I’ve been hard at work converting my daughter’s bedroom back into the den it once was, now that she’s moved on to her own place. I’m really looking forward to having a quiet place to work. As you can see, it’s a work in progress.
You can now pick up Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike for your Nook by following the link below. Just as at Amazon, Kobo, and iBooks, it is just 99 cents.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1107759360?ean=2940032863465&itm=1&usri=astrid+maxxim
Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike is now availabe at Kobo books for 99 cents. Follow this link right to it: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Astrid-Maxxim-her-Amazing-Hoverbike/book-dHww_7RCZ0eAeEurAyXCNg/page1.html
Patience is the Robot in “His Robot Girlfriend”. Just as you might expect, she’s perfect. What I find interesting is that so many people tell me they love Patience– both male and femal readers. I guess she’s so pleasant that she’s just hard not to like.
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Though her hair was covered with a clear plastic cap, he could see it was jet black. It matched two dark, carefully arched eyebrows and a set of long eyelashes. She had no other body hair. Her face could best be described as cute, with large blue eyes, a button nose, and thick voluptuous lips. She had the kind of slender and yet curvy body that was just not possible on a real woman. Breasts the size of apples just kind of floated there above a perfectly flat stomach. Mike tilted his head down. She looked anatomically complete.
Of all my characters, none went through as much of a change between first draft and published work as did Patience Smith in His Robot Girlfriend. Originally she was a rather Amazonian figure, physically very imposing, but much more submissive. Some might argue that Patience is still submissive, but I think we find out in His Robot Wife that she really isn’t. When I rewrote a series of short pieces into a long story, she needed to have much more force of personality so that she could advance the storyline of forcing Mike to change. A college professor once told me the main character is the one in the story who changes the most– and that would be Mike.
When I started rewriting, I just wasn’t happy with her physical description, so I started completely from scratch, using some of the actresses that fit that body type: Christina Ricci, Natalie Portman, Alyson Hannigan, as well as a young woman I knew as a model– so yes, there really is a Patience out there. I observed her as carefully as possible (without seeming too creepy) so that I could describe her movements and gestures– like when Patience bounces on her tip-toes or incorporates dance moves into everyday movement. Since then, I’ve tried to find a human being to at least think about when I write most of my characters.
Her personality couldn’t be base on a real person or even a person that I though up. She’s a robot. Her personality couldn’t be readily apparent. It had to be very subdued. It had to sneak up on the reader as it sneaks up on Mike. For that reason I think, quite a few readers find her a dull automoton– Image finding a robot as such. I think this is a failure for me as a writer. Still of all the fan letters I’ve ever gotten, I would say that easily 40% (written about any book) tell me how much they love Patience.
I mentioned before that the robot books are not my favorite Wesley Allison books. That being said, they are my most popular, so I may well write another. Oddly, I have the hardest time thinking up plots for Mike and Patience, when plots just seem to pop up for my other books. If a new one ever does pop up though, I will write it. I have two titles in mind that I think are appropriate, but I’m not giving them up just yet.
The next Astrid Maxxim will be Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome. Expect it before the end of February. I am really pleased to present the cover. As with the first Astrid Maxxim book, the cover was created by Matthew Riggenbach at Shaed Studios. Working with him was wonderful. In fact, there wasn’t much work at all. I told him what I had in mind and he made it happen. His first draft was almost perfect. We made a few tweaks and it was done. I am so excited. Just looking at it makes me want to write.
As to the story. As you can see, this second tale places Astrid in adventures under the sea. I think there’s more action in this story than the first one. Some of the characters that played small parts in the first story get a little more attention this time too. Plus more Astrid and Toby. I’m looking forward to penning more of Astrid’s adventures, though I only have ideas for the first ten or so right now.
These two reviews were recently posted at Smashwords.
Review by: Nick Angelis : 
Finally! I was starting to get worried after I published an ebook with the tag “comedy” and couldn’t find many books in that category worth a chuckle. It was starting to inflate my ego about the ridiculousness I had written until Mr. Allison gently deflated it with this hilarious tale. I chortled, chuckled, and even cackled a few times while reading this book and recommend it unreservedly. That said, I’m off to procure some delicious pies of my own…
City of Amathar 