HIGH NOON is finished! This is a Western novella I’ve been working on for Samhain Publishing’s Western anthology, LEATHER AND LACE, due out in November sometime. This has been such a relief, as this story was weighing heavily on me, even though it’s just barely over 20K at 20,600. That’s nothing, really. But I have two *other* books I need to finish, longer books, and getting this one done and out of the way was very important.

Not to mention FUN to write a Western again! It’s been well over a year since I’ve written a Western, so I loved every minute of it.

Now I’ll be able to jump into my other projects with a little less stress. I think you’ll love Talon, my Comanche hero. I tried to give him as much emotion as I could in such a short book. Hopefully, I accomplished what I wanted. It was hard to write such a short story again. I had to remember the pacing is faster in a short novella. But I read through it and it doesn’t seem to jar me from scene to scene.

I’ve passed it on to my crit partner, so we’ll see if she has any suggestions. But since it’s not due until June 1st, I’m going to let it simmer for awhile before I jump in with any revisions. I’ve GOT to get Wade’s story done. Don’t want to disappoint the fans!

Here’s HIGH NOON’s blurb if you want to know exactly what it’s about:

Banning, TX 1872

Winner takes all.

~~Becka

Okay, folks, this week’s hottie is a man I just showcased yesterday in my T-13. Why am I posting him again? Well, because I was shocked when someone posted they didn’t like hero #13. For those who are too lazy to scroll down, hero #13 from yesterday’s list was Andrew “Talon” Holt, from my upcoming Western Novella HIGH NOON. This book should be released sometime in November.

The reason I was so shocked was because I believe this man is one of THE HOTTEST Native American actors on the face of the earth. His name is Mr. Jay Tavare.

Jay is of mixed ancestry, being of Navaho, Apache, and Latino decent. He’s been in some great movies and TV shows, such as Cold Mountain with Nicole Kidman, Adaptation with Meryl Streep, and Into the West with Keri Russell.

But just look at this guy. He’s so hot my eyes are on fire. Hell, more than just my eyes, if you know what I mean. LOL Now I know that not everyone’s tastes will be the same with regards to men, and that’s what makes us all different. But can you honestly tell me you’ve seen a hotter Native American?

The only man who comes close (in my book, anyway) is Eric Schweig, who I chose to be my “Eagle” from ON EAGLE’S WINGS. I knew I needed another Indian man to visualize Talon from HIGH NOON and I frantically asked my friend Donica Covey, “What’s that hottie’s name again, the one you say makes your teeth sweat??” LOL

I’m so very glad she remembered his name. Congratulations, Jay Tavare. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

This week, I’m going to showcase the heroes from my books. Should be fun, if nothing else, lovely eye candy.

1.) Jeremy Kitteridge. From the Mistletoe Magic Anthology, Jeremy is fun-lovin’ and gets giddy at Christmas time. He’ll warm you from the winter chill.

~*~*~

2.) Noah Carpenter. A white tiger shifter from the first book in my BEAST series, THE B*E*A*S*T* WITHIN, Noah doesn’t remember who he used to be, but he knows what he wants.

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3.) Rogan Wolfe. A timber wolf shifter from the second book in my BEAST series, B*E*A*S*T OF BURDEN, Rogan desperately wants to reclaim the life–and the wife–he can no longer remember.

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4.) Laith Moreland. A cursed ghost from HEARTS ETERNAL, Laith is a twin and the Third Duke of Crichton, searching the world for his shelmir, the reincarnation of his soul mate.

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5.) Jareth Moreland. A vampire, Jareth chose to curse himself to find Cassandra reborn, Laith’s “shelmir”. His story is HEARTS UNBOUND, coming in November, 2007 from Samhain Publishing.

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6.) Wade McAllister. A cougar shifter from my upcoming third BEAST series book, NATURE OF THE B*E*A*S*T*. He wants revenge on the one who made him, but isn’t prepared to lose his heart to an unlikely woman…

~*~*~

7.) Sir Geoffrey of Emberdale. A Wolverine knight in the service of King Brennan of Lyndaria, Sir Geoffrey is in the first book of the Legends of Mynos series, THE WOLVERINE AND THE ROSE. (You see him here without his clothing. lol) He’s a kind and gentle man.

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8.) Sir Sebastian of Tabrinth. A Wolverine Knight from the second book of the Legends of Mynos series, THE WOLVERINE AND THE JEWEL coming May 15th. He’s determined to find the bastard who beat the lovely woman he found on the fields surrounding Castle Templestone.

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9.) Marcus McCaide. A cowboy from my Western, IN YOUR ARMS. He’s tortured by the demons of his past, and believes he has nothing to offer a woman.

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10.) Adam Eagle’s Wing. A full-blooded Cheyenne Indian from my book ON EAGLE’S WINGS, Eagle is a Time Tourist and makes a colossal mistake by saving a woman from her rape in the year 1866. Now, it’s up to him to fix the derailed timeline.

~*~*~

11.) Sir Ethan of Krey. A Wolverine knight from the third book in my Legends of Mynos series, THE WOLVERINE AND THE FLAME. Sir Ethan made a promise to his closest friend to watch over his sister, but ends up making an excruciating choice: her life or the preservation of Lyndaria…

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12.) Jake Tanner. A drifting cowboy in my Inspirational romance, HEART OF GOLD. He doesn’t believe in God, but his faith will be sorely tested when tragedy strikes.

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13.) Andrew “Talon” Holt. A full-blooded Comanche Indian from my upcoming novella HIGH NOON from the Western LEATHER AND LACE Anthology from Samhain Publishing. Talon was saved as a young child from a massacre and raised as a white man, fighting for the honor of the woman he loves in a shootout at . . . you guessed it. High noon.

~*~*~

And there you have it. My hunky men. Whew. Is it hot in here??

~~Becka

My friend Diane Craver has tagged me to post 5 things I obsess about. Lovely. After reading this list, you’ll surely think I’m a narcissist.

1.) My Email. Every day, many MANY times a day, I hear the siren song of my computer call to me from the far side of the house. Doesn’t matter what’s going on. Spending a romantic evening with DH, partying with friends, writing, reading, etc. The Almighty Email beckons me to at least “check” to make sure the world hasn’t caught on fire.

2.) My Amazon Sales Rank. Yup, my books are on Amazon.com, and I’m constantly checking to see if there’s a new review posted and what rank my book is at. I just want to know if it’s selling!

3.) Reviews. I check review sites religiously looking for a review of my book, mostly because a lot of the sites don’t TELL you before hand that the post is live. In fact, sometimes, you get the notice email a day or two after the review has been posted! So I scour the sites.

4.) MySpace. I’m obsessed. Yup. My goal is to get 1000 friends before the end of the year. I already have over 500. I’m always checking how many people have visited my MySpace blog and trolling other members’ friends lists for more friends. Seems to have worked well for me.

5.) This Blog. Indeed. I’m always thinking about things I can blog about. And you don’t want to know how much time I waste looking for the pictures I put in my posts…

There you have it. I’m neurotic, I know. I’m tagging two of my author friends. One of them is Jinger Jackson, and up and coming erotic author. The other is Beth Williamson, the woman I want to be when I grow up. LOL

~~Becka

Magic Eraser, Magic Eraser
O how I love thee,
How you clean impossible grime
remains a mystery.

Small and white and wet are you
as I scrub my countertops
gone are stains of yesteryear
un-conquered by sponge or mop.

How is it that you clean so well
with no abrasive grit?
Even all my friends believe
That you’re the effing sh*t.

If you, dear reader, have yet to partake
then hesistate no more
And marvel at the shiny sheen
of your counters, sinks & floors.

If Mr. Clean was flesh and blood
I’d do him on the spot
For he knows ways to please a woman
that lesser men do not.

So if you find yourself at the store
standing in the cleaning aisle,
Pick up a box of Magic Erasers,
then clean your house and smile.

© Rebecca Goings

~~Becka

Okay, admittedly, this movie has been out for a few months. It just recently came out to DVD. My DH has been a “spoilsport” about this movie, hemming and hawing, not wanting to see it, however I really did, and so did my kids. But I’m not “gung ho” to take my kids to the theater without the hubby, so we never saw this movie in the theater.

And despite my sister telling me the movie was good, DH would lament that it sucked, partially because it got a very “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and my hubby pretty much lives off that site for movie reviews.

Anyhow, needless to say, I bought this DVD, despite the cajolings of DH, and we watched it the other night. Both of us were pleasantly surprised!

Now, it’s no secret that I LUV dragons, ever since I wrote one in my Legends of Mynos series. But I don’t just want the “dumb animal” dragons a la the D&D Movie *shudder*, I want intelligent dragons a la Draco from Dragonheart.

Eragon didn’t disappoint in this area. And the imagination between the dragon and it’s rider was very well done, in my opinion. As a writer, I can see the quality of imagination behind stories. And Paolini’s imagination at bringing Eragon to life was top notch.

Now, it is true this story really brings nothing “new” to the table. While watching the movie, you’ll feel as if you’ve seen it before, but really, all fantasy has an element of the “unexpected” hero or heroine saving the world. Usually, this hero is from some random farming family. And of course, there’s the default “taking out” of the family that sends the intrepid hero on his journey of self-discovery.

The main bad guy is the evil king, played by John Malkovich, who is a great actor. I was a little bummed not to see more of him in this movie. But his lackey reminded me too much of Grima Wormtongue from the Lord of the Rings movies, almost to distraction. Obviously he wasn’t the same, but his look was definately spot on. Jeremy Irons plays the hero’s mentor, which reminded me of a cross between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bowen from Dragonheart.

While the movie is predicable, it is still enjoyable. There were a few continuity errors DH and I noticed, the biggest one of all when the love interest shows the hero the dragon’s full armor that had been made for her, and in the very next scene, the dragon is wearing armor, but it isn’t the same armor shown in the previous scene. That was a little jolting.

However, the battle scenes in the sky were amazing and took my breath away. When the dragon releases her fiery breath on the masses, I wanted to cheer. Loved it!

This movie heavily implies to there being a second, and I’m hoping they’ll make it, even though this movie didn’t get highly rated. I would love to see more of John Malkovich playing an over-the-top bad guy!

Now, I haven’t read any of the books, and a friend of ours told us they cut a lot out for the movie, so if you’re an Eragon book geek, you’ll obviously notice this. However, when you make a 2 hour movie from a hundreds-of-pages-long book, something’s got to get cut. But I can’t really make a judgment on how well they did or didn’t do with regards to keeping the “purity” of the story intact.

Long story short, DH and I had low expectations. We were pleasantly surprised. If you’re looking for a “breath of fresh air” with regards to fantasy, you will not find it in this movie. But if you don’t have at least a good time watching the aerial special effects, well, then there’s probably no pleasing you.

~~Becka

O.O

First of all, this picture could be a post in itself. If there were ever a “picture worth 1,000 words”, it would be this one. LOL

David Hasselhoff has this “legendary” quality about him nowadays in pop culture, kind of like Chuck Norris. And if you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, you’re probably living underneath a rock.

Aside from staring on Knight Rider (kick-ass show) or Baywatch, Mr. Hasselhoff has made a few records (yes, he’s singing), but they’re mostly popular overseas. He’s also made many, many cameos on movies, mostly parodying himself. If there’s ever a man who can make fun of himself with flair, that would be David.

Even my DH bought a shirt online that says “Don’t Hassel the Hoff“. I thought I would die laughing.

A friend of mine on MySpace sent this picture to me as a comment on my profile and she’s done it before, made me crack up so damn hard I had to run to the bathroom lest I pee my pants. Whoever thought of this “Hoff Soap” is a genius, and I’d love to see these installed in bathrooms all over town! Okay, well, maybe not…

The point is, the above picture is funny, “I don’t care who y’are” (to quote Larry the Cable Guy.)

It’s one of those images you just have to stare at for a moment to fully appreciate. It’s shocking but damn funny at the same time. Thank you, David Hasselhoff, for bringing such joy and happiness into our lives. *snort*

And remember, don’t hassel the Hoff. LOL

~~Becka