Naked Edge odds and ends

Gabe climbing


No, Man-Titty Monday has not been extended. Today is Tuesday, and so today we set the man-chest aside and get on with other things, important things, things of consequence.

I've had readers ask me if I have any specific images in mind when I write. Most often they're referring to characters when they ask that question. And I do try to piece together images that evoke my characters, particularly the heroes.

The image above is a favorite of mine. I love it. The model isn't really rock climbing, but if you squint your eyes and turn your head sideways, all you see is his nicely haired chest, his muscular arms and his six-pack, and you don't care what he's doing. So that's a nice image of Gabe when his feet slipped when Kat found him climbing at Mesa Butte.

But I also collect images of objects: Reece's Sphinx, Julian’s SIG, Marc’s Glock. I had lots of photos of the Capitol when writing Extreme Exposure, gang graffiti when I wrote Hard Evidence and a black Jag when I wrote Unlawful Contact.

I had to look at bridal catalogues when writing Heaven Can't Wait to see what kind of gowns Lissy might have chosen. So the Vera Wang (or Very Wang as Will calls it), the Badgley Mishka, and the others were real gowns I saw in magazines. For that story, I also bought a Scrabble board and played Sex Scrabble myself to map out their moves and the points Lissy and Will earned. (Wait... If I play Sex Scrabble by myself, is that Masturbation Scrabble?)

I didn’t collect a lot of images for Naked Edge, in part because it was derived heavily from things I’ve seen and done. No hogaans. Been in plenty. I didn’t need to look at a sweat lodge because I can go sit and pray in one every other Saturday. I didn't need photos of buttes because we have one right here... And climbing — I grew up stepping over coils of rope and nylon cords hung with pitons and carabiners and crams. In our house it was normal to see people hanging from door jams and doing fingertip pull-ups. One day when he was bored, my brother went outside and climbed his chimney. (No, I'm not kidding you, and this was after he was a grownup.) So no climbing photos were necessary.


Kat's wedding ring


I did keep a photo of Naked Edge, the climbing route, handy. I watched some hardcore free soloing and skiing videos. And I did search the 'Net for photos of their wedding rings as if I myself were shopping for them.

Kat’s is above — an antique white gold setting of turquoise and diamonds. I had this to look at as I wrote the end of the story.

Gabe's ring, below, is the signature style of a local jeweler, who makes rings to match a number of mountain ranges.


Gabe's wedding ring



The mountain range inset into this ring is the one I see every day of my life. It’s very recognizable to anyone from Boulder. It's the backdrop against which our little town is set. Pretty cool, I think.

This last photo is just a fun extra. It's the couple from the book trailer in a slightly more erotic pose than the ones Jenn and I chose. I thought it was really sexy, so I just kept it.


And Kat and Gabe lived happily ever after and were very often naked.


Thanks to those of you who hopped over to read the I-Team hero interview that I had promised you. Cecile and Jenn were great to put all that together. I had a lot of fun with it. And just to be clear, Marc isn’t really wearing an edible licorice thong purchased for him by Julian. They’re close, but not that kind of close.

For those of you who didn't go to Cecile's blog yesterday, I'm sure the post is still up. And Julian had news: Tessa is pregnant. We’ll hear more about that in Natalie and Zach’s book. I finished the synopsis over the weekend, and I now need to write a sample chapter or two, and then the proposal will be done. At that point, I’ll just keep writing. I hope to fly through it, so that it will be out a year from now.

So is anyone working on I-Team slash? Maybe I should host a contest and put the winners on my blog and/or Web site.

Coming soon:
—An interview with a true Colorado powder hound, together with videos he made of himself and his buddies skiing
—Updates on the shackling bill
—I-Team trivia
—And Fiction Friday — readers share their current reads and recommendations

Have a wonderful Tuesday!