New Beginnings: A New Book and a New Doctor

 New Beginnings: A New Book

It's here at last--the release of my first novel in my series, Loving Who, a sci-fi romantic-comedy full of Who fans and fun, is now available from Devine Destinies Books. Also available at Amazon in print and e-formats, and from other online retailers. You can read an excerpt below before I give my take on the "New Doctor."

Loving Who
by Cynthianna
http://www.devinedestinies.com/loving-who/
 
Screwball comedy meets the world of Doctor Who fandom. Cici Connors' life will never be the same and it all changes when she takes a mysterious man into her life—and her bed. John Smith makes the perfect Doctor for their club's fan film, but is he really good boyfriend material? His fondness for popcorn and whipped cream are the least of his eccentricities, as Cici discovers not everyone sees the same man she sees.

When will John confess he's not from this planet? Will Cici regret having an affair and becoming mixed-up in an extra-terrestrial kidnapping plot? After all, how many alien assassins tracking her does one fangirl need?

And now an excerpt from Loving Who.  In this scene, our heroine Cici is transmatted from Earth to an alien world for the first time:

I don’t know when I began screaming, but my ears throbbed from my shrieks upon our arrival on a dark, featureless plain. I clapped my mouth shut and stared at John Smith, the man, alien, sentient being, who had made the unthinkable possible, the undoable doable, and in the process, had taken me to where I’d always wanted to go.

“Look up,” he said calmly.

I did. A million stars stabbed my eyes from a sea of the blackest velvet. A billion times better than staring through my souped up telescope. A trillion times better than pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope on the internet.

I was actually here.

“Like what you see?” He chuckled at my dumbfounded response. “Fancy the Bygons placing their teleportation deck where they keep their observatory.”

He strolled toward what appeared to be a console and flipped a couple of switches. Low-level lightning came on about the walls and a hum of machinery filled the emptiness of the circular chamber. I continued to gaze up through the huge skylight window.

“Cici? You okay?”

I pointed upward. “Stars,” I said at last. “Lots of them.”

“Eloquently put.” He came to my side and looked up. “You may or may not recognize any of the constellations but try not to worry. I’ll sort it out.”

“So many stars.” I had to close my mouth to keep from drooling.

“Uh, yes.” He frowned. “It appears I’ve made bit of a miscalculation. We’re not in Earth’s orbit. We’re not on a ship, either.”

I gasped. My knees turned to jelly. The piercing lights above began to swirl about me. I could feel my breakfast rising as a wave of nausea swept over me. John caught me by the elbow and lowered me to sit cross-legged on the deck.

“Where…are we?” I asked.

“A planet somewhere to the south and west of St. Louis by several million light years I estimate.” He stood and shrugged. “Not too far off the beaten path.”

“Not too far off?” My brain switched back on, and things began to sort themselves out internally. “We’re several million light years away from Earth, and you considered that close?”

“It’s all relative. Ask my friend Albert. It’s what he said. Anyway, we can go back the way we came, so we might as well avail ourselves of a tour of this curious facility.”

He offered me a hand, and I shakily regained my feet. “Where is everyone? I thought we’d run into the ghostly geeks with the shades.”

“So did I. Maybe it’s their tea time or something. Come along. Let’s explore.”

Loving Who now available from Devine Destinies Books and other fine online book sellers. (Now available at Amazon.)

 
You can read more about the other books in the series coming soon on my Loving Who series page by clicking here. If you can, please leave a review of my books on Amazon, Goodread, Facebook or elsewhere and let me know when you do so I can thank you. 

Loving Who was first written in the David Tennant era, so no, it doesn't mention the latest Doctor. It's about fans of both the classic series and the new. What do I think about the recent announcement of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor? Well... I've not said much about the announcement online since I've been busy lately, and I've seen some fans attacking other fans over either liking or not liking the Beeb's decision.  Some even attacked Fifth Doctor Peter Davison for simply voicing his opinion. 

That's simply not right. It's a TV show, folks. In the grand scheme of things, it's entertainment--not life or death. Peter and all Whovians deserve the right to express their thoughts in a respectful manner. So with that in mind, here's what I say about this latest bit of Who news.

 A New Beginning: A New Doctor
  

As an author myself, I'm not always sure it's a good thing to mess with another artist's creative vision. Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman (the original producers/show creators) created  Doctor Who to be "family friendly" and "educational," but it has wandered far afield from this early concept. They made the Doctor a crusty, older British-sounding male, and cast William Hartnell in the role. If that's how they saw the character of the Doctor, who are we to argue with them? It would be like saying, "Huckleberry Finn is now a middle-aged, Chinese female instead of a young American boy." What would Mark Twain think of what you did to his character of Huck Finn? (Does a radically different Huck make sense in the context of the entire novel?) Since Verity and Sydney are no longer with us, we'll never know what they think about how others have interpreted their vision, but don't we owe it to their legacy to take care of their artistic creation?

I wonder why the BBC doesn't start a new, completely unique show with a "Time Lady" (such as Romana or the Rani) instead. Then the new show creators could do whatever they like with the Time Lady character without the worries of upsetting fans of the old show or going against series canon. I hear rumors of actress Georgia Moffat returning as the "Doctor's Daughter" in her own television show, so it is possible to start fresh with a spin-off if you're feeling trapped by the older show's scope.

Since the Doctor has regenerated thirteen times now--and has always been "male" in appearance and British in his speech patterns--why would he/she/it become "female" now? What good reason can one give for this radical change in the character? Why isn't the Doctor African or Asian instead? Why can't the Doctor speak with an American or Australian accent? Why does the Doctor have to speak English at all? Why not make the Doctor Brazilian or Mexican? The fans south of the border would love it! It just doesn't make much sense within the internal logic of the Doctor's  character to change his basic make-up since it has worked so well for the show for almost 54 years.  Such a radical change comes across as a ratings' ploy more than an artistic choice. Is the show in such trouble that it needs to pull a "stunt" to gain new viewers? What's the real motive behind this "gimmick"?

Still, Jodie Whittaker is a good actress, and it's worth a look to see how she handles the part.  I wish her and the new showrunners the best of luck. Fingers crossed they give her decent scripts to act and not the poor quality scripts Peter Capaldi was sometimes stuck with. It's the poor scriptwriting of the newer Who series that's disappointed me at times--never the actors, settings or SFX, etc., which are generally first rate. Having studied screenplay writing and film critique, I hate to see opportunities wasted to create brilliant science fiction on screen. The talent is out there writing-wise, BBC. Please use it!

Loving Who now available from Devine Destinies Books and other fine online book sellers!

 

Now available in print: Clan Drakul--The Kindred Vampires

For all erotic-romance vampire lovers--and readers who like two stories for the price of one...

Now available from Amazon, my first print book from eXtasy Books--Clan Drakul: The Kindred Vampires by Celine Chatillon.

Click here to order your copy today!


Two tall, dark and handsome vampires looking for someone to share eternity with-while dealing with a maniacal vampire hunter provides the focus for Clan Drakul.

In The Vampire Next Door, Val Drakul thinks the sexy girl upstairs could fulfill his every fantasy, but will Melynda's career plans take a backseat to things that go bump in the night? When a deadly foe ensnares Mel in his plot to rid the world of the Kindred Vampire race, can Val save the mortal woman he loves without transforming her into the lonely being he's become? 

Kinsman Vlad Drakul has found the love of his existence in the beautiful businesswoman Sofia, but is the sex-loving vixen all she appears to be? Leo Van Helsing cherishes his family's calling a bit too much. He'll see the bloodsuckers dead, and he's not above using others to obtain his goals-even if it kills them. One fatal night in Istanbul will change Vlad's afterlife forever. Can Vlad abide a Blood Betrayal?

 Clan Drakul now available in print at Amazon.

Beware of Book Mills!

I love my current publishers!

Writers, beware of book mills!

Things are going along fairly smoothly in life when suddenly a mistake you thought you’d corrected years ago rears its ugly head. No, I don’t mean my ex (ugly as he is!) showed up on my doorstep. That I could easily handle by kicking his butt to the curb. This mistake has to do with one of lowest of pond-scum-feeding con artists who exist in the publishing world—the book mill.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, here’s a quick definition. A book mill simply churns out book after book after book with little or no editing or consideration of the material. Any and all topics and genres and writing abilities are fair game because no one at the book mill actually reads the manuscripts submitted. All the book mill wants is for wannabe authors to buy tons of copies of their own books so the book mill can make a tidy profit with little effort. They may promise “promotion opportunities for only $99!” but the author receives little or no sales boost from handing over money to the book mill, and, of course, it’s a non-refundable fee. In fact, the book mill routinely bombards its authors with meaningless communications promising to put their titles in front of famous talk show hosts and radio stars, along with entering the books into prestigious book expos—all for a fee, of course. It’s not hard to see that a running book mill is a great way to scam a lot of money off of anxious writers who have no knowledge of how the publishing world works.

I didn’t realize at the time (well over a decade ago) that I was dealing with a book mill, but it gradually became obvious. I had sold the electronic rights to my novel to an ebook-only press, but I had been asked to sign print books at a book-signing. This is way before the Kindle debuted, so not many people were interested in having an e-book author at a book-signing event. Where would I get print copies to sign? An online acquaintance recommended this book mill, and from his comments I thought they sounded legitimate. The book mill agreed to the print rights only to my novel since I informed them I had sold the e-rights earlier. Win-win, right?

The book mill did a quick spell check for “editing” and then told me my novel was now available for purchase. I bought some copies for the signing, but I was very disappointed when they arrived in the mail. The print books were extremely expensive for the quality of the product. A stock image photo slapped onto a rather sorry solid color with the book’s title printed above in a standard font was the “cover art.” (Even I could have done that well over a decade ago!) But at least I had a book in hand to sign at the event. I was hopeful it would eventually sell well in both print and electronic formats.

Flash forward a few years: With practically zero print sales (none I couldn’t account for personally), I requested my book’s print rights back from the book mill and asked them to pull my title from their web site. Years passed and I never heard a peep from this company. I heard nothing about them on the grapevine either. I figured the book mill must have gone out of business. I felt very relieved to have escaped their clutches.

My novel’s e-rights eventually expired with its first electronic publisher. I revised and re-sold the novel to a publisher of both print and ebooks with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with for some time now. With fresh edits and a snazzy new cover, I was happy that my “baby” had found a good home. Everything seemed to have come together for this well-reviewed book with its mixed-up publishing past. 

 

Flash forward to a few weeks ago: An email arrives in my inbox from an unknown company saying they’re publishing my novel and that I can pay them money to promote it. What the…? Who are they and why did they pirate my book? I immediately contacted my publisher and then wrote back to this unknown company asking them to take my book down from their site. Immediately the abuse began. I eventually learned that this new company was in fact the same old book mill I had dealt with more than a decade ago operating under a new name. They claimed I had “infringed upon my copyright.”

Say what? Along with other legal-sounding mumbo-jumbo the email stated they’d “return my copyright” for a mere $99. Imagine that! Thing is, if I didn’t pay them right away they claimed they’d take me to court and sue me for the "infringing on the copyright" to my own work. Wow! (I dug out the old contract. There’s not a word about having to pay them any fees whatsoever in their contract or that they would file for a copyright on the work.)

Weirder yet, I had filed for the copyright for my novel with the US Copyright Office many years ago. It’s my book and I registered the copyright, so what nonsense is this? My current publisher said to stop communicating with this company directly, as they’re obviously trying to frighten me into paying them money to shut up. She wisely asked for the book mill’s legal counsel contact information so the two “publishers” could discuss the matter. The book mill seemed to ignore this request.

Weeks later, another email arrives in my inbox stating that I need to buy my copyright back from the book mill since my book hasn’t sold any copies in over a year. Well, of course it hasn’t sold any copies! I told the company many years ago to take it down from their site, and I’d requested my print rights back. Since the “new company” is actually the “old book mill” surely they have this information at hand and could see it was all a mistake, right? I was advised by my publisher to send them a short and simple email to the book mill reminding them to contact my novel’s current publisher as requested earlier, just in case the first email had been missed.

Then all hell broke loose.

The most unprofessional and nasty emails followed. There’s simply no other way to describe the horrid tone of these communications. Personal attacks? Plenty! I must be an axe murderer in my sleep. What an odd sideline for a romance author!

The book mill also sent these insulting emails to my publisher as well, since I had provided contact information. We can only assume they did this for maximum fright tactic/belittling effect. Apart from calling my current publisher every name in the book (how professional!) they continue to insist I’ll be in a world of financial hurt if I don’t pay them. I’m beginning to wonder if they haven’t taken lessons from either Tony Soprano or the Godfather. Needless to say, my current publisher and the company lawyer will be conversing directly with the book mill from now on.

You know what? Even if I win the lottery tomorrow, there’s no way I’ll ever pay these people. Who gives in to a bully? Why would anyone pay a bully for the rights to his/her own work? With further research, we’ve discovered that this book mill has been sued before for employing similar tactics with their authors.

A Better Business Bureau web site says the book mill in question publicly stated that their contracts don’t last more than ten years. My original contract would have ended a few years back then. This might explain why I’d never heard from the old book mill with the new name until recently.

It doesn’t appear they were bought out or sold. It’s simply the same book mill operating under a new name. Why on earth should a business change their name in midstream unless they’ve got something to hide? This is an ongoing nightmare, so I’ll fill you in on any news as it comes available.

The moral of the story is this: Writers beware of book mills! They are not your friends, especially if they constantly request money for so-called services. And never ever forget the old adage: “The money flows from the publisher to the author—not the other way around.” A legitimate publisher takes you on as an author because they truly believe in your book (like my novel's current publisher). You deserve nothing less!

Editor’s note: My husband and I will be leading a panel called “What makes a good publisher?” at ConClave 38, October 10-12, in Dearborn, Michigan. Hope to see you there!