Category Archives: Projects

Recipe: Vegan Mushroom Curry.

Lately, I have become One of THOSE people. One of which people, you may ask? One of THOSE, the type of people who post pictures of their culinary adventures online. So far, most people don’t seem to mind and I’ve been given accolades by my coworkers for my fine cooking finesse. One of my friends has even requested I share a recipe with him, leading me to become ANOTHER type of THOSE people….the type of person who post recipes on their “author” blogs…Though, really, I’ve been talking a lot about my journey into veganism here, anyway, because it’s becoming a fairly integral part of my life. It’s making me more conscious of what I eat and, on a broader level, how I live and how I’m going about things in my life. If that doesn’t make good blog fodder, I don’t know what does.

Though I had some difficulty finding the original recipe, I modified it enough that it called for my own rewrite of it, anyway. So, here you have it, my mushroom curry recipe, the one that led me to discover that curry is incredibly easy, fairly cheap, and now I constantly want to curry all the vegetables! Have a look, give it a try, tell me what you think!

Ingredients:
-1 box of mushrooms, half chopped, half sliced
-3 cloves garlic, shaved or finely chopped
-fresh ginger, shaved
-1/2 sweet or white onion, chopped
-1/2 potato, chopped
-several carrots, chopped
-some kale, radishes, celery, or really any other vegetable you’d like to include
-1 tbsp cayenne pepper
-1 tbsp cumin
-1 tbsp tumeric
-1 can coconut milk
-1 can diced tomatoes
-a good few tbsp olive oil
-a cup or two of jasmine rice

Instructions

1. Prepare rice according to instructions, to have ready by the time the curry is finished. You might want to start this later, depending on how long you want to allow the curry to simmer.
2. In a large, flat pan, heat oil and begin to sautee garlic, ginger, and onions (you can also use a garlic-ginger or a garlic-chili paste).
3. Add tomatoes and dry spices, stirring in and sauteeing until soft. I like to use diced tomatoes with chilis and celery already mixed in for added layers of flavor.
4. Add mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables (except for leafy greens) to the mix, stir, and let sautee for a few minutes, until the mushrooms become cooked and tender.
5. Add coconut milk, stir in thoroughly, and let start to bubble. When it does, lower the heat to medium/medium low.
6. Add leafy greens to wilt and allow curry to simmer for desired amount of time, stirring occasionally. The longer it simmers, the thicker it will become. I prefer to let mine simmer for a longer time.
7. Serve curry over rice and enjoy!

Since this recipe is modified from another recipe, I encourage you to modify it to your own tastes as well, especially if you have anything to share to improve my own experience! Go forth, and enjoy great curry.

Introducing: the World Unknown Review.

I have been sitting on this idea for a while now, since the beginning of the year, and, as we head into June, the middle of the year, I realized that I’d better get my butt moving on it if I wanted to accomplish this idea before 2013′s eventual conclusion (which is likely to happen much sooner than anticipated).

It’s time to announce the arrival of my very own annual literary anthology, World Unknown Review. Well, not the arrival yet. I plan to roll this puppy out at the end of the year in December, and, in the meantime, I need your stories. What’s an anthology without a good selection of fantastic stories to bolster it and make it incredible?

Every year, World Unknown Review will feature a different theme. In the spirit of starting a new tradition, beginning something new, and taking those first steps on a voyage from which you can’t turn back, I’ pleased to announce that our debut theme will be one that has resonated in the hearts and minds of people since one little British girl took a tumble into a land of wonder. Down the Rabbit-Hole. Inspired by the iconic image of Lewis Carroll’s Alice following the White Rabbit into Wonderland, the flagship edition of WUR will explore that moment when you can’t turn back, when you’ve fallen down the rabbit-hole into something new and strange and life-changing. How do we find the rabbit-hole? How do we make the decision to venture forth? Do we realize what we’re getting ourselves into, and how can we possibly get ourselves out?

I’m thrilled to see what the possibility of the WUR will bring. In addition to being a part of a new indie publication with the sole intent to promote fellow writers, any writer chosen to be published will receive three (3) copies of the anthology for themselves as well as a payment of $15 (USD). It’s not much, no, but I definitely want to offer compensation of helping to make my dream of putting out an annual literary anthology possible.

Here are the rules:

1. Entries must be submitted via email to ellis.engler@gmail.com. Please send entries with the subject “World Unknown Review Submission.” Entries may be sent in the body of the email or as a Word or .txt file.
2. All entries must be submitted before the deadline, October 31st, 2013
3. There is no limit on word count, though moderately sized stories stand a better chance.
4. There is no obligation to follow the theme of Down the Rabbit-Hole, though the more the entry fits the theme, the more likely it is to be considered, with regards to quality as well.
5. Final decisions are purely on the opinion of the editor of the collection, L.S. Engler.
6. Please include a small blurb about yourself for the eventual publication.
7. Spread the word! Okay, technically, this is not a rule, but please spread the news around that the World Unknown Review is looking for submissions. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of something new and exciting.

We will also be accepting submissions for cover art, original drawings or photographs that might be chosen for the cover of the WUR’s first issue. Due to the important nature of a cover, the payment for the winning photograph or artwork will be $25. Again, the greater the relevance to the theme, the more likely it is to be chosen, though any variety of images will be happily considered.

This is an exciting new project I’ve been mulling over since last year, and I’m thrilled to finally kickstart it and get it going! Please share this opportunity with fellow writers and help make the World Unknown Review a reality. My most heartfelt thanks and the best of luck to those who submit their work for consideration! I look forward to seeing where this might lead us!

Review: Dead Until Dark.

“Poor lumpy Maudette, with her bitten thighs, was more interesting in death than she’d ever been in life.”


“Dead Until Dark: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries Book One” by Charlaine Harris

The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris have been on my To-Be-Read list ever since the HBO show based on the books, True Blood, came out in 2008. Not having HBO, I never really got into the show, but I’ve heard good things about both media versions of these Sookie Stackhouse stories. And then it just sort of fell to the back of my mind as something to get to eventually, but not exactly a priority.

Fast forward several years later, and there’s the first book of the series sitting on the train station book cart. Exchanging it for the first book of another series (Resident Evil, anyone?), I claimed it for my own, took it home, and had it finished within the same week. Yeah. I was a little astonished at how quickly I devoured this book, especially considering how I’m always reading about eight books at a time. But the story kept me interested, I enjoyed Sookie as a narrator, and definitely intrigued to see how it gets interpreted for television. I have a feeling I’ll prefer the style of the books from what I’ve heard, but there’s only one way to find out.

There were times when the story, especially the love story between Sookie and Bill, made me groan and roll my eyes, bordering slightly on Twilight territory, but, overall, I enjoyed the setting Harris is working from and the characters she’s developed. Sometimes, the characters seemed a little too watery for my tastes, though you definitely feel quickly mired into Sookie’s world. The South and Vampires are always a classic combination; it’s nice to move out of New Orleans for a little bit and examine a different aspect of that culture. Due to having some friends who are fans of both the books and the show, I know a little bit about what’s in store for the series, but not everything, so I’m going to eagerly be keeping my eye out for the next book to show up.

Books read: 010/100.

Preparing for RoW Wednesdays.

It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in A Round of Words in 80 Days, which is a real shame, because I truly believe that the sense of community and encouragement with that group is what ultimate lead me to publish my book last year. As I’m struggling to get off on the right foot for my next book, I’ve been wanting to return to this fantastic challenge, immerse myself back into the productive RoW80 culture, and finally get some more work done!

Now, RoW80 is currently on the tail end of its current round, with the next one starting on April 1st. You can join at any time (my very first round, I hopped in right in the middle), but I’m going to spend the next few weeks really focusing on what I want to be my goals and how I intend to accomplish them. Clearly, it’s going to involve the (hopeful) completion of Serpent in a Cage. I really want to get a grip on what I can set to have this latest draft finished by the end of the round. Too ambitious? Perhaps. But this is the third first draft of this WIP, so at least I’ve had plenty of practice?

Chances are, I probably won’t be able to swing the Sunday posts, just because of my limited computer access, so I’m focusing mostly on Wednesday posts. Therefor, the next few Wednesdays are going to be “RoW-prep”, getting myself in the habit of posting about RoW on Wednesdays. Any suggestions or tricks for setting goals will be welcome; I’m going to have to give some thoughts to what will get me from 50 pages to 250 pages in just 80 days. A challenge, to be sure, but it’s got to be possible.

The Long and Short of It.

When I was working on my first publication, Bowlful of Bunnies, I thought I’d hit on a pretty good idea. As a collection of short stories, I could easily put together a collection of the short pieces I’d been cultivating and hawking for the past ten years, and then add some newer material to the pages as well.

And I knew, when I finally published, that I wanted to put out at least one book a year, which seems like a reasonable pace, except for the fact that I’m a pretty slow writer. There are seventeen stories in BoB…seventeen stories over the course of about ten years. So when those seventeen stories are used up, what is left? I’ve been working on Serpent in a Cage for ten years, and I’m trying to push that through, but what if that’s not ready in time? What do I do then? I know I can’t pull seventeen more short stories out of my butt in less than a year.

So I got to thinking: maybe I’ll only need to produce one good short story, and I can let others do the rest of the work! Basically, in the long and short of it (ha!), I’m thinking that, if it’s looking like SiaC is still too far off, perhaps I should put together an anthology, open it up to submissions, and have people bring their own work to the table and put it together in a book.

I love anthologies; I love the variety and the introduction to new authors and it’s a great way for people to get involved. I like to think, especially if I start getting back into RoW80, that people would be interested in submitting, too. That leaves just one question, I think…

Should the anthology be themed? Or should it just be open-ended, topic-wise?

Okay, that’s two questions. But they’ve been rolling around in my brain since I thought of doing an anthology. More than likely, if I started it this year, I’d make it a annual thing, too, so having a different theme each year could be a lot of fun, while it being open-ended would allow more freedom and variety of authors.

I’d love to have some thoughts on this. Have you ever submitted for an anthology? Do you like reading anthologies? Do you find you like them more when their focused on a particular topic? What topics would you like to see?

Happy writing, everyone!

Two in a row! I’m getting back in the game. :)

Back to Business.

Writing, especially in the independent field, is a business. And a business will pretty much go to crap if you don’t tend to it, keep it up, strive to accomplish more and more and more, and generally WORK. Unfortunately, writing is usually not a business that helps you pay your bills right away, so there’s always an “Evil Day Job” that usually gets in the way of making your writing job as successful as your dreams make it out to be.

Though I don’t find my day job too terribly evil, I do know it has been sucking up a lot of my time lately. The last six months or so have been an absolute whirlwind, from working retail during the holiday season to being promoted to a different store and being shipped off for special corporate training for a few weeks, the “Evil Day Job” has essentially taken over the writing work and pushed it aside into the dirt. I still jot down at least a page a day, so writing is still getting done, but I’ve almost entirely abandoned my blog, my social media presence, and my association with other writers and readers.

This is not good.

So, now that the holiday season is over, now that things are quieting down, I am comfortable in my new position and ready for the next but waiting for something to open up, it’s time to get back to writing. Today, I’m making the decision to go back to posting every day (except weekends or days when I can’t borrow the roommate’s computer), interacting every day, perhaps even joining up on the next round of A Round of Words in 80 Days, because I miss it incredibly. I want to start sending stuff out and promoting whatever book decides to be next. I’ve really dropped the ball on this part of my life lately, and it’s time to pick it back up and get it rolling again.

That said, let me take a moment to ask whatever reading might still be hanging out: what do you want to see more of in this blog? Do you like hearing more about projects I’m working on? Cool things I find on the Intrawebz? More book reviews or author quotes or whatever else? I’m interested to see what you think!

Review: “Unseen Academicals” by Terry Pratchett.

“A lot hinges on the fact that, in most circumstances, people are not allowed to hit you with a mallet.”


“Unseen Academicals” by Terry Pratchett

Anyone reading the blog could probably gather that I’m a pretty big Terry Pratchett fan. I think he’s bloody brilliant, and I’m continually convinced that he’s only getting sharper and funnier with each and every book. Unseen Academicals only continues to perpetuate this incredible trend. At its base, Unseen Academicals is a tale about football, but, just like regular football (and all things Pratchett), it’s never just about football. It’s about love, it’s about community, it’s about following rules and breaking them. It’s about the incredible power of the game and the incredible restrictions we put on ourselves and the way we may or may not allow ourselves to be great.

Right from the start, I loved the way Pratchett was twisting the usual conventions of familiar stories in his usual fashion, and there’s a lot more that really impressed me about this particular book. Quite often, the over-arching theme underlying the story is almost too dense, but I never felt as though that aspect was too heavy-handed, as a few of his books have been. And I immediately was drawn into several of the characters. Some of them are older; I was delighted to discover that I’m as entranced by the dynamic between Vetinari and Ridcully as I am by Vetinari and Vimes’ interactions. Some of them are newer, and two of my favorite new Discworldians. Glenda is such a wonderful main character, realistic and relate-able and quite frankly a character we don’t see enough of in fiction (and so cool to see one from a male author, as well). Plus, I’m now convinced that no one can make beautiful, realistic, perfectly flawed relationships like Pratchett can. Though I’m pretty sure no one can ever top Carrot and Angua as my favorite literary couple (though Vimes and Sybil are in the running, too), Pratchett almost made me question their supremacy with coupling in this book. Which I won’t say anything more on, because it’s best to be discovered.

This is definitely Pratchett and Discworld at their best, Ankh-Morporkians shine in this fabulous football fairy tale, and it’s really sparked up my love for the series and these incredible characters.

Books read: 2/100.

Art Nouveau and Aryneth.

One of the most notable after-effects of a trip to the Art Institute is that it never fails to inspire me to try my hand at art again. Now, writing has always been an obvious choice for me. I love it, I’m fairly good at it, I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. However, I’ve also dabbled a little bit in other artistic forays, including drawing and such…nothing much, but I like to think I have a decent enough hand.

Decent enough to produce my own cover art? Probably not. Then again, I’ve been wondering about that recently, in light of seeing some covers out there that easily make me think, “I could do that/better than that,” if I may be so bold. While I’ll most likely turn all my cover art to friends more capable, the thought of at least sketching a draft for them to go off of has crossed my mind, and, heck, maybe with a little work, I could make it good enough myself.

In considering the potential covers for Serpent in a Cage and subsequent Aryneth novels, an interesting thought came to mind. I want something a little unique and different, and, to this point, I had been considering just a really simple, stark design, much like the designs for the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. But that wouldn’t be very different, would it? I got to thinking that I’ve never really seen Art Nouveau style covers for much of anything, much less fantasy novels, and thought that would be such a cool design.

What do you think? I’m a huge fan of art nouveau, though I’ve never tried the style myself. Last night, after my foray into the Art Institute, I got out my pencils and papers, pulled up some reference images on my Kindle, and started to sketch a few potential designs for SiaC. The one I really took to still needs a lot of work, but I’m really stoked about this approach, the cover to SiaC featuring a stunning design with Auferrix and a serpent in a sweeping art nouveau style, not dissimilar from this image.

Do you think this design is a good move? Would you be intrigued by a fantasy cover in this style, or turned off? I know it’s becoming pretty popular to see all sorts of characters done up in art nouveau style (I even own a nouveau Samus Aran shirt). Is it too much of a fad, or is the style classic enough that it can rise above the current popularity? Any thoughts would be welcome. I thought of taking a picture of the sketch so far, but it’s no where near completion enough, I’m afraid.

Faster, Pussycat, Kill, Kill!

Quite often, especially lately, especially in the insanity that is being upper management for retail during the hoilday season, I find myself wishing on thing more than others. I wish I could be a faster writer.

At the start of this year, when I really started to cling to the idea of self-publishing and really dive right in, my goal was to publish two books. With the idea of a collection of short stories to begin with, I was on a good, strong path, having published Bowlful of Bunnies about halfway through the year. I had several books in the works, and one was nearly halfway done, so it seemed like it would all fall into place that I might be able to finish a draft by November and get things edited and published before December 31st, easy peasy.

…mmm, well, turns out, not so much. I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m sitting here at the start of December with no second book in sight. Bowlful of Bunnies is the amalgamation of stories from as far back as eight years ago (though there was some new stuff in there, too); I’ve been working Serpent in a Cage for nearly ten years. I’ve started and restarted and restarted again too many books to count. Though I certainly have the imagination to think of several new books a year, I do not have the writing prowess to write several new books a year.

Nothing’s wrong with that, of course. Some people just aren’t quick writers. I still published a book this year. I’m going to shoot for two again next year, but if I’m just a book a year kind of author, that okay. The slightly frustrating part for me is just that I have so many books inside my head, but they come out at a snail’s pace and it’s all going to bottle-neck pretty soon here…

What are some of your tips, if you have any, for more speedy word wrangling? Are you a speedy writer, or a more languid wordsmith? When do you feel the words really fly for you, or do just let it go with the turtle-paced flow more often than not?

Either way, I have two days off right now, so here’s top hoping maybe I can push it a little bit further past my usual page-a-day. Wish me luck, and happy writing!

Back to Blog.

So, some of you may have noticed that things have been pretty quiet here at lsengler.com.

Okay, maybe not “pretty quiet.” More like “dead.”

You see, about two months ago, my computer went kaput thanks to an icky virus, and, as a result, I haven’t been able to have very good access to ways to type up posts and keep up with the blogs I like to follow. And, really, the longer you stay off the wagon, the harder it is to get back on. Thankfully, I have a roommate who doesn’t mind me sometimes ganking her laptop when our schedules have us home at different times of the day. Add to this the fact that I’ve just taken a pretty big promotion at work that requires a bit more time on the road and energy into the occupation, my brain hasn’t been as keyed into the strive for my writing platform as it used to be.

But it has gotten to a point where I’m ready to change that. I’m ready to get back to posting and back into the writing community that I’ve missed so much. There’s a lot to catch up on, but hopefully the usual patterns will come back quickly. I definitely won’t be posting as often as I used to, but I’ll be posting a lot more than I have been.

If anyone’s been wondering, I’ve been working on a few projects, too. Serpent in a Cage has taken a slight pause, partially for NaNoWriMo, which started out as a time travel/world jumping novel exploring the lives of Emalia’s parents (from my short story “The Space Between Worlds”) and became instead a rediscovery of my Ace Cooper mystery novels, thanks to a recent viewing of Skyfall (which was incredible). My horror story, tentatively titled Rosewood, is continuing along, as well. I’ve been reading a lot and I’m pretty far behind on reviews, so maybe a few of those will be coming up soon.

Speaking of reviews, I’d like to also send out a very big thank you to Grace over at Books Without Any Pictures for her wonderful review of my short story collection, Bowlful of Bunnies. I adore Grace’s reviews, and it’s a real honor to be among the great things she takes the time to read and appreciate. Definitely the sort of thing to make me want to get back in the game and assure my readers that I’m still in the game and striving to get out my next book.

Happy writing, everyone! See you around.