The Research Files- Lycanthropy

Here we are again, my sweets. Interested in writing a novel about a werewolf? Or perhaps you are just looking a little hairy lately and think some research is in order. Either way, let’s take a look at the best place to research those sexy beasts that we all love. (For obvious reasons, in gray areas like these I will allow a little more play in the credibility of the site/book.)

Books-

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The Werewolf’s Guide to Life: A Manual for the Newly Bitten

byRitch Duncan and
Bob Powers is funny and very informative. A researcher’s dream.
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Werewolves: A Field Guide to Shapeshifters, Lycanthropes, and Man-Beasts

by Bob Curran is not as fun, but has a lot of info on the history of werewolves.

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The Girl’s Guide to Werewolves: All You Need to Know about the Original Untamed Bad Boys

by Barb Karg ’cause I just loved the title. Meow.
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Websites-

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Encyclopedia.com has a number of encyclopedia entries on the subject.
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Here is an interesting collaboration of werewolf facts.
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This site has more info and a straightforward style.
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This one is good if you are interested in the psychosis associated with lycanthropy.
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And here is a physical one called Hypertrichosis.
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Hope these sites and books help you on the way to a great research session. Next week – 19th century clothing

Ava Delany
Fiery and sensual novels by Ava Delany.
The Homecoming series- The Soldier’s return, The Librarian’s Love, and The Wedding night.
The Fetish Club series- Captivated, Dominated, and Fallen
Available through Amazon, AllRomanceEbooks, BP, and more.

Another year gone by

Last year I posted a what I learned on 09 and what I hoped to achieve in 2010 list. Sort of a new years resolution list. I was derailed mid-year by an unexpected high risk pregnancy, but now we have a very welcome addition to the family, so it was all worth it.

Let’s see how I did anyhow.

In 2010, I hope to learn what it is like to

-Have a great review (or many of them.)

I’m happy to say that I achieved this one. I’m glad so many of you loved my novels.

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-Get a great agent.

Not yet, but I’m hopeful for a few manuscripts I have for next year.

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-See my novels in Barnes and Nobel.

Ditto

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-See someone reading my novels on the street.

Wouldn’t that be fun!


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-Hit 1000+ followers on Twitter.

586, not too bad…


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-Have another reader send me an email telling my how much they enjoyed one of my novels.

I’m happy to say I have received a number of these as well. Thanks for the kind words.


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What’s on the agenda for 2011?

-Submit and publish more novels

-Enter a contest or two (scary! lol)

-Get a great agent

-Hit that illusive 1000 followers on twitter

-See someone reading my book

-Submit to the other genres I’m dying to try

-Get a print contract to widen the readers I reach with my work

We shall see how I do next year with this list, but for this year I have to say 1/3 of the list isn’t bad for resolutions achieved.

Stay tuned for what I learned in 2010.

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April Dawn -Author of Crushing Desire and
Bound by Love available now through Breathless Press, All Romance, and Kindle.

The research files- police

Hello,
As promised, a Christmas treat for those researching police novels. Here are some great sites and books I found to help you through your frustration. As always, I will check credibility, but you should always double-check the info yourself. Here are some great places for writers to begin their research.

A few good books to whet the appetite…
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Howdunit Book of Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers

by Lee Lofland who has years of police/investigative experience.

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This one is subtitled ’65 Ways to Kill Your Victim in Print’ can you guess why? *smirk* That might come in handy, no? It also has some police procedures from the UK, I’m told.

The Crime Writer’s Handbook

by Douglas Wynn who writes true crime novels (as well as several other helpful books for writers.)

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For obvious reasons, I am including

Practical Homicide Investigation: Checklist and Field Guide (Practical Aspects of Criminal & Forensic Investigations)

by Vernon J. Geberth is a retired Lieutenant-Commander of the New York City Police Department with over 40 years of law enforcement experience.

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A few good websites to inspect.

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Officer.com is a great reference tool. You can read blogs written by cops, and while some are “What I got for Christmas/How to love your lover” kind of posts, most are interesting product, technical explanations, etc… The Property Room offers so many items for sale to leos and forensics personnel. Just looking at the descriptions of some of the items gave me ideas. There is also a directory of agencies and contact information.
All in all, worth checking out, I think.
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Cincinnati has their procedures mapped out. There is a lot of boring and interesting information smooshed into these procedure pages. (Everything from how to dress to how to deal with homeless encampments. to pursuit driving
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A far less detailed list appears on the Miami Shoes site.
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The Portland police have some interesting info on their site. Definitions and acronyms is just one of the helpful pages. Forensic evidence newsletter is certainly another.
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And of course, the best reference site. The Dept of Justice criminal justice reference site. They have guides like Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement. There’s more information about courts, corrections, and crime than I can list here, as well as convenient search functions. I recommend checking this one out if you have any kind of court proceedings in your book.

I hope you enjoyed this taste of your local police hero. Join me next week for a foray into lycanthropy.

Ava Delany
Fiery and sensual novels by Ava Delany.
The Homecoming series The Soldier’s return, The Librarian’s Love, and The Wedding night.
The Fetish Club series Captivated, Dominated, and Fallen
Available through Amazon, AllRomanceEbooks, BP, and more.

“Where shall I go? What shall I do?” reasearch questions

It’s great to see some activity here again, my lovelies. Welcome back April. I promised to do my part on this site, so during this time of uncertain posting, I want readers to know that there are still some fabulous things to visit A History of Romance for. Here’s what I’ll do for you–.

“Where shall I go? What shall I do?”

Scarlet O’Hara wasn’t the only one to ask this question of her hot man, Rhett. Authors ask it all the time when doing research. How do we know where to look for what we need to find? (It’s like trying to find a hot man some days. You just have to know where to look.) So, every Friday I will be posting a research blog, giving helpful research websites, book titles, etc… Each one will be different, one week it might be police procedure information, the next it might be the types and costs of textiles in the 18th century, and the next research on the g-spot and how to find it. Keep an eye out for the first post tomorrow when I will have an early Christmas present for anyone attempting to write novels about cops.

I will check the credibility of each site/book title I post, but (DISCLAIMER)you should always be sure to double check the credibility of any information you find over the internet.
Good to have things back up and running, and I’ll see you tomorrow for my first post.

Ava Delany
Fiery and sensual novels by Ava Delany.
The Homecoming series- The Soldier’s return, The Librarian’s Love, and The Wedding night.
The Fetish Club series- Captivated, Dominated, and Fallen
Available through Amazon, AllRomanceEbooks, BP, and more.

Ebook Readers – Nook, Sony, or Kindle, oh my!

For Christmas, I decided to research ebook readers. While there are many choices, all within about $50 of each other for base models, I decided chose to focus on the top three 3G readers – the kindle 3, nook, and sony daily reader.

So many sites review these readers, but after much research I found some little known information between seeing the readers in store. Though I will share some of the regular info, I will focus on the little known facts.

There are three main features of each reader that I love, unfortunately they seem to be unique to their reader.

The Sony Daily reader offers a handwriting feature. Using a stylus (or a finger) you can draw pictures, take notes, anything you want. That’s a great option for a woman with two kids and one husband that is quite similar to a kid when it comes to drawing cartoons.

The Nook has the lend me feature. You can lend any book you buy (once for a two week period). You can also get loans from a friend with a nook. Reader applications on a PC, Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry or certain other androids can also allow this lending feature with the proper app.

Kindle has text-to-speech. I love that, especially as a mom. When you just can’t put that book down, and you need to make lunch or change a diaper, you only need a pair of headphones and viola!

Other than these features, there are a number of great things about these ebook readers.

The Sony features six font sizes, which could come in handy. The media expansion slot is a great plus. The Daily Edition also displays Word and PDF files, shows most image files, and plays MP3 and AAC audio. Unlike most other readers, the protective case is included.

The Nook has “in store” features that include the ability to browse complete eBooks (though there is a one hour limit within any given 24-hour period) and promotions for Nook users. MP3 audio files and images can be loaded onto the reader, but can’t be done wirelessly. Each of these readers has 3G and wifi, but the Nook actually lets you browse the net. It also has android apps which might make the Nook future bright.

Kindle is said to be the fastest and easiest to use, not that I noticed that much of a difference in store. You can listen to music on this one as well. Social networking and some web browsing is allowed with the internet connection, as are blog updates, so you could keep up with blogs like A History of Romance. *wink*Your books are synced with other devices so you can keep your page even when you get home or go out sans kindle.

Other small considerations.

There’s no charge/contract for the wifi or 3G service.

Both the Nooks and Sony Readers let you read ePub files (library and free materials are often ePub).

Kindle 3 does not offer a touch screen, however Sony Touch Edition and the Daily Edition, the nook (only at the base of the screen) and the nook color do have touch screens

Read more from some of the sites I visited:

Top ten

consumer research

This one has videos for each reader.
Cnet

Anything you want to add to help others make a choice? Leave a comment.

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April Dawn -Author of Crushing Desire and
Bound by Love available now through Breathless Press, All Romance, and Kindle.

Well, I’m back!

It looks like I’m the only one left on A History, but I want to thank those that held out for so long. I appreciate your dedication.
After long months of bed rest, anti-contraction medication, and hospital visits, we finally have our baby girl, Aria. She was 7lbs 8 Oz and 18 inches of trouble. lol Now that I’m no longer restricted there will be more activity, but not much more for a while. I will treat this like a regular blog for a time allowing any of my bloggers to come back and blog whenever they would like. It won’t be back to full steam for some time though. I’m too tired from sleepless nights. lol. Hope this reaches all of you well.
April Dawn
Crushing Desire and Bound by Love available through Breathless Press, kindle, and all romance ebooks.
Oh and Congratulations to G. Jillian. We were pulling for you and are glad you won. (And congrats on the awesome book deals! Can’t wait to see you on the stands.)