Random, Weird, and oh-so-me!

Today, we're going to focus on general weirdness.   Because I got nothin' plot wise about my life to tell you.

*  Oh yeah-- Do-Over IS OUT FRIDAY! I almost forgot about this one, because its sort of a sweet little confection of a short story-- but it's FUNNY and it's CUTE, and it's Code Cotton Candy Pink,  and it made people laugh when a lot of people were REALLY STRESSED, so for that alone, I'm going to be proud of it.  Anyway-- Dreamspinner's Daily Dose is still for sale as a whole--but the stories are going to be available individually on Friday.  *dances*  EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!  Seriously-- it's very short, but hopefully it will pack a lot of value, happiness wise.  I know writing it made ME happy, so hopefully that will spread.  Wait-- here's the blurb:

Engall is supposed to hit a party and hook up with his longtime crush, Chandler—at least that’s what Engall’s unlikely guardian angel keeps telling him. But the more Dagiel tries to fix the situation, the weirder it gets. How many do-overs will it take to make Engall’s life right?

Seriously-- very fun, right?

*  The cover for Sidecar is here and it is very much complete.  And you're going to be seeing a lot of it because I adore it.  In fact, it was so beautiful, I asked the artist NOT to cover it in.  Sidecar starts out in the present day and then flashes twenty-five years to the past and works its way up.  Some people hate that form of story telling-- it drove them bugnuts in Chase in Shadow, but then, Chase was a gnat's gnostril from being a full blown mental case, so the narrative couldn't be straight forward.  (Someone once called my narrative "uncomfortably close--almost intrusively close first person. I took that as a compliment, really, cause I admired Crime & Punishment very much.) Sidecar, however, stays firmly rooted in the past, and you see how our couple, Joe and Casey, came to be.  So I like the cover.  It's nostalgic--but not overly sentimental.  And it's beautiful.  And this book... God, I hope people love this book like I did.  Per usual, I just tractored over some time-honored m/m tropes, but I think covering a relationship that spans the beginning of AIDS, the consequences of the drug wars, drug-addicted-children, and the digital revolution is going to break new ground--because that time period was just different, and we thought differently, and we behaved differently.  And I think some of that is important.  Anyway-- I love this book very much a lot.  I love Joe and Casey, and I love what they did with their lives:-)

*  I was at the vet's the other day when I saw a black and white kitty just like Steve.  She was getting shaved all over because she was too lazy to groom herself.  I was torn between laughter and fear:  naked kitties are always good for a laugh, but Steve would kill me in my sleep and then nap on my corpse and wonder why I wasn't waking up to give her pets.

*  Mate went a little nuts and cleaned the living room.  I don't know why he did that, but I am enjoying the space very much.  Soon, though, I will be driven by the need to surround myself with yarn boxes and sort through it, rolling my eyes back in luxury as I wonder why I'm not knitting more.

* I got two contracts-- One for Dex in Blue in October, and one for How to Raise an Honest Rabbit, also in October.  Mary-- because she loves me and LOVED this story with all of her formidable strong heart--did a mock-up of a book cover.  We can't actually USE this book cover, because although the model is the guy who inspired Dex, well, we don't have any legal photos for him.  But the mock-up is just gorgeous and I thought I'd share.


* And I'm going to present to you a couple of short conversations that have made my life hilarious:

This one is between Mary and I on text, as I was doing research for, uhm, never mind:

Me: Technical question: how do you clean a flesh-light?
Mary:  Get a new one.  Geez-- go to Home Depot, it's not rocket science!
Me:  It's a SEX-TOY Mary Sue!
Mary:  Mary Sue?  You WITCH!  Wait... a sex toy?  I thought that was a TYPO!




And this one?  This happened when I brought home groceries:

Me:  OMYGOD WHATDAHELLIZATSMELL?!!!!!
Big T:  I didn't know we had white chocolate strawberries, mom!
Me:  You're very funny-- throw them away... NOW!

And this one?  Squish has been crying over NOTHING lately-- and we've been... well, coping with sarcasm.

Squish:  Mommmmm!  Wah whine blubber picture whimper crushed whine because cry I left it sniffle on the floor, waaaauuugghhhhh!!!!

Me:  Sob and the sky is blue whine and the sun is up whimper and there's birds out there wahhhh and the grass is green sniffle AND THERE'S BUGGGGGGSSSS!!!

Squish:  heh heh heh...

Yup-- that one's gonna learn if it kills us!

And that's all folks!