so I don’t think this was even released in movie theaters). It doesn’t have the look of a movie, but rather a really high-end TV show with awesome special-effects and fight scenes, but that got cancelled before anyone even saw the first episode.

INK was directed and written by some guy named Jamin Winans and all I can say is how stupid is the movie industry that when a guy comes at them with something as awesome as this movie is, they just ignore it? Even GYMKATA got released in theaters for crying out loud! It just kills me when actual hardworking, deserving people can’t get a break.

All I’m saying is, if you wanna see something super incredible, GO BUY THIS MOVIE; I bought my copy on Amazon.

And just for the record, there’s no sex/sexual situations or anything disturbing. There are fight scenes but nothing more intense than you would find in a Buffy episode. I don’t even remember seeing any blood. The main character does drop the f-bomb quite a few times when under stress, though, but that’s it. Here’s the trailer:

Isn’t that awesome? And just for the record again, no I’m not being paid to promote this ;p. I don’t know any of these people. Someone on Amazon recommended this movie to me, so I’m just passing along the love.

I haven’t done a Music Monday in a long time. I’m in a mood to celebrate the bizarre, and who’s more bizarre than Grace Jones? She’s this scary/beautiful supermodel from the 80s who’s been in movies, but is also a singer. She even sings in French–that’s how badass she is. This song isn’t in French; it IS creepy and strange though, and I’m kind of into it right now.