Maybe it’s a byproduct of that Thursday Thirteen I did about the Fake Bands site (which, according to its owner, won’t be updated anytime soon). Maybe it’s because I took the advice of many of you groupies and am working on my own listing of books about rock and roll. Maybe it’s just because something’s in the air.

BUT.

All of a sudden, I’m hearing about all these books that are coming out/have been released relatively recently that focus on … what else? Rock and roll in some form.

First is Sheila Copeland’s Diamond Revelation. This came out last November; I only found it because I’m that far behind in my print copies of Publishers Weekly.

Then came my dear resource Winter (which is better than a friend), telling me about Kathy Love’s Vampire Band. I’m waiting for these books to show up in my PO Box so I can check them out.

More lately is Jeri Smith-Ready and her latest release, Wicked Game.

And last, Stephanie Kuehnert‘s I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.

Yep, they’re all on this Rock and Roll Fiction page I’m working on for the website. Don’t worry if you don’t click through and buy them now. You’ll be able to once I finish with the new webpage.

Seems like a trend, huh? We’ve got vamp bands, young adult books about how girls relate to music, “an insider’s view of the music industry, replete with money, materialism, jealousy, deception, sex, and cold hearted ambition” (says Publisher’s Weekly).

So where’s the book about the bass player who finds his life turned upside down the day after his best friend and partner-in-crime goes out and lands a date with a girl all by his lonesome?

Sometimes, when you step back and ponder if your view of things is correct, patience is a virtue that sucks big toes. Ya know? Even when you know the circumstances behind the delays, even when you agree that yes, there should be delays in this case…

I’ve never been patient. Ever. I keep telling myself that this is what I’m supposed to be learning right now: patience. It’ll happen when the time is right, and I probably won’t know when the time is right, no matter how much I want it to be right spanking now.

But, on a happy side, there’s four or five books for all of us to read while we wait. One thing I hear over and over again is that books about rock stars don’t sell.

There’s four (or five, depending on how many of the Kathy Love books you pick up) chances to prove that credo wrong.

Let’s go for it.

Because a long holiday weekend should make for a good stretch of reading time, this week’s BTT is simple: What are you reading?

Well.

On my nightstand, I have a copy of Carole Nelson Douglas’ Dancing with Werewolves. This is totally going to be the next book I rave about. LOVING it.

Downstairs (yes, that’s how I divvy up my reading ’cause if I don’t, a book is never on the right floor when I need it and yes, I’m too lazy to fix that numerous times a day, or when in my PJs for the night), I just started the Preston/Child creation Brimstone.

I need to put it down and read Kabbalah: A Love Story for my book club, which meets on Wednesday, though. Who, me? Putting it off to the last minute? Nah.

If you’re not a BTTer, go on and tell me: what are YOU reading right now?

I’d been all celebratory when I decided to write up this post. After eight days away on business, the Tour Manager was headed home. Then he called to say he’d been held hostage on the plane AT THE GATE for an hour.

Poof! There went my shiny mood.

Anyway, so many of you responded that I should start my own website for fake bands that I’m going to. Sort of. It’s going to be a page on my main site that’ll feature books about rock and roll. I’ve got about sixty (maybe more) listed already. If you have suggestions, leave ’em in the comments or drop me an e-mail.

Huge thanks once again to Winter for doing not only my awesome ShapeShifter logo but for doing a bit of investigating on that front.

Anyway. Back to the books. This was a big week for news of releases to cross my path. Ready for what I’ve found?

Beth Williamson: Hell for Leather

Joely Sue Burkhart: Beautiful Death

Gena Showalter: The Darkest Pleasure

Lauren Dane: Making Chase (now in print!)

Melanie Atkins: Voodoo Bones

Vivian Zabel: Midnight Hours

Phyllis Campbell: Danger in Her Arms (now in print!)

and last but perhaps most longingly by me (because I’m missing her release party!)
Kathryn Miller Haynes: The Winter of her Discontent

Busy week, huh? Congratulations to all my author buds on their new releases. May your sales be huge and your advance earned out soon. And may the Tour Manager actually get off that plane and be back West of Mars.

As promised in my most recent Book Talk post (missed it? You should fix that), I have a spare copy of Toni McGee Causey‘s debut novel, Bobbie Faye’s Very (very very very) Bad Day. Autographed.

You want to read this. You need to read this. You’ll never have a bad day again once you read this because compared to a Bobbie Faye day, you’re small potatoes.

I promise.

Leave me a comment between now and next Sunday, June 22, and I’ll pick a winner. All the usual rules apply: anyone on the planet, previous winners okay, you must be cool, I’ll let the kids pick a number and the person who left that comment number wins.

One more thing, though. Since Bobbie Faye has a bad day, what’s the worst you can come up with? Tell me in the comments; just saying, “enter me” isn’t enough. You gotta work for it ’cause baby, you’re still not working half as hard as Bobbie Faye does.

Thanks for the linkage! To Suey at It’s All About Books and to myself at Win a Book.

Edited to add: congratulations to Tracy at BookroomReviews for winning this copy! Hopefully she’ll read and review it there, too. This really is one of those books that deserves wider attention.

Booking Through Thursday has regained its stride, I’d say.

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

I think any of you groupies around here will know my answer: it’s all about character. If you asked me to describe that eternal classic Flowers in the Attic, I’d tell you about the evil grandmother, the panty-waist mom, the curious kids who were a bit too smart for their own good. Maybe I’d mention the air that hung over the whole book, dark, dank, and malodorously ugly. But I’d definitely talk about each character’s personality.

Same for just about any other book I read. Heck, I just finished The Rapture of Canaan and found myself thinking more about the character of Ninah and what a catalyst for change she is, versus her grandfather, around whom the society revolves. Really, the story’s about a community in flux, but not to me. It’s about how Ninah puts them there.

Now, to get a bit more personal…

If you’re not a groupie but just dropping by to visit, you should know that I’m a writer, and that one of the things that keep my regulars coming back to read the fiction that I post here is … yes, you guessed it. The emotional investment that all of these guys (and myself, of course!) have developed to my character, Trevor Wolff.

Here on the blog, I love to write about moments, outtakes I call them because they aren’t long enough to be a short story and they aren’t as fully contained as a good flash fiction ought to be. I pick these moments from the years leading up to Trevor’s Song, my novel awaiting publication, from the time around when the book is set, and I’ve even done one or two others that are set after the time period of the book.

Everyone comes back, time and again, week after week, to see what Trevor’s up to this time. Even if my readers can’t relate directly to Trevor, they key into him in very astute ways. They see that his gruffness is just a cover, that he’s smarter than he pretends to be, and that he’s a hell of a people person — in his own way. And when he and Mitchell start playing off each other, it’s better than George and Gracie or Lucy and Ricardo. (However, that sort of implies that the boys are gay, which they’re not. In fact, in the book, they find themselves in a bit of a love triangle, with a redhead at the center of it. Sort of.)

As a reader and as a writer, it’s all about character. The literary agent I’m still in discussions with has described Trevor’s Song as a character study.

That … umm, characterization … of my work flatters me beyond words.

If you click on Trevor or Mitchell‘s names, you’ll be taken to a page on my main website that gives you a quick character sketch. At the bottom of each page are links back here to the blog, direct links to different outtakes and Thursday Thirteen lists and other fun I’ve had with these two pretend men. Or you can go to the Free Downloads section of the site and do a tiny bit of reading in chronological order. Your choice, but I do invite you to poke around and become a groupie, too!

Let me first tell you who’s up to what since my last report a whole two weeks ago…

LA Day, who is cool, has a new release at Ellora’s Cave: Satin Seduction. And for you Fictionwise shoppers, her Undercover Pleasure Droid (which is a truly kick-ass title and I want it for myself) is now available there.

The awesome and smart Shelley Munro seems to have her name on two new releases, too: Lovers at Last and Midnight Treat, an anthology that’s now available in print.

Beth Williamson, who I met at RT and thought was quite lovely and I’d like to be her friend, has an entry in the perfectly timed Sand, Sun, and Sex series. It’s available in an e-book AND in print, for those who prefer to hold a book, not some sort of electronic device. Oh, yeah. It’s called Marielle’s Marshal.

And my dear friend Red Garnier has another new one. Color my Heart is its name. You know you can’t resist.

Completely without intending to, I won a copy of the Nothing But Red anthology from Jessica Tudor, with whom I’ve been chatting all things Pittsburgh Penguins. This is an important book, one whose genesis just makes me sick. Let’s all band together and make a difference in the world. A positive one.

And now… to make a difference in YOUR world, let me rave about Toni McGee Causey‘s Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day. I met Toni in an elevator at RT, where she showed off her Suck Me, Shuck Me t-shirt and raved about her book. She was on this incredible adrenaline high; I took to her immediately. Getting to know her a bit better at the Mystery Chix and a Dick breakfast that final morning before the book sale (hey, it was final for me!) was a treat. I hope to have lots more Toni goodness for you guys in the future. (Hey, Toni! Are you listening?)

Anyway. The book.

I mentioned in my last Book Talk that I was reading this and loving it. It only got better. Bobbie Faye is this woman who seems to be able to do nothing right, yet has as many fans as she has detractors. Think Stephanie Plum and her exploits and multiply it by a factor of … a million. If it can go wrong, it does (except for maybe blisters. Maybe.) — but somehow, Bobbie Faye finds a way out.

Not only does Causey write fantastic action sequences (that didn’t make me squint as I tried to envision and understand what was happening. Ever notice how some do?), but the romantic male lead… okay, his name is Trevor, so I’m partial in the first place. He’s a Trevor worthy of the name.

That was in April when I first met Toni. A few weeks ago, the second in the Bobbie Faye series came out, Bobbie Faye’s (Kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels. I threw it on my wish lists at the book trading sites … I’m not the only person at Paperback Swap who’s a fan of Bobbie Faye, let me tell you. I’m #50 of 56 (at last check) in line for a copy.

Know what that means? Word’s getting out, and fast. Check Toni and Bobbie Faye out and help spread the word, yourself. You know you want to.

You can thank me later.

(btw, stay tuned or scroll or something. I wound up with an extra copy of Very Bad Day and will be giving it away here in a second or two. See? I knew you wanted to!)

Gotta love this week’s Booking Through Thursday:

Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (or, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?

Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

Nope, never been a book club member. Sorry. I OWN my book club.

No, I didn’t buy them. I don’t run roughshod over them. They just like me so much that the job of leader is mine until I don’t want it any more. We’ve been together for almost eight years now. I love my group.

As to the reading experience, we all try harder to finish something we don’t like. There was one that the whole group hated. They won’t let me live down the fact that they managed to finish it and I couldn’t. Believe me, I tried. It just wasn’t meant to be.

Our most recent book was so poorly written that it made me gag. I’ve got another whole post about that, so stay tuned. One of the women described it as “Susan versus everyone else” and while I can’t say that’s not entirely true, it’s not entirely false, either. I doubt I would have finished it if it weren’t a book club choice, but the story was … well-intentioned. The bones of it were there, and that part was … okay. It was supposed to be about a woman, the title character. Instead, it was the story of her husband and his struggle to be a good husband. Okay, fine. I can deal. Just call it something else, will you? Of course, that ruins the theme of the series…

And yes, I’ll shut up and smile when we read the third in this particular series. Hopefully, the author has taken more time and gotten the writing up to where it was in the first book. We’ll see…

One note that the BTT question didn’t address: Yes, I feel terrible when something I brought to the group is a total dog. But when I suggest something like Disobedience or A Day of Small Beginnings or A Thread of Grace (okay, a non-member suggested that one and I pushed for it), it’s that much sweeter.

After a few weeks off with nothing to say about the question, Booking Through Thursday and I are back together.

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

Of course they’ve changed. I’ve changed.

Beyond that simple answer, though, is a bigger one: the Internet and, more specifically, online book trading and BookCrossing.

I’ve always had a hard time finding people who read the same stuff I do. Pittsburgh just scored very low on the scale of people who aren’t sheep (or lemmings, take your pick), and so often, the people around me who read tend to pick up the latest Oprah book, or the latest Mary Higgins Clark or John Grisham… you get the point. The best sellers.

Once I began finding online book communities — and am now building one of my own — I’m finding myself exposed to so many genres, authors, books, and all the rest that it’s mind-boggling. I mean, hey. The wishlist I maintain here at home has over 1400 books on it, and I’ve got a good thousand more to enter from my pre-online days. (mostly of the higher-brow variety, which is one reason I’m not super hard on the trail of those books)

It’s refreshing to be involved with more than the literary set I was surrounded by during my grad school years. I like commercial fiction and have never made apologies about it. It’s what I write.

And with the book trading sites and with the friends I’ve made with whom I pass books back and forth, I’m finding that I’m more open to new ideas, plots, genres, what have you.

Well, so long as it’s fiction. Fiction has always been my true love; it’s just the way I’m wired.

As I make my way through the stack of goodies I brought home from the Romantic Times Conference, I’m starting to share things with you.

Today, it’s a collection of excerpts from Wicked Writers Shayla Black, Shelley Bradley, Charlene Teglia, Cathryn Fox, Mackenzie McKade, Sylvia Day, SJ Day, and Sasha White. Many of these women you’ll find roaming the blogosphere; just like I always say over at Win-a-Book (been there lately??), check their sites and blogs out. You never know what you’ll find.

The second collection is an excerpt from the about-to-be-released novel, The Accidental Demon Slayer, by Angie Fox. This book is getting a lot of press, so I’m giving you a quick peek at the start of what looks like a lot of mayhem.

While the Wicked Excerpts is largely non-sexual, I’d like to restrict the winner to being over 18, just to be safe. It’s pretty suggestive (and full of cool-sounding stuff). So… make sure that in the comments, you certify that you’re 18. I’m gonna hold you to your claims (and investigate if necessary).

Like usual, if you’d like these two little excerpts, leave a comment here, with contact information and, if you’re not a regular, a statement that you are, under penalty of law, over 18. The idea here is to share some neat fiction, not to get me the publicity for being arrested for distributing sexual material to minors. Although the publicity might not be so bad…

I’ll close comments next Tuesday, June 3, and pick a winner then.

I decided that joining the Book Binge challenge was something I could easily accomplish. Despite the fact that school is letting out and the Penguins are in the Stanley Cup Finals (for how much longer, no one knows and I really fear for Game 6, but that’s how life is. I loved my Pens when they sucked. I love them if they don’t win the series.), I read like a demon.

Here’s the list:

The Long Lavender Look — John D. MacDonald
Nine Princes in Amber — Roger Zelazny
Master — Colette Gale (read my review at Front Street Reviews!)
H — Elizabeth Shephard
The Rabbi’s Cat 2 — Joann Sfar (read my review at Front Street Reviews!)
Little Vampire Does Kung Fu — Joann Sfar
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress — Dai Sijie
Rashi’s Daughters II: Miriam — Maggie Anton
The Island of Dr. Moreau — HG Wells
Windfall — Rachel Caine
Leave a Message for Willie — Marcia Muller

Wow. Eleven books. Pretty good, but I’d been hoping to finish a certain ARC of a certain upcoming release of a certain series I love so much, I can hardly wait to sit down, crawl inside, and read some more of. Stay tuned for more about that, but it’s possible that I like this place more than my own creation right now (probably because it’s not my creation. You know how that goes).

Only one of these books disappointed me, and I’ll have more about that later on. The rest I really dug, especially Little Vampire, which both my kids attached themselves to. The book says it’s for kids 10 and over. My kids aren’t ten. That hasn’t stopped them yet.

Three of these books are still here in the house (H, Dr. Moreau, and Willie). If you’d like to read one of them, give a yell and I’ll share my copy with you. Yes, they’re all registered at BookCrossing. Why? Because it’s fun to see where a book I’ve read ends up (and for how long, which is something I’m terribly guilty of).

Now, I must leave and go finish up that ARC ’cause I’m also in the middle of a cool mystery I’ll tell you about when I finish it. And there’s a lot of buzz right now about the way cool Toni McGee Causey, whose new book, Bobbie Faye’s (Kinda, Sorta, Not Exactly) Family Jewels, has me excited to pick up the first in the series as my next read… I’ve got a copy to share, too, so stay tuned.

Other new releases on my radar:
Fox’s Bride, by my bud Amy Ruttan.
A new Ellora’s Cave release from Anna J. Evans
One Too Many by Marie-Nicole Ryan
Reilly’s Promise by Christyne Butler

Maybe I ought to quit this writing gig and do nothing but read all day. And ride my bike, but that part’s a given…

It seems like every week, I’m reading about newly released books. Remember, folks, it’s good to buy a book as soon as it comes out. Don’t be like me and drag your feet; those early sales numbers can (unfortunately) make or break a career.

Let’s start with Daisy Dexter Dobbs. She had a new release over at Ellora’s Cave — and it’s a big one! 120,000 words. Yipes, that’s big. Given Daisy’s track record, though, I’m sure it’s good.

My good friend Amy Ruttan and her good friend Karen Erickson both have new books out, too. They are kicking off the new Ellora’s Cave series, Oh Yum! Older women, younger men… sounds like fun.

Karen’s new to me, but both she and Amy blog separately and with groups. Go check ’em out. Tell ’em I sent you. If they have excerpts up (like Daisy does), take the few minutes and read them. One thing I’ve learned lately is how useful excerpts really are.

In my own reading news, I caught up on a classic! This is monumental news because I generally loathe classics. So what did I read? The Island of Dr. Moreau, by HG Wells. I’ll tell you now, I don’t loathe science fiction classics.

Stay tuned for the outtakes spawned by Thursday’s Thirteen (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out). And the winner of the Rabbi’s Cat 2. Better enter soon if you want it!

Edited to congratulate my friend Grace — yes, Grace in Dubai — for winning this awesome book! Yay, Grace!

Yes, that’s right! You’ve heard me raving about Joann Sfar’s brilliance long enough. Now is your chance to pick up your very own copy of The Rabbi’s Cat 2, compliments of the good people at Pantheon Books.

This hardback book hasn’t even been opened yet; you’ll get to do the honors. (That means I haven’t registered it at BookCrossing, either.)

How to enter:
Go visit my review at Front Street Reviews.

Leave a comment on this post with some sort of contact information between now and 24 May, 2008. Please be sure to tell me why you’d like to experience Joann Sfar and his famous cat. Random “Enter me!” comments aren’t good enough anymore.

You can be anywhere on Planet Earth. You can have won before. Please don’t sell it on eBay; if I think you have done so, I’ll toss any future contest entries you make.

Yeah, I’m getting mean. But a book this special deserves special treatment.

You might have missed this — and I hope you have — but I’ve been whining to myself lately that I’m not doing enough to spread the word about my fellow writers. At the RT Convention, I’d come up with this idea to do an author spotlight, but I wasn’t really sure how to implement it. My friends and I launched a cool contest blog, but it’s not enough. I want to do more for the great writers out there.

So I owe a big chunk of credit to my friend Bridget, who’s not a blogger but who is part of my at-home road crew. She keeps me sane, listens to me vent, makes me feel guilty for skipping the gym, and drops her kid at my house so she can shop in peace while I get uninterrupted writing time. She also took my idea of an author spotlight and gave me ideas how to make it work.

That left me with the dilemma of who to choose. Ugh, the possibilities. I couldn’t choose, couldn’t figure out a way TO choose.

Until about ten minutes ago. I was sitting on the couch, catching up on the Metallica Club‘s latest edition of their magazine, So What! I’d like this mag even if their editor, who’s a cool dude with the cool name of Steffan, hadn’t let me write a few pieces for it. I mean, hello? Metallica, people! Susan loves Metallica.

The main feature in this issue is an interview by renowned rock writer (Steffan’s words, not mine) Sylvie Simmons. I’ve been working through the interview slowly, wishing I had an uninterrupted chunk of time to devote to it. Every time I scrape out a few minutes, I envision myself signing into the Metallica Club’s bulletin boards and asking, “Am I the only one more jazzed about the fact that Sylvie Simmons did the interview than I am by the subject?”

I probably am.

Heck, *I’d* never heard of Sylvie Simmons until I heard about her 2004 collection of stories, Too Weird for Ziggy. It was one of those books I had to have. Right then. So I ran out and ordered it for myself. Yes, from a bookstore. (Those of you who know me well know what an avid book trader I am.) Yes, from an independent book store, which is another thing that’s important to me.

I’m not a fan of stories, but Sylvie Simmons totally rocked them. She created characters — some of whom make more than one appearance in this book — who are darker, more depraved, more sick, more gross, more grotesque than mine. In short, they are rock and roll at its essence. I write rock-lite in comparison. (And no, Trevor’s not insulted by that. Nor, for that matter, am I.)

The lead-off story, Pussy, has stayed with me all this time. It’s haunting.

At one point, I tracked down Ms. Simmons and asked if there was more fiction in the works. There wasn’t. Not at that moment, anyway. But she had a story in a collection called London Noir…

Which is now sitting on my Mountain of To Be Reads, otherwise known as Mt. TBR. (also known as my small book problem.) It’s number 315 of 349, so it’ll be awhile.

But in the meantime, go check out Too Weird for Ziggy. You’ll quickly see why Sylvie Simmons deserves more attention and why I’m taking up a beautiful afternoon to rave about her. She’s one of those writers who I ought to be focusing on.

And so, I am. Maybe one of these days, I’ll finish up that magazine…

I saw that Colette Gale was offering peeks at her new book, Master, if we’d promise to blog about the book. How could I resist? After all, she’s the one who wrote Unmasqued, a book with no small amount of controversy behind it — seems that it was too sexy for some. (I still don’t get that, as both the spine and the cover of the copy I bought at RT clearly mark it as an erotic novel. But then I don’t get the person who was offended by Trevor. What did she expect from a rock star if not the word motherfucker? Sometimes, I don’t get people. I just don’t.)

Therefore, anything I say comes with that caveat: this book is full of explicit, wonderful, yummy sex. Okay? Got that?

Now, you can read my full review over at Front Street Reviews. It’s done, it’s up, and it says lots of things about the book. I’m going to use this space to say things that I didn’t put in the review. Like how absolutely stunning the cover is. How I want to wear the dress on the cover model (even though it seems totally contrary to the outfits of the times). Like how this book reads really fast yet also has a nice, strong subtext.

Oh, wait. I said that last part in my review. Sorry.

But that’s probably what struck me most about Master. The fact that on the surface, you’ve got this story of love and revenge, all tied up into what ought to be a neatly confused package. But it’s not. Ms. Colette Gale transcends the easy way out and goes for something better.

I don’t want to say too much. Read the review. Buy the book. And no, don’t even ask where the contest for my copy is. Not. Gonna. Happen. MINE. Hear me? I’m not parting with this one. Go buy your own.

You won’t be disappointed.

Two more you won’t be disappointed with: H, by Elizabeth Shepard. This slim, older (1995) book would make great book club discussions.

And… the review is coming. The giveaway is coming. The Rabbi’s Cat 2, by my hero, Joann Sfar. Stay tuned, but take this chance to pick up The Rabbi’s Cat (the original) so you know what’s going on when you read The Rabbi’s Cat 2. Because you don’t want to miss out on brilliance.

(psst. Master. Buy it!)

Wow. This week’s Booking Through Thursday is a stroll down memory lane…

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

Yeah, I’ve got them. They are leftover from my days as an MFA student and from my years as a freelance copyeditor. I looked for one of them a few weeks ago, but other than that, it’s been years since I opened any of them or did more than run my eyes over where they sit on my shelves.

Like my ice hockey gear, the pots I threw during ceramics classes and various other things around the house — the bottle of motor oil that was a promotional gift when Ministry was singing how Jesus Built My Hotrod — these are now relics of a past life.

The kids say comment #2 is our winner, and that’s Winter! Stop over and congratulate her, if you’d be so kind…

Sticky Post! Scroll on down for the Trevor-licious stuff!

Well, okay. No. Sorry. I’m not giving you Lisa Jackson, the best-selling author. That’s not within my power to do. (Although I’d love to have lunch with her!)

What I do have is a black, size XL, pre-shrunk, 100% cotton t-shirt that says “Looking for Lost Souls” on the front and some promo blurb on the back for her new book, Lost Souls.

And to sweeten the deal, I’ll throw in a read-by-me (complete with creases in the spine) copy of The Morning After.

Want this stuff? Leave a comment with your contact information and I’ll pick a name and winner next Tuesday, May 6. You can be anywhere on Planet Earth, you must be nice, and you must leave contact information.

Yes, it’s that easy. But if you’ve been here long enough, you know this is how I do contests. I like easy; it lets me keep my attention fixed on a certain band and the people who orbit them…

Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??

And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….

Okay, so first off, I’ve always got a Publisher’s Weekly or two stuffed beside the Tour Manager’s seat in my car.

Secondly, I’m going to be like Karen and pretend that we can’t do the obvious and hit up the bookstore in the airport. I mean, hello? This is West of Mars where I live, people. There are a bunch of bookstores in the airport and as much as it pains me to pay full retail when I’ve got (literally) hundreds of books on my TBR pile, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

So. PW is now boring. There are no bookstores. What do I do?

Well, I start talking to people, of course. People with books. Because if I can channel some Trevor magic the right way, I’ll be able to convince them to cough up their book so I can read it. Yes, even if it means promising to mail the book back — along with a few goodies from the aforementioned TBR mountain range.

Now, say that doesn’t work. My local Martian airport has free WiFi, so what do I do now? You guessed it! Hijack someone else’s computer! Now, this doesn’t mean I grab their ‘puter and put it on my lap and start surfing. Oh, no. We must be much more subtle about this and show them what a big, wide world of Book Bloggers it is. To do this, we take advantage of Dewey’s first Weekly Geeks and show my poor victim five cool book blogs. Try these on for size: Chris at Bookarama. That’s the Book. Book and Other Games. This Book is for You (who has the first online review of the new Jhumpa Lahiri I’ve seen yet). And Free Listens.

And Dudes, that’s only FIVE great blogs to check out. Why, given half a chance, I could convince a total stranger that the best way to pass time in an airport is to surf book blogs!

But… let’s come back down to Earth now and face up to the fact that I’m really not bold enough to try either of these Trevorish techniques.

Rather, I’d bemoan the fact that I don’t have a Sony eReader and so I’d sit and … write new outtakes in my head. Which probably makes all you groupies a lot happier than if I really did the above scenarios. But it’s fun to think about! (and on the off chance you’re not a groupie and don’t get why you’d be happy to hear about outtakes, please come back more often and see for yourself the fun you’re missing!).

By the way, if you came here via a direct link, be sure to check out the great giveaway I’m doing!

I’m not sure I get this week’s Booking Through Thursday:

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?

Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

I just brought home another 30 or so books from the RT Convention, not to mention all the free excerpts (a marketing tool I HIGHLY recommend!).

At this point, I’ve got so much to be read that I’m trying frantically to not drown in all the books. You can see a concerted effort on my part below, or here, if you have to click to it.

I don’t get what the change of seasons has to do with what we read. I’d better check out what you guys all have to say. As for gardening books, I thought you were supposed to read those in the winter, as you draw up your plans?

I also have lots to give away in the upcoming weeks/months. Stay tuned for those!

OMG, I’m howling. This week’s Booking Through Thursday is just perfect. I may sound a bit like Trevor here, but go figure. Maybe there’s more of him in me than I’m usually willing to own up to.

When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?)
* Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must?

Okay, I’ve gotta come clean here, although You Who Know Me Well already know this.

When I hear the word literature, I gag. Seriously.

I have not one, but two degrees in English. I’ve managed to avoid reading most of what we’d call literature — Hemingway, Virgina Woolf… all that stuff. When I read Moby Dick in eleventh grade, the teacher called my mom and claimed that I wasn’t reading it. I was failing every quiz, the teacher said. My mom didn’t understand it; I was sitting right there beside her, reading as she talked.

I read that entire novel and didn’t retain a damn word of it. In the eyes, out the … who knows what. But those words sure didn’t compute.

And now, in this day of highbrow stuff that wins awards, I’ve learned. Life of Pi? Forget it. History of Love? My book club read it; I quit on page 20. Not good when you’re the discussion leader… but really.

Now, I do like Shakespeare’s comedies. I loved reading Gulliver’s Travels as part of my satire class in undergrad. So there are exceptions to the gagging.

And yeah, you can argue that Neuromancer and Ender’s Game and The Handmaid’s Tale are all classics. Interview with the Vampire. Bright Lights, Big City.

But those aren’t books that take themselves so pretentiously.

And for me, that’s it. I want a book I can sink into. If it makes me think, that’s a bonus. But save me the highbrow attitudes, the pathetic old men, the philosophy vaguely designed as fiction.

You can say I lately read — and loved — some literature in the guise of A Day of Small Beginnings and A Thread of Grace. Okay, I’ll buy that. Those WERE good books and I’ll rave about them any day. It comes down to this:

I may not want action, but I want characters I can love, not loathe. I want to fall in love with a book and the people in it and the situations they find themselves in. I don’t want to meditate; that’s what the elliptical at the gym is for.

Commercial fiction all the way, baby. I read it and dammit, I’m proud to write it, too.