Still not king yet, part II

Well, I'm not.

I haven't won, though. Finally got a call this week to tell me I'd finalled. Which was only two and a half months late. I didn't win, I'm second or third, but she didn't know which. Website still not updated.

I'd rather be queen, anyway.

Bookmarks, anyone seen my bookmarks?

Mozilla deleted them all. I have an old profile with last year's bookmarks, but that profile has none of this year's History files... bah. Bah humbug!

Still not king yet

No, I'm not talking about Prince Charles. I'm talking about that 'secret diary of the Lord of the Rings' where Aragorn moans every day, "Still not king yet."

Actually, I'm not talking about that at all. I'm talking about the Molly contest. So I finalled (or, someone with my name living in Standsted, Untied Kingdom, finalled). Winners were announced on Saturday at an awards luncheon. I figure, what with Denver being seven hours behind, I'm not likely to hear until Sunday.

It's Monday night, and I'm still not king yet.

However, after running a Google search for any combination of the contest title, year, and other finalists in my category, I finally came across Joely Sue Burkhart's blog entry from this time last year, where she says:

According to a past finalist in this contest, only the WINNERS of this contest are contacted if not present at the conference. They're usually at least a week delayed in getting the website updated. So I think it's safe to say MBB did not win first place in this contest. Which is fine. Hopefully I'll hear good news on the full request by the finalist judge (eventually).

This whole contest has been one late announcement after another. People on vacation. Storms. No e-mail. No phone. Whatever. I've decided if I'm going to wait around nibbling my fingers to bloody stumps, I'd rather be waiting on something that MATTERS. Like a submission to an agent or editor.

Well, I tend to agree. Since I've heard nothing and it's been two days, I think I can assume I didn't win. But then again, I assumed I hadn't finalled until I checked the website (about a week after finalist annoucements were supposed to have been made) and saw my name there.

Ms Burkhart has a point about last year's delays. I think her category was Paranormal, and mine was (and is again this year) Romantic Elements. Last year I semi-finalled, but didn't make the final round. This was announced in August, and I finally got my scores back in December. I know the international post is pretty crappy, but this was quite ridiculous. Apparently the coordinator for my category had some personal problems. Did the Paranormal coordinator, too? I also had a couple of judging discrepancies (as in, the discrepancy judge was sent a copy that had already been commented upon) and hadn't been put forward for the Unsinkable Molly award despite having a perfect score in that category. Or, I might have been. The coordinator I emailed didn't have a list of finalists for that category. Apparently there wasn't one any more. I wasn't sure I wanted to enter again, but I was given a free entry, so I figured I might as well.

I don't think I will next year.

When (if) news arrives of my placement, I'll let you know. I might not be king yet, but I might make Prince or even Duke. After all, I got my own kingdom here. An untied one.

First review for Blue Moon

From eCataRomance, who are pretty on-the-ball with these things!

"I just can't get enough of this series! ...BLUE MOON is steamy and full of seat grabbing drama. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next for this series. If you're looking for an exciting paranormal romance, BLUE MOON is a sure bet."

Go me! Click here to read the rest.

In other news, last night I finished the first draft of What Wizards Want, the next in the Sundown series. It's about Con, a not-very-good wizard, who accidentally aces a spell and releases a pirate queen who's been trapped for three hundred years in a fishing float. Wackiness and much hot sex ensues. It's scheduled for release with Changeling early next year.

New review from Cupid's Library

Gosh, isn't this fun? My throat feels all icky, like I've swallowed a spider (maybe I have!), but the review made me feel better. Go and have a look! It's from Cupid's Library and it's very nice.

SHE WHO DARES is a delightful book. I was not expecting the humor I found while reading this short book. The book is told through Masika and her voice is fantastic. She is funny, bright, and wounded. Her past comes to light as the story progresses and you begin to feel admiration for her achievements but also a sadness for all she went through and her betrayals.

Now, I really should get some writing done...

Spiders

Why is my house suddenly full of spiders? Is it mating season? Have they come here to hibernate? To die? Big fuckoff spiders running -- really fast -- all over the house. Crazy, really. I mean, with the demise of Willow there aren't so many spider-eaters around (she liked the brown ones best, bless her), but Candy will chase and kill anything that moves. My fingers included. Plus, they get trodden on. I don't hate spiders, but I don't want them near me -- and since they're always running away, the feeling seems to be mutual. Why are they in my house?

You can tell I have little else going on in my life now, huh?

'Nother great review

I like collecting reviews. Some day I'll put them all on show. No, wait, I've already done that. This one is from Fallen Angel Reviews and it's very nice indeed!

Vampires & Vixens

Announcing a week-long bash (24-31 Oct) hosted by Kendra Clark to celebrate Hallowe'en with a bang! Prizes and excerpts from me and Kendra and our buddies Amelia Elias, Karen Mandeville and Devin Leigh. Just click on the bee-ee-ay-yoo-diful picture below to join Kendra's loopy loop and get in on the action!

Serenity

Warning: contains spoilers

I love this movie. Love love love! Of course I'm biased, because I think Joss Whedon is a god. I'm addicted to Buffy and I actually went out and bought the Firefly DVDs. I know trivia. I've had the date marked on my calendar (yes, really) for months. I actually say 'Oh my Joss' in conversation. Been waiting for Serenity for so long!

And it was worth it. Totally worth it. Fantastic film! Great opening to set it up, because otherwise, without having watched the series, you might be in the dark. But in the first five minutes, without repeating anything from the series, you've got the basics of who everyone is and, more importantly, the plot has been set up: The war between the Alliance and the Independants, the Alliance's experiments on River, Simon's rescue of her. Who is after River. What she can do. Who Mal and his crew are up against. Okay, not the first five minutes, but in a timely fashion.

River kicks ass. It's strange because she's so tiny (I saw her at Collectormania on Saturday: tiny person!) and I think Summer Glau is trained as a dancer, but she looks damn good in a fight! An absolute dervish, making the fight into a dance, impeccable moves and timing. Fights are generally good in this film, incidentally, beautifully choreographed, and even occasionally funny where Jayne is involved.

Ah yes. Jayne. Possibly my favourite character. Belligerent, bullish, badly-educated, beautiful Jayne. Okay, maybe not beautiful, but it started with the right letter. I definitely wouldn't kick him out though. He gets some of the best lines of the movie (when Zoe tells the crew they probably won't live through the Reavers' attack, he looks stricken and says, "I might!").

I'm officially not talking to Joss for killing Wash, though. Yeah. Wash! I love Wash! So did Zoe. We never got to find out what it was they saw in each other, precisely (unless it's a Jessica/Roger Rabbit thing). They're the Xander/Anya of the crew; only Zoe has a little more loyalty.

Mal's one of the best characters. After he's brought a damaged River back on board the ship, albeit in handcuffs, the crew demands to know why, when he seemed perfectly happy for River and Simon to leave, but he just doesn't have an answer. But it's there in his face. They're his crew. As Zoe points out, during the war they'd never have left anyone behind. Mal tells her that's probably why they lost; but he still goes back for River.

He does what's right. His name says it all: Mal. Malcontent. Malajusted. Malaised. But down inside that bitter veteran, pirate of the outer rim, bank robber (fabulous scenes at the start of the film) he is good, even if he doesn't want to be. Which I suspect he doesn't.

Okay, enough eulogising. Go see the film. Really, it rocks. It's funny, it's smart, it's exciting, it's sad, it's scary (really scary in places!). It's all the things Buffy was. Plus, it has spaceships. Who doesn't love spaceships?

Joss, you can thank me later.

BIG news!

Still squeeing from this. I just got an offer for Almost Human from Ellora's Cave! Can we say SQUEEEEEE!!! Chance and Dark will be very happy there, I think. Also: it's a full-length MS, and EC is RWA recognised, which means I'll qualify for PAN membership!

Need chocolate now. Going into shock!

Book auction

Guys, I'm offering my two books as an auction lot on eBay to raise
money for displaced e-book author Inga Mahn
who has been left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. You can bid on the
books here. Various goodies (autographed cover flats, bookmarks, etc) will be
included in the lot. Please go and bid to raise some money for her!

IQ

I'm clever today. Why? How? Simple. 15 minutes with Ms Clairol's finest. I always thought I wasn't meant to be a brunette, but see, I can do it!

Don't you think I look smarter?

Release of Blue Moon aka Shameless Promotion

Blue Moon is released today! (well, actually last night, but it was really late and I was tired, and I only found out when I got fanmail -- yes, I get fanmail! -- okay, shutting up now). Here's the blurb:

You never know when you might run into -- or over -- Mr. Tall, Dark, & Psychotic.

When a crazed wolf hurls himself at her car, Magda’s more worried about the bodywork on her car than her own safety -- after all, she’s a werewolf herself -- until she realizes the wolf in question is a loup-garou, totally mindless in the face of the full moon, bent on destruction and death.

But when the moon goes down her loup-garou is a beautiful man with a gentle soul. Just the thing for Magda, who’s already been bruised and beaten by love, left with three children and a thirst for independence. Yet how can she trust a man who can’t trust himself?

Go to the Changeling site, where you can read an excerpt and buy the book, or go to my website, where you can enter a contest to win a free download of Blue Moon, plus a silver wolf charm and other Blue Moon goodies.

Ad break over. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.