Lisa Hendrix

The official NORAD Santa Tracking site went live as of midnight.

According to the site, the US Military started tracking Santa when a Colorado Springs Sears store inadvertently misprinted Santa’s phone number and children started calling what was then the Continental Air Defense Command. Possessed by the true spirit of Christmas, Director of Operations Col. Harry Shoup had the radar operators check their screens so they could provide updates on Santa’s progress to the kids who called in. The tradition was born, and the Christmas Eve updates continued even after CONAD joined with the Canadian military to form NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Col. Shoup passed away earlier this year, but his legacy lives on. NORAD’s Santa team also posts updates to Facebook and Twitter.

Colonel Harry Shoup. Christmas Hero. (Photo from NORAD Santa website)

As you know (or should, as much as I’ve been talking about it <g>), IMMORTAL OUTLAW is a finalist for the 2009 RT Reviewers Choice Award for “Best Historical Vampire/Werewolf/Shapeshifter Romance.”  Other finalists in that category include THE TREASURE KEEPER (Shana Abé), LORD OF LEGENDS (Susan Krinard), SO STILL THE NIGHT (Kim Lenox), and NIGHT AFTER NIGHT (Kathryn Smith). I feel honored to be in the company of such grand, talented women.

I’d love to list all the other categories and nominees, but it would take me all day to type them up. Fortunately, there’s a pdf:  RIGHT HERE.  Pay especial attention to the Career Achievement Award nominees; they’re some of the best and brightest in the romance game.

Congratulations to all my fellow nominees.

Catching up on a few random items:

If an e-reader comes your way for Christmas, Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, please keep in mind that both IMMORTAL WARRIOR and IMMORTAL OUTLAW are available as Kindle Editions on Amazon.com, and in other digital formats at Barnes & Noble.com (Please note: I am NOT the Lisa Hendrix Simmons whose self-published books turn up under my name at B&N. I’m not making any comment good or bad about her books, I’m just not her.)

Also, a reminder: my Virtual Booksigning is still in full swing. If you get or give  IMMORTAL WARRIOR and/or IMMORTAL OUTLAW, you can have them autographed long distance by sending for my custom  bookplates.  Follow the link to find out how. (You’ll also get bookmarks and a recipe for a delicious herb bread.) If you get them as e-books, you can have a bookplate anyway or I’ll be glad to sign a bookmark with my sparkly bronze marker. You still get the recipe. <g>

I’ve been having a lot of fun on Twitter and Facebook recently. Too much, in fact, so I’m going to have to be good for the next few weeks while I finish writing IMMORTAL CHAMPION. But I’d love it if you’d go ahead and follow/fan me so you’ll be ready when the party starts again after I finish.

Finally, I have a new guest post up at 1st Turning Point, a relatively new but excellent website for writers. After you’re done here, pop on over to read The World’s Cheapest Promo, then explore 1st Turning Point’s other articles, listed under Resources in their masthead.

More later. Jingle-jingle.

A magical lovers’ bower hidden with the hollow formed by a cluster of young oaks grown together around the mother stump—sounds like a lovely figment of my imagination, doesn’t it?

But it isn’t.  Well, mostly not, anyway.

In the tiny surviving remnant of Sherwood Forest stands a tree as old as the Robin Hood legend itself, the Major Oak. At approximately 800-1000 years of age, and with a girth of some 33 feet around a hollow center, it has long been believed to be the tree in which Robin and all his Merry Men hid from the Sheriff of Nottingham.  The Major Oak has an odd, twisted shape that some say comes from it being a fusion of several trees. The interior of the tree isn’t as open as I described, but the tree is 700+ years older, too; the trees would be much thicker now. The one thing I totally fudged was the floor inside the hollow. In reality, it’s  lumpy and hard and would be a pretty uncomfortable place to make love. Fortunately, I write fiction.

The image to the left is a drawing of the oak made in approximately 1790 by Major Hayman Rooke, after whom the oak was named (before Maj. Rooke came along, it was called the Cockpen Oak because it was used to hold caged fighting cocks).  There’s a great collection of photos of the oak  HERE, including one with the support struts removed digitally, so you can see its true grandeur

And thanks to the BBC, you can enjoy a real treat:  a 360º tour of the inside of the Major Oak!   (While you’re there, check out the “Hide in Sherwood Forest” link just below the tour to see an example of the thick ferns that Marian and Robin hid in at the very beginning of Chaper 1.)

QUESTION:  HAVE YOU EVER FOUND A MAGICAL PLACE IN THE WOODS? SHARE A LITTLE PIECE OF THE MAGIC IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

You’ve seen him in his beast form.

Now have a peek at my human inspiration for Gunnar the Red:

That’s English actor Steven Waddington.  You may know him as Maj. Duncan Heyward in LAST OF THE MOHICANS, or, more recently, as Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, from THE TUDORS.  If you want more, more, more, of the delicious Steven, there are a whole herd of  pix of him at Flixster.

And now you know why I’m smiling so much while I write IMMORTAL CHAMPION…

Sudwell, known today as Southwell, lies about 14 miles northeast of Nottingham City and 3 miles northwest of the River Trent. It’s an ancient place, apparently dating back at least to the Roman era; luxurious villa was found under the churchyard in the late 50s, a mural from which is on display in the Minster, and other traces of Roman roads and brickwork have been found in the area.

An early church was founded at Sudwell around 628 AD, when Paulinus of York (left) visited the area after baptizing a number of converts in the nearby Trent. Land for a larger church was given to the Archbishop of York (Oskytel) in 956, and construction began in 1108.  The next year, then Archbishop Thomas I  asked each parish in Nottinghamshire to contribute to the building of a new Mother church, The Church of St. Mary Southwell.

Thus began the Southwell Gate, held yearly at Whitsuntide (7th Sunday after Easter). As Marian explains to Steinarr in Chapter 10, in those days, the Mayor of Nottingham and a representative from each parish would carry their pence to the Minster in a grand procession. Dressed in their finest robes, the officials met at the Old Market Square in Nottingham City and proceeded on foot and horseback the 14 miles to the north porch of the Minster, where the funds were received by the chapter clerk. Clergy and lay folk would accompany the procession, combining a pilgrimage with an excursion to Southwell’s famous Whitsun Fair. The term Gate comes from the old Norse word gata, meaning street or way—which explains why Steinarr Read the rest of this entry »

Amidst all the illness of the last two months, I had three pieces of good news:

First, of course, was the contract for the next two books.

Second, came word that IMMORTAL OUTLAW had been selected for Amazon’s Top 10 Best in Romance for 2009.  Yep, really. It’s right there on the top of the Browse Romance page, alongside books by writers like Susan Wiggs, Nalini Singh, and Sheila Roberts. This is an Editors Choice award, so it makes me especially happy. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to make the bestseller list next time <g>.

And third, I just found out last week that IMMORTAL OUTLAW is a finalist for the 2009 RT Bookreviews Reviewers Choice Award for “Best Historical Vampire/Werewolf/Shapeshifter Romance.” Counting the Top Pick rating from RT and Steinarr’s K.I.S.S. Award, that makes four significant honors for my Outlaw. There’s clearly something about that Robin Hood legend…

Anyway, that’s the news for now. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the trail of Marian and Steinarr, stopping at the Southwell Minster.

I admit it: I’ve been a total flake about posting. I had a legitimate excuse, at least at first. I returned home from the Emerald City conference (back in the first part of October) to find my husband and Child2 both in the grip of H1N1.  I shifted into nurse mode and ignored everything else. They started to get better, then both got pneumonia.

Then I got sick.  Just for a variation, my H1N1 decided to turn into bronchitis, which took two, count ‘em two, rounds of antibiotics to knock down (the second one was a big gun—one of the drugs of choice for anthrax). Even after the drugs worked, I spent the next six weeks alternately sleeping and coughing like a coal miner. When I finally got back on my feet, I told myself I needed to ignore the blog and start writing.

Because, you see, while I was up north way back at the first of October, before all the sickness, Igot the call—Berkley picked up the next two Immortal Brotherhood books!  Yep, Gunnar and Torvald are getting their turns.  I was actually in a parking lot in Tacoma, getting ready to attend the biggest readers group meeting I’ve ever seen, when my agent called my cell. It was a blast getting to go in and tell the ladies the news.

IMMORTAL CHAMPION (Gunnar’s story) will be out in January 2011. IMMORTAL WHATSIT (no, that’s not the actual title, I just haven’t thought of the right one yet) in October 2011.

Yeah, 2011. Not 2010. My fault, entirely. (I warned you I’m not a fast writer). That’s a heck of a wait between books, but I already have plans to keep you happy by Read the rest of this entry »

I know, I know. I owe you a post about the glorious Minster at Sudwell and the Gate (Procession) that supported it for centuries, but the Swine Flu (not me, but *all* of my family) has stolen much of my time over the last two weeks, and what it didn’t steal I’ve been trying to use to write.

Now I’m leaving the sickies behind to go visit readers, meet with writer friends, and Read the rest of this entry »

I learned this morning that Kate Duffy, long-time Kensington editor and extraordinary friend to romance, has died. I met Kate the first time in 1993, and although I never had the opportunity to work with her, I learned a lot from her over the years.  She will be missed.

For those who never had the chance to hear her quick laugh, or those who just want to hear it again, here’s a glimpse of the amazing Kate: