Lies and more lies...

Remember my proclamation that I'd be blogging more regularly now that I have a brand new website? Lies. All lies.

But here's a brief update on goings on here at Rare Birds Inc. The Vancouver Island Regional Public Library Literacy Night was terrific. A huge thanks to Jennifer, Susan and Thora and everyone else who helped to put it on. The readings by Rachel Dunstan Muller of her work-in-progress, John Wilson of his excellent historical novel and Carol Matthews of her wonderfully funny and insightful essays were all well-received. Thanks also to all the people who came out. I didn't manage to hit Tom Cruise levels of intensity in my reading, but I hope I managed it in my listening!

You may have noticed the new author photo on the home page of the site. The picture was taken by my photographer friend, Rigo Gonzalez, who specializes in radical skateboarding pictures but also shoots all manner of things. Rigo has a great eye. If you are ever looking for a portrait with a special cool-factor, I highly recommend his services. My huge and eloborate bird watching hair (hair so big rare birds might actually be living in it) is courtesy of Megan, who runs Serenity Salon and Day Spa. You want to know how great Megan is? Serenity is named after the Joss Whedon ship by the same name, not simply the state of mind. Also, she came in on her day off to create the 200 bobby pin masterpiece on my head. The overall look was created by my talented friend Tina, who steered me into a costume at Value Village that made me look like a 1930s birdwatcher rather than the one I was originally going to purchase, which made me look like a 1930s mental patient. Oh, and I shouldn't forget Erica, who told me how to do my makeup and even drew me a diagram and lent me the makeup. No Vanity Fair model ever had a better people!

Diane, brilliant web designer, tinted the picture to make it appear old and I've decided that I'd like to look like that all the time. If only I could carry a filter around with me. I supppose I could dress up and tell people that I will only allow myself to be viewed with special goggles. It might get awkward in the grocery store line up, but I'm sure the cashiers will get used to it.

So that's it for now. I'm going great guns on a new book so things will probably revert to their former quiet. I'll be back with news and updates as they occur and I'm still planning a podcast and youtube clip for the near future.

Yours in having fun playing dress-up.

Susan

Update...

on that reading I mentioned.

There is a stellar lineup for your listening pleasure, including Carol Matthews, reading from The First Three Years of a Grandmother's Life, Rachel Dunstan Muller, reading from The Solstice Cup and John Wilson reading from his Governor General Award nominated novel, The Alchemist's Dream.

This event is brought to you by the Vancouver Island Regional Library, which I pretty much keep afloat with my late fines. But let's keep that between us.

On another note, a big thanks to the Buffalo News for the lovely review!

P.S. I am seeking ground in which to plant an experimental potato patch. The half inch of soil we have on our property simply will not do. If you know of a little plot of earth near here that is looking for some potatoes to move in, I can help. No, I'm not kidding. When it comes to potatoes, I never joke.

Reading...

If you happen to be in the Nanaimo area and looking for some good, clean fun on Friday, January 25, considering coming down to Mon Petite Choux (101-120 Commercial St.) I will be giving a reading from Another Kind of Cowboy. Several other local authors will be reading from their books as well, names to be confirmed. This will take place from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "God, as IF I'm going to go to some literary reading. I can take a sleeping pill at home and doze on my comfy couch instead of nodding off in some cafe." To you I say, have you TRIED the food at Mon Petite Choux? It's awesome. Seriously. And I will endeavor to put some real feeling into my reading. I will emote, try to hit the back wall (or whatever it is they say in the theatre about speaking really loudly). I'll chew up the scenery in Mon Petite Choux like you've never seen before.

You've been to poetry slams, right? Well, it will be like that, only with fewer drums and more conventional hairdos.

Like so:

IN THE BEGINNING!
I'll bellow, wild-eyed.

THERE WAS DEL MAGNIFICO le NOIR.
Here I'll pause for effect and let the silence go on long enough that people start to fidget with embarrassment and wish they were across the street at some other restaurant.

I'll stare from face to face and suddenly point at some poor bastard who is just trying to eat a croissant and didn't even know there would be literature at MPC.

If YOU didn't know better
I'll scream, still pointing at the Croissant Eater, who, in his agitation at being singled out, will cough up a fine spray of croissant crumbs and saliva on the person sitting next to him. Then he'll start choking and have to be pounded on the back by a wait staff.

This will be my cue to start mouth breathing and jumping up and down on my toes and breathing hard, like Tom Cruise getting wound up in a Scientology promotional video.

And so on.

This, my friends, is just the merest soupcon of what you'll get at Mon Petite Choux, Friday January 25.

The Order Option

A few readers from the U.S. have written to tell me that they haven't been able to find Another Kind of Cowboy in their local bookstore. I'm not going to speculate as to why that might be. It could be that the booksellers wanted to avoid a frenzied situation of the type that young Potter fellow caused. Maybe they were worried about rampaging dressage aficionados stomping through the store, turning canter pirouettes at the drop of a hat and using their whips to tickle customers. It's possible.

Anyway, if your store doesn't carry the book, the best way to get them to do so is to special order it. And if you are all about the online shopping and spend all your free time playing Scrabulous, perusing the wares at Anthropologie and reading Micheal K on Dlisted, then you can order the book at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders Books and Music, Powells, or your much loved local independent (if they have an online division).

Some things are worth... ordering.

Dear Hasbro...

Mattel and Electonic Arts,

Word has it (heh) that you, the owners of the original Scrabble, are planning to force facebook to remove the Scrabulous application. I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, you are being short-sighted because my rotten, stinking Scrabulous performances are about to make you some real money. I haven't played Scrabble for about ... well, since I was quite young. In that time, everyone else has apparently turned into a #%$& Scrabble genius. This means that I have to go out and purchase an accredited Scrabble dictionary (full of idiotic words that do not appear in any other dictionary and seem to exist only to allow my aunt to create three letter words using "x", "v" and "q" meaning "to pick one's nose vigorously" and gain 45 points).

I'm also going to be forced to purchase an actual Scrabble game so I can stop getting my ass kicked by every Tom and Dick and Random.

On the plus side, if you pull Scrabulous, my productivity will quadruple. (Get a few of the gossip sites shut down and I'll turn into a Stephen King-style prolificon). [Please note that I'll be lobbying to get "prolificon" added to the Scrabulous dictionary, if it isn't already there.]

The truth is that the popularity of Scrabulous is at least partly my fault. See, word has gotten around that if you want to improve your stats (and your self-esteem), start a game with Susan Juby. You are bound to win. And I'm going to have to counter this growing trend with all the add-ons and supplementals that you people can offer. The online cheat sites are simply not enough!

So, don't force Scrabulous off facebook. Send me everything you've got and help me to win a few #%^* games already.

Yours in single-digit scores,

Susan

Chickens...

I have always loved chickens. When I was a kid, we had a chicken house. So did my friends who lived up the hill. The four of us girls used to spend HOURS watching the chickens. Marveling at their stupidity. At the strange and comforting noises they made. We learned to imitate the deeply flawed crow of my friends' rooster.

The project I'm working on has a bit of a chicken theme. The side effect is that I am yearning for chickens. I have convinced our two-doors down neighbor that having our own chickens would be second only to having a personal aircraft (fresh eggs! pastoral noises! garden fertilizer!) But the neighbor in the middle doesn't feel the chicken love. Please keep in mind I'm almost certain that we aren't allowed to have chickens here. We live in an area that looks rural but is in fact very suburban.

I've thought about digging a underground tunnel and housing my chickens in a cave. The fact that we live on a huge rock makes this impractical. Also, I'm not sure that would be fair to the chickens. I've thought of creating network of bridges and raised platforms in the trees to link the chicken-friendly houses. But this leaves the problem of getting the eggs without breaking our necks. Also, the non-chicken-loving neighbors might notice the birds overhead, especially if they are of the fancy variety that I covet.



This American Life recently featured a seriously unsentimental story about a performance artist who kept a chicken on top of his fridge for several months for reasons that were never made clear (he failed to kill the poor bird during his performance). I wonder how I could convince James that keeping a chicken or two on the fridge might be a good idea? Perhaps if they are small and cute enough?



If I do become a rogue chicken keeper, I'll keep you posted. People who live in Mexico don't have this problem.

In honour...

of the new site, I'm going to try and post a bit more often. We'll see how long that lasts. I'm just full of good intentions.

So, for your entertainment, here's a little photo roundup from the Vancouver launch for Another Kind of Cowboy. You will see that many in attendance indulged their inner horse person and did so in fine style!



Have you ever seen cuter cowgirls?



Elinor, the Davie St. Book Warehouse manager and staff celebrated by looking superfine, too!



Here is a photo of a cowboy we stalked on the ferry on the way to the launch. He was not in costume. See, real cowboys don't wear tiny six shooters they got at the dollar store. They wear big hats and long underwear.



And here's another cowboy. Real or not? You tell me!



Finally, just to give you an example of rare bird-ism, I think this guy is an example of the species, possibly even an endangered one.



Happy Friday all you rare birds...

Rare Birds

Welcome to my new website!

The theme, as you will have seen on the home page, is rare birds. Why rare birds, you might legitimately wonder. You wouldn’t be alone in asking.

When I told Diane, my wonderfully talented and patient web designer, that I wanted the site to feature birds, she was all, “Birds?” I explained that I really like birds. She pointed out that the site should promote my books and communicate with readers and that none of my books are about birds. She had a point there.

So I wracked my brain for a convenient, after-the-fact rationalization. Then it came to me. It isn't just birds that I am interested in. It’s rare birds. Make that metaphorical rare birds.

See, in my mind, a rare bird is one who doesn’t fit in. A rare bird finds it tough to adapt and often doesn’t look or act like all the other birds. I’m not just talking about the pretty little song birds. I’m talking about birds that might seem strange and awkward, birds who are sometimes endangered as a result of their peculiarities.

I think of my characters as rare birds. I’ve never been terribly interested in the popular and the well-adjusted or those who flutter effortlessly through life. I am far more interested in the ones who drag around weirdly long tails and have to cope with bizarre dietary restrictions. Those are my people. My birds, if you will. I think deep inside, most of us harbor our own rare birds.

Let me end by thanking Diane for the ever-so cool new site. Check out the Books page to see all the latest news and reviews for Another Kind of Cowboy. My first podcast should be up soon and look for the first Rare Birds Youtube video within the month.

Love,

Susan

Sound of clock ticking...

and anticipation growing!

This time we're serious. The new site is nearly ready to go live.

Nine, eight, seven...

Oh, and a quick congratulations to Meg Cabot on her big news. It couldn't have happened to a cooler writer. Not only is she one of the most popular writers in the world and amazingly supportive of other writers, she's a total rebel in her oh-so funny way. Go Meg!