Elle Hill

I'm comin' out!  I want the world to know, Got to let it show I'm comin' out... There's a new me comin' out And I just had to live And I wanna give I'm completely positive.... ~"I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross I refer, of course, to the new release of my first full-length novel, Hunted Past ! Yes! It is finally available for purchase! I'm so proud, if I could, I'd hand it to my mom and let her pin it to the fridge! Hunted Past is available in digital and paperback forms, through the publisher and through Amazon (the paperback and Kindle versions of which suck up tons of profit, so go through the publisher). And, in case you have forgotten, the synopsis is below.  What are you waiting for? It's out! Go get it! Serena O’Donnell, a healer, copes with depressed and suicidal patients dealing with past tragedies. She lives a quiet and safe life, comfortable in the thought she is free to define her own path. Suddenly a r...

So I'm co-sponsoring a Big, Fat Flea Market in Duarte, CA on December 9 and 10, 2011. (Yes, I'll chat more about that in the future.) I'm also the one designing its publications, and while carefully pasting logos into various documents, a dreadful realization suddenly kicked me in the frontal lobe: I don't have an author logo.  "No logo?" you gasp. "But, Elle, how could you, a future New York Times bestseller, have neglected such a vital marketing logistic?" I know, right? Shameful!  It takes a lot of brushing to look this good. So, with that thought in mind, I did what any writer would do when faced when the ugly reality of their logo-less existence: I whined to my little sister. But oh, my little sister isn't just any little sister. She's also a visual artiste. Score! She designs all my visual stuff, my oldest sister tends to all the logistical and informational stuff, and I just sit here and look pretty while brushing my lustrou...

Picture this: A shero’s flaxen hair streams in some generic breeze while her muscular love interest flexes his shirtless pecs and tries not to care that his curly black hair is gorgeous in a sex-tousled kinda way. You know what bugs me the most about this imaginary scene? No, it’s not the trite imagery, nor is it the traditional gender enactments. Well, okay, maybe that. But most of all, I’m annoyed that the shero — that far too many of our sheroes – is blonde. I know flowing blonde hair is a romantic staple (although less for us paranormal romance fiends), but, really, must we? Have you ever seen coffee-brown hair stream in a generic breeze? Pretty darn sexy. Or a magnificent afro bounce in the sunlight? Glorious. So why do we authors, like so many media professionals, persist in over-representing a very small percent of our population? Depending on  which   article   you  read, natural blonde Americans (sorry for the snub, Canadians and others) account for anywher...

The reviews for Hunted , my saucy little 15,000-word novella, are pouring in! I can hardly keep track of them! Well, okay, there have only been two, but they both mean a lot to me. One is on Hunted 's Amazon page (oh yes, it has one !) and one is online , sitting there for the world to see. And you know what? You all need to see it, too: This review was written by Ann Montclair, an obviously-brilliant and talented writer of our times. Thanks, Ann! Hunted  by Elle Hill is a paranormal romantic thriller set against the backdrop of modern day Los Angeles. The gritty, kick-butt heroine, Gray Leigh, is a Hunter, a superhuman with the ability to sniff out and destroy Leeches, another kind of superhuman that feeds on human misery. When Gray is sent to protect a scientist who has come dangerously close to unearthing their secret world, she finds Dr. Simon Romero more than worth her attention. Between flurries of violence and philosophical musings, these two make time for some ser...

You know those awesome Facebook memes where you get to talk uninterruptedly about yourself? (I’m convinced middle-class White women made them up because we’re socialized to relinquish our social and verbal space and these memes allow us to stake tiny claims in conversational territory.) I recently accepted the challenge of naming “f ifteen fictional characters (television, films, plays, books) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. ” My soul-deep desire to talk about myself wasn’t what surprised me; it was the tenor of my answers. My list of the literary and TV characters that have most inspired me includes, among several others,  Beth March from Little Women;  Willow Rosenberg from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer;  Jane Eyre from, well, you know; and Spock from Star Trek . My initial reaction: Geez, am I a nerd! Okay, not really a shock. My secondary reaction: As a friend, Pippa Jay , and I subsequently discussed, our favorite characters tend to be “...

I have tons of thoughts burbling in my brain and no ability or inclination to work them into a creative whole. As a result, below is a random smattering of thoughts and announcements.  1. Hunted Past , my full-length novel, will be released on October 28  through Wild Rose Press. Like in paperback and everything. Seriously. Given the October 12 release of Hunted , this is a good month for Elle! (Pretty cool, since it's my favorite month and the one that contains my second  favorite holiday !) 2. October 19 is my first favorite holiday. It's National Love Your Body Day ! That means today is LYBD Eve! Are you loving your body right now ? If not, better stop what you're doing and start lovin' on it . Your body does a lot: Processes those brilliant thoughts, moves you from here to there, hugs partners and provides pets with resting places, breathes, processes toxins, looks smokin' in neckties (ties look sexy on everyone, no matter their sex), and countless oth...

I admit I'm kinda new to this six-sentence Sunday phenomenon, so forgive me if I'm doing it wrong. Below I'm pasting, well, six sentences from the manuscript I just sent my publisher. It's not out yet, but I feel pretty confident saying it will be soon. It's by far my best work yet -- er, not that Hunted and Hunted Past aren't fantastic and all... Below is the first time our shero, as yet unnamed, meets our hero, Reed.  Happy SSS, everyone! *************** Reed gestured to the sky, the walls, the buildings that crowded around them at unnatural angles. “This is your world,” he said, “not mine. I’m just a bit player. Somehow you pulled me into your subconscious playground.” She drew her breath in sharply, and her nostrils flared. “Are you saying this is a dream?” she all but whispered.  

A dark and intriguing author photo that surely makes you want to buy more books and unravel the mystery that is me.  I was interviewed by sister-author and all-around-awesome woman Donna Shields on the release of Hunted . To hear more about your favorite author (Me, right? Uh, right?), head on over to Donna's blog post . And while you're there, you might decide to buy one of her books. And maybe an extra digital copy of Hunted . Just a suggestion.

Some call it a promotional video. Some call it a book trailer. I call it two minutes of PURE AWESOME! Thanks to the (inexpensive yet uber-professional) work of Kris Owen of Wolfwen Entertainment, I now have some dramatic music and visuals to stoke the fires of desire for my paranormal romance novella, Hunted , released today through Soul Mate Publishing .  (And btw, I paid good money to use that drool-worthy picture of Simon, the crazy-hot Colombian scientist and our shero's love interest. Never say we artists don't sacrifice for our art!) 

An example of the FINE LITERATURE (ahem) available through Soul Mate Soul Mate Publishing is ready to launch, and they have a full crew of brilliant and talented writers to, um, steer you over the choppy waters of literary deprivation... or something. Okay, really bad metaphor aside, Soul Mate Publishing is launching on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Woohoo! Oh yes, my friend, this means exactly what you think it means: Your romantic fiction-less days have come to an end. Just visit Soul Mate Publishing , and they will supply you with your RDA of happily-ever-afters. Below is a list of blogs you can visit to hear more from amazing authors who, like yours truly, have the privilege of helping Soul Mate launch their amazing new publishing company. I hope you'll support them (and me, but if you're among the three peeps who read this, I imagine that won't be an issue) by perusing and purchasing some of their literary wares.  Let's help a small publishing compan...

To quote from a press release just issued by  NAAFA , the international, premier fat rights organization: " Living Large: Obesity in America is a collaboration between NPR and the Public Insight Network from American Public Media. They have featured a number of articles about being fat in America. They have made available a public survey for you to share your story 'if obesity has touched your life.'" An opportunity to tell media about fatties? Sign me up! I eagerly clicked on the NAAFA-provided link to the Public Insight Network and shared with them my, ahem, concerns about the ( unscientific and irrational) "obesity"-inspired, moral panic tsunami currently crashing down on us Westerners. I am only too happy to share my responses to their questionnaire and urge all three peeps who read this blog to follow my example.   ******************** What conversations do you have - or avoid having - about weight? As a sociologist who studies bodies an...

Given 175 seconds, you could listen to 3/4 of this song Last night, I applied for my 175 th academic job position in three years. Yeah, you read it right: one hundred seventy-five. If each of my applications were a mile, I could travel to Vegas from home. If each application were a single second, I’d have time to listen to your average top-40 radio song. Keep in mind this number doesn't include all my non-academic job applications, and yes, there is an ever-increasing number of those as well. I’ve easily topped 200 job applications within the past three years, ever since I scored my PhD. So I toil as an adjunct at a job I really, really love, teaching students I adore and chatting about subjects that make my toes curl. But I don’t make enough money to pay my rent, and that’s a fact. Am I alone in being underemployed ? No. Am I alone in feeling my superior degree has made almost zero difference in my life ? No. Am I worse off than most Americans ? Well, yes, financi...