Now you're talking!

Not every book is going to appeal to every reader, however I can tell by the feedback I've been getting over the past few weeks that I've certainly found my tribe with the Signs of the Zodiac series, so on this loooooong weekend (BBQ, anyone?) before the final book's release, I have to say (again), a very heartfelt, Thank you, Readers. It has been amazing hearing how much the series has meant to so many of you, that we really connected through the text (the true and humbling magic of writing, IMHO), and how much you're going to miss Joanna. I'll miss her, too … but as long as I have my tribe I think I'll be all right, yanno?

Anyhoo, I apparently also connected with … a Geek! Now as someone who spends a lot of time locked alone in a room (not padded, thanks), talking to people in her head, I whole-heartedly consider myself a geek. I love meeting people, and can be as gregarious as anyone in the right circumstances, but I'm most comfortable alone, in my head, and thus the self-applied term, Geek, definitely applies to me.

That's why I'm so chuffed about Geek Speak Magazine's review here. Not entirely complimentary, which is unnecessary as I don't need compliments, but they got it, which is more important. And they encapsulated what I was trying to do with Joanna's story … one that unexpectedly turned into a saga. In short, they call it: A fitting conclusion to a captivating, complicated and utterly confounding series.

At length, they add:

In the case of The Signs of the Zodiac, Vicki Pettersson's paradigm-shattering Urban Fantasy series, I am somewhat torn. On the one hand, I think the concept is one of the most outstandingly original and utterly enchanting mashups the expansive subgenre has ever produced, and I think it a shame it has to be brought to a close. But on the other hand I just feel kind of wrong wishing for yet more books in the series.

I do like to believe myself not entirely sadistic, after all.

And that's what it would be. Sadism. Sadism to want to read more in this series, since from the very first the overwhelming theme here has been the relentless torture and eternal suffering of our massively unfairly-treated heroine, Joanna Archer.

You can go here if you'd like to read more, and if you'd like to read the NEON GRAVEYARD interview I just did for them last week, that can be found here. It contains some questions I hadn't been asked before – on origins, Jo's traumatic past, evil fathers, regrets, Vegas, and so on — and it was great fun. I thank them for their time.

Remember, if you're having a hard time waiting until Tuesday, you can still read the first five chapters here. And I still have poker chips left as freebies. They'll go fast at my signings, so if you want to be sure to get one first – along with a signed bookplate – that info is here. If I've any left over I plan on giving them away in the same way I currently do my bookplates (SASE – info on the contact/comment page sidebar).

Now I'm going to bow out of the web zone for the day to work on edits. I didn't get to touch them yesterday with giveaways and soul poker and mommying and such, so I'm itchy to do so.

Finally, Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all! Yeah, I admit my first thought is of the grill and the beach and the call-to-arms for vast summer travel … but it wouldn't be possible at all without the call-to-arms met by the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for this gorgeous, flawed, proud, troubling, ambitious and loved country of ours. And for all of us, who share the same attributes.

Thank you to all those who've served in the armed forces for your great, great sacrifices.