…is posted on Bam's blog as my guest blog for today. 

I can't believe I forgot to link to it. Check it out.

I thought it was a great list–but only because I can't take credit for most of it, as it was a collaborative effort between me, the incredibly funny and talented Jackie Kessler and my darling friend Gigi–who prefers to remain somewhat anonymous.

You may be too late for the contest (but anyone reading this blog and being redirected to that post on Bam's has already read/bought my books anyway, right? Right? RIGHT?), but you can still enjoy the list.

And add your own reason if you so desire.

There've been a few people who've read the Gardella Vampire Chronicles and have commented that they thought Victoria acted too…well, modern…for her time period. I think their thinking was that how did a woman raised in an era where females were expected to marry and bear an heir and let everything be done for them–how did a woman like her actually learn how to extend herself and be bold enough to fight vampires. To take charge and lead the battle against them, and not step back and let decisions be made for her.

I've always stood by the fact that there have been women in every time period who've pushed the boundaries, broken the rules, and expected something more than what life was supposed to give them. The suffragettes are only one example. Eleanor of Aquitaine is another example–my word, the woman led a group of female soldiers on Crusade! Not to mention ruled her own lands that were as large as England at one point.

Anyway, I'm pleased to say that for those of you who are interested in learning more about these "uppity women" of historic times, there's a whole series of books written by Vicky León about just that subject. My dear friend Esri Rose wrote a fabulous article about Ms. León and her books at this month's Wet Noodle Posse ezine. So check it out. (Let me know if you think Victoria should be included in Uppity Women Who Carried Stakes in Their Reticules.)

And as for the España reference…I just got word that Spanish rights to The Rest Falls Away sold this week, so the book will be released in Spain sometime in the next year or two! Yay!

Oh…and I just got the cover for The Bleeding Dusk, and although I can't show it to you yet, let me just say that it is amazing. Absolutely stunning. Breathtaking. The best cover I have ever seen. I'm not kidding.

All I'll tell you is that Victoria is on it. And she really looks like Victoria!

Okay, that's all I got. You? 

I know everyone's been talking about this ad nauseum, even so much that the bookie in London has stopped taking bets as to whether Potter bites the dust in The Deathly Hallows and is now taking bets as to who has the honors of doing so….but really?

Is it possible that Rowling would do that? Kill off her main protagonist?

I can see how she could think about a sacrificial lamb sort of thing with Harry–ie, he has to die so Voldemort dies. It makes sense in a heroic, epic sort of way. But. I just can't see her really doing it. I mean, she loves this character. She's lived him for more than a decade. It's hard to kill off characters *ahem* that one has gotten to know and love.

As an author, I can see her wanting to do it…but to actually, actually do it? I just can't.

What do you think?

Carl's contest to win an Advance Copy of The Bleeding Dusk has ended, but he's posted some of the great pictures on his Web site. You must, absolutely must, go check them out! Especially the last set, which had me giggling for hours. (Keri, now I really can't wait to meet you at RWA!)

And never fear…if you missed Carl's deadline, you still have a chance to win an early ARC of The Bleeding Dusk. Twisted Kingdom's Scavenger Hunt is going on until July 10.

All you have to do is take a picture of Rises the Night in stock at a store other than a bookstore–eg, Target, CVS, Wal-Mart, Sav-on-Food, an airport store, etc.–in North America and send it on to them at: Twisted_Kingdom_Blog AT hotmail DOT com. (You don't even have to buy the book; just take a pic and tell us where you saw it–store, city, state). Or if you don't live in North America, you can take a picture of the book in any store and send it in.

So keep your camera phones with you at all times! 

I'm still trying to answer that question, because, in the last week, I've seen four–count'em, four–turtles crossing roads (or thinking about it).

Interestingly enough, in each case, I made my Music Man pull over the car so I could get out and save my hard-shelled friend…and at least one other car stopped also.

I think turtles are cool…I don't mind picking them up or otherwise petting/touching them. Same with frogs, toads, crawfish…even snakes. (Keep the arachnoids away from me, however. Far away. Those scenes in The Lord of the Rings, and reading about Aragog in Harry Potter….nightmare fodder. Definitely nightmare fodder for me!)

Anyway, the cool thing about these turtles is that only one of the four was a common painted turtle (which also, coincidentally, was the only one I actually picked up and rescued). I took him/her (I'm guessing these all happen to be females, getting ready to lay their eggs, but I haven't done the research yet to find out if that's why they're all on the move) off the road and carried her down into a swampy ravine nearby–in my heels, thankyouverymuch, because we were coming from church on a Sunday afternoon.

That wasn't the first turtle I'd seen in this epidemic of Turtle Migrators, however. The first one I saw I passed on a two-lane highway on my way to pick up my Music Man, and the turtle was on the other side of the road, so on the way back, I stopped. So did two other cars who had also seen her. This was a turtle I'd never seen before–a soft-shell with a pointy nose. Her shell was leathery, and she must have been a few years old because she had a light dusting of moss growing on her shell. Another gentleman stopped and picked her up to rescue her (I was a leetle bit leery of that pointy nose….so I watched). 

We found little indentations where she might have been getting ready to bury her eggs, but since they were so close to the highway, we thought it best if she were moved.

The next day, I walked outside with my daughter and we saw this big old turtle standing in the back of our neighbors' yard. Fascinated, we walked over (after hooking up the dog) and, from a safe distance, saw that it was a snapper! He had moss growing all over his shell, and he was probably at least a foot in diameter. He didn't hang around, though…he lumbered across the yard and slid into the lake and that was the end of that….or so we thought. (I was kicking myself for not running in the house to find a camera!).

Two days later, we were driving down the road by our house and what should we find in the middle of the road…but a big old snapper. Had to be the same one (I don't like to think that there are more than one snapping turtle of that size in our little itty bitty lake). He was crossing the road (in the wrong direction, though, so maybe it was a different turtle) and my same daughter and I clambered out of the car.

I had no intention of picking up that snapper, but I thought I might be able to sort of prod him into walking across the road if I used a stick. I didn't want him to get flattened.

At the same time, though, another car stopped and a youngish man got out. He warned us to stay back, and sure enough…when he touched the back of the turtle's shell, that baby whipped her head out and around and snapped those jaws, fast and hard.

He seemed to know what he was doing, because he did that a few more times, always avoiding those snapping jaws, and finally was able to pick up the big guy, who at last retracted his head, and carry him to safety.

Whew.

So…what about you? Do you like turtles, frogs, toads, lizards? What about snakes? Did you like to catch them when you were younger? (Let's not talk about spiders, okay?)

Confession Time: When I was young, I used to catch teeny tiny little toads–no bigger than the size of a grown man's thumbnail. They were so, so, so cute! Anyway, I would make a little home for them in a tin coffee can, complete with grass….and I would leave them in the can. And then I would find them later in the day, or the next…and the poor things would be fried into little crispy critters in the hot, metal coffee can.

Poor things. I still have nightmares about those poor little things. Maybe that's why I'm on such a crusade today to save their larger, bigger cousins!