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Surprise New Release: Damaged (A Zara Lain Novella)

Surprise!

I know, I'm terrible at this. New releases should be announced well in advance. Added to GoodReads, teased on blogs, excessive hashtags and reminders for people to mark their calendars.

I'm kind of backwards about these things.

This is the big project/time crunch thing I've been alluding to and why I kept disappearing the past couple of weeks. And though it was written as a birthday present for my friend, there was no sense ONLY giving it to her as she'd just pester me to release it elsewhere (admit it, Danni!). With that in mind, I couldn't actually mention the story until her birthday otherwise it would ruin the surprise.

Damaged takes place after Exhumed but before Oblivion. Think deeply-damaged-Zara-meets-a-cabin-in-the-woods-horror-story.

Fresh off the events of Exhumed, snarky vampire and professional narcissist Zara Lain is still adjusting after accidentally triggering the apocalypse and everything that happened to her. An escape from her life seems in order, one that takes her and Sir Rodney Ballsgalore—her trusty saber-toothed cat companion—deep in the woods of northern Ontario for some R&R.

It’s not just nightmares that follow; trouble is always on Zara’s heels, this time in the form of some idiot vacationing teenagers summoning something they can’t control. Though she believes stupid should hurt and doesn’t want to lift a well-manicured finger to help them, once the creature burns through the kids it’ll be coming after her.

But Zara’s not the survive-at-all-costs girl she once was. She’s damaged, she’s tired, and she might not have the fight left in her to live when death comes knocking this time around...

It's a novella, not a novel, so expect something a bit shorter than my usual work. The official release date is June 15, however my friend is Australian, so it releases today as it's already June 15 down under.

At this point, you can get the novella on Amazon Kindle or you can buy direct from me here for all other ebook formats.

As a bonus, you get the first two chapters of Oblivion (yes, I've posted the first one here--the second one, though, is exclusively available with Damaged).

And with that...

World MS Awareness Day

May is MS Awareness Month and today the awareness DAY. As you know, the MS Walk in my area(ish) was this past Sunday, where the Peterborough chapter of the MS Society raised nearly $75 000. As pledges continue to be mailed in, that total has jumped to over $90K. Thank you again to everyone who pledged me helped me be a small part of this.

What Is MS? From the MS Society:

"Multiple sclerosis (or MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Today, new treatments and advances in research are giving new hope to people affected by the disease."

The MS Walk raises funds both to support people living with the disorder and for research to cure and treat it. There have been huge breakthroughs with regards to MS--a cure is on the way but the only way we'll get there is to keep pushing forward.

(pics, a video, and feels under the cut)Read more

A Flurry of Updates and Such

Whew!

Last week brought good news about my old dog, Sophie--she has steadily improved since last year's crisis and she's looking good. And then I had not-good news about my cat, Miss Dinah Fantastico. It turns out she has hypercalcemia and we have to figure out why. (It could be the c-word.) More info as it comes in. I also intend to do a Sophie: One Year Later post, which I will hopefully get to this week.

(Miss Dinah, my girl.)

Then Lilith Saintcrow contacted me about helping to put together her blog posts SquirrelTerror into book format. Yay--

Hold that thought, as Friday night came and I stumbled across something rotten. These posts--from a few years ago--were being plagiarized.

Seriously. PLAGIARIZED BLOG POSTS ABOUT SQUIRRELS. Stealing from FREAKIN' LILITH SAINTCROW.

Initially Lili didn't mention me by name, and she told me she didn't want to drag me into it. Of course, me being me, I pulled up a lawn chair, grabbed some popcorn, and put up a sign that said "BRING IT." As one does.

The mess is mostly dealt with in that the posts were (mostly) removed and the plagiarist was banned from the site in question, but the ripples from this sort of thing will continue to be felt for a long time by the parties harmed, chief among them Lili. You'll find links to everything relevant in those posts if you'd like to catch up. If nothing else is learned here, let it be known that I have a rather intense sense of loyalty and mad Google Fu. Do NOT fuck with the select group of people I like and admire.

I have a slew of emails to send out, which I swear I will get to this week in between vet appointments. I'm also at the ELEW today with a post called She Works Hard for the Money (ICYMI, two weeks ago I had up Your Social Networking Balance Sheet).

Finally, the MS Walk is in a couple of weeks--if you can, consider dropping some pennies my way here. If you'd like to read about why I'm walking, there's a lengthy post here on the subject.

Now I have to fast one cat for twelve hours before her tests, which means ALL THE CATS get fasted for twelve hours (you can't only not feed one...you just can't). If I go missing, they probably ate me.

Dear Plagiarists

Come, sit. We will talk.

I'm not going to yell at you, promise.

I won't call you names, I won't swear at you. I won't claim you're a bad person.

I do want to have a few words. If you have plagiarized, if you're thinking of plagiarizing, if you don't think it's a big deal.

Just listen.

First, this: http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/journal/2013/05/plagiarizing-squirrelterror/

This spurred this post but it's not the only reason I have strong feelings about it. It will, however, be the focus.

Guess who found SquirrelTerror was being plagiarized? Yes, chickadees, that would be me. My mad Google Fu is well documented, and I was working on the book, poking around the old posts (which were lost when her site was hacked but can still be found via the Wayback Machine and caches) when I stumbled across--

Wait, I can't show you, because the plagiarist deleted her posts (without publicly apologizing, from what I can see).

Oh, hold on, I *can* show you. Because nothing disappears from the internet.

This is a cache. Notice the date.

Screenshot for those who don't want to click links:

Wow, that looked almost exactly like what I was just copyediting. Which was this post.

So there I was. In the rain. Digging a grave.

OK, OK, let me back up. This was about a week or so ago, the day after Squirrel!Neo and Juliet!Jay had their little interaction and Mercutio!Jay entirely lost his shit. Anyway, for some reason I hadn’t had coffee with my oatmeal that morning, I was just going to deal with caffeination after I ran some ungodly number of miles. Just…remember that the series of events I am about to relate happened while I was completely uncaffeinated.

So. Kids were off to school, it was raining, I went out to put my freshly-charged IPod on the treadmill before I changed into my running togs. I yawned, glanced out into the back yard…and paused. And stared.

There was a dead squirrel in my back yard. He lay on his back, little paws curled up, soaking in the rain and covered with what looked like mud. I couldn’t tell at that distance. I just saw his white chest and his little spattered belly, and he was so, so still.

“Oh, Christ Jesus,” I actually breathed. “Neo!”

I considered just doing my morning run and then dealing with the, ahem, crime scene. But then I thought of running six miles and staring at a dead rodent, and it just didn’t seem appetizing.

So I went to fetch a shovel.

This was the straight-edge shovel I bought when we needed to scrape moss off the roof ages ago. It’s practically new, and it’s a Serious Effing Shovel. Red and black and heavy-reinforced enough to be deadly in the right hands. You could seriously whap someone with this shovel and then use it to dig a grave in rocky soil. I believe in quality.

If you follow me with any regularity, you likely follow Lili because she is my Bad Horse and I shared links to SquirrelTerror whenever they went live.

So just imagine my horror for a moment as I scanned that post from DailyKos, initially looking for Lili's name or a link to her post. I mean, I wasn't only currently staring at those words in a Word doc--I remembered reading them two and a half years ago. Then I took a closer look and realized names had been changed. Neo was Sarge (Sarge? Seriously??), for example. Wait, what?

That's not a randomly scraped blog post. That's not quoting and forgetting to source.

That's trying to pass off someone else's work as your own.

First instinct: attack like a yappy, rabid chihuahua. (The visual is all the more humorous if you know I'm a giant Amazon woman.)

The second...break the news to Lili. Because (and I'll get to this in a second), I have seen the kind of damage done by plagiarism and this should be nipped in the bud before she releases her book. She's the content creator; she's the ones with rights. So I let her know. And the more digging I did, the more I found. No fewer than twenty posts, word for word--with names changed--were available by the same user, starting this past summer and continuing as early a s February of this year, all based on Lili's posts from 2010-2011.

And let me tell you something about Lili. You know how you and me are all like, "WHERE IS MY SHOVEL, SOMEONE GET ME A TARP--I ALSO NEED AN ALIBI AND A TRUCK"? Lili is the very definition of grace and restraint. She politely asked the person to remove the posts and blogged, making it clear this is her work should any trouble arise when the book is published. She worried about being a dick about this even though she had every frickin' right to be.

But here is the real thing I would like to get across today, Plagiarist.

What you are doing--or have done--hurts people.

It hurts the content creator.

That person you plagiarized? She (or he) feels incredibly violated by what you've done. It's a horrible, sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. Doesn't matter if it's blog posts or novels or art or anything else. It's a awful sense of betrayal that never goes away.

It means that SquirrelTerror book might not even see the light of day, because despite being the victim in this scenario, the content creator is the one who will get scorn heaped upon her. It means other content creators cut back or stop writing altogether. It means books by the original author get pulled from Amazon because someone reports it as being a copyright violation, creating more headaches for the victim.

It hurts the people who trusted you.

I have personal experience with this in a few ways, but most notably was a year and a bit ago when a friend and colleague, someone I thought highly of and trusted, turned out to have plagiarized a book I helped work on. I spent all weekend trying to find proof she was in the right, believing her, helping her, to find out it was a lie. And not only did her publisher lose money as the book was pulled immediately, but her friends--who had known her years--were crushed. They'd critiqued her book. They'd encouraged her, believed in her.

In the end, they didn't know what else she'd lied about. They lost someone they cared about, and that sense of betrayal continues to this day.

It hurts you.

When you are found out--and you will be found out--it's going to hurt you. Everything you've ever written will be questioned (at the day job, if it's proven one book by an author was plagiarized, our policy--and that of many small pubs--is to pull all the work by that author). Everything you write in the future will be questioned. After the initial shock wears off--and it will--the people who supported you will stop trusting you. They will feel betrayed by you.

Look, nothing is so important that you have to steal from others. I get it--you're swamped and feel like you need to take a shortcut. Well, actually, the fallout from relinquishing some duties or asking for an extension pales in comparison to the shitstorm once your plagiarism is discovered. Or maybe you're insecure and you want people to like you, so you repurpose someone else's work in order to impress others. Honey, all that effort goes out the window when your lies are discovered.

No matter how hard things are, it's gonna be worse when you get caught.

So don't do it. Come clean. And for fuck's sake, apologize (note: apologies include the words "I'm sorry" and don't include "but"). You're not a terrible person for making a mistake. Plagiarizing doesn't have to ruin you, but it requires a real effort on your part to make things right.

And, specifically, to the person who plagiarized Lili: You have taken something that might've seemed silly or unimportant that was not yours to take. You have possibly prevented a book from being published that readers have been clamoring for (and that she paid money to put together). And you did this to a generous, thoughtful, highly creative and wonderful writer who in no way deserved this, and you owe her a public apology for what you've done. You owe your readers a public apology. And you need to make things right.

To everyone, please, as a person to another person with thoughts and feelings and everything: think twice before you do this kind of thing and come clean if you already have.

Best regards,

Skyla

P.S. For internet content creators who may be reading this post, I encourage you to follow Plagiarism Today to keep up to date on content theft and how it impacts you. (This is a totally unsolicited plug--I just really dig the site and have followed it for years.)

Skyla's Vegan Cheese Adventures

It started when I saw aged vegan cashew cheeses in an online store.

They're expensive, especially to ship them (they need to be overnighted & refrigerated). BUT I suffer from a malady known as "Why can't I make it myself?"

Indeed. Why can't I? I make everything else, with varying levels of success.

Thus began my experiments with cashew cheeses.

I started without bothering to age them and it turns out you can effectively mimic some basic cheese in recipes with some cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and salt/spices. I'm a big fan of that as a ricotta cheese in cannelloni. (The Veganista site, incidentally, also has a wonderful mac & cheese recipe with cashews).

The lemon gives you a tangy cheese, but not exactly a sharp cheese. And this is where Artisan Vegan Cheese comes in.

I have this book and took some inspirations from it. The basic cashew cheese (and rejuvelac) recipe can be found here, so check that out. It seems complicated, but it's not. (I am not reprinting it here--go look. It's okay, I'll wait.)

What You Need

Rejuvelac: grains that sprout, filtered water, cheesecloth, and time

"Cheese" base: raw cashews soaked in water, rejuvelac, nutritional yeast, oil (optional--smooths the texture out), salt (non-iodized), miso (I'm avoiding soy so honestly? I just used Vegemite), agar, more cheesecloth--see amounts in the linked recipe above

Extras: fresh basil, sun dried tomatoes, roasted garlic, miscellaneous herbs & spices, more cheesecloth

What You Do with It

1. First, make the rejuvelac. It's a fermented, non-alcoholic liquid made from sprouted grains. I used quinoa. It's the lengthiest part of the process but once you have some brewed up, it keeps in the fridge for a few weeks and you can easily make batches of cheese.

2. Once you have that, check out their sharp cheddar recipe. Make that, but only let it culture for two days or so. (Three days gives you a sharper flavour.) Now, the cheese might be...lumpy. Mine at this stage usually is because I have a Magic Bullet and not a Vitamix. But I add extra blending stages after it's cultured, and it smooths out then.

3. On that second day, here's what I did: I chopped up some fresh basil, some sun dried tomatoes (you can buy or you can make; I made mine...if dried and not packed in oil, soften in some hot water), and some roasted garlic.

How do you roast garlic? Peel off most of the papery skin (leave enough that it holds together), cut off 1/4 inch from the top of the bulb, toss some oil (I use grapeseed instead of olive as it doesn't smoke) on top, wrap in foil, and throw it in the oven for a while. 350F - 400F...ish? for...however long it takes to cook?

Look, if you want exacts, you're asking the wrong girl. I wing it. You can tell the garlic's done because it smells good and the tops are this glorious caramelish brown.

4. Mix that stuff with your basic cheese.

5. Now, lots of recipes call for using carrageenan powder and xanthan gum. I don't have those. I do have agar powder, so I used that. Two tablespoons of agar powder mixed in water, which I brought to a boil for a few minutes to activate and thicken. I mixed that with the aforementioned cheese mixture. Now, I think I either had too much cheese or not enough agar because mine came out the consistency of cream cheese, but that is GOOD. Hold on and I'll show you why.

6. Next you line your mold with cheesecloth. Because I am CLASSY, my "mold" was a Ziploc plastic container in the shape of a square. Yep. Classy. Pour the "cheese" in that, fold more cheesecloth over it. Pop it in the fridge.

7. It hardens over time. Mine...has not hardened much. Granted, I could leave it for a couple more months but fuck that shit, I want my cheese NOW.

As I said, mine ended up being like cream cheese, but that's totes okay because...I could make cheese balls, which I did tonight with some crackers. It was glorious.

Okay...I *know* it might not look super appetizing & I am not a photographer, *but* it looks no different from regular cheese balls, which are not the prettiest of foods.

8. To make the cheese balls, form some of your cashew cheese into a ball. Roll it in a dish of finely chopped herbs and spices, whatever you have around. Chives, basil, parsley, etc. Plus a bit of salt, cracked pepper, onion and garlic powder...you are totally the boss here. No really. I'm not going to tell you what to do: THE POWER IS YOURS, CHEESE MAKER.

Voila. You have aged, cultured, cashew cheese for snacking and entertaining.

Yes, yes, I know it seems like it takes a while, and it does, but once you have some underway, it's great. You'll have a new type ready to start aging and a previous one will be ready to eat. Plus just LOOK at all the awesome nutrients and stuff in cashews (and nutritional yeast). You get a nice dollop of protein and good fats--eat with some crackers and there are all your macro nutrients, motherfuckers. You're welcome.

The "When's That Book Coming...?" Update: Spring 2013 Edition

Spring! Yay!

I...do not have a whole lot to report with this update compared to last time. I did finish one project, but it was for-pay, so doesn't count.

Solomon's Seal's second draft was completed and is off to editor friend to tell me what I'm missing. Haunted revisions...are still in progress. Odin's Spear is in progress. Oblivion is still being plotted. And as if I don't have enough to do, I started two other things during Camp NaNoWriMo.

I've been trying to figure out precisely why I've been out of sorts and have had trouble focusing on--and finishing--anything right now, and I think I finally figured it out. Honestly, I have a lot of Big Life Stuff going on at the moment. Nothing bad--my mental health is fine, my pets are well, and things are fine at Chez Skyla. But big stuff is on the horizon and it's taken a lot of my attention.

I'm hoping within another month or so I'll have eased up a little on that, normalized, and regained my focus. But in the meantime, I'm going to stop stressing about not meeting my word count. There are, truly, more important things.

I know the wait for Oblivion has--and continues to be--lengthy (for all three of you still reading); while the book continues to percolate in my brain, I'm hoping to write a few 'verse shorts in the meantime. Details coming soon. Thanks for your continued support!

Before I go, if you haven't already, please consider donating to my MS Walk fundraiser. I'll post once more about it this week but it's really important to me that we cure this fucking disorder.

Veggies, Hit Me with Your Recipes

Following me on various social media the past month would've told you something: I'm once again eating vegan. Though I've been a vegetarian for eighteen years (as of this month), I had a lot of unsuccessful attempts with veganism, up until 2011; due to work with a nutritionist, I finally got past some hurdles, expanded my diet, and happily ate primarily vegan food for several months.

Then I fell off the vegan wagon because CHEESE.

It's convenient. It's tasty. It was my first word as a baby (after "mum"). It's in everything I love.

The thing is, veganism solved some previously unexplained health problems--dairy is actually BAD for me. (sad face) And I can't ignore that anymore. So goodbye cheese, hello kale smoothies!

I am actually okay with this because I feel utterly fantastic. I have energy and my mental health has never been better.

Next stop: FIGHTING CRIME because I feel like motherfucking Wonder Woman now.
(This is my workout T-shirt. And this is my workout theme song.)

Now I'd like to know, what are YOUR favourite vegan dishes?

Even if you're not vegan yourself, you likely have SOMETHING you love that's meat and dairy free. So link to recipes, book recommendations, or write up the recipe right in the comments if you like.

Extra considerations:

- bonus points if it covers all three macronutrients
- absolutely no soy (if I can't substitute almond milk, I can't have it)
- seitan is great! (I have no problem with gluten)
- nut-based cheeses are fine (I'm getting into those)
- I *can* technically eat eggs--it's just milk/cheese that's bad for me--and can get local free range, so if you have recipes with eggs, I'll take a look
- sugar is fine (I'm not diabetic; I *am* off of refined sugar, however, so consider I purchase the more expensive alternatives)
- no cheese = fewer processed foods = a lot less sodium in my diet, I've found, so I like recipes with saaaaallllttttt
- I take vitamins and supplements but it's good to get stuff from food, so consider iron, folate, Vitamin B6 & B12, Vitamin D, etc

Further, I am on Fitocracy, where I am antisocial and ignore all the strangers. If you want to be friends there, hit me up and we will level up together and give each other props for running and shit.

------

Final note, this is not an invitation to food criticism. I know me, I know food, and I know what I'm doing; if you disapprove of veganism or whatever, I DON'T FUCKING CARE. And if anyone says "What about protein?", they get hit with my Lasso of Shut the Fuck Up.

Skyla's Top 5 Reasons Why You Need TIME HEALS & Giveaway

I'm the last stop on Dina James' blog tour for her new release. (Check all of the other stops here.) Fitting because, I think, I was the first to read it? I had the pleasure of working on this book with Dina, and before we get to the giveaway, I want to tell you why I think you need to read this book.

That's right, *I* am telling you. Because it's Dina's release week and she needs to sit her ass down and relax with some knitting, tea, and Dean Winchester while I do some work.

You may ogle but he's Dina's today.

Dina's new release is the second book in the Stranger Things series, Time Heals, which follows All Wounds (2011).

I am going to give you my top five reasons why you need to read these books.

1. Billy the Man-Wolf

Because, I mean, come on. Anyone who has read the books loves Billy. He's the heroine's loyal bodyguard and protector, a great big hulking Anubi (werewolf-ish) who drives a Mustang, eats everything in sight, and has a southern drawl.

You can read more about Billy at Melissa's site where Dina talks about the inspiration behind her take on werewolves or read my interview with him here where I try to get him to come live with me. *cough*

2. The Worldbuildling

As should be apparent from the first point, these books have fantastic, well-developed characters who are instantly lovable and they exist in a top-notch built world. They are REAL. Dina knows all the ins and outs of her various Ethereal realms, and it shows in the writing whenever Mistress Healer Rebecca encounters a new species or visits another world.

3. Noth

Nothlet, the hellhound puppy from All Wounds, returns in this book as well and...and let's just say there's a scene involving a particularly unique game of fetch you NEED to read.

4. It's Smart

Time Heals (without going into spoiler territory here) raises a very interesting point you may gather from the book blurb: that which can heal also can harm. At what point does one become the other? Time Heals asks this question and delves deeper into the mythology surrounding Healers.

5. Billy

I'm sorry, I had other points to make, but Billy. BILLY. Billy deserves two.

Are you sold yet? You should be. Enter to win the swag pack below AND a print copy of Time Heals by commenting on this post--include the words "enter me" in your comment if you want to be entered and you'll go in a random draw! We'll pick a winner on Monday. (If you want to comment but not be entered because you're a weirdo, you can do that too.)

Giveaway prize pack includes:
- bookmark
- bookplate
- a sample packet of Time Heals tea
- a set of plastic vampire teeth
- a print copy of Time Heals
- A SUPER SEKRIT SHINY THING (it's a surprise, but it's awesome, trust me)

TIME HEALS Blog Tour Kick-Off

Hey chickadees!

I am busy with stuff and things--specifically there was a thing last week that taught me while I may write adrenaline/trauma right, my books have apparently missed the recovery period afterward when your body dumps another cocktail of things to balance the adrenaline and there are things like surround sound, technicolor bad childhood memories. That part kinda sucks.

Anyway. My other half in eviltry, the Gothic Goddess herself Ms. Dina James, is kicking off her blog tour today at Melissa's blog with a post about Billy the Man-Wolf. She's promoting her new release Time Heals which is out tomorrow. This is the sequel to 2011's All Wounds, much loved by readers everywhere, so follow along with the the stops on her tour to celebrate and win some cool stuff.

Dina will be visiting here at the end of next week, so stay tuned!

Catching up after my absence from the end of last week, thank you for your patience!

I Am Sad. And Tired.

With all the discussion of rape culture, assault, and what constitutes consent popping up, I made yesterday's ELEW post one about rape culture and writers, highlighting some of the rapey tropes I see in books and a hell of a lot of movies. There are wonderful comments on the post--please have a look.

But, y'know, this makes me sad, y'all.

Sad that this conversation is needed. Sad that there is a subset of men who think women shouldn't even be talking about rape. Sad that people have a kneejerk reaction when discussing consent like we're...what? What is saying "rape is bad" possibly doing to you? Taking away your right to penetrate with your fingers the vagina of a drunk, unconscious teen girl and then distribute photographs of her naked body? Who is being hurt by people standing up and saying "sex without consent is rape/rape is bad" besides, y'know, people who feel entitled to women's (and men's) bodies?

This makes me sad and tired and you know what? Fuck you.

I am tired of reading scenes in books with a woman who says no, who is being touched without her consent, and it's treated as sexy (outside of erotica niches--you know, if you're writing dub-con, then fucking own it and go for it). I'm tired of reading books where men go beyond being take charge or a little arrogant into flat out dangerous abuse and it's okay "because he's hot." I'm tired of movies where sexual contact is forced on men by women (usually ugly, 'cause HAHA UGLY CHICK!) and it's supposed to be funny. I'm tired of the utter lack of awareness on the part of writers when they have the power to write realistically without condoning but waste it in favour of repeating cliches without thinking about it--I expect better of us.

I'm tired of the message that this is okay, I'm tired of being pressured to feel like I have to keep quiet about how uncomfortable it makes me. I'm tired of feeling sick to my stomach and having to be paranoid about everything I read and watch because it normalizes, idealizes, or belittles something that is very scary and very damaging.

Rape isn't sexy. It isn't a punchline. It isn't a punishment.

As I said on Facebook the other day, I'm fucking done. If you are a friend or family member of mine and you are a rape apologist, speak up so I can send you on your merry way. I'm drawing a line in the motherfucking sand about this. I can't reason with any human being who has so little respect for those of us wanting to live in a culture where we feel safe, so take your fucking apologies and go.

I'm sad.

I'm tired.

But I do have a flicker of hope, the more outrage I see on these topics. So fuck being sad and tired--let's get angry.