Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls

Thomas has something he'd like to show you, and since I try to go along with my cats when they have strong desires (I don't want them to chew my face off in the night), I'm going to let him be the one to display the pretty this time. The pretty, pretty, pretty.

Pretty!



He's very attached to that copy, but I have several more, and this is your opportunity to win one. Because seriously, the ARCs of Ashes of Honor are flat-out gorgeous, and would grace the very finest of homes. So...

To enter today's drawing, post a comment on this entry. The entry itself, not as a reply to someone else. I will give it through the weekend, and will select a winner via random number generator on Sunday night. Now, the important part: you really will have 24 hours to get me your info if you win, because then I'm leaving for San Diego, and will not be shipping anything until I get back. So if you want an ARC, watch this space Sunday night!

Open to international winners, but please identify your country of origin in the comment if non-US, so I'll know I need to pick up customs forms while I wait for your address.

Game on!

Lilly says that it's time for an open thread. Obey the Siamese. (Lilly also says that whomever caused her monkey to leave the house for an entire weekend will face her wrath. This is because Lilly is secretly a tiny medieval warlord in a fuzzy, soft, pettable coat. Who's the cutest destroyer? IZZIT YOU?!)

But anyway. Open thread! Say anything! Woo! Lilly says so.



Comment amnesty is on for this post, but I will be reading, and may reply anyway, because I'm wacky like that.

See y'all next week!

This is a rare thing which I am sharing with you; a moment of peace and tranquility the likes of which happens only for a few seconds at a time, and even then, only when the moon is right, and the tide is low, and the world holds its breath.

Behold:



That's Alice closest to camera, with Thomas in the middle, and Lilly on the end. As is always the case with me, the picture is a few weeks old at this point; Thomas is almost twice as big now as he was when this picture was taken (I think shortly after Arisia).

I hope that all is well in your world, and that something makes you as happy as these three balls of vicious blue fluff make me.

Some things are beautiful because they are timeless and universal. A mountain at sunset. A baby rattlesnake coiled on a smooth rock. Pigeons. Other things are beautiful because they're specific and familiar. Like, say, two fluffy, enormous blue cats relaxing in a bed with orange sheets, surrounded by Halloween pillows and weird stuffed toys. (Appearing in this picture, we have Amberlee the Velociraptor and Oleander the Blue-Ringed Octopus.) I think that's pretty specific, don't you?

So do they.



This picture is a few weeks old now, which is why Alice looks so annoyed, and why Thomas is so damn small (he's already expanded by about 1/3, and may be bigger in the morning). But behold their green and orange eyes!

Happy holidays, no matter what holiday you choose to surround yourself with while you sleep.

Now is the time on Sprockets where I take my suitcase, my passport, my train tickets, and my mother, and head to the San Francisco International Airport. From there, we will fly to Los Angeles, and I will spend the weekend as ConChord's Guest of Honor/Westercon's Music Guest of Honor. Yay!

Since I'm about to leave you to your own devices for the entire weekend, I thought I should bribe you to play nicely with, well, the world. Here's Lilly, being...dignified:



The Siamese, ladies and gentlemen. Nature's most dignified feline.

Yeah. Right. Have fun!

Point the first: There has been an epic influx of new people around here in the past few days. Like, epic. The kind of influx which causes me to start doing careful web checks to see if someone has been claiming that I regularly give away chocolate, kittens, and live Suicide Girls. (Hint: I do not do any of these things.) In the end, I have to admit that I'm stumped. I don't know where y'all are coming from, and while I'm happy as heck to have you, I'd love to know where you're coming from. And yes, I get the part where I have a book coming out in three days and this might—might—potentially be influencing the sudden flood of new names and faces. Still.

Point the second: If you enter a CVS Drugs in search of the tiny, addictive balls of malted goodness called "Robin's Eggs" by the makers of Easter candy, you may find that there are no Robin's Eggs on the shelves. There are, instead, extremely similar-looking candies called "Speckled Malted Milk Mini Eggs." Now, this is basically what Robin's Eggs are, so you could be forgiven for saying "fuck it, buy generic" and picking up a bag. You would not be the first. Once you had purchased this cruel temptation, it would be understandable if you then opened the bag, and placed one of the little balls of sugar in your mouth. But I have walked this path for you, and I have come to tell you the truth:

Speckled Malted Milk Mini Eggs are NOT fucking Robin's Eggs, and whoever decided to market these things as if they were should be forced to drown in their horrific, slime-like pseudo-chocolate coating.

I suffer so you don't have to.

Point the third: My house is currently in the throes of a full-scale invasion. To be specific, it is currently inhabited by Betsy Tinney, her daughter Katie, SJ Tucker, Kevin Wiley, Alexander James Adams, and the people who normally live here. Plus my opinionated monster cats, who can fill a house all by themselves. On Monday night, the fabulous Amy McNally arrives. If we run out of coffee at any point, cannibalism cannot be far behind. You have been warned. Also, if fandom did reality show filming, we would so be prime time right now.

Point the fourth: Since A Local Habitation comes out in three days, and one of them is mostly over now, I have to warn you that I may go basically batshit at any moment, and need to be removed from the ceiling fixtures by men with tranquilizer darts filled with Diet Dr Pepper. On the plus side, again, Amy gets here Monday, and she will sacrifice herself upon my dark altar that you may all be saved. Be kind to her. She suffers for your protection.

Point the fifth: Here. Have a picture of Lilly and Alice, sitting together, without injuring each other.

First off, remember that I'm still taking entries in the A Local Habitation ARC contest! To answer two questions I've been asked a time or two, no, the pets don't need to be yours, just photographed with owner consent, and yes, this contest is open to everyone, not just US residents. (To answer a third question, yes, you're welcome to cover your book with snails or give it to an octopus, but in those cases, I won't replace it. "Book eaten by tiger" is an accident, "book given to marine resident" is a very odd choice and an excuse to go to the bookstore.)

I'll take entries until the end of the weekend, and open voting Monday or Tuesday. Pet photography is fun!

( Now, what is the power of kittens compelling you to do this time? Click to find out. Alice says hello. )

For those of us in the continental United States, today is Tax Day: the day when it becomes more physically unsafe to be in the immediate vicinity of a post office than it is to be in the middle of the mall on Christmas Eve. Because I am a merciful human being who understands that angry mobs, like other natural disasters, sometimes just happen, I have elected to celebrate Tax Day in the most sensible way possible.

To whit: cat pictures. Today we're focusing on Alice, because you aren't as tired of looking at her yet.

( Cut because kindness says 'do not force others to look at your cats without actually agreeing to the activity.' Also because there are several graphics here. )

So I have once again managed to go several months without giving everybody access to the best accessory any blogger can have: pictures of their cats. Cats are adorable. Cats are sweet (as long as you don't have to be in a room with them). And best of all, my cats are Siamese, which everybody knows is an awesome breed. BECAUSE I SAY SO.

So anyway, here are my cats.

( Cut because kindness says 'do not force others to look at your cats without actually agreeing to the activity.' Also because there are several graphics here. )