Okay—I guess the first question is: where the hell is Mario? Now before he left, he showed us a picture of his Men Of Mystery escort. Remembering what she looked like, I’m betting we don’t hear from him until spring. Hey, Mario! Come up for air…

My first World Fantasy Con was a blast! Got to pal around with Maria Lima, Denver friends Susan Smith and David Wood who initiated me into their WFC party group headed by John Eccker and Laurien Patten, Carol Berg, Charlaine Harris, Toni Kelner, MaryElizabeth Hart, Robert Buettner, Jackie Kessler (see below) and many, many other wonderful writers. Met my editor, Jessica Wade for the first time. We talked for three hours on Saturday night and shared the banquet table on Sunday. There are some pictures coming which I will post when I receive them.

I’ve got to get a camera….

Now for some media bits:


Fox announced a new X-Files movie reuniting stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (though I’ve also read reports that she’s not interested. I guess time will tell.) Production is scheduled to begin December 10, but with the writer’s strike, that may not happen. Chris Carter will direct. He and Frank Spotnitz co-wrote the script. Shooting will take place in Vancouver.

The suit against James Frey originally filed by readers for misrepresentation has been settled. As usual, the lawyers were the big winners. Only 1,729 readers applied for reimbursement, which totaled $27,348. Then there’s the $783,000 in legal fees and $432,000 in costs to publicize and carry out the settlement. $180,000 is to be divided among three charities. Random House will include a “warning” in future editions of the book that not all portions are accurate. Frey is said to have earned $4.4 million in royalties so he’s not concerned. And he’s working on a new book to be published this spring.



A 1996 television series entitled Poltergeist: The Legacy is headed back to television. The program follows the work of a secret society known as The Legacy, which protects the innocent from creatures that inhabit the night. It will air on syndication every weekend. I don’t remember the original, but it’s supposed to be based on the movie Poltergeist.

The winners of Gather.com’s First Chapters Romance Writing Contest are a 56-year-old horse farmer and a 28-year-old doctorate student. Both will have their books published next year by Simon & Schuster. The contest was co-sponsored by Simon & Schuster, Borders Group, and Gather.com.




Now for the really good news! Joss Whedon is returning to television with a new Fox series starring Eliza Dushku. Titled Dollhouse, the series stars Dushku who is a member of a group of men and women who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. In between tasks they are mind-wiped, living like children in Dollhouse, a futuristic dorm/lab. They have no memories of their previous lives, until Echo begins to try to find out who she was. According to the Hollywood reporter: "Dollhouse" came out of a lunch between Whedon and Dushku in September, shortly after the actress had signed a development deal with Fox and sibling studio 20th Century Fox TV. Whedon was giving her advice about writers and types of shows that might be good for her, but he wasn’t interested in venturing into TV himself because he was trying to get a couple of movie projects off the ground at the time. "In the middle of the conversation, I went, ’Oh, God. I thought of the show, and I had the title,’" Whedon said.
Dushku came on board immediately. Within a week, the show was set up at Fox. Depending on the outcome of the writers strike, the show could be up as soon as next spring or fall. It has been given a seven-episode commitment.

One of the best things about that piece is that Eliza Dushku is smart enough to consult with Joss about her career. Beautiful, talented AND brainy!

Yippee!!!

Don’t forget the Bad Santa Writing Contest. Since I was out of town, I didn’t see the rules until today. Once again, we have a valuable stash of prizes. And btw, Vicki, I have your Devil Duck! Mario brought it to critique group last week. I’ve been so busy meeting my deadline (YEA), I forgot to mention it.

That’s right, Legacy is on my publisher’s desk! I’ve got about five minutes now before I have to start the next one…



One last bit of promotion. Not for me, but for fellow writer Jackie Kessler. The second in her series about Jesse Harris, succubus-turned-human, is out now. Check it out!

PS My friend and web master, Jay Salam, keeps reminding me to let you know launching a newsletter—a very irregular newsletter—with the release of The Watcher the end of this month. I promise it won’t be more than 3 or 4 issues a year so if you’re interested, click the link and scroll to the enroll button on the bottom of the home page. I thank you. Jay thanks you!  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 4:56 AM