Gone visiting

Hey there! Thought I'd let you know that my guest blog post is up over on Lucy Monroe's Blog. Sometimes on a three-day weekend it's nice to stretch your legs, get out of the house, visit friends. So that's what I'm doing now. There's some new information about Jimothy over there, so go check it out, say hello. :D

Three-Day Weekend Blog Party 2009!

It's time to party, guys! Normally I wouldn't be up this early on a Saturday, but when it's a 3-day weekend, the rules can change. Right? Right! Sometimes that long weekend is a reason to crash out for three days; sometimes you don't want to miss a minute of it so you sieze the holiday. After all, there aren't half enough 3-day weekends in the year. I was doing a mental count the other day and came up with only five: Jan. - Martin Luther King Day; Feb. - Presidents' Day; May - Memorial Day; Sept. - Labor Day; Nov. - Veterans' Day. And I thought, 'That can't be all!' So I went googling. Seems I missed out Columbus Day in October, but since he didn't really discover America, I'm dubious on that one. Does anyone who isn't a federal employee actually observe Columbus Day? Of course there are the holidays that move around through the week: New Year's Day, Independence Day, Christmas Day. But none of those guarantees a three-day weekend.

All right. Enough of that stuff. Let's chat about why we're partying on this newly declared 3-day weekend. My first novel, The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing, comes out in PRINT on Tuesday! Whee! I'm excited. Can you tell? ;) The fact that I'm awake at 7:30 on a Saturday is evidence enough of that. Later today there will be an excerpt, so make sure you check back for that. Tomorrow I'll be giving you a sneak peek at my second novel, Client Privileges, which I recently contracted with Torquere Press. And on Monday I'm traveling over to Lucy Monroe's place to guest blog. I hope you'll visit me there. (Don't worry. I'll post a reminder here on Monday so you won't miss out.) And of course there's a CONTEST! It couldn't be easier. Just post to play. That's right. All you have to do to enter is post a comment between now and midnight PDT on Tuesday 28 April. I'll even include any comments made to my guest blog post over at Lucy's. What a deal! What's that? You want to know the prizes? Fair enough.

Grand Prize: An autographed copy of The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing. I'll even personalize it if you want me to. :D
2 First Prizes: 1) A Ballad of Jimothy Redwing coffee mug with a selection of tasty teas;
and 2) a Ballad of Jimothy Redwing tote bag so you can carry your books/groceries/anything you like in style. (I think these are both cool, so I declare them both to be First Prize. ;) )

Now I want to know how you like to spend your three-day weekends. Do you travel? Take the family camping or to Disneyland? Do you invite friends over for a barbecue? Do you stay home and do all those things you've been meaning to do if you could just get a little time off to do them? How do you mark that elusive weekend+plus+one+more+day?

Weekend fun!

I had a great weekend! My bellydance troupe performed at the annual Saqra's Showcase in Hillsboro, OR and it was much, much fun, as always! The monkey noises as we were announced were a wonderful greeting from our friends in the audience. And best of all, Kate Davies came to see us, and she brought along Lucy Monroe and Lucy's lovely daughters. What a treat! I had a great time chatting with them before we danced and at dinner later that night. Thanks again for coming, ladies!

And for a little Monday sillyness before I get back to my edits, I give you my battle cry:

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Yea, verily: Who is that, prowling on the wasteland! It is Maia, hands clutching a vorpal blade! She grunts homicidally: "Vengeance and goo flow from my veins! I shall discombobulate the entire world!!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

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Silent reading

That was always my favourite subject in school. ;)

I finished reading Lucy Monroe's Deal With This over the weekend. I must say the woman writes some damned fine sex. :D The hero and heroine were nicely flawed, you know what I mean? Each had issues to work through, but not such that they were crippling to either of them, nor were they tedious to me as the reader. I get tired of woe-is-me characters. These most decidedly were not that. Strong but flawed, yeah. Lucy Monroe is very good at finding that balance in these lead characters.

I really dug the secondary characters, too: the housemates and co-workers of the heroine, Jillian; her best friend and bestfriend's family; the hero's (Alan) boss (We don't really meet any of the other people in his life. He's undercover, after all.). They were well fleshed out, multidimensional, fun. In short, I would go out drinking with these people--and that's about the highest compliment I can give fictional people.

The stolen technology plot was cool, too. I wish there'd been more of that along with everything else, but that's my own bias in favor of spy movies and action/adventure coming through. I love that stuff. I suppose, though, that all the hot sex was a fair exchange. ;D