Living Online

Hear about the GM robot suicide commercial during the 2007 Super Bowl? Two DJs on one of our local stations this morning on the drive to work said that 250 people complained to some suicide prevention agency and that GM is standing my their commercial and refuses to pull the ad. I think if I were GM, I might pull the add for another reason... It it too depressing to inspire the I-think-I-need-a-new-GM response in television viewers. Besides.... It angers me on another level. I don't want to be reminded that people aren't working! That robot replaced a human being. Tightening screws for a living might not be the most glamorous job, but, it pays better than Taco Bell. So, don't remind me that Americans have lost jobs so you could save money yet charge me more for a vehicle!

Talons: Firebird by Jaycee Clark . (Third story in the 5-story anthology Talons. If you had this one on your wishlist too, it is still 32% off at Amazon.) Blurb This one is related to Russia too... Links of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebird_%28Russian_folklore%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology) http://starryskies.com/The_sky/constellations/phoenix.html http://members.tripod.com/~FIREBYRD/FireBird.html

There was a recent article in the Reno-Gazette Journal about 6 local authors. Mary Jean Kelso http://hometown.aol.com/mjkel/myhomepage/index.html Northern Nevadan author. She writes young adult and romance. Her book Blue Coat is a romance set in Virginia City, Nevada. One of her publishers in Whiskey Creek. J. Gayle Kelly The Watermelon Patch Ellen Hopkins - Crank - children's fiction David Sundstrand - Shadow of the Raven - thriller in Mojhave desert Lee Cross - fantasy novel The Twelve Dreams of Laima Moses Ludel - Indra's Net

Debut a Debut Contest Bloggers will be reading and writing new authors (did have to debut last year or in Jan 2007) and posting reviews. It is coming pretty soon -- week of 02/12/2007 - 02/17/2007. Participating enters user in a contest. Might not be too late for authors to get involved, though, some people will have already chosen their new books. I copied this next part... Authors Don't miss your chance to get some press! West of Mars and Writing Aspirations are in the process of gathering your names and titles to help our contest entrants find great books to read. Please send us links to your website, or just your name and the title of your debut novel that was published between 1 January 2006 and 1 February 2007. If you have any promotional items -- especially copies of your book -- that you'd like to donate, we'd love to offer them as prizes.

Talons: King of Prey by Mandy M. Roth . (Second story in the 5-story anthology Talons. If you had this one on your wishlist too, it is still 32% off at Amazon.) Blurb This is my new favorite by Mandy M. Roth. It was funny. The Chickan dish was my favorite joke. I won't ruin it for anyone. As yesterday, this morning I woke up late and told myself I had to finish. Next thing I knew I was pushing the limits to get to work on time! I started earlier though, so I managed to clock in 4 minutes early.

The Federal Trade Commission released an annual report "Consumer Fraud and Identity Theft Complaint Data". Not surprising, ID theft tops the list of complaints by a long shot. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/02/topcomplaints.htm At the day job, quite a few of individuals that call in are disputing their debt due to identity theft. Unfortunately for the majority of the people that call in to my day job because we're calling/writing about a debt owed, the company I work for is a back end collection agency. The time to fight ID theft is right away, not five years later. I think most of these people ignored the issue until they were in collections because the person defrauding them is a friend or family member. I read the press release for that report above, and I got to wondering what the true number would be if the people who are being defrauded by a known person used the FTC's complaint process. I have seen a few happy endings when the individual was able to find resolutio...

DESIRE INTO GOLD by RaeLynn Blue Genre: Torrid Romance Fantasy Given in exchange for her father's life, Beauty Miller must turn desire into gold! A virgin, she knows very little of desire, let alone how to turn it into gold. Yet her very life depends on her ability to convince her captive that she can do just that. When a little man appears and offers to turn the trick for her, Beauty is thrilled. Soon her joy turns into terror as the little man threatens to take her most sacred gift--unless she can guess his name!Acting as an undercover knight, Josh C. Prince, wants nothing better than to slap the magical bracelets on Kingston Jones, known fairy dust smuggler in his father's kingdom. His mission gets complicated when Jones brings in a young girl named Beauty and locks her in a tower. Smitten, his own desires inflamed beyond anything he's felt before, Josh knows he must have her. But can he rescue Beauty and get the goods on Jones before its too late? http://www.whiskeycree...

Talons: Kiss Me Deadly by Shannon Stacey . (First story in the 5-story anthology Talons. If you had this one on your wishlist too, it is 32% off at Amazon right now.) Blurb: When Khail lays his fatal touch on his next victim and she doesn’t die, he’s faced with a human immune to his deadly power who has seen him shift form—and he’s able to have physical contact with a woman for the first time in centuries. Falling for a shapeshifting messenger of Death wasn’t on Bridget Sawyer’s agenda, but things are about to get even more complicated. The Unkind is determined to claim her. Khail is a Russian Cossack, and a shapeshifting raven. (These are topics I enjoy reading about ... both of them.) Bridget is an artist. Quite the spicy story. This morning I woke up late and told myself I'd finish one chapter. Next thing I knew I was pushing the limits to get to work on time! Have no fear, I clocked in 3 minutes early. ;)

http://www.hbarwa.com/Contest.html RWA Houston Bay Area's Judge a Book By Its Cover Contest

Guardians of the Storm by Kaitlyn O'Conner . (First story in the Guardians anthology.) Blurb This story is a futuristic romance with an environmental theme, based on a primitive planet that believes in prophesy. There is an interesting mythology the tribes have created. There are two tribes, and they both have a slightly different interpretation of events. I enjoyed this one.

Nights and Weekends.com http://www.nightsandweekends.com/request/ Nights and Weekends.com reviews movies, books, music, and board games. They have a section dedicated to small pubs and e-books.

I had the funniest, and really strange dream last night. I was at a conference of some kind. I have no idea why, or what the main theme of the conference was and it really made less sense after the dream was over! The dream was a story that had a beginning, middle and end. But it was nutty. At the start I parked on a snowy street, and wandered down to a hotel. The first place I went was a darkened room where there were all kinds of personalities acting out a really boring skit. Johnny Depp (dressed up as Jack Sparrow was). Fox's Bill O'Reilly was in it (a young and really handsome version of him with shocking red Irish hair). And then about five other character actors that I recognize, but don't know their names were in it. This skit was really bad, and really poorly acted and boring. So, when the lady I sat next to was asking me questions, I started talking back. Johnny Depp pulled out his sword and pointed it at me. He did a Jack Sparrow eye thing that implied I should sh...

.:Jupiter:. "You have an aptitude for honesty, sometimes to a fault. You like the simple things in life. You can be extremely stubborn and you have a tendency to say too much. You set very high standards for yourself and others and can sometimes be unreasonable. You also can sometimes have trouble learning from your mistakes." . : : Which Astrological Planet are You? : : . [10 Gorgeous Pics!] brought to you by Quizilla 170 other people got this result! This quiz has been taken 17969 times. 1% of people had this result. Here's a gem from the past. October 2005. I got it from Silma . I decided to bring this post forward and keep it because I like the digital artwork on this quiz. I have a habit of organizing my computer (Blogger being an extension). If I was as interested in housework as organizing my computer, it would be scary to visit me when I was vacuuming. It is the label function that is proving new, and fun.