Thirteen fabulous things about where I live 1. The pair of shoes hanging over the power cable across the high street in town. Been there for months. Think they were once from the bowling alley. 2. My village is damn pretty. Listed in the Magna Carta of 1215, I'm also pretty sure it was in the Domesday Book, too. 3. This pretty village has seven pubs (no longer eight, alas! One was bought by an evil property developer, bah!) for a population of about 6,000. 4. We also have five churches. I think. So, you can drink and repent without having to go very far. 5. My uncle was astonished at this when he visited from Sheffield: that random people you pass by in the street, especially older people, will smile and say, "Good morning!" All the old people he meets (he's a bus driver) are apparently miserable buggers. But then if I'd lived in Sheffield for seventy years, I'd be miserable too. 6. The climate. I dunno if this is airport-related or what, but we have such a mild climate here--and it's a total microclimate, too. I got stuck in a terrible rainstorm a few miles away once and ended up turning back after six miles, to find it was dry as a bone here. 7. Ah yes, the airport. Love it, hate it (and generally I hate it), you can't deny that having an international airport on your doorstep is a useful thing. I mean, how many medieval villages have international airports? 8. In about five minutes, I can be walking in fields of gold. 9. In about two minutes, walking, I can buy milk, bread, newspapers, wine, chocolate and a wonderful variety of crisps. 10. Ten minutes walk to the station, and under an hour to London. Yeah, I usually bitch about this, because seriously, an hour to go 36 miles? but an hour to the world's greatest capital is still pretty decent. 11. It's really easy to tell people where I live. For people in the UK, I tell them it's near Stansted airport. For everyone else, it's just north of London (except for that bartender who thought 'north of London' meant 'Scotland'). 12. I get Broadband (although it took its damn time). 13. It's flat (mostly). Me and hills are unmixy things.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Wordless Wednesday: A few of my favourite things

Do I blog about David Tennant too much?

Ska-wee!

I finalled in the Passionate Plume contest! This is held by the Passionate Ink chapter of the RWA to celebrate the best in erotic romance--and I'm one of five finalists in the Futuristic/Fantasy/Sci-fi category with Almost Human. Again!

In other news, Pepper is now comfortable enough in the house to doze in the kitchen while we watched Doctor Who from Saturday night. David Tennant ('crazy, but a little magnificent') in a futuristic traffic jam so insane it takes six years to travel six miles--in the fast lane. Have I mentioned lately how much I love David Tennant? No? I love David Tennant!

Lazy Sunday afternoon

...got no mind for worries. Pepper has been dozing under the bench in the front garden most of the afternoon, after a hard morning of climbing up and down the three steps to the drive. Hard work being a puppy.

Sugar and Spike still aren't sure what to make of her. They've both sneaked up on her while she's sleeping, taken a close sniff, then recoiled in horror. But they haven't been aggressive, just mostly curious. Poor Pepper just wants to play with them! This has, however, helped me develop a theory on the dogs-chasing-cats idea. The dog doesn't want to chase she cat away, she just wants to play. The cat, however, is disgusted by this leggy, smelly creature, and so hightails it (literally) out of there. Dog thinks this is part of the game, and so pursues.

Yesterday, both Sugar and Spike ended up perched halfway up the oak tree while Pepper sniffed around the roots. Wussy cats.

Here she is after a hard day of being adorable:

This cushion is now part of her bed. Cushion, towel/blanket, Knotty. Poor neglected puppy.

In other news, I finished final line edits on A is for Apple, the third Sophie book, which is getting ready to go to Book Expo America. I should hopefully be getting a cover soon (I typed 'toon' there, hah!).

Now, it's absolutely glorious weather here, more like June than April, so I have some hardcore sunbathing to do. Yes, I know I said I was going to stay pale and interesting this year, but I say that every year, and it gets really tiring having people ask if I'm anaemic all summer...

Pepper Pepper Pepper!

Yep, we brought our new baby home today! She was a sweetheart and slept in the crook of my arm most of the journey. And has spent the time since hopping around the garden being adorable.

Here she is with my dad--see how tiny she is?


And here she is trying to eat my shoe while I'm taking pictures of her. I don't know what it is with dogs and shoes...maybe it's genetic. Must wag tail, adore owner, and eat shoes.


Giving me a doggy kiss on the hand. Bless.


Saying hello to Spike, who was Not Impressed. When we brought her in, I handed her to my dad and picked up Spike who wanted to see what the fuss was about. He didn't seem all that interested in what Dad was holding, until he realised it was alive, whereupon he hissed, scrambled out of my arms, and startled his sister into leaping away from Mum, scratching her finger open and knocking over the water bowl.

I feel that went quite well.


Pepper killing Knotty.


All tuckered out. She seems to like her box (and yes, that is a super-market cardboard fruit crate she's sleeping in. With an old bath towel. Nothing but luxury for my poppet).




Spike all blissed out from the catnip drops I bribed him with to forgive me.



Sugar, not looking particularly convinced.


But lest they forget, this was Sugar and Spike the day after we brought them home, poor wee mites that they were--at least they had each other!

Thursday Thirteen: Whedonverse quotes I love

Thirteen Whedonverse quotes I love 1. Buffy: Honey, we need to talk about the invitations. Now, do you want to be 'William the Bloody' or just 'Spike,' because either way it's gonna look majorly weird. Spike: Whereas the name 'Buffy' gives it that touch of classic elegance. Buffy: What's wrong with 'Buffy'? Giles: Ah, such a good question. BTVS, Something Blue. Okay, it was really hard to just pick one from Something Blue, because it's one of the funniest things I have ever seen on TV. It was either this, or the scene with Riley ("I don't think 'no' is a strong enough word"). 2. Spike: We...we kissed, you and me. All Gone With The Wind, with the rising music, and the rising...music, and what was that, Buffy? BTVS: Tabula Rasa. Yeah, it wasn’t just the music rising. 3. Spike (to Buffy and Angel): You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, children, it's blood, blood screaming inside you to work its will. BTVS, Lover’s Walk. Spike has some of the best lines, I swear they’re like poetry sometimes. He’s particularly eloquent about love. 4. Wesley: “I’m a rogue demon hunter now.” Cordy: “Oh, wow. What’s a rogue demon?” Angel, Parting Gifts. Cordy, a blonde in hiding. Wesley, a geek in biking leathers. 5. Spike (sings): The torch I bear is scorching me Buffy's laughing, I've no doubt I hope she fries I'm free if that bitch dies! I’d better help her out. BTVS, Once More With Feeling. Spike, who belives that denial is just a river in Egypt. 6. Spike: Hey, look at me. I’m not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it’s not because I want you, or because I can’t have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I’ve seen your kindness and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You are a hell of a woman. You’re the one, Buffy. Buffy: I don’t want to be the one. Spike: I don’t want to be this good-looking and athletic. We all have crosses to bear. BTVS, Touched. Yes, I know I’m putting a lot of Spike in here, but he does have the best lines. Isn’t that just beautiful? Wouldn’t you love to have someone say that to you? And then turn on a dime and break the tension with a joke? 7. Mal: Zoe, ship is yours. Remember. If anything happens to me... or if you don't hear from me within the hour... you take this ship and you come and you rescue me. Zoe: What? Risk my ship? Serenity. Mal. You know, he tries to be bitter and brooding, but it just doesn’t work very well. 8. River: She understands. She doesn’t comprehend. Firefly, Objects in Space. A little like me, when I was doing Philosophy A level. 9. Pike: I can keep talking until you strike me dead. Or not. I prefer not. BTVS the movie. Come on, it had some great lines. And Luke Perry. 10. Mal: Yes, I’ve read a poem. Try not to faint. Serenity. This is off Inara’s incredulous look when Mal references the albatross from the Ancient Mariner. 11. Kaylee: Been more’n a year I had anything twixt my nethers didn’t run on batteries. Mal: I don’t need to hear that! Jayne: I could stand to hear a little more. Serenity. Jayne: I wanted to quote more of his lines, but the reason most of them are so great is because of the way Adam Baldwin says them. Love seeing this guy, who usually plays straight-faced military types, as a dirty mercenary. 12. Jayne: The hero of Canton, the man they call…me Firefly, Jaynestown. This is Jayne drunkenly singing a ballad written about him in a town where he’s considered a hero (because he accidentally ‘donated’ a lot of money to the townspeople when he’d intended to steal it). Adam Baldwin, fantastic. 13. Buffy (to Spike, about Angel): You know, one of these days I’m just going to put you two in a room and let you wrestle it out. Spike: No problem at this end. Buffy: There could be oil of some kind. BTVS, Chosen. Angel plus Spike, minus shirts, plus oil equals mmmmm. Only thirteen, I hear you cry? Well, obviously there are dozens more. Most of the things Xander and Wash say, for starters, and a good few of Lorne's lines too. So, tell me: what are your favourites?

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Wordless Wednesday: The cats brought Pepper an Easter present

See? An egg. Fresh, too. Sweet of them.

Ohmygod ohmygod

Best Books of the Year 2006

I was looking on the RRT main site and saw all these awesome books had been awarded Best Book of the Year, and didn't think to check RRTErotic. And then I did, and I'm there. Twice. (I actually missed the second one first time around. I'm having a blond moment. No, month!) Never Leave Me won Best Erotic Novella and Almost Human won Best Erotic Fantasy Romance.

And you know what? I JUST sent out my newsletter, and then I JUST sent out an addendum because I forgot to include something, and this is the biggest news I have! D'oh!

April news now online

Yepyep, my April newsletter is now available on both my websites, CatMarsters.com and KateJohnson.co.uk. You can also have the newsletter delivered to you (sadly pictureless) by subscribing to my Yahoo group.

This month, I'm interviewing the fabulous Lexxie Couper, talking to Jane Lovering about her menagerie of pets, and highlighting one of my all-time favourite crushes, James Marsters. There's also a puppy picture and a blonde joke. What more could you want?

Thursday Thirteen: things that make me happy

Thirteen things making me happy today (Yes, I know, unusually cheerful for a cranky cow like me. But everything else I thought of was miserable, and Amelia has already baggsed Thirteen Mandarin Insults) 1. Watching my cats behave like kittens. Especially Spike, when he gets that cheeky look in his eye, then attacks his catnip ball and rolls around on the floor wrestling with it. 2. The new series of Doctor Who. David Tennant rocketing around the universe being cheerfully insane, how can that not make you smile? 3. That, and I'm going to quote directly from Caitlin Moran here, "a show about a 900-year-old pacifist with a magic screwdriver, whose biggest enemy is a set of giant, fatal pepperpots...a children's sci-fi show, made on what amounts to a minuscule budget, in Wales, by gays, should be one of the defining programmes of the 21st century, is just the kind of thing that makes Britain great." It's completely bonkers. I love it! 4. It's sunny. I know, it's cheating. So what? 5. A week tomorrow we're going to pick up Pepper! (and put the puppy properly in her pen). 6. Helping my brother fix his phone and being called a genius for it. 7. Then, five seconds later, having to go up and down the stairs twice because I'd forgotten this list. And then the paper for the Caitlin Moran quote. I like being stupid. I have no idea why. 8. The new cover for Ugley Business which I got sent this morning. I'm not sure if it's final and approved yet, but the second it is I shall be plastering it everywhere because it's gorgeous. And it's purple! 9. Thinking up ways to screw eighteen generations of PayPal's ancestors (I'm modifying one of Amelia's Mandarin insults here) for refusing to recognise that someone defrauded my account to the tune of £1,200. There will be pain. Lots of pain. 10. The red, suede-trimmed, be-ribboned ballet slippers I bought yesterday. For four pounds. 11. Print release dates for the first three Sophie books. Like the cover, they're not definite yet, but I'm happy to have them. 12. That I've managed to think of 12 other reasons to be cheerful. And that I'm cheating now. I do like to cheat a little every now and then. 13. That I've finished the book I was on deadline for; done the edits I had to have finished by yesterday; and got my Stroke of Midnight contest entries back on time and am, therefore, unburdened by deadlines for the present moment!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday: Pepper!

(Well, you didn't think I was gonna miss this opportunity, did you? Crap, now it isn't wordless. Oh well)

Random bollocks

Sleep pods in airports. Isn't that a brilliant idea? BAA can pay me royalties later. No; think about it. You've just got off a seven hour flight from New York, during which it was physically impossible to sleep, you're making a connection to Edinburgh in four hours' time, you're completely knackered and would prefer not to arrive at your destination looking like a zombie, so you go and hire a little capsule sleep pod thing, like they have in those hotels in Tokyo, and catch a few hours of sleep. Wake up, take a shower, get on your plane and arrive looking like a human being.

I know. I'm a genius.

This is the result of random thought-hopping after I asked my brother when he was flying back from LA, and he said, "Er, Tuesday." Is that when you take off, or when you land? "Er. Land." Because I know they're usually night flights going transtlantic west-east, and it is eleven hours in the air. Are you taking off Monday evening? "Probably."

You see? When I fly somewhere I always write down, in big easy letters, the flight number and times, and put it somewhere prominent in the kitchen. Plus I put it on the calendar. And then I keep a copy with me in case I forget when I get to the check-in desk. Last year Rich went to Doha and didn't even know which airline he was on. Which was interesting, since when you fly into Qatar you need to be on Qatar Airways or you need a visa.

Anyway. Today I shall be mostly working on edits for A is for Apple, book three of the Sophie Green books. This is being done ahead of time, since it's going to BEA in May. So, if you're there, go and find the Samhain stand and say hola.

Ooh, I just opened my author page at Samhain to do that link and Ugley Business is listed there. Ska-wee! That's book two--and yes, Ugley is meant to be spelled like that. Makes sense when you read it. Or if you live near Stansted Airport.

Pepper!

Here's our new baby girl--one month old today! Isn't she tiny? Smaller than her littermates (of which there are seven, youch). Maybe she's taking after her mother, who is a collie, rather than her father, a black lab.

Poor thing was so nervous she kept shaking and half the pictures came out blurred. But here she is--that's my hand in the picture by the way, for scale purposes. Oh, and that's my I found Jesus...he was behind the couch t-shirt, in case you're wondering. She seemed to like it. Kept licking Jesus. Of course, she also licked my nose and fingers and tried to eat my ring, so I don't think she was expressing a preference.