Cat!

Heee! Well, it's my birthday and of course I'm getting older, but I feel like a six year old again. Heh, I just quartered my age! Don't you wanna know why? Well, because the last card I opened was from my parents and it said IOU 1 cat! Wheeeee! A cat! A real live cat! Those of you following my blog (haha) will recall that in the last six months I've said goodbye to two of my cats, leaving me with one now. Which is a depressing thought when for ten years I had four. I'm such a cat person. Well, now the number will leap, leap I tell you, right back up to two!

Hmm, reckon I can persuade them to get me a pair?

Oh, and in other news, Reese Witherfork has interviewed me on her blog. Whoops, forgot about that with all the dancing and whooping! (Yes, I'm a child. See my advanced age for details).

Me moo ma may, may mo ma mee

Right. Since there's no evidence of anyone reading this blog, it's time to go stir crazy. Only I can't think of anything to go crazy about. This is sort of a stream-of-consciousness sort of post. I'm hoping something interesting will come up in it soon. Sort of like the way I usually write, fnar fnar.

Reese Witherfork sent me a bunch of questions for an interview. She's a pretty entertaining lass. Writes some nice things about Clive Owen (can you write a bad thing?) and something I've since lost about that guy you know who you pretend not to fancy. Yeah, I know a few of those. It's like being 15 again.

Oh, crap, I forgot to send Nick a postcard. Oh well, postcards are largely pointless anyway. Really, I'm hoping he'll use it as a talking point with one of the hot guys he knows, like--hey, the one who went off skiing for a season! Or the one who actually lives about ten miles away!--and the hot guy'll go, "Oh yeah, really? Did I ever tell you how much I fancy her?" But I'll never know, because hey, I pretend not to fancy him too.

Well, in... ten and a half hours I'll be 24. I know I'm getting old though because until last week when Patrick asked me what I was doing for my birthday, I'd forgotten it was coming around. Also, when my parents asked me what I wanted and I said, "Money," they politely pointed out that I already owe them plenty of that. So my birthday present is writing that off. Well, until the next credit card bill, anyway.

End of the month, I'll find out how much money I've not made from Almost Human. What with the way the post works these days, reckon it'll be Easter by the time I get anything. Still, it's better than nothing. Maybe Playing with Matches will have sold some more since then. Maybe What Wizards Want will have, too, since it's out at the end of the month.

Nearly finished Baby Sham Faery Love, despite that I said I'd have it in by yesterday. Actually, thought I had pretty much finished it, and then I remembered about Ell's sister. And, you know, the plot. What's wrong with a plotless sexfest, anyway?

Baaaack!

Yes, I'm back and I'm in one piece. And considering the way I ski, that's pretty amazing.

Right. I never really got around to uploading any pictures from when Amelia came to visit me, so I'll start with those.

This is Windsor Castle. Well, a little bit of it. We like our castles big, y'know. I think this is the State Apartments, but it's hard to tell since when I was inside them I really wasn't interested in looking out!

Now we have a highly artistic shot of Stonehenge. It wasn't really that dark... well, maybe it was. Bit overcast. So long as it's not actually raining, that's considered a good day, weatherwise.







Here's a view of the Roman baths in Bath. Bath is a beautiful city, a wonderful example of Georgian town planning. In the background you can see the Abbey, which is hugely gothic and ornate. As abbeys tend to be. The actual structure of the baths that we have today is Georgian: the bathhouse used by the Romans fell into disrepair and was actually forgotten about for several hundred years until it was discovered again in the eighteenth century, when Bath once again became very fashionable (Jane Austen mentions it a lot). But the remains of the complex system of hot and cold pools, saunas and cold rooms, can still be seen.

The pool in this picture is cold, but there is a hot spring that provides very mineral-rich water. For 50p you can get a glass of it straight from the pump (in the beautiful Georgian Pump Room). It's about 45'c, salty and sulphurous, and apparently people used to drink pints and pints of it every day for well-being. It's certainly an acquired taste.




The Tower of London -- or again, part of it. The Tower is pretty huge, and is really an example of medieval fortress living. It still has a population of a couple of hundred: the Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters to you and me) and their families who live there. For hundreds of years it was the home of the monarchy, and an important defence on the Thames. It's most famous as a jail, but in reality, even while people were being held there in captivity, it was still a working castle. Not many people were tortured there, and only seven people were actually executed within the castle's walls (the rest were executed publicly on the scaffold at Tower Hill). It was considered a privilege to be executed there, in private. Six of the seven were actually women (two of whom had been married to Henry VIII: you'd think they'd have learned...)

Westminster and Big Ben. Actually, Big Ben is the bell inside the tower (I can't remember what the tower/clock is called. St Something's Tower... answers on a postcard please).

Rightiho. In the interests of letting this post actually load sometime before 2007, I'm going to stop there. Plus I don't have any more decent pictures. Stupid camera kept crapping out on me. Amelia has some wicked ones, though, and she's put them up here, so go and have a gander.

I'll be back later with some skiing pictures. The scenery out there is really just gorgeous.

Print release!

Soundtrack: Song 2 by Blur (you know, the one where he yells "WOO HOO!").

I have a print release date for Almost Human! You can buy it in book format in August! Yay! Woo! Raaa! Squee! And all those other things!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Broke but happy

Flyby post: I am so tired! Amy came to visit eleven days ago and went home today and I don't think I've slept a whole night in all that time. When I get my brain back (quite a feat, haven't seen it in years) I'll post some pictures.

Note to self, upload pictures.

Just got Serenity on DVD (squeee!). Had a so-so review of Almost Human, and that made me sad. Then I got a fucking great review of it, and that made me happy. Remind me to post links.

Am going skiing on Sunday. Christ alive, I'm so unfit! Have just spent eleven days eating fish and chips. Well, couldn't let Amy enjoy them solo...

Candy hearts

Candy died today. I thought she was going to go last night, so I stayed up until 3.30am with her, but she kept hanging on. She always was resilient. It was quiet and peaceful, so much so that we had to keep checking if she was still with us. I miss my baby. I really do.

So of course, for me Valentine's Day sucks even more than usual! My whole life, I've had two Valentine's cards, and I strongly suspect my mother was behind both of them. Or maybe Patrick. He sent me a text today apologising for not sending me flowers this year. I had to reply, "When did you ever?" Short silence, then he said, "Maybe that was your birthday." Yes. Yes, it was. Only the second birthday, I didn't remind him (see how I'm growing?) he's ever remembered. Despite that we've known each other since we were five, and my birthday is St Patrick's Day.

I hope he remembered to get his fiancée some flowers.

Time to cheer up

I still have two cats, so that's good. She doesn't seem to have changed much in the last week (touch wood).

Let's have some pretties, eh?


First up, Striker, who may be found within the pages of Almost Human (Dark's on the cover, but you know, I've had a lot of interest in Striker...)


And here's Reaver, shortly to be appearing in Never Leave Me, from Changeling. Mmm.


(Yes, I spend entirely too much time messing with Poser. Shoot me.)

More stuff.

Candy has a tumour in her stomach. Just like Willow.

Stuff.

Almost Human is out tomorrow! Picture me nervous. But -- got a review in already from Romance Junkies:

ALMOST HUMAN takes readers on an emotional roller coaster ride that just doesn’t end. Dark is much like his name only there is way more to him than what he reveals at first. Chance is an awesome heroine, she’s brave and courageous and that comes shining through in her actions. The love scenes are searing and very intense, and the passion never stops. Cat Marsters has woven a tale of betrayal, desire and action that readers will put on the keeper shelf and come back to read again and again.

4.5 ribbons, which is nice!

Taking little Candy to the vet this evening. She's looking really sad, been throwing everything up for weeks, only this last week that's stopped because she's hardly eaten anything. I don't know why I think of her as a baby (probably because she's still only kitten sized) as she's actually twelve. That's getting old for a cat. Anyway, she's always been very skittish and lively, but recently she's just been... sad. Listless. She's looking a little like Willow did last summer--and Willow died in September. What with Tinker being a matted, senile, wobbly old man of 17 and poor Honey coughing her lungs out five times an hour, I'm tired of old sick pets! I want proper, working ones!(yes, that is a velvet pillow. You can't say I don't love them)

Nana nana nana nana bookshelves!

Whee, I finally have my new shelves up. Would show you all a picture but my camera has run out of batteries and the charger doesn't work any more. No, honest. Anyway, I have something like forty feet of bookshelves filled with fiction and probably ten with non-fiction (yes, I know, but that's what the internet is for). I have cleverly included spaces for the next batch of books I will buy (because when am I ever going to stop buying books? This time next year I'll need even more shelves). Katie MacAlister, Charlaine Harris and MaryJanice Davidson (to whom I was recently compared, picture me thrilled!) all have books out soon (although not soon enough, grr). Shirley Karr has one out in about a week, so yay! (Read What An Earl Wants last year because I thought the title was cool--even though the cover is annoyingly trite-- and I thought the book was even cooler. She's got me interested in regencies again. Well, her and the new P&P movie, which I must also preorder...)

But, more importantly, I've clear all the clutter and have my Spike posters back up. For a moment when the new shelves went up and covered the whole of one wall, I was really worried! But now my special boy has a spotlight shining right on him, above my computer. Ahh, bless.

And just so you can all share in the beauty of Spike, and the wit and inventiveness of Buffy fans, go here and download the Divinyls video. The song is funny enough on its own, the clips are funny enough on their own, and the pop-ups certainly are. But put them all together and hilarity will surely prevail.

Oooh I don't want anybody else, when I think about you I touch myself...

Ahem

Almost Human

Nope, that's not me before coffee (I'm barely human after it), but the title of my first book with Ellora's Cave, which has just been assigned a release date of Feb 1!


Belle jour. I am Chance, Knight of the Order of the Phoenix, Lady of the Association.

I trained as a Phoenix Knight because I'm damn good in a fight. I trained as an Associée because I'm damn good in bed. But all the training in the Realm couldn't prepare me for Dark -- a man so potently sexy I can't keep my underwear on in his presence. It's a shame, then, that Dark seems to have other plans for my body -- for example, killing it.

I really love this book, I so can't wait for it to be out!

(wow, two posts in as many days! I must be sleep-deprived or something)

Whoops... forgot about this... I mean Tag, I'm it!

Ahem, Michele posted this weeks ago and I kinda forgot to do it. but wanyway. Just in case any of you don't already know this/are still reading... tag, I'm it!

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:

1) Get an actual print book published
2) And another
3) This could go on
4) Drive an Aston Martin, preferably my own
5) Snog a movie/rockstar. A good one!
6) Get married at the Bellagio, or the Little White Wedding Chapel
7) Get mentioned in the Times Style magazine. Positively.

Seven Things I Can't Do:

1) Blow my nose
2) Eat dead animals
3) Run
4) Any kind of ball sport
5) Go a whole day without fantasising about a yummy hero doing unspeakable things to me
6) Be tidy
7) Get up early without grumbling about it

Seven Things That Attract Me To My (in my case) Future Mr. Wonderful

1) Mind-numbing good looks
2) An expressive face
3) How he finds my jokes funny
4) How he makes me laugh
5) Nice smell
6) Great shoulders
7) Agrees that my cats are my family

Seven Things I Say (or Write) Most Often:

1) Manky
2) Betcha by golly wow
3) Shiny
4) You stupid bloody fucking goddamn piece of crap! (to my computer)
5) Hello, baby (to my cats)
6) Want! Shoes, want!
7) Me and whose bank account?

Seven Books (or Series) I love: (ps, Michele I love you for mentioning my books!)

1) Anything by Terry Pratchett, especially the City Watch series
2) Anything by Jennifer Crusie, especially Welcome to Temptation which I travel with, like a security blanket
3) Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich
4) Dark Hunter books by Sherrilyn Kenyon
5) Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
6) A Knight in Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux (see above re. security blanket)
7) Bridget Jones I&II

Seven Movies I Would Watch Over and Over Again:

1) 10 Things I Hate About You
2) Serenity
3) A Knight's Tale
4) Moulin Rouge
5) The Slipper and the Rose
6) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
7) Gone with the Wind

Seven People I Want to Join In:

1) You
2) You
3) You
4) You
5) You
6) You
7) And you. Don't think I can't see you at the back there.

Possibly the best paranormal series out there...

No, that's not me blowing my own trumpet. That's what Joyfully Reviewed had to say aboit my Sundown, Inc. books! Could have knocked me over with a feather (and I'm really not insubstantial in any way).

And, because I'm now feeling all happy with the world in general, I'm going to give you all a little present. His name is Ceyx, and he's the star of my Valentines release from Changeling, Playing With Matches. Enjoy!