News and Updates!

I’m working like mad on edits/reworks for In the Red so this will be a short update! This is definitely one of those manuscripts that has a backstory as long as the actual story!

My guest post about writing what you know and how it applies to genre fiction is up at Workaday Reads!

I’ve been interviewed at Alexx Mom Cat’s Gateway Book Blog! It’s extra fun because an interview with my bud Siobhan Kinkade is also up!

Do you keep up with No Boundaries Press? You should! Writers- there are some exciting things on the horizon and readers – there are free book days all the time with lots of exciting releases going on!

My latest Fandom Scene article is up! I’m continuing my exploration of Madeline L’Engle’s approach to her female characters. This time we learn exactly what happened to Meg and compare her journey to her daughter Poly’s emotional path. You can find that article HERE.

While we’re on the subject of Fandom Fest – if you’re in the Louisville area the last weekend of June you should stop by! I’ll be sitting on four panels:

Friday 4:00 Morrow Room Horror Genre Perspectives from Female Writers

Friday 5:30pm Jones Room Horror Cage Match

Saturday 5:30 McCreary Room The Wardrobe in Your Writing

Sunday 10 am Stanley Room Female Characters in Horror

Looks like it’s gonna be a fun (and interesting) time! When I’m not there I’ll most likely be walking the floor geeking out and promoting some of the things I’ve got going on.

The main con page is HERE and the literary track is detailed HERE Writers – this is a great opportunity for you too! Not only are there tons of informative seminars and workshops besides the panels, but there will be publishers there as well – PLUS a pitch to the publisher event going on at certain times (see the literary track for more info).

 

….and now back to that which is eating my soul.

Tuesday Tales Picture Prompt: Beyond the Arch

Today’s Tuesday Tales is another picture prompt. We got to choose what photo we wanted to work with and I chose this lovely little picture here!

Beyond the Arch 

One did not go past the Guardian Arch.

It was a simple enough rule. Who knew what destinies and dangers lay outside the mossy stone that guarded all? Elaine was risking her very being just by getting so close to it. It was bad enough it was daylight; she should have been resting.

“Mother says there’s nothing beyond the arch that is any different than what’s on our side,” she whispered. The sound was so gentle and delicate – another mid-day breeze. Maybe what she’d been told was true and maybe it was the sort of thing parents told their daughters to protect them. Elaine could only look so far around the bend and it seemed to be just as her mother insisted: more stone. They were the same chiseled shapes that had greeted all her ancestors.

Shadows danced and trickled over the cracks and indentations, calling to Elaine, tempting her. She could barely hear the faint footsteps receding from her He was leaving her, probably forever. I shouldn’t have hidden from him like everyone else. How long has it been since people have visited us? What was I supposed to do? He’d been with a group that had studied the walls of her village, studying it all and making strange marks on little things in their hands. She could care less about them, though. One look at him and she knew that it didn’t matter who he was and where he came from, or any of the obvious differences between them. She was his. She just had to make him believe it…if she survived crossing Guardian Arch.

“I’m sorry, Mama,” she called, well knowing that everyone would hear her. With that, the restless spirit of the thousand-year-old girl took a breath and a chance and travelled under the arch.

***

…because apparently I have a thing for supernatural unrequited love or something. Anyway be sure to check out all the other great Tuesday Tales!

SSS: WIP Small Town Girls

If it’s Sunday there’d better be six! This week’s six sentences come from a WIP about two small town sisters. One just happens to be the mayor and the other is the resident masked hero.

The Six:

Finally, finally Sam closed the laptop and stretched. Her smile was as fake as it was every time she gave a damn speech. “Now then, what can I do for the savior of my fair city?” Alicia’s crimson-gloved fingers curled in irritation. She was tricked out in more armor and special weapons than a freakin’ warlord’s armory and her big sister was grinning like she’d just showed up to work in a Halloween costume. It was only because she’d gotten used to it through the years that Alicia didn’t drag Sam across the table and put her in a rear naked choke hold.

 

Want More Sunday Six? Then Check Out Six Sentence Sunday!

 

The Lost Manuscripts: Here’s an idea for Mother’s Day!

So my early childhood writer self did not, in fact, remain limited to fantasy stories. Nope, I also decided that it was my destiny to be a self-help/instructional writer as well. So today we are visiting my short essay on a project you can do with everyone in your life. In fact, I highly suggest you do this as a unique Mother’s Day present this year. I remember my mom loving things like this when I was a kid so why shouldn’t she love it now that I’m…not as much of a kid on the outside? Try it and see how speechless you can make your mom!

And as usual, unless they really make me cringe I’m writing these verbatim so remember that my spelling and grammar have improved somewhat since I was ten.

HOW TO MAKE SILLY LOOKING ANIMALS

(By SJ age ten)

This is how you can make your own silly looking animals. You will need paper, a pencil, and some crayons. First, get out one piece of paper and fold it in half. Second, think of two animals, like a camel and a dog. Next, draw the first half of an animal on one side. Then, draw the last half of the other animal on the other side of the paper. Now, unfold the paper and see your silly looking animal. Finally, color and name your animal.

***

Man, wikihow here I come! What amuses me about this is that I was so procedural. In an ironic twist of fate when I was eleven (a year later than when this was written) we had a class assignment that was similar where we had to mash-up animals and name our creature. In that instance everyone in class did the two animal thing and I think I actually may have put together the parts of like forty different animals and written a whole dissertation about the creature’s habitat, food habits, and hobbies. Don’t ask me what in my brain changed from age ten to age eleven, but apparently I decided that typical methods were not for me within that time! I wish I still had that picture – it was a riot. All I remember was that it was some sort of four-legged thing with a giraffe neck and part of the head was like a gator with these really shiny silver teeth because I was in love with my silver crayon and I may have tattooed its butt like a My Little Pony. So compared to eleven-year-old SJ, this ten-year-old version is truly the lame how-to craft book author version. But since your mom may not want a forty-animal hybrid picture for Mother’s Day, or in the event that you’re not feeling comfortable with being that off-the-cuff, I suggest with sticking with the tamer version. Though I would write a little poem to go with it and sign your name at the bottom – moms dig stuff like that. Add some flowers picked from your garden (especially dandelions) and you’re golden! And in the event if your mother is not thrilled with receiving this sort of thing on her special day…well…remember that this advice is coming from my ten-year-old self via time travel and scrapbook.

Fandom Fest Literary Guest Post: Herika R. Raymer

Since I’ll be not only attending Fandom Fest this year, but also sitting on literary panels, I wanted to take some time from now til the end of June to turn the spotlight on some of my fellow panelists and attendees.  From blogging on Fandom Scene to yakking with the rest of the motley bunch (not to be confused with motley crue though some days I wonder), I’ve made some great friends and gained a lot of respect for all the different sorts of writers/editors/and creative types out there.  I’m opening the floor for my guests to do whatever they want: promotion, guest posts, profiles – anything to help people learn just what they do and who they are. So give a warm welcome for my first guest profile, Herika R. Raymer!

Herika R. Raymer was born in 1974 and grew up consuming books, literally. Her father’s collection of science fiction, reference volumes, and notebooks were all victim to her appetite. First by eating them, later by reading them. Her mother taught her the value of hard work and keeping focused while her father taught her more about the appreciation of literature and art than any school teacher; so she has been writing and doodling off and on for over 30 years. After much encouragement from both parents, Mrs. Raymer finally published a short-lived unfinished comic as a bonus story in a few issues of the comic series Dragonrok from Hanther’s Tandra saga and, several years later, a few short stories.

Needless to say, she has developed a taste for it and continues to send submissions, sometimes with success. Her short stories have appeared in Dragon’s Composed / Dreams of Steam II by Kerlak Publishing, Potter’s Field 4 / Infradead by Sam’s Dot Publishing, Best Left Buried by Pill Hill Press and Tiny Globule by Sixth Element Publishing. Encouraged by this, a collection of stories is currently in the works.

Mrs. Raymer began her editing experience as an Assistant Editor for Sam’s Dot Publishing’s science fiction magazine Aoife’s Kiss, science fiction/fantasy magazine Shelter of Daylight, and horror magazine Cover of Darkness. In late March 2012, she was promoted to Lead Editor ofCover of Darkness. Her editing credits are Jon E. Klement’s fantasy book Trouble With Trulks, based on a role-playing system, available from Black Pigeon Press and Imagicopter’spromotional steampunk anthology Clockwork Spells and Magical Bells, meant to provide a sample of Imagicopter participants’ writing and artwork, available from Kerlak Publishing.

  Herika R. Raymer was married to her supportive husband in 1997 and they now have two beautiful children, one lovely and energetic border collie, and live in West Tennessee, USA. (taken from  http://herikarraymer.webs.com/ )

You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herika-R-Raymer-WriterEditor/218450834882572

Personal Note:

I do not have a particular niche as I write just about anything – just about. In reference to stories I like, I will read almost anything – though naturally I prefer well written tales. (smile) I read non-fiction (mostly crime stories), science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the occassional romance. I will admit to not being too impressed with splatter gore or stories that center around hurting children. These do not sit well with me. I can handle a ‘not happy’ ending, so long as it fits.

I am also a participant in a voluntary cooperative of writers/artists/musicians called Imagicopter. Our motto is ‘Get In and Hold On’, and we attempt to raise awareness of local talent via social networking. You can read more about it at http://www.imagicopter.com/. I run the coop’s geekzine, known as ‘Imagyro Magazine’. Please feel free to peruse free copies at http://www.wix.com/imagyro/home/.

***

 

Thanks Herika for being awesome enough to go first! I hope everyone takes the time to check out all her different projects and stories!

 

 

 

Tuesday Tales: I’m back!

It’s good to be back after being out of things for a couple of weeks. This week’s prompt was finger and admittedly it took me a few attempts to find something to work with. I got inspired by randomly remembering the Zen riddle about the monk being chased to the edge of a cliff by a pack of tigers. He climbs down on a branch and finds himself confronted with the tigers or a drop…and I just took it from there.

Angel craned her neck up and swallowed hard against the acrid smoke taste and the blood that flowed from where she’d bit into her cheek when her car went over the guard rail. Her stomach churned and her legs didn’t feel quite right at all, but those were the least of her problems. No, the thing that was most on her mind was the intricate tread of the tire and how it was spinning just feet above her head. The grooves seemed to meld together the longer she watched it, and she would have been hypnotized by the slow, shaky rhythm save for the strands of her hair that itched across her face, damp with what was probably her blood from the crash. She didn’t dare move a hand to her forehead to find out since both were otherwise occupied clinging to the tangle of branches jutting out of the overhang for dear life.

Any minute someone will come save me. The police, a tow truck, something. Someone has to have seen the car crash! Painful seconds crept by and no toes peeked over the edge of the embankment, no voices called to her. Her mouth was clenched shut, her muscles giving over full concentration to her hands. Sweat and blood slicked her palms and her arms began to shake with the effort of holding up the rest of her body. Any second now!! This can’t be it. I’ve got an audition at the conservatory in an hour. I’ve got to meet Brad tonight! Her mental to do list was both a comfort and depressing depending on which way she looked at it. Below her, a sheer drop led to the ravine she’d been terrified of crossing on nature hikes as a little girl. How ironic that her fears of snakes and bugs weren’t the real threat.

She hoped the burning in her eyes was because of sweat and not anything else, but it was hard to tell at that point. No matter how she tried to dig her toes into the dirt wall of the overhang, her pumps just weren’t made for the job at hand.

Splinters dug into her fingers and everything from her wrists down to her biceps burned. Angel could feel the skin on her palms give way as she slowly slid down the length of the branch she was clinging to, her feet kicking helplessly into open air. No…not now. Not when I’ve got things to do! There has to be a way out! Her mind panicked.

She was sure it was either blood loss or trauma that made her imagine that the branch was sprouting fingers of its own, until they reached down and lifted the hair from her face, allowing the cool April breeze to ghost over her skin and kiss and sting the cut on her forehead.

“What?” she managed to croak as her vision started to blur and her body began to grow numb. To Angel’s horror the long fingers that had played so many concertos, that had run up and down the keys of so many baby grands in long sequences of arpeggios, the fingers that she’d always counted on to be strong and nimble began to relax without her consent. “No!”

“Would you fall or take my hand?” It took her a minute to realize that the branch, itself, was talking. Her mind was too terrified to come up with something like that. Tiny tendrils unfurled from the bracken that was quickly sliding out of her grip. They were gnarled like the branch but seemed to be flesh and bone and extending right out of the dirt embankment.

Angel tilted her head up and winced at the pain in her neck as a low grinding noise above her caught her attention. The tire had stopped rotating but was now slowly rocking towards her. “Who are you?” she whispered, sweat and tears streaking her face as she struggled to hang onto her only means of escape.

“A choice.”

“But—“

“There’s no time,” the voice explained, though it sounded like a taunt. “Come with me or you’ll surely fall to your death.”

Loose dirt and gravel trickled and slid over the edge of the guard rail above her as the car tilted lower. Her own fingers cramped and kept going slack. Wasn’t there a Zen riddle like this? Something about a monk falling over a cliff and tigers over head? What did he do? What did he choose? Was there an answer?

Through her blurred gaze she could make out a fissure opening in the embankment, and the fingers that grew and stretched out to her looked like nothing she’d ever seen before. They came from some other place that wasn’t of any normal time or location. Long, thin, and glittering like mica, they uncurled towards her and waited in open invitation. You don’t know what’s at the other end of that hand, she reasoned.

The creak of bending metal and the crunch and groan of her car above her made her stomach turn. She couldn’t look below her; she knew what waited there, anyway. I could just as well be going to my death. Isn’t the devil you know better than what you don’t know? The car was so close the top of her head nearly touched the mangled front bumper. Not that she really wanted to really get intimate with the devil she knew.

What do I do? She was oddly alert, strangely and suddenly focused and coherent. There was no scenes of her life flashing before her eyes, no sudden salvation. All she had was a rock, a hard place, and a choice.

Angel swallowed hard and although it went against every instinct she had, she reached out a hand and screeched when almost immediately the fingers on the hand still on the branch let loose, unable to hold her weight on their own. Warmth encircled her wrist and before she could scream or question herself, she was drawn right into the embankment and pulled straight through. I guess the only way I’ll find out what’s on the other side is by going there, was Angel’s last thought until she managed to catch her breath and open her eyes again.

Music Monday: Born to Add er…Rock

I’m not exactly sure at what point in my life I started to become a rock n’ roll addict. I was the first child for my parents and grew up before it was regular practice to plaster albums with parental warning labels. Truth be told, the music of the eighties was so embedded in popular culture that even if my parents had tried to excessively monitor things, I would have been exposed to Poison and Culture Club and Motley Crue anyway. As it was it was not uncommon for me to come to school belting everything from We are the World to Motown or Doowop tunes. But that’s not what this post is about.

My folks also had their own musical tastes to bring to the table. While he stepped away from it a little bit as i got older, my father wasn’t shy about quoting lyrics from The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and on and on. My mother was more into folk but also had a thing for The Beach Boys and 80s-era Bowie, and I recall being pretty young and watching one of his televised tour performances with her on PBS. I can’t find an actual record of Warzawa being used on one of these recorded shows but I recall very distinctly that the intro for it was him talking about how he made up the language for the song and as a kid it made perfect sense to me because I did that sort of thing when I played pretend all the time! Truly – the Bowie connection has been there since I was very young and it’s never going away. But that’s not what this post is about.

Marketing was also brilliant throughout my youth. For those who actually can remember back to this awesome age, music videos were  played on MTV (a wild concept, I know), but also on regular network television for various musical specials – usually featuring a genre or a band. Heck even Reading Rainbow featured an entire episode about music videos – including a performance by RUN-DMC. That was how I was fed an expansive pop culture diet of everything from Duran Duran to Whitesnake to New Kids on the Block. But…you guessed it….not what we’re talking about here. But we’re getting closer.

Disney also hopped on this bandwagon with its DTV specials (Disney TV not digital). If you have a chance to ever find one of these things on the few tapes that still exist then you are in for a treat. These specials were amazing. Usually they had a holiday theme: Valentines  or Halloween, though there were also specials celebrating the golden oldies and dogs and cats. What they would do is cut different parts of their cartoons to popular songs of the day in short music videos. I cannot even begin to describe how awesome these specials are and it’s sad that because of music rights that they probably will never be made available on DVD or Bluray because  a lot of people would line up to get hold of them. To this day whenever I hear Pat Benatar’s ‘You Better Run” I imagine  the sequence where Snow White runs through the forest and is chased by all sorts of imaginary baddies. I was highly disappointed when my parents took me to the movie’s rerelease and discovered that this song wasn’t in the actual soundtrack.

But if we’re going to go to the beginning of where I probably got a lot of my rockin’ appreciation then we must go back to Sesame Street. Yes, you read that right.

Back in the day Sesame did have its guest stars, but it was nowhere as obvious as it is now. When celebs did pop up they were usually worked into bits on the street proper and not given their own special “mini-commercial” time moments (ie the filler time between each episode’s lesson/plotline).  Yes it was obvious to adults that there was this famous person with the muppets, but there was no sort of “Hey everybody it’s so and so! He’s talking about up and down!” or whatever. What Sesame also had, though, were some AMAZING musical bits. Some were original (Wet Paint, The Word is No) and others were an obvious nod to popular songs of the day (Cereal Girl anyone?) I was RIVETED to these. They were catchy and fun and taught you something. They were usually close enough to the original that you got what they were parodying without inflicting ire, but they were done in such a lovingly fabulous manner with so much attention to detail! I was so excited as an adult to find Songs from the Street which was a box set that was supposed to have all the well-known songs on it. And most of them were there…except for every gem from the eighties that my generation fell in love with. NONE of them made it onto that set. Sure, I’ll give you Put Down the Ducky and Monster in the Mirror – those are classics from the nineties that I was aware of because of The Sibling. But to skip a whole decade to put more Elmo songs on there…I wanted to cry. It was like my childhood was systematically erased. Thank God for youtube, is all I have to say.

There are three of these classic tunes that still get in my head to this day. I’m pretty sure Cooperation is original, but the other two are obviously tributes to Billy Idol and Bruce Springsteen. Note the fun detail, note the awesome vocals and amazing instrumentals (remember – this is a kids show!) Seriously if Sesame Street were to release a disc of just the songs I’ve mentioned I’d definitely buy it. Hell, if Billy Idol were to show up on Sesame Street singing about Rebel L I would make it a point to watch it. Repeatedly.

At any rate, as a youngster I was hooked. I was learning just as much about music as I was about letters and numbers and helping people. And when I discovered that they were based around real grown-up songs…well I was over the moon!

So watch and sing along if you remember!  And no – these will never get out of your head. Ever. It has been over twenty years and they are STILL in residence in my mind. Just relax and enjoy the groovy tunes. And in the words of Cooperation…’Dig It!’

 

 

 

 

 

SSS – More ‘On Fire’

I’m back and ready to give you Six on Sunday! This week’s six is again from my Free Read with No Boundaries Press, On Fire. It follows the path of a DJ at the end of the disco era as both man and music drift towards their inevitable end. If you like music and are partial to spontaneous combustion then check it out HERE

My Six:

Everyone faced forward. No one cared that he was among them. There were no impulse kisses, no clinging arms. His chest began to vibrate in a soft, keening saxophone wail that tore up from his throat. Those on the street only spared him a brief, quizzical glance as the vibrato shook his frame and he nearly swooned among the eighth notes.

“Wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he muttered, hands jammed deep into his pockets as he stumbled on.

For more Sunday Six check out the rest of Six Sentence Sunday!

Monster Madness

So I’ve been paging through the book Monsters in the Movies by John Landis over the past couple weeks. While I find the title a little bit of a misnomer – it covers everything from the typical booga-booga style monsters, but also movie serial killers and faeries/mythological creatures – I really love this book. It’s got a zillion pictures and puts everything into a nice, cohesive grouping by genre. Throughout the book he’s also got interviews with many industry greats – everyone from Christopher Lee to Guillermo del Toro  - and they all have vastly different definitions of what makes a monster. While I’ve seen a lot of these it was good to get some ideas of things that weren’t so familiar to me and his humor is amusing all throughout the book.

Which brings to mind the life question that’s kept popping up for me since November…as a woman am I actually supposed to like this sort of thing? I’m not talking in the sexy ‘oooh I’m gonna dress up as Mrs. Jason Voorhees in a slashed shirt that shows off my entire front!’ way. I’m talking about just utterly being fascinated by monsters and the dark territory they frequent. Every time I feel like I’ve gotten comfortable with the fact that I love this stuff and show up at a con or somewhere…I feel like I’m a different type of geek than what’s around me. Is this bad? Not in the least…but while I like meeting actors and seeing all the stuff at cons I also want to know the story behind the story. What was it like to film these sorts of films? How did things work? What did the actors actually have to go on in the way of character and story?

If this puts things in perspective I totally fall asleep every time I try to watch Titanic. It’s been this way since it came out when I was a senior in high school. I cannot stay awake through this movie. It’s not a bad movie and it’s nothing personal – it just isn’t my thing.

And yet I cry like a little girl during Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

You laugh, but the whole thing with Hellboy destroying the Forest God that is the ONLY one left of it’s kind tears me up…and the faeries losing is totally unacceptable to me. I mean sure if I was in that world I’d get wiped out with the rest of the humans but I can’t help but think that in the context of the movie the ”villains” kind of had a point.

I’m also the weirdo that has to cover her eyes during Texas Chainsaw Massacre but yet I want to know WHY things like that came about. What makes those people tick that they feel the need to do what they do?

And I can also pick out all seven thousand folklore references in the Sonja Blue series even though I nearly vomited the first time I read the first book in the series.

As a kid I was totally scared to death by my shadow. Everything freaked me out and I had to leave the room during scary movie previews. And yet I would sneak into the horror aisle at the video store and read the back of all the boxes. Although I didn’t realize it yet I’m totally the kind of person that would most likely go right up to a vampire or a werewolf and claim them as my own. Bring on the Cthulhu, bring on the alternate universes and weird dopplegangers – bring it on please! For whatever reason as much as I’m freaked out by things,  I’m also drawn to them. I still can’t do gore or torture porn – but I will admit to pulling up every new release on wikipedia and reading the plot so 1. I know if I can handle it and 2. so I at least know what the story is. There’s something so glorious about the mysterious and monsters are just the coolest things ever. I suppose I could blame this on growing up in the eighties – all the cute cartoons I overdosed on had their dark aspects. My Little Ponies had ooze that ate up Ponyland, the Care Bears battled demons and a cartoon Necronomicon, and it wasn’t a traditional Saturday if at least one character wasn’t getting put into a trance-like sleep, kidnapped into an “other” world, or the known universe wasn’t getting sucked into a vortex. The Real Ghostbusters was pretty good too for a while until it decided to be a little kids’ cartoon, and even as a teen I will admit that I was intrigued by the choice to make a cartoon out of Tales from the Crypt.

I’m not exactly sure what it is about monsters that attracts me, but I love them. I adore traditional cute stuff but I will admit to having a statue of the Rancor from Return of the Jedi in my office and if I could own a real one I totally would. And I’d ride it around town ALL THE TIME.

And beyond my early experiences, my love of writing dark material, and my tendency to see gross scaley things as cute…I may enjoy making themed outfits. Now granted I do like making pretty dresses and all of that, but I also have this weird obsession with latex and crafting my own version of parts and sfx-style stuff. I have a long way to go but I LOVE it and have gotten such an appreciation for the process and the human body because of it.

So does this make me less feminine? I don’t think so. As snarky as I can be I have a definite feminine side – I like cute things and appreciate chibi-style cartoons. I like puppies and kitties and small children. I will admit to sacking out to Moulin Rouge or Bollywood movies or old MGM musicals because they’re so gushy and happy and adorable.

I just also happen to find mutants and vampires and haunted houses that sit on a vortex to a dark dimension equally adorable.

Yeah, I’m probably always going to be an original and I’ll never get a clear answer.

And screw running with the crowd – I like monsters damn it and that’s all there is to it!

News and Updates!

I survived last week and I am back! I want to catch everyone up on some things I’ve had going on – these items can also always be found on my Facebook Fan Page and if you haven’t stopped by and given me a like..well…what are you waiting for?

I have an interview up at Laurie’s Paranormal Thoughts AND for the next sixteen days there’s a giveaway for a free PDF copy of Mooner!

My bud Sean Taylor posted a lovely interview up at his site – you can check that out HERE

I’m talking at the  No Boundaries Press blog about relationships and music and how they inspired The Other Man HERE

I’m back at the weekly round table discussions at Sean Taylor’s blog – this week we’re talking about Urban Fantasy – one of my fave genres! You can find our thoughts on the matter HERE

I’ve got a new Fandom Fest article up - I’m talking about Madeline L’Engle’s characters and how they manage to balance their personal lives while facing an all-encompassing evil in a little thing I like to call Saving the World While Dating Part 1. That same article is also going to show up on Sean Taylor’s blog tomorrow because apparently everything I touch is syndicated through him

Speaking of Fandom Scene…I’m looking for examples of girls in high/epic fantasy. I know I want to touch on LOTR and I still remember bits of the Belgariad and the thing that was George Lucas’ attempt at high fantasy. I might throw Narnia in here and also Clive Barker’s Imajica since while it’s partially set in the real world I feel that the scope is so freakin’ huge it could qualify as either. Shoot me some ideas – book or movie – just keep in mind that I have limited time to cram in a whole lot these days!

I just got my swag in from multiple and sundry places…I have one or two more things to order before my future reign of terror can be complete. Working on edits for In the Red - making real progress and hopefully can have that finished by the end of the weekend. What do those have to do with each other? I’m hoping to try something a little experimental for a special swaggy promo that will correlate with In the Red. First I need to get the edits sent back and then I have to play around with WordPress a little more…but I’m hoping to get a special backstage pass section developed so those lucky few can get some extra tidbits.

I’ll be appearing at FandomFest in Louisville the last weekend of June – it looks like it’s going to be a really great time and it’s at the Galt House this year. www.fandomfest.com or www.fandomfestblog.com if you want to check out the literary track. For those who want to see if I am indeed a real person or for those who want to check out all the fabulous people who are not me – it’s going to be a fun time with lots of authors, lots of actors, lots of publishers, panels, and a ton of cool stuff.  It’s going to be huge and we’re all getting über excited about how things are shaping up!

At the moment that’s my news…I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled ramblings from here on out for a while!