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Monday, October 22, 2012

Who's the Boss?



Sometimes I have to seriously stop and ask myself that question. Who’s the boss? Me or Lydia?  I can see all of you already owned by furry four-footed housemates smirking. Lydia of course.
One niece says that Lydia is my sidekick. It’s more than that. I think she wants to stick close to make sure this servant does what she’s supposed to, when she’s supposed to. And somehow, our time schedules seldom mesh.

This is way past open the door, close the door, open the door….This entails arguments. Usually about food.  I heard that small dogs tended to be picky eaters.  Ha! No one shared that with Lydia, my 65 pound Boxer. Dry dog food is the stuff that goes into a cube she can knock around for entertainment. She does eat what flies out. Why this tastes better than when it’s put on her dish I have no idea. Certain brands she refuses to touch. Dry or wet.  My brother’s dog has been the happy recipient of many of Lydia’s dislikes. She does like people food – mostly. But there are some things she won’t eat there, either. Once, she seemed to have an upset tummy and wasn’t interested in any food, dog or people. Then I started cooking taco filling. That, she was interested in. Put a little on her plate and she lapped it up. Weird dog.

Also a weird vocabulary for a dog. Hungry, she understands. That’s not so strange. What drives me insane is that she understands cooking is related to food and is related to hungry. Seriously. If I tell her I have to cook she sits in her one particular waiting for food spot and waits for it. If  it’s taking longer than she thinks it should, she comes to investigate. Wants to make sure I’m staying on task. If  I take something from the oven, and she wants it, she sits in the middle of the kitchen floor and waits for it. The other day it was cornbread. I gave her a corner of a piece of my cornbread. She loved it. I was done eating and went back to the family room. I heard barking in the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Lydia, standing in front of the stove where I had placed the pan of corn bread. She wanted more.

These furry companions are a lot of fun, but they sure are bossy things.  I always wondered why there were pictures of people, with their dogs at their feet. Now I get it. It’s like looking at the toddler when they’re clean and tucked in bed and could not have possibly wreaked havoc around the house, even if they did. That is moment they look adorable. Animals too. When they’re laying so nicely you don’t remember that they have been places where they shouldn’t be or have driven you crazy playing doorman, or personal chef. Every once in a while, I pretend I’m the boss, but I know how this really goes.  Who’s boss in your house?

Friday, October 12, 2012

A WRITER'S INSPIRATION

People sometime ask where a writer gets their ideas. I just released BAD VIBES, the third novel in my romantic thriller series: THE EDGE OF TEXAS. This series was inspired by the beautiful south Texas coast, close to the border with Mexico. I used to enjoy sailing catamarans and raced on a circuit for 7 years. One of the most enjoyable places to race was off the South Padre Island beach. South Padre is a semi-tropical resort built on a strip of sand separated from the mainland by a 2.5 mile causeway over the Intracoastal Waterway. This channel was dredged and is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers and it runs from the tip of Texas all the way to Florida. It is part of the coastal defense system built to protect our shores from enemy submarines during WWII. This was a favorite place to sail and my family enjoyed the many weekends we spent there. However, the mind of a writer (and perhaps even more so, the mind of a mystery/suspense writer) can find evil anywhere, so I have corrupted this paradise and my heroes and heroines get into all kinds of trouble there.    

Here is the description for BAD VIBES:
When government agent Mike “The Iceman” Burke invades her South Padre Island turf, Deputy Darla Calhoun is assigned as liaison officer to his team. Her skills as a sniper come in handy when a gang of human traffickers strikes close to home, kidnapping local women including her best friend. Darla is recovering from her husband’s suicide and trying to be a good parent to her twin sons. The ICE assignment takes her out of her misery and plunges her into a dangerous mission and a steamy affair. Mike and Darla tear up and down the Intracoastal Waterway in search of the kidnappers and the captive women while Rafael and Javier conduct their own investigation. Will they rescue the captive women or will the kidnappers slaughter them as they have done in the past? Two teams race to find the answers before it's too late.

When government agent Mike “The Iceman” Burke invades her South Padre Island turf, Deputy Darla Calhoun is assigned as liaison officer to his team. Her skills as a sniper come in handy when a gang of human traffickers strikes close to home, kidnapping local women including her best friend. Darla is recovering from her husband’s suicide and trying to be a good parent to her twin sons. The ICE assignment takes her out of her misery and plunges her into a dangerous mission and a steamy affair. Mike and Darla tear up and down the Intracoastal Waterway in search of the kidnappers and the captive women while Rafael and Javier conduct their own investigation. Will they rescue the captive women or will the kidnappers slaughter them as they have done in the past? Two teams race to find the answers before it's too late.

The following excerpt takes place when Mike has gone ashore to pick up the sheriff's liaison officer assigned to work with his team. He isn't especially happy about working with local law enforcement, thinking that they are too territorial. He was blown away when he finds out that the sheriff's "man" is the petite, female deputy who arrested him. This scene opens on the boat transporting them back to the Long Shot, the agent's boat.

EXCERPT:


Mike Burke shouldered the two green duffle bags and hoisted them into the rubber rigid hull boat that was to return him to the cabin cruiser with the sheriff’s “man.”
Another tall, Hispanic deputy, beefier than the Sheriff, manned the craft. He seemed to hold Darla in high regard, chatting affably with her during the short trip.
The air was damp to begin with and droplets of water hit Mike’s face as the boat thudded over the water. In a short time, the rigid hull bumped against the side of the larger craft and the deputy handed Darla on board.
“You be careful now, Darla. You hear me?”
She leaned down to grab his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “If I don’t come back, I’m willing my kids to you, Adriano.”
He grinned, patting her hand. “My wife thinks we’ve got something going on anyway.” Adriano tossed the duffle bags aboard and turned to Mike, a Jekyll and Hyde transformation coming over him.
He jammed a finger into Mike’s chest. “If Darla doesn’t come back in mint condition, I will fucking kill you. Got that, Iceman?” He glared at Mike, his teeth gritted together in a threatening grimace.
Mike maintained his cool gaze, thinking that this big bull of a deputy could do some damage, even to a man of his own size. “You just threatened a Federal Agent.”
Adriano gave him a mirthless smile. “Good. You did get my message.”
Mike nodded. As he climbed aboard, he wondered what was so special about Darla Calhoun, other than her pretty face and fine body. He’d noticed that she was no longer wearing her wedding band. He figured that she’d taken it off for the assignment. It was probably on her nightstand at home. But still, he had to wonder.
Freddy’s eyes lit up when he saw Darla and he grinned from ear-to-ear. He took the hand she offered in both of his. Mike wondered if Freddy was going to slobber all over it, but his partner managed to control his drooling.
Mike did a mental eye roll. This is going to be a nightmare.
“Where am I going to sleep?” she asked.
Mike bit back the answer that sprang to mind. “There are two bunks below deck. You can sleep in which ever one is empty at the time.”
She gave him a look that was somewhere between a smile and a smirk. “No, you will show me which bunk is mine, and which bunk is to remain mine for the duration of this assignment. I don’t care where you sleep.”
Freddy was about to wet himself, he was trying so hard to keep from laughing. “I’ll show you the bunks, Darla,” he said. “You can take your pick. Mike and I can share the other. One of us will be on watch at all times anyway.”
Darla nodded and followed Freddy below deck.
Mike swallowed something that felt like a boulder at the back of his throat. He stood, gripping the railing, sorry now that he’d given up cigarettes.
In a short time, Freddy returned topside, a big grin on his face. “Sweet!”
“Shut up!” Mike snarled.
“Our girlfriend is getting settled in. I may have to brush my teeth.”
“We’ve got a job to do,” Mike bit out.
“Right and it just got sweeter.” Freddy leaned closer. “Do you know what she’s got in those bags?”
Mike snorted and gave him a look intended to denote disinterest. “Her lace teddies and her collection of Victoria’s Secret catalogues?”
“She’s got her clothes all rolled up in one and the other--” He thumped Mike on the shoulder. “It’s full of weapons and ammo. She is so my kind of girl.”
When Darla came on deck, she was wearing shorts and a cotton shirt tied at the waist. She looked the part of a tourist on a rented fishing boat.
A giant fist slammed into Mike’s gut, He lifted one side of his mouth as a form of reluctant approval. “So, are you going to fish?”
“If need be,” she said. “Don’t worry. I can bait my own hook.”
Mike digested this, wondering briefly what she was going to use for bait.

~*~


The order of this series is 
(2) BAD KARMA                                 
(3) BAD VIBES                                                                                                                                                                     
(4) BAD DREAMS <Under Construction>

Visit J.D. Faver’s website: http://www.jdfaver.com/                                                                                                               
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I hope everyone has a chance to visit South Padre Island and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In the meantime, you can visit through my series and keep up with the happenings. My goal is to entertain…and keep you up nights. ;-)
*hugs*
~J.D.