Lilith Saintcrow

I love Evil Auntie Peril. I just want to sit in slackjawed amazement and listen to her talk. Or even just listen to the clicking of her typing. She’s one of the coolest people I know.

Speaking of cool people, there’s Doug Hoffman, the hobbit ear-nose-and-throat guy who introduced me to Gogol Bordello. (Think punk gypsy klezmer. Yes, I did just say klezmer.) Doug also loves spiders, his job, his son, and his wife. Oh, and random Flickr blogging.

Then there’s Wendy the Super Librarian, who I wrote The Demon-Hunting Librarian for. (Note: TDHL has been submitted to ImaJinn. We’ll see what happens.)

And Miss Snark, who usually manages to make me snort with hysterical gin-soaked laughter.

Speaking of laughter, there’s the Smart Bitches site. I ADORE both Candy and Sarah. I adore them so much I could give the three wise men a run for their money in the adoration event. I adore Candy, in particular, so much that it’s embarrassing. When we get together I just stare at her all moist-eyed. Sometimes I make a little humming noise too. Of course, the fact that she’s as foul-mouthed as I am in relaxed person helps. We get along just fiiiiiiine, thankyouverymuch.

While we’re talking about Smart Bitches and covers, we have to talk about Bam. (Note: Neither the SB site nor Bam’s site might be work safe.) Yes, they use the F-word. Get over it. It doesn’t change the fact that they do the best cover snark I’ve ever seen, as well as some of the most in-depth and stinging reviews. And both the SBs and Bam get high points for covering actual real-life issues–like the Smart Bitches’ immortal discussion of what defines erotica as opposed to pornography. *meditates a moment.* Yeah. Smart women, taking on heavy-duty questions. And then there’s the infestation of man-titty on romance novel covers.

Nicole does some of the best romance reviews and ruminations on the Web. She’s also a Very Nice Lady.

And for those of us who live in Portland/Vancouver, several trips to Urban Honking are necessary. Just trust me on this one.

I’d share the blogs I most often read on the Livejournal front, but most of them are locked up solid and no fun unless you have the Golden Ticket, aka the Friends listing. Still, Anna Louise’s blog should be mentioned, as she is more fun than snakes on a plane–and snakes on a plane are so much fun even Samuel L. Jackson (whose lightsaber has what engraved on it?) had to have a slice. *grin* Seriously. She’s that cool.

I meant to blog about other things, but I got so distracted making my morning f-list rounds that I just decided, what the hell, I might as well share a bit of the linkie love. Enjoy. And if you really want to see something weird, check out Pink Is The New Blog. It’s celebrity blogging taken to the nth degree, and like all caricatures of itself it’s funny and thought-provoking at the same time.

Have a wonderful Tuesday, Readers!

Bwahahaha! The forum is back up. I promise not to try to fix it again.

Note: the forum should be back up soon. Hopefully. I am not pulling my hair out. Yet.

Reading update: I am currently into House of Leaves by Danielewski, courtesy of , who loaned it to me forever ago. (Sorry. My TBR pile is monstrous.) Genre-bending doesn’t even begin to describe it, and I hope to Thursday Revue it. But for now, I’m reading it and listening to Poe’s Haunted, which I’ve heard was recorded by Danielewski’s sister in honor of the book. (There is even a little credit to the album on the back of the book, Poe’s website has changed and can be found here.) Additionally, Randy at the City Dogwash next door to the bookstore is reading this, and I’m looking forward to hearing what he thinks of it.

I’m not sure if I should be reading this book in my current emotional state, but it’s a deliciously spooky experience. Yesterday I watched the first episode of the second season of Carnivale with Jan. We both love the ambiguity of this series and were sad when it was cancelled, though the second season is now out on DVD. Watching something so beautifully made, coming home and reading some of House of Leaves shook loose a barrier inside my head, and I poured out four poems in a row for the planned five AM book.

I’m considering shifting to Lulu.com for the poetry books instead of CafePress. I like the idea of slender hardbacks. Still, they are coming much slower these days. I remember Ghost came out all in one baze of scribbling, and Sleeping With Tigers possessed me for about a month of creating and refining. It was painful only like easing an infected splinter out of your palm is painful. You know the body will heal, and it does hurt, but there is also a tooth-aching feeling of luxurious relief once the foreign matter is removed and the body takes back that little space.

I might have to get someone to answer some email for me. I love hearing from fans, and I do read every bit of fan mail, but it’s getting to the point where I can spend my day answering fan mail or I can spend them writing. It saddens me to think I might need help just answering some of the frequently-asked questions, since they do get asked…frequently. *grin* But it’s taking increasing amounts of my time to deal with the volume of email, and that bleeds off writing time. *sigh* I guess there’s no easy answer.

In happier news, Toby is the latest winner over at Demented Michelle’s giveaway of signed Dead Man Rising ARCs. This week brings us to the last ARC being given away before the official release of the book, and tomorrow midnight is the deadline for the Dead Man Rising Fiction Contest. So many of you have sent such wonderful entries! It’ll be a hard time judging for just two winners! Also, Michelle asks the age-old question–Jace or Japhrimel?

It’s no secret Jace is more of my favorite character than anyone else in the Valentine series. But I’d love to hear what you think.

Happy Monday, Readers!

Yes, the forum’s down for a short while, for a bit of maintenance issues. It should be back up by tonight (hopefully) once the changes replicate. *sigh* I feel very Borg, saying that. I should learn to leave bloody well alone when something works instead of fiddling with it.

But on the up side, I did do a hell of a lot of site maintenance last night that I had almost forgotten about. Changed links to reflect the new site and all that rot. So if you’ve been having bad times accessing the site through the link bar on the bottom, all is fixed.

We love Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver saves me from having to do ALL THE BLOODY HTML BY HAND. After doing four or five sites entirely by hand, I can say that having the “design” function where it takes care of the bloody HTML for you, is a good thing.

And now, because it’s that time…PICSPAM! from my most recent shooting expedition with the Kiwi. (The one where some guy accused us of being industrial espionage agents and burst out laughing when I looked at him cross-eyed with perplexity and said, “But we’re more interested in streetlights!”)

Ah, the life of a nocturnal writer.

(more…)

All right. So a while ago I posted in my weblog and on my Amazon Plog about the ending to WFTD and why I went with the “right” ending instead of the “happy” ending. The overwhelming response was positive, despite some people thinking I was personally attacking them as readers. (Which, as I’ve reread what I wrote, I don’t think is the case at all.)

But something came up on the Amazon Plog, courtesy of reader CShady, that made me stop and think. And I quote:

What confuses me is some of the reviews are giving Working for the Devil low marks because it didn’t end the “romantic/happy” way they intended. That irks me because it’s almost like forcing the writer into the supernatural romance genre. Since it’s a female protagonist with a possible romance, then it should end with the girl getting the girl, and maybe a very hot, steamy romance?

Okay, that’s might be going a little too “out there”, but I have thought about it. (Amazon Plog)

Huh. I hadn’t thought of that, to tell the truth. But if I was a male writer, would there not have been such a brouhaha over the ending and my freely-expressed opinion?

Hmmm. I have to think about this.