Ellie Potts's Blog, page 56

Author JD Nelson wants to know you nerdy little secret!

To be a nerd or not to be a nerd, that is the question Of all the nerdy things in my life (And there are quite the number of things), nothing sends me straight into nerd nirvana like period movies. Now, I’m not talking about movies for women to watch while they are experiencing something the likes of a horror movie for a week. Nope, I’m talking about Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility—A.K.A the good stuff to us Anglophiles.Sadly, I haven’t always nerded out over movies. In fact, before 2005’s Pride and Prejudice, I had never read or saw one of Jane Austen’s or Charlotte Bronte’s little slices of heaven. GASP! I now know the error of my ways.Let’s just say that Matthew MacFadyen changed my life. His portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the rain scene was epic, and enough to send this RomCom girl into a hysterical mess of drool.
See below for an example of the hotness that is Mr. Darcy. *Swoon*

Since then, I’ve devoured any and every period movie and book that I can get my hands on. Villette, Agnes Grey, North and South, hell, even Dracula will do in a pinch. I’m obsessed. And with so many masterpieces’ out there, who can blame me?Here are my top ten favorite “Nerd Out” movies and the main reasons why I have to carry around a bib to drool in on my days off.
1.      Pride and Prejudice 2005 2.      Sense and Sensibility 19953.      Emma 20094.      Jane Eyre 19965.      The Young Victoria 20096.      Jane Eyre 20117.      Becoming Jane 20078.      Wuthering Heights 20119.      Dracula 199210.  Marie Antoinette 2006
So, now you know my nerdy little secret. What’s yours? Author JD Nelsonhttps://www.facebook.com/JDNelsonsNightAberrations?fref=ts

The Power of Comics and Nerd Culture by My Friend Robbie Dorman

Alan Moore has said that he wrote Watchmen to show the capabilities of the medium, to display what a comic book can do that a film or novel couldn't (the term graphic novel seems like window dressing, comic book is more authentic). It is a decidedly unique medium, which allows a combination of visuals and narration, with no constraints, the only limits being the writer's and artist's imagination. It allows for comics to be about anything, to cover any genre. Superhero books are by far the most well known, but epic fantasies (Bone), phantasmagoric horror (Spiral), sci-fi spectacles (The Metabarons), strong cultural commentary (Maus), and everything in between can be found. Chronology, narration, and perspective can all be explored in ways that are impossible in every other form of storytelling.

I've loved comic books my whole life. My interest has waxed and waned throughout, but the easy availability of digital comics and the vibrant online comic communities has made it easy for me to delve into the world of comic books recently. I was buying single issues digitally every week, but also reading forums and the comic book subreddit about great runs in the past, buying a haul of TPBs every week as well. I was devouring content, but it still didn't feel like enough. In the same period, I made a friend who was also a big comic book fan, and we would spend hours in the comic shop, talking about different books, and about just comics in general. I was reading articles and listening to podcasts, but there were very few that felt right to me, that spoke to me.
So I decided to do one myself. I contacted my friend (www.ericzgoodnight.com) and we started the Handsome Boys Comics Hour (www.handsomeboyscomicshour.com). We review weekly books, as well as older collected stuff, with the flavor of a goofy variety show. I think of it like a circus. If you don't like the lions, maybe you'll like the clowns, or the acrobats. I would really appreciate it if you gave it a chance, and tell your friends if you like it.
Being a nerd means being unashamedly excited about something. Too many people try to put constraints on "nerd culture", but it doesn't matter if what excites you is metal music or dinosaur bones, if you get amped up about something and aren't afraid to show it, that makes you a nerd. Too often, it gets defined by oppression, but to define a social group by shared hardships seems shallow, and exclusionary.

It also belies the influence this culture has on the world in general. The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, the Harry Potter franchise, the  Hunger Games...these films made billions in the box office, and when you consider merchandising and theme parks (the Harry Potter section of Islands of Adventure is perennially packed and is being expanded as we speak), the number probably rises into the hundred billion dollar range. At the end of the day, dollars speak volumes, and nerds aren't afraid to spend. Videogames make millions of dollars. These are not niche hobbies anymore. This is popular culture now. The nerds are in control.

How I Made My Way To NerdVille by Author Melissa Darby

 I was the tender age of say 11 or 12. My aunt, who is no longer with us and was an amazing person, bought me Buffy The Vampire Slayer the movie on VHS. Yes this is way, way back. I instantly fell in love with the movie. I watched it like 10 million times. My mom had to buy the movie again because I watched it so much. I knew every word in the movie; I would sit there and say the dialogue. 
“Does Elvis talk to you? Does he tell you to do things? Do you see spots?”
Or “All I want to do is graduate from high school, go to Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die”

I would later find out that Joss Whedon wasn’t a huge fan of the movie. But that doesn’t really faze me to this day. He still created Buffy. So anyways, later on when I was a teenager The WB was coming up with some awesome shows. Then I saw the commercial Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV Show. I jumped for joy and never missed an episode. You know I didn’t have a life, that’s before DVR’s. I loved the characters he created. I don’t know how many times I laughed with them, and cried with them. Especially, the episode where Joyce dies, It was heart wrenching. One of the best episodes of Buffy; It is in my top ten. I have every season on DVD; I had the Once More With Feeling album. I really wanted the poster but I never bought it and now I
can’t find it anywhere. I have the Buffy comics also!

Then there was the Angel spin off which I never missed. I was happy with the direction they took Cordelia and you could feel the love they had for each other. Gosh I miss that show to. The ending made me go really?? I’ am a huge fan of Joss Whedon and I believe is the Super Genius. He has done so many amazing things. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Doll House, Cabin in the Woods, and The Avengers! If it has his name on it. I automatically like it, he can do no wrong!

I’m so grateful that he created all these awesome shows, characters. I love the fact that he uses the same actors for his other shows or movies. Maybe someday I will meet him, probably not…. But a nerdy girl can dream.

Notes on Nerds by Author friend John Rose!

 NOTES ON NERDS
By John Rose

So I was a nerd.

I still am. It's not something you ever really grow out of; it's a bit like being born with a birthmark.  But compared to the many cool people I knew in high school (most of who told me at my high school reunion that I was cool, which made me want to snap, "Why didn't you talk to me and hang out with me then, you asshat?"), I was a nerd.

A lot of people define nerdism through external stuff: glasses bound together with electrical tape, pocket protectors, lots of ballpoint pens, and so on.  These things mostly happen because of high school, because when adolescence imposes itself without warning as it so often does on the average teen, it can be a shock (remember, girls, when you went to bed all normal and you woke up the next morning and you had these huge things in the front, but let's not go into that right now).  So Average Teen very quickly develops a filter.  He pretends to be jaded and knowledgeable about things (most of them darkly adult) to help him blend into the herd, and it usually works because everyone else is doing the same thing.

Nerds, unfortunately, cannot do this.  Everything comes at us.  Everything is either utterly fascinating or boring; outrageously pleasurable or outrageously painful.  We have no way of stopping this, because we have no filter.  And in our youth, we are shut out, cast out.  Of course, later on we get OK with it and sometimes we even channel our nerdism into a creative pursuit, but the fact remains; there is no filter.  We learn to hide it for such things as work and stuff (after all, your boss hired you for office work and not for your extensive knowledge of Star Trek), but we always know, even if no one else suspects.  There is no filter.  There never will be.

As an adult, I've fully embraced my nerdism in a way that I could not when I was in school, but sometimes things are still problematic because I have no filter.  I never developed a filter because I didn't allow myself to get jaded about the stuff I liked and leave it behind for "adult things" which are often just as childish and infinitely more dangerous.  I'm still embracing all the things that I love, childish and fantastic and so unadult as they may be.

And for me, nerdism is defined through a deep and abiding fascination with these things.  I was insanely in love with monsters as a child; werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, and so forth.  I devoured books on old monster movies from the library.  I wanted to do a report on werewolf legends for an English class, but my teacher absolutely refused.  (I did the history of comics instead.  She didn't like that either, but at least it wasn't werewolves.)

I loved everything I was not supposed to love.  I loved Star Trek, Star Wars, sci-fi, Batman, superheroes, horror movies, ad infinitum.  I maintained a love affair with cartoons and comics to the point where I was still watching Saturday morning TV long after others my age had quit, still reading Sunday funnies and still reading comic books in high school and into college.  I got into collecting action figures in college and kept doing it after I was on my own in the working world and suffering in my job.  The job got better, but the action figures sort of kept me alive. Things you love; these are what you stay alive for.

And a part of that is what nerdism is.  And everyone has it, whether they believe it or not.  My mother quilts.  She does not care for comics, cartoons, sci-fi, monsters, or any of these things, and does not share my passion for them.  But get her talking about quilting, about the differences in stitching, the difference between quilts made to go on a bed and quilt hangings, types of batting, types of cloth, and the passion she has is there.  I've done it to her several times, and each time she gets going about quilting, I smile to myself: Quilt nerd.

I've occasionally referred to it as Scrooge McDuck syndrome.  Most people, even those who do not read comics, know Scrooge McDuck: richest duck in the world, has the Money Bin filled with coins.  But what the average person doesn't know about Scrooge is that the Money Bin isn't all his money.  The character is, of course, a billionaire several times over and has business holdings all over the world.  But the Money Bin is all the money that he made while he was learning how to be a billionaire; when he was traveling the world seeking his fortune.  It is the money that he will never spend, and each coin is a memory of another time and place in his life, and he values each of them.  He has learned to treasure the things that have value to him, and not to someone else.  That is what life is about, and in a way, that is what nerdism is about.

If you are a nerd, or if you have been, then I invite you to embrace it, cherish it, keep it.  It is a terrible thing when human beings lose their sense of wonder, and I will not ever give mine up.  

Check out John's work and meet the Monster Grrls!
https://www.facebook.com/grrlsbook

Revising goals, cover reveal and more...

One thing you don't want to do half way through the year is revise your goals you set out. I had planned on having some books done by now. But with the closing of my publisher I have been very behind. I have to do reedits and all that, it just made me take not one step back but a few. But edits are coming along I have some talented editors who are helping out, and some new covers which is thanks to a talented friend. Flights is already up and running, and there might be a possibility that there might be a print version. Maybe. So as I am revising goals I know for sure I will have my two Element books out this year and Blood Father book 2 of the Opposite Side. I still have my no named zombie book that I will finish up after Blood Father. I will probably save my steampunk and pirate books for next year. New books new year. I think I will focus on the projects I put on the sidelines this year.

So I do have a cover re-reveal for Space Rebels!
Dakota is awesome! That is all I have to say on that. :)
Nerd month still continues this week. Which is almost over. I am thinking we will need a new nerd month in a few months. Maybe in November since it is my birthday month, plus Thor 2, Catching Fire and the 50 Anniversary of Doctor Who.

Get your copy of Flights of Delusion!!

Flights is live again! And now you can get a free copy from Smashwords until Sunday by using this code GT99V
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/328663

Blurb:
Watch as demons are born, monsters come alive, take a walk with a crying stranger, sit down to play chess with a strange old man, see what happens when Lucifer has an eye on you, or watch what happens when you win in a future lottery. Meet monsters, killers, mutants and demons in Flight of Delusion, a collection of short stories that range from odd to scary and all that in-between.

Excerpt:
The Crying Stranger
            A luminous glow radiated around the silent figure. Her white skin untainted by the sun’s harsh touch, as her eyes twinkled like fiery green emeralds. Her straight calf length auburn hair flowed around her like a red veil. Her natural crimson lips moved as she sang to herself. The song seemed so right on this dark dreary night.            She walked through the darkness unafraid of anything around her. She had no worries. The millions of stars burned brightly above her small head. Her feet bare amongst the new spring grass made her feel almost alive. She stopped. Bending her head slightly to the left, she listened. The small night sounds were so crisped to her elfin ears. She listened through the sounds until she heard it. The call.
Cestoda
            Bobbie found himself hiding in the dark, noises and screams all around him. His heart hammered hard in his chest. Think you idiot, he said. He moved the plastic aside for a small peek under the table he hid under. The sun had started to set about half an hour ago. The sight of everyone tripping or jumping over the dead bodies seemed almost unnerving. He was so glad the acid trip was over.             Two other people slipped under the table. He moved to the very edge, scared. They too were frightened by the sight of him. No one said anything for some time. They just stared at each other while the screaming and the scuff of shoes passed by. A loud shriek filled the air, which made him think of Sky. Bobbie tried to think back to how he had gotten here. Fucking weird day.
Windigo
            Eating the flesh of another is said to steal their essence to become more of what I am. It’s a half truth, I have become more powerful but in a way that is making me less human more animal. I don’t mind it really; the animal part is a relief from the human in me who finds it disturbing to eat a fellow person.             The Native Americans call creatures like me Windigos. I went to the library one evening after work and looked it up. Again half truths, is all I found. I know what I am or rather what I’ve done and need. There it says a person who gives themselves freely to that of the Windigo will go into the forest for seven days and fast and sacrifice themselves to the spirit of the Windigo. That isn’t what happened to me.
The Job
            May you walk through the raining pools of blood, and dance on the guts of your victims.            The words floated to the top of her head. She had been given a job, a good job, a job she knew she could really do. A job she had been dreaming for since she could remember. Remember since when? Lucifer had explained her duties, and she planned on doing her very best. To show not only Lucifer, but his other head-honchos that he chose well.
            Raining pools of blood.

P.T. Macias Hot & Wild

Hot & Wild, De La Cruz Saga              
Hot & Wild the familia’s Navy SEAL Christian Arturo De La Cruz lives for excitement. He loves it when the risk is great, dangerous, and complex. He enjoys the thrill of conquering the enemy when on a mission and the chicas when he’s on leave. Christian is a carefree bachelor relishing his life.
Monique Acosta is a young innocent bella chica. She captures the SEAL’s alma (soul) with her freshness and charm. She instantaneously turns Christian’s world upside down. She’s ignorant that her dream amor is a SEAL. Will Monique understand and accept his career.
Christians desperately searches the perfect moment to reveal that he’s a seal without losing her love. Suddenly an evil force enters his life and threatens his amor and familia? The Seal is hurled into dangerous warfare. He engages against the biggest menacing criminal ever. He fights against time and evil to save his amor (love) and familia. 
♥5 stars Incredible, March 2, 2013  By Sapphire Kande (USA) Amazon Verified Purchase. This review is from: Hot & Wild (De La Cruz Saga) (Kindle Edition)I loved the book! This was a wonderful story! It was told beautifully! I really felt as though I knew the characters they were so developed! Fantastic Job!
♥I'm officially addicted to the Spanglish in the De La Cruz Family Saga series of books! The series follows with the signature theme of intense passion, romance and drug cartel suspense. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/536043240
♥ Starla 's review  Feb 22, 13   5 of 5 starsI could not put this down once again P.T. Macias has written an amazing story. I loved Christian and Monique from their very first run in literally! They were perfect for each other. It was fabulous getting to see the characters from the other stories as well. This story had a good mix of action, love, and family. I was able to follow along just fine with the story line even with the combination of english and spanish. I can not wait to read the next story. I love the author's balance of love and family in the stories.  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/543564393
US ~ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BES95SK  UK ~ http://tiny.cc/15p1sw   
 Looking for you! Have fun! Join the De La Cruz Saga, Patricia Macias Author Street Team- Contact Rose Marie to sign up. https://www.facebook.com/Rose.Watkins63 Rose's Book Club and Street Team of Patricia Macias De La Cruz Saga
Join the Goodreads De La Cruz Saga Fan http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/104798-de-la-cruz-saga-fan-group
De La Cruz Saga Familia Role Play on Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/101777-de-la-cruz-saga-familia
I'm inviting you to be a part of the De La Cruz Saga Ambassador Team Project. Here's the Link to learn all about it and a link to register. 
http://ptmacias.com/

Register Link
http://ptmacias.com/%E2%A5-de-la-cruz-saga-videos-%E2%A5/de-la-cruz-saga-ambassador-registration-rafflecopter/
Please advise if you can be a blog host for the De La Cruz Saga Ambassador Team Project.  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084FACAA22A57-delacruz


♥ P.T. Macias, Author Links ~♥ http://delacruzsagabyptmacias.com/ ♥ https://www.facebook.com/pages/PT-Macias/319871778087970 ♥ https://www.facebook.com/ptmacias.DeLaCruzSaga ♥ http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B008B0EYWQ     ♥ http://ptmacias.com/ ♥ http ://www.goodreads.com/review/show/449172741
♥ http://pinterest.com/ptmacias/

Friend author S.H. Roddey chats about Nerd-vana!

The Great Nerd-vana
Hi, everybody… my name is Susan, and I’m a nerd. I write books. I wear glasses and play video games and watch bad sci-fi movies. I can quote Labyrinth word for word and I have an impressive stash of comic books. I have other a thousand novels in my house and I’ve read almost all of them. I don’t just play World of Warcraft… I AM A GUILD MASTER! I watch Star Trek. I know what Torchwood is. I’ve read the vast majority of the Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons novels. Neil Gaiman is my hero. I’m an old-school DM for D&D. I collect dice, play multiple instruments, speak two and a half languages, leaned Latin for fun, and I know how to build a computer from the box up.
Am I qualified for this gig? You bet.
So I’ve been stalking Ellie’s blog this month, reading all of her wonderful nerd-centric posts, and enjoying the fact that I’m not alone in my rampant geekery. So far there has been steampunk, Doctor Who, gaming, Star Wars, comics, and even television… but the one thing I haven’t seen so far, and the one thing that unites all of us in Greater Nerd-dom, is The Convention.
Yes, Ladies and Germs, I’m here today to talk about ultimate Nerdvana.
Before I became a writer, I was a con geek. Having a strange and sometimes unhealthy love of things like Star Wars, video games, comic books and all other manner of nerdosity, I found I truly enjoyed wandering through the crowded halls of various and sundry hotels, dodging Daleks and Klingons, all while wantonly letting my geek flag fly. I love the atmosphere, the fun-loving feel of nerds en masse, all there with the same basic goal – to enjoy the finer points of fandom.
Then I actually got brave and published a book. And the experience only got better from there.There’s nothing quite as satisfying as switching sides of the table. Three years ago I was in the audience, a scribbling hopeful with a notebook and a pen who, for some crazy reason, was mildly starstruck by the authors in the hallways hawking their wares. Now that I am one of those authors, I’m still a bit starstruck, actually. The energy is still there, radiating from everyone in attendance.
I signed my very first autograph ever a few weeks ago, and that was a truly transcendent experience. People actually stopped to talk to me, to ask me questions about my writing. They came into the panels to hear what I had to say about my craft. Talk about magical.
But there’s more to it than that. While I do love the attention, I still enjoy wandering the halls, meandering through the Dealer’s Room with the steampunk jewelry, geeky t-shirt stands, and all manner of fandom-themed collectibles. I still attend panels that I’m not on to hear what the others have to say since there’s always something new to learn. I love the idea of gamers coming together as strangers and leaving as friends, uniting and connecting but for the love of the game. It does my heart good to see indie filmmakers releasing their works into the world for others to enjoy, and learning that there are others so passionate about their crafts that they, too, will brave the public and the possibility that someone might not like their work just to find the one or two that do.
It’s also fun to take over bars and hotel lobbies with my writer friends and draw attention to ourselves, but that’s beside the point.
The point is this: at conventions, we nerds can unite. We can come together from all walks of life and proudly admit the things we enjoy, and we can do it all without the fear, because everyone in the building is there for the same reason. We can be ourselves. We can proudly admit to our nerdiness.
We’re nerds, and damn it, we should be proud of it!
***About S.H. Roddey:
Blog: http://creepyauthorgirl.wordpress.com
The Big Bad: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Bad-John-G-Hartness/dp/1937035476/ref=la_B0043EUZHC_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371584904&sr=1-1
Facebook: http://www.fb.com/AuthorSHRoddey
Twitter: @draickinphoenix

One More Cover Reveal!

Re-cover for The Unicorn and the Serpent! Thanks to the amazing Dakota Trace who took the jumble of pictures I wanted to use and put them all together in an amazing cover!!
You can find Dakota's stuff here:
http://traceimaginationsdesign.wordpress.com/

Re-release date for this coming soon.

King of Nerds Genevieve Pearson stops in for Nerd Month!

A few Wednesdays ago I hit the jackpot. I sat, cross-legged, on the floor, elbow deep in a pile of used Happy Meal toys when I spotted it: Owl. I crowed when I found him and jumped up, adding him to the little pile of figures I’d already accumulated, a pile I watched like a protective magpie, eyeing with suspicion any customer who lingered to close to my treasures, my precious precious treasures. 
Owl was the last of the set of four Bambi toys I needed to complete a set. Sure, I could maybe have found them all on eBay, pristine and NIB, for $4.99 each plus shipping. But that wasn’t the point. The point is the hunt, the dig, and the triumph at finding what you need not for $7.55 and a one week wait, but for .50 cents and immediate gratification.
This is toy collecting to me, one of the many reasons I was labeled ‘nerd’ in high school. While other girls were scoring designer purses and spending their money on makeup, I was the one still collecting action figures and My Little Ponies. That hasn’t changed, either. I stalk thrift stores and garage sales, I dig through piles and keep an eagle eye out for the tell-tale sign of plastic pony hair (first gen is best) or the edge of a foot I might recognize.

“Why won’t you just grow up?” Someone would inevitably ask, when they found out about my hobbies. I was only sometimes shy about it, for the most part just willing to share my enthusiasm with anyone who’d listen.
What did toy collecting have to do with growing up? It was fun, there was joy there.
“Why?”
It just is. Except, as I paid for Bambi, Thumper, Flower and Owl, and the cashier asked me why these, in particular, were so sought after,  I realized something. These were the first ones, the first toys I’d ever really remembered hunting for. And now I was hunting them again, after they’d been lost. A great big cycle of lost and found.  And it all started when I was three.
I, like every youngest child, very  much wanted to be a part of everything my brothers did. The middle of my three brothers, Shane, was what some might call a ‘trash hound.’ But in a good way. He had a way of finding awesome things that people were throwing away and bringing them home to entertain the rest of us and plague my parents. One day he found an old luggage cart and brought it home. It didn’t take long to fix it up, and soon everyone was having rides up and down the sidewalk on the cart, myself included, and taking turns pushing.
My whole life I’ve been a stickler for fairness, and so when it came time for me to push, even though my oldest brother stepped in to do it for me, I insisted on helping. Except this time we took a slightly different route, down the driveway, and my brother tripped and let go—and I didn’t. At three I had a growing problem, and was fairly small for my age. With the weight of my middle brother riding on it, the cart went careening downhill and I was drug for several feet behind.
I was used to getting cut up and scraped up, but when I stood up after this fall I noticed all three of my brothers staring at me in horror. I looked down at my hands and realized something was wrong. The four fingers on each hand that had been wrapped around the handle had literally had the skin and flesh scraped off of them at the top knuckle. They were all…stripped. Exposed to the bone. My hands looked, to put it concisely, like that of a Medieval torture victim. 
I was rushed to the hospital and soon the horrific sight was wrapped up beneath a layer of bandages. A lot of bandages. When I came home, the common joke became that I had mummy hands. But that wasn’t the worst part, no, the worst was that the bandages had to be kept clean. And dry.For four weeks.
Imagine you are the type of child who spends as much time as humanly possible outside, climbing trees and playing with your brothers. Imagine your favorite game is to dig trenches for GI Joes in the backyard and fill them with water to make them muddy fox holes. Now imagine you have to stay clean, and stay dry, and not get into trouble. And, to top it all off, you can’t use your hands for anything. My parents tried to improvise, and would slip surgical gloves over my hands, taping them in place. I looked incredibly ridiculous, but at least I could play outside, with my awkward mitten hands.
And for a toddler, how long is four weeks? It’s incomprehensible, forever. And so, to help me pass the time, to help me realize that time was, in fact, progressing and moving forward, my mom came up with a plan. This was the year Bambi was re-released, and with it, a series of Happy Meal toys. Coming home from the ER we stopped at McDonald’s and I got the first toy. Then, after my one week check-up, we stopped at McDonald’s and got the next one, then the same for week two. The silver lining of my torture was the toys: Thumper, Flower, Bambi, and Owl.  McDonald’s was a treat back then, and the toys were exactly the kind of thing I loved. The hunt for the Happy Meal toys, the return, the reward, was my joy. And I think that’s where it began, the seed that told me that even in the worst times, you could make a game out of finding inexpensive toys, a real-life treasure hunt with gasoline your only cost of capital.
Then, the last week I had my bandages on, my family went to the beach. There weren’t many sunny days even in the summer in Tacoma, and my parents wanted to take advantage of one of the last ones. So off we all went, piled in our Ford van with our Sheltie, to the beach. And I was playing with my toys at the beach when my mom called me over and I left them, buried in the sand.
Never to be found again.
And not that my family didn’t try—they tried. But while I still have a perfect picture in my head of where I left them to this day, for better or for worse they were gone (I do suspect a kid nearby absconded with them, but who can really trust the memory of a child of single-digits?) and we were left searching. This was before eBay (or CheatBay, as I sometimes think of it, as it makes things a little tooeasy) and once McDonald’s ran out of that week’s toy, they were gone forever.
And that’s the root, I think, that little voice inside me that makes me always hunt, always keep an eye out. And now I have them again, I have all four of them.  Until I inevitably lose them, to a chewing cat (like the last time I found Bambi) or moving house.
“So are you going to stop toy hunting now?” My husband asks.

I look down at the pile, “Well there’s another set I lost,” I said, “Of these little Hallmark dinosaurs…” 

Genevieve, novelist and contestant on TBS's King of the Nerds! Check out my books Chasing Power and the Song of the Silvertongue series: http://www.amazon.com/Genevieve-Pearson/e/B005EYW0UK/
Having collected action figures and comic books from a young age, Genevieve always dreamed of being an action hero. When she grew up and became concerned about her personal mortality and physical well being, she decided writing about them would be the next best thing.