Thursday Morning Roundup o' Shtuff

- Happy family news: eldest nephew got his first acceptance to one of his top-pick schools: University of Pittsburgh! And now all breathe again, and don't panic at the sound of the mail drop quite so much....

- An interesting and possibly useful article about the psychology of saving (or not) in These Perilous Times. How many of those traits do you recognize?

- The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling in March. And so now we wait. Meanwhile, after a settlement in NJ, EHarmony's going to start 'allowing' same-sex matches via their website. California, the East Cast is trumping you in civil rights. That's gotta sting....

- Meanwhile, Al Qaeda resurfaced with a message for Pres-elect Obama, among other taunts calling him a "house Negro." Duuuudes. I bet he heard worse from racist asshats by the time he was 10. And I understand you're pissed that he was raised a Christian instead of a Muslim like his (absent) dad, but saying he's the "direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X? *snort* You need better insults. Really. 'Cause you didn't even make him blink. Hell, you didn't even make his daughters blink.

Coffee done. Off to work I go...

this just in!

Anna Leonard's novella, "Dreamcatcher" will be included in the print anthology MIDNIGHT CRAVINGS, from Nocturne (April 2009: ISBN 978-0-373-25093-6, trade format).

You can still download the story off the eHarlequin website or Other E-Pushers, if you so desire, of course...

[also, have updated the inevitably incomplete bibliography. For those of you who read straight from the page, it's the first, post-dated entry at the very top of the screen.]

Five years, and another milestone drops on my toe....

Damn. I missed my anniversary. Five years a freelancer, this week. Yay?

Lots of changes since then. Some good, some sad, all of them a part in landing me here, where I am content. There are far worse fates.

And yet, no matter how many times it's happened since then, I'm never ready...

You can pre-order BLOOD FROM STONE now.

eeeek.

At Amazon, anyway. B&N and Borders some day as well, I suppose, but they're not admitting to it yet.

Or, you can pre-order it from a local independent store..

Why should you pre-order? Because that tells the stores they will have money coming in, so they will order the copies, so the publisher will print the copies, so everyone gets their copies and the wheels of publishing keep turning.... and you still don't have to pay until the book actually comes in!

As always, send me an e-mail [LAG(at)lauraannegilman(dot)net] telling me you pre-ordered it, and I will send you a signed bookplate.