Journalist Ethan Nahte wrote an awesome article for the Dallas Examiner about my upcoming signing this weekend, July 4, Saturday, 12 pm to 6 pm at Eerie Books & Collectibles in downtown Wylie, Texas.

Thank you Ethan!

I hope to see my faithful minions and potential new minions this weekend...there is always room on the Ghoul Squad for new recruits!

Turned in the last story for SHADES OF BLOOD AND SHADOW, horror collection, coming Spring 2009 from Dark Regions Press.

Should have a url for purchase of SYMPHONY FOR THE FORGOTTEN, horror collection, coming from Daverana Enterprises any moment now! Priced at $6 and some change this will be a great stocking stuffer!! Contains NEW stories and a handful of reprints that are among my favorites.

Working on the super secret ALL NEW horror collection due out apprx Sept 2009....spent all weekend and up til last night  hammering out the table of contents, the intro, and most of the 24 story ideas. Back at work on that tonight.

Super secret novel with awesome prominent horror author also super secret, has been put on hold until the super secret collection is finished...

Are y'all feeling like you need to save your box tops and send off for the super secret decoder ring yet? lol...

Teh Hotness aka Christopher Fulbright has the fantasy/s&s novel we're working on in his pile, then it'll be back to me, hopefully after the holidays, and it will have to wait for the super secret collection to be wrapped up too.

On a non-writing note:

All of our Holiday shopping is finished, finito, and wrapped and under the tree. All of the decorations are up and cards sent. The kids vacations schedule has been established...and we have a turkey [on sale for 30 cents a lb] in the fridge for Christmas...

Yeah, it's a busy life...but you gotta love it!

*Still waiting on word of linkage for purchasing of Symphony for the Forgotten...the book's a bit delayed, but hold tight, it's coming!!!

*Tomorrow we're putting the tree up, apple cider, Christmas tunes on, the whole 9 yds...yay! I'm also baking pies!

*It'll just be me and Chris for Thanksgiving. Kids are going to their Grandma's, all our guests were ill or had prior engagements. It'll be a quiet holiday. We rented movies, and got a smaller turkey.

*Still can't tell the super secret awesome book news...but here's a hint: It involves 4 books from 1 publisher.

*Gotta start addressing Holiday cards...got the family newsletters printed off, just waiting on the family photo copies for insertion. Unless snapfish hurries up, I might miss my self-imposed annual card mailing date of December 1.

*Tomatoes are just about ready to turn red on the vines...warm snap....Hold out! No jack frost yet! Composting has been working well. I can already tell a difference in the soil quality. Plan to continue throughout the winter and into the Spring when I'll be planting. We never got the temporary greenhouse up. lol. Sigh.

*Have to wrap gifts tomorrow so can put them under the tree. Yay!

*Writing night...my magic time machine is in 1849...Hangtown, California! Yeehaw!

*That's the scoop. Chili is nearly done cookin' and table is set. Need to go rustle up the munchkins and have them wash up. My Hotness called and is on his way home! Yay!

*5 days of NO SCHOOL which means NO DRIVING!!! I'm as happy as a bug in a rug!

Kiddo#2 requires her black socks. She used to have 3 pairs because no matter how many pairs of socks I buy, they all get devoured by the black hole that is her bedroom at her dad's house. We now have 1, count it, 1 black sock...I have no friggin' idea where the mate is...I'm hoping it beams itself into the colour clothes that are in the dryer right now...otherwise, she'll have to make due with navy blue. She had brown, the brown ones went astray too. The ensemble by the way is leopard print.

I made Apple Pear Spice muffins. Had some pears going squishy. I will share my Bulk Muffin Mix as soon as time allows. It's great. You make a huge batch of the mix, then later you just add fruit, oil/butter, and liquid, plus 2 eggs....just like the powdered mixes you pay $2+ bucks for to make 8 lousy muffins the size of cherry tomatoes....only these cook up huge and fluffy like those muffins you pay $2+ for at Starbucks, the bakery, etc...imagine that! Making 12+ muffins for about 50 cents! And it only takes 20 minutes tops...you can throw them in the oven in the morning and have hot, fresh, homemade muffins...you'll be Super Mom!  Recipe hopefully tomorrow.

Good book news continues. Will spill the beans as soon as I get the green light.

Helping Kiddo#2 make a tepee [done now] and an Indian doll [happened to have a 1:12 scale wire bodied porcelain doll from my dollhouse era in my sewing box. We're hand beading a leather dress [cut from vintage gloves that I keep to make Bleuette shoes]. It looks cute. Tomorrow we're adding braids and making a cradleboard and wood bead for a head baby. Oh, and I need to print out a tag with her name on it. The tepee looks very good. She painted Indian symbols on the brown fabric from her Indian symbol handout from school. We covered the cardboard base with green burlap, and cut 2 squares of mink for furs inside [also from the Bleuette sewing stash]. I'm teaching her to weave a little blanket tomorrow that we'll add to the pile of furs on the floor. We made little "baskets" out of corregated yellow cardboard and put in little wads of colored yarn, leather scraps, and one "basket" has strings of beads. It's cute.

Okay...that's all for now. I must board my time machine and go spend some time in the Empire of the Inca, 1571....tomorrow night I'm off to a gold mine in Colorado, some time in the mid-1800s...

Happy Trails!

We went to the Star Wars Expo yesterday  where I scored some awesome Barbies for myself and the girl child. Christopher has been sick all weekend, so we didn't stay long, but caught up with friend Jim Jacob [the other half of Charlee Jacob]. We came home and I made some chicken vegetable soup, and we watched Nobody Loves Alice --which was absolutely awesome!

Then we watched The Orphanage...another awesome movie[that we are still discussing today...a couple plot holes that have nagged at us, but there were no deleted scenes on the DVD so we don't know if the holes ended up on the cutting room floor or if they were inherent to the script], and then made a late night run to the store to get cold medicine.

Today we slept in. Poor Chris is reading on the couch in between bouts of coughing. I made a pear & apple pie, churned the new scraps into the compost in the garden, and tidied up.

My hip has been killing me, as well as lower back, so not staying on "the puter" long. Have some sewing to do. Tomorrow is grocery store and kid school activity day, plus Chris is going to doctor....so full day.

2 tomatoes look like they're going red soon...there are about 20 others in various stages of green. Yay! Didn't have to cover the garden last night as it didn't get too cold, and it's 86 out there today [and sunny]...I've been keeping tabs on the lows for each night and covering the tomatoes,peppers, and cucumbers when it gets too cold. The carrots are out now, so been composting in that spot too.

New plan is to build a compost box as well as the temporary greenhouse. We shall see if that happens!

The last Baby Satyr is closing on ebay today...I probably won't make any more for at least a year. It was a summer whim sort of thing. They were fun to make, and it was fun being artistic in a different way, but man, were they time consuming! I have one more alien baby too, but I need to take new photos as this one has different hands than the others did.

Finally dressed Scootles [aka Snoodles] and she is now in Christopher's Man Room closet. I'm still trying to find shoes that fit her...it's turned into a bit of a Cinderella-Glass-Slipper game as her foot is oddly shaped. It would really be cool to find some original shoes on ebay, but so far no such luck. In the meantime, the girl child's Chore Prize Box is filling up with assorted doll shoes in the wrong size for Scootles, lol. [Chore Prize Box definition: In lieu of money, that my kiddos get plenty of from various relatives and their dad, I have a box for each child containing dollar store items, comic booksmagazines/books of interests to them we get at half price and conventions, etc, doll items, barbie items, handmade doll dresses that don't turn out "perfect enough for ebay", etc etc...each chore = 1 prize box prize. I have a separate stash of "nicer" items that I pick up at after christmas/holiday sales, online clearance sales, garage sales, consignment/thrift/resell shops, conventions, etc that are worth 5 chores. They have the choice to be instantly paid for their chore, or save up 5 chores. So far, I've found this box system works better than the money system...though they DO have the option of trading a "pick" from the box for a Quarter, or 4 chores = $1....they rarely take that option].

Okay...I've got 4 Roses in December Round Robin [from my BleuDoor Bleuette group] ensembles, plus 1 for me and 1 to sell to work on so I better go sew...nearly finished, but the hand-beading on the dresses takes a little more time.

And, the pie is cooling...Chris is trying to stay awake for pie!

Just a reminder: Christopher and I [Angeline Hawkes] will be at Texas A&M University -Commerce this Saturday, November 1, from 11 am til about 2 ish signing books on the West Lawn with the Book Signing and Art Show as part of the annual Homecoming Events. We'd love to see you there!

I'll be signing books at the grand opening of Eerie Books in Wylie, Texas [205 N. Ballard Street ]  this Saturday, October 18th, from 2 -4 pm. Eerie Books has the distinction of being the only ALL HORROR bookstore in Texas. I will have proofs of my new collection SYMPHONY FOR THE FORGOTTEN which is due out SOON.

The Wylie square has several wonderful cafes and restaurants, as well as an awesome coffee house/antique store...so come on out for lunch and then pop by the bookstore and say hello!

Eerie Books celebrates its grand opening on Saturday, October 18, 2008 by giving away free horror movies and free horror books to the first 100 visitors to the store that day. In addition to horror books, Eerie Books also carries horror movies on DVD (both new and used) and other horror collectibles, like comic books, games, and artwork.

Another great FenCon has come and gone!

Friday started out slow, as we weren't  able to make it in time for our 5 pm or 6 pm panels, but our later panels weren't in jeopardy at all. My 9 pm panel was on Sex in Sci Fi and Fantasy: How much is too much? The panel consisted of myself, Joe McDermott, Renee [whose last name I'm sorry to admit that I've forgotten and I can't seem to find her bio on the list on the FenCon website], and Bev Hale...but Bev wasn't able to come, so when Jay Lake snuck in and sat on the back row, we quickly roped him into coming up and joining the panel. There was much humor.

We then crashed the ApolloCon party, and the Worldcon in Seattle bid party...and one other one I think. Much mingling all around.

Saturday we hit the road running. Grabbed some donuts and coffee before getting to the convention. We set up our table in Authors Row and we were off to various panels. At noon my panel was: Whose Pantheon is it anyway? Always lovely to be on panels with dear friends C. Dean Andersson and Nina Romberg [aka Jane Archer], also on the panel were Chris Donohue and Mel White. This panel was very well attended and we discussed Norse, Roman, Greek, Celtic, Babylonian, Judiasm, and Christian gods and goddesses. The discussion was very lively and I thought very interesting.

Christopher has a college class on Saturday afternoon that he had to at least make an appearance at, so I was alone at the table until my 3 pm signing with Jay Lake and Shanna Swendenson. Shanna was all the way at the other end of the table so we didn't get to chat. I did have a nice conversation with Jay, and one with Gregory Benford and Jay in between the autographs and book purchasers. Got to say hi to Bill Lindblad [Hi Bill! Congrats to he and Jen on their betrothal! Does anyone say that word anymore?]

Sold some books. Kimmie, one of the FenCon assistants, was amazing! She brought me cokes and coffee and checked on me about every half hour. FenCon has always done me right as a guest, and they did not fail me this go round either. I really appreciated the attention Kimmie and other FenCon assistants provided. It made it a lot easier to concentrate on talking with readers.

I sat and sewed in between book shoppers. Had a lovely conversation with Scott Cup and his wife, the Lazy Dragon folks, and many others. Book sales were steady, not quite as bustling as they were last year, but I think the economy has limited everyone's spending money to an extreme extent.

I had a number of "I don't read horror!" people...who later revealed, "Well, I like vampires", lol...and were then talked into book purchases based on barbarians or vampires. I think a lot of people THINK they don't like horror...but then when they find out what the book contains, they're more: "Okay, maybe I DO like that." I'm convinced that people are convinced that Horror is a dirty word....when you break it down from a genre as a whole to subject matter like particular monsters or twilight zone-ish plots suddenly they DO like horror. Frontier Cthulhu sold briskly as always.

At 6 pm, we had our only true Horror panel: Slash & Burn Baby: Violence and Shock appeal in Horror and Dark Fantasy. I really enjoyed this panel. Caroline Spector, C. Dean Andersson, myself and Kim Paffenforth were the panelists. Kim got appointed resident Zombie expert. It was a good panel. The room filled up as we went along.

At 7 pm we had our Horror writers dinner down in the icky restaurant in the hotel. I mostly picked at the pasta and ate the meat. It was nasty. I drank 4 cokes. lol. The restaurant added 18% gratuity to our bill...so we paid nearly $50 for crap. But oh well...afterward, we all went to this homey little corner downstairs w/couches and fireplaces [except Gabrielle who received some bad family news during the convention and she went to bed early]. Nina, Teresa Patterson, and I chatted on one couch while the men folk [Lee Thomas, Dean Anderson, Chris, and Jim Jacob] talked in the other direction. We all were having such a good time conversing that it was nearly 2 am before we realized how long we'd been there! Charlee Jacob wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to attend the con this year and was missed greatly by all. It was strange being at a convention without her!

We all dragged our tired carcasses out of the hotel, or up to rooms. Sometimes it's easy to forget one is no longer 18....and staying up that late has a way of slapping you upside the head in the morning. lol.

The next morning, [Sunday] we dropped by Starbucks, the second evil emprie, and I grabbed some coffee cake and coffee, I had an early reading with Rhonda Eudaly. Chris set up the table, then went and had breakfast in the restaurant...an equally crappy as dinner breakfast experience was had. He asked for biscuits. They told him they didn't have any. When he got a bit miffed, they produced one solitary biscuit after he had already seated himself. I told him they probably dug it out of the trash.

I read one of my favorite Kabar of El Hazzar stories [To Hunt A God] and the audience looked like they were enjoying it. I went all Tom Monteleone on them and did my best to provide entertainment. Lots of drawing from the days of yore when I was once a debate teacher.

Then it was back to the table until 1 pm when I had a panel on Real World Influence on Fictional Worlds. This panel was mostly a snooze fest as it dribbled into a technical discussion on techonology and such gobbley gook. All serious and library-toned. I did my best to sneak some guttings and full fledged intestine loopage in there. Joe McDermott and I ganged up on Smurfs. I'm not sure now how we got onto the topic of Smurfs...but in the end we suggested Smurf on a Spit as an example of real world violence encroaching upon cartoon bliss. Stephen Patrick tried to give some battle/stirrups info which enabled fellow rebel panel member Joe and me to again hijack the discussion and wake some folks up. A couple of times I was so bored I wanted to just slam my head against the table. The audience participated well too....though a brief discussion of molecular biology threatened to develop...I think at that point Joe just cried out "Smurfs!" randomly....I'm sure we went off with that somewhere, but as I'm operating on little sleep, I don't remember what we bad ones said that time. Every time I waved my arms [I'm a gesturer] I sprinkled the table/chairs with a fine mist of gold glitter...my new shirt ala The Gypsy Woman...was encrusted with glitter and shed throughout the panel. I left a gold glitter breadtrail everywhere I went.

Chris made another shopping round through the dealer's room before we packed up around 5 ish and left for home. We didn't bring the camera so didn't get any photos. I'll have to creep around the net and swipe some if they appear. I was aware of several photos of me being snapped...whether or not these appear on the net are another matter. We had a nice conversation with fellow Robert E Howard Days attendee, Keith West, also a prof at my alma mater, and I had a good chat with Rhonda Eudaly.

I saw a lot of new faces this year that I'd never seen at any of the local conventions, that's good. The mass shopping frenzies of past conventions seemed a bit stifled and there was a lot of talk on lost jobs and the threat of lost jobs. Most of the books sold were to people who came specifically to buy a certain book [Frontier Cthulhu, lol].

The advance copies of Symphony for the Forgotten didn't make it on time [they came today] nor did my copies of Spicy Slipstream Stories [which also came today]...but I have both books now for the program on Thursday night at the Mesquite, Texas Library as part of The Big Read, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Christopher and I will both be guest writers on a panel discussing Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. 7-8:30 pm.

We came home, made dinner, watched a movie and a couple of programs on The Learning Channel, then hit the sack. The alarm clock went off way too early...oh wait, it went off on time...and then we went back to sleep....panic awoke Chris and we leapt out of bed....yawn....I haven't yet recovered. I'll sleep like a log tonight!

My FenCon schedule [October 3-5th] Crowne Plaza North Dallas - Addison, Texas Friday  5:00 PM  Oak Ballroom What’s Your Post-Apocalyptic Skill? (M) Description: "The only help you get is what you get right here." Panelists and audience discuss what skills they might have for rebuilding society.

Friday  9:00 PM  Trinity 6 Going all the way - sex in SF Description: How much sex is too much sex in SF, fantasy and horror? How do we keep it real and believable? Are shows such as "Battlestar Galactica" going to far with it, or is it a necessary part of the story?

Saturday  12:00 noon  Trinity 3 Whose Pantheon is it Anyway? Description: What gods, demi-gods and dieties make good fodder for SF/F? lets talk about how this should be done correctly, when it shouldn't be done, and what source material to consider.

Saturday  3:00 PM  Gallery Autographs

Sunday  11:00 AM  Pecan Room Reading

Sunday  1:00 PM  Addison Lecture Hall Real World Influence on Fictional Worlds Description: Honor Harrington is Admiral Nelson. "Firefly"s civil war is modeled on the American civil war. How do writers use real world history and current events to shape their fictional reality?

 

I'll be signing & selling books at Joe Kryzan's THE BOOK FAIRE tomorrow at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, Texas from around 10ish am to 1 ish pm.  Come on out and say hello!

My new horror collection, Symphony For the Forgotten, is coming soon from Daverana Enterprises. Stay tuned for cover and more details!

The apprx  52k word horror collection features 16 short stories [11 new stories and 5 reprints].

From ancient goddesses and Philistines, Mary Queen of Scots and the French Revolution, to modern country back roads and different worlds….Symphony for the Forgotten, a new horror collection by Angeline Hawkes, takes you on a journey through time and places feared. Sixteen stories of torment and terror await you. Coming soon from Daverana Enterprises.

Don't forget the Experiment:
Here's the experiment:  "To Save A Dynasty" is ranked #70 as of 12:38 pm on April 29th, 2008 on the Horror list at Fictionwise. I'm trying to determine how many sales make the short story travel up the list. I selected this story because it was the less expensive of my currently highest ranked stories.

So, if you're interested in this fun little experiment, 1) purchase a copy of the story, and then 2) email me your receipt. [angelinehawkes@yahoo.com] Mark the Subject line: Fictionwise Experiment. My birthday is Friday, May 2. For some birthday fun, on Friday, I'll choose 2 random receipts/emails to receive a snail mailed book surprise from me for participating. So, let's see how far up the ladder we can make "To Save A Dynasty" climb!...3 days and counting....

So for 65 cents you might get 1-3 free books! :)

To Save a Dynasty [MultiFormat]
eBook by Angeline Hawkes

	Regular				Club
You Pay:	$0.65				$0.55

eBook Category: Horror
eBook Description: The Romanov dynasty is threatened by changing political turmoil and a life-threatening disease. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanov and her four daughters work with Rasputin, also called the Holy Devil, to sustain little Alexei and the lifeblood of Mother Russia.
eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: The Blackest Death Volume I, 2003
Fictionwise Release Date: April 2008

Christopher and I will be at Texas Frightmare Weekend in Grapevine, Texas this Thursday thru Sunday. Come say hello! We'll have tables and be signing/selling books. Read about it at Fearzone. We'll be there along with Deborah Le Blanc, Steven Wedel, Charlee Jacob, Lee Thomas and C. Dean Andersson.

Spent the day getting ready for the convention and getting hair done. The new hair as best as I could get the photo [it's a little wind blown from unloading groceries!]:



I'm happy!

Should you be MALE or FEMALE?* created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Male Being mostly male / masculine, within your structures of thinking simply means that your reasoning powers are (the way they are perceived in Western Culture`) higher than the one of the opposite sex. Psychoanalsis claims this to come at the price of creative expression - a rational thinker can not think out of the box, it is claimed. Male 46% Female 39% Neither 32% Either 25%

In other news, I sold a horror story yesterday morning to a new as yet to be titled anthology edited by Janrae Frank. It was a wonderful Christmas surprise! Looking forward to it.

The kiddos were at their dad's yesterday and today, so we did "Christmas" on Christmas Eve. Fun was had all around and Teh Hotness aka Christopher cooked a Christmas Ham and I baked a pear pie. The pie was a hit...disappeared in one day. The ham was yummy and we're still eating on it.

Today we hit the after Christmas sales. Went to Walmart where we stocked up on mostly girl gifts, along with some regular household items that were on our to buy list. Then we headed to 1/2 Price Bookstore...we had a small basket of stuff that got abandoned in the horror section because the Buy line was practically out the door...no thanks. We then went and ate some dinner and dropped by Barnes & Nobles to shop [thanks Erica & Marc!] where we picked up a boxed CD set of Zatoichi movies, some Halloween cards, and a lap desk for Kiddo#2.

Kiddo#1 was chosen as an on-camera reporter for his elementary school's new news team [broadcasted within the school...thank you Bob for the reference :)] so once a week after school Kiddo#2 and I will have car time for an hour after classes let out while we wait for him. The trip to the school is 20 min one way, so it would be stupid for us to go back home and then back to the school...so I can sew or read and Kiddo#2 can sew or color. We made up a bag of stuff for her to stay occupied with, and the lapdesk will be perfect.

Then we came home...I'm supposed to be writing now...but instead I took a dumb quiz with the expected results, and am now posting on my journal...well, it IS writing...lol. Got a nice royalties paypal payment a few minutes ago. yay.

The BIG event of the weekend will be the UFC Nemisis  79 fight between Hughes and St Pierre and Liddell and Silva. Christopher and I are going to a local sports bar to watch the fight. We had considered splurging the $40 to watch it on pay per view, but when we discovered a local sports bar had it, we decided to go to dinner and watch the fight for free. Woot! I'm still bummed that Matt Serra pulled out of the fight due to injury, but I really want to see Hughes fight, so all is okay. I'm sure once Serra is deemed healhty he'll be gunning to get into the octagon with Hughes...if Serra is ever pronounced healthy. Those spine injuries aren't anything to be taken lightly. And I just LOVE watching Chuck Liddell fight...so fingers crossed Hughes and Liddell both win!

Okay...I really am going to go write now.

What's left to come out in 2007:

*Chaosium, Frontier Cthulhu, "In Waters Black the Lost Ones Sleep", shipping now
*Fate Magazine, "Talk to Me", December issue

Here are my upcoming publications for 2008:

*Publisher to be announced, The Swan Road, Fantasy novel reprint, February 2008
*10 reprints to be released through Fictionwise [details coming, among the list The Commandments [2006 Bram Stoker Nomination in Collection], Madam Chang's Red Dragon Saloon, "All Becomes As Wormwood"[ from the 2006 Bram Stoker Nominated Anthology, Aegri Somnia], and other short stories]
*Elder Signs Press, Eldritch Steel, "Upon this Forgotten Altar: A Tale of the Barbarian Kabar of El Hazzar" TBA
*Black Death Books, Blackest Death III, "The Piper of Glamis Hill", TBA
*Bradford House Publishing, Until Somebody Loses An Eye, "First Love", March 2008
*Dead Letter Press, Bound for Evil, "A Lesson In Therapy", TBA
*Simian Publishing, Twilight Temptations, "Shattered Mirrors and Smokeless Flames", TBA
*Flashing Swords Publications, Return of the Sword, "Lair of the Cherufe: A Tale of the Barbarian Kabar of El Hazzar", TBA
*Flashing Swords E-Zine, "Sacrifice of the Utukki: From the Tales of the Barbarian Kabar of El Hazzar", May 2008
*Night to Dawn, Issue 14, "Opportunity", April 2008
*ScienceFictionFantasyHorror.com, "The Crone's Curse", TBA
*Echelon Press, more tales in The Isgor Chronicles, TBA
*TBA, Anthology TBA, "What Goes Around", TBA

My story "Samhain" appears in the October issue of Art & Prose. Whispering Spirits is scheduled to run an original story, "The Box", in their October issue.  Will post when it's published.

Still sewing and writing.  Rainy and cooler weather slows me down, but pressing onward.

Book signing scheduled this Saturday at Texas A&M University-Commerce on the West Lawn outside of the student center for the annual Homecoming book signing and art show. Christopher and I will have copies of our newest works.

That's it for now.

The doll clothes [Bleuette, 10-11 inch clothes] auctions end in 19 hours...and the china doll auctions in 2 days...don't miss your chance to shop early for CHRISTMAS!!

We survived the birthday party! Woot! We had 6 girls plus the dutiful brother that Kiddo#1 always is. No rain, but we ended up moving the cake and Caprisun feast indoors due to the alarming chance of having Baked Kids. It was hot. Very hot. Much fun was had. Gifts were received. Kiddo#1 had a blast. Christopher and I decided the next birthday party would be at a rented facility somewhere. lol.

We had a stay at home for the most part weekend. Chris had homework. I had writing. The weekend yielded: 1 Agent requesting a manuscript, 1 invite to an invite only anthology requesting a new Kabar the Barbarian story [YAY!], 1 reject, 1 notification that a story of mine has passed through a second reading and has moved on...notification from Fictionwise that they want to accept 10 reprints from me for e-book publication [woot! several out of print goodness coming your way soon!]

Notifications of future publication dates:  The Swan Road, Feb 2008
                                                                          Until Somebody Loses An Eye [Bradford Publishing, Twisted Publishing] March 2008

FenCon, September 21-23 Panel schedule received...here are my panels in all their yummy goodness:

Friday 9:00 PM Programming 1  Why Werewolves Are Better Than Vampires: a Debate   Description: The fangs and fur fly as writers and fans discuss these two popular creatures. No fair using crosses and silver bullets!

Saturday 11:00 AM Programming 1  Apocalypse Wow!   Description: What makes a 'good' apocalypse? Why a do people enjoy reading about them? How do writers carry on a story after the world has literally ended?

Saturday 12:00 noon Autographs

Saturday 3:00 PM Programming 3  What is the Horror Writers Association?   Description: Learn about the group, its goals, and the benefits of membership.

Saturday 8:00 PM Programming 3  Convention Legends   Description: Who did WHAT? WHEN? Really? Veterans discuss what may or may not have happened at conventions.

Sunday 11:00 AM Programming 2  Why Should I Read Horror?   Description: Horror writers answer questions about the horror genre and why you should read it.

Sunday 3:00 PM Programming 3  Love, Fandom Style   Description: Ah, geeks in love! Why do fan relationships seem to work particularly well? Discuss, but get your own room for the heavy petting.

Be sure to attend the ART AUCTION from 7 -8 pm....3 original china dolls made by moi will be for sale and hopefully will move to the auction...Vlad the Vampire, Morganna the Hag, and Frank the Monster...and stupidly, I forgot to take photos! Will have to post afterwards...but the dolls are AWESOME and would be super cool for HALLOWEEN!

Christopher and I will have an author's table. If you're going, be sure to stop by! We're clearing out our old stock [Pre-2006] and will have BOOK BUNDLES [4-5 books, chapbooks] for $10!! That's a bargain you won't want to miss. We'll also have new books! I will be there EARLY on Saturday morning, so be sure to stop by and grab some books for our NOON SATURDAY autograph session...beat the crowds! :)

Okay....I need to get back to work. Will post pics of  The New Hair sometime after tomorrow afternoon...woot! Conventions are such great excuses for new clothes and new hair! yay!

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Snatched that from Josh Rountree joshrountree and hey, look, the Dark Lord of the Sith will miss me! What more can I ask for? lol. I want my tombstone to have a little button you push, and a hologram/graph? never get those terms straight, will shoot out bathed in a blue glimmer of light, of me saying something terribly witty, much like the scene in Star Wars with Leia and R2-D2 that Luke later plays back a hundred times.

The Ides of March

Yesterday was Teh Hotness's birthday [say hotness's really fast, lol]. Upon his request, I made him a German Chocolate cake. We plan to go do something this weekend to celebrate in higher style. But for last night, we watched some crappy TV, and then played several rounds of Ms. PacMan while chillin to Led Zepplin. Both Christopher and my father share the same birthday, and Chris's dad's birth date is on a 15th of another month...hmm...cosmic irony.

[I hope you had a wonderful birthday, baby!] What struck me, on this his second birthday that we've been together, was how incredibly in love with this man I am...it hasn't faded, it hasn't gotten routine, it hasn't cooled to some sort of comfortable togetherness....nope, not this time. I'm still crazy, head over heels, write his name in hearts and flowers all over paper, in love with him. He continuously amazes me.



WRITING NEWS:

Been busy submitting and rewriting a number of stories. Have 2 left to pick over and send out today. Have  1 new historical/zombie story left to edit/rewrite. Have 1 story in the process of being written that I said I was going to have finished by today, but I don't...the reading period opens next Friday, so I have a week to get my butt in gear and get it finished. It's a good story. It's action-packed. It was fun plotting out and outlining and creating...it's been fun writing, I've just been incredibly short on time, and the kids have been off for Spring break this week, and the move and the packing and all of that.

Other Stuff:

I don't know exactly what I'll be doing at the university yet. Don't know if I'll be casually taking Q&A [please, hoping for this] from students/faculty or if I'm going to be talking in a more formal sense of the word. It's been awhile since I gave a prepared speech/discussion.

I found a Bleuette repro body, and a Bisque German doll head that looks a lot like the Bleuette heads. If I win the auctions, I'm going to make my own Bleuette doll. Put in the word for the need for 1930s-50s fabric to my mom who attends midwest antique auctions. Adapted and cut out several Bleuette patterns. I also chose some fabric to make a few prototypes. Need to iron said fabric. If I win the auctions, I'll need to decide on a wig for the doll...ah, ebay, me love you long time! I'm excited about the doll clothes adventure. Kiddo #2 is excited as well, she knows she'll be getting the dresses that don't sell on ebay as prizes and/or gifts! She loves dolls as much as I do. Which is a good thing.

 

I think she'll look pretty similiar to this complete Bleuette doll once I plunk some hair on her:


Yay! Go doll! The cheapest repro I could find was $165, and that's insane. This way, this cobbling of the parts, will end up being about $50 with shipping and all that in the mix. I should be able to earn that back with the first couple of dresses, I hope.
Well, so that's the scoop. Slowly but surely things are making their way into boxes. I need to pack more books today and hit the closets. Hmmm, wish me luck! lol.

Whew! I've been busy! I will be SOOOOO glad when we're moved, unpacked and settled again! Not only does this unsettledness [if that's a word] affect my writing routine, but it throws me all off. I have this anxious, pressing, urgency about me and I can't shake it. Driving me batty! Making me forgetful and edgy. Not too much longer though! Christopher and I were told that they moved our closing date up by 3 days...whoo hoo! So, we'll close on March 26. [Clapping Hands].

SEWING:

Finished the baby boy quilt for our friends new baby that's due April 11! Her nursery theme is Zanzibar, so I wanted to create something unique but would match. I made her the Sunbonnet Sam quilt as well [already have posted pics for that one]. Here's a photo:



I ordered a set of the nursery wall hangings and took them apart. Those formed 5 of the blocks. Then I had to applique 3 additional blocks to match the pattern on the backing, which was a toddler bedding sheet from the Zanzibar series that I ordered new. The fabric offerings for the nursery theme consisted of beige stripes, so I wanted something more "animalish". Fortunately, some web digging turned up the coordinated toddler linen set. Yay! Anyway, I think the quilt turned out cute. I'm happy that the white on white quilting pattern came out in the photos under the cut. I did a branch and leaves quilting pattern on the cream squares that copied the branch and leaves depicted in the print on the backing. All in all, I'm very satisfied with how well this quilt turned out!

I started the ballerina print sundress for Kiddo#2 as well. It's shaping up prettily. After this one is finished, I'll have one more sundress, a strawberry print Daisy Kingdom dress, and then the summer clothes parade will be finished.

I was on an ebay doll collector's board, and I think I'm going to be sewing some doll ensembles for the 1920-30s Bleuette dolls. Seems there's a demand for 1930's style doll frocks and I happen to love sewing doll clothes. So, I found some patterns on ebay...not the ones I wanted. The actual Bleuette patterns were going up to $20 and I don't have that kind of money to spend on the patterns right now. I did find one free Bleuette pattern online that I can use. There is a book on Amazon with her entire wardrobe in pattern form, but it's an expensive book and I need to wait to see if I can earn out the money before I invest in the book. For those who are unfamiliar with Bleuette:  Bleuette -- the French doll produced as a premium for La Semaine de Suzette, a French children's magazine published by Gautier-Languereau between 1905 and 1960. Every month the girls got a new dress pattern included in the magazine. Unfortunately, patterns 8 year old girls could sew from then, most women wouldn't know where to begin now....that's where me and my trusty needle come in. lol.  Here's an example of a Bleuette doll...



But, since even the reproductions are expensive, I don't own one. I'm going to have to find a cheap, similiar bodied doll to use as a dressmaker's model. But, I've seen ensembles going from $15 to $54 on online stores and ebay and some of those clothes are mass manufactured. Anyway...if this little venture pays off, maybe I can pay for all the christmas presents this way this year. In past years, I've made quilts to order and sold them on ebay and have done well. The doll clothes will be fun.

Now I'm on a search for 1930-50's fabric. So far I've had to stick to reproduction fabric as that's all I can find. Hoping I'll get lucky at some garage sales this summer. If you've got any old fabric/feedsacks you want to clean out...ship'em to me! lol. It's amazing how many old women are sitting on roomfuls of fabric that no one is using anymore...I'm hoping some of those women decided to clean out the stash and stick it on the tables at garage sales. Usually no one buys fabric...or thread or notions...so when I hit those sales, I do a good job eliminating their piles for them. Yay fabric!

CONDFW 2007 Report:

I realize this is a few weeks overdue! Again, busy, move, all that. lol. Here's a picture of Teh Hotness and me at our signing:


I have another really great one, but I can't find what I did with it, so I've emailed Rhonda Eudaly reudaly and she's going to send it to me. She's in it too. The con went well. A lot of guests/writers cancelled at the last minute due to various reasons, so the guest list seemed sort of scant...Harry Turtledove was there, and at a party we were at, but I was too chicken to go introduce myself. His greatness was too great. He seemed very gentle and quiet though. I should have gone and said hi. I will forever kick myself now. I do that periodically, I get shy. OR I think that the guest might want to be left alone with his thoughts for a few moments after being swamped by adoring fans...so I feel I'm being compassionate allowing them to not have to endure another introduction and another adoring fan. lol. It was nice to catch up with fans and friends!

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION:

Nothing says "YOU'RE OLD!" louder than joining a message board for the planning of your 20th High School Reunion. Did I say 20? Good lord. Where does the time go? I can still remember everything like it was yesterday. It's not fair that so much time has passed but yet, I still feel basically like I'm the same person. Oh, I know, I'm not, but, I feel that way when I look in the mirror and see myself. So, for your horrifying edification, I present my Senior Yearbook picture from my yearbook. Click the cut if you dare!

Can you find me? Of course, my name is right there...but oooo, is that not a portrait of true 80s horror?? You can almost see the 20 lbs of silver braces on my teeth in that b/w photo too! Oh, the misery!

MYSTERIOUS DOLL:

I'm just full of pictures and stuff today...lol. Okay, I have this doll. I bought a turn of the century steamer trunk back in the late 80s, and when I stripped out the rotting lining to replace it, I found the below doll wrapped in fabric stuck in the lining.


She seems to be of Spanish origin going by her ensemble, and is handmade from what I can tell. She is a topsy turvy style, with the peasant maid  in a linen dress on one end, and then you flip her over and her red satin brocade skirt then reveals the dressed up version. Her face is hand embroidered and she has floss black braid down her back. The dress is trimmed in very fine handmade lace, as is her headscarf on the peasant version. Anyone have any doll reference books? I've been looking for nearly 20 years now for another doll like this one in books, on the net, etc etc...and can't find one even remotely resembling this one in dress/style. I find plenty of topsy turvy dolls, but none like this. I know she's very old and need to have her appraised for her value. Anyone have any suggestions? I've taken her to doll appraisers throughout the year who are as clueless as I am. Most have estimated her age to be circa 1900-1940s. All suppose she is from Spain. No info that I didn't already glean for myself. She's a charming doll. I've been thinking of listing her on ebay, but I don't want to underprice her.



WRITING NEWS:

Christopher has begun writing on our collaborative novel. We completed the outline and the prologue and I've unleashed him upon the novel now. I have to finish my story for an anthology I'm submitting to this week. It's a story from Kabar's world, but he's not really in it. He's leading King Segmund of Ur's armies against Lahar the Destroyer of Vail right now...so his wife, Adina, is going to be getting all the action in this tale. So, once I'm finished with it, then I'll be hot on Christopher's trail on the chapters he's already completed his part on. That was an awkward sentence. lol. Anyway, I work better when I'm focused on one deadline at a time. The fantasy story is on its way, and the submission period opens end of this week. So, I'm going to finish it this week, and submit it, then jump on our novel. Have a pile of stories that need to be submitted as well. Things are piling up!

ROUND UP:

Wow! I've gone on and on. I've been waiting for the smoke to clear out of the house while I type this up. I bought an 8 lb roast on sale for $7.41...marked down from $22!! I was thrilled! The thing was huge. Anyway, I packed my BIG roasting pan so I had to make due with my medium roasting pan. As a result, juice bubbled over into the oven. Soooo, this morning's muffins for the kiddos created quite the smokiness. Poor Chris opened all the doors and all the fans were on, but I think I sent him off to work smelling like he had been smoking meat in the backyard or something. The muffins were good though. Blackberry.

Okay...I'm off to do dishes and get the house ship-shape. The plumber is coming to fix this and that for the landlord before we move out. Ironically, the landlord didn't see the necessity in fixing this and that for US, but the next tenants should be grateful. lol.

Sorry I chatted your ears off!

The queen-sized quilt is finished and on the bed...whoo hooo! Quilting on the baby boy quilt has begun. Fabric has been purchased for a sundress, and 2 short sets...whoo hoo! [For Kiddo #2...as I suspect by summer Weed-itis will have set in and all her present summer clothes will be bordering on scandalously short....for those Non-parents out there, No, Weed-itis is not something involving Weed and a good time...Weed-itis involves the capability of a child to spurt up at an alarming rate outgrowing everything he or she owns in a week :)]

Yesterday was day of "stuff". We went to the bookstore [we were good and only purchased coffee], the CD store [much cds traded in, Chris went shopping on mucho store credit...I got one cd a Sing-a-long Nickelodean cd/dvd with lyrics/songs for the kiddos...I am sure I will regret this shopping decision, but they will love it...it features Spongebob's "When I ripped my Pants" on it...], while Christopher was CD shopping, I went to the World Market and bought some nifty curtains in the 75% off sale for our new formal dining room...I got 4 panels for the original cost of 1! Whoot! Bargain shopping! I also got a King sized chinese silk duvet, that I bought for the fabric to recover said formal dining room chairs and make throw pillows and whatever else grabs my fancy out of. I refrained from candle and bath product purchases as Santa brought me tons.

We also went a few other places, one of which was a shoe store where all shoes are $6.99...we originally went on a quest to purchase shoes for the Weed-itis stricken Kiddo#2, but discovered they only carry women's shoes....not to be daunted by this discovery, I found 3 pairs of shoes! yay! The only thing is the shoes are all mis-marked and such, so you have to try on everything you like...I wear a size 7.5...I ended up with 3 pairs that were all marked differently [7.5, 8.5 and 9]...it was crazy...but got some really COOL shoes!

Came home and we ate supper and then got to business. I sent out queries on all stories out for 5 mos or longer, and submitted one story. I have another story that I have 2 versions of, I need to pick the best version and submit it as well.

Oh, and I packed 3 boxes of china/teapots. Yay.

The "news" has been revealed on Shocklines, so I can now discuss it.

Along with Brian Keene and Tom Monteleone, I will be interviewed and have a feature story in the May issue of new magazine, Doorways Magazine.

While I'm on writing news, don't forget that the Stoker recommending period is running down for HWA members to make their recommendations. A free pdf is available for The Commandments and Then Comes the Child [by myself and Christopher Fulbright  ]. The Commandments has received multiple recommendations in Collection, and TCTC has received multiple recommendations in Long Fiction. If you didn't get the Special Stoker IM, email me at angelinehawkes@yahoo.com

Okay, so that's the scoop...I've still got a few Christmas thank you cards to finish and one or two writing related things to wrap up...

I edited a story. Not the one I was going to edit. And I submitted said story, but not to the originally intended publisher. I'm still editing the previously discusssed story and hope to submit it tomorrow. Whew...I know! I know! I was supposed to be on my self-imposed hiatus already...like 2 mos ago....so sue me, I'm a friggin workaholic.

So, the 5556-word science fiction/horror story submitted tonight. Tomorrow the fantasy story gets submitted. That's the goal.

I have 93k on a new reprint collection I'm compiling entitled, GHOSTS AND REFLECTIONS. It has horror, speculative, and literary stories. Go team. I'm editing that mother too...all I do is edit anymore. Calgon take me away!

I will also be shopping around Memento Mori again....Scrybe Press is all but dead. No responses to emails and/or phone calls. No contract. Years behind schedule and the publisher can't answer an email...I'm baffled. So, I'll be taking one more swing through it with my blue pen and then packing it off to someone...I don't know who....

Anyone interested in a reprint of a reprint collection that came out in 2003 and promptly sold out of its limited run of 100 and is currently available only in e-book format? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? [Has a new intro by C. Dean Andersson].

The bathtub is calling my name...rain's a comin' and I feel like I've been hit by a frackin' truck. [little Galatica humor there].

Okay, the OP picked up Kiddos 1 & 2 for  a day o'Christmas at Grandma's. Chris is rockin to Kiss in the other room....and I'm fixing to drag ass into the shower. We're going to go eat breakfast, run by Walmart for some last minute gifts and groceries. Then we're headed to friends' house for a little bit...the Kiddos come back around dinnertime.

Didn't get any editing done last night because Christopher and I got caught up in a CNN special, After Jesus, which proved interesting. So, The Treasure of Their Destinies, awaits...sitting forlorn on my desk, crying my name. You know, I may not make that Christmas deadline afterall....there probably is a special place in hell for those writers who miss deadlines. lol. We will have to write for eternity, never finishing, while being cold, and allowed no booze. lol.

On the other hand, the queen-sized quilt is now laid out, pinned and ready to be tied. The boy crib quilt is ready to be quilted, and the baby girl quilt is cut out and ready to be sewed/laid out/pinned. I'm tying that one as well. My sewing pile is shrinking. Oh, and I hemmed some now-too-short jeans for Kiddo #1 into shorts, and am going to patch my favorite jeans with some neato black and silver trim. We were in Chilis last week for a late night dessert and the back pocket completely ripped from the seat of my pants...bad and drafty for my derriere, but quite the show for the men in the restaurant, Chris assures me. lol. I also found a pair of identical jeans on ebay, but I need to hem them. Someone tried to shred the hems to make them appear more "distressed", but what they ended up doing was making them suck and look crappy. So, both of those will go under the pedal soon.  That only leaves one glass doll to have her leg repaired [ahem, operated on] and the Horror quilt, I keep saying I'm going to make for one of the local convention art shows....one of these days I will reach it in the great Sewing Pile. lol.

Okay...no rejects yet today...or this week for that matter. Yay! Slow week. I'm anticipating news on a handful of stories before the year is out. Fingers crossed that the acceptance pile will surpass the reject pile. Can't complain, really, this has been a great acceptance year for me!

I'm outta here...if I don't  get back to post, all of y'all have a great Christmas, and for those of you wrapping up Hanukkah, I hope you had a good one!