Well, let’s see… you get to meet other readers and talk about books,..and husbands, children, pets, ghosts, vampires and zombies. Uh, haven’t you noticed that your conversations range off the “normal” pattern when you get involved with readers? Michele BardsleyOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Signings are when you meet your local celebrities. Yes, it’s an easy way to be the local prez hilton or gawker. “Celebrities” write books and what they love the best is to sign them. So, go hang out at a signing and you’ll get to shake the hands of someone you normally see on television or even in the movies. This week it was Martha Stewart, but we’ve met football stars, actors, soap opera stars, celebrity chefs, television personalities and more. It’s always a kick to shake Alan Alda’s hand on Sunday and see him live on the Today show on Tuesday. I mean, seriously, you get to be a fan stalker and not considered too weird. After all, it’s literary, right? Plus, they all come with books. And since the majority are held in a book store, if you get bored, there is always another book around the shelves. Isaac MizrahiOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Small plug…a…

George DuranOriginally uploaded by freshfiction I went to the Texas Book Festival last weekend and as always it was fun to be in the company of books…yes, with the accompanying authors and readers! If you ever get a chance to go to a book festival, no matter how big or small, you owe it to your self as a reader to go at least once! That is the reason I used last year to drag along my husband. He only reads current events and a very occasional an adventure fiction novel, but I said that qualified as a reader and he needed to go. This year, I didn’t need to prod or twist his arm, he made room in his calendar and in fact, he even scrutinized the schedule and marked the ones he planned on attending. I was amazed! Gwen and I divided up the non-adventure reminders: Gwen picked the Young Adult tracks and of course George Duran, I got the rest! And so we were off to listen to authors talk about their books. I’m not sure if there was a theme this year for picking books and authors, but I got the impression it was war. From…

Rios Tex-MexOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Glad you asked…even if you didn’t, you get to hear. HA! the power of the blog erupts! Anyway, this week we had two signings I attended, one I missed, one conference planning session and a whole bunch of work work work on FreshFiction.com. Oh, yeah, and I read a couple of books worth mentioning. The signings…Tuesday was great! We had dinner with the book club at the fabulous little “hole in the wall” Tio Rio Tex restaurant in North Dallas. Tio Rio is one of my favorite in town Tex restaurants because it is small, the food is great and there is a tree growing through one of the walls. Now, for most you would say, “a tree! How quaint!” with a sniff on the “quaint.” But trust me, in our part of Texas, a tree that size deserves respect and admiration. And the food, well, great fish dishes and my advise is to take whatever the special is, because it will be sublime! Our book club and gang usually meets up at either “Tio Rio” or “Natalies” when we’re attending a book signing at the Borders Preston & Royal in Dallas, so they know…

Summer has settled in North Texas and along with the heat is a flurry of authors descending to talk up their books. Now, I’m not complaining, I LOVE to read and a new book is always welcome. But sometimes even I, addict that I am, can be overwhelmed. Nah, you say with feigned surprise, Sara? Overwhelmed with books?. Yeah, well, it happens. Once in a blue moon to be true, but it is a sad thing. What to read! Too many choices! The summer blockbusters are arriving: Iris Johansen, Linda Howard, Mariah Stewart, Janet Evanovich, Allison Brennan…what to read! Then the surprise of the summer just sorta sneaks up… an event that escaped my radar. Do I hear another GASP? Yes, it’s sad but true. I almost missed the Harry Potter Symposium — PORTUS 2008. Right down the road so to speak. A gathering of the HP intelligentsia — no kids under 18 allowed. What has the world come to when the fans of a children’s book holds a yearly symposium (aka convention) complete with masquerades, costumed attendees, rock bands, fan fiction, movies and workshops on the hows and whys of “potterdom” and don’t let in the kiddos? At least…

Wood Nymph and WitchOriginally uploaded by freshfiction Last year we were all agog at the idea of Harry Potter 7, coming soon, count downs to release day. Which store to go to for the party. House party plans being made. Authentic Potter menus researched and practiced. Conferences juggled around the release date. Reading schedules worked out. How many copies to buy, would it be just the hard cover or did we need the audio as well? Who doesn’t love Jim Dale, the “voice” of Harry Potter? But this year, as they say, “not so much” to look forward… book wise. The closest book is Stephanie Meyer‘s Breaking Dawn. The book stores are planning midnight parties but unfortunately for the majority of readers — non-female ones particularly — the overwhelming look on the face when asked if they’re going to the store is confusion. That confusion is also felt by most of our book club members as well when asked if we should plan an expedition. And the excuses for not going, well, I guess vampires and werewolves just don’t hold the same universal appeal as does magic and round glasses. Or is it because HP had a series of movies…

From the time I was a little girl, I was terrified of the house I grew up in because I knew it was haunted—by what I couldn’t say, but a malign energy tainted that house. It didn’t help matters that I’ve always been somewhat psychic. I could always sense whatever was there watching me. To this day, that house shows up in my nightmares and in my nightmares, it’s usually filled with tens of thousands of spiders (I’m arachophobic) and I wake up screaming. Granted, I had a lot of serious baggage to deal with in childhood, but the house stands out in my mind as the ‘haunted house on the hill’ even though it was smack in the middle of a lower-class suburb. Scared of the house or not, that didn’t detour me from falling in love in love with the paranormal, and from becoming a total fantasy/SF freak. When I was five years old, I stumbled over Dark Shadows and went nuts over it. I’m not certain why my mother let me watch a vampire soap opera but wouldn’t let me watch ‘the man with the funny ears’ (Spock, on Star Trek, which started the same year). I…

We’re participating in the Bloggy Carnival where all you have to do is to post a comment on a blog to be included in the pool for winners for different items. Since we’re FRESH FICTION, what better prize than a signed copy of Linda Francis Lee‘s latest blockbuster — The Ex-Debutante??? The Ex-Debutante When Carlisle Wainwright Cushing left her native Texas to start a new life in Boston, she had no regrets. The former Texas debutante, who never felt at home in her Southern skin, had found liberation–or so she thought. Until the day she gets an urgent call from her mother, reporting that: One, the Symphony Association Debutante Ball, which Carlisle’s family has sponsored for years, is about to be called off; Two, her mother’s divorce has the whole town talking; And three, the family’s good name is at stake and Carlisle is the only one who can fix it all. So Carlisle takes a leave of absence from her law firm and goes to Texas to help. Her fiance, who has no idea she’s an heiress, can’t know that she’s organizing the ball, handling the dramas of the girls involved, settling her mother’s suit–and coming face to face…

January brought a slew of authors to Dallas and I had the opportunity to check them all out! First we began with the visit of Thomas Allen author of UNCOVERED. Thomas has a special connection to books, especially pulp fiction books, He likes to CUT THEM UP! Yes, he takes old paperbacks, cuts out the figures on the covers then poses them in title suggestive ways and photographs them. It’s fascinating, beautiful and to an avid reader and collector, TERRIFYING! Thomas gave a presentation that showed some of his work over the years (not really that long, but he did start with his father’s photography before he was born) including book covers and magazine works. Gwen loved his illustrations for New York her primo magazine of the time. Next up, we went South, to the New South filled with crazy ladies, southern food, barbeque, garden parties … and did I mention crazy women? And Michael Lee West came to town before heading up to be part of The GirlFriends Weekend in Jefferson, a tiara wearing, big-hair celebration of womanhood. She was so comfortable she sat down with the readers and gave us the “story behind the tales” of her amazing…

As usual, I never had as much time as I expected to prepare for the holidays so it doesn’t come as a HUGE surprise I’m still writing a holiday letter — or to be honest, I just gave up on it. Trust me, you would have found it boring. And 11pm on Christmas Eve is a bit late to be creative. I still have presents to wrap. But Faye said I had to blog on Christmas and so I’ll need to come up with something. I gave up on pithy and witty and I’m stuck with mundane. At book club this is the point we go around the room and talk about the best (or worst) book read this month. So I think I’ll just go with books I discovered in the past two months. One of the things I try to do is to read the books by an author who is either coming to town for a signing or is a book club guest. After all it’s really rude to not at least taste a hostess’s cooking. You don’t have to like it, but you better take a bite to be polite. Unfortunately for my book budget (laughing),…

Many families find the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, very stressful. But we’ve come up with our own way of de stressing the whole thing. After years of analysis of the holiday we’ve come up with the plan — work to people’s strengths. It sounds cynical, but it works. First, have the dinner at my house. (Yes, I hear you snickering but until the kids get married, I’m pretty safe. We’ll deal with that disaster down the road or encourage them to match up with orphans.) And give each member of the family, aka chefs, their own space and time in the kitchen. Second, everyone has to make their own specialty. In the husband’s case that means oatmeal in the morning and carving the turkey. Not too hard and he’s a whiz at the carving and critiquing the “doneness” of said turkey. And after the year of living dangerously — the deep frying of turkey *shudder* — it’s probably the safest thing for all of us. The son makes the turkey. Each year he researches the proper brine, proper cooking hardware, roasting times, and each year the bird is delicious. I think this year he discovered a cheesecloth blanket for basting to…