Dangerous Games is off to an excellent start, in spite of technical difficulties, and I’m very happy. There will be website updates this weekend from the Very Busy Husband; Dangerous will move from Coming Soon to New Releases on the front page and replace Love and Rockets on the blog page as the newest release.

In addition, he’s looking into alternatives to Word Press since the spam/comments issue seems unfixable. Real users are marked as spam and deleted unseen while spam posts get through and it’s pretty frustrating. Whatever solution we go with won’t appear overnight but research is underway and he’s threatening to write his own blog software if there isn’t anything out of the box that’ll do the job. For those whose comments don’t appear for whatever reason, I apologize. Use the Contact form to send ‘em to me.

I’ve already told a few privately and will now post for the world to see in the blog: there’s a sequel to Dangerous. It’s unfinished and uncontracted but my editor knows about it and is watching for it. I actually have something like 12 books outlined so there is lots more to come!

Time to go chase after the toddler. Happy Saturday, all!

Meg Harris has posted the ultimate compliment about Dangerous Games in her blog ! I’d comment there, but I don’t have a blogger ID. Maybe I should get one. And another reader, Teri K, says it is one she will read over and over, along with lots of other wonderful words.

Very happy to see the early reader feedback on a book that’s so different from anything I’ve ever done before. When I first started writing fiction, I wrote a lot of SF, F, horror, erotica, and romance, but separately. Oh yes, and comedy. Have I mentioned that I love how Ellora’s Cave lets me do it ALL in the same book?

For those who tried to buy Dangerous on Wednesday, EC had some server issues which are now resolved. Anybody who wants to take Drake home with them should be able to do so with no trouble.

The recent RTB column about reviews and readers in search of more information about a book made me ponder a little. At least one person didn’t mind spoilers; she wanted as much information as possible. There was some frustration expressed over only getting to read an excerpt and cover copy and see the cover.

I dunno about this. I can tell a lot about a book by the cover, cover copy, excerpt, and the author and publisher. Publisher? Yes. For instance, I’ve taken chances on lots of Avon’s debut authors and not been sorry. It’s a line that’s built trust with me. I discovered Julia Quinn that way and have continued to buy her books based solely on the author’s name. I like her voice. I know that whatever she writes will be a read I enjoy.

An excerpt gives me a glimpse of the author’s writing style and skill. I don’t really have to read much of a book to know if it’s well-written. In a book store, if I’m borderline on a book I’ll open it up and read the first paragraph. It doesn’t take much more to make my decision. (BTW, this doesn’t always work. I would never, ever, ever have read anything by Roger Zelazny based on first paragraph or first page because he always has awful openings. But once you get past that and into the story, you can’t beat him for a good time.)

My point being that it doesn’t take in-depth reviews with tons of spoilers to convince me I’ll like a given book. In fact, I avoid spoilers at all costs. I don’t want the entire plot given away.

Here in my blog I’m pretty vague about my own books because I don’t want to introduce spoilers. There are some things in Dangerous Games that if the reader knew about in advance might break the tension. I don’t know that for sure, but I suspect it would. I know that as a reader, I would prefer not to have the story given away. I want to see it unfold as I read.

I’m also vague about works in progress, but that’s for a different reason. Or reasons. Like, in the beginning I don’t know everything. Stories always surprise me as they unfold. I don’t want to be misleading when a story turns into something I didn’t expect. Also, I am very protective of works in progress. I don’t like to expose the seedling idea until it’s had a chance to grow into a state that’s able to withstand scrutiny. (Premature praise is just as bad as premature criticism. But aside from that, a developing idea is vulnerable to being twisted into something that may not be its proper form by early input.)

All in all, I like to be warned up front when spoilers are forthcoming, because in that case I would skip the review. Which is why I always say “spoilers” when I do a review containing ‘em. But I do like to know what a reviewer thought. What was well done, what didn’t work? That’s tough to do while staying out of spoiler territory.

So I think in the end reviews, like books, can’t please everybody. You just have to find those sources you trust to provide what you’re looking for.

Today’s the day, Dangerous Games will be on sale shortly if it isn’t up on the front page of Ellora’s Cave already. Science fiction and humor mixed with scorching hot love scenes make for true romance!

For those who missed the eye-popping debut of The Teglia Tattler, you can read it online. All the news that’s fit to print! I’m an equal opportunity tattler, so feel free to send me your industry news. Just be prepared for the results.

Is it a phase of the moon? The cats are all insane, the toddler thinks I’m killing her by enforcing nap time, the phone won’t stop ringing. Too much chaos! Not enough chocolate!

I think I need to persuade the husband to bring home donuts. I was reading Morgan Hawke’s list of needful things for writing, and I’m pretty sure donuts is on mine.

In fact, I’m pretty sure my list goes like this:
Music to suit the story (varies wildly from one to the next). Coffee (decaf after my allotment of caffeine is used up), daily walks, glazed chocolate cake donuts, cats who go outside to rampage instead of doing it over, under and across my desk, reading material to recharge my brain. Maybe pizza belongs on the list, too. I ate a lot of pizza while writing Dangerous and Love Spell.

Yesterday was the last getting ready business for the new arrival. Sure, a term pregnancy is 40 weeks, but guess how many actually are “term”? Just in case our shows up early, we are now ready. Also, I got tired enough walking up one side of Walmart and down the other at this stage. Do I want to do that in another month? Hahahahaha!

(Yes, I know Walmart is evil, but they also have the best prices on baby gear and the Walmart in Sequim is a lot closer than the mall in Silverdale. When you live in a small town, you consider how far you want to drive to go shopping.)

Anyway, I can now put the getting-ready checklist out of my mind and focus on other things between now and the Big Day. Things like Dangerous Games releasing on Wednesay and Ellora’s Cavemen Legendary Tails 2 releasing June 21. And the fact that I haven’t turned in the sequel to Love and Rockets yet. Today I need to get my laptop synched with the desktop so I can work on it when I can’t sit at my desk any longer.

Happy Monday to all! And for those already at the RT convention, have a blast.

No writing today; we had some things to do to get ready for Baby 2.0. And we made a family day of it. My little girl is growing up so fast. Every day she knows new words and can do something for the first time. Today’s word is cookie, a very important addition to any vocabulary. And her new skill is climbing up and sliding down the slide.

Want to see our snapshot in time? Picture me, standing at the bottom of the slide, arms outstretched. “Come on! I’ll catch you!” Picture her dad, up at the top of the slide with her, showing her how to use the handrail that’s just the right height for her and that the stairs are solid to stand on even though she can see the ground through them. She’s scared at first, but she quickly gains confidence. Dad helps her onto the slide the first time. She slides towards me, saying “wheee!” I catch her. She laughs. I help her back to the stairs, and she climbs up all by herself, seats herself on the slide with no help, and slides down again. And again. All three of us grinning in delight because this is a perfect moment in a perfect day.

“This is one of those idyllic moments,” I told Pat. “The kind people imagine when they imagine a family, playing at the park with the sun shining.” The two of us are giddy that the people in the idyllic picture are us, and that the child who terrified us all through a complicated pregnancy is the strong, agile toddler who can get up to the top of the slide all by herself.

We have lots of snapshots from the past few years. We’re always making more. But there have been whole days that went by in a blur, too busy to slow down and look at and memorize a moment. Today we slowed down and looked and twenty years from now we’ll remember the first time Alex learned to slide down a slide.

Life is a miracle. I want to take the time every day to remember that. Because it’s going past whether we slow down and notice or not. If we notice, if we pay very close attention, those snapshots in time stay with us forever.