So a few words.

Connor Davian

My delightful little grandson was born 4 weeks ago today. He’s already playing Scrabble and longboarding down the street. Well, maybe not. But he’s holding his bitty head up now and again! Little sweetie. My dear son and dearest DIL are settling in to the routine. Her wonderful parents are visiting from Singapore. All good.

Our cabin seems to be constructing itself right before our amazed eyes. Might be occupied by mid January (?) (!)  There is snow up there now, but the roof is on and the windows are installed. All good.

Thanksgiving was super good. I brined the turkey for the first time. Made wonderful gravy-for the first time. Daughter made chipotle mashed sweet potatoes that were spicy and yum. Lotsa work, lotsa fun, very thankful and all good.

On the down:  My 2 month old Kodak EasyShare broke. I have to mail it to Kodak, at my expense, for repair.

I have been summoned for Jury Service at the U.S. District (Fed) Court in downtown Los Angeles. If called, I will have to board a bus at 6:30 am tomorrow and ride for 1.25 hours to the courthouse, then repeat after 5 pm to come home. I am stressing beyond belief. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s a phase in my life.  A few years ago it wouldn’t have bothered me much. But now, I’m a wreck. And I have to be on-call for 2 weeks. Bleh.

Did you know that Grand Jury appointments last for 6 or 12 months? Yep, you have to go once a month for the duration. Somebody hand me a Tums?

PS – I’m supposed to remind everyone that POINT SURRENDER is still on sale at Amazon & BN.com! Just 99 cents for your reading pleasure…

• Small press month
• Women’s history month
• National Nutrition Month
• National Kidney Month
• American Red Cross Month.

See anything interesting yet? Maybe you’re not up to a whole month of anything, so consider this: it’s Read an ebook week! Yes, those annoying tree-huggers are back, admonishing you for still reading paper books! I’ll admit to reading both, although I prefer the “e” variety and have for many years. Do I have a dedicated ereader? Yes, and no. My ereader is the granddaddy of all ebook reading devices, the Rocket eBook, and it’s like 8 years old already. Heavy, clunky, but adorable.

On Monday, I noticed the woman on the next treadmill was jogging while reading a Kindle, placed on the magazine deck of her machine. She had to reach up every few seconds to press the spot that would turn the page as she ran. Very jazzy. Poor me, trying to read about Johnny Depp in Entertainment Weekly, while the overhead fan kept blowing the magazine’s leaves. Hrmph.

To celebrate REBW, my niece and I went to B & N yesterday and she scraped up $280 in cold, hard-earned cash (she’s 18) for a nook™ ereader. (Yes, it’s lower case. Go figure.) We were both so excited and spent quite a while playing with it later. While I am enamored with the upcoming Apple iPad, I am so not enamored with the $500+ price tag. So I’m going to wait a bit, get the feedback from my niece on the nook and see if I get a chance to test drive the iPad when it comes out. In the meantime, I’ll play with her nook. Say, look what she’s reading!

POINT SURRENDER is available for your nook, your Kindle, your Sony reader and even your Rocket eBook. Read it on your computer, your iPhone, your MACBook. Your Pocket PC, your Blackberry, your Palm Pilot. And even (shhh! – don’t tell everyone) available in dead-tree version! (On sale at B&N.com for $11.69!)

Happy Reading!

I confess to not re-viewing this film lately. I couldn’t wait to see it when it came out, ten years ago, for two reasons. One, I was a huge Kevin Costner fan at the time, and two, I’d read the book by Nicholas Sparks (also available for Kindle, Sandy!). I bought the book in the airport as we were getting ready to board a vacation flight to Colorado. I read it in one day. I was disappointed in the book; the story was great, but the mechanics were poor. Not well edited, IMO. Head-hopping so often I couldn’t tell who was thinking what. Simple, but annoying habits like repeated use of the same adjectives. Sentence structure was uninspired. I mention this because it was that day that I got out my old, dusty manuscripts and decided I would one day be published. Thanks, Nick.

Aside from my then-schoolgirl-type-crush on Costner, I’ve had a life-long love affair with Paul Newman. I could watch him do a paper towel commercial and drop into a full swoon. Not that he ever did such a thing. He (and Costner, to some extent) was the inspiration for the character of Dane Pierce in STARCROSSED HEARTS. If you want to see Paul in one of his (IMO) sexiest early roles, see WINNING.

But I digress. Seguin Island Lighthouse is located in what is one of the foggiest places in the world, according to those wonderful Lighthouse Friends. It is Maine’s second lighthouse, and was authorized by George Washington. That’s old. The Fresnel lens is 13 feet high, and still operating, thanks to the Friends of Seguin Island, who also see to the volunteer keepers year after year.

For die-hard romantics and hanky twisters, the film is worth seeing. And you, lucky readers, got two movie recommendations for the price of one!

I have a vested interest. CAPE SEDUCTION is slated for a November 1st release in electronic format. Fourteen formats, to be sure. And you can bet LOTS of people will be getting digital readers, iPhones and Kindles for Christmas this year. Forrester recently released a report that is paraphrased at BNET. Apparently, “from 2008 to 2009, Amazon sold an estimated 600,000 Kindles. But Sony sold an estimated 400,000 of its e-readers.” That’s a million readers, folks. And it doesn’t count the number of iPhones, iPod Touches, PDA’s, laptops and other ebook reading devices already in use. Now that Sony has lowered prices on devices and ebooks, and has determined they will support the ePub* format, we will start to see them pull ahead of Amazon. Mark my words. (*See great WSJ article about ePub and DRM here.)

Speaking of Cape Seduction, I’m ecstatic to say that cover art is in the works. We have obtained rights to photos that will be mysteriously ‘Shopped into a spellbinding cover! So stay tuned on that front.

My calendar says my next personal appearance will be at the Duarte Festival of Authors. Have never done this particular festival and am looking forward to sharing some space with fellow Echelon author Gayle Carline. Gayle and I met at L.A. Times Festival of Books in April, when she was selling her new release, FREEZER BURN. We get along great except for when it comes to horses… she’s an equestrienne extraordinaire and I’m more the type that likes the wooden ones that go ’round and ’round in the mall. Is there a 12-step program for equine-o-phobes?

Good news/bad news department:  We now think our guinea pig has a benign lipoma. A fat bump. Not dangerous in itself, and should just be watched for awhile. The bad news? Son is not coming home now.   He did assure me he’ll be home for Christmas (why do I hear Bing Crosby‘s baritone in the background?) Ugh. Sadness. Why does Singapore have to be so far away (and so expensive to commute?)

Have started a new story. Don’t know yet if it is a full length book or not. Takes place in the 1980′s, about a glam rocker and a makeup artist. Has to do with gay performers hiding their sexuality (or not). Not sure how readers will take this topic. Not really worried, either.

Haven’t fired up the new Pink KitchenAid Stand Mixer yet. Will plan to do some whirling this weekend and will, of course, share the results, if only virtually. Daughter wants to paint flames on the sides, like Alton Brown‘s. I told her I have enough trouble with burning food.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, something likely only interesting to me and my stalkers. Oh well. It will wait.

Jack McKenzie is a hard guy to catch up with! But we finally found time to talk–albeit at the local ice hockey rink.

Pam:   Can I get you a towel? You’re dripping.

Jack:   I have one here. Thanks. So what’s this for? A blog?

Pam:   Yeah. You are my hero of the week.

Jack: (drying off face) I’m flattered! Wow. Brad Pitt wasn’t around?

Pam:   Brad isn’t a character in one of my books. So, did you win?

Jack:   Hockey? Oh, no. This was just a pick-up practice. I’m a little out of shape. I’ve been up north, working with a buddy on a big project.

Pam:   Case McKenna.  His after-school club for kids.

Jack:   Yeah! How’d you know?

Pam:    I wrote his book, too. About Point Surrender.

Jack:   Oh. Of course. So you know about the lighthouses.

Pam:    I should hope so. But let’s talk about you. You are married?

Jack: (grins) Maddie. (Shakes head in reflection) She’s the best. And since you’re going to ask, we have four kids. Hers, Todd, who’s a challenging teen but a good guy; Duncan, mine, from before, you know, and then Davey and Mae. Mae’s in preschool.

Pam:    You’ve known Maddie a long time?

Jack:   We went to high school together. Then we met again one day in the park, just a fluke, I was taking Dunc for a walk. I couldn’t believe how much she’d changed. I mean, she grew up. Into this very hot, sensitive woman. She needed help. With Todd, with her ex, all kinds of stuff. Todd’s dad had disappeared. I took her to Paris to try to sort things out. I can’t even tell you… well… it was weird.

Pam:   What was weird? Paris?

Jack:   What we found when we got there. It just about ended everything between us. I almost packed it in. But you know, I was… I was in too deep by that time. I just couldn’t let her go.

Pam:   I’m sure our mutual fans are glad. What’s up next for you?

Jack:   Don’t laugh. I’m thinking of buying my own lighthouse.

Pam: (rolls eyes) Don’t do this to me. You do realize, I’m the one who has to write this stuff.

Jack:   (broad, gleaming teeth smile) Yes, I do realize that. Wanna get some coffee?

Jack McKenzie and Maddie Cross are both characters in IN TOO DEEP by Anne Carter, from Wings ePress, Amazon and available for your Kindle, iPhone or other ereader from Fictionwise.

Pam:     Well, Case McKenna. Or is it Casey?

Case:     Just Case. (Shakes dark, shaggy locks away from his face.) But yeah. Casey’s my given name. Just got a bit worn.

Pam:     Case it is. Let’s see. You own a lighthouse?

Case:     (Shakes head, grins) Oh, no. Not me. You’re talking about Point Surrender, right? Nope. Not mine. Thank God. It belongs to my girlfriend’s brother and his wife.

Pam:     I see. But you have a connection.

Case:     Well, yeah, you might say that.

Pam:     You don’t want to talk about it.

Case:     Can I buy a vowel, Vanna?

Pam: (laughing) Can you tell us anything about this famous lighthouse? I heard it was haunted.

Case: (chews bottom lip, thoughtful) Yes. Yes, I’ve seen…a ghost there.

Pam:     Scary!

Case:     Not really. He’s a benevolent type. He had a … message for us.

Pam:     Us. You and ?

Case:     Amy. My lady love. My cohabitant. My significant other.

Pam:     What kind of message?

Case:     He wanted us to know about some…important events that occurred in the lighthouse. To clear up some things. You know. He couldn’t rest… all that stuff.

Pam:     Do you know who he was?

Case:     Yes.

Pam:     And?

Case:     Just—yes.

Pam:     Is it true that the last keeper died in the lighthouse?

Case:     Yes. And no, it wasn’t him. (Chuckles).

Pam:     Well thank you for that, at least! Now, you are a veteran of the Marines?

Case: (Shakes head, again) I’m a marine veterinarian. I take care of sick sea mammals and birds.

Pam:     But do you visit Point Surrender?

Case:     Not if I can help it.

Pam:     Did anyone ever tell you you are a tough interview?

Case: (Blue eyes twinkle) You want to talk about whales or sea otters?

Case McKenna and Amy Winslow are both characters in POINT SURRENDER by Anne Carter, from Echelon Press, Amazon and available for your Kindle, iPhone or other ereader from Fictionwise.

Yes, my book is on Kindle

Lit Agent Nathan Bransford’s post this morning got me thinking. (Note: I still like Nathan even though he turned down my query in a NY minute.) Nathan’s a smart guy, and if anyone is keeping his finger on the pulse of the pub industry, he is. Today he is talking about the squabble over releasing hard cover books in advance of ebooks, because the fear seems to be that the less expensive electronic editions will hurt sales of paper versions. This is particularly amusing to me, because my small press publisher does just the opposite; ebooks first, paper books only if the e-version does well.

I was glad to see that, for the most part, Nathan and I are on the same proverbial page. I see book purchasing consumers as two very different breeds, at least for the time being. The ebook market is still in the throes of a painfully slow evolution. True, the advent of the Kindle and Sony readers has given the process a good shove, but I still believe that the same people who want those hard backs (I never buy them, myself) aren’t the same folks who will gleefully download the same book instead simply due to cost. Save for a small percentage of enlightened mainstream book buyers, most of those clamoring for ebooks would not likely buy the expensive paper version to begin with. Likewise, paper-only-pundits wouldn’t be caught dead with a USB cable in hand.

What I see are missed opportunities for publishers to mine both camps. Maybe part of the problem is that these big, mainstream publishers don’t really know how to market the digital versions of their new releases. Or, they are so focused on the low price of the ebook, they fail to see how any sale is better than no sale.

I’m no expert–although I’d like to be–and I’m still trying to figure out how best to promote ebooks myself. I see my own readers as divided. Clearly, for me, most of my fan base prefers the trade paperback–and I’ve been touting ebooks for ten years. But I can be patient. Ebooks have come farther in the last year than in the previous five, in my opinion. And I’ll repeat what I’ve said many times before: paper books will not go away; there will be, however, a shift in reading toward their electronic cousins. A market share for both.

Today begins a new series of interviews with fictional heroes. First up is Dane Pierce, of Hollywood, California, mega star and romantic lead in STARCROSSED HEARTS by Anne Carter. I caught up with Dane at a virtual coffee shop in Malibu.

Pam:  Good morning, Mr. Pierce. Would you like a cup of coffee?

Dane:    Just Dane. Coffee would be great. Heavily leaded, please. Too much celebrating last night.

Pam:   Well, you are the first in our “Interview With a Hero” series here at Beacon Street. I hope you’re comfortable with that. Let’s start by having you describe yourself for our readers.

Dane:    Describe myself? Hmm. I’m just a regular guy, I guess. If you want stats, I’m 6’ tall, weigh, oh, 180 or so, I have green eyes and ash brown hair. I’m an actor, seems like I have been my whole life. I have four kids, or, wait. Five kids, last count. Three with my ex, one with my present wife and then I adopted her son. So, yeah, five. Three girls, two boys.

Pam:     Are you a good father?

Dane:    On and off. I try. I love my kids.

Pam:     You’re an actor. What is your favorite film? Of yours, that is.

Dane:    Has to be Lost Season. Filmed on location in Amande, down in the Caribbean. We won “best picture” that year.

Pam:     You directed it?

Dane: (nodding) Starred, directed, produced. Jessica Taylor, the love of my life, also starred. They don’t make films like that one anymore.

Pam:     Tell us about Jessica.

Dane: (smiles, looks to distance for a moment) She was, and still is… beautiful, strong, feisty. Unflinchingly loyal. Stubborn. A great mom. And—is this a “G” rated blog?

Pam:     Go on. I can edit.

Dane: (chuckles) She is damned sexy. We once… foolish kids that we were… we once [edited] on the beach in Amande. It was after the wrap party. I took advantage of her, actually. She was reeling from her last relationship–at the time.

Pam:     With Mac MacKendall. Who later became your best friend.

Dane.    Yes. Helluva guy. One of the good guys.

Pam:     Aside from the beach memory, can you share something about your life with Jessica that you’d like your fans to know?

Dane:    I met her on the set of a pirate flick. This was post-Errol Flynn, pre-Johnny Depp. The film was called Bellerive. She was a bit part player, I was a swashbuckler. I was having a shitty day, she offered to drive me… no, wait. I asked her to drive me off the lot to get some air. She told me about her aspirations to become a real actress, a leading lady. She was so naïve, so … fresh. I was immediately taken with her. I didn’t see her for awhile after that, but I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I ended up casting her the lead in Lost Season and never looked back.

Pam:     What would Jessica say about you today?

Dane: (laughs out loud) She still calls me a scoundrel. She can call me anything she wants. I will always love her.

Dane Pierce and Jessica Taylor are leading characters in STARCROSSED HEARTS and its sequel, A HERO’S PROMISE, by Anne Carter, both published by Wings ePress and available at Amazon. Also available for your Kindle, iPhone or other ereader at Fictionwise.

Australian students using netbooks in the classroom.

Since Governor Swarzeneggar’s recent move to make digital textbooks a reality in California, I have been watching the process unfold and have listened to a dizzying array of public reaction. Typically, many people fire off opinions prior to becoming fully informed on the subject. Some fear that economically-disadvantaged students would not be able to keep up without computers and/or internet connections at home. Others cite the high cost of ebook readers as the shortfall of the project.

One thing’s for certain: there is a lot more to be researched and said. I’m not entirely sure that the Governor was totally up-to-speed himself as he proposed his mandate. And how could he be? Technology is changing rapidly, as hardware (ereader manufacturers) and software (textbook publishers) providers all scramble to provide the latest and greatest and more, do it first.

As previously mentioned, the Kindle DX is currently in use on several college campuses as students determine the strengths and weaknesses of the portable electronic book. One issue is the device’s inability to display in color, which diminishes the impact of science textbook photos and diagrams. History books, too, suffer under the monochrome limitation.

After reading about One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) a non-profit organization that strives to “empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child,” I thought, why not here? While it is certainly a worthwhile, altruistic goal to modernize education in Peru and Cambodia, why can’t we improve education in Bakersfield or Hemet in a similar fashion?

Naturally, when I was first introduced to the popular new “netbooks“, something clicked. Netbooks are fully-functioning laptop computers, missing only a CD/DVD drive and a pound or two in weight. Smaller keyboard, smaller screen, but internet capable. Beefy enough to handle word processing and ebooks. Retail priced lower than the Kindle DX. In color. Wrap it up with a rubber collared bump guard and you have a student-ready learning device.

No waiting around in Evansville, IL. The school district is acquiring thousands of netbook computers for their students and teachers. This pilot program will see the rental of these units to families for $70.00 each. The District is picking up the $45.00 balance of the $115.00 yearly rental fee. See the whole story here.

I envision a time when a high school will have its own wi-fi intranet, where teachers will upload and download lesson plans and tests will be instantly posted from students’ netbooks. I see textbooks with interactive, mini-videos embedded within. Who wouldn’t rather watch a reenactment or actual archived footage of an historic event than read through four dry paragraphs recounting same? Today’s students are point-and-click fanatics.

Read here about an Australian school where netbooks have already been implemented. Be sure to read comments made by 4th & 5th grade students. (Top photo courtesy Anne Mirtschin.)

As I mentioned above, there is still much ground to be covered. I look forward to being on the front lines.