RT Book Fair Pics

That was one super busy signing for me. So many booksellers and readers came up to me asking for Virtually Hers and Jed! I was really touched by all the encouragement as well as excitement that the Virtual series has found a new home. You know, after what happened last year, a little bit of my writing spirit died, but this convention has given me back my groove. Part of the reason was knowing that so many of you came looking for me to ask about my books.

Thank you to those of you who drop by my table to get Big Bad Wolf and all the other books. Thank you especially for asking about Virtually Hers and Virtually One because THAT makes me know that Jed and Hell's books are wanted. Thank you for letting me share my good news with you.

Here are some pics from the signing. I have more coming from friends, so hopefully I can pose them another time.

Mr. Romance Contestant and a future Mr. Romance. I thought they looked cute.

RT Virgin Robert Gregory Browne signed his "least scariest" book for me.

Added another Barry Eisler book to my collection.

Very excited I got to meet the great Piers Anthony

Didn't get to hang out with my very good buddy Liz Maverick but I managed to zoom in during her signing. Love her books. BUY.

On a baby. Soooo cute.

Mark Henry wants to eat some brains

Ilona Andrews. When taking pics with her, watch for sneaky rabbit ears on you.

J.A. Konrath. He of the many faces. Very funny man.

And here's me. BBW was a popular book! The next most popular one--Facing Fear. I think there was only one copy of that left. The best part was having readers who attended the romantic suspense panel I moderated came by to pick up my books because they enjoyed my discussion. Yay me!

***********

Met many, many more authors and a good time was had by all. The noise level of that place was incredible. My bookseller friend brought some of her customers along and boy, were they in heaven. Such excitement at seeing so many authors and books ;-).

I scored two boxes of books at RT. Will I have time to read them? Only if I clone myself several times. What are you girls reading now? Maybe I can look in my pile of new books and put them on top for my next read.

Next: Vampire Ball, Musical Chairs like you've never seen, and Mr. Romance contest pics.

That's it for now. I must to bed (been writing) because in 3 hours...it's time for the hellacious commute to and from work.

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More RT Quickies

I'm home but haven't found time to upload any of the pics yet. This morning--back to the 6 hour commute to hell and back. That's the time suck that takes away every free moment of my life, it seems. And of course, my nemesis the cement mixer was standing there smiling at me and saying, "Hello, lady, it's time to suffer again. Come along."

So I hope you don't mind if I just give "quickies" of my RT memories. I promise to let you see the pics soon. I had the best time at RT this year--good news, great friends, wonderful weather. Simply perfect.

More random memories:

1) My motto: Why walk when you can convertible?

2) Barry Eisler's favorite line at RT: So, see you at the Vampire Ball tonight? Are you going to the Pajamas Party afterwards?

3) Listening to Mark Henry read some love scenes out loud.

4) Hearing the term "mangeant" used for the Mr. Romance contest.

5) Laughing ourselves sick at the He Sex She Sex workshop when the conversation expanded into inventions such as floppy balls hammock (please don't ask me to explain; you have to be there).

6) Meeting new RT virgins such as J.A. Konrath (who is PERFECT for RT) and Robert Gregory Browne. RT gave out pins for newcomers that said "Be gentle with me, I'm a virgin." Cute.

7) Jeaniene Frost was signing the ARCs of her next Night Huntress book and I nabbed one!

8) Great to see Mario Acevedo here too (Virgin!). Try his vampire books, girls--so funny and snarky, and with great titles: X-Rated Blood Suckers and The Nymphos of Rocky Flats. They're one of a kind! ;-)

9) The horrible economy has also touched the lives of our romance models...most of them were only sponsored for a few days instead of the full week.

10) My most memorable line of the convention: "I'm sorry I mushed your package." You fill in the story line for me ;-).

That's it for now. I still have to finish unpacking! And I promise my new editor that I'll get the Virtually One proposal done so that we can start getting serious about publishing dates, etc. I am so psyched!

And finally, THANK YOU FOR THE CONGRATS about Virtually Hers and Virtually One. I'm so happy they've found a good home that will promote them and reach for the readers who have been looking for them. I feel refreshed and invigorated. I feel powerful and eager to conquer my writing. I feel very, very, very, very awesome.

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Packing Up & Blogging

How much I love you all. As I pass the puter while packing, I'll post a quick update of the past few days, or, ahem, what I remember of them. The long version and photos will have to wait till I get home and my brain sufficiently recovers (if ever).

1) Aussies? Make the best friends. Totally, dudes. I love my Aussie buddies so much I'll give them the keys to my convertible for the weekend.

2) Mr. Romance called his mom after his win. Your call-->is that alpha? Or not?
3) What a great Book Fair! I sold all my copies of Big Bad Wolf! And my good news about Virtually Hers were celebrated by every bookseller and reader who came by to ask ;-).

4) I sat by the great Piers Anthony while getting our back massaged by an RT masseuse.

5) Illona Andrews is cuter and shorter than me ;-).

6) Heather Graham can dance a great rhumba.

7) I cheated in Bunko.

8) Beth Ciotta lost her voice and did charades conversation all night.

9) Some people know the ENTIRE step sequence to MJ's Thriller dance number. I was amazed. And slightly disturbed.

10) I have the arc to the next Jeaneane Frost book, bwahahahahahaha.

Got to go check out now. They double charged me. Later, dudes.

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Happy RT Attendees Pt. 1

So many photos, no enough time to recap. I'll do that later tonight, 'kay? Below are pictures from the He Sex/She Sex workshop and the Faery Ball. Fun, fun, fun with attendees and fellow authors. Play spot the authors till I recap ;-).

Trust me, you don't want to miss the next batch of photos. Hint: Spartan warriors musical chairs contest.

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Quickie RT

Okay, this is going to be a lightning round of updates till I get back from workshops (late, late, latelatelatelateLATE!).

1) Good news about Virtually Hers. Samhaim is interested in both VHers and VOne and once contract is signed (I want to talk stuff over with writer friends first), VHers will be out e-book form sometime this fall and in print sometime next year. The editor is very enthusiastic about VHers (and how different the COS world is). Yay!

2) Screaming orgasm shots were passed out to attendees of the workshop for He Sex She Sex. Much screaming ensued. It was a great panel. How could it not, when there are this kind of comments:

Barry Eisler: (sipping on his shot) Hmm. This is soooo gooood.
Gennita Low: Barry, you're supposed to toss it down.
Barry Eisler: Gennita, I like it to linger.
Crowd: Ahahahahahahahaha.

and

J.A. Konrath: (looking at the packaged condoms being thrown to the attendees) This is the wrong size!!!!!

and

J.A. Konrath: (still looking at pack) You all know I'm going to be so much trouble with my wife if she finds this in my jacket?
Erin McCarthy: Only if it's opened.

As you can tell, this hour was WILD.

3) Afternoon Avon mixer with paranormal authors and free books. Sadly, all books were snatched up by the time I managed to get to the authors. So sad. Missed out Jeaneane Frost's new book. But I got drink mojitos while in line ;-).

4) Fairy Ball pics. Oh my. I have pics. Do I have pics. I need time to download them. So many great costumes of men and women dressed up as Seelie and Unseelie creatures.

5) Midnight party--Deirdre Knight's Immortal Warriors. There were male models dressed up as Spartan warriors. They be wearing velllly leeetle. There was a game of musical chairs involving said warriors as chairs. Oh, yes. Many maidens participated. Many warriors were crushed by maidens running for seats. The last lonely warrior-chair fought by two maidens resulted in much hilarity as he refused to let either one of them off his lap (they were verrry pretty attendees, one of them was my good pal from Australia, Cherie/ChickieBabe).

6) Way past midnight hot-tub party. I was boneless by the time I got out of the hot tub and now I'm LATE. It's all the hot tub's fault!

Later, dudes. I really miss roofing. Really.

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Evil Author

Jed: "So? How did it go?"

Author: "I think she understands you."

Jed: "Is that so. When are you going to announce the news?"

Author: "When it's official. But right now, it's all looking very, very good indeed, especially for Fall."

Jed: "It'll be nice to have you messing around in my head again. I was getting bored."

Author: "You could sound a bit more enthusiastic. You know what this means, don't you?"

Jed: "What?"

Author: "I can now write that scene in which you're given the pills."

Jed: "Like I said, it's going to be nice to have you in my head again."

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RT Day Two

First, wahhhh, I have no photos to show off. The Alpha Male broke my camera before my trip, so I didn't have one with me for most of the day. I did buy one much later but you know me and technology--it takes a while before anything techy becomes my friend--so I'm still figuring out a few things about it. Hopefully, everything will work out today and I'll be able to download files.

The weather was glorious! Mid-80s and very little humidity. The hotel is designed to look like townhouses with pools/bars/nature trails around it. It's very pretty and takes away the hotel feeling but it's not conducive to a convention atmosphere. Everything is spread out and I don't enjoy walking on heels all the way to the main area for the workshops, etc. Oh, for the convenience of elevators taking you and books back to the room for a nap! No such thing here. Luckily for me, I have my little sporty car ;-).

Yes, yes, I'm the envy of the crowd because of one thing. The car. Everyone wants a ride back to their bungalow after a night of dancing.

I enjoyed my turn at moderating a workshop. It takes more than just standing there and introducing one's panel, especially if there are some big names involved. Many readers are drawn to the more popular panelists and this sometimes change the whole dynamic of the discussion into a one-woman/man-show, and it's the moderator's job not to allow that to happen. I've witnessed this before, when the moderator hadn't done her job and never liked it, so during my workshops, I made sure all my panelists had equal time. Let me tell you, it's NOT easy ;-) because one has to learn the art of interruption, but not too obviously. And of course, the roofer in me has never done the "not too obviously" part very well, LOL.

Little tidbits of fun and gossip:

1) Three different pool areas with bars and working hot tubs! Guess what I'll be doing come one of these midnights?

2) Overheard someone yelling in the bar: "Nothing stays in my mouth that long." Ahem. Turned a few heads there.

3) Had the best time dancing with Lauren Dane and Megan Hart. Drank with Samantha Kane. Hugged the wonderful Anya Bast and her husband. Chit-chatted with Olivia Gates. Stared at costumes, some of which looked more cave men era than jungle. Oh, 80s leopard prints, there you are.

However, there was a stubbly man dressed up in a French maid's costume at the Jungle-themed party last night, complete with fishnet stockings. That was so strange among the "George in the Jungle" and straw skirts look. Umm. Dude. When they say "jungle," it's not a description of your apartment.

4) Oh! I found out I was given a spotlight in June's issue of Romantic Times magazine! If you received it by mail, it's on pg. 25. The article asks authors who have unfinished series to give a summary of the missing ending. I talked about Virtually Hers and Virtually One, giving details of His Jedness and Hell. Cool to see it in this issue because it's given out free to the attendees here, so I might pick up a few new readers.

5) There is a rooster in the convention. I have no idea why. I've seen pics of it hanging out in other people's arms. So. Strange.

6) I heard the Ellora's Cavemen weren't allow to strip down to their usual bikini bottoms this year. They had to wear boxers! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I find that incredibly funny for some reason. I'm going to have to find a photo of that to show to you guys.

7) Bumped into Jason Santiago, Mr. Romance 2006 and Rodney, Mr. Romance 2007 and we had a good time just yakking. It's always interesting to hear what the guys have been up to, especially with their romance cover gig. I like seeing my friends on covers, so I try to catch the book titles they're featured on. Rodney is fun because he would re-enact a pose wherever he might be--by the pool, next to the bushes, in a miniature golf course, etc., and it always cracks me up how he would go from all jokey and haha-clowning to a rutting, enamored stud in need of his woman in a flash while holding the pool stick or golf club.

8) Overheard in a party-->
Author Barry Eisler to RT Virgin Robert Gregory Browne: Whatever happens in RT stays in RT
Robert: **gulp.
Cherie (my Australian buddy baby): No, no, it's "Whatever happens in RT stays in RT and on the Internet." Here have some chocolate penises.

Okay, I have to get dressed and do the authorly thing now. I'm also meeting the editor who just READ VIRTUALLY HERS. When we bumped into each other last night at 1am, she said: "I'm not going to tell you what I think till our meeting tomorrow. Will that keep you up all night?" Editors. Evil and twisted. I like her already ;-).

Wish me luck on the meeting and the camera. I have to get a pic of their rooster.

DRINK OF THE NIGHT: SWAMP THING

Later, dudes.

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Arrived RT 09

Sorry for the long silence. Arrived at RT today. Bumped into EVERYONE! So many familiar faces, smiling and pleased to be here.

My two panels went very well--Barry Eisler, Cindy Dees, Roxanne St. Clair, Karen Rose and Rebecca York were awesome, giving many fascinating details about their backgrounds and writing styles. Many readers told me later that they enjoyed the discussions very much and that made me very happy because I did my job ;-).

Then it was just jumping at friends and bumping chests and doing our secret handshakes for the next three hours. Oh, okay, we sat and drank like fish, happy to be among our kind again, comparing notes about writing and life in general.

Tonight is the Ellora's Cave Jungle Party and I'm going to go simply green and pretend to be a leaf. Yes, I can read all the dirty little thoughts going on in your dirty little minds. A leaf! Just a leaf!!!!!!

Later, dudes. I shall report on how there could be a jungle in a cave. All I know is...there is not a bundle of shingles in sight.

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Guess What I'll Be Doing Weds-Sat Nights?

Weds night:

Ellora's Cave Jungle-theme Fantasy Party.
Helllllooooo Tarzan. Ahem, nice loin cloth. Just sayin'.

Thurs night:

Seelie and UnSeelie Faery Ball (Those are big wings you have on....)
Deirdre Knight's Gods of Midnight Party (oh yeah, you have got to be a god if you're attending any more parties after the faery ball)

Fri night:

Comic-ula Vampire Ball (Capes and Escapades, my dears)

Sat night:

Dorchester Shore Party. (Beach wear, they say. Are they kidding me???)

Anyway, I should be happily partied-out by the end of the week. I'm sooo looking forward to actually be drinking mixers instead of working the cement one.

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New Link For Procrastination Station

TV-TROPESPEDIA

Everything you ever need to know about TV shows and the many tropes within the genres.

Just click on any of the sublinks, esp. the Random Item. Guarantee you're going to lose upto 30 minutes on Intertubes Television Inanity.

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Twilight RT

It's fun the week before the RT convention because I get to think of costumes to wear at the balls, as if it's Halloween/Mardi Gras/Sci Fi Expo coming up. After a few hours mulling and checking on Tweeter this morning, I think being a Sparkly Vampire ala Edward would be an easy get-up. And I have to do is look intensely at the wine glass all night. And then, on Faery Ball night, I can wear the same sparkly stuff and claim it's angel dust! Yeah, an all-for-everything, one-size-fits-all-balls sparkly costume change!

And here is a funny Saturday laugh-out-loud video (thanks to John Scalzi) about males, sports, and dating:

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Spy Trip Coming Up

It's another Friday, yippee, and it's the weekend before RT, double yippee-ki-yay! I'm really looking forward to seeing my writing friends and readers again. Been soooooo long and it'll be a nice break from the five hours of daily commuting. Also--I'll be wearing dresses! Wow. I don't even know whether I'll remember how to walk on heels again after all these months. If you're at RT and you see this little Asian woman face down on the floor, she is NOT drunk, 'kay? She probably toppled over from trying to walk on heels and couldn't get up. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Quick update: No news on VIRTUALLY HERS from the editor yet, but I do appreciate all your encouraging emails and posts here. I'm afrid I won't have it on sale at RT, as originally planned, but will bring copies of Big Bad Wolf instead.

Speaking of Big Bad Wolf, since it came out in Jan, I've sold 440 copies! And I'm ordering a couple of dozen for myself for the signing at RT. I'm now looking forward to hitting 500 sales by May. Wouldn't that be something?!

The only thing I dread is explaining to Jiggle Low that mommy is going off for a few days. Last year I was met with the Woe-Is-Me look, followed by the You're Dead To Me treatment. That furball has me wrapped around his little paw, I tell you.

The next book on my reading list: Lydia Joyce's Wicked Intentions. I've heard that it's very hot and I'm the mood for that, baby!

What about your weekend? Reading something good? Or doing something fun?

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Even Simon Was Enraptured

Just wow. There's a story here to tell. And she sang one of my most favorite song of all time, I Dreamed A Dream. This woman's voice made those lyrics come alive.

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

iu

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Dollhouse Episode 9

I know, I know, you're just dying to hear my take on the latest Joss Whedon show :-).

Okay, this was an awesome yet odd episode overall. There were several horrifying revelations that really changed the way we and the characters view their reality. First. we finally met Ms. Lonely Hearts and it wasn't some old crone getting the services of Viktor/Roger--it was, Holy Kamolly, Adele! Yikes.

Intriguing as this was, there were things that made me scratch my head. I gathered that this was meant to show the dark side of Adele and yet, we were also meant to see her vulnerable side, with a bit of her past snuck in there. I suspected that she recreated an old lover out of Viktor, Continental accent and all. But in essence, she's not much different from Sierra's ex-handler who raped her, right? She acted as if that act was such a crime and killed that bastard, but what about herself? Her using Viktor, even with imprintment, was really no different from Sierra's ex-handler, who used her imprinted trust of him.

But the fencing scene and the conversations in bed are making Adele a very rounded bad guy. Her decision to give up her make-believe Roger also signaled her realization that the real world around her was in danger; her most trusted man himself a fake. That was one cool thematic use of nothing black and white about this show, even for the bad guys.

Second, the Mellie of the Melons reveal to Ballard. Oh, man. Poor, poor Ballard. Nice juxtaposition too, that he found that HIS reality was also not quite what it seemed. The woman he had slept with was a doll and now, we the audience are also questioning the dilemma of whether his future sexing of her would be rape. He couldn't tell Mellie because her kill trigger would be activated and yet he also couldn't change the relationship too drastically because that would make the Dollhouse suspicious. Like I said, poor Ballard.

Third, Dominic's reveal as the NSA mole. That was quite a surprise punch for me. Never saw that happening. So we now know that the NSA was trying to control the technology from spreading and our perception of Dominic as Really Bad Guy also changed; in the overall pic, he had a mission to stop the Dollhouse technology from spreading to terrorist countries, etc.

But he was caught by...ECHO/spyhunter who I'm sure was now truly composited (if that's a word). She controlled the whole situation from the getgo--getting Topher to imprint her ("did I just lose an argument to a Doll?" best quote of the night), then asking questions from each of the people who had control of her and showing some kind of insight of their inner workings, and then that classic Faith-inspired fight at the end with Dominic (awesome use of glass table, hee).

We now see the reality of the Attic. I was a bit disappointed about that, just a bunch of wires to torture? What made the Dolls any different from an Atticked Doll? I'm imagining the Atticked Dolls lying comatose somewhere. What point would that serve if that was true? They just sit in the Attic for decades? Plot hole there for me.

Another confusing element is the number of spies against the Dollhouse running around inside and around the place. We have Alpha. We have Alpha's insider. We have the NSA insider. We have Ballard. And maybe we have more. Here's the best I could understand what was happening:

1) Last week Echo's destruction of electrical components gave Topher some problems with his imprintment equipment.

2) They imprinted Mellie before the discovery of whatever that thing was that was NSA technology, hence they knew it was NSA, in the chair.

3) Dominic, the NSA undercover op, pretended to be angry and then had Sierra imprinted with Sydney Bristow's brain ;-) so she could run an Alias-like operation at NSA. Of course, this was a set-up and that's why no one could recognize that Sierra looked nothing like the Asian girl she was pretending to be :-). Sierra/SydneyBristow was supposed to steal something that would reveal the identity of the NSA mole. We already know that Dominic had set up Ivy as the mole.

4) Meanwhile, imprinted Mellie revealed stuff to Ballard. Her words pointed to ANOTHER agent, who wanted Ballard to find out why and not where. I'm saying this because Dominic was pretty damn sure he was protected, yet here, Mellie, who had no idea what was happening at the Dollhouse, said their inside agent had been compromised. I'm thinking maybe Ivy is a mole too, but not for NSA.

5) Back at the Dollhouse, we get the Dominic reveal and Ivy is saved from the Attic.

6) Adele atticked Dominic. Their conversation was very revealing (ahem) too--he was working to stop the technology from improving and he could see that Alpha was just the beginning of what could be done to the human mind. He could see it happening to Echo. Of course, that didn't make him any less the bastard he was for trying to off Echo.

7) So, in the end, one mole caught, Alpha still on the loose, and his inside Mole might not have been compromised yet.

Last few thoughts: Adele as Wonder Woman with the Bullet hole was pretty cool ;-). Also, Topher's and Dr. Saunders' motivation for being the Dollhouse were interesting. Boyd was as mysterious as ever and yes, I think he could be a mole too. Echo's final re-imprintment to trust a new handler--her trigger words were said with her eyes on Boyd and not on her handler. Wonder what that means?

Whew. I know, I think too much about a TV show. Joss does that to me. //bow

Your thoughts?

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Frustration

It's been a frustrating Sunday. I've been fighting a strange malware on my puter that directs all my google finds (if I click on a link there) to some other pop-up site. I think I must have used 5 diferent anti-virus programs plus a remote assistant. Of course the remote assistant wiped out all my passwords and cookies and personal settings on my computer and now everything looks horrible and unfamiliar. I wouldn't have minded that so much IF the malware had been taken care of but nope, Google links are still be directed elsewhere.

Arghhhh.

How I hate the webworld and computers sometimes. They suck one's time in so many ways and yet are indispensable in one's daily life (okay, only if you're not a Caveman, like someone I know).

Sorry for my boring posts lately but it's like everything is conspiring to stop me from writing and other important things, like blogging ;-). I have a lovely romance video for you to link on. It's 12 minutes long but totally, totally worth it, especially the wonderful ending. Hope you enjoy it.

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Virtually Hers Update/Your Opinion

Last week, out of the blue and because I wanted to be in the top ten of a March Madness version of Best Romance Books Tournament at Dear Author, I announced a contest that whoever who go to the site to vote for Patricia Briggs' Iron Kissed would be entered into a contest. The winner would get a copy of VIRTUALLY HERS, whom I've planned to come out via Amazon POD services in time for the Romantic Times Convention.

During the game, an editor from Samhain had seen my announcement on Twitter and had come to my site to check out news about VIRTUALLY HERS but of course, found nothing. I told her about my plans and added a quick query whether she might be interested to read the manuscript anyway. She was! She said that if accepted, VHERS could possibly be out in E-BOOK format in fall and in print format ten months after that.

So anyway, that was something new to mull about all week, whether I should just go ahead and put VHERS out on Amazon while waiting for Samhain's decision. If Samhain makes an offer, I could always just take it down from Amazon, right? Or. I could just do a limited printout so I can just take the books to the RT convention signing and also give one to the contest winner.

What do you think?

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Word Got Out

Word got out among the roofers that the Asian chick wrote books. Now everyone in the truck is taking me to a private corner to bend my ear about writing HIS story. Ahem. Can I set some rules about what is probably NOT going to be Very Romantic Elements for a hero?

1) A story that includes your 12 page rap sheet containing all your drunken driving adventures and how proud you were to violate probation so you could get your license back quicker.

2) Any scene that has you fighting with black prisoners who want to beat you up for your candy.

3) How you use to drive your titty-bar girlfriend around to her "clients."

4) A story with anything to do with how you made and lost your fortune running a naked dancers bar.

5) It's difficult to find a sympathetic heroine if you, the hero, still lives with your mother at the age of 42 (and not pay rent) because you spend all your money on beer every week.

6) If the story has the hero (you) doing anything illegal and there are four chapters about the different quality of service in each jail in which you were incarcerated.

7) It's difficult to be Alpha about the fact that you can't pass a urine test and...never mind, YOU don't want to know the rest of this story.

8) If everything you remember revolves around a date at a metalhead concert in the late 80s and 90s.

9) No, I also don't think your idea about the monster truck bash and mud baja-ing would go very well, along with the drunken party in which you lost your front teeth to the brothers who was so tough they drank each other's vomit.

10) Really, you used to party with the Mets and Detroit Tigers when you lived up north? Aw.

Sigh. Help.

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Books?

Hey, last night I was delayed by a long accident traffic jam home. Hope to catch up with more book news tonight.

My order for Ilona Andrews MAGIC STRIKES arrived, though, and I'll be reading that on my way to work this morning. Yippee, Curran will cheer me up! What are you reading now?

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Want To Win a COPY of VIRTUALLY HERS?

EDITED TO ADD: The voting is over and IRON KISSED WON! YEEHA! //doing snoopy dance I know Jed's troops will help my pick to win. I'm so darn silly-excited about being in the top ten (possibly) ;-).

Also, I'll put the names of those who commented here with those who commented on Twitter and the Yahoogroup. Later this week, I'll pick the winner for VIRTUALLY HERS, coming out soon.

************************************************

I need a favor ;-) and yes, I'm not afraid to use JED to get what I want. This is your chance to get a copy of VIRTUALLY HERS as soon as it's available end of this month. You heard me, HIS JEDNESS needs your help.

Go to http://dabwaha.com/blog/

VOTE FOR IRON KISSED by Patricia Briggs. And if you have different ISPs, vote twice ;-). I won't tell. My pick must win. MUST WIN. Why? Because I'd like to end up in the top ten over there and do a snoopy dance, that's why.

Come back here and reply to this post so I can enter your name into my VIRTUALLY HERS CONTEST.

So easy...come on! Get over there and vote for GLow's pick!

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And Now Something Ugly

This is the reason why I'm walking and sitting funny.

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Who's Teh Pretty?

Found these from emails and files. Anyone knows who Teh Pretty is? I'm sure he's a model and I'd love to see whether I can usehave him for Virtually Hers ;-).

Anyway, it's Saturday. Eye candy is good for Saturday.

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Weekly Dollhouse Ruminations: Episode 8

Okay, so it's basically a Reset Button episode, a fake run-through of "Dollhouse Doomsday" by the PTB. The idea has merit and there were several cool twists and aspects, but overall, I came away thinking something was off with the story.

First, the good stuff:

1) character background.
Yay, we now have some back stories so we could cheer for the main characters. Can I say Victor, whom I didn't like in the first couple of episodes, has grown into my favorite character? Definitely an interesting idea to give the "actives" their basic personalities back without their memories. Victor, again, was the standout and most interesting. I'm thinking he "volunteered" because he suffered from PTSD. Mellie of the Melons obviously did out of the pain of losing a child (maybe she wanted to forget?). Caroline, in the two years after her boyfriend's death, has grown tougher because she sure didn't know how to fight like that in the lab chase in college, which tells that something more happened than mere running. Sierra's character is the darkest, much to my surprise, and it cast a very horrifying light about the Dollhouse.

2) overall arc
The mythos is very clear--the Dollhouse will do and can do whatever necessary to keep going/making money. For whom, it isn't quite clear yet and Alpha was underutilized in this episode. Contrasting their personalities with the dolls walking around was good too, e.g., Victor's muttering of baseball in an effort to not look around in the community bath. The scenes showing outside of the Dollhouse main area was interesting too--the giant clothes room (also very disturbing but with one funny moment showing Victor quickly putting back his thongs) and the

The Bad.
Sierra's background story with the douchebag who sold her and then the Dollhouse RENTING HER BACK TO HIM for more abuse? That was a WTF moment for me. Could be a major dealbreaker for me if not addressed sometime soon. This episode emphasized closure for the characters to sort of shut off that memory valve in their brains, but how the hell is this closure for Sierra?!

Also, wtf again with the Dollhouse doing that to Sierra? They had one of the Handlers killed off for raping her, but they allowed her to be rape via rental? Gag. Joss Whedon, no. Take that back. Nolan must die soon.

Really did NOT like Echo's original mind, Caroline. Gag. Hate that kind of PETA-Savior complex. I was amused, though, by Adele's observation that Caroline wasn't exactly smart. Because YES the woman is stupid. Instead of going to the cops and perhaps having a chance of going against people with guns, she put on a one-woman Save-The-World operation on her own. She was going to release the dolls the same way she was going to with the lab monkeys in her earlier life. Dumbass.

Anyway, the test run was meant to normalize the growing doll glitches. The doctor (forever Fred in my mind) was also a neat surprise. I can't decide whether she is for or against the dolls. She doesn't approved of looking at them as "pets," yet she was the one who initiated this retooling and reset idea.

Joss's very dark aspect of Sierra's chilling fate really underlined that the Dollhouse is evil, no matter how kick-ass Adele is or how amusing and smartmouth Topher is. It's an emphasis on the same disturbing theme of human trafficking from the first episode, only this time, it's even more personal for us because we've gotten to know Sierra through several episodes.

One more quickie thought--what the heck was the opening scene?! Yeah, Shirtless (now ex-)Agent Ballard was nice but having a nightmare-seduction dream with Caroline? With Mellie as the voice of conscience? So obviously ploy of meaninglessness eye-candy. I mean, Shallow Jenn thank you for Shirtless Ballard, but I know visual bribery when I see it. Bad boy fantasy. Yes, looking at you, Joss.

Oh, final words. Nolan. Must. Die.

Your thoughts?

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After Soaking My Butt In The Spa Tub

WHOP! That's the sound the side of my butt/thigh made when my shoes slipped down the Polystick-applied roof and I landed on the fleshy side of leg. It was at the end of the day too, so the ride home was quite uncomfortable. I knew I had a big bruise forming and by the time my 2-plus hour commute was over, the butt was properly tender. Of course I didn't tell anyone on the truck how butt was hurting me, are you guys crazy? I'd never hear the end of the ass jokes.

It also didn't help that I had a late evening dentist appointment that I couldn't put off. So no only is my butt swollen, but my mouth is too. So y'all understand if I was disinclined for a little romance when I finally reached home and Alpha Male grabbed my ass in a welcoming embrace. Let's just say that my howl wasn't romance-inducing. Also add a very strickened man whom I've led to believe caused this very absolutely horrifying dark purple bruise on the side of my butt.

I sat in very hot water all hour, sulking. Now I'm going to finish writing about Viking Dude and his enchanted sword. Yes, I'll be mostly standing. Or sitting on one butt.

I'm okay, don't worry. I'm just working up some good apologetic massages out of the Alpha Male.

P/S Did you think His Jedness was playing you yesterday? Hmm? ;-)

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Special News

Today is a special, special day. His Jedness wants to tell you his book will be out end of this month.

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Update Puter Tonight

Just a quick reminder. The April's Fool Conficker Virus is no joke and will be out and about at midnight. So people, do your thing if you use IE and Microsoft products--update your Virus program and practice safe surfing for the next few days. That means be careful what site you go to, don't click on strange links, don't open any spam emails, update all Microsoft patches, and don't give out any private passwords to banks.

Mac users have no worries ;-P.

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Post #2: RIP Andy Hallect

I was just writing about Whedon and Buffy and Angel, wasn't I? ;-( RIP Andy Hallect (Lorne). He was a memorable character on Angel. Sniff.

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Dollhouse Episodes 6 & 7

Hey, someone emailed and asked where my Friday Dollhouse post was. I didn't know anyone was interested in those mini thoughts ;-).

Let's see. I'm still watching because His Geniusness, Joss Whedon, has hooked me with Episode 6. He'd promised that that particular episode was untampered by any Wolfram and HartFox Execs, and the pacing definitely picked up with Echo and Paul Ballard finally connecting. Kewl Buffy-esque fight scene between them as Echo was programmed to be an assassin.

Loved, loved the scene where Melly of the Melons turned deadly. And Paul has his confirmation that the Dollhouse did exist (on a shallow note...Paul can be my nekkid neighbor any time, 'kay?).

This week was a complete turnabout from that serious Dollhouse vs Paul/documentary to a funny (but with serious implications) episode. It wasn't perfect but I enjoyed Adelle de Witt and Topher getting high together. That was pure Whedon humor, especially Topher's telling his superior, Adelle, "You haven't seen my drawer of inappropriate starches." OMG. I wanted that line for my own. And Adelle's, in her drunken Brit accent, "Indomitable! Oooh. I can eat that word."

The twist with the Dolls getting some of their memories back...that one had a bit of a plot hole problem for me. The explanation for their "dollness," the way I understood it, is that their mind/memories were wiped and they are essentially blank slates. Meaning, there are NO memories in there to get flashbacks of, so the drug shouldn't affect the memory compartment of their brains the way it was portrayed.

As for Echo--the show is hinting that she is still different from the others because she was having flashbacks without ever coming in contact with the drug. The sight of the uni on TV started her recollection. So I'm still thinking that there is something special about Echo.

Her flashbacks of her previous (real) life explained a lot about how she ended up at the Dollhouse, so Whedon is doing his job in making me root for her "self" to come back. I'm now wondering whether Alpha is her presumed-dead boyfriend? She was also on the run for two years before Adelle found her--what was she doing? Joss is still reeling me in ;-).

Next week looks kick-ass as the main characters wake up with their memories intact. I keep wondering how this series is going to keep going if by next week we're getting a mini rebellion. Or maybe it's just another mind-imprint by Dollhouse to test their dolls???? Ooooh! Or maybe we're going to get Joss' version of Prison Break, heh.

There you go. Happy now, Casee?

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And Meanwhile, Female Conversation Might Sound The Same...

but we're definitely more introspective AND clever (unlike THE CRAZY DUDE of the post below) in how we talk about our private lady things:

"Are they real?" "No, you made them up."

This wonderful lady celebrates her boobages with great humor and insight. I loved her references--"agents of fascination," "largely parasitic," "industrial sized," "the Rambo of bras." Even if I don't have her physical generosity, I feel that her description of how puberty (and her growing breast size) affected her thoughts and self-awareness was on target with every teen girl. Certainly, I have no problem nodding and grinning at the some of her experiences.

My new phrase: My agents of fascination bring all the boys to the yard. (Looking down at meagre melons...okay, probably not...)

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This Could Be One Of Those Stories...

I hear while my eyes are closed. The man was sent to prison for doing his thang with a car wash vacuum cleaner.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Seriously, a vacuum cleaner? I like the commentary at the end of the news item, with the suggestions for other, more powerful vacuum cleaners ;-).

But the scary part is, I can see one of the guys I listen to in the morning actually telling this "adventure" and every one of them borrowing quarters to go try it out.

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What A Girl Can Learn With Her Eyes Closed

Sometimes, while driving the two plus hours to the jobsite, I sit back with my eyes close and let the men talk. They talk. A lot. Here are some things I've learned and no, I won't be doing them, ever, I hope....

1) How to put titty tape on your dancer-girlfriend's nipples that would allow the nipple to peek out without being illegal (in Florida, dancers have to wear pasties on their nippies). Let's just say it involves very careful cutting of skin tape with the cap of a Brut, lots of body glue and saliva, and a certain way to FLUFF THE NIPPLES.

2) Men think their penises can still grow. They are still measuring them to check. And they actually bring this up in conversation.

3) Men can munch on breakfast and talk about body functions at the same time. In FM, Stereo, BlueRay, HD, Crystal, Supersonic detail.

4) The best time to read books is when one is in prison (huh, that accounts for the letters from prisoners....).

5) How to paint your super-big tires black so they appear bigger and why this is the more important than fixing other car stuff.

6) If one's son asks to play soft rock on the radio, one is to reply: "Son, when a rock hit your head, is it ever soft?" Then gaffaw for ten minutes with masculine agreement.

There's more but really, the info is too disgusting to impart to your sweet innocent ears.

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To Sleep, Perchance To Avoid Writing

I toted 300 12-foot length lumber boards from trailer to garage at my jobsite yesterday and immediately konked out when I got home. Exciting life, eh? Now I missed my two hours of writing time.

For those of you asking me what Viking Dude is about, emailing me that it doesn't sound like a romantic spy intrigue--well, it's not. Viking Dude is an urban fantasy/alternative fantasy. I started it while writing for Mira Books and awaiting their decision on Virtually Hers. Since I couldn't submit any romantic suspense while under contract, I decided to try my hand at writing another genre. My current favorite books are from the urban fantasy genre, especially those with heavy romantic elements, and Viking Dude seems to be walking in that direction, using many of the themes you find in UF.

It's first POV, male, and yes, the hero is/was a Viking. He's a dude in the Present. But he has powers that makes him very attractive to magic-practicing people. No, he's not a vampire. Or a werewolf. Or any kind of shape-shifting alpha. In fact, he isn't quite sure what he is, except that he can manipulate time in certain ways, and as the story progresses, he isn't even sure whether he wants to find out what he is.

If you've been following the blog, I talked about an editor wanting to see more than the proposal and first chapter my agent sent out, so I'm trying to polish and tighten up Chapters Two and Three quickly, quickly, quickly. And ya, I've been trying very hard to write and rewrite and edit and rewrite while I'm on my four hour commute to and from my job site, but it hasn't been easy. It's hard to concentrate with a noisy truck swerving back and forth among heavy traffic. Can I spell constant headache and back cramps?

Then I went and konked out last night. Argh.

On the good news front, I've gotten another order from the Australian bookseller for Big Bad Wolf, which brings total sales to 380 books. We're nearing 400 copies, woohoo! Of course, that's like a drop in the bucket compared to the sales number of my other books, LOL. I know there are many who push self-publishing as the next zen of publishing history, but really, if you aren't Stephen King, you aren't going to sell enough copies to justify a career. BBW is considered as having done quite well, by the way, considering that it had barely any publicity whatsoever. Thanks to word-of-mouth by many of you, my wonderful readers, it's still selling every week! I'm hoping to celebrate the 400th sale next week, so you know what to do...word-of-mouth. ;-D

While I work on Viking Dude for the editor, the anthology of short stories about the SEALs is on hold but it'll be my next project, I promise...unless something Big comes up, like Virtually Hers/One or Viking Dude getting sold. Then I'm going Not Ever Sleep Again because I need to write, write, write like a maniac.

So, what have you been stressing about lately?

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I Can't Print Magic Money

I paid a visit to an old neighbor of mine from another subdivision. It's been quite a while since I've seen her and although we aren't close friends, we were good neighbors. We shared a lot of laughs and stayed in touch through the years. My friend is in her early seventies and is pretty much alone. A remarkable lady, she often has many wonderful stories to tell, especially of her youth growing up in the South, and of her adventures with the men in her life.

It didn't occur to me that due to the economy, my friend might desperately need help. These past few months had been very tough on her. Her air condition had broken down and she didn't have any funds to repair it. She had to drive to the Catholic church every week to get a bag of free food. My friend, who had always been an independent lady, told me that it was the hardest thing to do, to drive her nice car to church and, instead of donating, stand in line to get help. She also told me that the church had asked her to come back once every two weeks now because there just wasn't enough food to give out to everyone.

My old neighbor is not your typical idea of someone in need. She lives in a relatively nice house and owns a vehicle. Her deceased husband had left her ample funds on which to live. However, much of it had been wiped out by Wall St. and hospital bills, so she's now alone, trying to make it with the few checks coming in. She has quietly sold most of her jewelry and nice clothes, along with some of her collection of pretty porcelains.

Today, I went out shopping to buy her some food and although she doesn't expect it, I hope to be able to help her out as much as I can. This has started me wondering about all the other neighbors around us who might be living in quiet desperation that we're just too blind to notice because we're busy trying to make it too.

If you have an elderly neighbor who lives alone and seems not to have too many visitors, please give him/her a minute or two and check up on their needs. Sometimes a gift of a rotiserie chicken dinner might be the first non-canned food they've eaten in weeks. Or, if you're able to, consider donating a sack of food to your local church. You don't have to be religious to do this. The Catholic church helping my friend didn't require her to be a member of their church or to attend any services; they have been giving out as much food as they can but there are just too many families in need right now.

I feel it's important to share this because many people feel too ashamed to ask for help. There are some who actually think such requests coarse or "unclassy," blaming the plight of the one in need on his/her inability to save enough money for rainy days. Sometimes, that rainy day money can be wiped out without a peep of warning. Think Bear Stearns, one of the largest investment banks, and those millions who had their accounts/investments with them when it went down like a house of cards. Some of those millions are older folks like my neighbor, who have no other means of income and are too old to go back into the job market. And too ashamed to ask their friends for help.

These days and these times, with that magic government printer churning photoshopped Lincolns, Washingtons, and Hamiltons in the background, we just need to take care of our friends--close or mere acquaintances--in our own way.

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Tell Me What Is The Next Uber

I'm going to ask this question on my romantic suspense panel at RT but I thought it'd be fun to hear your answers, especially for those readers who are into fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance.

For example, vampires and werewolves are just old news. The market is saturated with vampire slayers and werewolve lifemates. There are now a slew of series that include "new" beings as heros, such as:

Demons (once the Big Bad, some are now actual heros, with some interesting greyness in their character make-up, of course)
Angels (and they aren't your mama's cherubic boys either. These angels are super beings who have sexual appetites)
Mages
Faes (the expansive mythology behind faes and fairies give lots of different twists to worldbuilding)
Norse myths (not quite saturating the market yet but in the last month, I've seen three books about Norse gods)
Greek gods/Greek myths (pretty standard for a while, actually)
Witches
Djinns
Zombies (iz the new black. Lotsa zombie books. Munch, munch, yum)

So what is next? I'm writing a time-traveling Viking with some Greek myth twist, but nothing to do with vampire hunters and daemons...I think. LOL, what can I say, I'm a pantser. I've no idea what's coming late in the book, except, of course, the Big Bad.

Maybe you can strike my fanciful imagination. What do you see as a different kind of hero or a different kind of Big Bad?

I know many readers and friends have suggested writing Chinese mythology as an aspect. I'm not opposed to it but to be honest, I haven't found the right combination of epic plot to make it work. Also, have you seen Chinese vampires? Argh. Green zombified hoppers. So not romantic.

Your turn.

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Post #2: Grrr. ArRrr. I'm Joss Whedon's Bitch.

Dollhouse tonight was the one over which Joss Whedon was given total control without any FOX executive meddling.

Holy smokes. I'm now a believer of the concept. There's still that disturbing "high-class" prostitution theme), but now there is SOMETHING/SOMEONE I can root for.

Joss, please accept my adoring worship.

P/S I want Joss Whedon's genius programmed into the writing compartment of my brain, please, thank you.

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It's Been A While

I know you've been missing your dose of Sexy Veges people have been sending me. Here you go. Happy cookin' this weekend!

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Another Episode

I had to make that two hour drive to work myself because I needed to do some paperwork at City Hall and of course, nothing's opened till 8am (the work truck starts off at 6.30am). I didn't have my work truck with me so I had to use my personal car, you know, that convertible that I heart so much.

Anyway, at 10.30am, as I entered that gazillion-dollar subdivision, I noticed the contractor right behind me. He followed me (of course) all the way in and I could see his frown from my rearview mirror as he tried to figure out who it was parking the nice car on his property, away from the work trucks (what, you think I was going to chance any injury to my pretty car?). Then I got out. You know, she of the "lowest of the totem pole." * She of the "getting away with pink sweat pants and panties" as I lay on the ground sinking into cement mix and mud*. Opened the trunk up. Took out my toolbelt and toolbox.

As I made the slow walk down the long, muddy driveway to the new mansion, he drove pass me. When I finally reached the area where I usually get ready for work, he was there.

"Hey," he greeted me.

"Morning!" I chirped.

"What's a roofer doing with a fancy car like that?" He nodded toward my very fancy convertible (for which I'd saved and saved for years, btw, and looks new because I baby it). He cocked an eyebrow at me. "It's a very expensive car, isn't it?" (meaning out-of-my-league expensive)

You know me. I had made it my quest to get him to smile. I did a few jiggly steps and then sang the first two lines of the Donna Summer song. "I work hard for my money...so work hard for my money."

Nope. Did. Not. Crack. One smile at me. One day...one day....

*earlier posted episodes

P/S I keep seeing these episodes fictionalized in a H/S series story ;-). You know, the ones with the bad-tempered hero and the mouthy and unconventional heroine.

Your exercise today: Tell me what you imagine were the various reactions from the other workers who really don't know me, when they saw me getting in and out of my shiny zoombaby. As I told you before, I mostly sit quietly in the work compound and basically get the menial jobs because you know...I'm female, not a state-licensed roofing contractor ;-P.

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Lemon, Lemonada

Help! I'm exhausted today. One of those days when everything went wrong at work, and at the end of the day, it feels like you've moved only three inches.

Then I came home to find two rejections for Virtually Hers. So I ate a tub of icecream.

After that I received another email from my agent telling me that another editor is interested in reading more of Viking Dude (my agent sent out Proposal and first chapter), so I'm going to have to really work hard at polishing Chapters 2 and 3 that I've written in the next ten days.

But I'm bloated from a whole tub of icecream. Argh. Told you it was that kind of a day. I've now worked on Viking Dude for an hour and only managed to move three inches, and bedtime is calling because of the 5am gig.

Life. I so suck at it.

Can you comfort me?

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Got $31 Million?

You can buy this village and play lord/lady of the manor. Apparently its former lord passed away with no heir and now the villagers need a "master."

The whole lot includes 22 houses, 1,500 acres of farmland, 450 acres of trees, a place to play cricket, a shop, even a blacksmith's forge. Just the thing for that new set of mail.

Hey, if you do, please invite me for a visit ;-). I know someone will grab it. After all, the house on which I'm working on costs $10. And the owner paid cash. For the price of three houses, he could have bought this whole village AND be called lord of the manor.

It's pretty too:

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Post #2: Look Ma No USB Needed!

I'm stealing links left and right today ;-). Author Jordan Summers posted this really fun new gadget on her blog.

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Insane. Indescribable.

From the What Were They Thinking category:

Via Vanessa Jaye, my excellent weird news buddy.

See the saber saw above? Apparently, a couple thinks it would be fun to use as a SEX TOY. I can't even imagine the sexy conversation that led to this epic fail idea.

And yes, they used it, with a plastic attachment. During the love game, the saw CUT THROUGH said attachment while in use. See me. Crossing. Legs. Here.

Girlfriend is injured but recovering. Girlfriend needs to think carefully about what tools to use as sex toys.

Gennita's Sex Advice for the day: Now, girls and boys, IF you significant other tells you that he wants to attach a plastic toy on his jackhammer/saber saw/power tool, what would you say to him? If in doubt, look carefully at the picture above.

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Discuss

Who is the first romance author you read who got you hooked?

I'll tell you mine this evening, after I throw a tantrum at a cement mixer (my current love affair).

*********
EDITED NOW THAT I'M HOME AND HAVE READ YOUR COMMENTS:

Ooh, what an assortment of titles you girls remembered! I think our first romance books "date" us and also tells us the emotions we were drawn to then, and perhaps, with our changing tastes, at this moment in our lives.

For example, I remember my first foray into romance were Harlequin-type books. In Malaysia, they were published under the umbrella of Mills and Boons and when us schoolgirls back home would fondly called them M&Bs. There was an "exchange table" outside the temple at which my mom worshipped and yeah, that was actually the very early version of a UBS! I had the greatest time rummaging through all these books from the 60s and 70s.

Being a naive teen, the dynamics of a male-female relationship was my prime interest and I was drawn to those books because they fed my curiosity. Emotionally, I was learning about this thing called male/female attraction and of course, the idea of the tall, dark and handsome in-charge Alpha male was very intriguing because those stupid boys on my schoolbus was nothing like that.

I think my first "big" book romance was Sweet Savage Love, that very, very old-school romance that horrifies readers now. But back then, it was THE book my girlfriends and I passed around. The story came around at the time I was getting bored of Barbara Cartland's elliptical heroines, so pure and sweet they gave me toothache. Steve Morgan's treatment of Ginny was awful but my God, did he give my teenage heart chills because he was so different from Prince Bland and Duke Yawn from Barbara Cartland's stories. And of course, there were no ellipses and closed door secretive groping, no, no, no, we got the real deal, what that Steve did to Ginny and what she did to him. I suppose, at that time, I was reaching my rebellious stage and wanted more than the mooshy syrupy idea being touted as twu wuv. The books after SSL opened a whole new world to me, not neccessarily politically correct, but damn did I have a good time imagining women slashing with knives or traveling the world alone without a chaperon AND having lovers. Woohoo!

I stopped reading romances for a long time. College and working for a living would do that to you. The romance author that pulled me back in was Nora Roberts. It was a rather silly but serendipitous moment too. I was helping an old neighbor clean out her closet and she had dozens of romance books and I recognized a few of the names from my M&B days. So I sat down in her garage and played books all afternoon, enjoying a particular title by La Nora.

I did not know how famous she was, that was how removed I was from the book world. I remember going to the store and on a whim, went over to the book shelves and thinking, "hmm, I wonder whether that Nora Roberts was still writing." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You can imagine my expression when I found she owned a whole shelf to herself. But yeah, La Nora hooked me back in with her wonderful stories and I must have spent all my meagre extra roofing pay on buying as many of her backlist as I played catch-up.

And thus begun my love for romances again and I came back just at the right time--the late 80s, when many of our current bestsellers were writing Harlequins and series romance and giving them unique twists--Roberts, Linda Howard, Iris Johannsen, Jennifer Crusie, Sandra Brown, Elizabeth Lowell, Anne Stuart, Kay Hooper, among many others, some of whom have moved on from their romance roots. That was the golden age of romance, with so many big names that every month was a feast of stories.

The emotions that drew me in those books were the idea of independent women, some of whom divorced or single mothers, taking care of themselves and taking on the most incredibly attractive and macho males. I loved the chase, the sparkling wit, and yes, the addition of the male POV made romance a lot richer.

In addition to my original question, can you look at your current favorite reads and point out to yourself what are the emotions in those books that draw you to those authors? I do think we can map our emotional changes/growth by the type of romance books we pick up.

For example, I'm now very much into urban fantasy type stories. I'll probably have to write another long post to dig out the emotions in these books that draw me to them.

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Happy Birthday, Jiggle Low!

Yes, the terrible twos are here. He hasn't eaten a book in months. Still marks the Alpha Pillow as his when he can. Has this love affair with spaghetti. Wants every female in the neighborhood for himself. Happy Birthday, Bad Puppy!

He ate spaghetti and ice-cream, in case you're interested.

***************
I'm reading Nalini Singh's newest, Angel's Blood. An interesting new world of archangels which aren't quite as angelic as traditional lore, who makes vampires. The heroine is a vampire hunter and she's been hired by the very scary-powerful and ethereally beautiful Raphael. The thing is, can she survive this hunt?

I'm enjoying the tension between the protagonists, the play of opposites--of zest vs ennui, humanity vs absolute power. It's a very fast-paced book, and even though we're fed with many interesting details about the h/h's backgrounds as well as the secondary characters' history, there's never any info-dumping. The ending is a little rushed (I felt that the disposal of the bad guy needed a scene from the heroine's POV to really bring home the impact of her predicament) but the series is definitely worth following. Neat twist at the end, with consequences that I'm dying to find out in the next book.

What are you reading right now? Any good recs? Any downers?

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Uber Described Video For The Visually Impaired

Here's some Monday Fun! And the video is safe for work. It has one kissing scene and one bare chest.

This was a PBS featured appropriately titled Frenchman's Creek. I'm sure it was a wonderful pirate romance, but if you just listened to the "described video for the visually impaired," it adds a totally hilarious dimension to the story. Bone pipe and white foam take on totally new meaning!




Via Smart Bitches

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These I Know You Read More Than 6!

These are romance books most often recommended by romance readers to other romance readers, books that have a "generational" or "classic" feel to them, pivotal in moving the genre into new territory. Some of these stories were provocative for their time, and of course, generated very different feelings today because most readers aren't comfortable with the subject matter (rape/UberduperAlpha behavior/dated male-female concepts), but I feel they all elicited strong emotional response then and now.


1) MacKenzie's Mountain -- Linda Howard

2) Sarah's Child -- Linda Howard

3) "Born In" trilogy -- Nora Roberts (my fave was Born in Fire)

4) Lord of the Storm -- Justine Dare (a classic, very hard to find)

5) Knight of A Million Stars -- Dara Joy

6) Naked In Death -- J.D. Robb

7) The Stud -- Barbara Delinsky

8) The Lover -- Robin Schone

9) Prince Joe -- Suzanne Brockmann

10) Walking After Midnight -- Karen Robards

11) Sweet Savage Love -- Rosemary Rogers

12) The Flame and the Flower -- Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

13) Dream Man -- Linda Howard

14) Chained Lightning -- Elizabeth Lowell

15) A Man To Slay Dragons -- Meagan McKinley

16) Menage -- Emma Holly

17) Devil's Bride -- Stephanie Laurens

18) Leopard In The Snow -- Anne Mather

19) Outlaw -- Susan Johnson

20) Blaze -- Susan Johnson

21) Blush -- Suzanne Forster

22) The Morning Side of Dawn -- Justine Davis

23) The Windflower -- Tom and Sharon Curtis

24) Dream A Little Dream -- Susan Elizabeth Philips

25) Gentle Rogue -- Johanna Lindsey

26) Flowers From The Storm -- Laura Kinsale

27) Stormfire -- Christine Monson

28) Rangoon -- Christine Monson (Please do not read 27 or 28 if you have no stomach for the most bodice rippling trainwreck taboos ever. You have been warned. They will make you gnash your teeth and buy brain bleach. But, for the 80s era, this was definitely a definitive classic, like Sweet Savage Love was in the 70s)

29) Hangar 13 -- Lindsay McKenna

30) Slow Heat In Heaven -- Sandra Brown

31) Nightfall -- Anne Stuart

32) Dark Prince -- Christine Feehan

33) Outlander -- Diana Gabaldon

34) Clan of the Cave Bear -- Jean M. Auel

35) Bridget Jones' Diary -- Helen Fielding

36) Golden Surrender -- Heather Graham

37) Bad To The Bone -- Debra Dixon

38) Fantasy Lover -- Sherrilyn Kenyon

39) Cry Wolf -- Tamo Hoag

40) Knight In Shining Armor -- Jude Devereaux

41) Whitney, My Love -- Judith McNaught (the non-revised version, please)

42) Walking After Midnight -- Karen Robards

43) Untie My Heart -- Judith Ivory

44) In The Midnight Rain -- Ruth Windy

45) Winter Garden -- Adele Ashworth

46) Morning Glory -- LaVryle Spencer

47) The Bride -- Julie Garwood

48) Sweet Starfire -- Jayne Ann Krentz (considered the first mainstream futuristic romance)

49) The Negotiator -- Dee Henderson (I feel this is the first Christian book that crossed genre into romance, thus brought a lot of attention to Christian and sweet romances)

50) One of Barbara Cartland's...breathy...novels..., especially the one with the overweight heroine that went into a coma...and...woke up...so amazingly...thin...and...gorgeous and...talks...like this.... That's one of hundreds I read but it definitely remained in my memory.

50) One of mine, of course! Come on, where would you find a Chinese heroine tied down with a seat belt? Or all brothers named Steve? Huh? Huh? J/K. Fill up #50 and above for me.

Yes, I've read 95 percent of the books above. I'll come up with the next 50 this week, maybe. Please fill free to help get to #100 by giving me titles that you always hear people recommend to a romance reader. Yes, I also left out the inevitable Danielle Steele. I know everyone knows her and she should be on the list because of recognizability (is that a word?) but I decided she should be on another list with the Bible and James Patterson romances. Ahem.

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Original Whedon Dollhouse Script

This was supposedly the way Whedon envisioned the pilot for Dollhouse. Fox chopped it all up and dispersed the fragments in the first six episodes, thus confusing the heck out of many viewers. I think this script was tight and actually took out a lot of the sleaze factor problems I got from the first two shows that were aired. Anyway, it's interesting to see a writer's original vision and see what the PTB (Wolfram and Hart, ha!) do with it when they assume control.


Script_Dollhouse_1x01_-_Echo - Free Legal Forms

If you're still watching this show with me, what do you think of this script as the introduction into Echo's world and storyline?

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I Think I Thaw A Tweeterer!

I'm still trying to feel out Twitter, what it's about, why it's popular, whether I really am a Tweeterer. Did you see today's Doonesbury cartoon?

http://www.arcamax.com/doonesbury

Cracked me up because it summed up my feelings about Twitter at the moment. Still, I'm always open to new things and want to understand. Mrs. Giggles hated it after one day. My friend Maria sounded horrified and confused. Many love the mini conversations. Do you really hold mini conversations? Or are you like the Tweeters on Doonesbury?

Do you think we're just doing mini monologues to the world?

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Prove Them Wrong

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.

Here's the list:

1 Pride and Prejudice x
2 The Lord of the Rings (attempted, does that count? Hahaha)
3 Jane Eyre x
4 Harry Potter series x (actually, I didn't read all the books)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird x
6 The Bible x (it still amazes me how many people have never read the Bible)
7 Wuthering Heights x (my mostest favoritest bad boy book of all time)
8 1984 x
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations x
11 Little Women x
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles x
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller x
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare x (Well, I was an English major, what do you expect? But this really isn't a fair, to say COMPLETE. Most people hadn't read all the sonnets or plays)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier x
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (argh. No. But I have seen a re-enactment, ahem)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot (x, but I've forgotten most of it)
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell x
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald x
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens x
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy x (okay, did not finish)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy x
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky x
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck x
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy x
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (All of them) x
34 Emma - Jane Austen x
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell x (my favorite book of all time)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x (umm. I sped through much of it because I do feel he heavily borrowed from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which I read 20 years before)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving x
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy x (sigh, this was a "forced to read" book)
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert x
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens x
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley x
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck x
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas x
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie (You'd think they'd pick THAT book. You know, the one that got him in trouble with the Ayatollah. Bet you lots more people picked that book up than this one. Yes, I read it)
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville x (argh. I still suffer from nightmares of the giant dick)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker x
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce x (Okay, attempted to read. You know Joyce)
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath x
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola x (most depressing book evah)
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray x
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker x
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert x
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom x
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton x (I LOVE THESE BOOKS. I LOVE THESE BOOKS. I LOVE THESE BOOKS)
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad x
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery x (Well, shoot, you know Reed/Joker made me read it)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams x
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas x
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare x (and this is not part of the complete works of William Shakespeare? BBC, thou art weird)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo x

(Ha, more than 6 BBC!)

Ya, I know. I was an English and Philosophy major, so reading heavy books was part of my life for 6 years. But there are some good books in there that came out of my childhood.

What I would have added in that might open up the field:

101) Interview With A Vampire--Ann Rice (the very first of them all!)
102) Atlas Shrugged--Ayn Rand (weren't we all turned into individualists by this book at one point or another in our young adult optimism?)
103) The Joy of Sex--Alex Comfort (come on, everyone peeked back in the "no-no can't have books like that out" days, even teenagers like me)
104) Linda Goodman's Sun Signs--Linda Goodman (this was like the first astrology book that was entertaining and amazingly literate and is a classic to this day. Millions still buy it. I still reread it)
105) The Stand--Stephen King (come on! Everyone always recommend this book to someone)

Okay, how many did y'all cross out on the BBC list and what book would you've added to that list. Pick a title that you feel has a "generational" feel to it. The five I've chosen were obviously biggies during my growing up years. Not that I'm grown up now, you understand. Just a bit wiser, perhaps, ha.

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The Sound Of Silence

I read that Asus has decided to discontinue their 8.9 inch eee netbook, keeping only the 10 inch one. So they're on sale now for $270, which is $80 cheaper than the sale price during Christmas. I'm soooo tempted. You don't get a 4 GB mini netbook with wireless at that price everyday, you know. And with Windows XP too! Personally I prefer the larger keyboard one but at $270, I know I can learn to adjust. Anyway, thinking about it....

Not that I can do much shopping these days, what with my dawn to dusk hours on the road and roof. By the time I get back home, I'm lucky if I could grab a few hours of food and relaxation (and writing!) before crawling to bed. Sometimes I'm too tired to cook so I fall asleep without supper and wake up growling like a bear in the morning.

Needless to say, I'm trying to find as many minutes in the day to try to get my writing done. I thought I could do it on the ride to and from work, but man, the driver likes his music at concert-level volume. This dude doesn't like silence at all. I've never seen anyone so in need of noise/sound. He talks/chatters at the traffic when there's a lull in conversation and of course, there's the ever-present music that continues from the radio on the roof during the entire day. To drown the voices, in his head, he told me. Yeah, it's drowning mine too, buddy.

When I get home, ahhhhhhh! Blessed silence. I just don't understand the fear of being quiet. I like the voices in my head. I'm very comfortable with thinking and not talking for hours. This man would turn up the music the moment he sees me take out a book--not to annoy me, because he's an okay guy--but because he knows that there will be quiet coming and I could tell he's just not comfortable with silence at all.

Have you ever been out listening to noise/music all day and realize how tired your mind was when you're finally alone, away from it? Are you comfortable with being by yourself, with nothing but your own thoughts? Or must you have some kind of background hum?

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Giving Up Speed? Going Back To The Golden Oldies?

Paul Harvey passed away this past weekend. He was one of my favorite "story tellers" on radio. He came on about 5.20pm every evening on AM radio and it would be one of my favorite times of the day. It meant that we're about to stop work (6pm) and that it was a treat to listen to his short tales, which always ended with "and that's the rest of the story." Since work became scarce last year, I haven't listened to him much and the boys in this new gig are more metalheads than golden oldie fartheads ;-). I'll miss Harvey's anecdotal style of story telling which is a lost art, imo.

********************

I was reading in the papers that, because of the depressionrecession, some Interwebbers are GIVING UP HIGHSPEED INTERNET and going back to dial-up to save money. You know, that crackle-pop-white noise-pop way of connecting online. Do you remember how long it took to load? But dial-up these days are $9.95 compared to our hi-speed, which is around $35(?), so that's a couple of hundred dollars saved there.

Do you see yourself giving up your speed to save some $$$? Maybe even going back to land-line instead of the ever convenient cell-phone during hard times? *gulp I'm thinking--no cable????! I was calculating the money that I would be saving if I do this:

Dial up estimated savings--$200
Land line, no cell estimated savings--$350
no cable, estimated savings--$600
I used to have the paper delivered, but gave that up
estimated savings--$250

Altogether-->$1400

Tempting, isn't it? I think, if I have to give up the above, my hi-speed will be the last to go. I can always catch the TV shows on the Interwebz, right? The cell--meh. I won't miss it as much as those of you who have the I-phone or who text a lot. I still don't do much with my cell other than dial a number.

What about you? Which one would you give up last?

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Marjorie Liu Just Gave Me Multiple Orgasms

Be still my heart. Go HERE and take a look at that. Now tell me you aren't in ecstacy.

Sigh. This is why I need to dig out my study.

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