I’m over at Nas Dean’s blog, chatting about life, the universe and romance writing. Nas and I decided to give away a book. But this time, just to switch things up, you need to comment both there AND here.

The best part? Since Nas is tucked away on a South Seas island on the far side of the International Dateline, this  contest is international. Yep, I’ll mail a book anywhere that mail can be delivered, from Burkina Faso or Bulgaria to Tuvalu or Tuva…or even Tucson. All you have to do is comment here then pop over to read my post at Nas’s blog and make a comment there. All dual commenters will be entered into a random drawing to win a signed copy of Immortal Champion.

To make this end of it fun, we’ll do this as an ASK ME ANYTHING. I’ll pop in regularly over the next few days and answer any question you throw at me. If your comment also includes a link to a review you’ve done of Immortal Champion or to a mention of it on your blog, you get 3 times the number of entries, for 3 times the chances to win.

Contest open until midnight, March 11 (US, Pacific Standard Time)

I’m over at Wicked L’il Pixie today,  explaining

WHY VIKINGS?

Click on the button or the Why Vikings text above to pop over there to  join the party, where you can comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Immortal Champion.  Remember, comment there.

Not here. There.

It’s World Book Day 2011 —  Take a book to lunch and read. Visit your local independent bookseller to find the perfect gift for a friend. Prowl that antiquarian bookstore you’ve been meaning to visit. Read to your child (or at the very least, let them watch these terrific storybook readings on the World Book Day site). Explore books re-envisioned as art by Brian Detmer.

Celebrate all things book!

(Why…You could even buy a copy of Immortal Champion in paper or Kindle and celebrate with a hunky Viking warrior!)

I don’t know about the rest of them, but for me, all it takes is animals and British accented voiceovers…

Enjoy this bit of BBC Silliness:

That’s the question I’m asking today over on the Borders True Romance blog. Pop on over there and leave your answer for a chance to win your choice of one of the Immortal Brotherhood books.

Lisa at Borders True Romance

I’m over at Author Sound Relations today, blogging about one of the founding tropes of romance, the naïve virgin heroine—and whether or not it’s accurate in historical settings.  Come join the fun and comment on your own favorite or least favorite romance trope to be eligible to win one of my backlist books and an official Immortal Brotherhood mug like the one to the left.

The Historical Romance Writer’s Virgin Hussy

We left signed copies behind at every bookseller we visited along our route, so if you live in that area, you can check B&Ns and/or Borders in Oceanside, Westwood, Century City, Montclaire Mall, Rancho Cucamonga, Glendale, Bakersfield, Emeryville, Stockton, Sacramento, Redding, Medford, Eugene, and the greater Portland area.

But for the rest of the country, there are wonderful Indie stores who have signed books on hand and will do mail or phone orders.

Paperback Bookstore (Lisa only)
12845 Poway Road, Suite #108, Poway, CA 92064-4526
(858) 486-1440

New & Recycled Romances
143/145 Broadway, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 645-0529 ‎

Covina Book Store
234 North Citrus Avenue, Covina, CA 91723-2091
(626) 966-7434

and our featured Indie (where there will ALWAYS be signed books available from both Delilah and me

Jan’s Paperbacks
18095 SW Tualatin Valley Highway, Beaverton, OR 97006-3953
(503) 649-3444

I’m being a bum about posting here because I’m working like a fiend on Torvald’s story. But I am managing to write for other blogs.

Today I’m over at the RT Bookreviews Daily blog, where they asked me to talk about the 10 Worst Curses to Endure. Considering the misery I, er, Cwen puts my guys through, I had to think long and hard to come up with 10 even worse. Find out what I came up with and let me know which one you think would be worst.

10 Worst Curses to Endure at RT Daily Blog

Okay, so my effort to blog the tour failed miserably. Something about never getting to a hotel before 11pm, putting 3030 miles on the car, and visiting 41 booksellers in 9 days. Yeah.

But fortunately, my tour buddy, the ever energetic writer Delilah Marvelle, kept a video diary of the whole thing, and she’s edited it into a terrific 7 minute video full of booksellers, readers, bloggers, and other authors. Great fun. Enjoy!

I bombed down Interstate 5 today, making something around 700 miles before my butt gave out. Now I’m ensconced in a decent motel with a giant cup of tea, having done the now-obligatory bedbug check (my dad used to do bedbug and cleanliness checks, back in the day, so I was taught by a master). Tomorrow I’ll wend my way through the maze that is the LA freeway system, headed for Oceanside, where I have the first of several San Diego area signings Friday evening, 6-8pm, at the B&N Oceanside

Anyway, while I was contemplating life, the universe and everything in the car, I realized I should be blogging this little adventure, so here I am.

Images from the road:

Great Egret

Egrets, stately and milky white, standing by the side of the road with heads cocked, listening for their next meal to crawl by. Seemed to be one every two miles or so, all the way down.

Ominous looking banks of fog that turned out to be thin and light once I was inside them. (knock on wood they stay that way)

Oil refineries lit up like casinos southwest of Bakersfield. They may be dangerous and stinky, but they’re sure lovely off in the distance at night.

Straightest stretch of highway outside the North Dakota-Texas belt. Seriously, like a ruler.

First big traffic jam, on the Grapevine. Four lanes of cars and (mostly) trucks, backed up probably 15 miles. Not on my side of the road, thank Cthulhu.

All accompanied by an ever-changing stream of public radio stations, except in the Central Valley where for a time I couldn’t locate one and resorted to listening to Korean and Portuguese radio. (Apparently, there are 400,000 Portuguese in northern and central California. Who knew?) Of the two, the Portuguese station was by far the best: the announcer had a resonating bass voice, like Lt. Worf from Star Trek, and the music was lovely.