Bupkis, a colorful Yiddish expression meaning – “I got nuthin’, nuthin’ of value, significance or substance.

Here’s what I’m doing tonight, eating popcorn and drinking a beer while watching Predators (with Adrien Brody – it’s kinda hoaky but the original Predator isn’t on and it’s better than Predator 2 which sucked) and studying up on my favorite time period, the period of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the various strains of Judaism at the time, which, by the way, includes early Jewish-Christianity, so I’m reading The Jewish Gospels, The Story of the Jewish Christ, by Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and Rhetoric at U.C. Berkeley.  I can read about the two surviving strains of Judaism – Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity while watching aliens cut humans into little tiny bits.

Somewhere in all this lives a fine symmetry.

And it all goes well with a bowl of Orville Redenbacher’s Kettle Corn.  Meanwhile, I’m stuck with an annoying ear worm quoting from the movie, Jurassic Park… “Are these figures, uh, auto-erotic…?”

It’s called multi-tasking.  “May the schwartz be with you…”

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My birthday is Friday the 13th.  Yay!  Here’s the story of my birth – I was born on a Friday the 13th at 11:55 p.m.  The doctor said to my mother, “If you’re superstitious, I can write the time as 12:05 a.m., Saturday the 14th.  My mother, however, is not superstitious, and in any case Friday the 13th is an auspicious day for those of us lucky enough to be born on the 13th.

To celebrate I’m holding a week-long birthday bash, culminating in the Friday release of the new and improved Beauty and the Feast.

How shall we celebrate?  What do you think?  Want a book?

Monday’s birthday gift is a Kindle copy of Incorporeal, my paranormal romance.  So, even if you already have a copy, tweet this, facebook this, and tell all your friends to leave me birthday wishes.  Please!  Please!  Please!  I can’t wait to give someone a fabulous birthday book!  (U.S. guests are eligible.)

Sara Wise is sick of ghosts. They’ve haunted her since she was a child, destroying her family, endangering her life. When an incorporeal being appears in her shower, she curses him soundly and orders him out, but this ghost is sticky. Not only does he invade her shower, he moves into her home, invading her dreams, sharing her bed. The reluctant Sara finds herself falling in love with a dead man.
Despite Sara’s objections, Natan de Manua isn’t permitted to leave. Protecting the woman is both his penance and his means to redemption. She’s not easy to protect, she fights him nearly every step of the way, except in her bed. Nathan may have come to regain his soul, but instead he risks losing his heart. 

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We all need it, right?  A little time on our own?  I’ve got five days while hubby’s off in the wilds of Montana, so I plan to get some work done.

My contemporary romantic comedy all about food and fun, Beauty and the Feast, is revised and almost ready for upload to Amazon– might even be this week, and I’m continuing with re-writes for the Daughters of Persephone series.  I’d love to unveil my new covers, but… I don’t know… Ya’ll ready for this?

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A friend of mine, JW Manus, has updated and re-released a romantic comedy – Suite Assumptions.  This is one fun read, and I’m not just sayin’ that because I’ve already read it. It’s a steal at $1.99!

On her first business trip, Sandra Campbell is determined to save her beloved uncle from financial ruin. He’s old! He’s almost sixty. He deserves a happy retirement. Her plans for the perfect sales presentation are threatened when she finds herself in the Honeymoon Suite with her arch nemesis, love-‘em-and-leave-‘em Martin Stonehouse. Martin has his own agenda. He’s had it up to here with the boss’s niece. Whatever it takes, it’s time to finally deal with Sandra.

Between bad luck and crazy circumstances, and being stuck in a pink-and-green Victorian love nest with the sexiest man in Bugle Creek, Texas, Sandra’s short stay in Dallas quickly turns into the business trip from hell. Her only chance to redeem herself is to say four magic words to the one man she loves to hate.

Another friend, and one of my favorite authors, has uploaded a book trailer.  Those of you who know me know I’m not a huge fan of book trailers.  Author Katalina Leon’s is a gem, chock full of symbolism and mysticism.  Her new story in EC’s Something Wicked This Way Comes is called Asterion.  Check out this trailer, it’s gorgeous.

Last but oh so not least, A Game of Thrones returns to my screen– I don’t know about yours but it’s definitely going to be on my screen– Sunday.  Oh.  Yes.  Here are some previews of this coming season:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-9-clips-from-game-of-thrones-season-2-with-cersei-tyrion-daenerys-a-dragon

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Sleep?  Dream?  Imagine new stories?  Take inspiration from the immortal bard?  The pen is a long arm from the grave.

I’m not the greatest fan of William Shakespeare, but he or possibly she wrote two soliloquies I’m very fond of.  The first is from Hamlet -

To be, or not to be:  that is the question.

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?  

To die:  to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that the flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation deboutly to be wish’d.  

To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come…

The second from The Merchant of Venice -

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptered sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute of God himself;
And earthly power doth then show like God’s
When mercy seasons justice.

Here’s some really interesting news – Angelina Jolie, an actress I adore so shut up, has been cast as Maleficent in the coming film, Maleficent.  Of all the Disney characters created over the years, Maleficent is by far and away the best, the most compelling, the greatest ever.  EVER!  Maleficent was provided the most powerful lines in the history of cartoon villain-ry.  The original Maleficent was voiced by Eleanor Audley, who I believe passed away in 1991.

I always thought… if only they’d invited Maleficent to the baby’s christening…

“Oh, come now, Prince Philip. Why so melancholy? A wondrous future lies before you. You, the destined hero of a charming fairy tale come true. Behold, King Stefan’s castle. And in yonder topmost tower, dreaming of her true love, the Princess Aurora. But see the gracious whim of fate. Why, ’tis the selfsame peasant maid who won the heart of our noble prince but yesterday. She is indeed most wondrous fair, gold of sunshine in her hair, lips that shame the red, red rose. In ageless sleep, she finds repose. The years roll by. But a hundred years, to a steadfast heart, are but a day. And now, the gates of a dungeon part and our prince is free to go his way. Off he rides on his noble steed– a valiant figure, straight and tall– to wake his love with love’s first kiss…and prove that “true love” conquers all!” 

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