Thanksgiving Toast

Here's to all you guys who make life a pleasure. Thank you for reading my work! I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving.

A toast, with a sweet drink to you and yours.

1/4 cup citrus flavored vodka
2 tbl. lemonade
1/3 cup blue curacao
a bit of 7-Up
ice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add vodka, lemonade, curacao, and 7-Up and shake. Strain into a martini glass and toast!

Great Event Day Yesterday

How lucky am I to have a job in which I get to meet authors like Linda Howard, Beverly Barton, and Linda Winstead Jones? They visited my RWA chapter yesterday to give enlightening talks and sign books.

Thank you to everyone in RWASD who worked so, so hard to bring yesterday's event to life. What a great chapter!

Supernatural, 11/19/09

Holy crap, what a great, great episode. It felt like it belonged in season 2, which is my favorite season, but it also had the benefit of my knowing these characters in a deeper way than I did then. I choked up. Didn’t you?

The bad news is that the next new episode is 2 months away. Did I read that correctly? January 21???

No. : (

On with the virtual water cooler talk…

* LOL for Castiel’s low comfort level with the hip surveillance speak.

* Awesome for using Jo and Ellen and the Colt again, baby! This series has such great continuity. It’s really a fan’s dream.

* “I’m in sales, damn it!”

* Castiel, the Master of Tequila. Who’ll take advantage of our poor drunken angel first when the alcohol hits—Jo or Ellen? (If this was HBO or FX, it’d be both.)

* Aww, I really like this “maybe it’s the hunters’ last night on earth” scene. The black and white photo really conjures one of those old-time outlaw pictures. You just know it’s going to be used poignantly by the end of the eppie.

* Castiel just keeps getting funner. (And, by the end of the hour, we will have needed the humor….)

* Hellhounds. Why’d it have to be hellhounds.

* Oh, god. Choke-up time. In one of the series’ best scenes ever, Jo goes out like the hunter and grown-up she always wanted everyone to see her as. Ellen once again proves that awesome comes in a tough-talking roadhouse mother of a package. A Supernatural salute to the gals.
: (

* Useless Colt.

* Useful Castiel!

* And, yes, we come to the poignant final view of the outlaw picture while I fight tears. My mom said, “Dean loved Jo.” But I’m not sure. I think maybe Dean is wishing he could’ve loved Jo while the photo burns….

I’m thrilled that the episodes just keep building on what’s come before, and they’re matching if not topping previous installments. I’m absolutely confident that this show—and the boys—will go out on top.

Now excuse me while I cry--this time because I have to wait two damned months for more!

Supernatural Update

Hey, guys, I won't be able to post my Supernatural entry tonight. I'll try to get it going tomorrow or Saturday though, okay?

Thanks--and have a great time!

Event and Signing This Weekend

If any of you are in the San Diego area this Saturday, there's a big event happening! Linda Howard, Beverly Barton, and Linda Winstead Jones will be speaking at a special Romance Writers of American meeting at the El Camino Country Club. Afterward, they (and I, plus more San Diego writers) will be signing at the Oceanside Barnes & Noble from 4pm through 6pm.

As I said before, I'd love to see you there!

Click here for more information and directions.

Updates

Just so you all know, my web sites should be updated tomorrow. I'm sure you'll want to sign up for the contest, because here are the prizes:

Signed copies of Amber Benson’s DEATH’S DAUGHTER, Jeanne C. Stein’s THE BECOMING, Ann Aguirre’s GRIMSPACE, and Chris Marie Green’s A DROP OF RED, Vampire Babylon, Book Four. Also included is a cute snowflake necklace and pierced earring set.

Yes--I said signed copies!!! When I have an event with another author, I jump on the chance to get one of their books for my contests.

On the writing front, things are still fun with the second BLOODLANDS book. I'm currently getting my characters into more trouble than they might be able to handle. As always. :)

Have a good one!

Supernatural, 11/12/09

As most of you know, I like Comic-Con. My Con reports, which have shrunk in size from year to year, will support that. : ) So you won’t be surprised that this episode tickled me happy.

* Return of Inappropriately Gropey Fangirl! Sam might want to wear pec shields to this con.

* What kind of person would dress up like Ash?

* OMG—“the homoerotic subtext of Supernatural.” The writers totally visit the TelevisionWithoutPity.com forum boards, don't they?

* Love the guy who imitated a gritty Winchester voice.

* I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I’d be so into the live action role playing. Yup.

* Fangirl wants some Sammy-pec.

* Graveyard alert! I think might like those even more than going to conventions. But it’s a close race.

* Considering Sam’s recent track record, I’m surprised the ghost woman didn’t try to smack him in the nuts instead of the face.

* German Hook Man is hilarious. (sigh)

* LOL for the Bionic Man Chuck sound effects!

* “Like a monkey on the sun, it was too hot to live.” One of my favorite Supernatural lines of dialogue EVER.

* Hah! Fangirl will be the Colt’s savior. At Comic-Con, Kripke said the gun would be making a comeback.

So will next week mark the full-on return of the apocalypse? (BTW, my mom loves Castiel. Good taste, that woman! I missed our scruffy, confused angel this week.)

Chatting at Bitten by Books Today!

There's an impromptu chat going on about Vampire Babylon over at Bitten by Books. I've dropped by a couple of times, so why don't you do the same? ; )

Here's the link:

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=12763

New Years Resolution...But Early

I decided that I'm going to start my New Years Resolutions early. Why not, since I feel like doing them now, right?

I began my main resolution last weekend. I went to AAA, picked up some maps and guides, then jotted down some places I should've seen a long time ago around my living area. I want to visit them all by the end of next year which, by the way, is going to be a killer. (I'm scheduled to write six books, one of which will be the third postapocalyptic urban fantasy. Those take longer than romances.) My list is basically a bunch of "ghosty" or paranormally inclined places, like the highway by Area 51, ghost towns like Rhyolite, and the submerged town of St. Thomas.

I picked the closest place on my list and headed for Goodsprings, which is said to have several ghosts. It's a tiny little place, with just under 300 people living there. It used to be a boom town back when the area produced lots of silver, but what's left now is some houses, a general store, a cool saloon with many bikers, and a graveyard. Needless to say, the cemetery was my favorite part. I was able to do a little Veteran's Day thinking because of a small monument to the town's fallen soldiers. Also, there were some pioneer graves with stark wooden crosses that appealed to my sense of history. It was a quiet time that I really appreciated.

Since the holidays are coming up, I'm not sure when I'll be able to schedule my next trip. I think I'll be heading out to Hoover Dam or hiking somewhere at Lake Mead though....

Supernatural, 11/5/09

I think these Trickster episodes are some of my favorites. Remember the tall tales one? And of course “Mystery Spot” for sure. Vive le Trickster! (Okay, so I don't do French.)

* OMG for the dorky opening sitcom credits. Dyin’ here.

* The GREY’S ANATOMY spoof? I cannot wait until Dean and Sam become Doctors McUberHorndog and McAnalRetentive.

* I am already begging to Dean or Sam as the Incredible Hulk. Which TV program would you like to see in this eppie tonight? I’m putting my votes in for BAYWATCH and GLEE right now.

* I love how they have the GREY’S hallmarks down, like repeating words and phrases over and over again. You’re afraid. You’re afraid to operate again. And you’re afraid to love.” (One real-GREY’s example that comes to mind is when Lexie visited McSteamy and asked him to make lurv to her. “Teach me.” “Teach me.” “Teach me.” Oh, that was so barfy.). And the playful, fluffy estrogen music. And the ghost. Gah, the ghost.

* Dean’s reaction to Dr. Shepherd…er, Dr. Sexy. BoyCrush.

* Nutcracker! The sad thing is that I can totally imagine this game on a Japanese show.

* This is the season for Sam getting nailed in the nads, isn’t it?

* I am rolling. The genital herpes ad? Brillllllliant.

* Spot on CSI/procedurals, with the dramatic taking off of sunglasses, catchphrases, and even a Kojak lollypop. There’s probably a certain “no-talent douchebag” who’s squirming if he’s watching Sam and Dean imitate him.

* No way. KNIGHTRIDER is the best of all. I bow to the Kripke.

* I love how they tied this seemingly stand-alone episode into the mythology, just as they’ve done a couple of times this season. Everything’s coming together in this last season…. : (

Isn’t it funny how the “stay tuned” tag shows the much younger Sam and Dean? Such babies!

I can’t wait to see the Con Sams and Deans next week… See you then, too!

BLOODLANDS, book two

As some of you know, I've got a second series going for Ace, and it's a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy western with some noirish elements (coming some time in 2011). I don't have clearance on the titles yet, but I called the first book BLOODLANDS. This second one that I'm working on right now has a Work In Progress title of [NO] SPILL BLOOD. (Yes, it's a take on the old Oingo Boingo song....) I'm not sure about the third title yet, but I wanted to call it BLOOD BOUND, which is the title of a Patricia Briggs book. Dang.

Anyway, I'm plugging away on book 2, and things are going very smoothly. Almost too smoothly, and that bugs my neurotic-writer within. You know how it is--there are no big plot holes to untangle yet, so, of course, something must be wrong and I'm just not seeing it.

But I'm having a lot of fun. I call the first book "a paranormal SHANE meets MAD MAX," but this second one is reminding me of a paranormal/post-apocalyptic cross between STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. It's SW:ANH because I've got a couple of characters on a Luke/Obi-Wan type journey-mission to a place that could be the Death Star if you really wanted it to be. And it's ESB because characters have branched off from each other for a time.

What's even more fun is that I put something into this book for any Vampire Babylon fans who venture with me into the Bloodlands. There's no way I'm going to tell you what I'm talking about (Tease!!!), but anyone who's read even a single book will figure out this "easter egg." I just hope it makes it into the final draft, but I'm not sure why it wouldn't....

So I'm on chapter 10. Writing it tomorrow. Today I'm revising previous chapters. Fingers crossed that things remain smooth!