It's the lusty month of May!

Blessed Beltaine!

Went out for high tea with Morgana and Brian today to celebrate May Day. We tried out Tranquility Tea Room in Thousand Oaks. I found it online recently (although I can’t for the life of me remember how). It was a bit pricy, but overall quite good. I tried Lover’s Leap tea from Sri Lanka, and although it’s a black tea, it wasn’t very dark and it didn’t have any discernible flavor. It was worth the experiment, though! They had fun hats, but I’d brought my own. We all took them off before tea even arrived, however, because it was a wee bit too warm.

After we returned home, I grabbed novel subs to mail and jumped in the car (I’m borrowing Morgana and Brian’s second car since mine is in Arkansas). Alas, although my phone showed I had three minutes to spare, the PO was closing. I went off to the chiropractor to pick up some supplements, and when I got out of the car, I heard a nasty accident on the main street. (The building blocked my view.) It occurred to me that if I’d left earlier and made it to the PO, I might’ve been done at the chiropractor’s and turning onto that very street at that very moment. So I’m quite okay with everything getting mailed on Tuesday…

Now, though, I’m tired, and I still have much to do: writing, packing, cat box scooping… The Oak Leaf just isn’t going to get done before I leave. Nobody will suggest topics for the history of the Shire column (even though people requested the articles be run), and I didn’t come up with an idea for this issue until late yesterday. Sigh.

On and off

I’m soon off to Arkansas on Saturday for a madcap 3-day trip to attend Ken’s grandmother’s 95th birthday party. (Go Grandma!) Ken is already on his way there, in my car, no less. We have a bunch of stuff to bring home—Ken and his dad moved Grandma into a home last month (her choice, and she’s really happy there, yay!), and we’re acquiring some silver, crystal, china tea cups (yeah, like we need more tea cups…but it’ll be so cool to mix hers with my grandmother’s, you know?), that sort of thing. The original plan had been for Ken and I to drove out together, but because Grimoire needs subcutaneous fluids on a regular basis (every day is recommended, but skipping a day or two is okay), I couldn’t take the time.  :-(  Would've been fun.

On top of that, there’s a rally in Arkansas this weekend, so Ken’s bike is actually on a trailer that he and his dad are pulling behind my car. I get to attend the awards banquet with Ken on Sunday morning. Fingers crossed that he wins!

Meanwhile, Part II of Being an Adult Sucks: Our friend Donna was in town, and we so wanted to see her, but there was no way we could pull it off on Monday because on Tuesday, we had to deliver my car to Ken’s dad’s—2 hours away. (I would drive the car, Ken would ride the bike, and we’d ride the bike home together, after which he would head back out to his dad’s, running some errands along the way.) I couldn’t take Monday evening off if I was going to lose 4–5 work hours on Tuesday.

Sigh. As it turned out, it was a good call, because we were gone pretty much all day Tuesday. We hit traffic on the way out, so much so that all the errands Ken had to run wouldn’t be possible in the order he’d planned. So he had to run them in the opposite direction; i.e., on the way home. On the plus side, I had a yummy gyro for lunch and Ken picked up Baja Fresh for dinner, and I got to have dinner with him. On the negative side, he left soon after dinner.

I’m still bummed I didn’t get to see Donna (and Gillian, and Jen, and everyone else…).

Meanwhile…I don’t know. Just trying to keep up with everything. Morgana and I are walking, I’m hitting the gym, The Oak Leaf May issue is in progress, and story sales and rejections continue apace. I’d like to finish the OOTFP subs before I leave, too. We shall see.

Onwards!

Sale the second!

I heard about Peep Show last night, and then today got another acceptance!

My vampire story "Devouring Heart" will be published in The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica on October 1, 2009, also by Cleis Press and edited by D.L. King (also edited Where the Girls Are... It's all one big pyjama party, really!).

I wrote "Devouring Heart" five years ago, so I'm especially chuffed it found such a wonderful home!

And Teresa's got a story in this one, too!

The TOC:

Midnight at Sheremetyevo by Remittance Girl
Wait Until Dark, Montresor by Thomas S. Roche
The Temptation of Mlle. Marielle Doucette by Anna Black
Kiss and Make Up by Lisette Ashton
The Student by Sommer Marsden
Red By Any Other Name by Kathleen Bradean
Enlightenment by Amber Hipple
Blood and Bootleg by Teresa Noelle Roberts
Fair Play by G. B. Kensington
Advantage by Ciara Finn
The Communion of Blood and Semen by Maxim Jakubowski
Nightlife by Madeleine Oh
Takeout or Delivery? by Evan Mora
Devouring Heart by Andrea Dale
Wicked Kisses by Michelle Belanger
Fourth World by Lisabet Sarai
Turn by Nikki Magennis
Cutter by Kristina Wright
Once An Addict... by A.D.R. Forte

Sale the first!

A new sale! My story "Now You See Her" will appear in Peep Show: Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists, coming in November 2009 from Cleis Press, edited by the yummy Rachel Kramer Bussel!

"Now You See Her" is a companion story to "Come to My Window" in Where the Girls Are, due out July 1, 2009, also from Cleis Press. I hadn't planned on writing a related story when I wrote "Come to My Window," but the theme of Peep Show spoke to a related, very cool idea...

Anyway. Peep Show is available on amazon for pre-order already, and here's the full table of contents!

Introduction: Hungry Eyes and Sensual Show-Offs
Showtime by Susan St. Aubin
Clean and Pretty by Donna George Storey
Superior by Monica Shores
People in Glass Hotels by Jennifer Peters
Indecent by Lolita Lopez
Ownership by Craig J. Sorensen
Audience Participation by Elizabeth Coldwell
Now You See Her by Andrea Dale
Watcher in the Shadows by Cheyenne Blue
Glass by Nobilis Reed
Sleeping Beauty by Malcolm Ross
The Theory of Orchids by L. A. Mistral
Missing Michael by M. March
Busted by Kissa Starling
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Sommer Marsden
Rosse Buurt by Geneva King
I’ve Only Got Eyes for You by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Calendar Girl by Angela Caperton

Nice review!

A terrific mention of Teresa's and my story in The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction:

"'Under a Double Rainbow' by Sophie Mouette: Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, shows up at a women’s spirituality festival. Love, healing, and a healthy dose of sex ensue. A lovely tale with just the right amount of mild erotica, and a great weaving together of several subplots."

From Pagan Book Reviews. The full review is here.