...in Other words...

Come see me in London, Ontario in August!

2011-07-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

I will be at the London Ontario Central Library on Monday, August 8 from 1:00 - 2:00pm as a guest of the London Book Fair!

Please come by and say hi!

(Click on the poster and enlarge for details! Hope to see you there!)

ONCE EVERY NEVER - The Adventure Continues!!

2011-06-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Last night, I held a party for the launch of ONCE EVERY NEVER. It was an enormous amount of fun that I will tell you guys all about in another post.

What I wanted to say here is that I'm SO excited because last night, my lovely and talented editor at Penguin Canada stood up and announced that there will be two--count 'em--two more books in the series!! So, really? I like it... A LOT!

They are tentatively titled EVERY NEVER AFTER and NOW AND FOR NEVER.

I'm pretty stoked about it! (I'm also a freaking genius at understatement!!!)

I mean - How can I not be thrilled about this?? Especially after all the fun I had last night with this first book!

See?

(How can you NOT have fun when you have a bunch of Roman and Celtic warrior types there to make sure you have fun. Or else!)

(photos yoinked from the lovely Chrystal at He Followed Me Home!)

ONCE EVERY NEVER - Blog Tour!!

2011-06-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Today marks the first day of the official ONCE EVERY NEVER Blog Tour!!

Please join me in visiting these lovely blogs as Clare and Al and Milo and Comorra and Connal make their way through the blogosphere!

Links for the Blog Tour:

Burning Impossibly Bright: http://burningximpossiblyxbright.blogspot.com/ - June 20
Not Your Faerytale: http://notyourfaerytale.blogspot.com/ - June 21
Let's Book It: http://letsbookit.blogspot.com/ - June 22
He Followed Me Home: http://hefollowedmehome.blogspot.com/ - June 23
In the Next Room: http://inthenextroom.blogspot.com/ - June 24
Mocha Latte Reads: http://www.mochalattereads.blogspot.com/ - June 27
Wicked Lil' Pixie: http://wickedlilpixie.com/ - June 28
Evie Bookish: http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com/ - June 29
Escape Through the Pages: http://thekams.wordpress.com/ - June 30
YA Bookie Monster: http://yabookiemonster.blogspot.com/ - July 1
Snowdrop Dreams of Books: http://snowdropdreams.blogspot.com/ - July 4
Tynga's Reviews: http://www.tyngasreviews.com - July 5
The Queen of All Wild Things: http://www.queenwild.ca/books/ - July 6
Lost for Words: http://lostforwords-corrine.blogspot.com/ - July 7
Lavender Lines: http://lavenderlines.wordpress.com/ - July 8

Let's Party ONCE EVERY NEVER!!

2011-06-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Come celebrate the Summer Solstice and launch of ONCE EVERY NEVER with me at the Dominion on Queen Restaurant and Pub (500 Queen Street East, Toronto) on Tuesday, June 21 at 7:00 pm! I will be reading, signing, there will be live music, drinks, books available for purchase and more fun than you can shake a stick at. A really big stick!

Hope to see you there!

HOLA SPAIN!!

2011-04-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

What a LOVELY way to start my day! The very first email I opened up was from my wonderful Spanish publisher, ViceVersa Editorial, sending me the cover art for the third book in the Wondrous Strange trilogy, TEMPESTUOUS. Or -- as it will be called in Spain -- LA ULTIMA FUNCION! Isn't it lovely?

I really love the treatment ViceVersa has given the entire series but I think this one, in particular, knocks it out of the park! I love Kelley's wings (and I so love how they change from cover to cover, just like they do in the books), I love the fierceness of her expression, I love the dichotomy between the mortal and faeire realms... and I LOVE the fact that a certain kelpie gets a bit of screen time, too!

I also love the title, which traslates as THE LAST PERFORMANCE or THE FINAL ACT. How perfect is that??

The Spanish edition will launch on May 12, 2011.

And just in case you've forgotten what the previous two covers looked like... here you go!

THE NINTH NIGHT (Wondrous Strange)

THE FOUR THRONES (Darklight)

In Brief...

2011-03-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

I know. I’ve been away. Busy, busy. Working on copy edits for ONCE EVERY NEVER. Working on the first draft of STARLING #1. Working on a short story…

And that story is what this blog post is about, though it pains me to have to write this.

I was asked to contribute a short story to a faerie anthology, Wicked Pretty Things, and I was very excited to do so. The line-up of authors assembled includes some of the brightest lights in the YA world and I was thrilled to be asked to participate. I penned a tale set in the WONDROUS STRANGE universe, featuring two of my favourite supporting characters from the series, Maddox and Chloe, set in the days after TEMPESTUOUS but still a stand-alone story. I thought it was a really fun way to revisit that world, post-series -- something for both readers who are already fans of my books, as well those unfamiliar with them.

Except that story isn’t going to see the light of day now. At least, not in that publication.

I'm sorry to say that I have pulled my submission based on the treatment a fellow author received regarding that same anthology. She wrote a love story that happened to take place between two male characters. The editor asked her to change it to a male/female story. She refused. I respect and support that decision. I also respect and support the decisions made by all of my fellow authors regarding this issue. My decision to pull my submission is a personal one. I'm doing what I feel is right, based on what I believe. And that is this: gay or straight or somewhere inbetween, love is love. Full stop.

And now I'm going to crawl back into my writer-cave and work on another story.

ONCE EVERY NEVER - Cover Reveal!!!

2011-02-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

TA DA!!!

Here is the cover for my brand new book - coming out in July of 2011 from Penguin Canada - ONCE EVERY NEVER!

I hope you guys love it as much as I do!

I want to thank my posse of bloggers who have helped me spread the word about the cover reveal. And hey - if you want a chance to win a limited edition signed sampler of the first two chapters with the fabulous cover, just visit these blogs - they are ALL holding contests and, the more you enter, the more chances there are for you to win!!
VISIT THEM ALL!!

http://midnightbloomreads.blogspot.com/

http://simpleloveofreading.blogspot.com/

http://www.thediaryofabookworm.com/

http://acbookjunkies.blogspot.com/

http://jennys-books.blogspot.com/
http://crissi-b.blogspot.com/

And today I was at a the OLA Superconference signing ONCE EVERY NEVER sampler copies in the morning at the Penguin booth, and copies of TEMPESTUOUS at the HarperCollins booth in the afternoon! I *heart* my two fabulous publishers! Check it out!

TEMPESTUOUS Launch and Full-length Trailer!!!

2011-01-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

Yup! That's me signing copies of TEMPESTUOUS at the official book launch last week! More about that in an minute.....

First though, I have to show you this:
(Go ahead, watch, I'll wait here)

Is that not made of awesome?
That is the full-length TEMPESTUOUS book trailer -- now with 100% MORE SONNY FLANNERY!!

I am so REDUNCULOUSLY (shh. it's a word. I sez so.) THRILLED at how this turned out! It premiered last week at my book launch which was so super fun -- but don't take my word for it -- here are some pix! :-)

So much fun... it went by in a blur!

Me and my faerie familiars!

My two Kelleys! Meghan from the TEMPESTUOUS trailer and Adrianna from the DARKLIGHT trailer!

Meghan and Russell (Kelley and Sonny from the TEMPESTUOUS trailer) being interviewed by SPACE for this feature!

An icy Faerie maiden - wonder if she knows Auberon personally?

More to come - but I thought you guys might want a peek at the shenanigans! Special thanks to everyone who came out and helped me send the third book in the WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy out into the world in style!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!!

2010-12-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for making 2010 so wonderful for me in so many ways!
Looking forward to sharing fun times and good stories with you in the year to come!

Go 2011!

TEMPESTUOUS!!

2010-12-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

Winter Solstice -- check!

Lunar Eclipse -- check!

TEMPESTUOUS hits the shelves -- CHECK!!

On a day replete with neat-o calendric observances and a ruby-hued celestial phenomenon, I am beyond thrilled to bring you just one more piece of awesome -- a TEASER TRAILER -- in honor of the U.S. release day for the final book in the WONDROUS STRANGE TRILOGY......

Enjoy! Full-length trailer coming soon... Watch out for it!

Special thanks to my MAGICK MAKERS: Joe O'Brien (wizard in chief), Meghan Campbell, Jonathan Llyr, Brian Chambers, Adrienne Kress, Mark Opausky, Stevie Burley, Nadine Bell and Daniel Levinson.

31 Days of Givaway! DAY 8!!

2010-12-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

It hasn't even hit the bookstore shelves yet, but I'm giving away a

SIGNED HARDCOVER COPY OF TEMPESTUOUS

over at Crissi's Book Club!

Here's the question you must answer:

(remember to post your answer on the BOOK CLUB BLOG!)

"Still though the cloven skies they come,

with peaceful wings unfurled and still their heavenly music floats."

What music is this Christmas Carol referring to?

(A) Angels Playing Instruments

(B) Angels singing

GO HERE AND POST YOUR ANSWER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!!

Good luck and don't dawdle! You've only got until midnight tonight to answer for your chance to WIN!

EXTRA!! EXTRA!!

2010-10-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!

Today marks the release of the paperback version of DARKLIGHT in the US!! (It'll come out in Canada closer to the end of the year in a pb digest format).

And the really super cool thing about this version? See that little pink triangle in the corner where it says "EXTRAS"? It has, well, extras!! Like, a Guide to Essential Faerie Lore, A DARKLIGHT Playlist, and a sneak-peek of TEMPESTUOUS! How fun is that!?!!

Ottawa Writers Festival!

2010-10-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!

Yes - I'm still working on the epic NY trip post. It's epic, I tells ya! But in the meantime, here's a quick heads-up for anyone in the Ottawa area this Friday! I will be making an appearance as part of the festival's participation in Teen Authors Week! Here are the details from the Festival website!

LET'S GET LOUD AT THE LIBRARY! / 'GROOVE' Á LA BIBLIO - Friday, Oct 22, 6:30 pm

Part of the OPL's Teen Authors Week With Lesley Livingston and music by Apocalypstic, Full Tipped Sleeve and more!

Main Library Auditorium, 120 Metcalfe

A free event.

Kick off the Ottawa Public Library's Teen Authors Week with a party featuring Lesley Livingston, author of Wondrous Strange and Darklight, and live music! Ages 13-19.

Also... look to the right on your screen!! --->
TEMPESTUOUS Countdown Widget!! Feel free to yoink for your own blog! :-)

CORSETS & CLOCKWORK Anthology!

2010-10-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

I just got back from five fabulous, fun-filled days in New York City!! And I am preparing an epic blog post about the whole adventure (which was wholly adventurous, let me tell you!). But, in the meantime, check out the beautifulness, below!

I have a story in this upcoming YA Steampunk Romance anthology: CORSETS & CLOCKWORK (Running Press Kids, May 10, 2011), and they just released the gorgeous cover art!

Isn't it lovely??!!

And check out the truly awesome line up of authors! Info courtesy of SciFiGuy.ca (by way of Adrienne Kress's blog):

A stunning anthology of the very best of steampunk that's taking teen fiction by storm. Bestselling romance editor Trisha Telep brings an exciting new element to the fast-growing sub-genre of steampunk, which bends and blends the old and the new in increasingly popular dark urban fantasies. Young heroes and heroines battle evil, in various forms with the help of super-technological or supernatural powers, while falling in and out of love. Contributors include:

* Ann Aguirre a bestselling author who writes urban fantasy (the Corine Solomon series from Roc), romantic science fiction (the Jax series from Ace), apocalyptic paranormal romance (as Ellen Connor, writing with Carrie Lofty, from Penguin), paranormal romantic suspense (as Ava Gray from Berkley), and post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult fiction (Razorland and Wireville coming in 2011 from Feiwel & Friends).

* Tessa Gratton, her debut novel Blood Magic arrives in 2011 from Random House Children's Books, followed by the companion Crow Magic in 2012.

* Jaclyn Dolamore is the debut author of Magic Under Glass from Bloomsbury USA.

* Lesley Livingston is the award-winning author of Wondrous Strange and Darklight, the first two books in the bestselling trilogy from HarperCollins.

* Caitlin Kittredge is the author of the Iron Codex trilogy, a Lovecraftian steampunk adventure.

* Dru Pagliassotti’s first novel Clockwork Heart was one of the first in the rising new genre of steampunk romance and was named by Library Journal as one of the five steampunk novels to read in 2009.

* Dia Reeves is the debut author of the critically acclaimed YA Bleeding Violet.

* Michael Scott is the Irish-born, New York Times bestselling author of the six part epic fantasy series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.

* Maria V. Snyder is the New York Times bestselling author of the Study series (Poison Study, Magic Study, and Fire Study) about a young woman forced to become a poison taster.

* Tiffany Trent the author of the acclaimed YA dark fantasy series Hallowmere, which was an IndieBound Children's Pick and a New York Public Library Book of the Teen Age 2008.

* Kiersten White is the debut author of Paranormalacy, the first book in a new trilogy, which was published by HarperTeen in August of 2010.

* Adrienne Kress, is the author of Alex and the Ironic Gentleman and Timothy and the Dragon's Gate.

I really had a bunch of fun writing this one and I can't wait to see it all wrapped up with stories from this amazing collection of authors!

INDIGO Teen Read Awards!!

2010-09-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

So this Saturday, I will be at the Indigo Teen Read Awards BIG EVENT!

DARKLIGHT has been nominated in the catagory of Best Canadian Read and I couldn't possibly be more excited! Aside from the huge honour, I will get to hang out with readers and authors and there is even a red carpet! :-D

Also - as a bonus, I will be appearing earlier in the day at the Indigo at Yonge and Eglinton with two fantastic authors...

Becca Fitzpatrick, who just happened to - y'know - write a little book called HUSH, HUSH

and

Ally Carter, author of the awesome Gallagher Girls series and HEIST SOCIETY!

So come on out and meet me and Becca and Ally at 12:00pm on Saturday, Sept 25 at the INDIGO store at Yonge and Eglinton!

NEWS!! I HAVE NEWSY NEWS!! NEW DEAL NEWS!!

2010-09-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's me! I'm back!

No really. I am. Don't look at me like that - I had a deadline! It's a word that has the word "dead" in it. At any rate, I'm very pleased to say that I'm about to hand in the first finished draft of the manuscript for ONCE EVERY NEVER. I'm so excited about this book and I really hope you guys will be too! I think you will be. :-)

And then, as of today, I no longer have to sit on the news of my next project (and let me tell you, the keeping-secret-thereof has been killing me!) because my new deal announcement for a brand new trilogy with HarperCollins is out!

It's called STARLING and I'm really thrilled about it. Here is the official Publishers Weekly announcement:

HarperTeen Nabs Bourne-Like YA Trilogy

Jessica Regel, at Jean V. Naggar, sold North American rights to a supernatural YA trilogy by Lesley Livingston tentatively called STARLING. HarperTeen editor Laura Arnold acquired the books, which Regel said are reminiscent of The Bourne Identity and "blend Norse, Egyptian, and Greek mythologies with paranormal elements." In the series, warring powerful New York City crime families, all with ties to the supernatural, vie for control of the fate of mankind. Book one in the trilogy is scheduled for summer 2012. Livingston's debut novel, the 2008 faerie-tinged Wondrous Strange, was the first book in a YA trilogy she just finished for HarperTeen; book two, Darklight, was released in 2009, and book three, Tempestuous, is scheduled for January 2011.

Now I'm going to go celebrate! Or nap! Or both!

But before I do that, I also wanted say that I really appreciate all of the comments you guys leave. I know I'm not always around to answer them (remember the "deadline" word!) but please know that I read each and every one and they are so very much appreciated! You guys rock.

Now let's party before I pass out on my keyboard! Wooo!

FAB Fan Art!!

2010-07-19T12:23:00.001-07:00

Check this out! The exceptionally talented Katie of Sophistikatied Reviews produced this most awesome piece of fan art based on my character of Lucky the Kelpie in the Wondrous Strange series. For those of you who've read the book - didn't she wonderfully capture the spirit of those scenes? And for those of ou who haven't - aren't you now totally intrigued? ;-)

I love "movie poster" aesthetics! Especially in a case like this. Thanks Katie - you rock!

I also wanted to say a big "thank you" to everyone who commented - here and elsewhere - on the cover art for TEMPESTUOUS! I'm so thrilled that you guys seem to love it just as much as I do. And - in answer to that burning question, it should be hitting store shelves at the very end of this year. Sorry... sorry... a huge wait, I know! But isn't the suspense delicious? No? Okay... stop throwing things now...

(Also, in answer to Anonymous in the last comment thread; the books aren't available yet - that I know of - in Australia. Perhaps you could ask a local bookseller to order them. Or, barring that, there's always online retailers...)

TEMPESTUOUS

2010-06-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

After months of having to sit tight on this, I can finally, officially announce the (real) name -- and, more importantly, show off the GLORIOUS cover art -- of that which has hitherto been referred to only as Book the Third!

Ladies and Gents, it is with great pleasure that I present to you...

TEMPESTUOUS

To say I am over the moon for this cover would be woefully, shamefully, massively inadequate. Please excuse me while I gaze, slackjawed. Feel free to do the same! :-)

And then tell me! What do you guys think?

Round-Up: Part the First!

2010-06-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well... the last few weeks have been all sorts of cool.

All sorts of exhausting cool.

And, yes, I know... I haven't blogged a stitch about it. Because the coolness was all-encompassing and ate up all my time and most of my higher brain functions! So to make up for that, I promise a series of posts wherein I get you all caught up. With pictures!

First of all, there was the the White Pine Festival down at Harbourfront. I know I mentioned awhile ago that I was shortlisted for this award and, let me tell you, the students and teachers in schools across Ontario take this thing pretty darn seriously! It's amazing. The award is student-voted on and at the two-day Festival of Trees celebration, the authors get treated like rock stars. The festivities are held outside and there's always a huge turn-out of students and teachers and librarians! And much insane cheering and hooting during the ceremony...

A view of the crowd and the author nominees on the stage.
(I'm at the very far left)

I had the opportunity to hang out with some really fabulous authors - Tim Wynne Jones was particularly entertaining to sit next to on the stage - but the best thing, as always, was meeting the fans and readers. These kids were outstanding. They are passionate readers and not shy about letting you know it.

That's me signing autographs in a very chilly tent for some very awesome students!

One of whom could totally be a leprechaun in my universe - check the awesome green 'hawk!

The award ceremony itself, with all the authors lined up on the stage.

WONDROUS STRANGE won "Honour Book"!

Aside from the awards themselves, there were weeks of school-visit shenanigans leading up to that. I went to Peterborough, North York, Etobicoke, Oshawa, Scarborough, Bayfield, and Belleville, among others.

Here are some shots from one of my school visits - in Scarborough, at L'Amoreaux Collegiate:

They put my name on the sign!

And created a cool display with a beaded horse-tail and a horn to call the Wild Hunt!

My hosts, Dianne and Officer Reeve and another WONDROUS STRANGE
display, complete with a 4-leaf clover pendant!

This particular visit was a lot of fun (who am I kidding - they're ALL fun!) because Officer Reeve is the School Resource Officer - a real live policeman who is stationed at the school as a community liason and he runs a reading club for the boys at L'amoreaux. Which is very cool, because there often isn't enough encouragement these days for boys to read. He was my escort for the day and picked me up from the subway to drive me to the school... in the cruiser! :-D

Okay, sure. Maybe I did wind up in handcuffs.

But I didn't actually try to steal his cruiser...

I only thought about it!

Anyway, he had to let me go - otherwise I never would have made it to the festival!

Next up:
The Supernatural Tour!

Reminder!

2010-05-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

Quickie post!

Don't forget if you are in the Greater Toronto Area in the next three days and would like the opportunity to meet me, Aprilynne Pike - author of WINGS and SPELLS, and Kim Harrison - author of ONCE DEAD, TWICE SHY and EARLY TO DEATH EARLY TO RISE - then check out the SUPERNATURAL TOUR info in the post below!

I have it on good authority that there may be swag... SWAG!!!

THE SUPERNATURAL TOUR!

2010-05-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! MAY 25 - 27, 2010

Join me, Kim Harrison, and Aprilynne Pike for three evenings of Supernatural Fun!

I am SO thrilled to be participating in the SUPERNATURAL TOUR this summer and I'm even more thrilled to be taking part in events with two such fantastic authors! The only thing that could make it even better, is if YOU could join us, too!

Click on the link above or on the graphic in the sidebar to go to the Facebook infopage for these events! And please feel free to yoink the graphic to post wherever you'd like! Let's spread the word!

Hope to see you there!

A return to bloggery + SUPER GOOD NEWS!!!

2010-04-15T13:04:00.001-07:00

Okay. Have you all had your fill of Mr. Saucy-pants Leprechaun?

Well... I suppose you can always scroll down the blog if you haven't. But for this post you're stuck with little ol' me! That's right. I'm back! I'd sort of planned to ease back into blogging after I handed in Book 3 - and then I realized that there was a whole lot o' stuff that I had to tend to, all of which I'd let pile up while I was finishing that book. A lot of it's still there - including a mountain of emails I owe responses to (I'm working on it! I promise!), but enough radio silence. You guys deserve an update!

Also, I just had to come on over and share some good news. To wit:

WONDROUS STRANGE has won the CLA (Canadian Library Association) Award for Young Adult Book 2010!!!

Here is the Press Release.

I am flailing like a muppet in absolute joy. Seriously - take a minute and picture that!

This is a pretty big thing for me. Aside from the prestigious company of the other short-listed authors, the award is voted on by librarians. And I think librarians are 18 different kinds of awesome. At least.

Also? I'm still dealing with the fact that I'm a published author. By "dealing with" I mean "occasionally randomly dropping whatever it is I'm doing to run around in little circles like a hyperactive puppy clapping my hands in glee"... so I'm not actually sure what adding "award-winning" into that mix is going to do to me. But it might, ultimately, involve tranquilizer darts.

At any rate, I have to thank you guys for your support and enthusiasm - even when I am persona in absentia so frequently around these parts. And to answer the most frequently asked question from the comment trail below, Book the Third will be out at the end of this year. To NOT answer the other most frequently asked question, the title (which is not, actually, Book the Third) has not officially been announced yet. But when it is, I will post about it here first!

To answer another couple of FAQ's, the Italian version of DARKLIGHT (Lampi di Tenebri or "Flashes in the Darkness" - isn't that pretty?) is available NOW from the lovely people at Fazi Editore!! Look! Beautiful! And I can attest that there are lovely ink drawings scattered throughout, pictures of Central Park landmarks - so cool!!

The Spanish version ( Los Cuatro Tronos or "The Four Thrones" - and look at the gorgeous cover!)...

...should be out soon from the marvelous people at ViceVersa (I'll let you know as soon as I know) .

And, apparently, so will the Danish version of WONDROUS STRANGE from the delightful people at Tellerup! Titled, appropriately enough, Kelley and I think this cover is gorgeous, too!

There! How much fun was that? All packed into one post!!

Happy Leprechaun Appreciation Day!!

2010-03-17T12:47:00.001-07:00

Yeah... I know... he doesn't exactly look like the Wee Gree Men in DARKLIGHT... missing a few tattoos, a knife, and a nasty attitude.

Still - don't you just wanna snap his little shamrock arm-band? ;-)

(-;[D <--- closest I could come to a leprechaun emoticon. (Would that make it an emoti-chaun??) And, by the way, I'm awfully sorry for this most recent bout of radio silence... would it make it better if I said that

I JUST FINISHED BOOK THREE

...?
Would that help?

Chat with me on Saturday!!

2010-02-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

Want to talk?

You’re invited to join me in a live one-hour inkpop.com chat this Saturday, February 6. Got questions about Wondrous Strange and Darklight? Want to talk shop about writing and editing tips? Fire away. Are you an inkpop member? inkpop.com is an online community that connects aspiring teen writers, lit fans, and Trendsetters … with the ultimate goal of giving awesome writers a chance at a HarperTeen book deal.

WHEN: Saturday, February 6, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (2 p.m. Pacific)

WHERE: inkpop Forums

WHO: You and me

HOW: If you’re not already an inkpop member, log onto inkpop.com asap to create a profile. You’ll need a profile in order to post comments on the Forums chat thread. Talk to you soon!

Lesley

28 days of Awesome!

2010-02-01T10:53:00.001-08:00

I am thrilled to be participating in this February Festival of the Fantastic! Check it out!

Once Every Never

2010-01-21T08:50:00.000-08:00

I have news!
Exciting-new-project news!!
Officially-announced-so-I-can-now-finally-talk-about-it news!!!

As announced today in Publisher's Marketplace:

SOLD:

WONDROUS STRANGE author Lesley Livingston's ONCE EVERY NEVER, about a modern teen girl who spirals back in time to Rome's bloody conquest of Britain -- where she befriends the daughter of a fiery queen, falls for a fierce warrior prince, and discovers that she may be the only hope of averting a devastating blood-curse, to Jennifer Notman at Penguin Canada, by Jessica Regel at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

Very! Excited!
!!!!!

DARKLIGHT Video Trailer!!

2010-01-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

I have just had the most phenomenal couple of days. It's been so packed with crazy, shiny excitement around here that I barely know where to begin or what to post.

Thursday was my official launch party for DARKLIGHT... and what a party it was! More to come on that but, for the moment, I am thrilled to be able to present to you, the video trailer for the book, which was premiered at the party and which I am SO proud of!

ENJOY!

This all-original material video was directed by Steven Burley. Produced by Jonathan Llyr & Lesley Livingston. Music by Tom Lillington & Mark Opausky. Special FX & Titles by Joseph O'Brien. Model Construction by Scott Emerson Moyle. Photography, Editing, Sound Design by Steven Burley. Assisted by Stephanie Nakamura. Starring Adrianna Prosser, Jonathan Llyr, Lesley Livingston & Adrienne Kress. Voicework by Bethany Darroch, Becca Zadorsky & Benjamin Mehl. Special thanks to Kevin Robinson, Theatre Passe Muraille & the staff of Dominion on Queen.

Speaking of Bookstores....

2010-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is SO cool for me.

Bakka Phoenix Books has posted their 2009 bestseller list. And guess who made the No. 1 spot for the Trade Paperback category? Can you guess? Can you?? Starts with a "Wondrous"... ends with a "Strange"...

*LARGE GRIN*

Bakka is one of my all time favorite book stores. The staff are so utterly passionate about what they do and so knowledgeable and so cool. And it's a hell of an honour to have my books on the shelves there. Thanks for all the WONDROUS STRANGE love, guys - buyers and sellers! You rock.

Check out the list here (And you will notice that WS in some pretty dang fine company - Adrienne and Megan and Rob and Julie and Michelle and...)

Oh, Canada! and more wilderness photography!

2010-01-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Okay! An update on what bookmouse99 - in a fit of frustration (a really actually very adorable fit of frustration) referred to as the 'bipolar' posting of the Canadian release dates for Darklight on Amazon.ca and the Chapters-Indigo sites - I can finally say this:

As I suspected, the whole thing is a matter of data entry gremlinage. Darklight's Canadian release is NOT being delayed until February. It is, in fact, now listed as IN STOCK on the Amazon site and it is already shipping from the warehouse to real live book stores in the Great White North as I type this. Fellow Canucks, despair not!

And (just in case your appetite needed more whetting - heh) I have another in-the-wild sighting from south of the border sent to me from Erin in Minneapolis! Thanks, Erin!!

I know. That was a little cruel. Sorry. Would it make you feel any better if I said I am positively DYING to see the thing on shelves, myself? No? Bookmouse? Squeak?...

In The Wild!

2009-12-22T14:14:00.001-08:00

The first shot of DARKLIGHT in the wild!

From Traci in Eagan, Minnesota! Thanks, Traci!!

DARKLIGHT!!

2009-12-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

Out there! In the world! For all to see! OUT THERE! As of TODAY!!!

(Okay... it's 'out there' in the US - it'll be 'out there' next week in Canada...)

I'm no longer a debut author. Okay... that's a little weird. And wonderful. And Crazy!!

I wanted to take the opportunity to say "thank you!" to all the people who made this happen for me - again - especially my phenomenal editor Laura and my astounding agent Jessica.

To celebrate, let me share a story of something pretty amazingly cool that happened to me last week:

I got to spend a couple of hours with a group of smart, talented, funny, fun, enthusiastic young readers from Cheyne Middleschool at the HarperCollins Canada offices. The kids were on a field trip to see what the internal working of a publishing house is really like. They had also been group-reading WONDROUS STRANGE prior to the trip and were all given advance reader copies of DARKLIGHT and lots of cool swag when they got the office!

What they didn't know was that I had been invited to come chat with them (over pizza, no less!) and answer any questions they had about the book and writing and sign their books and all that stuff.

What I didn't know was that the kids had put together two scenes from the book to do as dramatic presentations with narration and acting and awesomeness. I felt like Quentin the Director only with nothing to snark about! They were amazing. It was really the coolest thing in the world for me to be able to sit there and watch live action versions of my scenes. I almost cried - but opted instead for grinning like an idiot. It was pretty special.

Anyway, here is a picture of me (still grinning like an idiot) and the Cheyne students!

And me, waxing philosophical no doubt about... something.

Thank you Harper Collins and Cheyne Middleschool for a day that I won't soon forget!

And thank you to all my readers! I hope you enjoy the continuing adventures of Sonny and Kelley and company in DARKLIGHT!

It's OUT THERE!

ONE. MONTH. AND. COUNTING...

2009-11-22T15:48:00.000-08:00

That's right...

Only ONE. MONTH. MORE. before DARKLIGHT hits the shelves, people...

ONE.

MONTH.

*Insert Muppet Arm Flail here*

And - not only the book... but the audio book!!

That's right - this time around the lovely folks at HarperCollins are releasing the audio-book at the same time as the book-book! Which I think is pretty cool. I'm inclined to think this because I just spent three days (including today) locked again in a tiny padded room talking to myself. And - again! - not for the reasons you would automatically expect!

Anyway, as a result, I'm a little on the giddy side and should not be trusted to type anything sensible. So, I leave you, instead, with a bit of an idea of what DARKLIGHT is all about, and a teeny-tiny sneak-snippet from inside the book to whet your appetite!

In this sequel to WONDROUS STRANGE, Kelley Winslow finds her NYC acting career blossoming as she takes the lead in Romeo and Juliet. But she also finds herself desperately missing Sonny Flannery—who was forced back to the Faerie Otherworld, charged with a dangerous mission by Kelley’s father, King Auberon.

When Kelley finds herself thrown into the Otherworld following a deadly chase in Central Park, her passionate reunion with Sonny is cut short. Ancient magick is stirring, and a dangerous enemy has Sonny and Kelley caught in a web of Faerie deception that could tear their love apart.

FROM DARKLIGHT:

In spite of himself, Sonny knelt back down on the grass and glanced into the Faerie queen’s improvised scrying pool. He had no wish to spy on Kelley. Still, he found he could not look away. . . . The wild, dangerous look on Kelley’s face made her look so much like her mother that it gave Sonny a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. But not nearly as much as the last, lingering image that flared up in the water—the image of Kelley throwing her arms around another man.

ONE! MONTH!

BOO!!!

2009-10-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Did I scare ya? (Just say yes. My ego is fragile.)

So. I had the super-creepy delight of contributing a tiny-terror of a tale to this awesome anthology. It's called HALF-MINUTE HORRORS and it has a truly stellar line-up of authors contributing all these deliciously spine-tingly, skin-crawly micro-stories all designed to freak you right out in 30 seconds or less! Authors like Lemony Snicket and Neil Gaiman and RL Stine and James Patterson and Margaret Atwood and and and... me! Cool huh? What's even cooler is that proceeds from the sale go to First Book, a nonprofit organization that puts new books in the hands of children from low-income families. Super super cool.

Check it out!

Even cooler still, if you go to the HALF-MINUTE HORRORS website, you can get all sorts of info, sneak previews, and -- here's the really fun part -- upload your very own scary tales!

And -- if you happen to be in Toronto during that scariest time of the year, you can come out and meet me and a bunch of other cool H-M HORROR authors on Saturday October 31, 2009, 2-4PM at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto (1214 Queen Street West) for the HALLOWEEN DAY FAMILY CABARET Presented by World Literacy Canada http://www.worldlit.com/

So if you live in Toronto, put on a costume and come to the event. And forward this invitation along -- especially to those with kids 8 and up.

Reserve your spot at http://www.worldlit.ca/Halloween.html

Scare ya there! BOO!!!

Hola, Spain!!

2009-10-18T14:27:00.001-07:00

I'm SO excited!

On October 20, the lovely and wonderful people at ViceVersa Editorial will release the Spanish edition of WONDROUS STRANGE! In Spain!

They have been absolutely lovely to work with and the VV design team came up with an absolutely beautiful cover. It's so different from the North American version (which I adore beyond words), and yet, I feel it also really captures the feel of the story!

The Spanish Version also has a different title - LA NOVENA NOCHE. It means "The Ninth Night" and that, also, is such a lovely and perfect interpretation.

Without further gushing from me, here for your viewing pleasure, LA NOVENA NOCHE:

And, if your curious, and want to hear me torture the Spanish tongue, click here for the ViceVersa site, and a video interview with yours truly!

LA NOVENA NOCHE

Enjoy!

My Favorite Time of Year - Now With Bonus Reason!

2009-09-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Autumn.
I love Autumn. I love it even more today.

Because, two years ago - at this very time of the year - I was on the verge of signing a deal that would make me a Published Author and I was very excited and crazified by the prospect. It hadn't happened yet. But it was this immense, burgeoning possibility setting the horizon alight like a coming sunrise. Ooh - look at me getting all poetic. *blush*

Now, it's happened. I am a Published Author. But what's more is that, today, I got to wake up knowing that, not only was my debut novel WONDROUS STRANGE a reality (as I have every day since last December), but that reality has just been reinforced by the release of the US paperback edition!!

And so I'd like to celebrate that release with you.

Oh look! Sonny remembered to bring Firecrackers! Or maybe that's just Kelley having a bit of fun...

All this after I was lucky enough to be invited to spend the weekend at the Eden Mills Writer's Festival reading and signing under glourious sunshine, beside gleaming streams in a field full of bees and gracefully fading hollyhocks. It was a fantastically writerly thing to do.

And then, today, my paperback got to go out and meet the world. I'm so excited for it! It is beautiful and sleek and shiny and portable and has a sneak-peek teaser excerpt from DARKLIGHT in the back! It has - and I think this is SO cool - blogger review quotes in the front cover from (among others) three of my favorite book bloggers: The Story Siren, The Compulsive Reader, and The Dreamer Reader: lovely ladies whose passion for books never fails to warm the cockles of my heart!

So won't you join me in welcoming in the Fall season and celebrating the release of my paperback darling? Queen Mabh will no doubt be serving refreshments in the courtyard of the Tavern on the Green, and Auberon's sure to supply the ice...

And to further celebrate, all this week, if you head over to THE NOVEL GIRLS, you can enter to win a signed copy of the WS paperback! And, as a super-cool bonus, you will also be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of our blogoversary celebrations over there!! I'm tellin ya', it's party-time everywhere!!

Win an ARC of DARKLIGHT!!

2009-09-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hey hey, everyone!

Just a heads up to let you all know that the lovely Kate at READ THIS BOOK has posted an interview with me and is running a contest until the first week of October, giving you a chance to win a Advance Review Copy of DARKLIGHT!

Go here to enter!

The fantastic thing is that you an increase your chances to win dramatically by entering as many times as you want!! With bonus entries for re-tweeting and following and all that good stuff. Enter now and often! Whee!

I love a good contest, don't you?

Oh, and by the way, the mass market paperback version of WONDROUS STRANGE releases in the US on September 22nd - in only nine days!! - so keep an eye out for that if you live in the States! Or go here to order it from Amazon! It's sleek and portable and lovely.

Now I must bid you adieugo do some more gleefully diabolical work on Book the Third! Muwah ha ha ha ha...

Blog Review: Wondrous Love!!

2009-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

The marvelous Lee Verday, super-cool book blogger and husband to Jessica Verday of the upcoming release THE HOLLOW (which I can't wait to get my hands on), has posted a really lovely review of WONDROUS STRANGE on his blog!

Pop over if you get the chance and leave a 'hello' in the comment trail! Lee runs some of the coolest contests and giveaways from time to time (I think he's got 2 different ones going on now) and he's totally worth a visit or ten! Tell him Lesley sent you!

Check it out here!

Tell-tale Signs There Has Been a Faerie Battle in Your Neighborhood!

2009-08-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Or, "Life Imitates Art"

Okay... this is a little eerie...

For those of you who've read WONDROUS STRANGE, you'll have already met Queen Mabh's pals, the Cailleach - or Storm Hags, as they are affectionately (!) referred to.

Well... the Hags make an appearance in DARKLIGHT, too (during a bit of a knock-down with some of the nastier creatures of the Otherworld). And they do stuff like - er - this right in the middle of Central Park:

TEASER ALERT!! TEASER ALERT!!

"Kelley glanced upward as a deafening whine and hiss assaulted her ears. The sky directly above her head tumbled with black and purple thunderheads and three Cailleach—her mother’s fearsome Storm Hags—suddenly appeared in a burst of lightning and thunder...

The Cailleach were like the living embodiment of unpleasant weather—in this case, three whip-twisty funnel clouds... they swirled together into one massive, tornado-like formation, plucked the whole tangled pack of thrashing fae out of the Gill, and spun away with them over the tree-tops, spitting lightning randomly about the park as they went.

The silence left behind in their wake was deafening."

Then I saw this news report about a violent storm sweeping through the park and wondered if they'd actually managed to escape the pages of the book!! ;-)

Check out this footage of the aftermath - scary stuff!

Spring ahem Cleaning!

2009-08-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ah! That's better!

Okay, so maybe it's not exactly Spring -- although it sure ain't Summer as far as I can tell with this *mutter* weather -- but I thought I'd fling open the windows and do a bit of sweeping up here at ...iOw... this weekend!

Mostly tidying up the sidebar. And adding a blogroll -- finally! If you would like to be included in the list, just drop me a note in the comment trail here or shoot me an email!

Speaking of email... I'm working on getting through a major backlog! I owe a ton of people a response and I will get back to you! It's just taking me a while. Er... a loooong while. Apologies and thanks for the patience!

In the meantime, enjoy the flowers and the delightful Spring breeze. Quick. Before the freakin' rain starts again and I have to close the window!!

This Will Be Some Enchanting Evening!!

2009-07-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Anyone in the Bayfield Ontario area looking for an evening of Faery fun and frolic on Sunday, August 2, 2009 please come on out and join me and the fabulous RJ Anderson, author of the Faery Rebels: Spellhunter for an evening of readings, signings and live music at

The Village Bookshop!

The event starts at 7:00 pm

Come out come out!

Bring a lawn chair and we shall revel on the lawn under the stars

and regale you with tales of the Fair Folk!

Wondrous Survivor!!

2009-07-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

Now - this is awesome.

The Orillia Public Library is hosting a summer teen reading club called Teen Survivor, where the books are the contestants! They've chose eight awesome novels for teens to read and vote on and I'm tickled to say that WONDROUS STRANGE is on the island!

What's even cooler is that the library (which pretty much sounds like the coolest library EVER!) is organizing a trip to Stratford to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream because of my book!! I am so excited that these kids are going to get to experience real live Shakespeare all because the librarians in Orillia think WONDROUS STRANGE is cool!

DARKLIGHT!!!

2009-07-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

A picture really IS worth a thousand words. SEVERAL thousand, in this case! I've been dying to post this... and now I finally can! Without further ado, lovely readers, I present to you the cover art for DARKLIGHT - book 2 in the WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy!

If you ask me, the design geniuses at HarperCollins really knocked this one out of the park. WAAAYY out. *deliriously happy sigh*

ARCANE MERAVIGLIE...

2009-07-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

What is it about Italian that just rolls off the tongue?

ARCANE MERAVIGLIE.... doesn't that sound lovley? It sounds even more lovely once you know that it is the Italian name for WONDROUS STRANGE!!

And it's available HERE from the wonderful people at Fazi Editore.

That's right Kelley and Sonny have gone International! Anybody here read Italian?

Contest Fantastic!

2009-06-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

The fun and fantastic Lee Verday (he whose wife Jessica is the author of the soon-to-be-released and awesome-sounding THE HOLLOW) is running a contest here where you can win a signed copy of WONDROUS STRANGE or one of three signed book plates! All you have to do is leave a comment in the thread. But hurry - contest closes on Saturday at noon CST!!

The coolest thing about Lee's contests is that you can enter as many comments as you want and each one counts as an entry! I'm thrilled and tickled to say that this particular contest has really blown the roof off Lee's blog! At last count, there were 2,191 comment-entries!! Go check it out!

Awesomeness!!

2009-06-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've made mention of this in a couple of my regular haunts on the web and it suddenly occured ot me that this is probably something I should also mention on my own dang blog!!

So.

It was announced in Publisher's Marketplace that: "Lesley Livingston's WONDROUS STRANGE has been optioned to screenwriter David Hayter's Dark Hero Productions (Watchmen, X2, and XMEN) & Jeff Sagansky, with Hayter penning the script, by Brendan Deneen on behalf of Objective Entertainment and Jessica Regel at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency."

And this is what David Hayter himself had to say in response to the announcement being posted over at HardcoreNerdity:

Speaking for Dark Hero, "We are incredibly excited to translate this remarkable book into the world of visual media. Ms. Livingston is an amazing new talent, and the world she has created is rife with fantastic images, compelling story-lines and complex characters."

Keep you fingers crossed that Sonny and Kelley and company will soon make their way to a screen near you!

I'm Cynsational!!

2009-05-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

The super-fantastic Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of TANTALIZE and ETERNAL - and if you haven't read these yet, why the heck not?! - interviewed me over on her essential-reading-for-anyone-who-writes-or-reads blog Cynsations!!

Go check it out!!

Ah - Romance...

2009-05-22T08:11:00.001-07:00

I had a lovely time being interviewed over at Yankee Romance Reviewers about WONDROUS STRANGE, Shakespeare, and storytelling.

Go check it out and leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the book!

In other romantic news, I have fallen back in love with my office. After sweeping out the cyber-space last week, I took a literal broom to the book nook (which had become crazed with the cluttering) in anticipation of spending virtually every free waking hour there over the summer writing Book the Third.

BEGONE Cyber Bunnies of Dust!!

2009-05-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

Begone, I command you!

**brandishes cyber-broom, chases pixelated dust e-bunnies from the blog**

Wow.

The place sure collected a fair few cobwebs in my absence... hey -- is that a tumbleweed?? Out. Out, I say! Tumble your weedy wares elsewhere!!

Greetings, dear reader! (I assume that at least one of you might have hung around, waiting for me to eventually resurface - er - Hi, Mom! **waves**) My most sincere apologies for, y'know, dropping off the face of the globe.

In the wake of post-Book 2 edits, I guess I had just sort of used up my word hoard. I needed to let it refill before I started yammering on at any sort of length. The last thing any of you need to read from me is inane yammering. Heh.

Moving along...

Also, I got real busy. REAL. I was invited out to the Frye Festival in New Brunswick for a week to do a mad whirlwind schools tour. Followed by three days in Ottawa at their Writer's Festival doing much the same thing. It was awesome - sometimes I forget just how much I enjoy hanging around teens. I did readings and answered questions and signed books and body parts and shoes and my first cast!

Then I came home and after a very brief respite, I found myself locked in a padded room for three days straight! I know what you're thinking. And you're wrong. This time.

No - I was recording the script for the audio version of WONDROUS STRANGE!! I did this down at the studios in the CBC building and Ann my producer and Alaine my sound engineer were fantastic! But, almost four days later, and my neck muscles still feel a bit tender.

Also? I succumbed. I caved. I gave in. I gave up. I joined. I'm a joiner.

I now TWITTER.

(and I kinda really dig it!!)

Please come follow me. My screen name is LesLivingston. Don't make me be lonely.

I've missed you all. I will be a better blogger. You'll see. And you will fling me blogger cupcakes. And I will smile and get icing everywhere.

(But I have to say, the dust e-bunnies were sort of cute...)

Reviewed in the Globe and Mail!

2009-03-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

This certainly made my weekend!

WONDROUS STRANGE received a fantastic review in Saturday's Globe & Mail - Canada's largest national newspaper.

Check it out! Among other lovely things, it has this to say:

"Oh, bestselling Twilight, thou hast a strong contender. Livingston delivers with skillful momentum, in the same way she unveils the complicated faerie plots lurking behind the fabric of the everyday... With mastery, Livingston handles the dramatic agony of growing up... As a young adult fantasy, this book has it all."

Also? The review describes Sonny as a "dreamy bad boy of the first rate". Totally. Awesome.

And the icing on this particular cake? I had the delightful, utterly coincidental pleasure of sharing the review with my good friend and authoress-supremo, Adrienne Kress, and her new fab release, Timothy and the Dragon's Gate! She blogs about it here as well, and I shamelessly yoinked this picture that she posted from the print version:

Ahh... "mouthy power and dark cleverness". Er... I mean... no, wait... actually, that kinda works.

Flying Dragons ROCK!!

2009-03-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Especially when they're cleverly disguised as a book store!!

Behold the glorious front window of the FLYING DRAGON BOOKSHOP - a fantastic place specializing in Children's Books right here in Toronto!

They do such lovely window displays and I'm so thrilled to see WONDROUS STRANGE as part of the most recent extravaganza, larger than life.

(Also - Happy St. Patrick's Day! - I know of at least one or two leprechauns who'll be getting into the honeyed mead today...)

Purple Day!!

2009-03-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

I found out about this from a few of my other amazing writer friends. Click on over to Cassidy's Site and check it out!

Purple Day started last year in Canada when nine year-old Cassidy Megan, who has epilepsy, wanted to broaden public awareness about her condition. Why purple? Lavender is the color associated with epilepsy around the globe.“Before I started Purple Day, I was afraid to tell people about my epilepsy,” Cassidy says. “I thought they would make fun of me. I wanted to tell everyone about epilepsy, especially that all seizures are not the same and that people with epilepsy (50 million worldwide) are ordinary people just like everyone else.”

Purple Day is March 26thWear your purple to support epilepsy awareness globally.

Visit http://www.purpleday.org/.

Welcome to Canada, Mr. President!

2009-02-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the cold. Make sure you wear a fuzzy hat!

Appropriately enough, my friend Mike was playing around with Obamicons and made this one for/of me!

Note the fuzzy hat!

Interview With a Siren

2009-02-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

The sensational Story Siren interviewed me for her AUTHOR TALES feature - and is offering a chance to win a signed copy of WONDROUS STRANGE if you leave a post in the comment trail before February 9!

This blog is a fabulous resource for all things YA! Check it out!

Last Week In Review! And WHAT a Week!

2009-01-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

Seriously! Not in the least because it was full of flowers! Which it was... see?

But also because...

On Monday: Finished round-2 edits on the second book in the WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy. Sent the to my uber-editor. Which was cause enough for celebration! And *collapse*!

On Tuesday: Celebrated with Adrienne Kress the Official Publication date of Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, her awesome sequel to Alex and the Ironic Gentleman! She's super-cool! Check her out. That's her right there! Purty, huh?

On Wednesday: It was my birthday!!! And my fabulous boyfriend gave me the purplest iPod ever with which to listen to my writing playlists!!! (And watch tiny wide-screen movies on. It is SO cool.)

And then there was Thursday.
And Thursday was all about THIS:

My Launch Party. I do not have a smilie-icon big enough or expressive enough to insert here to express what a fantastic experience this was.

The place (A great little pub called the Dominion on Queen was all decorated with blue faerie lights and we had live music and it was packed. Crazy-packed. I-didn't-know-I-knew-that-many-people packed.
See?

I read an excerpt from WONDROUS STRANGE!

I signed copies! For 2 1/2 hours!! There was a line-up! It was awesome!! This is me with Monica and Alex S.!

A flock of beautiful faerie-wing wearing young ladies showed up! Which is pretty much the coolest thing ever! Look (from left to right - Samantha, me, Casey and Alex B.!) :

I was interviewed by SPACE and BRAVO! See - here I am chatting with Mark Askwith (SPACE producer, braniac, and all-around nice guy)!

Wonderful bookseller Bakka Phoenix was there selling books! A lot of books!

And most of all, I was surrounded by friends - many of whom I haven't seen in years and it was a fantastic celebration.

You can read a lovely account of it here on the Chapters Indigo website!

And then Friday... Friday? I did pretty much absolutely nothing!

Oh yeah. I also got my next round of book-2 edits back from my editor. Like I said, she's awesome. But I don't think she sleeps much. *grin*

DECEMBER 23, 2008

2008-12-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

Well... today's the day.

Today is the official on-sale day for WONDROUS STRANGE in the U.S.

Today, Sonny and Kelley and company are finally out there for anyone to meet.

The world is your snowglobe, kids. I'm proud of you. Now, go play!

xox,

Lesley

(And for all you avid readers out there, hop on over to THE NOVEL GIRLS where it's WONDROUS STRANGE week all week and we're holding a contest to give away a signed hardcover copy of the book! Check out the side bar for details!)

An Actor's Life For Me!!

2008-11-26T17:37:00.001-08:00

Ah yes... the glamour of a life in the theatre...

Here you can see, (courtesy of the photographic talents of the extraordinary Adrienne Kress) me relaxing before going onstage to perform in Tempest Theatre's production of Romeo and Juliet last week...

Observe the palatial expanse of my dressing-room! Er... yes... that is a shower stall. Your point?

Lovely links!

2008-11-05T11:34:00.000-08:00

For this lovely day!

First off, I blogged over at the HarperTeen myspace blog - source of all things cool and YA! Also, the good people at Harper Collins Canada are giving you a chance to win an advance copy of WONDROUS STRANGE with their First Look program! Check it out and enter to WIN!!

Second, the marvelous Dreamer Reader has posted a FANTASTIC review of WS over on her DREAMING OF BOOKS blog, wherein she says such things as would make me blush if I wasn't already tickled pink! Thanks for the kudos, DR - I'm thrilled you enjoyed the book!

And third, over at Fuse #8, Wunderlibrarian Elizabeth Bird checked out the offerings at the Harper Collins Spring 2009 Library Preview, whereupon she gave a shoutout to WS and posted a big, pretty picture of my cover to end the article! Check it out - very interesting reading!

As for me? Hip-deep in rehearsals for the latest Tempest Theatre Group production, Romeo and Juliet, and delving into book 2 revisions! Sometimes I remember to eat.

MERRY SAMHAIN! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-10-31T13:41:00.000-07:00

In honor of the occasion, I have posted an excerpt from WONDROUS STRANGE over at THE NOVEL GIRLS!

Hop on over and have a sneak peak!

Cover Story!

2008-10-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

I've been interviewed! Over at Book Nymph's myspace blog, I get to tell the story about how the cover for WONDROUS STRANGE came into being. It was a lot of fun!

Book Nymph is awesome; smart, cool and passionate about the written word! My kind of girl. Probably yours, too. Go check her out!

Wondrous Love...

2008-10-10T12:10:00.001-07:00

Okay... can I just take a moment to do some shameless Horn-Tootin'?

Because I am thrilled and humbled and utterly gobsmacked by the advance praise that WONDROUS STRANGE has thus far managed to garner from some truly AWESOME authors.

Check out what they have to say:

"Dark enchantment and treacherous magic enliven every page." ~ MELISSA DE LA CRUZ, AUTHOR OF THE BLUE BLOODS SERIES

"Wow! Wondrous Strange is enchanting from beginning to end! With a marvelously refreshing heroine, a genuinely lovable hero, and a swift-moving, fascinating plot, Ms. Livingston gives a modern twist to the age-old epic ‘hero's coming of age' story. Set against the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wondrous Strange shows that the world of Faerie can be updated and yet retain its age-old charm—as well as its aura of deadly danger. This is my kind of fiction, and my kind of heroine! I enjoyed it immensely, and think Lesley Livingston will go far!" ~ LJ SMITH, AUTHOR OF THE NY TIMES BESTSELLING VAMPIRE DIARIES

"Completely absorbing and perfectly polished — Livingston's vision of faeries in the modern world is bright and exciting. A dazzling debut!"~ DON BASSINGTHWAITE, AUTHOR OF THE DOOM OF KINGS

"Many novels start off well. But rarely do they keep getting better, and better, until they deliver so much more than they promise that, by the end, a standing ovation is in order. Wondrous Strange is that rare kind of novel, deserving (and including) fireworks, bells, thunderbolts, showers of glitter and gales of applause. A nearly miraculous balancing act that juggles Celtic faerie shenanigans, New York City, a sense of humor, Shakespeare, courtly love, peril and honor and a perfectly logical plot that keeps twisting deeper and darker into layer after layer of magic -- and oh, by the way, did I mention that the characters are to love and die for? If you have ever in your life felt the lure of things most wondrous strange, don't miss this book. ~ NANCY SPRINGER, EDGAR AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF THE ENOLA HOLMES SERIES

And - what's more - WONDROUS STRANGE is now officially available for pre-order at Amazon.com! For some reason, that very fact, alone, makes it seem less and less likely that I'm on Candid Camera. Or that Ashton Kutcher is going to jump out from behind a potted plant and tell me I've been "Punk'd"!

What the --?...

2008-09-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Where the heck did the week go?!!

Yes yes. I see that it's Friday again and that the last time I blogged was... er... Friday. About another blog. I also realize that I have nothing to blog about again in this here blog today.

Other than maybe to ask, where did the week go?!!

Well... at least you can hop on over and read my Friday Post over at The Novel Girls. I'm rather fond of this one because I decided to talk about one of my favorite subjects - writing (and reading) great fight scenes!

Yay, fisticuffery!

Go check it out!

Friday Fun!

2008-09-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

That's right!

It's Friday - and you know what that means!!

I'm a bloggin' over at The Novel Girls!

This weeks topic? Landing an agent.

Go check it out - point and laugh at the Comedy of Errors that was my own fumbling toward agentry. I don't mind. Really.

Okay... Stop laughing now...

First Online Review!!

2008-09-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

Always an entertaining, informative blog, The Complusive Reader has posted the first online review of WONDROUS STRANGE!!

Among other lovely things TCR has to say, I'm particularly fond of this:

"Wondrous Strange is a stirring and adventurous book with wry humor, colorful and expressive characters, and an unbelievably addictive quality"

Yay! Go check it out!!

VIVA ITALIA!!

2008-09-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

My brilliant agent just gave me the go-ahead to announce that we have sold rights to WONDROUS STRANGE to the wonderful people at the Italian publisher Fazi!!!

I'm THRILLED!

They're the same outfit that handles Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Marr so I figure they know what they're doing in the world of YA fantasy!

In honour of this auspicious occasion, I present to you a favorite movie moment of mine. From Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home.

"I love Italian. And so do you."
"Yes."

TNG - Girl Friday!

2008-09-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

By 'TNG' I do NOT mean Star Trek - The Next Generation.

Although I do think it's an amusing coincidence.

No no - I mean THE NOVEL GIRLS wherein I'm abloggin' today (and every friday for the foreseeable future!)

This is our introductory week and it would be bloody marvelous if those of you who felt inclined to meet a few fun and lovely writer girls wandered over to say 'hi!'

Come on by and grok the grog!

Also, you know, just as a side note (pertaining to the post directly below this one)... after my Fan Expo experience, John went and bought me the season 3 dvds of Happy Days. He SO rocks. We watched both part of "Fearless Fonzarelli" last night and I laughed my butt off!

Fonzie 'n' me...

2008-09-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay okay. True confessions time.

When I was about eight years old, I had a HUGE crush on The Fonz. HUGE.

It's even bigger now.

Recently at FanEXPO here in Toronto, I had the honour - nay - the great pleasure of interviewing Henry Winkler for the super-cool geek-tastic web-mag HardcoreNerdity about the many facets of his career ranging from actor to producer to novelist to cultural freakin' icon. It was all of the awesome. He's a real gentleman and - dare I say it? - still pretty damn cute! Which is why, I'm guessing, I giggled like a schoolgirl when he kissed my hand and signed his name and "You are my kind of girl" on the back of my pink girlie shirt with all the little tiny 'Fonzie's on it.

To hear the audio podcast of the interview, click over to HcN Podcast # 17

Ayyyyeee *thumbs up!*

The Novel Girls!!

2008-09-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hey kids!

Come join me and five other fabulous new authors over at brand-spankin' new group blog

THE NOVEL GIRLS

where I will be grogging *hee* along with the lovely Tracy Madison, Maureen Lipinski, Lisa Patton, Jillian Cantor and Carolyn McTighe all about the crazy goodness (heavy emphasis on both of those) that is the life of a debut novelist.

Here we are:

And, from those of us that have our cover art already - check out these beauties!

We launch this week with introductions from all and it should prove to be a really fun, informative place to hang out. These ladies are awesome and I'm thrilled to be part of the gang!

I'd love it if you dropped by to check it out!

COVER WONDROUS!!

2008-08-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

I can finally share the utterly jaw-dropping AWESOMENESS that is the cover art for WONDROUS STRANGE.

So... Picture = 1,000 words? I dunno... 1,000 seems like a REALLY LOW number to me, in this instance.

It's funny... I barely even know what to write about this. It's the thing that, in the back of their minds, every author at one time or another daydreams about. "My book cover". And then - one day - WHAMMO!!! this image shows up in you email inbox. And suddenly your face hurts because it's really not technically engineered to smile that big.

And that goes on for days. And the face-pain is so TOTALLY worth it!

And then you get a package in the mail and it contains galleys and the actual real-life book jackets that will one day soon wrap your wee story in a loving embrace and you can't stop petting them like puppies because the actual title of the book is EMBOSSED and SHINY and the cover is the gorgeous velvety matte paper and the colours are SO vivid and this gorgeous young red-head who is SO your main character stares out at you in MOST beguiling fashion...

Remember a few posts back when I was all giddy about my chapter-heading swoosh? Yeah... well... "giddy" doesn't even begin to describe the feelings I have about my cover, or the fine fine fine human beings that came together to create it. I may have to invent a new word.

In the meantime, I'm just gonna... stare at it. A lot. Feel free to do the same.

Chess, anyone?

2008-08-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

The lovely and talented Adrienne and I are heading out to the Indigo bookstore in the Manulife Centre in Toronto tonight to catch the Breaking Dawn Midnight Masquerade Madness.

We will be covering the event for Hardcore Nerdity and will post all of our funky podcast goodness, ASAP!

Edward?

Jacob?

Chocolate?

Peanut Butter?...

Ketchup? Catsup?...

2008-07-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

How about CATCH UP?

Which is what I'm playing with this post!!

First of all, I was in New York (yay!!) and only got back late on Tuesday night - really late, and at the wrong airport because of sever thunderstorms (boo!!) and the week before was all kind of with the !crazy! and the !headless-running-chickenness! and the !endless over-packing! that I invariably do before any trip of more than 3.5 kilometers.

So. I neglected to direct your lovely selves to two very awesome Hardcore Nerdity podcasts full of awesome-osity. The first features Terry Farrell, who played Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and she is ever so cool!

See? She played "Charlie's Angels Pose" with the HCN Crew!!

And the second interview features Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens. They know more about the writing/ tv/ movie biz than... well, pretty much most people. If you are a writer, have writing aspirations, or just like listening to the insights and anecdotes of super-cool smarty-pantses (that would be 'yes', 'yes' and - heh - 'yes' on my part) go there now.

There! Almost sort-of not-really caught up! Whew!!

In the next, not-too-far-off post (quiet, you!) I will have New Yorky Goodness! In the meantime, tide yourself over with this shot of me on the back of a carousel pony in Central Park! I'll explain later!! WHEEEE! FASTER!!! WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!

My podcast interview with Kelley Armstrong!!

2008-07-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

I know, I know - two posts in two day - what? Is it the apocalypse?

No no...

I just wanted to let everyone know that a podcast interview I was lucky enough to get with the wonderful Kelley Armstrong talking about her new YA Urban Fantasy, THE SUMMONING, is now up at genre-tastic website Hardcore Nerdity!!

Please come check it out - Kelly was lovely to interview and has some really interesting things to say about this first book in her new series.

It's podcast # 9 (You'll see the link right above a picture of special effects make-up guru, Allan Cooke - whom HCN also features in this episode - showing off a rather nasty head-wound! *grin*)

That happy music? Three beats to the bar?

2008-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

That's the sound that a third-book deal makes!!

That's right, the lovely people at Harper Collins have seen fit to officially make me the author of a TRILOGY! At least... I will be. Once I'm done writing Books 2 and (hee!) 3...

Doesn't that word just roll the off tongue? Trill-oh-gee...

See? These THREE ladies are so happy, they're dancing to the music!

WHEEE!!! (which, of course, rhymes with THREE!)

(And yes, SmartyPants, I know that it wound up being weeks instead of days between posts. What can I say - I had a helluva time gettin those pages out from under the dang cat!)

The Proof is in the Pudding...

2008-06-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Or, in this case, the proofs are under the puddin-tat.

Those are my Page Proofs for WONDROUS STRANGE.

And, as you can see, those would be chapters 1 - 33 of my Page Proofs that Jack is making a comfy comfy pillow out of...

This pass through the manuscript will be the last bit of input I have on this book before it goes to print and that makes going through every single page with a meticuolous proofreading eye somehow slightly nerve-wracking.

Except of course, for Jack's soft, squishy, ever-purring presence and relaxed attitude, which effectively renders the task somewhat less-arduous.

Until I try to get the pages out from under him, that is. Then... it becomes a pointy, grumpy, uncooperative, fairly-arduous task.

But - hey - look! Lookee there, my eagle-eyed blog-readin' buddies!

You can just make out my heretofore-mentioned SWWOOOOSH!! on the first page of Chapter 34!...

Right. Back at it then. Move over Jack. Er... please?

(And hey! stay tuned!... I shall have much cool news in the days to come! Yes. I said days. Not weeks or months, SmartyPants.)

Victory!!

2008-06-09T08:44:00.001-07:00

Or, in the venacular, "Boo-Yah! I win!" Swoosh...

Laura, my editor at Harper Collins, in all her awesome-osity, sent me sample interior pages of WONDROUS STRANGE last week. These are like previews of what the actual pages of the actual book will look like. The margins, fonts, layout, spacing, all appear pretty much how they are going to appear when the thing is done and bound and shiny and flying off shelves into the grasping fingers of my - absolutely no doubt wonderful - soon-to-be readership.

And - can I just say? - the pages are beautiful. The designers at HC took my words and made them pretty. Not just pretty to read, but pretty to look at while reading!

The font is elegant and hip at the same time! Each chapter starts with a large capital letter in the same font as the title on the cover! And then... there is the swoosh! Oh... the swoosh. The swoosh (as I call it - I'm not even sure if there's a technical term) is this cool, arresting yet subtle, graphic on the opening page of each chapter. It. Is. Perfect. The goddess, my editor, tells me she went through several iterations before she said "That's it!!" And it is.

Like nike, the shoe, I now have my very own swoosh!
Like Nike, the ancient greek Goddess of Victory, I win!!

Now, sure... fonts and margins might seem like kind of a... what's the word - oh yeah - dorky thing to get all giggly and excited about. I assure you - it is NOT! Seeing my sample pages for the first time, I really felt rather like some sort of warrior victorious - having just won the Battle of Fontastica, entering the Captial City, held high on the backs of my loyal Garamondiers... oh, okay. It's a little dorky. But - so am I! And I still have the best swoosh ever!!

"My porkchop!"

2008-05-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hmm. Well, I suppose it's nice to know the neighbourhood rodentia still consider the backyard a five-star eatery, even if they occsionally bring their own take-out. Just as well, I suppose. Would have been a bummer if I'd planted those garlic chives for nuthin'...

See - last year, I wrote about a certain seeming Cajun-cookin'-luvin' denizen of the backyard that was running amok amongst my flower beds, no matter how much cayenne pepper I doused the joint with. The top-soil was angry red with it - to no discernible adverse affect on the varmint.

Well, it seems the wee furball is back this spring. With an increased appetite.

And he's kind of... scary.

See - I just got chased out of my own dang garden by a squirrel. He was halfway up a tree and he started making these... noises at me. Not like - *chitter*chitter* "I'm a cute little squirrely-squirrel" *chitter*chitter*. Nope. He growled at me. Little squirrely-teeth bared and everything. It was disconcerting.

What was more disconcerting was that, in between his little, bared, squirrely-teeth, he was holding what, I swear, was a porkchop. A whole porkchop - almost as big as he was. Maybe he growled at me because he thought I wanted the porkchop - I didn't - but there was no way I was gonna fight him for it. I suspect I would have lost.

Maybe all that cayenne pepper last year somehow mutated the local fauna. Or maybe I should just start laying out table cloths and tiny menus.

scritch

2008-05-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Anybody got one of those little extendable salad-forky-back-scratcher thingies? Seriously. I could use one.

Y'see, Wondrous Strange went to page proofs a couple of weeks ago, so the majority of my work on the manuscript is essentially done (for now), and I find myself at an interesting stage of the whole publishing process.

Feeling kinda... itchy. If you know what I mean.

Because, well, the book's pretty much outta my hands, now. Which is fine. But everything else feels all sort of 'fledgling-poised for flight... almost'.

Like:

I now have (eeeee!!) draft cover art for WS (it's SOOOOOOO GORGEOUS). But it's not 100% final yet, so I can't share.

Also? I now have a title for the second book (which I adore). But it's not 100% final yet, so I can't share.

Also? I have now see draft copy for Wondrous Strange for the Canadian version of the Harper Collins Catalogue (it's awesome). But - you guessed it - I can't share that either.

So yeah. Itchy.

Hence this post full of (not) sharing.

*scritch-scritch-scritch*

Hardcore Nerdity!!

2008-05-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's alive!!!!!!!!!!

Yes it is time for the great unveiling! May I present to you all:

The Ultimate Destination for all your Nerd Needs.

Your mission – should you choose to accept it – is to get with our Nerd Herd as we dig down deep into the world of genre to bring you exclusive insights, interviews, scoops, reviews and rumors, along with some of the coolest behind-the-scenes tidbits and unexpected treasures unearthed from the deepest darkest corners of the SF/F jungle. We cover genre from all angles – from ink on a page to pixels on a screen and all that’s in-between – and we back it up with input from entertainment-industry professionals with seriously authentic geek cred.Check out the Escape Pod, our weekly podcast hosted by Mr. Jonathan Llyr, with Rob Salem and Simon Evans. This week he talks with screenwriter David Hayter who gives us the skinny on the highly anticipated film Watchmen.Don't forget to also visit the awesome bio page, where we fab contributors are displayed in our comic book glory!

Good!

2008-04-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

I am feeling all sorts 'legit' these days, let me tell ya!

First of all...

I'm OFFICIALLY a professionally published author!!

April first saw the launch of the DAW anthology Misspelled, edited by the fabulous Julie E. Czerneda, wherein I have a short story called 'Trippingly off the Tongue' - see? Pretty Cover. Ooh. Shiny...

The anthology launched over the weekend at the Ad Astra Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention and I was there and I got to - WHEE! - sign books! Bakka Phoenix bookstore has copies signed by all the contributing authors available now while supplies last! Go! Run! Buy!!

So. That made me feel pretty much like a real writer-girl.

Also - spending the weekend hanging out with all of my writer pals, old and new, like (prepare for all sorts of name-droppy clicky-linky goodness here):

Jim C. Hines - he of the hilarious Goblin Trilogy, book 3 of which also launched at Ad Astra (YAY Jim!) and who blogs about the con here (and who also has a fantastic story in Misspelled).

There was, of course, my good pal and fab writer-girl, herself, Adrienne Kress - who blogged about the con here and here (so I mostly don't have to - heh).

I met Rebecca Moesta, with whom Adrienne and Julie and I shared a panel on Writing for Young Adults. It was very cool and she is a total pro. Lots of good info.

Then there was just a whole lot of general shenanigans and silliness and hanging out with a whole host of awesome spec-fic reader- and writer-folk, including Scott Bakker, Douglas Smith, Caitlin Sweet (who really is my *Star Trek Geek Alert* binar twin), Steve Perry and his wife Pen, Karin Lowachee, Robert J. Sawyer and a whole lot of other folk I'm probably forgetting just at the moment 'cause... er... it was a long weekend and I have yet to fully recover. That's it.

Adrienne and I donned evening gowns and threatened and cajoled folks into bidding on cool stuff at the Sunburst Awards Auction.

My guy, Jonathan Llyr was there with Chris and Nadine, the crew from Angry Robot, interviewing all the cool cats for an upcoming launch of an amazing new venture - Hardcore Nerdity - that you will be hearing a lot about in the very near future (click over to Adrienne's con-rep for more on that!) and I had the pleasure of interviewing the afore-mentioned Doug Smith for them. He's real smart.

More legit writer-stuff? Er... how 'bout...

Finally getting my fully-executed contract sent back to me in the mail by my FANTASTIC agent... and realizing that it just happened to be accompanied by my advance cheque. *blink blink* (at which point, I started to wonder when people will realize that they are actually paying me to have the most fun I've ever had with just my brain - HEE!)

Having to do one last round of edits on a chapter that tied both me and my AWESOME editor in knots (at which point, I start to realize that danged if they aren't gonna make me work to have all that brain-fun - heh!)

Finally getting that chapter right (or so my AWESOME editor tells me...)

Having my AWESOME editor sprinkle tantalizing cover-design hints all around me like pixie-dust...

Finding out that my copy-edits (which I'm on an uber-tight deadline to receive-complete-return) are, in fact, in Halifax.

Realizing that I am, distinctly, NOT in Halifax.

Finally getting my copy-edits (by way of Halifax, apparently) and staring at them for a long moment thinking to myself "I have never seen so many sticky-notes in one place at the same time in all my life"...

Realizing that my copy-editor is, rather like my AWESOME editor, also awesome. And that they're both smarter than me. By - like - a mile. Which is the most reassuring thing I, as a writer, can think of. They have my back.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that all of these things went a long way to reminding me that this - this writing stuff? - this is what I actually do. As a writer, you spend so much time concentrating on getting there that sometimes it takes you a second or two to realize it when you are there. And that, in fact, there are more that one 'there's and that you've likely been there more than once already. It's just that it all passes in a weird blur - much like the landscape through the windshield on a cross-country road-trip. I guess this weekend I got out of the car to stretch my legs. And take a deep breath. And enjoy the scenery.

And you know what? It's real pretty.

Bad.

2008-03-05T12:50:00.001-08:00

Naughty. Fiendish. Nefarious. Positively villainous...

In other words - er, word - wicked.

As in "No rest for the ______"

I have been wicked. That is the obvious explanation.

Wicked BAD. Ergo - no rest.

I love my editor. I love her to BITS! Teeny tiny ones. Which is good! Especially for moments like when, say, oh, the DAY after I e-mailed her the final draft of the manuscript for Wondrous Strange and she sends me a note indicating joy and satisfaction with my promptitude and, then, she slips in a sly little "by the way, the design department is wondering... heh... er... say... what's book two about, Lesley? Just because, you know, they're brainstorming both cover concepts at the same time to get a kind of thematic/ stylistic matching thing..."

Normally, the very mention of cover design sends me into warm-fuzziness and daydreams.

Under these circumstances...

I started to giggle. A bit hysterically.

...and then I started writing Book 2.

Good thing my mom had a birthday this year (she only gets one every four - it's a Leap-Year-y thing), 'cause I just got back from Vancouver Island where I had a lovely relaxing mom-birthday visit with trees and flowers and deer and eagles in the sky and NO FRICKIN' SNOW *mutter* and a nice long plane-ride to and fro in which to noodle away on my WS-2 file. I am rested (HA!), rejuvenated (delusional) and ready to dive head-first into the 'continuing adventures of' (someone please fill the pool with water...)

*giggle giggle giggle*

Er... aliens?

2008-02-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

Time to fess up.

Time to explain my protracted absences and heretofore shameless lack of post-y goodness.

Aliens!

Okay okay. There were no aliens.

It was the Fairies.

I'm serious! I didn't change my blog header on a whim, ya know. (Actually, I did...)

NEVERTHELESS! (That word looks funny when it's in all-caps. Stop distracting me brain - I'm explaining my strange drawn-out absences. Pff. I'll be over here if anyone needs me. I don't expect so... Quiet, you.)

So. Faeries.

It was a good old fashion Otherworld abduction, I tells ya.

They chained me in a tiny room hidden away from the rest of the world, gave me naught but brackish water and mushrooms for sustenance, set slavering faerie beasts to harrass and torment me, and made me slave over their infernal magical machines, where I wept bitter tears and my fingers bled as, day and night, I turned sawdust and wilted cabbage leaves into delicate golden threads.

Or... you retreated to the study (admittedly not particularily large), a place where there is no internet access (so you could actually - ya know - get something done), John cooked awesome meals and brought them to you so you wouldn't have to haul yer sorry butt downstairs, the cats tried to jump on your lap (which was occasionally annoying - but also pretty darn cute), and you finished drafting and editing your manuscript (sans both tears and blood, it should be noted - although there were a few moments of panicky-idiot mindless jibbering...). Does that sound slightly more familiar?

I hate my brain.

But, dang it all, I made my deadlines.

And the book really is about Faeries, so that part wasn't a complete fabrication.

Happy HEART Day!!

2008-02-14T12:45:00.000-08:00

These are for you, MOM!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Now stop saying you like Adrienne better'n me 'cause she blogs regularly, 'kay?

XOXOX

Lesley

"All This Time" -- it is a changin'...

2008-02-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

WHOOSH.

Didja feel that?

That was the passage of time. And a subway train.

And the former name of this blog.

Do you like the new look?

Do you like the fact that I actually posted something?

Would you like me to post MORE somethings?

'cause that's what I'm gonna do!

...IN OTHER WORDS...

Welcome to my world - again or for the first time.

My name is Lesley Livingston. I am the author of

Wondrous Strange

a YA novel soon to be published by the marvelous folks at Harper Collins

and this is my

New and Improved

!!!BLOG!!!

Wherein I shall post regularly! (Go ahead - laugh! I'll show you!...) And wherein I shall keep you updated on all the comings and the goings, and the to-ings and the fro-ings here, in my wee whacky sphere of experience.

I'm looking forward to it.

And - no...

Subsequent posts will NOT be written in funny bird-shapes like this one.

That's just me havin' new blog fun.

Sleep... that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care...

2007-12-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

It is not an overrated thing, this thing you call sleep.

Dude. Shakespeare KNEW what he was talking about. Yea verily.

Get enough of it (quality and quantity are both good), and you are a Happy Queen - (even though you are, admittedly, freshly queened through despicable acts of which, herein, we shall not mention. Right? Right...)

Observe:

See? "La La La..." happy, smiling, neatly groomed... "I got a purty dress and all I had to do was arrange the bloody demise of some old dude..."

Miss out on a few bouts of zzzs, however, and lo:

"Hell is murky..." weep, moan, in need of hair-brushing, "why haven't moist towelettes been invented, yet? My hands are sticky... out damned spot..."

Sad Creepy Sleepwashing Queen.

Oh - by the way - these are pictures from my most recent foray treading the boards, Tempest Theatre Group's production of MACBETH. (Of which, Adrienne Kress has some amusing observations of the backstage shenanigans, thereof...)

I repeat: these are NOT - necessarily - my recent real-life experiences. Heh heh... seriously.

But my point stands.

Sleep is NOT to be overrated.

I know this, because I recently acquired the most AWESOME uber-high thread-count bed linens. Nothing ravelled about these suckers.

And - whaddaya know. Last night, I slept like some kinda crazy sleeping machine. For probably the first time in MONTHS.

This could, of course, also have to do with the fact that - as we all know from reading my previous post - last week, I finished emptying all of the story bits for Wondrous Strange out of the old cerebellum and handed them over to my AWESOME editor in some kind of fabulous document that makes a massive amount of thrilling, adventure-laden, romantic, wildly funny yet poignant, perfect sense. (Heh... possibly remnants of sleep deprivation, that...)

Ah, well. I guess I'll know whether or not this is even close to being the case, when she calls me up in the middle of the night because SHE can't sleep!

And I will laugh wildly and tell her to go get nice sheets!

I'm baaaaack.....

2007-12-06T14:19:00.001-08:00

I know, I know.

You'll believe it when you read it.

But I am! This is me, typing at you.

You're thrilled, aren't you? I can tell. Don't be coy.

See... it's been a little hectic around here at ATT (All This Time - y'know - the name of the blog? Sheesh.) And, in fact, there was NOT a whole heck of a lot of time to go around for yours truly... Certainly not very much of the FREE variety.

But the Crazy Train finally derailed and dumped me off here and I can now get back to my (semi/kinda/oh-so-occasionally-but-dang-the-cat-picture-kept-us-all-going-for-awhile) regular bloggy goodness!!

Actually, it was little more like - those rampaging dudes in the Wild Hunt (see picture, above) finally let go of my hair. Except with less nudity. A lot less. More like, comfy pants and puffy shoes and all hunched over my laptop pounding away like a maniac so I could meet my deadline.

Which I did.

While performing twice a day for two weeks in Tempest Theatre Group's awesome awesome production of MACBETH. Playing Lady Macbeth. And the first witch. With eight costume changes and wigs.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS.

Still, it was a wild ride...

But it's nice to be back. With you. My readership of probably negative one-ish. I love you so.

LISTED!!

2007-09-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Posted in the most recent Deal List section of PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE...

Debut -- Lesley Livingston's WONDROUS STRANGE, an urban fantasy that weaves elements of A Midsummer Night's Dream together with teen romance and chilling adventure that erupts when dangerous faeries invade the human world through a gate in Central Park, to Laura Arnold at Harper Children's, in a two-book deal, by Jessica Regel at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.

Okay... starting to feel a little real now...

So. Very. Cool.

I gotcher update right here!!!

2007-09-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

I really do!

And it should all be perfectly clear now as to WHY it's taken me SOOOOOO long to post anything new and/or newsworthy!

I was holding out on you.

*grin*

Actually, I just didn't want to jinx anything...

I've also been up to my eyeballs in a little (up-til-now-Super-Secret) project called

WONDROUS STRANGE

The first in a proposed YA Urban Fantasy series which, I'm AWFULLY pleased to announce, has just sold to Harper Collins in a two-book deal!!!!

Over the freaking moon. That is me.

And a massive shout-out to my most excellent agent Jessica Regel, at Jean V. Naggar Literary. I simply cannot possibly even begin to use enough superlatives to describe the fantasticness-ness that is she.

More on this when I've peeled myself off the ceiling, 'kay?

WHEEEEEE!!!

By Request...

2007-08-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

I present to you...

JACK

King of all Cats

Embassador of all Catdom

I now return you to your regularly scheduled 'holy-crap-is-she-ever-gonna-update-this-thing?!'

Soon my pretties.... oh, very soon...

Muwahahahah *cough* hahahaaaahhh *cough hack* ha

... stupid sucky evil laugh... mutter... grumble...

Bloody Good Fun!!

2007-08-03T13:28:00.000-07:00

Went and saw the marvelous Adrienne Kress' Summerworks show, A Weekend in the Country, which opened in Toronto last night. I can really only say that I was HIGHLY entertained. HIGHLY.

It is clever and witty (not necessarily the same thing, you know!) and bonkers; a deeply funny look at rain-puddle shallow people faced with the unexpected. Plus, oh yeah. There's blood! And cereal!

If you are in Toronto this week... GO. See it. I command you. That is all.

And now, just so's you don't get all spoiled with me posting more that once in the past two and a half weeks... I must dive back into my all-consuming, super-secret project for world-domination! Ha Ha! (No, Mom. That is NOT a euphemism for 'I gotta go do laundry'. Sheesh.)

LL

Alien Abduction.

2007-07-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Or possibly, Bermuda Triangle. Seriously - when was the last time you heard a really good gone-missing-while-flying-in-a-small-plane-over-the-Bermuda-Triangle story?

It would explain a LOT.

Like... I dunno... where the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks I've been for (as Adrienne has so helpfully pointed out *poke* ouch, thank you) over a month now?

Wait. Did somebody say hockey sticks? Okay okay. Here's the real story: I was in Las Vegas watching my nine year-old nephew play extremely entertaining tournament-hockey. That's right. Hockey. In the desert. In July. In a 118-degree heat-wave.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Okay - fine. It WAS the aliens. Just remember - what happens in the Vega System stays in the Vega System...

More anon. Promise!

Beam me up, lads,
LL

"Mo-o-o-mmm... Adrienne won't stop poking me..."

2007-05-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Adrienne: "I did not!" *poke*

LL: "She just did it again!"

My Mom: "Kids..."

LL: "Make her stop!"

Adrienne: "I didn't do anything!" *poke*

LL: "MOM!"

My Mom: "If you girls can't play nice - I'm turning this blog around and we're going home!"

LL: *mutter...*

Adrienne (sotto voce): "The first one was a 'TAP' and the second one was a 'TAG' and if you weren't such a blog-weenie you wouldn't have anything to whine about in the first place!"

LL: *pout*

Adrienne: "And it still took you weeks to post this! Weenie."

LL (whining): "Mo-o-o-mmm - tell her I've been busy-y-y-y! Tell her about the script I finished and the 75 pages I wrote on a new project and the spec proposal I wrote and the 'nother 'toon episode I recorded and and and..."

My Mom: "And Adrienne's right. She did another galley proof and is hard at work on her sequel and having production meetings for her Summerworks show and STILL manages to blog regularly. I'm sorry, dear. She's right. You're being a weenie."

*sigh*
Okay okay. [/weeniewhining]

After all, she's just trying to make me blog more... Darling girl. Heh.

Look - I promise to get to all of Adrienne's poking and prodding and tapping and tagging and what-not-ery next week when she and I return from 4 fabulous days and 3 fun-filled nights in New York! New York! That's right, were heading back to the Large Red Fruit for some BookExpoAmerica-related MONSTER FUN!

I'm sure the plane ride there and back will give Adrienne LOTS of time for more poking. Whee.

I'm Kidding! I'm KIDDING! Mom - don't turn the blog around!!! I'll be good...

Sunshine, lollypops and... Cajun squirrels?

2007-05-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Have you missed me, my loyal blogreadership of... er... you? Yes! YOU!

For my recent protracted absence, I do apologize. And herein offer some sort of explanation. Because I know YOU care.

To wit: I been busy. I'm at the tail-end of a writing project that is close enough to the big FIN that it has, necessarily, occupied most (okay - pretty much ALL) of my time spent keyboarding of late. If you really need evidence, go check out my languishing Facebook page. Second thought, don't. It languishes. That is about all it does at the moment. It is in NO WAY interesting. I'll let you know when it is. Promise. Heh. Do NOT hold your breath. I don't want to be responsible for the outcome of any breath-holding scenarios.

Where was I?... Oh yeah. SO. Having been so very busy with the taptaptappity word-based goodness, I am now at a point where I can take a wee (WEE) break and give myself a reward for recent diligence. A lollipop, if you will, and make a blog entry. That would be this. (WHEEE!)

And then, immediately thereafter, it will be back to work - in SPITE of the taunting gobs of sunshine scheduled to rain down upon my fair city this weekend. That is, of course, because April - with her capricious meteorological whims - has picked up her muddy skirts in a flirty swish and hit the road for another year. Enter May. And gobby sunshine. And the siren song of my garden. Which I did - yes - manage to muck out, replacing said muck with flowery brilliance and new lilac shrubbery (heeding the call of the Knights of Ni demanding same, o all you Monty Python geeks - shout out!!), and geraniums and a hanging basket with petunias and such, and tiny little candy-striped thingies of which I know not the name, and shasta daisies and forget-me-nots! These later of which are, apparently, coveted by squirrels.

Not just any squirrels. Ragin' Cajun Squirrels. I can only surmise this because, any squirrel willing to dig up a plant coated in that much freakin' CAYENNE PEPPER (sprinkled wantonly in order to forestall any such digging of up), has to be a connoisseur of REALLY HOT FOOD. This is the squirrel with a 'fridge door full of the kinds of hot sauce bottles that come adorned with little death's-head keychains and names like 'Ass in Space', 'Bottle o' Doom', 'Nitro', and 'Lava Lamp'. I do NOT want to sample this squirrel's gumbo. I imagine this particular furry dude would have NO problem chowing down on Homer's Guatamalan Insanity Pepper. Either that, or he was just the butt of some kind of squirrel college frat-boy dare. Either way, I'm down one forget-me-not.

But, give the critter his due, I am also UP one accidental tulip. YOU know the ones - the tulips that spring out of nowhere, having been planted there - most likely - by my blackened catfish and collard greens lovin' squirrel buddy. 'Cause I sure didn't put it there. Nevertheless, I am grateful for its presence. It is pretty and yellow and ridiculously cheery. It is the colour of sunshine, lollipops and and... and it reminds me that, even if I get stuck in front of the computer for most of a glorious weekend, the flowers will probably get along just fine without me.

Right. Back to it then. Hey - Squirrel! How d'you feel about doing some weeding?

Toon-Tastic!!

2007-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Heh heh... I've been humming the theme to the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show for a couple of days now. You know - "Overture! Curtain! Lights! This is it, the Night of Nights!..."

Because, that's right, it has finally happened. One of my life-long ambitions - held ever since those long-ago days of sitting glued to the TV watching the Saturday morning funnies - is about to come true. I'm gonna be a TOON!

Yup. I booked a super-awesome gig voicing a regular character for a brand-new, in-development, animated kids series. This, to me, is SO cool. Yeah, maybe it's sheer high geekery but I've always wanted to be a cartoon. (I mean, more of a cartoon than I already am in real life, thank you o my many mocking friends - I can hear you, y'know...) And now, I will be. Perhaps not decked out in a She-Ra, Princess of Power miniskirt and head dress but - I have seen the Character design and - I gotta say - I've got GREAT legs! *grin*

Now, other than my fab toon-gams, I'm not really sure how much I can say. Because, y'know, it's a new series and all that. So, bear with me as I err on the side of caution and eschew specifics. I'm sure that, as an air-date approacheth, I will be able to tell you more. But, suffice to say, it's a neat-o little project.

I recorded my lines for 5 episodes yesterday and - can I just say? - for someone who usually has a hard time shutting up - all that talking is hard work. Seriously. I drank about a gallon of water over a two hour session, bent my brain around inflection and tone, intent and timing, avoiding 'wind' (not that kind! Sheesh!) and shmutzy-face noises, tried not to gesticulate too wildly so the sound guy wouldn't have to call me on 'shirt noise' or say 'you hit the script stand again', etc., etc., etc... and discovered along the way that it's kind of astounding just how much focused energy you have to put out for this kind of stuff.

((That's not to say that I haven't done voice work before. As a matter of fact (for example), all of you radio-drama aficionados, should TOTALLY pop on over to Decoder Ring Theatre and check out the podcast offerings there, featuring some really fantastic voice and story talent on display in a bunch of different radio serials (several episodes of which, yes, feature yours truly in various breathy damsel and/or evil villainess/ and or intergalactic mysterious lifeform roles)....))

Maybe it's just that with something that you know is going to go to the animators after you've done your part, there's somehow a lot more to think about while your doing it. Whatever. All I know is that - I had a blast. Here's hoping the show (which I will identify/flog mercilessly when I get the go-ahead) does gangbusters.

Sing it with me - "On with the Show! This is iiiiit!..."

LL

You see? You see that? April mocks me.

2007-04-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

In oh-so-sly, reverse-mockery fashion.

Today is the third day in a row since I posted my last entry that the sky has been eye-shatteringly blue. The air, filled with the mild sweet kisses of actual spring-breeze temperatures. I have been wooed from the tweedy, scarf-wrapped depths of my winter-wear. I am forced to consider the possibilities of mucking out the planting beds in the yard this weekend...

If this continues, I might have to retract my previous April-bashing statements in their entirety.

Now do you see what I meant about April's cruel mockery? Huh? Huh??

Right. I thought you might.

Now, if you will excues me, I must go forth and bask defiantly in all that haughty, scoffing sunshine.

April really IS the cruelest month!...

2007-04-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. TS Eliot may have been on to something. Go figure.

This whole "April-showers-bring-May-flowers-so-just-you-grin-and-bear-it-all-part-of-the-eternal-dance-turning-of-the-seasons" thing is crap.
It's supposed to be 'Spring' already.
Well 'Spring', thus far, has been nothing but an embryonic, maddening tease. It has been nothing but muddy and grey and cold and ugly and full of sleet.

You see, April mocks you.
It mocks you 'cause, y'know, you'll look like a big ol' DORK if you're still wearing your winter coat at this time of year. 'Cause - hey! It's April!
Yeah - except that it was April last week, too, and last week felt like frickin' January.

April mocks you with plenty of light in the evenings - so you can see just how ugly the back garden is when you get home, and then yearn to go out and rake up all the mulch and uncover new growth and make it all pretty again, and then April slams you with sullen iron-grey sleet on the weekend when you've actually got the time to do that. And still, you would. Except, you know, if it wasn't for the sleet. Which would nicely wither anything you uncovered in your mulch-raking anyway.

April is **shudder** tax time. And dropping off your tax stuff to your tax accountant in SLEET. Have I mentioned the sleet?

April is waiting.

Waiting to go out and buy incredibly cute new shoes and the kinds of bits of clothing that can only ever be described as frocks and/or togs and such. Except that - it ain't anywhere NEAR warm enough or un-mucky enough to wear frockish toggery if you did.

April is desperately wanting to buy brightly colored toss cushions for a freshly arranged room and not being able to find any you like (oh - wait. That's probably just a personal frustration at the moment. I don't think it's necessarily April-specific...)

April is snow mold. And then, it's the mold leftover AFTER the snow mold is gone. It is cracks in last years flower pots and the leftover detritus of a whole other season acumulated in the sidewalk margins.

And it makes me grumpy. And lethargic. It makes me unproductive. You may have noticed. (Or you may have just assumed that I was finally abducted by the aliens - maybe I was! maybe this entire 'April rant' is just clever misdirection! hah! didja ever think of that?! Huh? Huh?)

But then, today, when I looked out the window and saw that it was actually sunny? Well.
At first, it was intermittent. Just patchy, brave bits of renegade blue sky showing through.
A beam here, a beam there.
And then... and then - FULL ON SUNSHINE!!
I became - dare I say it - giddy! So giddy, in fact, that it made me want to BLOG fer cryin' out loud!

But first, before I did that?
I went and re-read TS Eliot's The Waste Land.
Can't o.d. on giddy, now. Not on a Wednesday in the cruelest month.
Might upset a critical balance or something.

Can we have May now, please?

Location, location, location…

2007-04-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

It’s everything in real estate, right? Right.

Apparently, it also has a lot to do with writing, too. Mine at least. Of course not only mine... but, I’ve been thinking (ye-gads!) about story elements with respect to a current project. Trying to figure out exactly why things were a little on the sticky side in the process... and my thinking went a little like this:

**mutter mutter**
Lessee...
Got plot? Check. Well – sort of. Not an outline or anything – not yet. But the basics? Yeah - check.

Got characters? Check. Uh – see above. It’s a fresh project, okay?

Got setting? Che—uhh... yeeesss....

You do?

Sure. There’s that city. You know – the one were setting the story in?

Are we sure that’s were we want it?

Yes. No. Well... there might be other places, too. ’Cause there was that cool thing about that place in that other country that we just discovered in our research that uncannily ties into something as trivial as a character’s name and which just might hold the key to the entire plot – wait... what’s that noise?

What noise?

THAT noise. The one that sounds vaguely like some sort of heavenly choir?...And then it occurs to me that I have, once again, pinned some potentially very KEY PLOT POINTS on a piece of geography.

And this happens to me all the time. In weird, sometimes vaguely eerie, ways.

Take, for example, the YA project that I mentioned in an earlier post. I needed a piece of, well, a pretty specific piece of not even just geography but topography. I figured that I was going to have to make it up.

Okay. Cool. I can do that – ’cause see? I have a hat that says ‘writer’ on it (I really don’t – but, y’know, now that you mention it...) and I can do stuff like that. But first... some research. You know – throw on a little Googley music, limber up the digits, have at it. Except that it was really all just a gesture of good faith to appease my brain which is all rarin’ to do this on its own.
Because, you see, I knew this thing didn’t exist. There was NO REASON why it should. I was going to have to make this thing up.

And then I didn’t.

And it was better than anything, in fact, that I could have made up. This place was real. And the reality of it solved problems that I hadn’t even written myself into yet, but would have. It was like conjuring! It was a place that was – up until that very moment – purely a construct of my ADDLED BRAIN that I needed to hang an outlandish bit of fiction on. Except that... it wasn’t.

Not so outlandish now, eh, Brain? I sez, all gloaty. (Shut up, sez Brain, pouting.)

It was a ‘whoa’ moment. It has happened more than once. It gives me the weebies and makes me giggly with eureka-glee at the same time. (If this sort of thing happens to you, I recommend a cold-compress.) And, see, I know that these kinds of things happen to writers all the time. The underpinnings of our conscious minds are always savagely mulching things up in a thunderous, churning contraption that spits out correlations and connections and strings together ‘coincidence’ and ‘happenstance’ into puzzles wherein dots are connected and plots are strung.

I just find it weird that, in four separate novel-length projects – two finished, two in progress (and, oh wait, that’s pretty much all of them – all of the serious ones, so far, at least) – that this has been the case. With settings.

Nutty, huh?

Like Miss Tessmocker said to Lex Luthor: “What is it with you and real estate? It’s always ‘land, land, land’.”

Does that make me an Evil Genius? Cool.

(And yeah – that picture up there? That’s one of ’em. You betcha. The first one, in fact.)

Ack! What a dreadful sin of omission!!

2007-03-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

I hang my head in shame.

See - John reads my post, below. And then, in a certain 'uh... aren't you forgetting something important...?' kind of tone says "What - no Captain Kirk?"

"DEAR YE GODS!! The one that started it all!!" I cried out, mortified. And so hereby make amends:

Three words: James Tiberius Kirk. More specifically - James Tiberius Kirk in the episode "Shore Leave". You know - the one that takes place on that wacky robot planet where Kirk's getting soundly, repeatedly, gloriously thrashed by a simulacrum of his past nemesis, Starfleet Academy upper classmate bully-boy Finnigan? Yeah! That's the one!...

*sigh*

The ripped shirt. The dusty trousers. The touseled hair. The trickle of bright blood welling at the corner of his mouth. The crazy Irish fightin' music... and the nuclear-powered gleam in Jim Kirk's eyes throughout.

I was (reeeally) young when I first saw this episode. I was (reeeally) impressionable. Well, mission accomplished Jimmy Boy! As you can see from the post below, I was impressed upon. Mightily. And now, well, I DO so like my heros Finnigan'ed.

(Of course, as Adrienne so very rightly pointed out in her response to the below, I also like 'em funny. There's nothing beats a funny hero. Unless, of course, something beats a funny hero. Then it's just double-plus good!!)

And let's face it. This stuff is, ultimately, just SOOO much fun to write!

Speaking of which... I think I'll go do some of that right about now.

Outta here,

[/geek alert off]

I’ll have the Hero Sandwich – with a side of PAIN!

2007-03-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

First let me say, I am in NO WAY sadistic. Seriously. Okay – sure – the caveat to that statement being, when the Leafs play... oh, I dunno, the Sens? Then yeah. Make with the hurtin’ bombs.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about heroes lately.
Comes from having to write about the dang things, I suppose...
And, I’ve come to the... er... interesting conclusion that, well, knights in shining armour aren’t heroes. At least, they’re not interesting heroes. Not to me. Nope. I’ll take the knight in the largely missing and/or seriously damaged armour. The missing helmet (and commensurate gash over the eye because of it), the battered breastplate (and broken rib or two), the busted side-buckles that let the enemy get a good solid slashing blow in to do some real damage... er, y’know.

I guess you could say that, really, I like my sandwich meat tenderized. Okay – see – now STOP THAT. Gad! – you people have naughty little minds!! I was just building on my title metaphor!!

Right. Moving on. My point – and I do have one – is this: why do we (it can’t be just me, right?), as readers, as audience, love to see our good guys get the crap kicked RIGHT out of them? Mentally and physically.

Superman is awesome when he’s invincible. Why is he somehow MORE awesome when he’s drowning in Lex Luthor’s pool? Or howling out his anguish at the death of Lois in the earthquake?

Consider Indiana Jones - and Marion’s reaction when she first sees him - all calm, cool and in control – “Come back tomorrow.”
Now consider Marion’s subsequent reaction to the sight of Indy’s extravagantly abused torso in the cabin of the Bantu Wind. Yeah.

Picture Aragorn pushing through those massive double doors, pretty much half-dead...
Picture Boromir impersonating a pin-cushion, pretty much all-dead...

Pierce Brosnan’s best Bond moments? – beaten and bearded and forsaken at the start of Die Another Day. Especially his scene with M in the hospital room. Pain inside and out. (And, yes, I will watch this movie again and again – RIGHT up until the moment Halle Berry appear on screen – eesh, talk about pain)...

Daniel Craig’s best Bond moments? – ... er, you know where I’m going with this one, right?...

Darcy Tucker. Okay okay. I know. He’s not exactly fictional. But – dang!...

One word - Rocky.

Two words – King Arthur. There’s pain for you. Pain, betrayal, loss, more pain. Lancelot? – who cares! Arthur? – Yeah, baby!...

Oh – and by the way. The above statement in NO WAY (in case I’ve yet to make this clear) refers to the Clive Owen version of King Arthur. ‘cause – meh. Perhaps this is because, out of all the manly men tromping about on the screen in that sorry flick, King Clive suffers – it seems to me – the least. In a King Arthur movie. WRONG. I’ll take Dagonet (with the physical pain and, er, noble sacrifice) and Trystan (with the quiet, but obvious, emotional wounds and, er, noble sacrifice) over Owen’s stoic, barely suffering cardboard hero any day. Which is not to say that ol’ Clive is necessarily to blame. Actually, I just blame CRAP directing for that debacle, mostly...

But speaking of Dagonet, he was, of course, played by yummy Ray Stevenson of ROME fame, which brings me neatly to...

Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus in the gladiatorial arena. I may have mentioned them in an earlier post. “Thirteen! Thirteen!!” Ow. Ow. Ow. Everybody sing along, now – Hurts so good...

Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden is never more appealing than when he’s had the almighty stuffing hoofed out of him by a necromancer, a couple of loup-garou, a passel of soul-sucking black-court vampires and a pissed-off Lieutenant Murphy. Preferably all at the same time...

Dirk Pitt – don’t laugh. Back in the days of Vixen 03 and Treasure and Iceberg. Talk about crap-out-of kicked. Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain!... and yet, somehow, perseverance, throughout... Go Dirk!...

Wolverine. Oh my. Wolverine. Many-layered pain. Sure – most of the physical stuff he can get over in moments. But the other stuff? The invisible scars? Yeah – that’s what I’m talking about...

Han Solo – post-carbonite: “I’m all right, pal.” – no you’re not. And that’s the way we like it!...

And yet...

And yet... you can take this kind of thing SO very much too far. Well, for me, anyway. William Wallace? – good. Mel’s subsequent – er – bringin’ of the pain?... I dunno. Having to tell the make-up department that, for this scene, you want your actor wearing what looks like, essentially, a BACON SUIT? (*thanks, John, for that delightful piece of imagery* eew)... not so good.

Also, is it possible to say that the Jack Bauer Power Hours are getting just a leetle bit out of hand with the hurtin’ music?...

And most of all, I really can’t abide the latest Over. The. Top. torture trend in Horror movies. See, there’s pain and then there’s... just... ick. There ain’t no nobility in gratuitous buckets o’ blood and the egregious misuse of dental and/or industrial logging equipment. Just. Stop.

At any rate...

For me, what it really comes down to, I suppose, it that I hate to see a grown man cry. Except that, y’know, I love to see a grown man cry.

“Well godammit, Indy where doesn’t it hurt?!”, indeed, Marion...

Magic is Green!...**

2007-03-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

It really is!

I just never realized HOW Green! That's 'cause I grew up thinking that the movie EXCALIBUR was supposed to look like it was shot through the lense of a cameraman fond of hangin' about in the local hog-trough gettin' his equipment all messy. Which was, in retrospect, GROSSLY unfair to the mad, lush cinematography of Alex Thomson (also somewhat naughty sounding - not what I meant at all. Seriously. Dudes.).

I will say, in my defence, that I think the weary old pan-and-scan VCR tape I watched a zillion times as a kid and probably still have kicking around somewhere (bought second-hand) had been previously viewed about a zillion times. It squeaked. And, y'know, it was a weary old pan-and-scan VCR tape. See - I know I may not look it (heh!) but I am a child of the Darkness That Went Before the Days of the Mighty Rise of the DVD. (Or CDs for that matter - feel free to squeal in horror, young'uns).

Sure. It was a dark time. Really. But I never knew HOW dark until last night when John and I sat down and watched (and, here, superlatives fail me) some HD-DVDs on our spankin' new HD-DVD PLAYER (is that a choir of angels I hear? Is it?).

It ain't a dark time no more, kids.
See this poster?

That is how EXCALIBUR should look.
On an HD DVD, that is how it does look.
And - believe me - I was sceptical. I mean - Happy Feet? Sure. That better dang well look good.

But Excalibur? C'mon. The movie was released in 1981. It was shot on film and with techniques that never even considered the possibility of High Definition. It has never been anything to me but a dearly-loved muddle of foggy/smoky/ill-lit/hazy/twilight-begloomed UTTER MAGIC --

(oh - sorry - did I forget to turn on my flashing ARTHUR-GEEK alert? Yeah - I have me a BIG LOVE for this movie. For a lot of reasons. Buy me a beer and I will - no doubt - tell you ALL of them. And then I will cackle with deranged glee and dance on your mangled corpse when, in careless jest, you scoff and say "First Knight was better" or "Clive Owen kicks Nigel Terry's butt" - consider yourselves warned...)

Uh... where was I? Lessee... mangled corpse... oh yeah! You get to actually SEE all of the mangled corpses in this movie when it's in HD. Along with, well, everything else. Including all of the GREEN Magic. Cause it is. See?

See that intense, insanely verdant shining aura as young Arthur pulls the sword from its stony sheath? Yeah? It's even greener in HD. It is almost unbearable. And it's everywhere. And, as John said to me, you never really notice it all that much. Except NOW you do.

I really didn't think that it would make that much of a diference. I thought that they'd clean up the print and it would look - y'know - nice. I didn't expect that I would be able to count the tassles on the tapestries in the background. I didn't expect that I would see people in scenes that I had never noticed were even THERE before.

I didn't expect a WHOLE NEW MOVIE.

It was...

It was wow.

That is all.

(Except for a Gratuitous Nigel Terry Publicity Still):

OOh. Shiny.

**And a shout-out to Matt Wagner for the whole "Magic is Green" thing (which I'll have to explain in a whole 'nother post for those who don't know what I'm talking about):

ARTHUR LIVES!!! (in High Definition *grin*!)

"Captain, my Captain..."

2007-03-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

*girly sigh*...

I do so LOVE me some Maple Leafs. Take, for example, the above. Captain Mats Sundin. I've been carting around this picture (which you have to admit is a pretty frickin' COOL snap), clipped from the sports section of the Toronto Star, since 2004. Such noble bearing. Such clear-eyed leadership shining from that chisled countenance... *another girly sigh*...

Plus, y'know, a teeny bit of photoshopping and this would make a KICK-BUTT King Arthur poster. Why, yes - I DO have an active imagination. Why d'you ask?

Now let's all get out there and cheer on our Captain and the Lads (unleash Darcy! release the Belak! and - hey - howzabout a few enthusiastic rounds of 'Razor! Razor! Razor!' chants for our man between the pipes, say? I think he's earned that.)

*one more girly sigh*...
and a hearty GO LEAFS!

"New Nork, New Nork"...

2007-03-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

"Boy, id bin a nong time since dem days."**

You know - since Eddie Murphy was funny. And not running around in a giant female fat suit. Yes sir - a nong time.

Also, apparently it's been a fairly 'nong' time since I travelled south o' the border to the Great Red Fruit! With narry a promised picture posted. Well... that's about to change, I can tell you.

So. For Anyone Who Cares ("Hi , Mom - see I wore a hat!") and/or The Idly Curious, I herein paste a few choice snaps (photo credits almost entirely to Adreinne Kress - except, of course, for the ones she happens to be in) from the Central Park/Tavern on the Green leg of the trip:

Yup - it was as cold as it looks! Still - whee!!

The patient and pettable Commander!

I totally wasn't kidding about the Kryptonite Chandelier (see post below)!

Lunch in the Tavern - in all it's toothachey-decor glory!

It's... the King Kong Topiary...

Somebody let him in - he probably just wants a sandwich...

** Please tell me that you all 'amembuh' the SNL "Buh-weet Sings" sketch. Please? "Wookin' Pa Nub"? Anyone?