Potpourri

Thursday evening found me at a comedy club, of all things. The Funny Farm was hosting Gary Gulman and one of the warm-up comedians was a friend of mine (and a fellow Ripperologist) from Scotland. So journeyed over to cheer Alan on. And it went well! Stand up comedy takes a lot of guts. I don't think I'm made that way. Cheers, my friend, for taking on America!

I had the opportunity to be a guest blogger at Pink Fuzzy Slippers on Oct. 16th. It was fun and interesting to find out how many former nurses there are out there. I give a shout to to Mary for inviting me over! I'll be blogging at a couple more sites in the coming weeks and will let you know when that occurs.

Spent part of yesterday at the Gwinnett Reading Festival. It was very well attended and best of all, it was free! I got to talk to all sorts of folks, both readers and authors, and we sold a few books. The longest lines were for the kids to get their faces painted or to get a balloon sculpture. I picked up some tips for new authors to read and had a good time in the process.

And right now I'm on a reading marathon. I zipped through C.E. Murphy's two gargoyle Urban Fantasies, Jim Butcher & Kim Harrison's latest offerings and then took a step back to the Victorian Era with a couple of Anne Perry's works. The first was The Cater Street Hangman, the debut novel in the Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Series. I always wanted to read how the two of them met. Then I popped over to the Monk Series (also set in Victorian London) for a couple of reads (Shifting Tide and Dark Assassin).

Anne Perry is the reason I first became interested in the Victorian Era, besides Jack the Ripper. Her books are very heavily grounded in the social world of the time period. Some of that I do not find interesting, so often I do a bit of skimming until I reach the action. Other readers adore that kind of in depth worldbuilding. Each to his own. I still do like to pop back every now and then and see how the books are progressing. I think she's somewhere near 40 novels over her multiple series. Incredible.

To probe an idea I have for an Urban Fantasy, I've begun some research into Atlanta's history. I know, I live in a town full of monumental events, but when you live somewhere famous you sorta go "meh." Hubby suggested that it might be a lot cheaper if I set a few books here rather than across the pond (ever sensible, the husband) so I decided to see what might fascinate me about Hot*Lanta. I do know that Ilona Andrews has an Urban Fantasy series set here, so I'm trying very hard not to inadvertently duplicate any of her & co-author Gordon's themes. Still, the town does offer some plotting options.

Many things under the dough hook. Hopefully something will come of it. Only one thing matters right now -- getting past the election. This one is way ugly folks. But that's another post down the line.