There’s been a lot of death in the news lately which I find disturbing. I mean, I’m not exactly AFRAID of death, but I’m not inviting him to a dinner party anytime in the near future. It’s interesting to note that this rash of deaths has spawned a whole plethora of news articles on every possible aspect of ‘that moribund state.’

For example, from last week’s MSNBC.com: A company called DNA2Diamonds is offering to create sparkling gems from a deceased pet’s ashes or a lock of its hair. In just 70 days, they can turn what’s left of your beloved furball into a red, yellow-green or cognac diamond (you can choose the shape and carat size) and set the stone in a ring, bracelet, earring or pendant.

Wow. Fluffy is now a necklace. Who knew?

Sadly, in case you were thinking of getting a set of CZs made from your now deceased six cats, this ice doesn’t come cheap and can cost from $2,000 to $18,000 depending on the cut, size and color of the stone you pick.

Of course, if you’re slightly demented like me, you’re already moving on and wondering, “Yes, but . . . what about Granny? Can SHE be made into oh, say, a ruby? Something that might go with that wig she liked to wear?”

Well, just keep reading . . .

Though diamonds can also be made from human DNA, that’s not where the largest percentage of DNA2Diamonds’s business lies. “These diamonds last forever,” company president Bischoff tells PEOPLE Pets. “And we’re finding that even in a recession, creating a diamond in memory of a beloved pet continues to be our most popular option.”

When Hot Cop read the above article, he snorted and said, “That’s the dumbest thing that I’ve ever heard!”

I started to agree, but at about that same time, my sweet not-so-little Po dog lifted his head and gazed at me soulfully as if to say, “Why WOULDN’T you do that for me, Mommy?”

Ok, he doesn’t call me ‘Mommy.’ That’s silly. But he DOES gaze at me soulfully.

Seriously.

So tell me, would you consider making a memorial jewel when your dog/cat/parrot/granny goes to the great water dish/hair salon in the sky? Personally, I find ANY reason to acquire bling a VGT (Very Good Thing), even fake bling made from Doggie Remains. What do you think?

40 Comments »

I have been writing for weeks, my … er, self in my chair, which means I haven’t gotten out much.  My office is my own little cave and I find I’ve surrounded myself with stuff that brings back memories or just stuff I like to look at.  It’s my own version of cavepaintings.

Now, I have to tell you that my office has changed a bit in the last month.  Mr. R has been home this summer and has undertaken my office as a project.  Initially, he said some rather disparaging things about my filing system - which was basically lots of piles of paper on the carpet.  He whooshed in and grabbed everything and spent a day sorting and pitching.  Filing is beyond even his mighty powers, LOL.  But now I can open my mini-fridge and I can see my carpet again!  All of my carpet, not just the footpath from the door to my computer chair.

So all the stuff left surrounding me is stuff I’ve chosen to keep.  It’s important, because when I’m in a book, this is where I spend the bulk of my time.  What’s painted on the wall of my cave?

• Pictures of friends from my days at P&G and snapshots of my travels
• My early bookcovers in frames
• Old badges from conventions hanging on a peg and my ribbons from RWA, starting the year I was a RITA finalist the first time.
• From the shelf above my head my ugly statue collection stares down at me - and they make me smile.  I added a few gargoyles I bought in the gift shop at Westminster Abbey last summer.  They give me a start when I’ve scared myself in a villain scene!
• My collection of masks, including scary tribal and fragile Venetian.  They’re pretty cool.
• My RITA statue.  She even gets dusted.  She’d like a friend, too.  Just sayin’.
• The license plate from my car the year I made my first sale - RMCEWRTR - the only time I’ve had a vanity plate.   Maybe it was good luck?

Fun Fact:  I was writing KILL FOR ME, which was released in paperback yesterday (yes, shameless self-promo), and I looked up and saw my license plate.  A scene popped into my head which would be one of the core storylines in the book - a black car gliding by heroine Susannah Vartanian, with the plate DRC119.  If you’ve read KILL FOR ME, you’ll remember.  If you haven’t read it yet, for Heaven’s sake, go get it! Then when you read the scene with the license plate, you’ll know where it came from — one of my cavepaintings .  Okay, now returning to previously scheduled blog, still in progress….

I like my little cave.  I think it says a lot about me, because it’s mostly stuff I’ve collected over the years.  I like the pretty and the scary - which is romantic suspense in a nutshell.

What’s painted on the wall of your cave?  Which room is your cave?  What thing(s) do you keep that say the most about you?  And don’t forget that KILL FOR ME is on the shelves!

52 Comments »

Please welcome Mary Jo Putney to Mt. Oly! Mary Jo has been so incredibly kind to offer a signed book from her backlist to one commentor.

Welcome Mary Jo!

It’s great to be in Goddess Land! Because we’ve all been laboring so long in diverse vineyards of romance, I know many of the goddesses already, so it’s Old Home Week here in Olympus.

Today is the official release date of my first straight historical romance in several years, and I have to admit that I’ve reverted to one of my bad writing habits by killing off the hero again. Of course, this is romance—it’s not hard to figure out that my half-Hindu duke may not be as dead as is generally presumed.

Even though my second Regency romance, written over twenty years ago, had a hero who was dying of his Waterloo wounds and a heroine who wanted to be a merry widow, it was only a couple of years ago that I realized just how often my heroes (and more rarely, my heroines) barely survive my attentions. Somewhere off in Character Land, I imagine handsome, honorable studs and strong, compassionate females fleeing when there’s a casting call for my books. But they can’t escape me for long!

Death as a plotting device has a lot of merit because it raises the stakes for the reader. The story is literally a matter of life and death. Lots and lots of writers do it; even Shakespeare is solidly in that pack.

Besides, I adore over the top plot elements—which is why in Loving a Lost Lord, the hero is not only missing and presumed dead, but amnesiac when the heroine drags him up on a shingle beach in the far north of England, barely alive.

Amnesia is a jolly plot element, but also, an intriguing puzzle. What is a person when memory and inhibition are stripped away? What is a man or woman when he or she is no longer constrained by the expectations of others? What emerges then? Does the amnesiac person have the chance to become a truer, more honest self?

I’d like to think so. Certainly that’s what I did with Adam, the Duke of Ashton, who has deliberately concealed the Hindu side of his nature so he can appear to be a proper English gentleman. That works until his near fatal accident and his meeting with a beautiful woman who has reasons of her own to claim him as her husband. At the end, Adam and Mariah have both been through a lot, but they’re grateful that I brought them together. (They’re swearing to keep any offspring out of my dangerous hands, though. )

Historical romance is saturated with false identities, amnesia, switched identical twins, highwaymen in disguise, girls dressed as guys, etc. It’s all good fun, and heaven knows I’ve done more than my share! Loving a Lost Lord is the first of my new Lost Lords series. It should be rather like my Fallen Angels series, but instead of Eton being the bond that holds the heroes together, I invented the Westerfield Academy, a school for “boys of good birth and bad behavior.” The academy was founded by an eccentric duke’s daughter to provide a refuge for aristocratic boys who are square pegs in round holes.

The series will be open ended—I’ve already written the first two books (the second is scheduled for May 2010), and I have characters and general story ideas for several more. And as I look at these future books—presumed death and masquerades and even a pair of identical twins figure prominently. This is obviously what my Muse likes, and she isn’t budging!

How about you as readers? What are your favorite plot devices? The ones you can’t stand? The ones you can’t stand, but you’ll read them anyhow if done by a favorite writer? I’d love to talk about it!

Mary Jo Putney, thanking the Goddesses for letting me visit

74 Comments »

Yeah, I know, we’re on a theme here, but I guess I’m just in a mood. It never occurs to me, though, until I watch some old movie, how much I miss certain actresses. Oddly enough, though it happens with actors, they tend to stay around longer. The women, however … well, I just don’t get it. I wish Hollywood would figure out that a woman doesn’t HAVE to be young and gorgeous to be interesting.

Madeleine Stowe, for example. She was great in “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Blink” yet she hasn’t had a major role in years. Is it by choice? Or does Hollywood just throw away good actresses when they get old? I saw her play a doctor in “Raines,” a TV show that didn’t make it past 6 episodes, and though the show was so-so, she was fabulous as always. I want to see her in more stuff! Or how about Mary Stuart Masterson? I loved her in “Benny and Joon,” opposite our Johnny, and “Fried Green Tomatoes.” 

An actress that was never well-known, but whom I loved is Lori Petty. Not only was she fun in “Tank Girl” and her brief sitcom, “Lush Life,” but she was the voice of Stephanie Plum in the audio of the first three books, and she is STILL Stephanie Plum in my head. She’s barely working now. I hate that!

So are there any big actresses whom you loved who just faded away? Anyone you’d like to see on the big screen again? And do you think it’s Hollywood that forgets them or they who forget Hollywood?

49 Comments »

PORTUGAL! Yup, we’re continuing on our quest for the best international FROS on the planet. This time we’re on a comfy air conditioned bus heading to a soccer match.

“A soccer match?” you ask, your heart thumping a little harder. “A soccer match in Portugal? You mean-”

YES! It’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the HOTTEST soccer player EVER!

Need more proof? Then climb off the bus and take a gander at this:

And this:

And after the match, we’ll see THIS walking toward our bus:

Happy For Refreshment Only Sunday, m’dears! May your day be SOCCERIFIC!

18 Comments »

I’ve always been a reader. I could read before I started kindergarten, and I read everything I could get my hands on. During the summer we would go to the library every other week, and I would check out twenty books, carrying them stacked up past my head. Little House in the Big Woods and all of the accompanying books are the first ones I remember reading, though my mom would read books to her three girls during lunchtime during the summer even before that.

I recall reading the Hardy Boys, the Adventure books by Willard Price, Zane Grey, and Louis L’Amour. I ventured into non-fiction as well, with Joy Adamson, Jane Goodall, Stan Brock, and Jacques Cousteau being my favorites.

The first romance I remember reading is Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer. After that, I was hooked. My fondness for romance, though, didn’t stop me from reading Tolkien, Heinlein, Harper Lee, Dumas, or Anne McCaffrey. I secretly read Jaws in fifth grade, which could be the reason I’m still afraid to go into the water.

The transition from reader to writer seemed the most logical thing in the world, and in fact I knew from the age of six that I wanted to be a writer. No back-up plan, nothing else that interested me nearly as much (except for Star Wars, and collecting memorabilia really isn’t a job).

What’s the first book you remember reading? What was your favorite book as a kid? Have you always been a reader?

48 Comments »

I have a pretty eventful summer planned. The fun starts on the fourth of July when Mr. G and I and all the kids head up north to spend the weekend on the lake. We set off tons of fireworks, eat great food, catch up with relative, and have a great time.

Then I’m off to the RWA conference in DC where I will see a lot of my writer friends. It’s a long and exhausting trip, but I’m really looking forward to visiting the Holocaust Museum. Last time I was in DC, I didn’t make it there and I’ve always regretted it.

In August I am going on a real vacation. One that has nothing to do with work and kids aren’t allowed. Mr. G and I are flying to the Oregon coast with friends. Just adults. No visiting seals or sea lion caves or listening to the children fight over who’s breathing on whom. We’re just going to spend a week laying around on the beach eating salt water taffy. It sounds like paradise.

What are you plans this summer?

42 Comments »