Robin Burks's Blog, page 9

Munich, Day One: Something About A Mad King And Beer

So I made it to Munich. After two rather smooth flights (I think I even got possibly an hour of sleep on the way, although some novel ideas popped into my head that forced me to stay awake and write it all down), I landed in Germany.

As many of you know, I attempted to learn German, but it never really stuck with me (it’s hard). So I was a little worried about going somewhere I really don’t speak the language. However, upon landing, I was encouraged by seeing all the airport and train signs in both English and German, and the train’s announcements were also done in both languages.

I also discovered that even those Germans who say they only speak “a little” English still speak a lot more  English than I speak German. They’re also very friendly.

My first order of business was to check into my hotel, the Hotel Laimer Hof. After getting turned around (and that was even with Google Maps, which I misread), I finally found where I needed to be. My worse fear was realized when I was told that my room wasn’t ready. However, they told me it would be ready in about 10 minutes and made me a cappucino while I waited. How nice is that?

Once my room was ready, I got a quick tour of the hotel and explanation of how things work around here. This is my room:

It’s very Bavarian, no?

Fighting jet lag, I managed to walk to the nearby Nymphenburg Palace, where the mad king Ludwing II was born. The grounds are beautiful, especially on a breezy and sunny day, so I walked around until I wandered into the cafe (which was good, because it was about lunch time, and I was hungry). I sort of just ordered a few things from the menu with words I recognized, like kase and apfel.

I ended up with a delicious roasted salmon with a risotto that was bathed in a red pepper and cheese sauce. For dessert, I had this cinnamon ice cream kind of thing with fried apple bits. And, of course, there was wine. How could I have a nice meal in Germany without a glass of Riesling. Except a U.S. size glass is only, apparently, a half sized glass in Germany.

So loaded up on food and wine, I bought a ticket to go see the inside of the palace, which was, as expected, stunning. All the beautiful paintings, especially on the ceilings: they were awe-inspiring.

Oddly enough, I didn’t buy anything in the shop, but I was so jet lagged that I only made it to two buildings anyway. By the time 3 p.m. Germany time rolled around, I was exhausted.

So I went back to my room and went online and did everything I could to try and stay awake. Finally, I decided to go see a traditional beer hall around 4:30, so walked to the nearby Hirschgarten, which seats 8,000 people at any given time.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that busy and I dined on pretzels and a mug of radler bigger than my head times two. I am not joking:

I did, however, look over the extensive Hirschgarten menu and decided to return because they have a lot of traditional Germal favorites, like kasespatzl, which is basically the German version of macaroni and cheese, but the Germans are all like “go big or go home” (see the size of that radler), so you know it’s probably the most amazing thing ever.

And that was my day. It’s not a lot, but it’s a little pat 7 p.m. and I’m about to drop. I can now get a good 11 or so hours of sleep and be up and ready to tackle Neuchwanstein tomorrow. I can’t wait! I’ve been wanting to see Neuchwanstein since I played Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Returning to ConGT 2016

Last year, I was fortunate enough to be a guest at ConGT in Clarksville, TN. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be a guest again this year, too!

So that makes me, a Dalek and Colin Baker all in the same place at once. I’m sure that’s a recipe for a lot of fun.

I also  plan to have copies of all of my books available at the con, so if you want to get something signed, you’ll have your chance.

You can get more details about ConGT on its website 

Finally, I know I’ve neglected this site a little bit, but that’s because I’ve been working on getting the third book of the Zeus Inc. saga ready to go. It’s called Return of the Titans and I’ll have a release date ready to announce very soon.

I’m also going to Germany and Austria in a week, so I’ll be sure to post photos and blog about my adventures there.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Come See Me At Cons This Year!

I’ve been looking at my schedule for 2015 and it seems I have a busy year, including one stint as a celebrity guest for a convention. But I’ve got a lot of conventions to attend this year, starting with the one that started it all: Gallifrey One.

Yes, for the fifth (or is it sixth or seventh, I forget) year, I’m attending the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles. But I’m not just attending it, I’m also covering it for Tech Times and Tech Times T-Lounge. So I’ll be working. However, I’m arriving in Southern California four days early to partake in The Happiest Place On Earth, Disneyland, too (yes, I’m immunized against the measles). So look forward to those blog posts where I talk about all the beignets and Dole Whips I’ve consumed.

After that, in March, is Con GT. Now this is the first Doctor Who con in my immediate area (this means I can drive there in three hours). Not only am I attending Con GT, though. I’m also a guest! See?

Isn’t that exciting?

April is a month off, but I’ll be busy preparing costumes for Wizard World St. Louis Comic Con. I’ll also be covering that as press.

June brings both summer and my annual trip to Metropolis, IL for the Superman Celebration. I made a lot of friends there last year, so I’m really looking forward to it this year.

Fortunately, I get a little bit of break in July, although late August is taking me to Munich for my annual European vacation. But I’m back to work in September with Wizard World Nashville Comic Con, which I’ll be covering for Tech Times T-Lounge.

That’s the end of con season, but October brings the Syfy Digital Press Tour, and I hope to attend again this year. Last year was wonderful and magical and all things puppies and kittens and I met some really great people and got some great info. on some cool television series for work.

Fortunately, I rest during the holidays, usually spending that time putting together costumes for the next year.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Biting Dog Publications Offering Free E-Books And Neil Gaiman Merch

Happy holidays, everyone! This year, in the spirit of the holidays, my publisher, Biting Dog Publications, is giving away over 20 e-books! Yes, YOU GET FREE BOOKS!

So how do you get these free books? All you have to do is visit the Biting Dog Publications Free Books Giveaway page for details on how to get the books for free from Smashwords. Two of those books are mine: Zeus, Inc. and Madame Vampire.

So what are you waiting for? It’s free books!

However, that’s not all. Biting Dog is also having a contest for those who sign up for the publisher’s newsletter. And the prizes are awesome: The Rhyme Maidens broadside, signed by Neil Gaiman and George Walker,8 Rules for Writing (Neil Gaiman signed posters – I have one and it’s VERY cool), A grab bag of handmade woodcut prints by George Walker featuring artwork from our books (with Neil Gaiman), a $25 Amazon gift card and two signed trade paperback copies of Strange Roads by Stephen Lloyd.

Have a great holiday season, everyone!

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Black Friday Madness and Small Business Saturday Relaxing

Happy Day After Black Friday! For the first time in I don’t remember how long, I went shopping yesterday. Mostly, because my niece begged me and she knows that I’ll do anything she asks of me, so I really didn’t have a choice. However, my idea of Black Friday and the reality were completely different. First, it was quiet.

Why was it quiet? Because people now do their Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving. Because they’re heathens, apparently, and saving $20 on a TV is more important than taking a day off to relax with their families. Can you tell I have an opinion on this?

Anyway, I digress. We left at about 8 a.m. and went to Jackson, TN, which is about an hour’s drive away from where I live. We hit all the usual places: Kirkland’s, Kohl’s, Marshall’s, Best Buy and Target. I intended not to buy a thing, but I found some cute Christmas decorations in the Target $1-$3 bins and the next thing I know, I’m in full-on Christmas shopping mode.

Okay, I didn’t go completely nuts, but I did buy some cheap Christmas decorations because suddenly, I was in the holiday mood. I also found very cheap Harry Potter film DVD’s, and ended up with the full collection for around $15. I’ve been wanting the films since visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, so that was a nice surprise, being able to find all eight films.

The cats also got stockings with their initials on them. I am, obviously, far more amused by these stockings than they are.

We took a break for lunch at Olive Garden, which included wine. I commented that it was weird that the kid I once babysat was now my drinking buddy. But really, it’s not that weird at all. We always were more like sisters than aunt and niece. We ate a lot of soup, breadsticks and salad and had a glass of Blanco, one of the house wines. It was delicious.

Successfully fueled, we did a more shopping, which culminated with a peppermint mocha from Starbucks. I’d call that a successful trip.

But then we headed home and missed a turn. I fired up Google Maps to get us back to where we needed to be and we ended up on a small road where we saw a sign for “Century Farm Winery.” I said that it must be serendipity because the winery was down the road we had to travel.

Obviously, we stopped and tasted some amazingly wonderful wines. I ended up buying a bottle of a cranberry wine that tasted probably too good (I could drink a whole bottle of that in a sitting), as well as a blush called “Irish Rose.” Also, one of the winery’s owners was Scottish, but had family in Ireland, so we also had a nice conversation during our tasting.

Talk about the perfect ending to the perfect trip. I enjoyed Black Friday far more than I imagined I would.

But that brings me to today. Today is Small Business Saturday. I’d like to remind you that self-published authors and independent book publishers (such as my own Biting Dog Publications) are small businesses. And books make great gifts, especially e-books, because they’re so accessible. So please consider buying books today. But wait, where can you support small businesses and buy books? Smashwords, of course!

Obviously, that leads me to request that if you haven’t purchased any of my books to please consider doing so. You’ll find links all over this website.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Finding Inspiration in The Arts

Sometimes as writers, we get so caught up in words that we often forget to ever leave our house. I remind myself from time to time that there’s a world out there that I need to experience, a world full of inspiration, the kind you can’t get if you sit at home. So, with that in mind, I ventured out yesterday and headed to Memphis, with plans of indulging in a little art and some good food, things that always inspire me.

Considering that I’ve been struggling with the rewrite of The Return of the Titans, yesterday was exactly what I needed.

I picked a beautiful fall day for my mini-trip. The weather was perfect, warmer than the past few weeks, and Memphis was showing its fall colors.

I started my day at the Brooks Museum, which had an incredibly interesting exhibit on animal mummies in ancient Egypt. This included cat mummies, of course, so how could I resist? I learned a lot about the ancient Egyptians, including the fact that they had animal cemeteries! And some of these animals were wrapped, mummified and placed in elaborate sarcophagi, as if they were human. In particular, one cat mummy was X-rayed, and they discovered that it was lain in its coffin similar to that of a human: on its back with its front paws crossed.

At that point, I was already taking notes in the notebook I always carry, because I was inspired. No, there’s nothing about cat mummies in the novel, but seeing these wonderfully preserved animal remains and learning more about the ancient Egyptians stirred my muse.

But then I was hungry. So I did what any self-respecting adult would do: I head wine and pancakes for lunch.

 

Unfortunately, my stomach was not as big as my eyes, and I could only eat about half. But the banana and pecan pancakes at Brooks’ Brushmark Restaurant were incredibly good.

But my day of artifacts and art wasn’t over. I then headed over to the Dixon Gallery & Gardens to see the Rodin exhibit there. I’ll admit, the exhibit surprised me, as I only expected a few smaller works by the sculptor. But they had some of the larger pieces, too, and the exhibit was bigger than I expected and very laid out. Well done, Dixon.

Again, I took countless notes and figured out some major issues I’ve been having with the plot of the next novel. It’s amazing how looking at other artists’ work can inspire you.

Properly inspired, though, I picked up some cupcakes from Muddy’s Bake Shop for later, and then stopped by Whole Foods for some bread, wine, summer sausage and a few snacks. I ended my time in Memphis at the Wine Market, where one of the men working there recommended a merlot called The Velvet Devil.

I got home, made myself a picnic and indulged in all of the above, probably a bit too much so. But it was the end to a perfect autumn day, a day that found me new inspiration and sent my muse into overdrive.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Of Comic Cons and Harry Potter

Well, my plan of keeping up with this blog weekly sort of vanished, didn’t it? I do have a valid excuse. I’ve been traveling a lot: three trips in one month. I had not planned all that traveling initially, but it just sort of happened.

At least I reported in after my trip to Ireland, which still remains the highlight of my year. Shortly before I went to Ireland, though, I received notification that I got a press badge for Nashville Comic Con. So I hurriedly made plans for that the night before getting onto a plane to cross the Atlantic.

Nashville Comic Con happened two weeks later. I covered it for both FanGirlConfessions.com and T Lounge:

Zombies, Superheroes and Starfleet at Nashville Comic Con

Star Trek: The Next Generation cast discusses fandom and reminisces on their 27th anniversary

Check out all the awesome cosplay from Wizard World Nashville Comic Con

Shortly after that event, I received an invitation to the Syfy Digital Press tour in Orlando, which was scheduled for a few weeks after that. See? BUSY! I’ve received invitations for the past four years, but this is the first year I could go, cover it for work and write part of the trip off as a business expense on my taxes (although I adore writing for FanGirlConfessions.com, it doesn’t pay the bills, but T Lounge does). So I went. And I am still working on coverage of that event, but here’s what I’ve written up so far:

The cast of Syfy’s ‘Ascension’ talk race, politics and life after 50 years in space

The cast of ‘Z Nation’ talks zombie babies and what they really think about ‘The Walking Dead’

’12 Monkeys’ cast and producer talk about why the show is going to be very different from the movie

Hogwarts and Syfy: Adventures in Orlando, Part 1

Hogwarts and Syfy: Adventures in Orlando, Part 2

I think all that writing excuses me from blogging for a month, right? Meanwhile, I’ve just started rewrites on “Return of hte Titans.” My plan is to have the thing done and ready for release early next year. So I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve struggled with this one, changed the main plot twice, but I finally feel I’m on the right track.

Unfortunately, I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year, which feels weird, since I’ve participated the last four years. But my writing schedule has me working on rewrites and I started early, so there’s that. I’m taking what I’ve learned from each NaNoWriMo, though, and putting it to very good use. For those of you participating, I wish you all the best!

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Alex Grosjean Named in Top 5 Smart, Strong and Relatable Female Characters

I had an absolutely lovely surprise in my email box this morning. The team over at Indie Reader put up an article about their Top 5 indie smart, strong and relatable female characters. And Alex Grosjean from Zeus, Inc. and The Curse of Hekate made the list!

I love that because as a woman, Alex was created as a character I wanted to read about, so it’s important to me that others see her that way, too. And going into the third book, Return of the Titans (the first draft is almost finished), it just makes me happy that I’m continuing work on a character others appreciate, too.

So, thank you very much, Indie Reader.

You can see the complete Top 5 list here.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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Creepy Bog Men and my Last Day in Dublin

Well, that week certainly went by quickly. I can’t believe that this is my last evening in the fair city of Dublin, Ireland. And it still didn’t rain onsce. I have a brand new raincoat I purchased just for this trip and it’s been collecting dust because the weather here has been beautiful. I am not going to complain, though, because I’ve absolutely loved it.

Today was my museum day. I had a second day of the hop-on hop-off bus tour, but my first stop was within walking distance. However, it didn’t open until 10 a.m., so I took breakfast in my usual spot at Saint Stephens Green. However, after consuming breakfast and enjoying my last cup of coffee from my trip resident coffee shop, the Bald Barista, I noticed that the swans were sunning themselves on the far side of the pond.

So I set out to see them up close. There, I met a gentleman who knew a great deal about the swans and their family (it’s a mom and a dad and their babies). He’d made a documentary about the swans in Saint Stephens Green, so he filled me in on them. The mom and dad are Maggie and Charlie, but the babies aren’t named yet. This is Maggie and Charlie’s second set of children and they’re about at the stage where they get kicked out of the family home. The first group ended up on the River Liffey (I saw them yesterday), so they probably won’t go too far. This gentleman was very kind and we spoke for quite some time. The Irish are so very nice and love to chat, so if you say hello, prepare for conversation! Personally, I loved it. It almost felt like home where everyone knows everyone else.

After meeting Maggie and Charlie, I finally trekked over to the National Museum of Ireland Archaeology. This was probably my favorite site in the city. I saw so many wonderful artifacts from Ireland, including things I’d only read about like torcs with animal heads, brooches and wonderful items with that beautiful Celtic art from a very long time ago. Of course, the real draw here are the bog men.

Okay, going into see the first bog man, I assumed he’d be intact. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that these men were probably being punished for crimes, so the first one was not only beheaded, but also apparently cut in half. I’m not posting a photo here because it’s actually much more gruesome than I expected. I did take a photo and if you have a strong stomach, you can view it here. It was seriously disturbing.

However, it was also cool, so I, obviously, saw the other two bog men, who weren’t quite in such a disheveled state.

See? That’s not so bad. Trust me, the other one is. I also didn’t take a photo of the one that still had hair, because, again, it was a little too weird for me. Now, I like weird, and I usually revel in it, so for something to leave me so disturbed, you know it’s bad!

I spent quite a bit of time at the Archaeology Museum, fascinated with the collections, which ranged from ancient Ireland to ancient Egypt. It was utterly wonderful.

I wish I could say that about the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Okay, to preface this, I’ve been to Centre Pompidou in Paris. So I suppose that’s why this might have been a bit of a letdown. And I don’t appreciate ALL modern art, because honestly, some of it completely goes over my head. I’ll never understand something that’s just a canvas painted white with a name, but some people do enjoy that, so I won’t judge.

Anyway, the Irish Museum of Modern Art is housed in a pretty cool building, the Royal Hospital Kilmainhaim. But the art collection itself is mostly VERY modern, and was the sort of thing I just couldn’t get into. After grabbing lunch (soup and brown bread) in the cafe, I didn’t stay there long.

My third stop was at the Hugh Lane Gallery, which was also small, but also very much within my tastes. Unfortunately, a whole part of the permanent collection was unavailable, so I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to see. However, I discovered the work of Jack Butler Yeats. If that name sounds familiar, he’s William Butler Yeats’ brother. And he was a very talented artist. My favorite piece was “There is No Night,” which you can get a peek at here. I really wanted a print of it, but none were available in the gift shop. Boo.

That was everything on my list for the day, and I ended up finishing early because I didn’t stay at the Modern Art Museum very long and the Hugh Lane had some of its halls closed. So I decided to just walk around and did my last bit of shopping. I didn’t buy much, although I found a lovely sketch of Christchurch Cathedral to go with my sketches of famous churches at home. So far, I have Notre Dame, St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey and now Christchurch. It’s sort of a thing of mine.

Unfortunately, the rest of my shopping didn’t go so well. I bought nothing else, although I looked for both shoes and a handbag. I DID find a handbag I liked, but at 600 Euros, it was a bit out of my price range. Oh, well…

By then, I was tired, so I went to the hotel and rested up before dinner. I ended up my Irish experience at O’Neill’s pub. I had a traditional Irish meal of Guinness beef stew and a Bulmers cider. The stew wasn’t quite as good as the first bowl I had earlier in the week, but it satiated me. I ended my meal by walking to Butler’s chocolates and picking up a small box of six assorted chocolates, which I called dessert.

I’ve enjoyed Ireland immensely, and its people and its scenery have won over my heart. I hope to return someday, but next year, my big trip will probably be a combination of Germany and Austria. I guess I better start working on my German.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

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I Went to Jail, Church, the Library and the Pub

Today I had tickets for the Dublin hop-on hop-off bus tour. I wasn’t sure I would like it, but it was very convenient and the buses run so regularly that I never had to wait for one. I ended up making two loops around the city because I was told to go to Kilmainhaim Gaol first as the tours book up fast and you can’t pre-book. So that’s what I did. I went to jail.

It wasn’t as oppressive as I thought it would be, but then again, it was a reform jail when they decided to let prisoners have things like food, light and exercise. However, it was extremely educational. I’ve learned about Irish history all week, but now I feel like I truly have a good understanding of the Irish struggle for independence from England and the persistence of the Irish that finally achieved that for them. The guide really did a great job of helping me keep it all straight, because it was more than just the one uprising (the Easter one) and there was even a Civil War amongst the Irish people. It’s such a turbulent history, but I think it really shines a light on the fact that the Irish fought long and hard to be free of English rule and good for them.

With my head full of history, I decided it was time to get my head full of art. So I hopped back on the bus and visited the National Gallery of Ireland, the only museum in Dublin that’s actually open on a Monday. I ate at the cafe there, and, unfortunately, the meal was rather forgettable. I had a shepherds pie with yet more potatoes on the side and some vegetables. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great, either. But that’s how museum food usually is: it’s either great or it’s not.

The museum itself, though, was surprising. The collection is small, but features some things I loved, like some works by Rodin, as well as some I’d never seen before, but fell in love with, like a painting called “The Cottage Girl” by Thomas Gainsborough. It’s a lovely work, and I even bought a magnet of it for my fridge. It was just so hauntingly beautiful.

After getting my fill of art, I decided to get right with God and visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is much more beautiful (in my opinion) than Christchurch. There are also no mean-spirited cats protecting the grounds. From the stained glass to the final resting place of Jonathan Swift, who served as the church’s dean, it really surprised me with its grandeur. It was gothic, but also Irish at the same time.

I walked around the corner to check out Marsh’s Library. Apparently, not too many tourists find this place, but I’d read about it in advance and being a writer, of course, I was going to visit it. It has the word “library” in its name. Actually, it’s a library from the 1700s, all with its original books. You can’t touch anything or take photos, but I wish I could describe the smell of the place. It was that wonderful old musty book smell: the kind of smell that screams HISTORY. I loved it. Some of the books had bullet holes because the English once fired upon the building (THE AUDACITY). Here, I also tried my hand at signing my name with a quill. Strangely enough, I did very well.

After the museum, I needed a snack, so I hopped on the bus again and started my second loop around, arriving at Ryan’s Victorian Pub. Ryan’s is a famous Victorian pub, established in 1886, and has this wonderful oak bar that just screams atmosphere. And, a lot of famous people have been here, including President John F. Kennedy. I ordered myself an Irish coffee (I needed the pick-me-up) and a slice of chocolate tarte. Both were wonderful, but most wonderful was the bartender who was singing Christmas songs and dancing around the pub. Now THAT’S Ireland!

My day, however, wasn’t over. I still needed to buy some things for myself. And because the bus tour included some coupons, I hit Nassau Street and then Grafton Street. I ended up buying quite a few lovely things, including a nice cowl scarf that I won’t be wearing for awhile because it’s not cold back home, and some Irish perfume that smelled so nice and a silver Celtic ring, among other things.

With my day over, I went back to my hotel room to drop off my things and decide dinner. As a restaurant called Fire tweeted me a few weeks back and asked me to check them out, I thought I might. They’re sort of a steakhouse, so it really wasn’t a tough decision. They’re also located in a historic building called Mansion House. I had the best rib-eye I’ve ever had in my life, along with some chips and salad, pairing it all with a glass of French merlot. I don’t know why, but I love a good merlot with steak. I wasn’t going to have dessert, but the waiter handed me the dessert menu, and I was too tempted not to. I settled on something “light,” some strawberries soaked in liqueur in a thin tart shell with clotted cream. It was a nice light dessert, but still extremely yummy. I have a weakness for clotted cream, which is something you just can’t find in the U.S.

So satiated, I came back to my room to type this and mourn that tomorrow is my last day here in Ireland. I do want to return someday, and probably, will, though. However, I miss home and my friends and my cats and my writing, and that’s actually quite nice – to have something to look forward to in returning home. I think maybe that’s part of the purpose of traveling.

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The Curse of Hekate

Alex Grosjean is back. A tall, dark and pointy-toothed stranger shows up at Alex's door and asks for help: he wants to find the insane monster-woman, Lamia, who cursed him. Meanwhile, a plague sweeps through the city and Lamia starts abducting children. After a trip across the world and a frightening encounter with the goddess Hekate, Alex must push herself to her limits to save the world. Again.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords