Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Friday, February 10, 2012

Two Valentine Blogfests-YAmore & I'll Tumble 4 YA

 
 What's better than one Valentine blogfest? Two Valentine blogfests! The first, That's YAmore is sponsored Jessie Harrell. The instructions: post a romantic 250-word excerpt from your new project. Here's mine, from Fireseed One, my brand new YA futuristic thriller with the most fire and ice relationship ever. In this scene, Varik is warming up to his former archenemy, Marisa. Enjoy!

I smile inside. “Different is good. Don’t they always say that opposites attract?”
There’s an edge of danger to Marisa. I think I like the edge. It’s less boring than being with a good girl with mousy hair from Land Dominion who reads all the right books and stays out of trouble. I only had that one other girlfriend. Even that felt nervy, although all we did was grope each other at the Stream flicks. What will happen next with Marisa?  I picture kissing her again, stroking her wild red hair that smells of violets and sweat, her pressing against me under the night sky. Not knowing how it will unfold, especially down in this untamed Hotzone, makes my breath come fast. She could’ve killed me, she could’ve run, she could’ve double-tricked me. But she’s done none of this, and now she’s helping me with her contacts. Audun was right—she was mesmerized by Bryan like those Lionfish disciples were. Conned by his clever rant.  It’s scary how even smart, rational people fall into traps. Our earlier argument seems far away. We’re both growing out of our old skin, like two desert lizards, and the feeling of connecting is amazing.
Up at the crest of the hill by the cave entrances, we turn to each other at the same time and find each other’s lips. Hers taste of salty sweat, yet of sweetness. Her skin brushing against the palms of my hands feels like plush leaves.
She’s spring sun after polar night.
Fireseed One copyright 2011Catherine Stine

Pop over to read romantic excerpts from the following. But first, check out the next fest, I'll Tumble 4 YA, 80s crushes! Jessie Harrell, Charity Bradford, Sheri Larson, Nikki Katz, Nicole Zoltack, Adrianne Russell, Cecelia, Commutinggirl, Katy Upperman, Robin Reul, Lori M. Lee, Angelhorn, Georgia Summers, Larissa, Jessica @ Angels, Demons & Portals. Oh My, Liz Czukas, Connie Ann Michael, AE Rought, Roza Marie, Theresa Paolo

The second fest, I'll Tumble for YA, is all about your hottest 80's crushes. It's sponsored by Nikki Elson, Suze and M Pax. Here's my 80s crush. I'd just moved to New York, and my dream was to be a famous painter. My mentor was the talented painter of surrealistic murals, James Rosenquist. It didn't hurt that he was one handsome dude.
Rosenquist working in his studio
I had his photo in my makeshift studio, and I would gaze at it longingly, as if the mysteries of artistic success could sift from his printed eyes into my blood. Then, one day when I was trolling around Little Italy, I spotted him! He was loading paintings into a truck. OMG! I stood across the street gaping at him. He didn't look quite as dashing in person though. Was that blond hair of his dyed or what? It glinted a bit too brightly in the sun. Still, he remained a mentor and I still have that crumbling photo of him to remind me of the innocent dreams of art, writing and the wild creativity that breeds in New York.

Check out other 80's Crush posts. But before you jump off, leave a comment about your 80's crush or whatever you want. Other I'll Tumble 4 YA posts here: Analog Breakfast, Alex J Cavenaugh, Gypsy in my Soul, LG Smith Bards & Prophets, Tony Van Helsing's Mystery Theater, tara tyler, Media Sharif, Jennifer Lane Books, erica and christy, Hope Roberson, Libby Heily, Aloha, and hi from HI, dlcruising altitude 2.0, TF Walsh, Arlee Birds Tossing it Out, Susan Fields, Brinda Berry Blogs, Culture Shock, Cedar Valley Sustainable Farming, Whatever Floats Your Canoe, Patricia Leever, PK Hrezo, Magpie Writes, Lauren Writes, The Fallen Monkey, Writing Worlds, Diane-Spunk on a Stick, Dave Wrote This, M Pax-Wistful Nebulae, Nicki Elson, Wake up, eat, write, sleep, Steven Tremp, Excuse Me While I Write This Down, Rek, The Armchair Squid, Christine Rains, MelissaSugar, Lara SchiffbauerTheresas Tales, Nancy S Thompson, BragonDorns Asylum, What Else is Possible?, Carrie-Anne, Thoughts of a Fantasy Novelist, Trisha @ WORD+STUFF, The Other Side, Random Interruptions, PepperWords, Feather and Julio, Weathering the Storm, Kelly Polark, Writing at High Altitude, Susan Oloier, Jay Paoloni, Actor, Lina Lamont Fan Club: sci-fi fantasy writing, Back to the Keep.

Now that's a bunch of big, bleeping Valentine blogfests!

47 comments:

  1. 80s crushes! Love it! This is late 80s, but I had a crush on Mark Paul Gosselaar (aka Zack Morris) from Saved By the Bell.

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  2. Interesting crush. I am not familiar with his work but that's so cool that you got to see him

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  3. A wonderfully off-beat choice. I'll have to look up his work, now. I'm sure he could have held his own on the volleyball court with Cruise and Kilmer, too!

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  4. Hi Catherine. How cool that you got to see him even if he didn't seem quite as glamorous as his photos. :)

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  5. That's a truly unique crush, but probably the one that makes the most sense.

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  6. You fell for an artist! Gotta love those creative types. :))

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  7. Hi Catherine, I like how you chose a real-life crush and like even more that you saw him in real life!

    YA books are hot now and I wish you luck on your blog tour! It sounds intriguing for a woman author to write from a male POV.

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  8. I love your excerpt especially, "We’re both growing out of our old skin, like two desert lizards, and the feeling of connecting is amazing." Great line.

    80's crush Hmm I always loved Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, I think it's his bad boy persona. And Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles.

    New Follower :)

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  9. Very nice 80's crush. A very romantic one. I like the excerpt from the man's pov. Great job.

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  10. I like the guys POV and how he doesn't mind that she smells and tastes a little sweaty. Makes the situation very real and romantic at the same time.

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  11. Yeah, Alex, in digging up the photo of Rosenquist, I realized that he's still a mentor who I'm crazy about. He has a dramatic backstory. Started out as a billboard ad painter. Then, a while back, in Florida, he lost his entire studio, and many paintings, in a wildfire.
    As far as writing from the man's POV, not as hard as I imagined. Maybe because I was so close to my brother, and I have two sons, my brother has five sons and my sister has one.

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  12. Ugh, I have way too much on my plate to jump into anything right now. But, I wanted to say, I loved your excerpt! and your 80's crush...was totally awesome. :))

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  13. Very nice excerpt! And I love your 80s crush! :)

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  14. what a truly unique choice! and a sweet tribute!
    nice presentation!

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  15. Great excerpt. Looking forward to reading the whole book. It's on the way to my house.

    I can't remember the 80's whether I crushed on anyone or not.

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  16. That's one crush that not many others would have thought of. A sensible one at that.


    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog
    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  17. Love the excerpt! Great to read from a guy's POV.

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  18. Interesting choice of crush - very good! Also, enjoyed the excerpt very much :-)

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  19. Yay for Valentine goodness! Kisses and crushes--love it!

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  20. Two blogfests! Awesome. I'm here for the YAmore one. Your snippet made me ask lots of questions--which is good.

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  21. Loved it so much I purchased the ebook! Thanks for the tease!

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  22. Very nicely done from a guy´s POV :D and I love that sentence "She’s spring sun after polar night."!

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  23. Thanks so much for the kudos, all of you genius writers! Beverly, you saying that you couldn't recall any 80s crushes cracked me up! Thanks LM and Bev for buying Fireseed One-hope you like it as much as I did, writing it. Arlee, you made me laugh too. Is there really such thing as a "sensible" crush?
    Now, I've got to hop on over to the other fabu blogs to read their posts.

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  24. I love the last line of your excerpt. I actually sighed out loud! :) And I love that you crushed on an artist.

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  25. Adrianne, always crushed on either artists, writers or musicians. Creativity is sexy, don't you agree?

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  26. Ooh,I love the excerpt from Fireseed esp. this 'I picture kissing her again, stroking her wild red hair that smells of violets and sweat, her pressing against me under the night sky.' How swoony and fiery. I havent gotten to that part in this beautifully rich and detailed novel - but cant wait, Catherine!

    My 80s crush? I was in love with John Denver and all my friends made fun of me - and still do! What a fun blog post.

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  27. I was born in the late 80s, but I'm sure that through my mother's womb, we both loved Tom Selleck.

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  28. Oh, Zoraida, too funny! And Donna, John Denver, really?! I lived out in Denver for a while, and his songs were everywhere, but I was more into Stanley Clarke and John McLaughlin at the time. He is an American sort of legend, though, I'll give him that.

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  29. Can anyone say Grammys? Shout it loud! All this talk of sexy musicians and I'm all too ready for those Grammys. I'm rooting for Adele & the Foo Fighters.

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  30. Artists are dreamy just because they're artists! Thanks for the follow. I've been trying to follow you back but blogger won't let me. I'll keep trying though.

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  31. Gee, why not? Maybe you need to change the "Comment as" thingy??

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  32. Ooh la la, quite an enjoyable excerpt. And thanks for joining the 80s crush blogfest! That's such an awesome crush. How cool that you got to actually see him...although maybe there are parts of seeing him you'd like to forget, hehe.

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  33. Whoops, forgot to add that I love getting the guy's point of view, as you had in your 250 word bit.

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  34. I liked one of the New Kids on the Block, but I don't remember if that was late 80's or early 90s. I don't remember much about the 80's sorry.

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  35. Ooo, I love the male POV take in your excerpt.

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  36. My big crush was on Mr. Ambivalence, whose famous line to me was "I'm not not in love with you."

    (it's okay though, because we ended up getting married.)

    So will Marissa and Varik stay together??? Next book, please!!

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  37. I enjoyed reading this excerpt, Catherine. Especially loved this
    "..we turn to each other at the same time and find each other’s lips. Hers taste of salty sweat, yet of sweetness. Her skin brushing against the palms of my hands feels like plush leaves.
    She’s spring sun after polar night." *sigh*

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  38. Thanks, Cecelia! Helen, there's nothing like a Mr. Ambivalence, is there? Ack!

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  39. There's something very sexy about men who are creative. I loved the story of your 80's crush.

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  40. Amazing you saw him in real life though.

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  41. Love your 80s crush - and I'm always jealous of anyone who moves to NYC! haha

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  42. Ah, love the 80s & your picks. Found you through the THat's YAMore blogfest (new follower)

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  43. WElcome, new visitors and followers! These blog fests are always so fun.

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  44. There's so many blogfests going on this month! It's crazy!

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  45. How neat! One interesting crush there!!

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