Author: Jonathon

Tomorrow we fly to comic-con in San Diego. Ahhhh!
Sorry, but another flight after only two days home is sort of stressful.
There are bats outside my office windows. Bats swirling, turning, diving, eating insects so small that I can’t even see them in the soft, blue, summer dusk. Watching them flutter across the sky reminds me of butterflies and swallows, and neither. They are just bats.
We’re packed. Almost. We got to use the uber shower in the uber bathroom. That was good. I’m printing off the last forty or so pages of JASON to take with in case I actually calm down enough to work. I usually work very well on the plane, but I didn’t do so well on the way to Tulsa.
Debbie Militello and her husband, Carl, were on the same flight as us. It was a happy accident. We got to visit while our flight kept getting delayed. Delayed for about an hour when it was all done. Southwest doesn’t have assigned seating. So by the time Charles, Jon, and I got on the plan there were no seats together for Jon and myself. He is my comfort object, I mean what other man will let me leave nail imprints in his thigh or hand by the time we land?
Debbie and Carl gave up their seats together for us, for me. I didn’t want to take them. Surely I’m a bigger grown up than this, right? But Debbie insisted and together we can be very much like the Warner Brother’s gophers. “After you.” “No, after you.” “I insist, after you.”
Once upon a time Debbie went with me to conventions. She is the only friend to see me totally loose it on a plan. Even Jon hasn’t seen me this bad. I had a full blown panic attack once on a plane with Debbie. The kind of panic that might get me kicked off a plane now with the new regulations. Debbie talked me down and into our seats. I have gotten much better about flying, but she remembered. She’s my friend.
So, thanks to Debbie and Carl, Jon and I got to sit together on the way to Tulsa. But by the time we got seated I’d panicked, convinced I would have to try to fly alone. So instead of reading, or working, I had to have Jon talk to me. About what? About anything. When I get this far gone, it doesn’t matter really. He talked about cars, about weapons, about television, about . . . anything. I listened, retained almost none of it, but for the few minutes he said it, I’d ask questions. I really was listening, but it was like none of it could go onto long term memory for that trip. Long term memory was off line. Short term was fine, but that was it. I just needed a comforting voice, and someone to hold onto.
I’m trying to be braver than that tonight. I’m trying to steal myself to be braver than that tomorrow. No panicking. That is the rule. But, damn, there are times when that is a very hard rule to keep.

Okay, more about Conestoga. First I got to see J. D. Bell for the first time in about eight years. He was a member of the writing workshop at NameThatCon that I attended, and from which my writing group formed. He was a wonderful writer. I told him the truth, that I’d been checking the shelves for years to see his books on the shelves. He didn’t go into details but he thinks maybe soon he’ll get there. It was a good surprise to see him after all this time. He said, he’d been watching my progress in the bookstores. I really do hope to see his books out in stores in a the next few years.
I realize looking at the last blog that it made it sound like I hadn’t seen Debbie at all, but what I meant was that outside of writing group meetings and phone calls we hadn’t gotten together much so we could simply talk.
We also met the artist John Picacio. His art was intriguing, beautiful, and thought provoking. We were particularly taken with his painting, ‘Second Hunt.’ He was also fun to talk to. A nice combo. There was a lot of wonderful art at the con. There were several pieces I wanted, but the new rule is that unless we know exactly where it’s going to go, no buying more art until we’ve framed and hung what we already have. The same with collectible knickknacks. Sigh.
Charles intimated in his comments about Conestoga on the forum that I’d gotten a surprise about my first book, but he’d let me tell it. The surprise was in the art show. We’d determined that we would at least get to go through the art show and the dealers room once a piece. Sometimes at cons we don’t even get that. But we had an hour or so to spare, so away we went. We turned the corner in the art show and there was the cover of my first book, NIGHTSEER. It was the original oil painting by Keith Birdsong (a great name isn’t it?). Years ago, as in more than a decade I’d wanted that piece, but then I couldn’t afford it, not even close. I think Keith got more for doing the cover than I got as advance for the entire book. I’d long ago made peace with never having that painting. Now, there it was in the art show. It was so unexpected that I just stood and stared.
It was enough money that I turned to Jon and said, “Should I?” He said, “I don’t know what do you think,” but he was nodding his head when he said it. I didn’t get the sarcasm at the time. So I turned to Charles and asked the same question. Charles kind of looked at me and made his Scooby noise, he’s very good at it. While I was still trying to talk myself into it, or out of it, Jon walked away. He went to pay for the painting. Charles stayed with me both to protect me from any would-be problems and to let me babble. I don’t know what it was about suddenly seeing the painting but it was definitely a babbling moment for me.
Jon came back and said, “You’re buying the painting.”
I said, “Are you sure?”
He gave me ‘the look’. The one he uses when I’m being particularly obtuse.
Charles said, “How could you not buy it,” or something like that.
They were both right.
I have no idea why it stunned me so. Maybe because it was such a blast from the past. Maybe it was because it was something I wanted very much once and had to give up completely. Maybe it was because it represented something important to me that it will take me days to work out. But whatever the reasoning, it’s sitting in my house now. Jon packed it within an inch of it’s life. All the people in the art show that saw him pack it were impressed. Jon shares his mother’s packing gene. I so don’t have that skill set.
I know where I’ll put the painting once it’s framed. It will go on the stairs leading up to my office so I’ll pass it every day, or maybe in the entry hall so it can be on the wall beside art from the first story I ever had in print. But I think the stairs to my office. To remind me, every day that once I couldn’t have afforded it and now I can. That if something is meant to be, you get a second chance at it. Have patience. Never my best thing.
I also got to meet Keith Birdsong at long last. He didn’t look like I had pictured him. He was hipper than I expected. (Do they say hipper anymore?) Cooler then. We talked about that long ago time and what we’d both been doing since. He’d been a beginning artist when I’d been a beginning writer. He signed the painting for me. Now it’s sitting there waiting to be framed, waiting to be up on my wall, at long last.

We’re home and safe. Our plan to blog from the con just never materialized. Not sure why. Thanks to everyone who ran Conestoga and helped make Jon, Charles, and I, so welcome. Thanks to all the fans that came out to see us. A special thanks to the fans that said they’d come just because I’d be there, and it was their first con. I’m glad you had a good time. Conestoga was a good first con to come to. Not too large, not too small, well run, full of nice people.
We got to pet animals I’d never petted before. The charity was a wild animal rescue group, Safari?s Sanctuary, and they brought out their animals to let the guests see them. Reticulated and Burmese python, the first was a yellow albino; Fennec (small desert fox); albino baby raccoon; skunk both albino and regular; ring-tailed lemur (who helped with my audio podcast at Conestoga, you’ll know what I mean when you hear it); alligator; and wolves. Yes, I said wolves.
It was amazing to be able to interact with the animals. I was struck by the different smells of the furred animals. The reptiles had the least natural odor. I’m always wanting to know what animals smell like, for the writing, and I think writing the wereanimals has made me more aware of that oft neglected sense; smell. The alligator felt smooth and wonderful. The snakes felt cool, and clean, and smooth, and strong. I like the bigger snakes more than the small ones, actually. The wolves were amazing to touch, and the lemur, too. But, honestly, my favorite was the Fennec. With it’s huge ears and delicate triangular face, it looked like some sort of fairy creature. It’s fur was the softest of any of the other animals, silky. It also stood on the shoulders of it’s handler. I mean I’ve heard of a shoulder cat, or a shoulder bird, but a shoulder fox was new. These are all animals that were bought as pets, then, of course, the person couldn’t keep take good enough care of them, or neglected or abused them in some way. Wild animals are best left in the wild.
We got to have dinner with one of best friends, Deborah Millitello and her husband, Carl, on Friday night. Debbie and I hadn’t gotten to sit and talk in ages.
I must say that our sleep number beds at the hotel were more like insomnia numbers. One half of the bed Jon and I used deflated, the other half did not as the night wore on. Charles’s bed inflated as the night wore on so he would start at forty something and it would be eighty something by morning. I think, perhaps, sleep number beds are not meant to be used and abused in a hotel where people tend to be very hard on things. Our experience has made us not a fan of the things.

With Laurell at Conestoga, I thought I would take the space to answer some questions we are getting about Comic Con in San Diego.
We are in the IP Pavillion, booth 2005 with Dabel Brothers Productions.
If you come by the booth wearing an Anita or Merry shirt, either from the fan club (https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/Goodies.html) or Cafe Shops (hhtp://www.cafeshops.com/lkhprem), we will have a little prize for you, until I run out. It may be a coupon for a discount on a purchase from the fan club, a free shirt, free duck, free Sigmund, free fan club membership or free jewelry. You will get to choose a slip out of the box and that will determine your prize.
I was going to have bookmarks for everyone that came by, but the printer had a catastrophe and I will not have them. Sorry! They just couldn’t get them printed in time.
Yes, we will have shirts for sale: Brett Booth’s: Jean-Claude, Anita Wearing Zombies Are Cool, and Anita Wearing I Vant To Peck Your Neck. We will also have a special limited edition Anita Blake Does Comic Con 2007 t-shirt with original artwork by Brett. We only ordered 2000 of them. So come by and get yours soonest!
We will have the fanged rubber duckie, Sigmund, Anita charms and silver fangs for sale. (You can see it all at https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/Goodies.html). It is also the debut of the full color catalog. You can get the Laurell cover for $5.00, it comes with a $2.00 coupon for your next purchase, get it for free if you spend $50 or more. Spend $100 or more and get the group cover for free. I have far fewer of the group covers, than the Laurell. The interior of the catalogs is the same, only the cover is different.
I did not ship all the catalogs since so many asked about getting one who were not going, so I will be putting them up on the website after we get back. If there are any special shirts left, I will make those available too.
Sigmund is going to make the rounds of the convention and we will post pictures of all the folks he got to see when we get back. So stop by and say Hi to Sigmund.
There will be line tickets for the signings. But no one explained how that was going to work, so you might ask when you check in and get your badge how that is being handled.
A little bird told us, okay it was her agent, that Sherrilyn Kenyon will also be attending. I know she has a signing on Friday at the Marvel Booth. So take a minute to say hi to her too! She really is cool.
This is the schedule as of now, we are trying to fit in some more signings. Please check with the sponsor of the signing on their requirements. SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE SEE COMIC CON PROGRAM BOOKLET FOR LATEST INFO.
Thursday July 26th
PANEL:
2:00-3:00 Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance: Sub-Genres Readers Love?Where are the borders between urban fantasy and paranormal romance? How did paranormal romance grow from a subgenre of romance to its current popular cross-genre status, and what does the future hold? Writers Laurell K. Hamilton (best-selling author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series), Jeanne Stein (Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles), Laura Anne Gilman (The Retrievers series), Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Takes a Holiday), Marjorie Liu (Soul Song), and Samantha Sommersby (Forbidden: The Awakening) talk about love and monsters. Moderator: Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy. Room 5AB
3:00-4:00 Signing
Friday July 27th
1:00-2:00 Signing at Marvel Booth
4:00-5:00 Signing at Ballantine Books Booth
9:00-10:00 PM Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Dinner (You must have a ticket). See below. All funds raised go to the CBLDF.
Saturday July 28th
PANEL:
12:15-1:15 Spotlight on Laurell K Hamilton?With two incredibly popular book series going stronger than ever (Anita Blake, 15 books, over 6 million copies in print; Merry Gentry, 5 books, over 1 million copies in print), Comic-Con special guest Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the most popular fiction authors working today. Laurell tells us what?s next for Anita, Merry, and herself in this exclusive event. Room 6CDEF
1:15-2:15 Signing
When we get back, the last of the Wolf Howl video will go up. But Jon is handling that so I don’t know exactly when it will be up: http://www.youtube.com/user/jondgreen
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has a special offer
————————————————————————————-Dabel Brothers & The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund have a special offer for all of Laurell K. Hamilton’s fans on this email list. On Friday, July 27, the CBLDF will be hosting a gala benefit with Laurell at a secret location in San Diego. The internet price for the event is $500, but the CBLDF has generously extended 10 tickets to readers of this list at half-price if you reserve your space before Monday, July 23. So you can meet Laurell, support a great cause, and do so at a discount, for being a loyal fan!
This reception is strictly limited to 25 attendees, who will spend an hour with Ms. Hamilton at a secret location in downtown San Diego. All attendees will be able to meet Ms. Hamilton, and to get two items signed while enjoying an open bar and gourmet hors d’oeuvres. Attendees will also receive a commemorative signed print, limited to 26 lettered pieces and only available through this event, as well as a one-year membership in the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Event details such as time and place will be emailed to you after your purchase.
“The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund works to defend the rights of readers everywhere to enjoy all kinds of comics, and we’re thrilled to bring Ms. Hamilton out to support their very important work,” says DBPro’s Sales/Project Development Manager Derek Ruiz.
Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with Guilty Pleasures (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel/Dabel Brothers – the first sexy paranormal comic ever!), and continues with the recently released The Harlequin, number fifteen in the series, in which Anita’s complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton’s Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now five novels exceeding one million copies in print. Mistral’s Kiss, the fifth in the series debuted this past December. Ms. Hamilton is thrilled to be attending her first Comic-Con. She lives in St. Louis County, Missouri with her husband, daughter, two pug and two part pug dogs.
To reserve your space, go to: http://cbldf.safeshopper.com/20/cat20.htm?119 and enter the code: LKHFAN in the memo blank to redeem this half-price offer.
That’s what I know. If you have a question I haven’t answered, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), and I will try and find out for you.
Darla

Just in case any of you are concerned the allergic reaction is already better. I knew it would be, if I could simply hold on and not do anything stupid, like scratching. The urge is still there, but it’s less, and growing more so by the minute. I should probably have waited to blog until after I’d gotten all better then you might have gotten something more entertaining and less medical. Sorry about that.

Tomorrow we fly out to Tulsa. Life would be soooo much easier if I could conquer my fear of flying.
To add to the fun I’m having an allergic reaction to something. It’s a product I’ve used dozens of times, but this time my skin doesn’t like it. I’ve added extra medicine to my already full regiem of meds for my allergies. If I don’t scratch it won’t turn into hives. If I can just ignore the burning, itching, painful sensation it will eventually go away. I know that. I’ve done this before. But it is never pleasant. Yes, that was an understatement. But getting all worked up about it never helps, so calm it is. But damn, it hurts. Another product off my shelves for good. Why have I not mentioned the product? Because it is an allergic reaction, and no fault of the product in question. If I put on my blog that I’m having a problem with this product then, well, I know how the Internet loves rumors. It’s a lovely product, one I’ve enjoyed using. I know I am prone to allergies, and I won’t harm the reputation of a good product by giving it’s name here.
I’m going to put more supposedly soothing lotion on my skin. I’ll be fine in a little while as long as I resist the temptation to rub or scratch. This, too, shall pass. Damnit.

Thirteen pages today on JASON. The muse is kicking, and of course, we are a day away from flying out to Tulsa for Conestoga. Have you noticed that my muse seems to always pick up speed just before I have to have some huge disruption in my schedule? Or is that just me?
I’ve done like a half dozen different businessy phone calls, which was where the afternoon went. Plus I tried to pick up my new glasses, and they didn’t work. They were my computer glasses, but the visual was set for about ten to twelve inches away, my desk is a big desk, so it’s more like between twenty and thirty inches away. The glasses worked great close, but bad double the distance. So, I won’t have my new glasses for Conestoga, or probably for Comicon. Oh, well, my old ones work well enough for most things.
I’m off to bed. It has been a long week. Sleep and some cuddling sound just about perfect, though I have to admit it is one of those nights when those celebrities that have a full time massage therapist on call doesn’t sound as stupid as it once did. Massage is like your emergency services when you need one, you really need one.

One of my goals has been to actually enjoy some of my success. What does that mean? It means I want to have breakfast in the solarium. I want to actually use the hot tub, and the uber shower. I want to be in the exercise room long enough to do more than the treadmill, or a small weight work out. I want to sit on my garden bench which we bought last summer and I have yet to use. We have this amazingly gorgeous water garden just off the new brick patio. I want to sit out on it and enjoy a beautiful evening. It’s a long list, and I’ve gotten to do none of it, but tonight Jon and I sat out on our patio and drank a cup of tea to end the day. It’s a start.
The day had been hot and muggy, but the evening turned out to be cool and comfortable, a rarity in St. Louis. We tucked the child upstairs in bed, and sat out side in the beautiful summer evening. We watched the first stars push their way through the blue of the night sky. Watched that sky turn from blue to black. A bat flitted across the low cloud cover, so camouflaged that Jon and I weren’t sure what we’d seen at first. It was the first bat Jon had ever seen. How do you know it’s a bat and not a night flying bird? One; bats are much more flappy in their wing beats. Also it just moves like a bat and not a bird. Not all things that fly move the same. In fact, every bird seems to have it’s special way of moving through the air.
The goldfinches have moved into the daylight garden. I watched their undulating flights back and forth to the sunflowers today. Goldfinches seem to carve musical notes in the air, as they fly. They twitter constantly back and forth to each other not a musical song, but terribly cheerful like a best friend who sings off key, but but never seems to realize it, until the very off key singing makes you smile because it is your friend. The birds yellow is so bright like sunshine made solid with the black wings and caps to set it off, so that they seem artificial in the contrast of colors. Perfectly drawn between dark and bright, miniature examples of how it feels sometimes to be us. The bright feathers that everyone sees, but it is the dark parts that make the brightness stand out. If they were all yellow would they be as eye-catching? I don’t think so. You need the black to make the yellow glow.
Goldfinches all day, bats at night. It’s a good yard. Tonight the patio; tomorrow the garden bench, or maybe the solarium.

Nine pages on JASON this morning. Then a staff meeting after lunch. Then answering e-mails and working on the comic. There’s so much stuff to do that we are having to organize the day more like a regular office to make sure everything gets handled. The staff meeting was mostly about comicon and the merchandise we are shipping, and will have at our booth that we are sharing with DBpro booth number 2005. We were going to be over by Marvel, but there was a mix up with the booth reservations, and now we are over in the independent publishing area.
We’re waiting for the truck to pick of the merchandise as we write this. We’re taking the comic book shirts, Jean-Claude, and both Anita shirts. We’ll also have that comicon shirt with all new Brett Booth artwork. We’re also taking some of the rubber duckies with the fangs, some penguins (gotta have our Sigmund), jewelery, and our catalog. It’s our first. So if you’re going to San Diego come visit our booth. It’s a test to see if we really ever want to take this much merch to any convention ever again. Right now unless it goes really well I’m beginning to think less may be more.

I managed to fix a computer problem on blogger all by myself. It’s a small thing but it’s nice to not have to yell for help at the small things. I’d like to save my tech staff for the big things, you know? First my cookie functionality was disabled. Fixed that. I’ve fixed that before. Then it couldn’t display page and couldn’t find the server. That’s a bigger problem, but I just kept plugging away trying this and that, until here I am typing to all of you.
First cup of tea in hand. Very good. Dogs fed. Good. Dogs barking at something. I can’t see anything. Less than peaceful. Pip has a very deep, big dog bark to match his black and scary exterior. Did you know that black dogs are less likely to be adopted than any other color from a shelter? What’s wrong with black? It’s one of my favorite colors. There was even an article on it in, I think, People Magazine, about a woman who’s started a movement to get people to not over look the black dogs. When we chose Pip there was another puppy that was in the running. She, which I would have preferred, we already had two male dogs and only one other female, was also yellow. The color made no difference to me, but I was aware that black dogs don’t always get adopted, so when they both passed their behavioral tests with flying colors I had to weigh on other issues. Two things swayed me. First, the female puppy was two weeks younger than Pip and nearly two inches taller at the shoulder. That is not a definite on how big she would have gotten, but still, we were already looking at pretty big puppies. Second, she was a golden yellow and I knew that was a color that people adopt faster. The only thing Pip had against him was that I wasn’t sure how our two boys would react to a third boy. But in the end we took our big, black, puppy, home. The blond puppy found a home very quickly, as I knew she would. If we hadn’t taken Pip he might still be there at the shelter and no matter how good a shelter is; and Granite City APA is pretty darn good which is one of the reasons they are one of our charities. That and the fact that they are one of the precious few no kill shelters in our area. But even Granite City is still a shelter. The dog still has no one to call their own. No home.
The thought of our big puppy behind a wire cage gazing out forlornly at the people that passed him by breaks my heart a little. But we didn’t pass him by, we brought him home. He’s our sixty pound lap dog. He’s the only dog I’ve ever owned that feels naked without a bandanna tied around his neck, his neckerchiefs. He’s not a perfect fit for us, or us for him. When I have him out he’ll see some svelte, muscled jogger go by us, and he’ll whine after them. He’d have probably done better with a more active owner. Though in the summer time the black fur builds up heat pretty fast. He’s way too smart for us. He needs a job or a serious hobby. But then, we could have done without the male boxer mentality of wanting to boss all the other dogs around. Or his occasionally bad attitude towards strange dogs. We’re all still a work in progress. My goal to get him more obedience work, and a hobby, as well as up my jogging skills. His goal to stop trying to be top dog, which is sort of hard since, well, he is. Though don’t tell our oldendogger, Jimmy, he still thinks he’s in charge.