There’s definitely one big silver lining about being sick (yah, same cold/sinus/rundown stuff as per usual, this time with bonus cough and now 3 sets of meds) – one can stay home and READ.

Although earlier in the week, I was mostly just sleeping, this weekend, my attention span got a little better and I devoured the most recent 2 books in Jenna Black’s Devil series.

If you’re looking for a good new urban fantasy series, this would be a great one. I adore this series beyond the telling of it. I bought the first book only a couple of weeks ago and immediately bought the next two. It’s been a long time since I raced through a set of books.

What I love:
The premise – very interesting and unusual. The world created is detailed and yet, no boring infodumps, go Jenna! She does a fabulous job at revealing the details through action, dialogue and showing the reader.

Morgan, the protag – tough, but yet vulnerable in many ways; her relationship with her BF, her brother, her family is real and handled well.

The lovely and so very hot and endearing relationship between Adam and Dominic. There’s a truth to their interactions and love doesn’t mean they don’t screw up.

Note to theamusedone – I think you’ll really, really like these guys.

Lugh and Raphael – Jenna makes these guys fascinating – likeable, yet extremely dangerous.

The plots – interesting in their own right, and I like the overall arc mixed in with each book’s discrete plot line. Answers are given, yet more questions raised in just that right mix of “omg, I must keep reading”.

So major kudos to Jenna Black. I’m looking forward to her continuing this series.

I stayed up way too late last night reading The Devil’s Due, right after I finished The Devil You Know. This is definitely a sign that I’m hooked.

Buy these books at your favorite indie bookstore.

SciFi Guy created a video salute to the ubiquitous Urban Fantasy covers from tramp stamps to unbuttoned jeans. I’m chuckling, as he included one of my covers in the mix. Hee!

Just a month and half until Blood Bargain hits the shelves! I’ve already been Klausnered. As usual, she gets some of the details wrong. (for values of some that mean “most”). Ah, well, at least I’m in good company. ::g::

Of the amusing & interesting:
Whedonesque reported a photo of James Marsters in a Jayne hat

My boss blogs on the value of your e-mail.

Cleolinda continues to recap True Blood.

I have stopped watching Heroes. Srsly. Season 3? WTF? (to quote Jackie Kessler)

/random

Hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday!

Bouchercon has published the panel schedule. All the panels are titled after songs.

I’ll be on a great panel on Thursday, October 9, 2008 (as moderator):

WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH (Frank Zappa) Mixing mystery and horror.
Maria Lima(M),
Mario Acevedo
Heather Graham
Kat Richardson
F. Paul Wilson

Pretty darned good line up!

On a side note, my wonderful team at work gave me a pirate birthday card today and there was pie.

Okay, that’s it, I’m off home, then finish the last wee bit of packing, then to bed early so I can get up at 3:15 a.m. (YIKES!)

Just finished Vampire Academy by blue_succubus (Richelle Mead) and am looking forward to the next in the series.

Been on a Harry Potter kick, so last night finished re-reading Chamber of Secrets and am starting Prisoner of Azkaban.

Went to see The Dark Knight on Friday with JM from work, her hubby and some of their pals. Truly a brilliant, relentless, immersive movie experience. As said by many before, Heath Ledger’s Joker is a tour-de-force, a brilliant, twisted psychopath.

Since I’ve been on a bit of a vampire kick, too, I’ve started to re-watch Angel: the Series. Just finished reading Five Seasons of Angel (one of the SmartPop Series from Benbella books) and enjoyed it immensely.

On the screen right now: Spike prancing about in “In the Dark” (AtS 1×03) at the end of the episode, strutting like he’s going to rise above all the disappointments, then realizing he’s well and truly screwed as the ceiling gives way.

As always, my favorite bit from this episode is at the beginning. Spike watching Angel from the roof of a nearby building as Angel saves the girl:

SPIKE: (imitating Rachel) How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night thing? (imitating Angel) No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. Now I’m just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth.

(Rachel steps closer to Angel, and Angel steps back, warding her off with his hands)

SPIKE: No, not the hair! Never the hair! (high voice) But there must be someway I can show my appreciation. (low voice) No, helping those in need’s my job, and working up a load of sexual tension, and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly thanks enough! (high voice) I understand. I have a nephew who is gay, so… (low voice) Say no more. Evil’s still afoot! And I’m almost out of that Nancy-boy hair gel I like so much. Quickly, to the Angel-mobile, away!

SPIKE: Go on with you. Play the big, strapping hero while you can. You have a few surprises coming your way. The ring of Amara, a visit from your old pal Spike, and, oh yeah, your gruesome, horrible death. **

Hope everyone’s had a great weekend!

* Xander to Giles, Miss Calendar; BtVS 1×08, I, Robot

** The Buffy Dialogue Database

I’m still here, despite no evidence to the contrary. I realized this evening that I haven’t posted in awhile. Amazing how time just vanishes.

Today is debut book sale day for fellow

fangs_fur_fey

  members,

mdhenry

  and

antonstrout

 .

I recently started reading Unquiet Dreams, Mark del Franco’s (

markdf

 ) sequel to Unshapely Things (which I loved). My only beef: not having time enough to read. I adore his characters and wish I could just ignore my work and my writing and just hunker down and read all the way through. If you’ve read the first book, it’s the current pick/discussion over at the League of Reluctant Adults.

ETA: Does John de Lancie ever play a good guy? (random thought while watching SG1 season 5×03 Ascension)

I have once again confirmed my belief…no, my conviction, that chickwriter trying to drive in DC is doomed to get lost and end up in some skanky part of town.

How Chickwriter Avoided Dying on the Streets and Lived to Sign Books

Let me be one of the first to congratulation my friends Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner on their new book (which debuted on my birthday!) and hit the stands at #30 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Many Bloody Returns is an anthology of vampire tales, containing stories by Charlaine, Toni, Jim Butcher, Christopher Golden, Jeanne Stein and others of note.

Kudos to Charlaine and Toni for a fabulous debut!!

Let me just say that going back to work after a week and a half off makes time fly: and not necessarily in a good way. Last week is still much of a blur. I dropped out of warp speed sometime this afternoon, but am still slammed with a bunch of projects.

The cleaners are coming tomorrow and stuff is still piled up on the floor.

However, I totally blame Dean James for that (well, sort of…at least for part of it). At Mayhem, we got to talking about Madeline Brent and well, one thing led to another, and the next thing I know I’m browsing half.com.

I not only scored a bunch of Madeline Brent books, but also Anne Maxwell’s Dancer series and a bunch of oop books by Mark Richard Zubro, whom I met briefly at Mayhem. Mark writes about a couple of gay detectives and I’m really looking forward to reading him. Sadly, many of his books were out of print, and since I’m a completist, I had to start at the beginning. ::g::

Which means – I have this PILE o’books that must find a temporary home so that the cleaners can vacuum.

Eep!

Blood Bargain is now 7500 words closer to being a real book. Hard to tell the actual total word count as I have several random scenes that may or may not make it into the final draft (perhaps about 10,000 more words).

Am behind on reading LJ, but hope to catch up.

If I commented and you commented back, and want a response – I may not have seen your message. I changed my email host and for a few days, I was not getting LJ messages. That’s been corrected. I promise, I’m not ignoring you, it might just take me a while to go back through and see if I owe anyone anything.

Okay, toddling off now because tomorrow is all-day client meeting day.

Oh, quick drive by book rec: Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Of the great, my dad is doing fabulously with the radiation/chemo. Things are progressing well and the doctors have every confidence. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Of the good, seems that although Amazon is having problems fulfilling orders for my book (they seem to have under-ordered), my editor assures me that they are working with their rep to rectify this. In the meantime, if you want to get it sooner, order from an indy or you can order directly from my publisher.

Now for the utterly sucktastic.

I just heard that a dear dear friend and fellow author, Elaine Viets, suffered a stroke last night at 9:00 p.m. and for a while, the prognosis was the worst. Luckily, after surgery, things seem to be better. She’s slated to be okay, but with a long, long road to recovery. Elaine is a fantastic, fabulous woman and one of my closest friends and mentors. I love her dearly and am still processing the news.

The women at the Lipstick Chronicles – the blog she participates in – have set up an entry to keep us posted. If you know her or read her books, please drop in and leave a comment.

Back to work now.

So just a few days after MJ, where the lovely and talented lamardeuse was facilitating learning a 2nd language (and by that, I mean learning how to curse in Joual, punctuated by scenes from Bon Cop, Bad Cop) – I see this news item.

I repeat: coincidence or some weird karmic synchronicity?

Lamardeuse, I think I need a written Joual curse primer. ::g::

I am still battling the Crud, which has morphed into the Cough-that-will-not-quit. My co-workers are being most patient with the ugly resounding hacks and honks from my office.

TGI…Almost Friday! I canceled my hair appointment on Saturday to stay home and pamper my abused respiratory system. Besides, I have new books to read – like the brand new Dresden novel, White Knight and the latest Laura Lippman What the Dead Know.