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Saturday, June 23, 2012

"Spring" Cleaning and Summer Reads

Finally got some "Spring" cleaning done on this site--by which I mean I just got around to updating the other pages you see here on JennyRedbug; I even added a page of Testimonials by some of the authors I have worked with over the last few years. Even though it's already officially become summer--a couple days ago--this seemed like a good time to arrange and update these pages. Maybe it is just to avoid actually doing any writing!
As to Summer Reading:
Drusilla Campbell's newest novel Little Girl Gone...gripping and set in such a real, evocative place that you will feel you have lived this story, rather than read it. Read an excerpt of Little Girl Gone on Campbell's site and you'll get hooked.
I also highly recommend Wildwood, an earlier novel by Campbell. This is a perfect summer read...not only because it is set in California during a drought, but because the author's vivid characters and their intertwined lives will entertain you and keep you turning pages, which is what summer reading is all about, no?
Another author I love that has a new--out last year but new to me--novel out is Marisa de los Santos. Her debut work, Love Walked In is one of my all-time favorite books--just try reading the first few pages and see if you can refrain from reading it aloud to someone. Funny and so true. Her new title is Falling Together and it is a gem. So nice to read about love and grownup life...Even if not all the characters are adults.
The last recommendation is an audiobook, and I urge you to listen rather than read it...The book is called Agent to the Stars and the author is the witty and amazing John Scalzi. (His blog is also witty and amazing--check it out here.)
BUT, I have to say that the real star of this audiobook is the narrator--though that word seems so tepid a word to describe his work here--Wil Wheaton...Yeah, the kid from Star Trek: Next Generation is all grown up and he is THE BEST narrator of an audiobook I have heard yet. Those there are many I love and admire, his reading of Agent to the Stars is genius. Get it on Audible or rent it, or borrow it somewhere. Listen. Laugh. Enjoy.
hasta pronto!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Lucky Me--A Writer's Life

Okay, I'm sitting at Lestat's Coffehouse, writing away on this as part of "Blazing Laptops" the 9-hour writing marathon, to benefit San Diego Writers, Ink.
Lucky me, I sat down at an empty table this morning at about 8:45 and who should sit beside me but Judy Reeves, one of my favorite people (and writers) in the world. Then someone sat on the other side of me and it turned out to be Drusilla Campbell, who I have "known" for years but never met--and who is a new "must-read" author I am telling everyone about.
Both women have great websites, full of interest and excerpts. Look them both up--I'm busy writing here...Actually, I am doing a writing prompt for the group in a minute or two, so I'd better prepare.
hasta pronto!