Sugar, do do do do do, oh, Honey Honey, you are my Candy girl....

New review for Playing With Matches from Fallen Angel Reviews. Five Angels, whee! Quite ironic, really, considering the debauchery that goes on. But then, they are fallen angels, so that's all right.

Lady from Cats Protection came today (yes, there should be an apostrophe there, but it's late and I can't be arsed, really). Being that we're all caring, sharing people, Rich the misanthrope stayed out of sight, the dog didn't have another stroke or throw up on herself and Tinker, the manky heap of bones that he is, got stuck upstairs, they decided we're allowed to adopt. They have a litter of white kittens who are currently very tiny, but who we're allowed to visit in a week or two. If we get a girl, Mum wants to call her Marilyn, but I'm not big on human names for animals (although I did call a heroine Candy once, and I know some poor girls get called Honey). I kinda want to call her Sugar, after Marilyn's turn in Some Like It Hot.

If it's a boy, I'll probably call him Spike.

Can I get a whoop, whoop?

Thank you! (I just typed whank you. Freudian typing?). Got my first Ellora's Cave royalty cheque today. And while I'm not going to be indiscreet, I'm pretty happy and certainly a lot less broke!

Also, planning a second book...

New book!

The third book in my Sundown, Inc. series is out today with Changeling Press. I know, I know, you've all been waiting so long for it. Six whole months! I can only apologise. But I did give you three other books to read in the meantime.

Five Things You Never Knew About Wizards

1. You don’t need all the proper crystal ball-type props to do real magic. Although things can get kind of interesting when you improvise.

2. There is no wizard academy full of jolly thrills and spills. You get pushed in at the deep end, and only the really lucky ones get a nose plug.

3. Faeries like wizards. The same way that humans like pack mules - except we’re way kinder to pack mules.

4. We’re not immune to a shapely female form, although sadly, they’re not as available as I’d like.

5. Sometimes — just sometimes — we get things wrong. And when we do, the results can be pretty spectacular.

How many pirate queens have you freed lately?

I am of course running a contest to celebrate the launch. The details are on my website: you could win a free download of the book and a pie-rat medallion of your very own! Arr, matey. Shiver me timbers, and all that.

Pet count: 1 cat. 1 dog. (!)

Quiet time

Pet count: 1 cat. 1 dog--just.

With Candy's ghost still hovering on the stairs (I actually reached up to stroke her the other day, then realised of course she's not there) it seems far too soon for Honey to go downhill. She had another stroke yesterday. Then, today when she seemed to be doing okay, another. If they're not strokes they're seizures. I don't know. She's hardly moved since this afternoon and I don't expect to still have her tomorrow.

It might sound cold, but I'm just too tired of this all right now. If I start really thinking about it I'll cry and never stop, and here isn't the place to do it.

So I might be quiet for a while, until I get myself together again.

Guest blogger

Fellow Changeling Press author Alecia Monaco has kindly allowed me to guest blog today! Go and check out my wit and wisdom on one of my favourite subjects.

Sunday already?

Where'd the week go? I haven't even unpacked my case from skiing yet (but if I need thermal underwear, then of course I will). Spent most of yesterday wretchedly hungover after going out Friday night. Since Rich wasn't here for my actual birthday, we delayed it a week. Great restaurant, great food, really great wine...and more wine... Then yesterday was the Duty Visit Oop North, which involved getting up far too bloody early (could have done with sleeping until at least noon) and spending three hours in a car. Well, three hours in a car is never pleasant, especially when my dad insists on taking the wiggly back roads to get to the motorway (why? It's like three miles from our house!). Three hours plus bad hangover equals sicky. I maintain it's not my fault at all, and why'd I have to go anyway? Bah. Bah!

Anyway. Mother's Day today, and the request was for me and Rich to cook. Heh, I get to do tea, and he has to make a prawn and avocado salad for lunch. Since he's never seen an avocado outside a supermarket, this could be fun.

Boredom is a wonderful, wonderful thing

Pet count: 1 cat (ancient, doddery Tinker), 1 dog (heart-murmur-fluid-on-lungs Honey). No kitten yet.

I'm in that great period between finishing a book and getting the edits, which is when I get to find out just how bad it really is. I did a little more on Kett and Bael's book, tentatively titled Almost Magic, follow-up to Almost Human. I haven't pitched it to my editor yet, mostly because I don't have anything resembling a plot. The downside to being a pantster.
But anyway. It's about Kett, Chance's cousin who features briefly in Almost Human. Kett is a shapeshifter with a whole lot of junk in her trunk; and I'm not talking about her ass. She's been a soldier and a mercenary and a statue--yes, the stone kind--and she trains dragons for a living. She's not particularly amused to find she has a rather literal tie to Bael. Here is Kett:

Bael is a Nasc with a pretty big secret, and no, I'm not going to tell you what it is. Think Jayne from Firefly/Serenity crossed with Rufus Sewell's Petruchio, and you're most of the way there. Big and violent and more than a little bit mad. Finding he's chained to Kett is vastly entertaining to him. Here he be:


Now, don't start bombarding me with desperate emails about release dates just yet. I know none of you can wait a single moment longer for another tale of the Realms. But you're gonna have to. Because I only have eleven pages on it yet. But see the pretty pictures I made? Boredom is a good thing.

Catless

After a dull-as-hell Saturday I announced I was visiting Wood Green animal shelter at Heydon--about a half-hour drive from here down some very, very twisty little roads. The 'rents decided they'd better come too (which meant I didn't have to drive, heh). They didn't have any kittens and advised that when they do, they go very quickly, so we're to keep calling to see if they have any. Very nearly brought home a beautiful tortie/white girl called Mistique (yes, I'd have had to change the spelling) who was so pretty and so friendly, even Mum was really taken with her. But poor 'ol Misti didn't like other cats or dogs, so she was a no-no. The only cats they had who were compatible were quite old, and I'm afraid I had to be selfish about that. With one extremely elderly gent, and two who passed away so recently, I just don't think I could handle getting attached to a cat who's going to die so soon.

I want a kitten who's gonna give me a good few years first. Oh! And! They said they prefer to rehome kittens in pairs. When I put the idea of a pair of kittens to Mum later, she said she was as happy with two as one. I grinned and said, "What about Dad?" She just shrugged and smiled. Once he's said yes to one, how much harder can two be?

Going to check with the vet in Stortford, see if they know anyone. It's still early in the kitten season yet--the vet up the road (and I mean about 50 yards from my house) only knew of one lady whose kittens will be ready in 10-12 weeks. But I can't wait that long!

Dullness

It's a sort of post-birthday hangover, isn't it? Well, slightly literally in my case. I did have five pints of Guinness and half a bottle of wine last night. Oh, and the wine at lunch, too. But what I actually meant, har har, is the depressed feeling you always get after your birthday. You know? Hey, yesterday was my special day and people bought me drinks and gave me presents! And today is just a plain sucky Saturday. I have a deadline to meet (actually I sort of stood it up, ahem) and a diet to start and I've just spent all day hanging around getting frustrated, because I wanted to start cat-searching today. But first I had to wait for the Sky man to come and go (stupid Sky+ was completely broken, a step down from its usual state of crappiness); and then the 'rents went to the supermarket, and then we were going to go for a walk and I thought, okay, cat-searching this afternoon! But then Andrew phoned to say he was going to come right over to pick up the ski gear he'd lent Dad, and he stayed for a drink, and then it was lunchtime, and then Dad fell asleep and still wanted to go for a walk when he woke up... and by then I was pissed off, bored and frustrated.

But I decided I'm going to Heydon tomorrow morning, before I go to Alysia's. If they don't have anything, no problem, can keep searching the other shelters this week. If they do, then Alysia can come here and play! But today, sitting around doing nothing when stuff should have been done, was just damn annoying.

Anyway. Here's what I was doing last night (this picture is now pinned to the beam above the bar at the D&D). Can you see how unfocused my eyes are? Those Guinness hats are worth four pints. We had three of them...

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!!!!!