Welcome to Biting-Edge, a blog shared by authors and vampire experts, Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein. We’ll cover urban fantasy, vampires, pop culture, and all things Joss Whedon. Unlike other fantasy blogs, we don’t insist on body cavity searches (unless you ask politely). Snarkiness is most welcome...though we won't promise not to bite back!

Thursday, April 09, 2009
  Happy Spring...or whatever
Now you know I don't do cute but...








my pal Patty Millsap in San Diego sent me an email titled "identity theft" and the pictures were so friggin' cute I just had to share. So whether you celebrate Passover or Easter or the spring equinox, here are my favorite of the bunch for your viewing pleasure.


















Makes me want to pinch some fat baby's cheeks...




TV Good/Bad News



As sad as I was to see Life on Mars end—I think it ended splendidly. I do seem to be in the minority about that, though. Most viewers said they hated the ending. I hate it when a series ends and there’s no resolution…Las Vegas comes to mind. Remember that? Tom Selleck walks in after being presumed dead and there’s an explosion in the hotel. Now that’s a lousy way to end a series.

I guess it’s official—Terminator SCC has been canceled. Boo on that.

Dollhouse, however, has been renewed. In case you’re interested, here’s the schedule for the rest of this season.

1-09 - "Spy in the House of Love" - April 10th

April 17th - DOLLHOUSE off air due to Prison Break

1-10 - "Haunted" - April 24, 2009

1-11 - "Briar Rose" - May 1st, 2009

1-12 - "Omega" - May 8th, 2009

1-13 - "Epitaph One" - May 15th, 2009

After DOLLHOUSE finishes, we’ve been told a new series called "MENTAL" will be taking over the timeslot. In May, the series will debut in the UK.

Many viewers (and contributors to this blog) say the premise of the series makes them uneasy. What say you?

TV Guide.com Interview with Nathan Fillion about Castle – Love his screen saver: You should be writing

Brenda Novak is holding her 5th Annual On-line Auction for Diabetes Research. It will open May 1st and run through the month. Pal Lynda Hilburn put together this great basket. Go on line to bid.




Lynda Hilburn:
Signed copy of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK
Signed copy of DARK HARVEST
Relaxation guided hypnosis CD
Shower gel and body lotion
Chocolate Fudge
Bookmarks

Nancy Haddock:
Signed copy of LA VIDA VAMPIRE
Barnes & Noble Gift Card
Starbucks Gift Card
La Vida Vampire key chain
Bookmark

Esri Rose:
Signed copy of BOUND TO LOVE HER
Bookmarks
Assorted chocolates

Carrie Vaughn:
Signed copy of KITTY AND THE DEAD MAN'S HAND
Copy of Kitty's play list on CD

Jeanne C. Stein:
Signed copy of THE BECOMING
Signed copy of BLOOD DRIVE
Signed copy of THE WATCHER
Signed copy of LEGACY
Chocolate
2 pens
Set of book cover magnets

Jamie Leigh Hansen
Signed copy of CURSED
Signed copy of BETRAYED
Paper and pen set
Bookmark

Mario Acevedo
Signed ARC of X-RATED BLOOD SUCKERS

From Shelf Awareness:

Notes: Two Colorado Stores to Merge; Lovely Romance
Neat trick of the week: two independent bookstores in Frisco, Colo., are merging, effective May 1.


The Next Page Bookstore and the Open Book will become a single business and be named the Next Page Bookstore and operate from Next Page's location. Frisco is near Vail and Breckenridge.

Karen Berg, who founded Next Page two years ago, said, "Big box bookstores are struggling, and Summit County recently lost a favorite independent bookstore. We are delighted for the opportunity to bring a measure of something positive to our community in this tough economy."



Amy Yundt, founder of the Open Book and now co-owner of the Next Page, said, "Both Karen and I love books, love the business of books and are 100% committed to this community. By joining together we will be in a much stronger business position to deliver the best indie bookstore experience to Summit County, and will be able to provide an even higher level of service in the form of merchandise, events and expertise to our customers."

And last Sunday, the Denver Post ran this nice article about Denver’s Indies.

Many of you know this already but from PW Daily:

Anita Blake Headed to the Small Screen
By Rachel Deahl

Proving that the steady stream of vampire fiction headed to Hollywood shows no signs of abating, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series has been snapped up by the Independent Film Channel in a deal that marks the cable network/film distributor's first foray into made-for-TV movies. The telefilm, based on Hamilton's bestselling series about a vampire
hunter who "re-animates" the dead in a futuristic St. Louis, is slated to bow in summer 2010. Glen Morgan (X-Files, Final Destination) is serving as executive producer.

From the Apple Insider:

Apple sued for promoting iPhone as eBook reader

In its lawsuit, the firm (MONEC) takes issue with Apple's move to distribute digital book reading applications through the App Store, which it subsequently sees as an endorsement by the Cupertino-based company that its touchscreen handset can serve as a capable eBook reader.

MONEC believes those advances directly violate its patent, which describes a "light-weight" electronic device with a "touch-screen" LCD-display having the "dimensions such that [...] approximately one page of a book can be illustrated at normal size, this display being integrated in a flat, frame-like housing."

That damned phone does everything but make beds. I think I want one...

Next weekend you locals can catch Mario and me at Starfest. I think Gina already mentioned she would be there. It's my first Starfest/Horrorfest experience. Check out the schedule here.

Here are some pics from the Barnes & Noble signing Mario and I did on Tuesday. No blizzard this time.

















Judi and Bryan who always make us feel at home.


Judi, Bryan, Peter and what's his name.




And Jason Jones who said he was a fan of Mario's--funny, though, that Mario kept slipping greenbacks into his books as he signed them. That's okay, Jason, we understand...



Don’t know if I mentioned it before, but James Marsters has confirmed for Dragon*Con. Carol Malcolm and I are already planning our strategy--

 
Comments:
Aw, what a lovely smiley photo of you, lass :-)

I'm very picky about television, so I don't watch much of it. But Dollhouse's premise sounds totally my thing. If it were a book, it'd definitely be on my wishlist. So what part of the premise do others not like?

Have a lovely day! :-)
 
Hi Tez-- Boy are you quick-- I just finished editing. Dollhouse is a series about an ultra-secret organization that employs "dolls" or humans who are programmed to fulfill a client's every demand. After each assignment, their cognitive functions are erased so that they exist in kind of a fugue state until they are programmed again. Sometimes their assignments are physical (body guards, etc) sometimes they're sexual. We don't know yet how the dolls end up in the house, but we've been given hints that they sign on because of some terrible event that happened in their lives. Their contracts are for five years, supposedly and then they are freed with a lot of money. That's a pretty simplistic overview.

The complaints are that the women, especially, seem to be used as sex toys. They have no control over what happens to their minds or bodies.

Again, simplistic, but there it is.

J.
 
I don't remember any greenbacks in there. I'm going to have to look again!
 
Jason said: I don't remember any greenbacks in there. I'm going to have to look again!

Knowing Mario, he found a way to distract you so that he could remove them before you noticed. That way he could claim ignorance when you said, "Where's the money you promised?"

Felix gets his craftiness from a pro....

J.
 
Dang... that's pretty sneaky. I'll have to remember that one next time.

I'm on to you Mario!
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
Jeanne, that is a pretty good plot summary. I see how the premise makes people (especially fellow women) uneasy, but on the grand scale it doesn't completely bother me. It could be that I'm inherently callous or that I've read far too many male fantasy authors in my short life (and I started early too) but most likely it's because I know that Joss has exhibited a healthy respect for women in the past, so I know there has to be a reason behind it all. you pick which one of the three you want to believe and I'll accept it. I'm thrilled that Dollhouse has been picked up for the rest of it's half season. Only time will tell what happens after the end of this season but I have my fingers crossed.

Those are some lovely pictures from the signings. It looks like it was quite the event - as in a good time had by all.

Hmm Anita Blake on the small screen eh? I have mixed feelings on this. It is clear that Mrs. Hamilton has talent, but I felt the Anita Blake books derailed around the time of Obsidian Butterfly - with the first three books being the best in the series. If this small screen adventure depicted Anita's world as romantic entanglements that happen to take place in her world of zombie raising and Federal Marshalling then I'd actually watch it. If it took the route of the most recent books though, and was a little bit of zombie raising/Federal Marshalling that just happen to occur in a world that's pretty much all convaluted love polygons then I might check it out but likely would not stick with it. I still check Hamilton's books out when a new one is released, but I really miss the Anita that was mostly all buisness. I felt she was at her strongest then.
 
Re Anita Blake: I've read 1 1/2 of the books. Anita is NO Anna Strong.

Now if Anna Strong was hitting the small screen (or big screen), I'd be happy about that. Actually, when I read the piece at first I thought that's what it was and got happy. Then I realized the error of my ways and got sad.

SPOILER ALERT
Re Dollhouse -- I just can't push aside the ick factor.
ICK -- The dolls lose control over their free will! Over their bodies and minds.

If they had an opportunity, between assignments, to recall what was done and still consented, I might be ok with that. But the treatment suppresses all that. They have NO idea what they have agreed to do. And the system is set up to keep them in ignorance.

I'm just not cool with that.

I also don't completely believe the 5-year contract part. Have we really seen enough to know there isn't coercion involved? My read of both Echo and the other kid we see in these contract discussions is that they didn't end up in those offices because they walked in off the street.

They were there to begin with because they'd gotten in trouble with this corporation, and the discussion seemed to me to be a manipulation of their circumstances into getting them to agree to this thing.

Also, we have no reason to believe they actually honor their 5-years-and-a-bunch-of-dough promise.

Finally. The sex. It's rape. Did the dolls know they'd be in sexual situations prior to becoming dolls? I bet not.
 
@Jeanne:
Re Starfest: Boy, I'm glad you guys are going to be there. I was looking over the preliminary schedule last night and it was looking thin on things I'd be interested in.

I've gone to several Starfests. I normally just plant myself in Main Events for 2 days, but this year looks lean.

Anyway, will see you there.
 
Leia said: because I know that Joss has exhibited a healthy respect for women in the past, so I know there has to be a reason behind it all

I agree. And I hope we are right. On the other hand, I also understand Gina's pov on the "sex. It's rape. Did the dolls know they'd be in sexual situations prior to becoming dolls? I bet not."

A tricky conundrum for Joss to muddle through.

But we do have our faith in the boy, don't we?

J.
 
Gina-- It's my first Starfest so I have no idea what to expect. Re: the panels--it looks to me like they stick you in a room and you're on your own. I hope we can find enough to talk about for an hour!!! :-)

It would be fun to see Anna on the big or little screen.... We'll keep our fingers crossed!

j.
 
@Jeanne:

I have faith you'll be able to fill an hour. You're right, you pretty much are on your own. It's not like MileHi where they have somebody leading a panel. If you get lost for ideas, you can always do a reading from your book for part of the time.

The thing is this isn't a "literary" con, it's a movie con, so maybe(?) not as many writers in the crowd and maybe not so many questions. Or maybe more questions of the "If Anna Strong were to be made for TV, who'd you want to play her?" variety. I don't know, it's just my guess.

Actually, I think (this is only my perception, you know) they are trying to remake Starfest away from just a scifi movie con. This is the first year it's been a Starfest/Horrorfest/Gamefest/Comicfest lollapalooza. In that past few years its been Starfest/Horrorfest. It first existed to glorify Star Trek. (yay!)

Also, I don't remember quite so many authors being on tap. It's a good thing that so many authors are on tap!
 
Oh -- the other thing that's exciting me about this Starfest besides you guys being there, is Marc Gunn is going to be there. If you have a chance, try to catch on of his shows.

If he's singing, it should be a rolicking fun time. He was with Brobdingnagian Bards (celtic music group gone wild). Not quite sure what to expect since he's on his own here.
 
1. James Marsters...yum....enjoy!

2. Star/Horrorfest....I wonder if I can talk DH into attending. I'd love to meet you and then go people watch. Those places must be a font of story ideas just from looking around. Lord knows Lady K would have a good time. There's bound to be scantily clad chickies for DH's viewing pleasure.

3. Be cool to see you two at the B&N three blocks from my house up here in Thornton. Yay for no blizzard.

4. My sister is addicted to her iPhone. If they can get it to clean bathrooms, I'll get one.

5. Still thinking on if I'd watch the Anita Blake series. IFC handling it leads me to believe it will be the uber sex having Anita than the ass-kickin' one. Raise one body, have a lot of quad-bod sex, kill a vamp, hook up with three new were/vamp dudes. I'm with Leia, the series went phhhht after OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY.

6. Have a sudden need to make my way up to Frisco. I love that area and now there's a combo bookstore run by two fightin' the good book fight chickies.

7. Excellent basket of bootie!

8. Yay on the renewal of The Dollhouse! The premise is somewhat disturbing, but I have a feeling that there's going to be some comeuppance soon. I have faith in Joss.
I don't think the show is any more disturbing than a bunch of people being thrown onto an island and made to go through the hoops for the pleasure of the viewing audience, or the houseful of strangers or chickies who will do anything to be the next top model. Or the chefs who put up with the beligerence of some full of himself big name chef. (you can see I have issue with 'reality' TV)

Off to find the interview with Nathan and see if Life on Mars is available on Hulu.
 
Vickie said:don't think the show is any more disturbing than a bunch of people being thrown onto an island and made to go through the hoops for the pleasure of the viewing audience, or the houseful of strangers or chickies who will do anything to be the next top model. Or the chefs who put up with the beligerence of some full of himself big name chef. (you can see I have issue with 'reality' TV)

I have to say, I agree! I'm not a fan of reality tv, either. In fact, I can say with pride that I've never watched an episode of Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, Top Model, or Hell's Kitchen. About the only "reality"show I ever catch occasionally is Dog--and I have a hard time believing THAT show is for real!!! :-) I watch it for the scenery--- LOL

J.
 
I knew there was something else to dig about you, chickie! I like Dog, too, when I remember to watch it. About as 'reality' as I get are the cooking shows on FoodNetwork (watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives right now)....I miss Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
 
Hi Jeanne!

I like dollhouse. it's different and gives me a reason to get the tot to bed on time, lol

The tot blows kisses of thanks for her prize. The princess duck is a winner and gets more playtime in the tub than the devil duck, lol.

The pics are cute.

Happy Weekend.

~Suzanne and the tot
 
Hey Gina-- Don't know Marc Gunn-- maybe we can catch his show together.

And Leia-- I like the Dollhouse eps like last nights best of all. The dolls get to be action figures-- except for Victor, of course, who is Katherine's boy toy-- didn't see that coming. I liked it--equal opportunity sexual exploitation.

Vickie--Dog is something else. Part preacher part ass kicker. BUT do you notice how he always falls back when there's the least hint of danger? Maybe that's why he's lived so long and maybe I've written and watched too many action books and flicks, but I like my heroes a little braver. :-)

J.
 
Suzanne--when I saw that duck, I couldn't resist... Anna blows kisses back!

J.
 
@Jeanne -- He's wacky and irreverent -- think bawdy irish pub music. But with a rock twist. Currently he's singing a lot of kitty ballads (as in feline).

The first time I saw him he was still Brob. Barding, and it was quite impressive to see this guy thrashing about on stage like a punk rocker, only in a kilt with enviously long hair flying everywhere, belting out a love song about Molly Magoo. Now he's playing the autoharp and so I don't know if he'll thrash around quite as much.

Yeah, it's different.

Still sound interesting? I'm planning to make his 5:30-6 pm show on Friday night. He's also got one at 9:30 pm Fri I think.

The only caveat is if I don't get to leave my evil job early like I plan to I may not make it there in time for the early show. (I have already told them I'm leaving early, but if I had a dollar for every time I was trapped at work late on Friday I'd be rich.)

I want to get there early enough to have a shower, food and drink before Marc Gunn. Here's hoping.
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
Jeanne said - except for Victor, of course, who is Katherine's boy toy-- didn't see that coming. I liked it--equal opportunity sexual exploitation.

Jeanne, they did say (the one where we found out about the handler and Sierra?) that Victor had been a boy toy repeatedly for one woman and that the doctor had warned against repeated engagements like that with the same person b/c it could create some kind of imprint of its own. I wonder if the "woman" they were refering to was Katherine all along? I agree, I would have never put the two of them together. Katheirne seems so ... so buis. like for lack of a better term
 
Hey Gina-- Since I'm staying at the hotel, I'm up for anything. Got to tell you though, kitty ballads? Hmmmmm

Maybe we can drag Mario along, too--

J.
 
Leia said: I wonder if the "woman" they were refering to was Katherine all along?

SPOILER

I think so though they THEY didn't know it. The Katherine they thought they were sending him to was the old lady who got the flowers!! Nice touch. But at the end, Katherine of the DH said it wouldn't happen anymore. Said to destroy the imprint as "Katherine" decided she wouldn't be seeing Victor anymore. Oh that Joss--always keeps us on our toes.

J
 
@Jeanne -- well, it's only 30 minutes out of your life. I admit I'm skeptical about the cat ballads too. Bur I like Celtic music.

The more the merrier.
 
All this talk of celtic music is making me jealous. I'll be there in spirit!
 
Leia-- Gina and Mario and I will raise a glass to you!

J.
 
After the week I'm having, I'll raise two! Here's to hoping I survive to Friday!

I may be conversationally challenged Friday night, btw. But I'm more resolute than ever to leave early.
 
Gina said: I may be conversationally challenged Friday night, btw. But I'm more resolute than ever to leave early.

I'm ALWAYS conversationally challenged--that's why I'm a writer!

:-)

J.
 
Yes, we are defintely planning our strategy. The man will not elude us this year... :)
 
You said it, Carol!!! James will not have a chance!!

J.
 
How could James possibly want to elude somebody so close to Anna??

Well, it's on the tail end of Weds and I'm still in one piece, so really only another day and half to get through before my little mini-facation. We had more layoffs today. :-(
 
GAH -- mini-Vacation. See. That's how much I need one!
 
mini-facation? I like it. Sorry to hear about the layoffs. This is a tough time.

j.
 
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