A blog... thing... award. ish. chain letter. yeah

So, Delilah Night nominated me for a thing... and here it is, look, look, a THING!

I met Delilah because she submitted a very wonderful little story to my Coming Together: Among the Stars antho... and by wonderful, I mean Smokin' Hot and delicious. Also, lesbian, which makes me delightedly happy because I think there is not nearly enough good lesbian work out there.

So that was how she came onto my radar and she's stayed there by being awesome and a little bit awwwwww inspiring as well. (Truth be told, she kinda scares me a little because she has this delusion that I'm all impressive and stuff... I'm worried what'll happen when she finds out that I'm really just faking it.)

I'm supposed to tell you 7 facts about myself and then tag 15 authors. (wow, that's a LOT....)

Things about me (that you probably already know)

1 - I have a foot fetish. Specifically for lady feet, but I also like guy feet as well, if they're particularly shapely. Because of this, I always notice your shoes. Always. I've actually met two of my best girl friends that way (as opposed to girlfriends. Really, English is a terrible language, have you ever noticed that?) because I complimented them on their shoes. Don't worry, though. I don't judge your shoes... but there's very little in the world I find more sexy than watching someone go up stairs while barefoot.

And you'd think, based on that, that I would write more foot worship stories except I don't. My feelings about my own personal fetish are very raw and I haven't gotten around to it, yet. Although I think if you're patient and wait long enough, Ann-Marie has a few things to say about shoes.

2 - I don't hold with the term "guilty pleasure." I like ABBA and Miley Cyrus, deep fried oreos and peppermint schnapps milkshakes, just about any shade of purple, Godzilla movies, Hallmark commercials, and cheap wine. And I'm totally okay with this. I don't generally feel the need to pretend to like something (or not like something) in order to seem "cool." I already know I'm not cool. I also don't like James Bond, slapstick humor, the Simpsons, reality television of any flavor, cheap beer, or bad coffee. I am unapologetically myself. It's not so much that I want to be authentic, just that I don't want to spend time doing stuff I don't want to do... I'm entertainmently lazy.

3 -  I read the same books over and over again. Of books I read, Steve Miller and Sharon Lee's Liaden universe series gets a re-read at least once a year. (Honestly, these books are so good that if you buy the first one, Agent of Change, and you don't LOVE it, I will personally buy you another book of your choice.) There are 17 or 18 books, plus a sheaf of short stories in this collection now, so it takes me a while to plow through them. I also re-read the entire series of Dresden Files every time a new one comes out.

4 - I didn't realize that I was a very social person until I got to college and met people I actually wanted to spend time with. I'm also very weird for an extrovert. I'm a writer and a reader, neither of which are traditionally extrovert activities, and I don't like "the party scene." Which isn't to say that I don't like parties, I just don't like clubbing. This is where I get highly offended about all the "ways to treat your introvert" memes. I don't like super-loud music and incoherent drunk people EITHER. Except sometimes, when I do. Concerts, for instance, are a great source of energy-high for me. I'm kinda Phil Coulson of my social group; I'm the glue.

I am also that crazy, annoying person that will just sit down and start talking to you, randomly. And yes, I do wonder sometimes if some of my friends are my friends because they don't quite want to be rude and tell me to go away...

5 - One of my favorite things to do is lay on my back in a warm bed without having to Get Up and Do Something.

Unfortunately, back in college, an ex-boyfriend threw me down a flight of stairs and put his cigarette out in the palm of my hand. The scar faded. The fucking botched up nerve in my lower spine did not. I can rarely lay on my back for more than about 10 minutes before I end up with massive cramps in my lower spine that force me to roll on my side. (This is NOT a plea for you to suggest ANY back solving solutions. I have been to chiro's and acupuncturists and therapists and ... just no. If you have a suggestion, this is a lovely time to keep it to yourself.)

6 - I have a strange addiction to lip balm in a tube. I love it. LOVE. I have dozens of tubes and flavors all over the place. My current favorite is called Burdened with Glorious Purpose (ps - just about anything from this company would make a wonderful gift for me, except for Game of Thrones stuff because I hate Game of Thrones) and is a honey-pear scent. Altho I'm also very fond of the holiday Peppermint that chapstick puts out; I usually buy about 10 tubes of it every year.

Despite that, I almost never have any on me when I'm outside the house...

7 - I'm a lucid dreamer. About half the time, I can direct my dreams in some form or other. When I'm NOT lucid dreaming, however, I tend to dream about having to go to the bathroom and not being able to find somewhere to do so privately, or hygienically. One of my favorite dream-stories involved velociraptors, an exboyfriend, a clue from the heavens that I should not have been dating this guy, and waking up at three in the morning.

Note; it wasn't that I thought I'd be able to get away from the raptors if they ate the boyfriend first, just that I might get to the bathroom before he was dead, and then I wouldn't have to die needing to take a leak.


So, now for my 15 authors. And some of them were already tagged by Delilah, but I'm not going to let that worry me...

1 - Steve Miller and Sharon Lee - I consider these writers friends although I've never actually met them. I've been reading their books for 20 years. One of the greatest moments of my life was finding a copy of Carpe Diem (book 3) in a used book store, since this was Before the Internet and I didn't even KNOW there was a book 3.... I interact with Steve on facebook... and like I said before, these two are some of my favorite writers, their books are my favorites. I think the characters have a very good relationship dynamic and I have an enormous book crush on Pat Rin Yos Phelium... they write Space Opera / romance novels with some of the best world-building ever...

2 - Kristina Wright - I know Delilah tagged her, but I'm going to as well, because Kristina gave me my chance. I've been writing for a long time, but aside from some miserable experiences with a high school literary magazine and a pile of rejection letters for a m/m/f novel I co-wrote with my best friend a LONG DAMN TIME AGO... I just really hadn't thought about publishing for a long time... She pointed me in the right direction and let me go... it was awesome. When we got together in Richmond a few months back, she said a few things about being excited at how far I'd come since we first met and being so proud to have brought me into this world...

3 - Charlotte Stein - I love Charlotte's work. It's dark and beautiful and often reminds me a lot of... well, me. Her work really reaches something inside me, and has a weird tendency to make me cry, which is probably NOT something most people want in erotica, but I just get the Feelz so much, I don't have another outlet for it.

4 - Elizabeth L. Brooks - This is my best friend, my co-author, my creative consultant, my personal entertainment unit, and my pocket editor. I'm pretty much the same thing to her. I can't. even. the feelz. drift. We make no sense, honestly. Most people who know our mutual history can't believe we're friends. (long story, we didn't exactly keep our hands off the other's boyfriend things. but, as it turns out, neither of the boyfriend things were worth fighting about.) We're so joined at the hip that MY MOTHER thinks we're lovers (and so do a lot of other people... are we? We'll never tell...) Also, she's a sucky blogger, so if you actually want to pay attention to her, go mess around on her awesome tumblr feed.

5 - Nickie Jamison - my sister-in-law, one of my better friends, and my little fledgling writer... Nickie is the best writer ever, from an editorial point of view, because she doesn't argue with me, she thinks my beta advice is wonderful, and she learns! OMG... I've been reading her work for a while now and the amount of improvement is just breath-taking. Also, she's going to be in my upcoming sci-fi collection, Coming Together: Among the Stars, with one of the more amusing stories in the collection. You may never look at a hair-dryer the same way again.

6 - Sommer Marsden - I love Sommer, as a person, as a writer, as ... just well, she's wonderful. She's gone through some rough shit recently, and that blows goats... she's another person I love that I've never met. Her writing makes me laugh (or cry) and she's gifted and prolific...

7 - Thea Harrison - who used to write as Amanda Carter, writes some of the best damned urban paranormal I've ever read. I love the Elder Races series, it's good stuff. She's also fun to "hang out" with on Twitter and Facebook.

8 - V.L. Locey - one of my absolute favorite m/m writers, V.L. is old hat around this blog. I cannot say enough good things about her. Her zombie series is hilarious, her Gods and Goats series is fantastic (not m/m, but at least her Greek Mythology is spot - on. I took a terrible greek myth class in college that I almost shot myself over, and I cannot abide people making myth-stakes.)

9 - Jenn Nixon - writes some awesome space opera and is a lot of fun on Facebook. We interact there all the time and I always get a little smile on my face when I see she's left me a comment. Good people, Jenn. Also, you should join her for her little Lunchtime fun on facebook... she asks good questions and there's a lot of interaction. I don't always see it - I have so many freaking Facebook friends it's a wonder I can keep up with ANYTHING - but when I do, I always answer. Honestly, I'd steal the idea if I didn't think she'd kill me... and you know, I was actually ABLE to remember to do it every day...

10 - E.M. Lynley - I do beta reading for Em, (usually when she's behind on a deadline and can say - here's a 70,000 word book, can you read and beta it by the end of the weekend?) and I'm grateful that I can. Her books are so much fun, I love them to pieces. The last book I beta'd for her, I spent half the book reaching for the ice water and the other half sniffling into a tissue. (I am a HUGE sap, don't let anyone, especially me, tell you otherwise.)

11 - Speaking of Huge Sap - allow me to introduce you to Christina Hughes who wrote one of the best depressing fucking books ever. Three Days of Rain will rip your heart out. I'm not even kidding. You think the Fault in our Stars was a tear jerker? AMATEUR... do not read this book without kleenex. And a lot of privacy. Because you will cry, it will be ugly, and you will just want to be left alone. This book wrecked me.

12 - Lisa Henry - a few months ago, I complained that there wasn't nearly enough sexy sci-fi for me. I have been since deluged with suggestions of things to read and her book Dark Space was fucking brilliant.

13 - Rob Rosen - there's a lot of ... yammer about the difference between "gay lit" and "male-male." I can see the difference, but I don't think there's a problem with enjoying both. Or just one. I love Rob's work. He's interesting, funny, and sees things very differently from how I see things.

14 - Nobilis Reed - one of my favorite people, who seems to have a direct pipeline into my brain for stories. I mean, he writes some perverted filthy stuff and I EAT IT UP. He's not - let me make this perfectly clear - a romance writer. He's a smut writer and proud of it and he should be. His work is amazing and I love it. I also have a whoppingly huge crush on him as a person, (if he was available and I was available, there would be some major enthusiastic consent) because he is sexy as hell. He also annoys the shit out of me (he's got a literalist sense of humor and he's pedantic, whereas I'm prone to hyperbole and bad metaphors.... these conflicting traits lead to conversations in which I feel like I'm arguing, but we're not disagreeing, which makes me tense.) and makes me think seriously - these are traits he has in common with the other men in my life that I really love, my husband and my brother...

He's complex. Like chocolate and good wine.

15 - ug. I'm out of space... how about Rosecarawaymalinjameselliotdelockejadeawaterskathleentudoreswynn Ruevolleyadamcewandelilahdevlinsjdavis?

Seriously, I know a lot of writers, and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone important, or beloved...