My friend–let's call her Jen–is an American woman living in South Korea.

She's been living there for over a decade–she married a Korean man and they have two children. She loves it there…the only problem is that Jen, being a voluptuous woman of size 12, can no longer find any clothing in her size in South Korea.

She's told me time and again that a woman of her size–which is fairly average here in the US, of course–is considered obese there in the Asian world of teeny, tiny women. I didn't really believe how serious the problem was until she told me she had to start sewing her own clothes because she can't find them there.

So she ordered a mannequin in her size so she could fit the clothes (she's quite a designer and seamstress–the blouse pictured here is one she designed and made herself). Not only did she have a heck of a time finding one her size, when finally she got it and looked at the bottom of the mannequin what she saw there added insult to injury:

yes….that's a pig image stamped on there.

Guess we know what that manufacturer was thinking!

(Scroll down for newer entries.)

My Immortalize Your Friend in a Book contest is back! Here are the rules and entry form; you have until Halloween to nominate a friend to be in the fourth Gardella book–and if your friend wins, so do you!

Why is it that whenever I do a perfect job of parallel parking, no one is there to witness it?

And whenever someone's in the car with me (Tammy!), I screw it up like crazy?

I'm a great parallel-parker! I do a perfect job 90% of the time–just not when anyone's there with me.

Hmph.

So what's your talent that no one ever gets to see?

1. Murder By Death ~ A Neil Simon classic that makes fun of nearly every literary detective (as of the 1970s), plus an all-star cast. Nancy Walker, Truman Capote, Peter Falk, Peter Sellers, Maggie Price, David Niven…the list goes on and on.

2. Young Frankenstein ~ Mel Brooks' classic that, for some reason, scares the bejeebers out of my kids! As for me, my favorite line is "Roll, roll…roll in ze hay." 

3. Austin Powers ~ Gotta love those teeth. And the fashions.

4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail ~ Not only do my children watch this one and quote it mercilessly, but my daughter is going to be one of the Knights That Go "Ni!" for Halloween. Now, if I can just find her a couple coconut shells….

5. Spaceballs ~ I've been subjected to this flick too many times in the last year, since my kids discovered Star Wars, and then this Mel Brooks spoof. Part of my morbid fascination is wondering whatever happened to Daphne Zuniga, grieving over the loss of John Candy, and realizing yet again that Bill Pullman is a dead-ringer for a guy I nearly married.

6. The Princes Bride ~ The classic. Too bad Janet Mullany hasn't seen it.

7. This is Spinal Tap ~ Wow! I haven't seen this one since…well, since Lenny & Squiggy were on daily reruns. I'm sure I'd enjoy it even more now that I'm a bit more worldly. 

8. Robin Hood | Men in Tights ~ Love Mel Brooks! Love men in tights! Cary Elwes rocks. (Did you notice that he's graduated into villain roles now–he played the bad guy in the recent Ella Enchanted.)

9. Naked Gun ~ Leslie Nielsen, the Prince of Spoofs. (Brooks is the the King.)

10. Blazing Saddles ~ You knew I'd put this on the list!

11. Airplane! ~ Leslie Nielsen and Robert Hays. Mmmhmmmm. 

12. High Anxiety ~ I'm a big Hitchcock fan, so I really enjoyed this one. Especially the "Vertigo" scene.

13. Best in Show ~ I'm cheating and putting this on the list though I haven't seen it yet–my friend Binger loves it, and so I'm including it on his recommendation.

Your favorites? Come on, share! 

Since I at last have the final cover for The Bleeding Dusk, I thought today would be a good day to answer some common questions people ask about the covers. (Isn't it gorgeous???)

First, let me just say that I can take no credit whatsoever for the cover art. It's the uber-talented Art Department at New American Library that turns out gorgeous, eye-catching covers time and time again.

As many of my friends say, I've been blessed by the cover gods and I'm very thankful.

So, when we start getting ready for a book's artwork, my editor usually asks if I have any ideas of who or what I'd like to see on the cover.

For The Rest Falls Away, I said I'd like to see a woman holding a stake behind her back. I had a totally different image in my head, but what NAL came up with was so much better than I could ever have imagined!

For Rises the Night, my editor thought that Max should be on the cover (she has a thing for Max, and who am I to argue?). So, yes, that's Max on the front of Rises–even though he looks much younger and beaten down than the Max that I picture in my head. (And they didn't show his vis bulla, which I would have liked!)

For The Bleeding Dusk, I don't think I gave any ideas at all, except to suggest that they do something in the background that hinted at the Colosseum or Roman architecture, since the entire book takes place (including one scene at the Colosseum) in Rome. I was asked to give details about Victoria's appearance–hair color, etc., and of course the result is this fabulous cover.

I'm in love with it.

So, which of the three covers do you like the best? 

~~~~~ 

(And don't forget–Readers Ask is every Wednesday here on the blog. Send your questions to questions at colleengleason dot com, and if I answer yours, you get the chance to win an advanced copy of Dusk!)