Alert! Hazardous Mocha Addiction!

Congratulations! The winners of the T-Shirt and the Tote from RAW are Jessica and Sue! Woohoo! Please email me on skully @ skullybuzz .com (without the spaces) with your snailmail address. I’m putting up a couple more RAW pictures which I got from Jennifer Ray. The mermaid made her own costume! Sorry, but I didn't get her name. And the lovely damsels are Shirley Daamsgard (left) and Mary Wine (right). Mary is a costumer, and she wore a real corset and bustle! Another RAW WOW moment!

This week we have a book from my wonderful critique partner, Leigh Wyndfield. You can check out all her books on her site. Yes, Leigh is my critique partner, but I’m not biased. I adore all her books so it’s hard for me to pick a favorite. She’s giving away a download of one book. If you win, I’ll put you in touch with her and you guys can decide which one. Anything you pick will be a treat. Remember, if I don’t hear from you in 24 hours, I’ll have to choose another winner, so be sure to check back next Monday. If you put your email in your blog comment (hint, hint!), then you’re set! Plus you’ll get my newsletter telling you about new releases and contests, I know you want that!!

Now, to my addiction. I had my physical and of course, my doctor ordered all those tests for cholesterol, etc. Before having the blood test I had to fast, and I wanted to combine the trip with another appointment at 2 pm. So that meant nothing but water until 2 in the afternoon. I thought sure fine okay. Oh! My! God! That also meant no morning mocha! Do you know what it’s like to wake up to the scent of chocolate and coffee and not be able to have any? Yes, my husband made his mocha but I couldn’t have any. I was literally drooling. I couldn’t concentrate all morning. I kept thinking about 2 o’clock and my mocha. At 10:45, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I went to the lab early, had the tests done, then ah, a blessed mocha. Thank God the doctors’ clinic where I go has a mocha stand. Whew! So I didn’t even have to drive to get it. However, I did bring my Alphasmart, so while I was waiting the next two hours for my 2 o’clock appointment, I got a lot of uninterrupted writing done. Conclusion? I’m a complete and utter mocha addict. But so is my husband. He keeps buying mocha machines at the Salvation Army just in case ours breaks down (because they’re so cheap, honey, and they have all the parts). We have two in the cubby over the fridge, two at the bottom of the pantry, two in my office cupboard, and the last one he bought, I had to stash in the linen closet. I told him no more mocha machines! So instead, he came home with a mixer to make cookies. Which I did, and now we’re addicted to cranberry white chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies.

So, what’s your addiction?

Jasmine and Jennifer
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
Newsletter: skullybuzz-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

RAW was WOW!!!!

Congratulations! The winner of Carolyn Jewel’s My Wicked Enemy is Cathy. Please email me on skully@skullybuzz.com with your snailmail address. Remember, if I don’t hear from you in 24 hours, I’ll have to choose another winner. So (hint, hint!) if you give me your email in advance on the comment you leave, then you’re set! Plus you’ll get my newsletter telling you about new releases and contests, I know you want that!!

As the title says, RAW was fantastic. I met so many readers, and yes, many of them had even read my books! We started on Thursday night with a nice dinner in the restaurant for those who arrived early. I met Jennifer Ray for the first time. She was wonderful, introducing me around. She’s got a review site, http://www.wildonbooks.com/ and she’s been so good to me in her reviews. Jennifer, it was great meeting you! Most people arrived on Saturday, and we had a fun pajama party that night. I was a dancing fool! My husband asked me if I was drunk, but I swear I wasn’t, even if we did get two free drinks every night! Saturday was the book signing for attendees. I got to sit next to Lora Leigh! Thanks for everyone who stopped by and had me sign books for them. I think this is the best signing I’ve ever had!!!! Thank you all, smooches!

And that night, we had the masquerade ball. The costumes were fantastic. Okay, I don’t have a bunch of pictures. As we were driving to the airport at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, my husband asked me if I’d packed the camera. Hm. Gee, honey, I so wished you’d asked me that BEFORE we left home! The pictures I’m attaching are courtesy of Crystal Adkins. She’s got a great review blog http://bookreviewsbycrystal.blogspot.com/ and that’s how we met on line. Crystal took care of me the whole time at RAW. I couldn’t have made it through without her (because actually I’m an introvert as well as a dancing fool). She hung out with me, took all the pictures I asked her to, and kept me sane. Although she couldn’t stop me from doing that funky chicken dance on Friday night. BTW, I was too tired and sore to dance on Saturday. And also the stockings kept falling down. I’m attaching a couple of photos. Crystal and I are in the top picture, she wore such a cool Vampire Queen costume. And here some wonderful new friends I met at RAW, Lora, Jessica, (me), Crystal, Lauren and Loretta. You guys are great! BTW, Loretta and Lauren came all the way from England!

Crystal helped me out by having my RAW t-shirt and RAW tote bag autographed by all the authors at the signing. So, for this week’s giveaway, let’s have two winners, one for the t-shirt, the other for the tote. I’ll get back to giving away books next week. Post a comment to enter and don’t forget to give me your email!

Jasmine and Jennifer
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
Newsletter: skullybuzz-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Our favorite movies!

Congratulations! The winner of Bella Andre’s Game For Anything is Tetewa. You’re going to love this book! Please email me on skully@skullybuzz.com with your snailmail address. The name of my first winner from two weeks ago was Carol Gowett, and she should have received her copy of TL Schaefer’s Saints of Midland by now!

I’m going to do it differently this week. I don’t know who many of my commenters are. Sometimes the profile is a first name, sometimes not a name at all. When I have a winner, I don’t know how to contact you unless you come back to the blog. I hope you all will, but if not, then I’m stuck. Starting next time, my winner has 24 hours from the time I post the blog to get back to me. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll chose another winner. So if you leave your name and email address on your comment, you’ll be sure not to miss out. Plus, I’ll add you to my newsletter so you can hear all about new releases and contests on the site.

On to this week’s book. I’ve got an autographed copy of Carolyn Jewel’s My Wicked Enemy. It’s got a wicked hot cover. You can check it out on her site Carolyn Jewel

The topic this week is favorite movies. So here goes on my top five.

1) Laura, 1944, starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. It’s a wonderful mystery, a great love story, and the song is a classic. I first saw it when I was an impressionable sixteen and I’ll never forget Dana Andrews falling in love with Laura’s portrait. Laura, by the way, has been murdered. In Sex and the Serial Killer, it was one of Bobby’s favorite movies, too. Hmm, all my heroines seem to like the classics. Wonder why? Laura is also one of my hubby’s favorites, too. I, of course, introduced him to the movie.

2) Leave Her to Heaven, 1945, starring Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde. This time Gene Tierney plays an evil bitch. She is so cold, so bad, so manipulative. And she does it all so very, very well. Mom and I watched it againb during her recovery!

3) Pitch Black, 2000, Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell. Hah! You thought I was going to pick all classics. But no. I love this movie for its redemption theme. And Vin Diesel’s bald head. The monsters are scary, and when the lights go out...ooh. And then there’s Vin Diesel’s bald head. Okay, I think he’s hot, which adds to the movie for me, but I still love this flick for Radha Mitchell’s character arc. But you know I like bald guys, especially if you've read Twin Peaks.

4) Jane Eyre, 1983, Timothy Dalton. Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester, ooh-la-la. You probably think I only like movies with the hot guys, but there are other qualities to this miniseries which aired on PBS. I loved this version because I really felt the chemistry between them. You saw him come out of his shell and learn to laugh. This is the best version and believe me, I’ve seen many different ones and read the book as well.

5) The Omega Man, 1971, Charlton Heston. This was the second version made of Matheson’s book, I am Legend. The first was with Vincent Price, and though I love Vincent (he’s in both Laura and Leave Her to Heaven), that was not a good movie. I also didn’t like the Will Smith version because the creatures were too inhuman. All right, I didn’t like the book either! But Omega Man I loved because the ghouls were organized, they had a charismatic, intelligent leader. Like a cult. That made them scarier, because they had this single minded goal of killing Charlton Heston and they were relentless. They believed they were in the right and he was the evil thing. Anthony Zerbe as their leader Mathias was chilling.

I showed you mine, now you show me yours! What are some of your favorite movies?

One note, I’ll be attending Lora Leigh’s Reader Appreciation Weekend next week. I will therefore be posting my new blog (and this week’s winner) on Tuesday, 9/23. And I’ll tell you all about RAW!

Jasmine and Jennifer
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
Newsletter: skullybuzz-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Old Folks, ya gotta love 'em!

Thanks so much, everyone, for stopping by my first blog! And I have my first winner! Clynsg, congratulations! You’ve won an autographed copy of TL Schaefer’s The Saints of Midland. Please send an email to skully@skullybuzz.com with your snail mail address and I’ll send your book right off.

For my next offering, I’ve got an autographed copy of Bella Andre’s Game for Anything. This is another hot, sexy read from this wonderful author, and of course, she’s a friend of mine, too. You can check out the book at Bella Andre. So post a comment for a chance to win, and I’ll make the announcement next Monday!

I’m going to try my best to answer your posts on a timely basis, but I’m actually staying with my mom in her “old folks” home. Their Internet access is limited, and I have to wait in line to use a computer. No wi-fi! Oh my God. But it’s a cool place where she lives. My mom has her own apartment, and she’s very self-sufficient even at 82 (God forbid I should say 83 even though she’ll be 83 in December). Except she had an operation on her foot last week, and she’s not supposed to be walking. So I’m fetching and carrying, making her bed, doing dishes, cooking. And watching lots of movies with her! But you know, it’s hit me that she won’t be around forever. When you’re young, you think Mom and Dad will always be there. Even though I lost my dad to lung cancer a few years ago, I still wanted to think of Mom being there forever. I’m starting to realize that forever might be ten years, or five years, or a year. So I’m trying to get down here as often as possible and spend quality time because I don’t want her to be gone with me whimpering, “Gosh, I wish I’d gone down to visit her more often.”

I know it’s not Mother’s or Father’s Day, but let’s talk it up about how we can appreciate our parents! I do love amusing stories about elderly people. You’ll find lots of old folks in my Jennifer Skully books, I love adding octogenarians. My favorite was Grandma Blue in Sheer Dynamite. And in the Max series which I write as JB Skully, there’s Witt’s mother, Ladybird. God, she was amusing! And there were hints of my own mom in Ladybird.

Jasmine and Jennifer
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
Newsletter: skullybuzz-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

And the Jasmine Files begin!!!

Yes, this is the inaugural blog for the Jasmine files!

First, as I promised on my website, I’m giving away a book to one lucky blog poster. Which means you should post a comment or I won’t know you’re out there! Second, I’ll choose the winner and post his or her name on next week’s blog. Yeah, I’m going to try to blog once a week (and give away a book once a week!). Unless I run out of things to say. I won’t, however, run out of books. And you know writers never stop wanting to blab. But we’ll see how it goes. That means you have all week to post a comment and get into the drawing. And this week (yeah, I know you’ve been waiting to hear about the book!!) I’m giving away a copy of TL Schaefer’s The Saints of Midland. I love Terri (she’s one of my critique partners) and I love this book. Her voice...wow, that’s all I can say. She autographed it, too! You can check out the book on her site http://www.tlschaefer.com/SaintsofMidland.htm. Mrs. Giggles loved the book! Don’t miss my regular monthly contest on http://www.skullybuzz.com/contest.html and please note that Leigh’s website is http://www.leighwyndfield.com/. There’s a little oops in there that I hope to have fixed next week.

Okay, so why I’m here today. I’m starting a new series. This one is going to be a Berkley Heat, so that obviously means it’s going to be hotter! I’m going to be writing two anthologies, creating a glitzy, sensual world of powerful people and the courtesans they’ll pay anything to have. Of course, what I write is all fantasy, and I was wondering about what I thought might be a fairly universal fantasy for women, that of being paid for sex. I’m not talking about the poor women on the streets who are victimized, strung out on drugs, living a nightmare. I’m thinking of the fantasy world of high class and high prices. So, do you think this is a universal fantasy (meaning it’s shared by a lot of women) or am I totally whacked? What do you think are some other universal fantasies? And having a fantasy doesn’t mean acting out the fantasy. That’s why it’s called a “fantasy”! It’s just the secret thing that occasionally crosses your mind.

I’d love to hear what you think! So let’s talk it up!

Jasmine and Jennifer
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
Newsletter: skullybuzz-subscribe@yahoogroups.com