You know, I COULD be working on book three in the Simon Canderous series right now, but I'm not. Instead, I'm catching up on stuff and movies until I get my editorial letter back on book two.

Finally saw Cloverfield. I love that in the month or two when I can't get to the theater, the DVD is already out. Watching it, I couldn't help but wonder if other New Yorkers just saw it as a typical day's commute through the city as I did? That aside, I liked it, but I think all the premovie hype was hyped a bit too much so I was a little underwhelmed at times. The extras on how they did it all are fascinating tho. I think it might have been better if the monster had turned out to be a thirty five story tall Jason Castro from Amer Idol, stumbling around stoned out of his gourd.

Also, if you are not familiar with Such Great Heights by the Postal Service, I recommend you go download it now. Came up in my shuffle today, and I forgot how haunting and lyrical it is. Makes me a little weepy, mostly because I remember the moment at my wedding last year when it played.. but aside from it being one of my own personal triggers, I think you will like it too.

The deep seated animosity I bear towards New York Times Bestselling fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss is no secret. The origins of said animosity may be, but alas, that is a story for another day...

Clearly I have the goods on this gnomish-looking freak of an author, elsewise why would he mention me at his blog?
http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/blog/2008/05/what-should-i-do-7-new-authors.html

Rest assured, gentle readers, I will be keeping a wary eye on him...

New things are afoot over at the League ! Head on over and check it out!

Of particular note are the new members of the League and the contest here:
http://www.leagueofreluctantadults.com/2008/05/whole-new-league.html

Also of note, our new About Us section,
http://www.leagueofreluctantadults.com/
presented in Playboy interview fashion (no nudes, I'm afraid! Sorry, kids!)

So I had heard much good about the last Bond film, the reboot of Casino Royale.

And I did enjoy it, but I have to ask...

Do we need a ball slapping torture scene?  I mean, really?
We used to have space shuttles and Jaws and lasers and sharks (and yes, sharks with frickin' laser beams) and now we're down to slapping Bond in the nutsack? 

Sure, I'd give in after about .0007 seconds (see what I did there?), but c'mon...!

Dear short story due in a month to my editor,
Fuck you, you fucking fuck!  You are done... at least in first draft anyhoo.

Now if you will excuse me, there are some hookers that need killing in GTA4.
(please note I'd never kill hookers in real life.. unless, you know, they didn't live up to my exceedingly high standards.. or they talked back)

Sincerely,
The Management (Mrs.)

So the other day I was fretting? Why you might ask? Because, as I had been dreading, I finally got my first one-star review, which I honestly was having trouble shaking it off.

Then about three hours later John Scalzi posts about one-stars review with the unique perspective of embracing them, the bad with the good as it were. At first it simply seemed like something that a well established author could easily get away saying since the proof of success is in their long career, but I decided it could apply to the likes of the new kid on the fantasy block too. He asked everyone to post their one-star darlings and without further ado, here is my first one-star review and I feel liberated posting it, as terribly misguided as it is and accusatory .of plagarism to boot!  Woot!

"Seems too familiar for a recent book.
I started reading this book last night kept getting the sinking feeling that I'd read it before. I knew since this book was published in 2008, and even my memory isn't that short, that I must be mistaken. It finally dawned on me that the plot the characters and even the irreverent dialogue was a complete rip off of the movie "Men in Black" right down to the veteran paranormal investigator at his rookie partner. The author merely substituted ghosts and spooks for aliens."

Now I have a great idea for book two featuring a talking dog sidkick and a giant cockroach!

Anyway, discuss at will!

Wonder what an Anton sez when he's trying to be diplomatic about someone kicking his baby in the toof? Head on over to the League!

http://www.leagueofreluctantadults.com/2008/04/book-on-shelves-thicken-up-your-skin.html

In a few short hours, cheese curd and Mario Kart for the Wii will be in my eager little hands.

Oh yea, and that woman I live with will be back too... apparently tattooed, if I am to believe her...

The GTA IV midnight tomorrow! Perhaps I will have to drag her to the line as punishment...

You know what bugs me? Olive Garden commercials. Moreso because I'm a New Yorker and we have Little Italy here, no doubt.

But I think if someone took me to Olive Garden (or worse the Olive Garden cooking school in Italy) in search of fine Italian cuisine, I think I'd have to murder them in their sleep. I'm not sure what method I'd use, but it would probably involve those breadsticks...

That said, every once in a great while, I will go... but other than the bottomless salad bowl, I'm ALWAYS disappointed.

Ah well, I guess they won't be selling Dead To Me at Olive Garden now...

In lieu of any actual content, I am an open book, people.  Ask me anything as normal, writerly, ribald, cheeky as you want and I'll answer.  Comments are screened for your pleasure.  I'll probably respond via messages.  Let's see if you can snap me out of my boredom.

Someone out there said they were sending a Jayne hat from Firefly and for the life of me, I can't remember who...help anyone?

When I was a kid, I watched a little show called Romper Room, where a teacherly woman hung out with a bunch of little kids and there was learning and stories and hijinks.  Over time, I came to be very frustrated with the show.  Why?

There was a section called Magic Mirror, where the lady would incant some arcane text and hold up a "mirror" that let her see all us kids watching the show out there.  Then she'd say "I see Michael and Shannon and Lisa and Kevin and..." and every week she'd say different names.  But NEVER in the years I watched it did she ever say "Tony"!  It's common enough, but bitch never said my name.

Cut to yesterday at Passover.  Orly breaks out some old VHS tapes.  Pops one in.   It's the early 80s and she's actually one of the little kids on an episode of Romper Room.  She was the cutest four year old I evah done seen, running around and jumping and clapping.  Then it gets to the Magic Mirror portion and I shit you not, they said "I see Tony!"

Thirty years of bitterness gone just by seeing my wife on the show!  If that's not proof that the universe has me married o the right woman, I don't know what is!

I know many of you are on the edge of your seat, wondering how Anton did at comic con.

Let's see.. first I was in the Penguin booth, which was oddly being run by all the lovely ladies of Ace, Roc, DK, and the juvenile division.
And Chris Clairmont just happened to be hanging out there and we chatted about how we met 21 years ago up in Albany when I had him sign my Wolverine four part series and now I'm all full circle as a writah too!
Then I started talking to this other guy, only realizing partway through it was Orson Scott Card.   I think my voice cracked like that teenage boy on The Simpsons...
And then the signing... there was a line of very nice people, except for one I wanted to stab in the eye, and I signed until we ran out of books!
Also, one of my clients from one of my accounts came by to tell me he really DID enjoy my book.. hehe. 
So really no complaints and it was the last of my big planned events until Denvention in July and Gencon in August.  Tomorrow I'll be wandering the show floor or stopping by the Penguin booth (1941).  Then Passover, then my sleep of a thousand years!
   

Tonight, 6-7, Penguin booth (1941), New York Comic Con, me signing Dead To Me. 

Be there or be. .ummm.. elsewhere! 

I'll be there Friday and Saturday drooling like a rabid fangirl acting like a professional writer.

And since I have several scenes set AT comic con for book two, any 15 dollar hot dogs I buy can be expensed!

This announcement of my signing at New York Comic Con this Friday amuses me to no end. It goes from top of the barrel to the bottom.. hehe. Read on! And if yer there, come by!

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/blogs/roc-ace-comic-con-weekend

One of the hardest things to get used to when your first book, your baby, comes out is the variety of criticism.  And it only takes a bad review here or there, out of hundreds of good ones to put you in a bad mood.  They're the minority, but they still stick in your craw.  And then you get letters like this that just floor you in a good way:

Normally I don't go about stalk--- er writing fan letters, but for you I decided to make an exception.
I just finished reading "Dead to Me," and I gotta say...Wow! I enjoyed it so much I could hardly put it down. Likely I wouldn't have save for the "onerous" duties of Mommy-hood. I do have to keep my rugrats fed and amused and the like. This book was one of the finest of it's genre I have read to date. It blended a macabre and off-beat sense of humor perfectly with some pretty heavy stuff. The world you crafted is fantasical and yet still retains a sense of reality to it. The characters are finely crafted and believable. I found myself thinking that Simon and Jane are just the sort of people that I would "hang" with given the chance. I love that you gave Simon psychometry, a talent that I find fascinating. It hasn't really been used to it's full potentional, IMHO, in any genre.
Kudos to you for a great book. My only complaint is that I have to wait for the next one. There have been very few books I've actually been a little sad at finishing and yours is one of them. When I finished it I felt a mild sense of loss, like leaving a good friend behind not knowing when next I'll see him.

These days I need good escapes on occasions from reality (my kids have ADHD and Autism respectively and it can be a bit stressful at times). Thank you for providing me a chance to unwind.

Looking forward to the next installment,
Sara Camarata

To all my friends who want to be writers or wish to remove the suck from their writing, the League is holding a critique session of your work. It's open to the first 15 responders... you'd be crazy not to get the hell over there and hit on the fine, fine ladies of the League get some useful advice.. for free! (Void in Spain... take that you, Spanish bastards!)

What is you waiting for?
http://www.leagueofreluctantadults.com/2008/04/lets-have-some-fun-fellow-left-behinds.html

For those of you going this year, I finally have my signing schedule:

Friday, April 18th, 6-7 at the Penguin booth, #1941.  If you are in attendance, please swing by to say hi, get a signed copy of Dead To Me, or to take my life.  The rest of the weekend I'll be working on getting that Jim Butcher restraining order against my piddling urban fantasy ass.

My rambling for the week at the League of Reluctant Adults:

http://www.leagueofreluctantadults.com/2008/04/answers-for-my-peanut-gallery.html