It's so gay...

Mario here:

Happy Pride Day!

But first.

I'm slogging through my revisions for Werewolf Smackdown and I feel like this osprey (which is better than the fish is doing).


Several weeks ago, I had received an invitation for the retirement party of John Zeck, sales rep for HarperCollins, my publisher. The party was yesterday (Sunday) at the Tattered Cover, LoDo. I've met John several times though I didn't know him well. He was roasted during the party and I learned a lot about him and what a great guy he is. Eccentric. Opinionated. Erudite. Fun. Here's John with Cathy Longer, lead buyer for the Tattered Cover (left), and his boss from HarperCollins, Kristin Bowers. John's taking a few weeks off, then he and his wife are off to Europe. Good luck and thanks for your support, John.


Since we are a vampire blog, check out Jason Henderson discussing his first draft process for a forthcoming Van Helsing novel on his Blog of Dracula. Then cruise on over to Vampire News for your fix on undead happenings. Tell 'em we sent you.

Contest...but not yet. Check back on July 4th. Why the Fourth? Well, the contest topic is appropriate for the holiday. Jeanne and I have been squeezing the brain parts to think of cool, new prizes.

On the literary front, this from Publishers Lunch:

Film

"Larry Doyle's forthcoming GO, MUTANTS!, set in an all-American high school whose juvenile delinquents are the offspring of the giant-brained aliens and atomic monsters immortalized in the golden age of Hollywood B-movies, to Universal Pictures, with Brian Grazer at Imagine producing, and Doyle adapting, by CAA and Sarah Burnes at The Gernert Company." I give this three slices of cheese.

UK

"PunkScience.com blogger and science writer Frank Swain's ZOMBOLOGY: The New Science of Zombies, Reanimation and Mind Control, exploring the 100-year scientific quest to control the bodies and minds of fellow humans, tying together seemingly disparate subjects from the most incredible annals of scientific literature - unsuspecting citizens dosed with zombifying drugs by secret agents; Soviet experiments in which organs are kept alive when separated from the body; parasites that force unnatural behaviors, sex changes and suicide; psychologists reducing crime through urban design; doctors treating schizophrenia with antibiotics in Ethiopia - to reveal how, despite our supposed intelligence, we all remain extraordinarily susceptible to manipulation, to Marsha Filion at Oneworld, for publication in Autumn 2010, by Peter Tallack at the Science Factory (UK/Commonwealth, excl. Canada). info@sciencefactory.co.uk" I like this. Stay tuned.

In memoriam:

I won't be telling you anything new but I'd be remiss if I didn't note the passing of these two American pop culture icons.

Farah Fawcett.
When I was in college, even women's dorm rooms had this poster:






And King of Pop Michael Jackson (without mentioning his troubles as Wacko Jacko). A lot of the modern rethinking of zombies from smelly monsters to Dumpster-fashionistas comes from his Thriller video.







And now, PrideFest in City Park. Great weather (no rain, for once). Good place for people watching. Lots of booths, music, and dancing. Women in short skirts, like Jessy and Lucy, are best admired on a pedestal.







Emily caught my eye with her winning smile.










This is for Lori Armstrong and her penchant for men-on-men, gay cowboy, slash fiction.

Lori lives in South Dokata and I assumed, based from talking to her, that she and her husband own a pickup truck, which they don't. I wondered how you can live in the boonies (which includes all of South and North Dakota I've been told) and not own a pick up? Here's how:

Check out the power windows. This bull is riding in style.

See you on the Fourth!