Deanna Hoak

Head over to Charlie Finlay’s blog for some groan-worthy wordplay with a punctuation theme.
I haven’t had enough coffee to join in (”I’ll beat your asterisk” is all I can come up with now, and it’s just not sharp enough for that group), but maybe you can do better. :-)

MUTUAL FEELINGS
by Deanna Hoak
Tare trembled as John tangled his fingers in her hair and brushed his lips against the nape of her neck, as he teased her with tiny nips and caresses.
“This’ll sting just a little bit.” His voice was low and husky, and he raised one hand. She caught the glint of a microchip.
Tare [...]

In honor of Technopeasant Day, S. K. S. Perry has posted the entirety of his novel Darkside online.
I tried to talk him out of posting it, honestly, because dammit, I think the book is sellable. It’s smart, funny fantasy–serious fantasy that has the benefit of having a smart-ass protag who will make you laugh throughout [...]

If you’re a copyeditor, don’t make the mistake of buying Ticonderoga checking pencils. Brittle, breaking, light-marking, hard-to-erase . . . Yuck.
What brand do you like? I can usually only find those or Sanford Col-Erase at the stores, and I’m not wild about Col-Erase either (though they’re a far cry better than the Ticonderoga).

EW.com has an interesting article today. They asked Stephen King, in the wake of the worry over the Virginia Tech shooter’s writing, “Where, exactly, does one draw the line between imagination and disturbing expression that should raise red flags?”
I’ve been thinking about this subject a lot lately, in a broader context than that of violence. [...]

I ordered a new collar for my huge and adorable ridgeback yesterday, and it occurred to me that I should share with my online friends the awesome collars I found online years ago. For my big boy, I buy this thick leather saftey-ring collar: $4.95. Even with shipping and handling (which is per order and [...]

I just now caught up on the whole “webscab” debacle. I’m continually amazed at how “hidebound” (yes, that’s intentional) some portions of this industry are; it’s really a pity.
It reminded me of a very funny YouTube video an editor of my acquaintance forwarded me last month:

Times change. :-)

A reader asked me this question in the comments of my last post, and I thought I’d put it here in case some other industry professional was familiar with it:
I saw something recently that I thought might be a leftover typesetting tag. Would you happen to know?
“The tavern had all but emptied for the [cf4]funeral; [...]

I take a lot of pride in the fact that so many authors and editors value my work enough to request me, and I hate it when I have to turn them down. I didn’t get to take Cherie Priest’s latest earlier this year because I was working on Scott Lynch’s, and now I’ve had [...]

Everyone go check out Blake Charlton’s new blog, The Magic Language Medicine Show. Blake’s first novel should be coming out from Tor next year, he’s just been accepted into Stanford’s medical school, and he’s jumping into the blog pond too. Give him a nice welcome!
You can find his website and information on his novel at [...]