Rowan Speedwell's Blog, page 9

Happy New Year… I guess…

Sorry about the lack of bloggage, but I have been sick since THANKSGIVING.  Gah.  Currently dealing with bronchitis.  Spent the last four days in bed.  I haven't hardly even written nuthin' in the last couple of weeks.

Promise you a new post soon…

In the meantime, Michele 'n 'Jeff reviews has Finding Zach as one of Michele's best books of 2010.  What????  Srsly.  Blown. Away.

and one last bit, from JRR Tolkien:

Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.

I believe that's about Lord of the Rings.  Huh.

Living with Expectations

There were swans on the river this morning:  perhaps a dozen, gliding through the light mist that rose from the clash of the cold air and the warmer water, brilliant white against the grays of a chill winter's morning.

Sounds bucolic, a scene you might find somewhere in the country, a long way away.  Fact is, I saw them rumbling by on a commuter train traveling through the industrial South Side of Chicago.  Where they sailed was the bend of the Calumet River where it curves past the old, now-defunct Acme Steel mill, a collection of battered, shuttered, and embittered old buildings.  Not a place where you'd expect swans.  But they were there.

Geese, too, and I've seen loons and the occasional crane.  In other places the Calumet is a busier river, but except for a barge once in a while, this particular stretch is pretty quiet now.  Once, before the steel bust, there would have been more barges.  There would have been cars in the empty lots, and fires in the empty mills, and smoke pouring from the smokestacks.  It's a quieter place now.

The surprise of seeing things like that—swans on an industrial river, the coyote that crawled into a cooler of a Quizno's on Adams and Wabash a few summers ago, the deer walking across the lawns on my street last summer—is all the more potent because for most of my life, I didn't see things like that.  If I wanted to see a fox, or an owl, or a hawk, I went to the zoo.  The neighborhood I live in now is not much different from the one I grew up in, and that neighborhood, too, now sees things like coyotes and fox and raccoons.  (Okay, the raccoons have always been there, along with the skunks.  There just seem to be more of them…)  It's simply because we're encroaching more on their territories, but to me, sometimes, they're a touch of grace, a little message from God or Mother Nature or Life that says:  Hey.  Don't take things for granted.  Loosen your expectations.

We all live with expectations, even when we don't realize it.  We expect that the next job will be better.  We expect that we'll get a raise this year.  We expect, sometimes, that we'll be laid off, or that our lover will cheat on us, or that the dinner we just ordered will be less food and more money than we want it to be.  Our expectations can be high, or they can be low.  We expect things of our family, of our children, of our parents, of our lovers, of our friends, of our enemies. We look forward.  It's the way we're built—we face forward, we walk that way, we see that way, we think that way. We anticipate, we expect, we prepare. And when things don't work out as expected, we're thrown.  We don't know how to react, how to behave, how to compensate, how to recover.  Unexpected things cause us stress.  Even good surprises cause stress, according to recent studies.

But they can also give us a bit of grace.  A time-out decree from Time itself.  A space to regroup, to rethink.

I'm not so good with change.  I'm an Expecter.  I expect things to go a certain way, according to a certain schedule.  I'm great with timetables.  When I travel by car I figure out exactly when I'm getting to a certain point in the trip and I'm usually within fifteen minutes of my expectations.  I get nervous when I have to make a flight or a train or a meeting and automatically build in extra time to allow for mistakes.  It's not efficiency. It's paranoia.  I hate to be late, and when being late matters, it makes me nuts.  So I know about expectations. I have them constantly.

But I didn't expect the swans, and they were delightful, so lovely and serene (even though intellectually I know that they're mean-ass bastards who'll bite you as soon as look at you), and for a moment I was pulled out of my expectations.

I submitted Kindred Hearts to the editors of Dreamspinner Press yesterday, and expected to get the usual automatic response letting me know that they had received it, and that I would be getting an email from an editor later.  What I got instead was a nice note from Elizabeth, the publisher.  I didn't expect that.  And it was delightful.  Like the swans.

Life may not always go the way we expect it to.  And you know what?  It's okay.

An accomplished Bunburyist

Okay, those of you who, like me, absolutely love The Importance of Being Earnest and think it is THE BEST PLAY EVER WRITTEN (sorry, Henry V fans, and you know who you are), know what I'm referring to by "Bunbury."  The rest of you will just have to go read THE BEST PLAY EVER WRITTEN and find out.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.

While we're waiting for them, I'm going to share something I found while I was researching the Derby (the English one, not the Kentucky one). Actually, I was researching Epsom Downs, which reminds me of the book Please Don't Eat the Daisies, where the family's house was called Upson Downs. But I digress. Come to think of it, digression is what I do best. I live my life tangentially. Is that the right spelling? Because I am quite a good speller, usually. I got awards for it in grammar school. If they had given awards for most times tardy, I would have won that one, too. But that wasn't my fault.

Anyway, back to Epsom Downs and no I won't go off on a tangent about Epsom Salts, though I'm dying to. Focus! The race we now know as the Derby (pronounced "Darby" in Britain) was one arranged by two people, the Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury, at an afterparty for the first running of The Oaks (another race run at Epsom Downs. It's not just the Derby there). They decided the race should be named after one or another of them. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

According to legend the decision was made by the toss of a coin, but it is probable that Bunbury, the Steward of the Jockey Club, deferred to his host.

For which we are grateful. Otherwise we would be watching the umpteenth running of the Kentucky Bunbury. I wonder if London businessmen would be wearing Bunburies as they carry their bumbershoots. (hmm… I need to look up the etymology of that one, too…)

A Bunburyist, according to Oscar Wilde (he and I share a birthday) is someone who invents a sick relative or friend whom one needs to visit when one is faced with boring or unpleasant tasks. Unfortunately, it's a dying art in this era when people don't feel obliged to attend anything they don't want to. Society isn't as formal as it once was, although in my opinion that's usually an improvement. But just like chivalry and courtesy, a certain degree of social responsibility (by social, I mean Society, not social responsibility in the sense of giving to charities or building house for Habitat for Humanity, although people should do that, too) is due for a renaissance. RSVP, people. RSVP.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. Bunbury.

Algernon: best character ever. And a secret Bunburyist.

Change of subject. Blake Edwards has died. I'm very sorry about that, because I loved his movies, most of them, anyway, and I like his wife, Julie Andrews, because she is just the coolest dame every invented. I want to be like her when I grow up, except you know, without the singing and acting and stuff. Cuz I so can't do that. But anyway, Mr. Edwards's ouevre (spelling again?) includes both Breakfast at Tiffany's AND Victor/Victoria, two of the greatest movies ever made, IMHO. So I'm sad to hear that he has gone, but glad he lived in the first place.

And last but not least on today's hit parade: Snakes. And Knots. And Math.

The December Birthday Party is now beginning in the kitchen…

And while my coworkers eat pizza and cake, I, who am trying to Be Good, will take a brief break to update this blog that has not been updated in far too long…

I'm sort of floaty today. I got a B+ (!!!) review for Finding Zach on Dear Author, one of my daily blogs (I finish pulling headline RSS feeds and updating headlines, then go straight to first, Smart Bitches Trashy Books, then I Can Has Cheezburger, then Dear Author, then Neil Gaiman's Journal, then Goodreads and Amazon to see if Finding Zach has any new reviews. Then I go back to work). The order is just how I happened to discover them.

I sort of accidentally finagled the review for Zach, not really on purpose. I mean, it came out six months ago and I figured if it was going to get reviewed, it would have been by now. I sometimes forget that some people actually READ this blog (okay, not many, but some) and that it gets picked up in Google Alerts and whatnot. So I was musing about how I wanted SarahF from Dear Author to like Kindred Hearts, cuz she had mentioned that she liked Regencies, and is a literature professor, and all, and KH is much more "literary" than Zach ever was, and she sent me a response! I was so excited it was embarrassing. I mean, I am a grown-up, sorta. I really should be past the squee thing. (Heidi Cullinan responded to a post the same day. My cup runneth over.)

So anyway, Sarah said for me to send her a copy of KH when it comes out, and by the way, send her Zach, too. And I did, and she reviewed it, and you can see it here.  The short story in question is the followup to Zach that I wrote for the Dreamspinner Press Advent Calendar and she didn't like it as well.  It isn't as good as Zach, but I wrote it in two weeks, so I don't expect it to be liked as well!!

A B+ is a really good rating from Dear Author, as they are quite tough customers.  I was really, really hoping for a B, so a B+ is icing on the cake!  And the best part of the review?  She GOT it.  A bunch of people have commented that they thought Zach "recovered" too quickly, and I would headdesk, because Zach isn't recovered at all.  He's still messed up, even four years later, after he graduates.  In part, I kind of wanted the followup (Hopes and Fears, for those who have not been paying attention) to make that point, too.  He's made progress, that's all.  His parents are paying bundles for him to make progress, so he does.  But he's still far from "normal" and probably won't ever get there.  So thank you, Sarah, for seeing that. 

She liked it!  She really liked it!  (okay, that is ENOUGH with the squeeing, girl…!!)

On another note, I went on Lulu.com and built myself a little book.  Mom had actually read "Night and Day," the short story in the DSP anthology, and liked it.  She asked for a copy that she could show her friends (I know she didn't want to show them the book, since even though Night and Day isn't explicit, some of the other stories ARE).  So I made a little book version of Night and Day and bought five copies.  One of them will go to her, and I'll give the rest to a few other people.  It was pretty easy.  I'll have to do it again sometime for my beta readers.

Busy, busy day. Catching up on myself…

Marie Sexton's wonderful book Promises is in competition for Goodreads best books of 2010.  Vote for her if you're a member. If not, sign up and vote. You have to go to the "Romance" page, then just click on the cover. If it can't be me (:D) at least it's someone who's an autobuy for me. And in my "Rereads" folder on my Kindle. She's wonderful. Did I mention the word "wonderful"? Cuz she is. And so is the book.

Another autobuy: Heidi Cullinan guest blogs on Whipped Cream Reviews here. In a nutshell—why she writes M/M romance. Goes for me too. (Hey, why do all the work when someone else does it better?)

Hopes & Fears, or as I like to refer to it, Rehabilitating Brian, is now available for download from Dreamspinner Press. It's a novella spin-off of Finding Zach, showing what happens to the antagonist, Brian the journalist, after his book is published. I shoulda used "Rehabilitating Brian" as the title, but it's too close to "Finding Zach." I mean, gerunds. Sheesh. Buy here.

Tomorrow, December 2nd, is Advent Calendar Day at Literary Nymphs Chat group .  (Advent Calendar is what DSP calls the short stories and novellas it releases during the month of December. They can be purchased individually or in bulk, with a one-a-day download.) I'll be participating with an excerpt from Hopes & Fears, as will a bunch of other people from DSP. Literary Nymphs hosted another chat this past weekend that I had signed up for, but when I saw who was posting I got intimidated. There were something like 4000 messages (my phone battery died three times this weekend!) and they were from people like Josh Lanyon, Charlie Cochrane, Alex Beecroft, and Erastes. I mean, really. The authors I read before I started writing this stuff. Scary!! Bad enough I'll be rubbing virtual elbows with Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan and Ariel Tachna and all the other DSP authors tomorrow. I just couldn't get up the nerve to actually post to that other chat!! I'll post early before too many others show up and maybe my post will get lost in the shuffle. I can only hope…

I think there's another chat scheduled later in the month but I don't remember now (I have a cold, and my head is full of… other stuff). I will have an excerpt posted at a blog set up by the folks at Naughty in the Backseat, another blog, sometime after the 15th.

Oh, and today the Illinois House of Representatives approved a new law permitting Civil Unions for gays and lesbians. Now it only has to pass the Senate and it's expected to. Governor Quinn has already said he would sign it. It's not equal marriage, but it's a step in the right direction. And about frickin' time.

Holding pattern…

Well, still waiting for feedback on Kindred Hearts, and my own heart is sinking rapidly.  Are the beta readers just not engaged enough to finished?  Does it suck so badly they're afraid to tell me the bad news?  The longer this goes on the less confident in the story I am.  Lynda described it as "ambitious," and I guess it is, far more so than "Zach."  Which was, essentially, just a romance.   But then, Kindred Hearts is also just a romance–albeit one set in an historical period with characters like Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington.  I dunno.  I never thought "Zach" would receive the kind of reception it has–the original intent was just to see if I could A, finish a book and B, get it published.  The fact that it's still getting good reviews after six months seems to me to indicate that it has legs, which is good.  God only knows what Kindred Hearts will have.  Hooves?  Tentacles?

I'm not sure where I'm going with Miles and Adam's story–it started out as sort of an in-joke between me and my friends Adam and Philip.  Or David and Craig, if you're speaking mundanely.  Adam is the SCA name of David, and Philip is the SCA name of Craig.  And David Philip Evans is in Finding Zach, so I had to write a story with Adam Craig, of course. The name sounds like a rock star, so he is.  And Miles Caldwell is a hermit calligrapher who lives by a lake and never goes anywhere and doesn't have a clue who Adam is.  Which Adam kind of likes.  And he likes Miles, and vice versa, but what's going to happen when Adam goes back to LA and takes up his life as a rock star again?  Miles has a very negative opinion of their future, but Adam is optimistic…

Question, totally off-topic:  What do you do when someone asks your opinion of their own book, and you think it sucks?  I mean–really, really bad.  Flat writing, bad characters, uninteresting story…  The problem is that the person is someone you either work with or have to meet regularly in a social situation or is another author with your publisher, and they've published before and you couldn't read their other books either?  So far I've been able to avoid the subject when we've met, but I'm scared to death that I'll be asked for input–and I just can't give it.  Because it's really that bad.  And I don't want them mad at me or insulted, because they are a nice person.

I've read bad books before and it amazes the hell out of me that they got published.  I do galley proofreading for my own publisher, and one of the books I had to proof was absolutely terrible.  I was so relieved when I was done!  And then a few weeks later, the editor asked me to proof the sequel.  Fortunately I was absolutely slammed with other work and couldn't do it anyway, so that saved me coming up with an excuse not to read it.  I'm not being picky or snobby–it was just that bad.  I'm curious to hear what the reviewers have to say about it.

My ambition is to have Sarah Frantz from Dear Author review Kindred Hearts and give it a good review.  She's tough, but I respect her opinion.  Her reviews were in the back of my mind the whole time I was writing KH, and I kept editing it by her voice in my head.  But first I have to get feedback from my betas…

of pink and Princesses

One of the articles I came across this morning in my daily vetting of the newspapers was one that made me stop and read (although it was not one of the topics I vet the papers for).  It was written by a woman who struck me as reasonably intelligent and reasonably sensible, and it talked about her concern about her 3-year-old son wanting to be a princess for Halloween.  She was concerned, not because she cared that her son loved princesses and the color pink as much as he loved his trucks and machinery, but because she was worried about the potential for what she called "public humiliation."  She is the breadwinner in the family, her husband the stay-at-home dad, so she has no problems with role-reversals, and in fact, seemed quite comfortable with her son's choices. 

But it's not so simple:

… among the strongest gender enforcers around, it turns out, are other children.

Three-year-olds are "still blessedly nonjudgmental," neuroscientist Lise Eliot wrote in her thought-provoking book "Pink Brain, Blue Brain," which argues that parents, teachers, peers and cultural factors unwittingly work to reinforce gender stereotypes.

"By four, however, many children enter an inflexible stage in which they start viewing gender choices as a matter of right or wrong, a phase that peaks around first grade," Eliot wrote. "The remarkable thing is that young children are so much more vigilant about enforcing gender norms — what to wear, what to play, who to play with — than any adult."

Okay.  But what REALLY bummed me out were the comments.  Even when they were supportive of the parents' choice to permit their kid to wear what he wanted for Halloween, and even when they assured the parents that this did NOT mean their kid was "doomed" to be gay, the general consensus was that little boys having any feminine characteristics was either bad, unAmerican, or something to be reassured about.  On the other hand, if the situation was reversed, and it was a little girl wanting to be something masculine…  well, there wouldn't have BEEN an article.  Because it's OKAY for girls to emulate males.  It's NOT okay for boys to emulate females.

 I always knew I was smarter than most of the boys I knew; I had five brothers and my parents never made me feel I was any less that any of them.  Even though I was growing up at the beginnings of the feminist revolution I never identified myself as a feminist.  I think it was because I was pretty much wrapped up in myself and never wanted anything that would have been kept from me because of my gender.  I liked the work I did and was proud of the fact that a man couldn't do it any better—although I tended towards female-centered professions like customer service and administration, where one didn't generally find males. 

But since I started writing m/m fiction, and began to get more involved in LGBT issues, I've started noticing that it's not just about the sexuality, but about the gender as well.  And it may be simplistic to think this, but I believe that a lot of the anti-gay sentiment expressed by males is part and parcel of the general consensus that men are "superior" to women.  Even if they won't admit they think that way.  Because in the straight male's mind (I'm generalizing here, and apologize if this isn't you, but if it is, think about it…) the only thing less manly than a woman is a man who (in their opinion) CHOOSES to act like one.  Even if they don't—either choose or act like one.  Basically, it boils down to "Being a heterosexual man is the best thing you can be, and if you're not it, you're just not good enough."  How many army movies have we seen where the gruff sergeant calls his troops "Ladies" to insult them?  How many times have we heard the phrase "man up" to express a demand for courage?  As if women can't be courageous? 

Women are courageous.  Women work, women fight, women die for their country or their children or their city or their lovers.  Women are scientists, are soldiers, are policemen and firemen and lawyers and politicians and artists and doctors and CEOs.  Women do everything men do, only backward and in high heels.  WHY is to be a woman an insult?

Gay men are courageous.  Gay men work, gay men fight, gay men die for their country or their children or their city or their lovers.  Gay men are scientists, are soldiers, are policemen and firemen and lawyers and politicians and artists and doctors and CEOs.  Gay men do everything men do, on top of fighting societal pressure.  WHY is to be a gay man an insult?

For every whiny, cowardly woman, for every whiny, cowardly gay man, there are a dozen such heterosexual males.

I'd like to someday hear the phrase "gentlemen" used as an insult.  I'd like a tough guy to someday say to a whiny scaredy cat "Woman up!" 

It won't happen.  Because in this culture, it's inculcated in children that to dress as a girl when you aren't one is WRONG.  If you're a girl, it's okay to emulate a boy, because everyone wants to be a boy.  Just don't go too far.  (Someone did a study years ago to discover why girls aren't as "good" as boys at math.  What they found out was that girls up to the age of eight or nine were every bit as good as boys at math and science, but that at around that age they figured out that boys don't like smart girls—and they deliberately dumbed down.)  You can pretend to be a boy—as long as you always keep in mind that you can never BE one.

If you're a boy, you can't be anything but a boy.  You can't be sensitive and artistic and emotional, because that gets you bullied for not being "manly."  And as you grow up, you have to be more and more and more a boy, because to be anything else is to be "weak."  This is how we end up with bullies and gay-bashers and date-rapists and wife-beaters.  Because to be anything else is "weak."

I read a comment somewhere recently—I don't remember where—where the asshat who wrote the comment said that it was okay for guys to enjoy watching lesbian porn "because it was more natural, and besides, most women enjoy watching lesbian sex, too…" or something like that (I'm paraphrasing because I can't find the actual post anywhere.  If there is a God, I hope he caused a lightning storm to digitally erase such stupidity.  Not likely—he hasn't done anything about Christine O'Donnell).  If I recall correctly, he said most women didn't enjoy reading about gay sex.  Probably because most of the women he associates with are brain dead and/or terrified of what an alphole like him would do to them if they disagreed with whatever moronic pronouncements he makes.  I suppose he's right—after all, women DON'T make up 80% of the people who read m/m romance, and they AREN'T 65% of m/m romance writers.  Oh, wait….

The fact is, women like stories about gay men, about as much as men like stories about gay women.  Possibly more.  But for different reasons—women who read m/m romance don't read it to feel superior, or just to get turned on (though there's that, too), they read it for the characters and the romance, not the porn.  Someone like that asshat wouldn't understand that.

The difference between women and gay men (aside from the obvious, he-he), is that women don't frighten men (usually.  Though Freud might disagree).  Gay men do frighten men (the important part of "homophobia" is the phobia).  Gay men are still men, and when men have been raised to think of themselves a certain way, those who do not think that way threaten them.  To the average heterosexual man, women don't frighten them because they can never be a woman.  They're a different species.  But gay men?  The IDEA of being gay frightens them—and the idea that someone just like them can be gay is terrifying.  Because to them, being gay is being lesser.  Being kicked out of the het male club.  Being Other.

I think it's sad and hilarious that so many of these anti-gay, homophobic politicians and religious figures are getting outed.  Because that's the biggest clue—they're such cowards that they not only can't accept the way they are, they need to HIDE.  And destroy the evidence.  Nowadays, if I hear someone ranting against gays, my first thought is "closeted.  Pathetic."

The most frightening thing about them is that they are raising another generation of men who think that to be a man means hanging on to outmoded, meaningless stereotypes.  Men who are cowardly when they should be strong.  Men who are weak, who are stupid, who are caught up in the lies of other cowardly men.  Men who think being a man is just not being a girl, or gay.

Being a man is so much more than that.  It isn't about what you're not.  It's about what you ARE.

A real man is sensitive.  A real man doesn't think of himself as automatically superior by virtue of an accident of genetics.  A real man cares. 

A real man is gay or straight—it doesn't effing matter.

A real man admires women.  And respects them.

Real men eat quiche.  And bake it, and do the dishes afterwards.  And put the kids to bed, and if one of them is a boy and wants to dress in pink, say "Go for it."

Here's how the article ended.  Made me want to cry.

But unlike three weeks ago, he now realizes that if he dresses like one, he risks being put down for what he likes. Before leaving for preschool one day last week, he pulled his tractor T-shirt over his new pink princess T-shirt, a gift from his best friend, a girl who just turned 4.

"If I wear the princess T-shirt, people will think I'm a girl," he told my husband.

He seemed to have learned a life lesson. But in a way, my husband and I wished he didn't have to.

 Me, too.

of Myths & Magic…

The Myths & Magic:  Legends of Love anthology from Dreamspinner Press was released today.  Run over to DSP and get your copy.  But please, please, please don't notice the TWO mistakes none of us caught (Zach only had one I found – although that was on the first page – and it was a much longer book).  I suppose because Night and Day is so short it makes it much more obvious but it's GOT to be gremlins – how could so many readers have missed it?  THEM?

Now tomorrow I have to go and promote the book on DSP's blog and I'm feeling very negative.  Uh-oh…

"Hopes and Fears"

… is the new title for Brian's story (though, thank you BJ for suggesting "Brian's Thong" as an alternate title.  That's really… um… sweet of you).  It's been accepted by DSP for their Advent Calendar, which is where they release a story a day for the entire month of December (great concept!).  The story actually is a short novella, and the editors informed me it will be getting an alternate (again with the alternates) cover, rather than the cover all the short stories will be getting.  Which is kind of nice cuz I'm not really crazy about the "Naughty or Nice" cover art.  Not to be snotty or anything, but I don't really like most of the cartoon-style art some of the covers have.  Not to my taste.  Anyway, I don't know what the new cover will look like.  As a novella, it will only be offered in e-format anyway.  But I am PSYCHED that they bought it!!  I just love the affirmation that gives me, since I'm so nervous about my writing anyway.

My friend Jill, who also goes by the names Jamaica Layne and Jay Hughes and Marissa (this is Normal where I come from), posted a great quote about the writing life from Moliere:  "Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money."  So very true.

Nice review from Eureka Pride for Finding Zach.  I know it's been out now for five months, and it feels good when I still get reviews on it.  Makes me feel like it's got legs.  http://www.eurekapride.com/talk/showthread.php?p=146508#post146508  It means a lot when the story gets good feedback from the gay community.  There's a lot of political baggage around the concept of straight women writing about gay men, which I understand but don't agree with, obviously, so when I get positive feedback from a man, it's another affirmation.  (The whole political issue is a subject deep enough for a whole 'nother post or maybe a series of posts, but I have to be at work in 12 minutes so it's not going to be this one.  Let's just say the issue for me goes all the way back to college in the '70′s, when books written by women were ghettoized under "Women's Studies," while "Literature" was almost exclusive Dead White Males…)  Anyway, thanks, Amos Lassen, for the really nice review (I wanted to post a comment but it requires me to sign up and I didn't have the time to do that and get this post done before the Library calls my name.  Maybe later…)

20% off Dreamspinner titles!! This weekend only!!!

Okay, enough with the exclamation points.  You'd think I was a romance writer er sompthin.  Oh, wait…  I IZ!!  And THIS WEEKEND ONLY you can pick up Finding Zach or any other Dreamspinner Press titles at Rainbow eBooks for a whopping 20% off list.  The best thing about it?  Your friendly neighborhood author still gets full royalties.  Yup.  The awesome folks at Rainbow eBooks are footin' the whole shebang.  We wuv dem.  I know I'm going to be toddling on over there to fetch me some of my wish list…

Click on the button to the right to go straight to Rainbow eBooks (but not until Saturday)! See you there, I hope!!