Lisa Hendrix

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 did a guest blog a couple of days ago, and we were having so much fun that I decided to give away an unbound galley of Immortal Champion—which, by the way, earned a terrific TOP PICK, 4-1/2 Stars rating from RTBookreviews. RT also named my darling, reckless, sexy Gunnar a Knight in Shining Silver (K.I.S.S.) for January, their designation for an especially swoon-worth historical romance hero.

To enter, just pop on over to Seven Sassy Sisters and leave a comment before midnight tonight (5 Dec 10). It’s that easy.

That’s not Gunnar to the right, btw, but it is the husband of one of the Sassies, doing his best Romance Hero pose, billowed shirt and all. I couldn’t resist.

What do you think? Cover-worthy?

I ran into this lovely video from the Theater Department at the University of Kansas (coincidentally where my birth father went to college, and my husband’s father worked — although we didn’t meet until 30 years later, some 3000 miles away).  It’s a scene from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, performed in Original Pronunciation. This is, more or less, how the audience at Wilton House would have heard the play in 1603, just 20 years after the time of my current work in progress, Immortal Defender. Defender is set in 1583, and features a cameo appearance by my heroine’s distant cousin, one William Shakeshafte of Stratford upon Avon. I hope you enjoy this little snippet of the past.

Look what my barrista made me to drink while I write my next Immortal Brotherhood romance…

That’s a Bella Tazza (espresso, half&half, and ground chocolate).

I’m all aglow.

Lots of folks are marking the date today by buying lottery tickets. For me, it’s a reminder of how heavily the number nine figures in the Immortal Brotherhood books:

Nine warriors. Nine amulets. Nine books.

Nine words in the tag line the copywriters created for IMMORTAL OUTLAW:

“When the sun goes down, the beast comes out.”

Nine clues in Marion and Steinarr’s quest. [I didn't plan this one. I didn't even realize it until after I submitted the manuscript, but when I started listing them in preparation for making the Google map—Surprise!—there they were.]

And nine because the Norse gods, especially Odin, are obsessed by the number: there are nine worlds in the cosmos; Heimdall, the guardian of the gods, has nine mothers, and Ægir has nine daughters; Odin hung upside down on the world tree Yggdrasil for nine days in order to gain the wisdom of the eighteen (twice nine) runes of Wyrd; the Swedes assembled every nine years at the temple of Uppsala to celebrate and sacrifice for nine days; Odin’s ring Draupnir released eight drops of gold every ninth night, each of which formed a equal ring for a total of nine rings (Tolkein’s inspiration, btw – and there were nine members of the Fellowship at the outset, too). [Find out more about nines in Norse mythology at Wikipedia.]

So tonight at 9:09, I’ll be lifting my glass of honey mead and taking nine sips to my warriors. And then I’ll go back to work on IMMORTAL CHAMPION. Because I know you’re waiting…

Trust me. Follow THIS LINK, read the explanation, then watch the video. It will likely be the best thing you do all day.

Then take a moment and post a link to your favorite feel-good video in the Comments.  We all need a smile.

According to the Oxford American Dictionary which is built into my Mac, to noodle is to “improvise or play casually on a musical instrument.”  

For me, noodling is playing casually on paper or on the computer or even in my head, trying on images, ideas, plot lines, characters.  It’s the What If process plus the kind of research that wanders through the stacks and follows interesting links for the joy of it (as opposed to the kind that hunts down a specific datum) plus bits of writing that may or may not lead someplace useful.  It’s pages of nonsense and folders full of documents (real or electronic) and pictures and maps and half-formed ideas.

Mostly it’s the search for Read the rest of this entry »

I’m smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. 

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

I thank President Bush for his service to our nation as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.  

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because Read the rest of this entry »

A standing stone with runes plays a key role in IMMORTAL WARRIOR, but if I’d seen this wonderful augmented exhibit from the Cultural History Museum in Randers, Denmark, it might have had even a bigger part.  The museum uses digital technology to project a story on the stone itself, then carry the runes off the stone and into the visitor’s space where the viewer interacts with them.  Amazing, dramatic, beautiful. (Wait ’til you see the stone crack open…)

I want to go to Denmark.

Thanks to Gizmodo for bringing this to my attention.

I was going to blog about that here, but I had a commitment over at Shapeshifter Romance, so I blessed them with my wit and perspicacity instead (though I’ll undoubtedly steal my own words back, sometime further along the timeline, and post them here for future reference).  Wander on over. Read. Comment. Show those other shifter gals that I can draw a crowd…