blogging Gustav

Light rain, nearly ten p.m. Carl has decided to grill burgers. I'm writing [deadline in two weeks] and no one here is sleepy anyway. Large supply of eats and beer. Hoping the wind isn't as bad as Andrew [92, had multiple trees down].

Gustav is on his way in and there are preparations going on all over Baton Rouge--some to evacuate, but most of us here are not in a flood plain and we are the places that a lot of our southern family and friends evacuate to. So we'll stick and ride it out.

My house is about a half a mile from the Mississippi River levee, something I never thought about pre-Katrina, and really, I don't think about it as a worry as much as it simply there, a giant earthen wall that quietly affects where or not my house is flooded. I'm sure pre-Katrina, everyone there felt about the same about their own levees.

We have seen a lot of PTSD type of symptoms in people normally very calm--nerves, to sitting down and wanting to cry. If you were one of those people stuck in a hospital, for instance, it can be very traumatizing to relive those days again... especially if you're working in another hospital.

For now, it seems like our family is pretty well taken care off. Everyone has food and supplies, fuel, generators (or a place to go which has them), lots of the basics, like batteries. Most everything outside that could be picked up by high winds and turned into a missile has been picked up and stored away.

I imagine we'll take photos as the storm progresses. I didn't get many photos of Andrew when it came through here in 92 -- it came up through almost the same route and when it hit Louisiana, it was a CAT 3, and it looks like Gustav will hit at a CAT 4. (I know it's going to increase to a 5, but there is speculation that it'll hit at a 4 because it'll slow down and cool off slightly those last few miles nearest the coast.) Fingers crossed for a miracle that it stalls out there and falls apart, instead of coming ashore.

I will also be Twittering. In the case of loss of electricity, we have a generator hooked up. If the DSL holds like it did last time during Katrina, I'll be updating sporadically here.

email snafu

I knew I was having a few minor glitches with email over the last couple of months -- the city is four laning a couple of places around here and it seems like every time that happens, the server lines get severed by accident or have to be relocated or maybe just were snotty to the workers and the workers beat it with a shovel. I don't know, but just sometimes, I'll get a sudden burst of email... that turns out to be from a previous month. Happened again tonight, with some emails going as far back as early June. I answered every one (and these were such fun)... so if you wrote me in that time frame and you didn't hear back, I may never have gotten it. There is some gnome in the gunks rabidly clutching to it, shouting "mine, mine, all mine" and if we can get some tequila into him, he might turn it loose and give it to me... but it might be better in the meanwhile if you just re-send, because I really would love to hear from you.

There is going to be a real newsletter at the end of Sept. The first one this year, but a real one with prizes. Quite a few prizes, actually, as I keep finding cool things I want to include. So sign up on the front page of the site here. It's going to be no more than 2 newsletters a year IF THAT. As you can all see, I'm not exactly speedy getting these things done. But like I said, prizes and fun and very possibly, an excerpt of something from either book 3 or a short story I'm working on. Maybe. Did I mention prizes? Yeah, go sign up so you'll be eligible for those.

Third Strike

How much is it killing me not to have Zoë Sharp's Third Charlie novel?

Seriously killing me.

I love this series, and Zoë's writing skills make me woozy with happiness when reading.

Here's the great PW review:

Third Strike Zoë Sharp. St. Martin’s Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-35897-6

At the outset of Sharp’s gripping third Charlie Fox thriller (after Second Shot), the British soldier-turned-bodyguard, now settled in New York City and working for an exclusive close-protection agency, is shocked to see an interview with her father on the morning TV news. A prominent U.K. orthopedic surgeon, he is under investigation after the death of one of his patients. Joined by fellow bodyguard and boyfriend Sean Meyer, she encounters some of the most ruthless criminals of her career as she seeks to exonerate her father. Sharp expertly captures the frenetic energy of New York without sacrificing her trademark British wit. Charlie is as tough as she is damaged, and readers will kill for the next installment. (Oct.)

goings on...

I really mean to post stuff over here, meatier stuff, and then I poke my head up and realize, holy crap, weeks have gone by. I dust the place off (and seriously, the dust bunnies? could eat the dog), settle in, thinking I'm going to be all normal and regular blogging and then... weeks. Again.

I do blog every Sunday over on Murderati.


And I do mean to brag on my friends here.

So, lately, some good news: my awesome friend, Stephen Blackmoore just landed an agent, Allan Guthrie. Stephen is one of those writers who both is darkly twisted and very funny and his blog is a daily stop for me. Go give him some love.

And speaking of giving love, Jackie Kessler's terrific follow up in her Hell series has hit the bookstores: Hotter Than Hell.

From Publishers Weekly
In Kessler's newest, Daunuan, master seducer and incubus, returns badder than ever. Pan, the new king of lust, wants to appoint Daunuan his second in command, but Daunuan must first prove himself by seducing a woman destined for heaven, claiming her soul for hell. Daunuan thinks this will be an easy assignment, but he doesn't expect to fall in love with Virginia, his target, and be willing to give up hell to ensure that she doesn't get damned for all eternity. Complicating his mission is that someone in hell has it in for him and has sicced a crew of demons on him. Daunuan also cannot come to terms with his feelings for Jezebel, a succubus. The plot is sexy and bold, and the atypical ending—a happily ever after pairing is not in the cards—is satisfying, even if the unconventional conclusion may rub some readers the wrong way. (Aug.)
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Jackie is a stellar writer. She takes risks, she's smart, she's funny, and she's also just an AMAZING person. If you ever even thought about paranormal romance, go pick up her books.

fantastic trip

Back home, completely bleary-eyed and happy. I think this was one of the best conferences for me, personally, because I really knew so many more people from previous conferences and online blogs / groups, that it genuinely felt like hanging out with friends *and* learning stuff. Our panel was packed and our audience seriously rocked -- they asked great questions and lots of them, which just made everything fun and flowy.

More details up soon, but meanwhile, my friend Emilie saw this at Barnes & Noble -- it's a new promotion they're doing and they're including Bobbie Faye: