Jonathon, Author at Laurell K. Hamilton

Riots, Books, and Hope

I live in St. Louis, Missouri, which is supposed to be the buckle of the Bible Belt here in the Mid-West of America. It’s a conservative town, like a lot of the middle of the country, but last night parts of my city burned. We sat up last night listening to police scanners and following the news, and social media as we watched the peaceful protests about the Michael Brown case turn into violent riots. Maybe if there had only been people from Ferguson, MO, or at least the St. Louis area, involved it wouldn’t have gotten violent, but there were too many people from outside our state that wanted the protests to be exactly what they were last night. For days I believed that no matter what the grand jury results, there were too many elements in town that wanted to loot and burn, and they were going to do that regardless. Some because they are truly anarchists and believe that change can only happen through such acts; some because they had decided it was an excuse for them to steal from other people in their community; some because they just enjoy the release of violence; some because they got caught up in the mob mentality and they did things last night that they would never have done on their own. I wonder if that last group is embarrassed today, or even ashamed of things they did when the mob had them in it’s thrall? They anarchists and the violent, well, I’ll quote, “Some men just want to see the world burn.”

As far as I can tell through news sources there was only one riot related death last night. Watching last night it seemed like half the city was going up in looting and flames, and surely there would be causalities. Death had to follow such destruction, so to find that we lost only one person to it all seems miraculous. There were enough injuries that we may still lose more people from complications due to injuries sustained last night, but so far only one more person added to the tragedy. I guess people’s guardian angels were holding hands and trading favors.

Our night was full of the harsh crackle of the police scanner as Spike listened for certain numbers to be called off that would let him know if it was a public disturbance, a shooting, an assault, or a riot. I’ve never really mastered listening to the scanner, I often have trouble understanding what’s being said. We listened to it like background music, then he’d turn it up and we’d fall quiet, and we’d all listen. Was the violence growing? Was it getting closer? How bad was it getting? On a scale of Gandhi to L. A. Riots, where was it?

Jon explained on a map where each new event was, and how close it was to us, and those we loved. Genevieve read off which business was on fire now: Walgreens, Beauty Supply, Little Caesars, McDonalds, Public Storage, AutoZone, and several others. People are more important than things, or places, but every business that was destroyed last night was someone’s job, or jobs. The people that were doing their work, doing their best to be productive and happy, are jobless today just before the holidays. So many people live paycheck to paycheck that every lost job, sometimes just a lost week of pay, can mean they can’t pay their rent, which means they and their family could be homeless by Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice. We needed some hope in St. Louis last night and we found it in the Ferguson Library.

The Library stayed open normal business hours yesterday and is open today so the children have some place to go with the schools closed. Libraries were safe places to me as a child, a place full of my very favorite things in the world – books. The librarian near my elementary school let me leave the children’s section early and read from the adult side of things. She never censored me, or questioned my reading material. I am so grateful to her, because I was able to read without being judged, and that is very freeing for a child. Books were a place to hide, a shelter from harsh realties of all kinds. The books I read during late elementary were part of what helped me become who I am, not just as a writer, but as a person. As long as there are libraries full of books where children can go and lose themselves in stories, there is hope. If you woke feeling helpless and wondering what you could do today, donate. I donated to the Ferguson library, because books and the people who love books are my people. It’s not about the color that happens to be on our skin, if you love stories as much as I do, then we have more in common than anything that divides us.

As we all look for things we can do to help rebuild, or reinforce the good things that remain, find something positive that means as much to you as books do to me and put your money, your time, to that. We donated to the Ferguson Library so that they will be there for everyone who understands that stories are part of what makes us human, makes us people, makes us who we are, and helps us to become more.

New Blog – FaerieCon East 2014, After Action Report

First, thanks for everyone being so welcoming at our very first FaerieCon. You East coast fey are a very friendly lot. The vendors area was full of more wings than I’ve ever seen anywhere. Got some more great jewelry at The Crafty Celt, and two new places: Seth Maranuk Designs, and Remnants of Magic. Blonde Swan was there with the hats of awesome, and next door were the most charming fairy houses. They looked like things I used to make up in my head when I was in fifth grade and what my daughter loved for years, as well. I think I may need a tiny one for my office, and another for our daughter for Solstice.

The wonderful SJ Tucker was there to perform her musical magic along with Faun. SJ and I have known each other for years, and exchanged many hugs, though by the time we hugged on Sunday my voice was gone thanks to con crud that Jon and I both came down with. Got to wave at the members of Faun as we were all trying to leave for the airport.

I was on panels with Bruce Coville, Tamora Pierce, and Catheryne Valente, with surprise guest Melissa Marr who showed up for the Researching Your Fiction panel. Bruce and Tamora could do a delightful panel just the two of them. Their decades of friendship, being neighbors, and writing buddies totally shines through when they are on stage together. Emma Casale was on all our panels with us, at least briefly, as she ran all the writing panel track, the bookstore, and all the signings. She brought me hot tea on Saturday using her grandmother’s tea caddy. I was fearful I would drop the wonderful strawberry covered creamer once I learned it was a family heirloom. Jon made certain that he either carried it back to her between panels or stayed with it for her to return for it. Thanks again Emma, the tea was most welcome.

We had more hot tea with Melissa Marr and our shared agent, Merrilee Heifetz, between panels, and then they went back to World Fantasy Con which was just down the road. I’d actually forgotten that the two cons were the same weekend; it’s been a busy year. Tamora, Catheryne, and I had a panel on, “Why are Strong Women in Fiction Still a Surprise?” We talked to a packed room about a lot of different questions. What divides men and women? Is it society more than actual physical gender? What brings us together? Is feminism a dirty word that divides women, or is it a perfectly okay word and thing to be? Is it true that younger is automatically more attractive? Is it true that getting older means your looks “go”? Tamora and I had to agree to disagree on the last two questions. I don’t believe that younger is better or that older is worse. I believe it is a false idea put out by ads and entire industries wanting us to buy their products to look younger, and thus, better. I find that as long as I hit the gym hard and watch my nutrition, that decade number five is pretty awesome; and I’m finding that holds true for my friends as they hit their thirties, forties, fifties, and sixties. I’m not a gym rat because I’ve always loved to exercise, I’m in the gym because I started asking the people older than me that looked fabulous and had almost no health problems, “What are you doing?” The answer, almost without exception, was serious gym and nutrition. My doctors are telling me that muscle around the joints is how I stay out of knee surgery, so that pretty much capped it as a plan of action for me.

Sorry, I digress, but I learned things on the panel that I didn’t know, like it’s still not considered cool for little boys to read books. Really? I asked my husband and best male friends and they all said that as boys they’d gotten made fun of for reading. I had no idea. The men in the audience confirmed that reading is still not cool for boys and men. That’s sad and ridiculous. Tamora said that if more fathers would read to their children, especially little boys, that it would help close this reading gap between girls and boys. Her point was very sound that most boys want to be like their dads, so if they read and enjoy reading with their sons than they can go into the world armed with stories and knowing that reading is cool, because their dads read, too. Since I grew up without a father, I had no idea there was a gender gap in reading. I’ve only dated men who read, usually men who read a lot, so I had no idea there was a double standard for reading. If you enjoy reading, you should read. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about loving books. Stories are part of what makes us human, as far as we know it’s one of the only things that we do that the other living beings on this planet don’t; although since they’ve proven that animals will lie, maybe they do tell each other stories? Now wouldn’t that be cool, to hear the stories that whales tell each other and be able to understand them?

It was a very thought provoking panel for all of us, I think. When I say, us, I mean men and women, everyone in the room. I’ve decided that maybe I’m a feminist and a masculinist. I’d like everyone to be able to be who and what they are with no preconceived social baggage making us afraid to enjoy, love, hope, do, and be ourselves whatever that means for each of us. Remember that anyone that makes fun of you for doing something you love isn’t really your friend anyway, so what does it matter if they don’t like you? They don’t like you anyway, so screw it, screw them, or rather abstinance them, because you certainly don’t want to sleep with anyone that makes you feel bad about yourself or who limits the things that bring you joy.

Thanks to Robert for all the trips to the airport and the wonderful restaurant recommendation. Thanks to Tiger Torre, her wolf, and friends who redeemed Baltimore sushi by taking us to a fabulous place that washed away the memory of the awful sushi we had delivered the night Jon was too sick to go out and have fun. We all stayed in and took care of him, because that’s what friends and spouses do. You do not go out to concerts, or parties, or whatever, and leave your sick sweetie, or good friend, alone. We actually watched the new Hercules with Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson in the room the night of not good sushi. We all liked it, and I liked it enough I want to see it again. You do need to not expect the Greek mythology and history to be exact, but not as much was changed as in a lot of versions. *cough Disney cough* I actually liked some of the changes and how they explained the labors of Hercules in a fresh way. There were also some of the best fight training scenes for actual shield wall and formation practice I’ve seen in a movie in a very long time, maybe ever. There was even a double mystery plot that made total sense at the reveal, and I can name a lot of suspense movies where that is so not true.

Last and most importantly, thanks to all the fans that came to FaerieCon to see me. You were some of the nicest people and very understanding as I used a microphone on panels to try and not lose the rest of my voice. To the fans that said they’d come here just to see me, I’m still honored, but I hope you got to enjoy more of the con and see some of the other great guests.

JASON Virtual Signing!

While Laurell doesn’t have any bookstore events planned for the release of JASON, she is signing copies of the book in advance of the release date and the books will be shipped to arrive by the release date, December 2, 2014.

Please note that supplies are limited—only 500 signed copies are available. Please place your order by November 19th. (Each reader can order up to three books.)

Please be aware that signed, personalized copies are available to U.S. residents ONLY. Unfortunately the bookstore is not able to accommodate international orders.

All you have to do is buy a book through the Left Bank Books website using this link:
Preorder a personalized copy of JASON.

Please see below for more details before placing your order.

Virtual Signing FAQ

What is a Virtual Signing?

A virtual signing is a way to get a personalized signed copy of a book when you are unable to attend an in-store book signing. You will order the book through the Left Bank Books website, indicate who you would like the book signed to, and the store will get it signed and shipped out to you by the book’s release day.

What does it mean ‘supplies are limited’?

It means there are a finite amount of signed books available for sale. Once all of the books we have been allotted have been sold, then this portion of the virtual signing is over and you will not be able to order a personalized copy of this book.

Will I get my copy of JASON the same day it is released?

Your book will be shipped to you to arrive by the release date, December 2, 2014.

Will Laurell write a personalized message besides just my name (or a name I designate)?

Laurell will write your name or whoever you want the book inscribed to and her signature. You may also request a special message, such as “Happy Birthday”, “Merry Christmas”, etc.

After you place your book order, there is a comments box on the payment page. Please indicate in that comments box how you would like your book inscribed. This is where you will put the name you would like Laurell to sign the book to. Example: “Please sign to Martha” or just “Martha”. You may also request, “Please sign ‘Happy Birthday, Sarah!’” If you do not want your book personalized, please indicate that you would like an autograph only. If you make no indication either way, Laurell will sign your book but there will be no personalization.

**Please be aware that offensive or inappropriate requests will not be accepted**

May I order more than one book and have each signed to a different person?

Yes!

I forgot to write anything in the comments box…what happens now?

Please contact Left Bank Books at 314-367-6731 or info@left-bank.com and they will be able to add it to your order. If you don’t contact Left Bank Books then your book will be signed by Laurell, but it will have no name inscribed.

Do you have an order or purchasing question that isn’t answered here?

Please contact Left Bank Books at 314-367-6731 or info@left-bank.com.

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New Blog – Know What You’re Voting For, Read the Fine Print

First, let me urge all of you to vote tomorrow. Second, be sure what you’re actually voting for and on. There are going to be a lot of amendments tomorrow on ballots across the country, and the short description allowed on most of those ballots is a very short description of often extremely complex language. I’ll give one example from Colorado.

Amendment 67 came out of true tragedy and my heart goes out to Heather Surovik, who lost her baby boy, Brady, who at eight months could have survived outside the womb if a driver had not taken the baby’s chance at life, but the law didn’t allow for an unborn child to be a person, so the driver that hit Ms. Surovik and her baby couldn’t be charged with involuntary manslaughter, or anything else pertaining to the baby. Amendment 67 was supposed to make certain that this oversight didn’t happen again, but when you read 67 all the way through it doesn’t actually do that for certain and potentially it does a great deal more than that.

Some people who have already voted early on 67 thought that it banned abortion in Colorado, but it actually doesn’t. In fact, the language of it protects that and other voluntary medical procedures that the woman chooses to have. The Amendment tries to redefine personhood, but unfortunately the language is so vague that doesn’t really define anything. What it does do is potentially put into law some very questionable language.

If Amendment 67 passes then potentially any miscarriage would have to be investigated as a suspicious death, because the unborn fetus would be considered a person. If we make every fetus a person under the law, but abortion is still a legal choice, then that leaves other legal questions unanswered, and even more confused. Amendment 67 opens up law that could be used to outlaw some kinds of birth control, or not. I’ll repeat the language is so vague that it leaves too much open to interpretation. Read it for yourself below and make your own decision, but I’ve had friends on both sides of the abortion issue agree that this amendment does nothing that either side wants to see enacted in law, but the short version of it on the early ballot makes it sound like a good idea, so please read Amendment 67 all the way through before you go to vote in Colorado, and read all the amendments on all the ballots you will be voting on across the country tomorrow. Don’t be fooled by the short version, or anyone else’s opinion, read the fine print for yourself and decide.

Here’s the link to the full language of Colorado’s Amendment 67.

New Blog – Happily Ever After is the Beginning

Twenty, our daughter Trinity is twenty today. There’s something about this birthday that seems momentous to both her and me. She’s no longer a teenager. Yes, she’s been a legal adult for two years, but somehow neither she, nor I, thought childhood had been completely left behind, but twenty is the end of the teens and the beginning of a decade that is absolutely, positively an adult number. But that’s not all of it, Trinity also attended her cousin, Kay’s, wedding earlier this month. Kay is already a mother of a baby girl of her own, and only a few weeks older than Trinity. I remember when I and both of my sisters-in-law were pregnant at the same time. All the girls were born within weeks of each other. Now one is a mother and married, another has decided on her career and is off pursuing that, and Trinity is in college; Trinity also caught the bouquet at Kay’s wedding.

People told Trinity that she would be next, and she loved that so romantic idea. She’s always been of a more romantic turn of mind than me. I double checked that she wasn’t dating anyone seriously, so a wedding was unlikely anytime soon. I remained calm, though what I wanted to say, was over my dead body would she be getting married anytime soon. Then, my daughter, who I thought of as fairly logical, proactive, and level-headed in most situations, just beginning to explore all the possibilities of her life, talked about her wedding day. She’s talked about her wedding day after every wedding she’s seen since she was about six. I guess it’s normal for most little girls, but when she was six I didn’t worry about it. Now she’s twenty and suddenly it’s not cute anymore, its a little frightening to me. I’m the mom, I’m supposed to worry.

I had grown up never planning to marry, so I had never dreamed of my wedding day. I was too busy writing my stories and collecting my first rejection slips, because I was going to be a writer. I didn’t have time to plan weddings, or moon over boys. Trinity had never done much mooning either, so I never worried about her falling into the trap that marriage and romance are the biggest things in a woman’s life. I’d shown her that men and weddings were not the be all, end all, for her life. She understands that, but suddenly the whole wedding thing seemed a little too real for me, and for the first time I thought of how differently she had seen marriage than I did growing up.

I had fallen in love for the first time in college and married at twenty-one to her father. It had certainly surprised the hell out of me. I’d planned on being a happy writer without any of those complications from “relationships.” They just distracted an artist from their goals. I actually didn’t let marriage distract me from my goals and was a successful novelist by the time we divorced sixteen years later. I vowed never to marry again, and then promptly fell in love with Jonathon. We are now blissfully happy at thirteen years and counting. Was it the fact that I had married twice and was actually happy that had made Trinity feel more positive towards marriage and romance? Trinity had been one of the flower girls at our wedding, so this more romantic attitude might be my fault. Was it letting the flower girls ride in the horse-drawn carriage with us? Don’t blame fairytales, because I was raised on those, too, and the romantic bug didn’t get me. But then, I had only my mother’s unhappiness in the brief marriage to my father, and was raised on tales of my grandfather beating my grandmother, who she had divorced after twenty years. Marriage didn’t seem that great to me, and men seemed like extras I didn’t need in my life. My grandmother and I got along fine without one. I did the heavy lifting around the house, what the heck were men needed for? Then I fell in love, and married, twice, and Trinity grew up seeing that the right man with the right woman could be pretty awesome, so in a way it was totally my fault. My happiness had actually fed into the social message that romance and marriage are important; damn it.

I took a few days to think about why I’d had such an issue with her innocent, and perfectly normal, remarks about weddings. I finally realized what I wanted to say not just to Trinity, but to all the young women everywhere.

I hope my daughter’s wedding day isn’t the biggest and most important day of her life. I hope that she has so many days that make that one day, pale in comparison. I hope she finds someone so wonderful that their days together will be full of such happiness that the wedding is what it’s supposed to be, the beginning of an amazing adventure and a real life love story that will rise in action from that day forward. I hope for her a person at her side that brings joy to her life, everyday. I know they will fight, I know she’s not perfect, nor will her spouse be perfect. The trick is to get enough good stuff from the relationship to offset the irritating stuff, because that’s all it should be, just irritating stuff. If it’s truly bad stuff; addiction, abuse, I trust my beautiful, strong daughter to understand that you can’t love them enough to change certain things and not to ever marry someone who is cruel when they say they love you. True love is not cruel, or controlling in a way that hurts you.

When you fight, and you will fight, remember that list of things you know would hurt them the most, don’t say them. Don’t say the unforgivable list, because once uttered it can’t be taken back, and though you say, I forgive you, you never forget and it damages your pair bond.

I hope my daughter understands that it is the every day joys that make life worth living, not the big moments. The big stuff fades and cannot last, but the joy of waking up beside someone you love and renewing that love every day in a dozen small gestures that say, better than any fancy dress, or church full of flowers, I love you.

I hope she understands what that means, love, to her may not be the same as her spouse, and that part of the challenge is to find out what their language of love is both individually and together. To some men, playing their favorite video game with them means you love them enough to try. To others dressing in their favorite outfit is love. To some women helping with housework means love, and to others sexy naked time is love. For Trinity, I hope she finds another video game and anime Geek and that she never falls in love with someone that rolls their eyes and belittles what she finds such fierce joy in, and the same for her future spouse. Let them honor what each finds joy in, and understand that it doesn’t always have to make sense to you, you just have to understand that the love of your life adores fall mornings, or bird watching, or sleeping in late, hitting the gym, scuba diving, or watching cheesy horror movies. Whatever fills their face with light and joy, honor that, and honor the things that fill your own heart with the same light. Do not give up your hobbies, the pieces of yourself that bring you happiness, because your spouse fell in love with the girl, or boy, that thought Pokemon was cool; don’t lose that. Don’t let the idea of love and being a grownup steal yourself away. Love, true love, honors who you really are and never makes fun of it. Honor each other, care for each other, be kind to each other, have fun together, and above all know that there will be moments when you fall out of love, or are so irritated by that small thing they always do that you just want to scream. Remember in those moments how much you love that thing they do that always makes you smile. Remember how they held you when you were sad, or how they cry at Christmas commercials, or how hard they work at their dreams, and how they help you work at yours.

I hope that my daughter’s wedding, when it comes, if it comes, because if she never marries that’s okay with me, as long as she’s happy, but if she chooses to marry, I hope she looks back and thinks it was a beautiful beginning to an even more beautiful life in partnership with someone she loves, and who loves her as much as I do. It’s not about a certain ceremony, or a certain goal, or milestone, those will come and go, it’s about the day in, day out, are you there for me – do you have each other’s backs? That’s what it’s about, I hope my daughter and all the young women out there understand that is more important than a thousand designer dresses, or the perfect flowers, or how many bridesmaids you have – your wedding day will pass, but if you all work at it, and are lucky, then it just gets better from there.

New Blog – The Four of Us

We’re getting ready for Halloween and have just finished carving pumpkins. Our foursome is complete and under one roof, Genevieve and Spike have moved in with us! We are forming a household together. One of the interesting things that’s been happening is that we aren’t getting to sleep until very late. Yes, sometimes it’s for fun and nefarious reasons, but more often it’s just that the conversation that started at dinner keeps going until late. We talk like people who don’t see each other often and have to catch up, but we’re doing it night after night. This is after celebrating four years of dating long distance.

When we first started talking seriously about moving in together there was an afternoon down at Spike and Genevieve’s house where we’d talked about everything from biology – birds, migrating geese, Monarch butterflies, dragons; video games – Shadows of Mordor, Assassins Creed, Dragon Age, to Star Wars. We’d talked for at least two hours and the far ranging conversation showed no signs of slowing down. The conversation had gotten quite silly with Jon and Spike taking turns doing lines from one of their shared geeky interests and making both Genevieve and me laugh.

Spike said, “This, if we couldn’t do this together I wouldn’t have agreed to trying to move in.”

“Me, either,” I said, “if we couldn’t do this it wouldn’t work.”

All four of us have what they used to call lively minds, which means we’re quick mentally, verbally, and all of us can hold our own in topics from heavy to light. You never know if we’ll be talking philosophy, religion, science, guns, weaponry in general, childhood memories, favorite movies, games, politics, places we want to visit together, places we’ve been, and just sharing the chemistry of four people who have found that they never bore each other.

I can show in my novels the sex and kink, the romance, the conversations that are pertinent to the character development, or plot of a given book, but I can’t show you the conversations that are utterly necessary to being a great “couple” because they would have nothing, or very little, to do with any plot. In real life it’s both more silly and more serious than I ever get to show on screen. All serious conversations in the writing must serve the larger purpose of the novel it’s in, but in reality there is no plot, no overarching plan for the “season”, or the series. You spend a lot of time winging it in real life, but in a mystery series you really can’t do that. I love any time I’ve been able to show the silliness that is absolutely necessary for me to be in a happy coupleness. I’m never going to be able to discuss politics, or philosophy on stage unless it relates directly to the book I’m writing. I slip in a few geeky happy moments, but mostly it’s all editing the fiction down to serve the purpose of the plot. Real life doesn’t work that way, it is far messier, surprising, even shocking, the turns that your world can take when you say, yes, to the adventure before you.

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan said, “To live would be an awfully big adventure.”

It really can be if you’re willing to believe in the magic of the people around you, and understand that it’s not all romance and hot sex, that sometimes you have to plan menus and decide who does the dishes, but if you do it right, even that is part of the adventure. After all, if you don’t have dinner you never get to desert. Yeah, *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* Laughs!

New Blog – See you at FairieCon East!

So many of you ask me to come visit your part of the world, that I’m going to try and do more conventions and make more appearances. I will be a guest at FairieCon East November 7 – 9, 2014 in Hunt Valley, Maryland. I will be doing at least a signing a day, and panels! They’re opening up the big room for my spotlight panel which is a one on one conversation rather than a straight interview. I’m not exactly sure what that means either, but we’ll find out together.

The more of you that show up for my events at FairieCon East, the more likely I am to do more conventions and events on the east coast. I’m responding to two things; first that FairieCon has been asking me to be a guest for a few years now, and second, that so many east coast fans have consistently requested that I come back to their neck of the woods. So here’s your chance to see me in person, have me sign something for you, and give me more incentives to travel and meet all of you.

New Blog – Our Anniversary, our dogs, and Enjoyment

“What are we going to do tonight, Brain?”
“What we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!”

People keep asking, “What are you doing for your anniversary?”
“What we do every night. Love and enjoy time with each other!”

We are spending part of the night watching Gotham & Sleepy Hollow so the dogs can enjoy couch time with us, after all Sasquatch is thirteen this year, exactly as long as we’ve been married, so every year he gets to celebrate with us now is a bonus. We got him as a puppy that first year, so it seems fitting that our olden dogger gets some cuddle time along with Keiko and Mordor, who at six and two are newcomers to our pack.

Time to take the dogs out one more time, and then Jon and I get to go celebrate the rest of our anniversary just the two of us.

New Blog – When I grow up I want . . .

From the time I was twelve-years-old I never planned to marry. I would live on an island with lots of animals and write my stories, because writers could live anywhere; right? At twenty-one I left my grandmother’s house to marry my first husband. I never owned my own apartment, never lived alone, and then suddenly I was part of a couple. It had been just my grandmother and me, and now it was just my husband and me. It seemed not that different, and yet entirely different. I think if I’d come from a bigger family that I might have had more trouble transitioning to this two person system, this couple, but two seemed familiar, seemed right. By the time we celebrated our first anniversary we had one Yellow-naped Amazon parrot, a hand fed luntino Cockatiel, and a canary that would come out of its cage and play on the parrot playground. I was writing and trying to sell my stories when I wasn’t working in corporate America. We’d moved to California, so I was at least by the ocean, I was part way to my island.

Fifteen years later we were living in St. Louis, Missouri, the middle of the country, and I’d almost forgotten that island dream. I was a best-selling novelist and I was separating from my soon-to-be ex-husband. I got my first apartment that was just mine. I was able to pick out a kitchen table and chairs without consulting anyone’s opinion but my own. It was GREAT! I reveled in the freedom of just me. Well, not just me, because one room of the apartment was for our daughter, Trinity. I let her pick the color and the decor. She was five-years-old and wanted a totally pink room. At her age, so had I, and she wanted a pink canopy bed, and so had I, so who was I to argue with her? Besides, I’d already told her she could pick everything, this would be a promise that I would never make to a child this young again. The pink paint was called Candy Pink, or something equally innocuous, but we, the painters, the people who delivered the furniture, all of us, dubbed the color Eye-Bleed Pink, because it was so bright it made us nauseous to be in the room too long. One of the men who delivered her pink and white canopy bed declared the color made him dizzy. But Trinity loved her room! The rest of the apartment was mine to decorate as I saw fit, and I loved being on my own. I was never going to marry again, it hadn’t worked for me, monogamy with the wrong person is a trap I never wanted to fall into again. My ex-husband got to keep our remaining parrot and I got the two dogs; we shared Trinity.

Six months later I would be engaged to a friend I’d known for eight years, Jonathon, and we’d be planning our wedding. My first husband swept me off my feet in a gentle, geeky kind of way. Jonathon and I snuck up on each other, just friends until the moment we realized we weren’t. I’d done the big wedding once, but he hadn’t, and what my sweetie wanted, I wanted to give him, so we did it up big. Trinity and her best friend were our flower girls and they got to ride in the horse drawn carriage at the end after we were pronounced husband and wife, because if you have a little girl and you have a horse drawn carriage they get to ride in it too, that’s just a rule somewhere, or should be.

Jonathon and I celebrate our thirteenth anniversary next Monday. We are happier now, more in love now, than when we started. Having been through a marriage where ten years in, that was not the case, I value this love and our life, all the more. Trinity is happy, healthy, and off to college. We have three dogs and about twenty koi in the pond. We still live in the middle of the country, so no closer to that island I wanted at age twelve, but I am now a #1 New York Times Bestselling novelist (my agent always insists I write it that way *waves at agent*) so part of my childhood dream is on track.

Four years ago, Jonathon and I were in love with another man. He was our third, and I’d hoped he might be a live-in third someday, but the situation was too complicated. No one’s fault, just not enough honest communication and grownup straight forwardness, I think. But our ex-third introduced us to a woman and her partner. The woman was Genevieve, and her partner doesn’t matter much to this story, because two years later he would be an ex for both of us. But Genevieve would be my first girlfriend ever, and she dated both Jonathon and me. Even more than our ex-third she loved us both, equally, and I hadn’t realized how much I, we, needed that until we had it. She was states away, and we settled into a long distance relationship, LDR, most of our polyamorous relationships have been LDR. She met another man. We knew all about Spike from the beginning, because poly has only one hard rule: that everyone is honest. Spike would talk to us for hours as he planned her engagement ring. Who knew her better than we did, after all we’d been dating her a year longer than he had. We were part of the party where he planned to surprise her with the proposal. I got to help distract Genevieve so that when I turned her around he was just down on one knee with the ring held up to her. It was wonderful and we’d worked as unit to pull it off.

Next week, just after Jon and I celebrate thirteen years of wedded bliss, Genevieve and Spike are moving in with us. They are bringing their two dogs, and yes we have introduced our packs with the help of a local “Dog Whisperer”. Genevieve will also be bringing her fifty-five gallon aquarium of fish. She and I have already talked about a possible lizard, and more fish. Both Spike and I are terribly allergic to cats, and that is a blow to her, but she loves us both, even enough to risk never owning a cat again. I am getting shots, and hope to find a way, someday, for her to have her beloved felines again. She has also asked about parrots, but I am allergic to feathers, which was one reason I had to give up the parrot to my ex-husband. I miss having birds, very much, and hope to find one type I am not allergic to. I’m the writer I dreamed about being, and we will soon have as many dogs as I envisioned as a child, and I hope, nearly pray, that we may add more animals as time goes on, now all we need is that island. Some place tropical, Genevieve?

New Blog – We have a Title! And Two Winners!

And we have a winner!

Okay, technically we have two winners, which is even better!

When my editor, Susan, came up with the idea to ask you, the fans, to help give a title to the next hardback Anita Blake novel, I thought, “Okay, that’ll be fun.” I had no idea how enthusiastic your help would be. *laughs* Eight thousand-two-hundred and fifty-four; wait, lets see that in numeral form: 8,254. Six hundred pages, yes you read that right, 600 pages of entries were received. There was a glitch in the spacing and for a bit it was 1,200 pages; wow! Ah, gremlins. Those numbers were just between 2:40pm on Monday, September 8th and 8am on Friday, September 12th, some of you kept posting ideas after that, but in fairness to those that made the deadline, we considered only those that made the time frame as stated. That amazing number doesn’t count how many people gave multiple ideas per each entry. Media Minion Jess estimates it would be well over nine thousand if every idea was counted separately. Thank you to everyone who participated, you are all awesome! I mean that, I am continually floored about how much you love my writing, my characters, and my worlds; thank you.

I personally went through the lists after Jess weeded out repetitions, or things that were inappropriate (you know who you are). She left some in that were just fun, but couldn’t work as the book title. Some of those made me laugh out loud, for real, and some of you wrote essays about why your entry should win, or just your reasoning behind your choice. There were a lot of repeated ideas and in that case the person who got the title in earliest got to be the one that was considered. Some title ideas just didn’t work for this Anita Blake novel, but will go in a file for possible later use. If I use your idea later, I’ll mention it. Some titles will work better for short stories than novels, you can be longer, or more esoteric, when it’s not smacked across the front of the cover. Who knows maybe one of the saved more short story friendly titles will inspire a brand new story, again, if that happens I’ll let you know who got to play muse for me. 🙂

Without further ado, here are the winners:

Next Anita Blake hardback novel – Dead Ice.

Thanks to Peter Orca for that one.

Jewelry store creating Anita and Jean-Claude’s rings: Étoile du Soir, which is French for Evening Star, or Star of Evening.

Thanks to Isis Maria Hess for the name.

Étoile du Berger is also listed as a synonym, but it translates to guiding star, so I stuck with the original entry of Étoile du Soir. Anyone who is a native French speaker, particularly France as opposed to Canada, if you find anything incorrect in the above, please say something soon. There is still time to make changes to the actual manuscript, but the title is set today; why?

The first two chapters and a partial chapter three of Dead Ice will be in the back of Jason coming December 2, 2014. Jason went to the printers today, and the Dead Ice excerpt is in the back of it. You get a brand new adventure featuring Jason, with more on stage time for Jade than ever before, in time for the holidays, plus the beginning of the next adventure; how cool is that?

Both our winners will get a signed edition of Dead Ice as soon as I have them in my hot little hands. They will also be listed in the acknowledgements of the book. Thanks again to everyone who participated, you guys rock!