Random House has an excerpt from the first chapter of Blood of the Demon up at their website. Check it out!
Blood of the Demon will be available February 23, 2010!
- Mood:
happy
As many of you know, I have a daughter (The Kid) in kindergarten. I do my best to raise her with the understanding and knowledge that she should not let gender define her choices or behavior. I repeatedly affirm to her that she can play any sport or hold any job she wants, and that being a girl or a boy makes no difference. She takes karate, she loves to run and chase, she adamantly prefers the “boy” toys at McDonalds, and she also enjoys making crafts and playing with dolls. I’ve been pleased that she seems to be developing into a nicely well-rounded individual, unconstrained by what boys or girls “should” do…
Until yesterday, when my sweet little girl ran into the living room, hopped up onto my lap, FARTED, and then ran off, laughing hysterically.
Lesson: Be careful what you wish for!
Until yesterday, when my sweet little girl ran into the living room, hopped up onto my lap, FARTED, and then ran off, laughing hysterically.
Lesson: Be careful what you wish for!
- Mood: amused
What I want to say to my daughter:
My darling child: I know that there are many times when you don’t like or appreciate the decisions I make, or the rules I set forth, or the limits I place. I’m very sorry for this, but my job as a parent is to protect and nurture you and to prepare you for your future as best as I can. Sometimes I am attempting to protect you from risks and dangers that are tangible and immediate. Sometimes I am attempting to protect you from unpleasantness and peril that might happen in the future if you continue on a certain path of behavior. Sometimes I am attempting to prepare you for the vagaries and uncertainties of adult life. The demands I place on you are not intended to be cruel or unreasonable, but are instead imposed in the hope that you will be challenged and will grow in a positive fashion from the experience, whether it be in the areas of responsibility, education, or morals. The lectures I force you to endure are not meant to bore and nag you into submission, but are lessons from my own life experience that I hope you can learn with far less hardship than I endured. I want the absolute best for you, and pray that you enjoy a long and happy life, full of every possible opportunity and well-prepared for inevitable disappointments. To that end I must sometimes weigh your immediate gratification against your future potential, and make a choice that is based on my own experience and knowledge of a world that you are still largely ignorant of.
I will sometimes make mistakes, and will sometimes make decision and demands that you truly feel are unreasonable and illogical. In this event, I will steel myself to not be swayed by outbursts of emotion, invectives, or inappropriate behavior, and, in fact, the aforementioned behavior will most likely encourage me to enact reprisals as I continue to do my best to shape you into a responsible, and mature adult. That being said, I will be more than willing to listen to a reasonable and calm argument, backed by facts, experience, or compelling anecdote, and I promise you that I will hear your argument with an open mind and a willingness to change my position.
I love you.
Mom
What I actually say to my daughter:
Because I said so! And stop whining!
Contest time again!! But this one’s going to be a little different. One lucky person will win the following six-pack of books:
Displayed are:
Speak of the Devil by Jenna Black
Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre
Darker Angels by MLN Hanover
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
The Trouble With Demons by Lisa Shearin
Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout
To enter, simply go to my dianarowland.com blog and leave a comment listing six things. It can be ANYTHING. On Sunday, October 11th, I will randomly pick one winner to receive the whole six pack of AWESOME books. (Yes, this is open to international peeps too, though please be aware that I’ll be using the cheapest (i.e. slowest) shipping method available.)
Again, PLEASE POST YOUR ENTRIES AT MY OTHER BLO
Go wild!
I’ve posted a number of pictures of my writing lair (along with proof of my nerdiness) at my flickr set. Enjoy!
The winners!
Okay, I know I’m a day late, but it was harder than I thought it would be to pick a winner. In fact, it was so hard, that I decided to pick three winners! Not that getting to pick three made it any easier, because there were a lot of really terrific entries and quite a few that made me laugh out loud. Huge thanks to everyone who participated!
So, without any further babbling from me:
Winner #1: Cathy R with “Crouching Author, Hidden Demon”
Winner #2: Debbie_D with: “Hypnosis can be a very powerful tool. As you can see, Ms. Rowland actually believes she’s a dog. We’ll take a 10 minute break now, she needs to be walked”
And Winner #3: (and this one proves that I sometimes have a completely retarded sense of humor, because I laughed out loud when I read it!) Rayna with : (thinking in my head)*Don’t fart, Don’t Fart, Don’t FART!*
I’ll be in touch with the above posters about your prize!
However, I have to give a shout-out to a couple of runner-ups who also made me snicker:
Ashley N with: Epic Annihilation In 3…2…1…
Marilyn with: “the girls” will be a good fit!
And kiaras with: “The author, after she finds her work on yet another torrent site.”
But seriously, I loved them all, and if you didn’t win, don’t fret! I’ll be having more contests in the coming months! Thanks again, everybody!
During a recent search for loose change, I found a usb drive that contained a picture that was taken at a martial arts seminar I attended about seven years ago.
I look waaaaay too serious here, and this picture is in serious need of captioning. Best one wins an autographed copy of Mark of the Demon! (And yes, this is open to readers outside the U.S. as well 
)
ETA: Contest will close next Monday, September 14th, at noon (Louisiana time), at which time entries will be judged by a motley group of people with suspect opinions.
ETA #2: Captions can be serious, funny, lolcatty… anything goes! (Unless it’s something that’s just plain skeevy/gross/creepy, at which time I reserve the right to delete said skeeviness without prejudice.)
ETA #3 (sheesh!): If you already have Mark of the Demon, I’ll put you down for an autographed copy of Blood of the Demon as soon as I get copies!
And finally, ETA #4 (the LJ version): The comments have really taken off at my website blog, so if you're interested in entering, I'd suggest reading the comments and entering over there, though entries here will be included in judging as well. :)
- Mood: amused
My Comic-Con report, finally!
Yes, I’ve been back from San Diego for a few weeks now. [insert lame apology for not posting sooner.]
I had a total blast. I walked a lot. Holy crapoly. The convention center is eight blocks long. There were 126,000 people crammed into eight blocks. (Think of half the population of New Orleans crammed into eight blocks. Yeah, there were time when I wanted to curl into the fetal position!)
I sought refuge hung out at the Random House booth quite a bit. I was also featured on the Suvudu website a few times, which was a helluva lot of fun. (Four different links in that last sentence–don’t miss any of them!) Met and re-met all sorts of incredibly awesome people, (see the flickr set!) but I think the absolute coolest experience of the convention was meeting Felicia Day. Not only because Felicia Day is an incredibly cool person, but because of the way I finally managed to meet her.
So, I’ve been a bit of a fangirl about Felicia Day for a while, and it’s a poorly kept secret that in my little delusional world where Mark of the Demon gets made into a movie or TV series (hey, I said it was a delusion, okay?) I think Felicia Day would make an awesome Kara. Plus, she’s a big fan of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, so I wanted to be a pushy bitch find a way to meet her and give her a copy of my book. I quickly discovered that there’d be no way for me to just randomly run into her (yeah, there were a lot of people there. Holy Kamoly.) And, by Saturday, I realized that I needed to be a lot more proactive about stalking finding her. I finally tweeted something to the effect of, “Okay, first person who can hook me up with @feliciaday wins an autographed copy of Mark of the Demon!”
Not two minutes later I had a direct message from @feliciaday, telling me where to find her. SCORE!!
Unfortunately, being that I was new to ComicCon, I got very confused about where I was supposed to go. I ended up walking (jogging?) to the very ass-end of the convention center (five or so blocks away), only to discover that I had been in the right place to begin with. So, another five block walk/jog back and I made it to the Browncoat booth, where Felicia was signing autographs.
She seemed excited that I made it, shook my hand and said she was happy to meet me, at which time I proceeded to act like a spazzing fangirl. (At least it felt that way.) At one point she asked me for my card, and even though I had about a hundred stuffed into my bag I couldn’t find a single one.
Y’know, I used to be a street cop. I’ve chased down crackheads. Been in a shooting and numerous fights. Worked with the most alpha of alpha male cops. And I still managed to turn into a complete blibbering idiot. *facepalm*
But I did manage to give her a copy of Mark of the Demon, and she was incredibly nice and gracious and didn’t call security on me, for which I’m quite grateful.
As far as the rest of Comic-Con goes, I hung out with lots of cool and awesome people (again, see the flickr set!), but mostly Jackie Kessler and Shawn Speakman. Ate breakfast at Richard Walker’s Pancake House almost every morning; it usually had a line to get in, but it was a fast-moving line and always worth the wait. I got to see my friend, Gigi Gridley–who looks AMAZING and has inspired me to stop being a weenie about my diet and exercise. My bandaid giveaways were a huge hit, and I was even complimented on the cleverness of the idea by a Random House VP. (The bandaids were my one utterly brilliant idea for my life, I fear.) I was invited to a lovely little dinner party hosted by Samantha Sommersby–and since Charlaine Harris was also in attendance I was finally able to thank her personally for the wonderful blurb she gave for MotD and give her a signed copy of the book.
Even though Comic-Con wore me out far more than I expected, it was still the most fun I’ve ever had at a convention–possibly because it was absolutely impossible to be bored. I love Worldcon, but there are only so many times you can wander through the dealer’s room before you’ve seen everything, and eventually you end up just sitting in the bar to hang out with your peeps. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!) But at Comic-Con there’s no way to see everything, so whenever I got restless I could just make my way to a different zip code in the convention center and see more cool and exciting stuff!
Of course, that’s probably why I was so exhausted by the end of it. [g] Anyway, I definitely want to go again next year!
- Mood: happy
- Mood: excited
I’ll be heading off to San Diego next week for the San Diego Comic-Con. I’ve been attending science fiction/fantasy conventions since I was old enough to drive, but this will be my first Comic-Con and I’ve been told by many that SDCC is a completely different animal. I’m used to thinking of WorldCon as “large”, i.e. ~5,000 people or so. From what I understand, attendance at SDCC is somewhere around 125,000. (Holy shit!)
I’m getting in on Tuesday so that I stand a chance of actually getting to see some of the area before diving into convention stuff. But, if you’re looking for me at the convention, here’s what I currently have scheduled:
THURSDAY
PANEL 10:00-11:00 Escapist Fantasy— What are the pluses and perils of adding magic and monsters to our world? Panelists Juliet Blackwell (Second Hand Spirits), Marjorie Liu (Darkness Calls), Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge (co-authors, Black & White), Diana Rowland (Mark of the Demon), Sina Grace (Cedric Hollows In Dial “M” For Magic), Seanan McGuire (Rosemary & Rue), and Harry Connolly (Child of Fire) weigh in on the options. Moderator: Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious Galaxy. Room 10
SIGNING 11:00 am–12:00 pm (immediately after the panel)
Juliet Blackwell, Marjorie Liu, Jackie Kessler, Caitlin Kittredge, Diana Rowland, Sina Grace, Seanan McGuire, Harry Connolly
AA1
SATURDAY
SIGNING 4:00 – 4:30 p.m.
RandomHouse Booth #1128 Diana Rowland (Mark of the Demon) FREE BOOKS (while supplies last)
The rest of the time I expect to be either wandering around in a nerdgasmic daze, or recovering in a nearby bar.
- Mood: excited
Blood of the Demon is revised, complete, and on its way to the copyeditor!
And, the Editor Goddess sent me this!
::is happy!!::
- Mood: ecstatic
Coffee… need..more…coffee!!!
Well, the past week has been pretty darn full (to put it incredibly mildly.) I spent last week in Florida with the husband, the Kid, the manuscript for Blood of the Demon, and the revision letter from my editor. Woo! Do I know how to vacation, or what? 
Unfortunately, there really wasn’t a choice about working while down there. I have a bit of a tight deadline for the revisions, and I couldn’t afford to waste a week. But fortunately, the resort had some terrific kids programs, and the Kid had an absolute blast doing games/crafts/beach stuff while I parked myself at an empty table in the bar and worked.
We headed back on Friday, with the plan that we would stop at a number of bookstores on the way back so that I could sign stock copies of Mark of the Demon. It was a great plan, and we hit two of the bookstores on our list…
And then the car broke down just past Pensacola. There must have been a god or two smiling down upon us, because the temps were in the high nineties, we had a fully loaded car and a five-year-old, and we broke down after we’d exited to get gas. We were right by a muffler place, so Jack pulled in and the guy took a look at the car. But when he said, “Well, I think it’s your catalytic converter, and I got a buddy down the road who’ll fix it for just $4000,” we smiled, thanked him, and limped down the road to a Waffle House where Jack borrowed a phone book and starting making calls. Two hours (and several hundred dollars) later, the car was on a tow truck to return to Louisiana, and we were in the backseat of the tow truck driver’s wife’s pickup. (Okay, “pickup” is an incredibly paltry description for this vehicle. It was a gleaming white extended cab four door dual wheel truck with every possible bell and whistle.) Jack had managed to negotiate a price that included our own transportation along with the car, and since the driver and his wife had family near where we live, it worked out well for everyone. (Well, except for the fact that the car was still dead.)
So, I’ve been carless since we got back (which actually hasn’t been that big a deal since I’ve been hunkered down with revisions) but we’re crossing fingers that we’ll get it back today. (Oh, and for the record, it was NOT the catalytic converter. $4000 my ass.)
In book news, there’s not much new to report. Mark of the Demon has officially been on sale just over two weeks now. I don’t know how sales are going, but I’ve been getting some really wonderful emails and comments from people telling me how much they liked the book. I’m trying to respond to everyone, but I’ve fallen a bit behind because of the revisions, so please bear with me! I really appreciate all of the kind words, and it’s an absolute thrill every time I read that someone else has enjoyed the book.
About the only other news I have is that I’ll be in San Diego in two weeks for Comic Con. I already have a couple of events scheduled, and I’ll try to post the details tomorrow. I’ve never been to a ComicCon before, so I expect to be completely out of my depth. Fun stuff!
Okay, back to revisions!
Okay, yeah it’s a Sunday, and I was still awake at 5am. WTF?????
My signing yesterday was AMAZING!!!!!! Over 60 books sold, and many of those were to complete strangers who had no obligation to buy it! 
Seriously, huge thanks to everyone who showed up, and enormous thanks to AnnaMarie at Barnes & Noble who went way above and beyond to give my book and the signing some awesome push. I’ll try and post some pics later on as soon as I can come up to breathe a bit!
In other book-related news, I just received my revision letter for Blood of the Demon, so everything is chugging away nicely on that front as well. The release has been pushed back one month–it’s now February 23, 2010. Sorry about the delay, but it’s for some very cool reasons. (And yeah, I’m going to pull one of those, “It’s cool and I can’t talk about it!” things. [g])
Also, I was “Dame for a Day” at the Deadline Dames yesterday. But instead of deadlines, I talked about death, so stop on by and check it out! Plus, I’m giving away two copies of Mark of the Demon to random commenters! The giveaway ends at midnight tonight (Sunday, JUne 28th), so hutty on over!
In non-book-related news, in a few hours the family and I will be driving to Florida. The Spouse is attending a conference, and the Kid and I are tagging along to die in the blistering heat to enjoy the sun and the sand. Actually, since I have revisions to work on (and a tight deadline), the Kid will probably end up enjoying some of the childrens programs that the resort offers while I hunker down in a corner with manuscript and laptop. Ah, the glamour!
I’ll be signing copies of Mark of the Demon this afternoon at the Barnes & Noble in Mandeville, LA from 2-4pm.
So… wow. A book I wrote is being sold in most major bookstores in North America. How f**king cool is that?
This is the front window of my local Barnes & Noble:
I am full of happy!
Those readers of this blog who are local to this area, I’ll be signing copies of Mark of the Demon on Saturday, June 27th from 2-4p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Mandeville, LA.
- Mood: happy
The e-book version of Mark of the Demon has been available for preorder at the Random House website for quite some time now, but now it’s available on the Kindle as well! Charge up those e-readers!
I went out earlier today to run errands, and when I came back home there was a box waiting for me.
Hurray! It was THE box!
However, Angel seems to be over his disdain, and is now reluctant to part with any of them.
- Mood: happy
Kid (who very recently turned 5): Mom, what’s rosemary?
Me: It’s an herb… a kind of plant.
Kid: What does it look like?
Me: Ummm, I’m not really sure.
Kid: You could look it up on the internet!
Me: Why, yes. You’re absolutely right. We should do that.
Kid: Mom. You need to type in PLANTS DOT COM and it will show you what it looks like. That’s how you find out!
Me: You’re terribly smart, dear. Thank you for telling me.
- Mood: amused
The wonderful David Pomerico at Bantam FedExed me a couple of copies of my book so that I could coo and drool and make goo-goo eyes at them!
See? It’s really a book!
And it has stuff on the spine too…
And on the back as well!
Demon (the cat) gives his approval:
Angel is uninterested…
and then feels the need to wash his butt to remove the taint.
Seraphim kitten is too tired after a day of destroying the curtains to care:
But Fluffy Bunny will give it the love it deserves!
- Mood: ecstatic
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