The flight over was fine, although I did arrive to a bit of a debacle with the keys to my holiday flat, as I blogged about over at the Pens. But it was sorted out by early evening, and within a few hours I was unpacked and ready to start cooking for my friends.

I have a secret, paradoxical domestic streak. I don’t think I want children, and I’m ambivalent about marriage as an institution, but I love nothing more than making people food and serving them and pouring them drinks and making sure they’re comfortable. It’s odd, and I have no idea where it comes from, but I’ve learned to embrace my strange drive to nestle people into my domestic bosom. So within hours of unpacking I had my lovely friends Ruth and Linda over, as well as Linda’s brother who was visiting from Dublin. All I did was make salad and heat up pizza, but it was so nice to catch up and know I didn’t have to run around that night. Then we had delicious cherries and pots of delicious chocolate ganache, which was heavenly.

The next day I had a proper day out with Ruth, and our friends visiting from Edinburgh, Sarah and Robin. We went to Hampton Palace, which was Henry VIII’s stomping grounds. Indeed, Dr. Ruth has become rather obsessed with the Tudors, the TV series, and she especially enjoyed all the large-booted stomping performed by the actor playing Henry.

It was a gorgeous day out, and a great day for a picnic on the front lawn:

After which, we did the whole palace and gardens. I really enjoyed it, although there were a few rooms in which they piped in “authentic” sounds and smells. I was fine with the sounds, but the faux-beef stew smell in the first rooms of the kitchens nearly made me hurl. Any nausea, however, was quickly eradicated by the rest of the kitchens, which had live cooking demos with recipes from the time. Not only were the demos interesting, but all of the cooks were sporting proper period costumes, including these padded cod pieces that looked incredibly, hilariously vulgar underneath their aprons. It was a definite moment of “Is that a rolling pin under your apron or are you just happy to see me?”

As usual, we were definitely the least mature people in the room, and couldn’t stop giggling. But all in all the palace was gorgeous, and very inspiring. I especially liked the maze:

And here’s a picture from the gardens that is actually a cryptic spoiler from book 5, Tempest’s Fury:

After leaving Hampton Palace, we headed back to Islington and one of my favorite restaurants here, the Afghan Kitchen. It’s tiny and super cheap and I adore it. We ate ridiculous amounts of food, then headed down the street for one last drink at the pub:

It was a place I’ve been to often with Dr. Ruth, and it was nice to be back with her:

We went our separate ways after that, but Ruth and I were back at Waterloo Station the next day to head out to Whitton for a BBQ at the house of Dr. and Mrs. Whisky, and the Wee Dram. It was a lovely long day spent with good friends, and I had such a great time. The Whiskys are great, and Dr. Whisky has been very busy with his new job as Global Ambassador of Balvenie. Not too shabby, right? Meanwhile, Mrs. Whisky is expecting ANOTHER Wee Dram, so she’s not been slacking off, either.

Another uni friend, Steve, was also in attendance, and he’s been doing awesome work studying glaciars in Greenland. It was great to catch up with everyone and find out what everyone’s up to. I’m lucky to have such fascinating friends, and the conversation ranged from places to visit in Austin, TX, to the drinking culture in Korea.

Tomorrow I’ve got to get some writing done, but in the evening my friend Jo is coming round to stay for a few days. I can’t wait to catch up, again. Then I should have a fairly quiet (and hopefully productive) week till the weekend, when we’re throwing Mrs. Whisky a baby shower.

So all is going very well here, and I’m so happy I’ve come over. I’m sure I’ll have some more updates for you shortly, including some very exciting things that are happening over in the UK with Jane and her series. I’ll let you know as soon as I can!

Now, however, it’s time for some sleep. Book five calls, and I might be writing a very sexy scene with Jane and a certain someone . . . who do you hope that someone might be?

OH, and Happy Fourth of July!!! Watch some fireworks for me!

To say that it was a night to remember is an understatement.

To kick off the evening, Kristin (Dr. Whisky’s lovely wife and my dear friend) and I got our hair done. We have our priorities, after all. So we had some updos done for us at Blow, a lovely little place with equally lovely ladies.

I sort of liked the look on the left, but apparently I’m not allowed to make hair decisions. That said, and after an intervention, the end results were fabulous. Kristin, especially, could not have looked lovelier!

After we were finished with our hair, my mother, who had patiently been keeping us company; Kristin; and I rushed to Beekman Bar and Books to help Sam and Ben set up. Ever the consummate professionals, however, the boys had set up nearly everything before we arrived. The only major thing Sam and I had to do was finish off the evening’s menu. Ben and Sam had already whipped up and named some outrageously delicious cocktails using Balvenie whisky (Sam’s the brand ambassador) and Sailor Jerry rum. So Drs. Peeler and Whisky put their little noggins together and wrote the descriptions, which we had more than a little fun doing. Here’s the fruits of (mostly Sam and Ben’s) labor. We hit this perfect blending of fun, classy, but still slightly louche at the launch, which I think you can see from the menu:

And then the guests started pouring in! I was so lucky, first of all, that my family was able to attend. My niece, nephew, and sister-in-law couldn’t make it, as the kids have something called “school,” but my brother, father, and mother all flew in from Illinois. I am so blessed to have such a supportive family.

There I am with my mom, Rella; my dad, Dennis; and my brother, Chris. It’s fairly obvious to tell who is whom. But just in case you were wondering, yes, the first, very decorous photo was taken at the beginning of the night, before three Balvenie Barghest’s on my part. The other two were taken at the end of the party. It was a good night, needless to say.

Here are some piccys from the party! Wish you could have been there with us. It was such a great night.

My editor, Devi Pillai. Short and evil, the both of us. I like.

Danette Somers, wife of Orbit author Jeffrey Somers, Lauren Panepinto, and Jenn Flax

Orbit Socializes! In the center, our fearless leader, Tim Holman.

Greg Silberman stars in The Champagne Fights Back

My indomitable Alpha Reader, the lovely Christie Ko

Drs. Whisky and Peeler

The lovely Ken Michaels, CEO of our parent company, Hachette Book Group.

Mrs. Whisky and my much adored agent, Rebecca Strauss of McIntosh & Otis.

Signing books for Jack Womack, one of Orbit's illustrious publicists.

mediabistro's Ron Hogan - my favorite NYC whisky and cigar buddy.

I couldn't get enough lovin' from Heather Osborn and Stacy Hague-Hill (Team Tor!)

My good friends Ted Schroeder and Wendy Wheeler Smith.

Toasting TR, good friends, the love of family, and really good booze.

To Tempest Rising!

Thanks to everyone at Hachette and Orbit for attending and to my friends and family for all of their ongoing support. I love you guys! And this time I’m completely sober when I say those magic words!

In the meantime, I’ve posted something about pithy one-linerish descriptions of UF over at the League.  Basically, my issue is that few people I know in RT have any idea what UF is, and I can’t buy everyone a “starter pack.”  Meanwhile, when I try to describe the genre, I inevitably get stuck, or I make assumptions about other stuff they know.  How would you describe UF to, let’s say, a psychologist who hasn’t read anything but Freud and Foucault for the past twenty years; doesn’t own a TV; and hasn’t been in a bookstore since she discovered interlibrary loans?

This is my dilemma.  They also tend to be people who are really smart, and I end up getting nervous and saying something “Nikkish,” such as, “Dude, UF is awesome ’cause it’s got raunchy supe sex.”  And they’re all, “we hired you???  Did you get your doctorate from Valley Girl U?”  And I’m all, “Supe sex!  Yum!”

Embarassing!

There’s other fun things afoot for the future, as well.  On the 13th, I’m going to NYC.  I’ll be staying with my AMAZING friends, Dr. and Mrs. Whisky, and  I’ll also be going to “meet,” (drink with!) the fine people at my agency, McIntosh and Otis, Inc., and at Orbit Books.  I’m not sure whether or not I can take photos of their organizations; I remember getting run out of various grocery stores when I was a teenager and we were trying to film ourselves shopping.  Why?  I can’t remember, and I don’t think we ever really had a motivation.  Anyway, if I CAN, and I can share them (I am a little gun shy after Jewel-Osco threatened to call the POLICE on my petty-bourgeois ass), then that will be a big feature.  

I will also be getting author photos taken VERY shortly (as in the 21st).  And there might be some posts (there will definitely be posts regarding my anxiety; I would rather have a root canal than have my picture taken) that ask you for your help deciding on a photo.  Not sure yet, and it depends on how many “good” ones we have to choose from.

Anyway, this has become a large post about nothing.  I consider it a “trailer” post.  Or a “preview” post.  Fun things will be happening.  Oh yes.  Fun things.