My short story, Bother, is now available online! Bull Spec's PDF version is up, a couple of days before the official publication of issue #5 on Friday, 4/15. You can find the full contents list and order a print or PDF version here. I may be biased, but I think you'll want the print version because of this gorgeous cover.

The artwork is by Richard Case, a Hillsborough resident and comic book artist who's done a lot of work for the DC label. He picked Bother to illustrate for the cover, and I love how it came out! I think it captures the feel of it quite well, and---it must be said---there be dragons! Okay, just one dragon, but it's a beauty!

If you can't wait to get a copy in your hands to read any of the fabulous fiction within its pages (including Absinthe Fish by M. David Blake, which just received a Recommended from Lois Tilton, the Locus Magazine short fiction reviewer!) then join us at Quail Ridge Books , 3522 Wade Avenue, Raleigh, on Friday night (4/15)! At 7:30, a bunch of North Carolinian speculative fiction authors and industry folks, including me, will be convening for readings, probable panel discussions, and more. Bull Spec #5 will be hot off the presses and available for purchase then. They will likely be an after party at Crowley's also. . .

Let me know if you're planning to go so I can say hello!

And Bull Spec's publisher just referred me to his list of where you can find the magazine locally, and in a few other states, too, though they likely won't be on the shelves until sometime next week.

The Regulator Bookshop (Durham, 9th Street)

Sci-Fi Genre Comics & Games (Durham, 3215 Old Chapel Hill Rd between University Dr and MLK Blvd)

Quail Ridge Books & Music (Raleigh, 3522 Wade Ave at Ridge Rd)

Internationalist Books & Community Center (Chapel Hill, 405 W Franklin St)

Chapel Hill Comics (Chapel Hill, 316 W Franklin St)

Foundation's Edge (Raleigh, 2526 Hillsborough St)

Storyteller's Books (Wake Forest, 100 E. Roosevelt Ave)

Capitol Comics (Raleigh, 3027 Hillsborough St)

Flyleaf Books (Chapel Hill, 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd)

All Fun & Games (Apex, 958 US Highway 64)

Ultimate Comics (Durham: 9th St; Chapel Hill: Farrington Rd)

Barnes & Noble of Cary (760 SE Maynard, Cary Commons)

Barnes & Noble of Durham - The Streets at Southpoint (8030 Renaissance Parkway)

Barnes & Noble of Durham - New Hope Commons (5400 New Hope Commons)

All Booked Up (Apex, 104-B North Salem St)

Northgate Books (Durham: Northgate Mall)

North Carolina:

Barnes & Noble of Greenville, NC (3040 Evans Street)

New York:

Forbidden Planet NYC (NYC, NY)

Pennsylvania:

Golden Eagle Comics (Reading, PA)

I am way behind on all my travel posts, but I’m hoping to get that taken care of in the next few weeks. Here’s one on a trip the husband and I took to High Point, NC, for the 35th Stellarcon. “Now old enough to run for president!” was the unofficial slogan. This was my third speculative fiction convention, and Ben’s first.

What did I think? It was fun! Stellarcon convinced me to sign up in large part because I was amazed that such a small conference offered so much programming. As an author, I’m most drawn to the panels on writing-related aspects that I need more guidance on, but I also really enjoyed the fan-based panels, though I only attended two. One was on love for New Who and the other was a celebration of that glorious genre called B-movies.

A sci-fi/fantasy convention, you say? Where are the crazy pictures? Well, since you asked . . .

Klingon Karaoke!

Apparently, this is a Stellarcon tradition, with a Klingon and an Enterprise crewwoman hosting the event. I sang a little No Doubt—pretty badly since I didn’t remember the verses to Spiderwebs. Sigh. Other singers had more success.

The esteemed Klingon MC singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

On Day 2, Ben and I went for a walk around High Point, as I’d never been there beyond stopping to take a picture there during the Giant Furniture Adventure. I was surprised by many of the awesome buildings High Point has that are definitely worthy of a shot or two.

The Convention Center.

A nice, new-looking bus station.

The Forbidden City . . . in High Point?!

A nice statue of John Coltrane. There’s a plaque nearby that plays excerpts from several of his works.

Loved this ship-shaped building.

This is a familiar NC sight.

That evening, we headed to the costume competition, which is always a highlight for me of these events. Here were my favorite costumed competitors.

I don’t know who this was supposed to be, but you have to love a wizard with a clawed wand..

Oh, Arthur Dent. Who doesn’t love you?

A Dharma worker—don’t let him know you’re looking!

A lovely Star Wars costume.

I couldn't leave out the creepy clown from New Who.

And yes, that’s Raven again, looking like the smashing steampunk character he is.

I’ll post some more pictures on our photo site eventually, but I’m even farther behind updating there. Oh, the torment of sharing too much personal information over the interwebs--my digital life can never keep up with my real one.

Here’s the second clip! This one takes place later that same evening, after Dean and Maya have spent the afternoon and evening reconnecting.

[audio:/audio/mvexcerpt2.mp3]

Maya's Vacation is available for purchase (e-books only) at Astraea Press, Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles.

Don’t forget to head out to my book launch party at City Beverage tonight if you’re local! I’ll just be chilling from 6:30 to 8:30 with a pile of bookmarks, family, friends, and libations. Come by and say hello, and you might be one of 5 people to win a free download of the book!

I also have two interviews posted on other blogs today about Maya's Vacation. Take a stroll over to the Astraea Press blog and Kim Bowman's blog to read my answers to questions about my writing style and the book. What inspired the book? Who would I cast as the main characters? Take a gander!

That’s right, folks. The day has finally arrived, and I am now a published book author! I can’t thank you all enough for your support over these last few crazy weeks. I hope you’ll pick up, by which I mean download, a copy of Maya’s Vacation soon. It’s available as an e-book only, but you can get it in whatever format you want: PDF, Nook, and Kindle files are all supported. Purchase it directly from my publisher, Astraea Press, or from Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. It’s only $2.99 for 50 pages worth of romance, food, wine, and a relaxing, quick read.

To celebrate, I’ve recorded two excerpts from the book for your listening pleasure. Each clip is about 3 minutes and 30 seconds, enough to give you a glimpse of the artsy retreat Maya attends, the delicious food Catelyn makes for all the campers, and the long-absent connection she rediscovers with a certain surprise guest . . .

Here’s the first clip! The second one will be available later this afternoon.

[audio:/audio/mvexcerpt1.mp3]

Don’t forget to head out to my book launch party at City Beverage tonight if you’re local! I’ll just be chilling from 6:30 to 8:30 with a pile of bookmarks, family, friends, and libations. Come by and say hello, and you might be one of 5 people to win a free download of the book!

I also have an interview posted on the cover art for Maya's Vacation today. Take a stroll over to Kim Bowman's blog. What inspired the cover art? Who would I cast as the main characters? Take a gander!

It's only 7 days until the launch of my first book, Maya's Vacation, and I'm getting quite excited!

As many of you have asked, yes, I am holding a book launch party to celebrate! This is not an organized shindig so much as it is an excuse to have drinks with friends. The wonderful Johanna, the Durham Foodie, arranged for me to stake out a spot at City Beverage in Durham from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on 3/29, the date the book launches. If you are a blog reader, friend, whomever, you are more than welcome to come. My plan is simply to chill in the Lava Lounge (the purple room) the whole time. I will be armed with bookmarks for Maya's Vacation, and I'll be giving away a few free downloads of it. I'll also have some flyers printed promoting my short story and reading  with Bull Spec on 4/15. Swing on by anytime between 6:30 and 8:30 and say hello! Please let me know if you can come!

I'll also be doing book readings on this blog that Tuesday, probably two recorded readings from the book to whet your appetites for the $2.99 download. It will be available in all e-book formats at Astraea Press on 3/29--buy one, buy two, buy five and send them around to anyone you know who doesn't mind a little romance mixed in with food and wine descriptions sure to make you hungry. It's a book about reigniting passions, whether they be joy in cooking, creating, or accepting what Fate throws your way.

Yes, folks, it's time for more shameless self-promotion! On Saturday, I had a short story published over at Yesteryear Fiction.

It's a free daily Webzine that publishes flash fiction fantasy of all stripes, whether they be paranormal, epic, urban, or poetry. This particular piece, Apocalypse, is poetic prose that takes place in an alternate world--unless you'd prefer to read it as an extended metaphor. Here are the first three lines:

Corena sits on a bench in a field of marigolds and cement. She sits and watches the people walk past her in the same direction, which is away. They tread on the endless sidewalks lying between the rows of marigold planter boxes.

Now go and read it!

Today, I have an update on my writing ventures, specifically, on two writing ventures that are coming up in the next two months! At the end of March, my romance novelette, Maya's Vacation, will be released by Astraea Press! It will be available in e-book formats only, but Astraea hopes to add print-on-demand to their repertoire in the future. Regardless, I'm super excited to have signed with them and to have Maya's Vacation out in the world soon.

I'm posting the synopsis in a moment, but I think this novelette will be great reading if you're a fan of this blog---my years of writing and pondering food and wine play a huge role in the story's concept. If you enjoy how I describe a dish or beverage, I hope you'll buy a copy and delve in! It'll be a fast read and safe for anyone who enjoys passionate characters without the busom-busting to go along with them. Astraea only publishes nonerotic fiction, which is one of the many reasons they and Maya's Vacation are a great fit. Here's that synopsis.

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?

In other news, the fifth issue of Bull Spec is set to to appear on April 15, with my short story, Bother, in the fiction section. Woo hoo! The release party for Issue #5 will be at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on the same date.

As part of the festivities, I'll be reading from Bother. Be prepared for urban marital angst and dragons! If you don't want to miss my short story or you're just a fan of speculative fiction, you should definitely subscribe to Bull Spec now. It's a gorgeous print magazine, but if you prefer reading online, e-subscriptions are available too.

Don't worry, I'll be posting reminders as the dates draw near, and I will definitely keep you posted on any release night plans I come up with for Maya's Vacation. My family will be in town, so dinner out, at the very least, will be in order!

The only days when all of my coworkers come in are rainy ones.

More specifically, one of the websites I blog for is in Durham Magazine, a local publication that talks all things Durham-related. Here's the announcement I posted on Carpe Durham about the article, since I'm just not going to think of something new and exciting to say in its place here:

Our website has been profiled in the new issue of Durham Magazine, the Foodie issue!

Pick up a copy, and you will learn the history of how RPP and YAR started Carpe Durham (including their and some of our real names–ooh, ahh!), the basic premise behind how a restaurant gets written up (it’s not complicated, folks), and how you—the active, opinionated, and fantastic readers and commentators here—have made this site a success.

In addition to some of our regular bloggers’ thoughts, comments by Lysistrata, 9/9, and burgeoningfoodie on past posts have also been printed to showcase those lively debates we have.

Besides the article on Carpe Durham, you really should pick up this issue of Durham Magazine. There are wonderful pictures of many favorite dishes at local restaurants that an amateur photographer like myself could only dream of taking, an article on the supper clubs cropping up around Durham, and profiles on beloved restaurant staff.

Durham Magazine is $4 and available at Parker & Otis, The Regulator Bookshop, Barnes & Noble at Southpoint and New Hope Commons, Sweets and News at Northgate Mall, Gurley Pharmacy, Whole Foods, and Sam’s Quik Shop.

So if you live locally, pick it up!

Yesterday, I had a flash fiction, horror story published at Flashes in the Dark, an ezine that puts up a new, short, horror story everyday. "She Could Be Me," my story, is a Twilight-Zone-esque piece about a woman having an off day. No blood or guts, just mental confusion.

Stop by, read it, leave a comment if you'd like!