First off, guest blogs!

You can find me guest blogging over at Richelle Mead’s site, where I talk about “How young is too young?” in regards to reading, and you can also find me at Vicki Pettersson’s site, talking about my rather ridiculous mental version of Las Vegas. Vicki also says such nice things about me she made me go all vaklempt.

Kat Richardson also made me blush with what she said before my guest post at her site, about truly inspirational places to live. Next, I’ve got a guest blog up at Kevin Hearne’s Writer’s Grove, regarding butts that can crack walnuts and the urban fantasy heroine. It makes more sense when you read it.

Finally, you can catch me talking NOLA cuisine over at Suzanne Johnson’s Preternatura. She’s even offering a NOLA gift bag as a contest prize. Fun!

I’m wandering around to other people’s blogs partially because, for the month of March (and a bit of April), if you live in America you can OFFICIALLY call me cheap. Because Orbit’s offering its US readers the chance to download my first book, Tempest Rising, for only $2:99. Click on the ad below for more info:

So if you want to give Jane a shot, and you live in the states, she’s gorgeously cheap. Yay for cheap!

But now onwards and upwards to our wiener. THE CONTEST CAN HAS SPOKEN!

And the wiener is . . . . . . . . . . . . *drum roll* . . . . . . . . . . . JESS TOWNSEND!!!!!!

Congratulations, JESS! Email me at iheartelkies(at)gmail(dot)com, telling me which of the two books you’d like that are on offer, as well as your address, and I’ll have them sent your way!

Thank you ALL for playing. I loved reading your comments and it was great to have you here at the Emporium!

First of all, here are a couple of great reviews of Jane. Abigail at All Things Urban Fantasy enjoyed Jane, as did Amanda at Floor to Ceiling Books.

Paul Goat Allen, the paranormal reviewer/blogger for Barnes and Noble, also wrote an absolutely gorgeous review of Tempest’s Legacy, in which he says, “Jane is such a great character – she is definitely paranormal fantasy’s “It Girl” – she’s spunky, naïve, idealistic, courageous, funny, and incredibly sexy in her own way.” I think that about sums up Jane, and it was so lovely to read. Thank you, Paul!

You can also join the Barnes and Noble discussion about Tempest’s Legacy, here.

Orbit’s also put up this adorable advertisement over at Smart Bitches:

It links over to a sample chapter of Legacy… one of my favorites in the book!

I think that’s it for Jane! If I’ve missed something, give me a shout. As for me, it’s been a very hectic and very rewarding week at our MFA residency. Here’s a pic of all the students at the first evening’s reception:

And here’s a pic of all our graduates on SHU’s lovely grand staircase:

It was my first “real” residency–I’d attended the last one, but more as an observer. And it was so much fun, this time. I loved the teaching, and the students are wonderful. I’m so happy for the graduates, and any sadness about their leaving is mitigated by the fact they always come back for a summer retreat that runs parallel to our summer residency. In other words, people, if you come to SHU for our MFA, know this: you apparently never, ever leave. Which I think says a lot for the program.

And if you’re curious about my other hat, the academic one, here’s an article I did for Beatrice.com on the recent Huckleberry Finn censoring debacle. I forget how much I love writing more academic things, until I’m doing it and it feels so good.

Finally, I am officially off the fence when it comes to my hair. I’ve always had long hair, and recently cut it short. It took me a while to feel like I wasn’t wearing a wig. As a friend commented, “You’re a ‘long hair’ person,” and it took me a while to become a “short hair person.” Anyway, I am now completely sold. Here’s the latest incarnation, and I’m very pleased:

So yay to short hair! It’s so much easier, and it always looks okay. The problem with my long hair was it looked nice about twice a month. Other than that, it was in a ponytail. So this haircut always looks like I’m definitively not homeless, whereas it was sometimes hard to tell with the long hair.

After having planned a completely spontaneous, last-minute trip to go see my lovely friend, Jana, in San Francisco, I sent one of my typically annoying emails to Orbit’s ever-patient (and most probably magical) publicist, Jack. It read something like, “OMG! Wow, like, I’m ummmm gonna be in San Fran for like a few days–we’re going to eat from those zeppelins of meat!–so, um, could I do something there, and stuff? for the books? And stuff?”

Jack, once again, translated (hence the patient part) my mindless patois and then (magically!) found me an event to glom myself on to like an overzealous leech.

On Saturday October 9th, I’ll be appearing with the lovely Gail Carriger, amongst others, for LitQuake’s LitCrawl, at Borderlands, from 7:15-8:15. Full details can be found here, on my appearances page.

Shenanigans occur when Gail and I are together, as you can discover if you click on the pic…

As for other things I’m doing, I’ll be attending Whiskyfest that Friday night (so don’t light up any cigarettes near me on Saturday; we both may go up in flames from the fumes). I’ll also be taking my Oldest Favorite Lady, Jana, to meet some of my Newest Favorite Ladies at The House of Prime Rib. Rachael Herron, Juliet Blackwell, Sophie Littlefield, Jana and I plan on reenacting the scene from Anthony Bourdain’s visit to SF, where he gets rather blottoed and waxes poetic about the House of Prime Rib’s zeppelins of meat.

If one of us hasn’t nestled inside one of these fuckers by the end of our visit, then we obviously need another round.

I’m so excited for October, San Francisco, old and new friends, and ZEPPELINS OF MEAT! Come share my excitement with me at Borderlands!

Wednesday: Find other Leaguers and snark

Thursday: Between snarking, attend Club RT at 11:00 AM

Friday: Much Snark, culminating in dinner with my Editrix, then a huge get together with all the Orbit writers attending RT.

Saturday: MONDO SIGNING from 11:00-2:00. I will sign anything, including babies. Especially if you bring me Guinness. In exchange, I will give you sweet, sweet, snark and . . . better yet . .  . check out THESE babies:

VAMPIRE HEART TATTOOS! I know you want one! So come and get ‘em!

In other, very exciting, news, Orbit UK has just picked up all three Jane True books! It was very important for me that they be released in the UK, as I wrote the first book in Edinburgh. So I am absolutely chuffed to bits. Here’s the link to Amazon.co.uk, with all the release dates! Tempest Rising and Tracking the Tempest will both be released in the UK on August 5th, 2010, and it looks like Tempest’s Legacy will only be a few days later than its US release, at January 6, 2011.

In looking these things up, I also spy on amazon.co.uk my German title! Tempest Rising becomes Nachtstürme: Roman in German. I think that sounds AWESOME. Like a death metal band wearing a toga.

Needless to say, I can’t wait to see all the European covers. Sooooo exciting.

Finally, I had a fantastic time in Houston with Gail Carriger and Jaye Wells. You can read all about it on Orbit’s site. Everyone who came out was awesome, the staff at Murder By the Book were absolutely stellar, and Jaye and Gail are great gals. It was wonderful to see them again and we had a really good time working together.

I’ll try to update from RT, and take lots of pictures, and try not to get too greasy on any baby oil slathered cover models. Gross! And yet bizarrely titillating! From what I hear they’re like slip and slides. Only bumpier.

Y’all go ahead and think on that.

I’ve also been busy over at some other blogs. For Philip Palmer’s awesome blog series on SFF inspired music, I’ve introduced you to why I love a “Sea Lion Woman” as much as I love a seal woman.

And over at the Orbit Books blog, Gail Carriger’s Alexia and my own Jane have been nattering away again. The results are rather adorable. Those two are such cards!

Go ahead and stir that pot! STIR IT!