A warm love bytes welcome to author E.J Russell joining us to talk about newest release “Wolf’s Clothing”.
Welcome E.J 🙂
My Curmudgeonly Husband is a home inspector. Homebuyers hire him to snoop around their prospective houses and point out potential problems. To do this, he usually spends four hours in the house, sometimes more—CH is not speedy, but then, if it was your house, would you want him to be? He spends nearly as many at home, writing the narrative report, describing each system in the house—complete with annotated pictures. During last year’s NaNoWriMo, when I boasted of hitting my fifty-thousand word goal in seventeen days, he scoffed and informed me he wrote one hundred and fifty thousand words in the same amount of time.
Show-off.
But even though CH aims for clarity and succinctness (and to rein in his native sarcasm), rather than the humor, tension, and emotional content that are my goals, we still have conversations about writing. Well, perhaps not “conversations.” They’re more like grammar ambushes.
Because while I take classes on plot and characterization and revision, CH takes classes on grammar. He took an online class from Bonnie Trenga, the author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, and mentor of Mignon Fogerty (aka Grammar Girl). One of their assignments was to write a run-on sentence and then break it up into more manageable chunks. This is his long sentence:
“On the way to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water, I tripped over the cat that had been sleeping on the stairs – the top stair, of course, not the bottom stair that would have been less dangerous – and nearly toppled head over heels but caught myself just in time before I realized that, with the way I feel about cats, I should have just let myself fall on the beast to teach it a lesson once and for all because, heaven knows, that miserable cat has caused me enough trouble over the years and besides which, it should have known better than to choose the top stair on which to sleep since it had been stepped on at least once, and quite possibly twice, in that very same location recently, just a few days before Thanksgiving, but I thought better of it when I considered the immense hassle, to say nothing of the immense expense, that I would have suffered if I had actually injured it so I decided that the best course of action was to administer my most severe glare of disapprobation and shame the animal into a state of inconsolable disgrace and guilt.”
(BTW, Ms. Trenga actually preferred this version. Our cat? Not so much.)
About Wolf’s Clothing
What do you do when you finally prove the existence of the otherworld, but the ghosts kick your ass?
For Trent Pielmeyer, the answer is run like hell—away from his hostile family, away from the disbelieving cops, and far, far, far away from anything that smacks of the supernatural. After seven years’ captivity in a whacked-out alternate dimension, he is so over legend tripping.
When Christophe Clavret spots Trent in a Portland bar, he detects a kindred spirit—another man attempting to outrun the darkness of his own soul. But despite their sizzling chemistry, Trent’s hatred of the uncanny makes Christophe hesitant to confide the truth: he’s a werewolf, one of a dwindling line, the victim of a genetic curse extending back to feudal Europe.
But dark forces are at work, threatening more than their growing love. If Christophe can’t win Trent’s trust, and if Trent can’t overcome his fear of the paranormal, the cost could be Trent’s freedom and Christophe’s humanity. Or it might be both their lives.
Available from:
About EJ Russell
E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she’s spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer, and business-intelligence consultant. After her twin sons left for college and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class, she returned to her childhood love of writing fiction. Now she wonders why she ever thought an empty nest meant leisure.
E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her curmudgeonly husband, the only man on the planet who cares less about sports than she does. She enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.
Connect with E.J.:
Website: ejrussell.com Blog: ejrussell.com/bloggery/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/E.J.Russell.author Twitter: twitter.com/ej_russell Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/ejrussell/
To celebrate the release of Wolf’s Clothing, one lucky winner will receive a $25 Riptide Publishing gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 15, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!
LOL! That’s a great sentence! Though I dare anyone to try to recite it without stopping for a breath.
Congratulations on the new release. I love te cover!
susanaperez7140(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks! Yes, some things are meant to be read rather than spoken–imagine putting that into a screenplay! (Cover by L.C. Chase–she’s awesome!)
just finished this book…very interesting take on werewolves
leetee2007(at)hotmail(dot)com
It’s really fascinating how pervasive–and how ancient–the werewolf mythos is, in all its permutations. Thanks for reading!
I’m currently reading the book as I was really curious what would happen to Trent after what he’d been through in previous book! Congrats and best of wishes on the release of Wolf’s Clothing, EJ.
puspitorinid AT yahoo DOT com
Thanks, Didi!
Congrats on the book. I loved your bio. I find empty nest is not at all leisure.
debby236 at gmail dot com
I know, right? Somehow the time gets filled up anyway. Thanks for stopping by!
Congrats on the new release! This book seems perfect for this time of the year, I need a Halloween-ish read.
serena91291@gmail(dot)com
Thanks, Serena! Somehow, I keep writing stories that fit this season–even when they’re released in May!
In spite of its length, that sentence seems strangely plausible!
vitajex(At)aol(Dot)com
Actually, I think it was probably autobiographical, knowing CH (and our cat). Thanks for stopping by!
Congrats on the book. I’m intrigued and the cover is beautiful.
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Thanks! L.C. Chase did a lovely job on the cover, didn’t she?
Absolutely love the synopsis and the cover is gorgeous! I can’t wait to give this a go! Congratulations on your release! 😀
Thanks you, Elizabeth!
While I’m sure the sleeping kitty is extremely grateful to have not been stepped on, I found the sentence highly entertaining! Thanks so much for the post!
legacylandlisa(at)gmail(dot)com
Well, everyone in our family (including the cat) is accustomed to CH’s glare of deepest approbation–it’s more or less his default expression! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you so much for hosting me today!
I love that sentence! Though I can see why the cat wouldn’t. Thanks for the post! violet817(at)aol(dot)com
Yet she remains devoted to him. Go figure!
Liked the nickname you give your husband ^^. Congrats on the release
amie_07(at)yahoo(dot)com
He lives up to it every day!
book sounds great even though i am not a cat person
jmarinich33 at aol dot com
No worries there–no cats appear in the book (just werewolves).
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Wow! I thought that sentence was a short story! lol! Thanks for sharing.
ree.dee.2014 (at) gmail (dot) com
It even has a black moment (at least for the cat).
LOL – I loved that run-on sentence. And, you know, I actually followed it quite easily. My husband is kind of a grammar nut, so we have “grammar ambushes” too.
jen(dot)f(at)mac(dot)com
Yes, some days it’s a definite “grammar grill”–I feel like I’m being interrogated and (if I give the wrong answer), will get chucked directly into grammar jail.
Congrats. And I agree, beautiful cover. And the story sounds great. I love gay paranormal and this is a tbr.
Purple Reader – TheWrote [at] aol [dot] com