BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

Fans are wonderful. Really.

As I have said in the past, “anti-fans” , not so much. But, on this tour I have met some absolutely wonderful folks and even had the opportunity to visit with fans of the RGI series who are interesting, lovely, intelligent, funny, and an all around blast to hang with.

I have to say, however, that I was in for quite a surprise at our last stop on the tour, which was last night (5/31) at 13 Magickal Moons in Occoquan, VA. 13 Magickal Moons is a wonderful little store, nestled in an arts & antiques district near the waterfront. Owned and run by Samantha and Jen, a couple of lovely young ladies who go out of their way to make a visit to their store a memorable one. Workshops are always well attended and authors are treated like part of the family.

I first did 13 Moons last year and was accepted warmly by the patrons, even though they really had no idea who I was and many had not even heard of the Rowan Gant series. Many of them purchased books and quickly became fans and friends.

Now, since I know that many of them keep up with my travels I was actually prepared for the questions about the “Kicked Out Of Wendy’s” blog, and even when “Coldie” (another lovely lady) arrived with pink nail polish in hand. These are folks who joke around with you and make even a 12 hour workday seem like it goes by in half the time.

I just love these folks.

But, I have to say that I wasn’t expecting the twist we had yesterday. You see, Miranda showed up.

Okay, so she wasn’t actually Miranda. In reality she was a beautiful young lady named Suzanne (I do hope I spelled that correctly. My apologies to her if I didn’t)…at any rate, Suzanne is a fan of the RGI series, and an absolutely lovely gal. Last year we had an opportunity to visit at the store and she was great fun to talk with. This year was the same, however, Suzanne “got into character”. She arrived at 13 Magickal Moons decked out in her own version of Miranda’s dominatrix attire. This was a first for me. No fan has ever “dressed up” as one of my characters before, but let me tell you this young lady looked great.

After the signing and workshops we posed for a few playful pics, her playing up her Miranda attire and attitude while I played the part of her victim. (I should have known one of my characters would come back to bite me at some point!) At any rate, the folks who took the shots are supposed to send them to me and I will post them as soon as they arrive. (Note, we aren’t talking about any pornographic here, just some fun, joking around.)

Rumor has it that one of the fans who snapped a few pics last night will be putting them up on his myspace page, so they may be out there before I get my copies. So, if you happen across a picture of me laying on the floor with a gorgeous redhead in a black bustier, miniskirt and high heeled boots standing over me, it was not taken at the local BDSM club,

It was just a fan expressing herself.

BTW, Suzanne. Congrats! You win the “creative fan award” this go around! (GRIN) And thanks to you and everyone else at 13 Magickal Moons as well. Y’all truly capped off the tour with a bang!

More to come…

Murv

PS. Suzanne has promised an entirely new Miranda outfit for my next visit later this year. I must confess, I’m looking forward to it.

Yeah, cake tops. No, NOT cake toppers, like the bride and groom thing, or silly shamrocks, or cheap plastic stuff for decorations.

I mean the TOPS of CAKES.

Kinda like muffin tops or whatever that was on Seinfeld.

Confused yet? I know I am.

Actually, I spent this past weekend at a secret bunker/undisclosed location for some R&R. Actually, that should be D&D, but not the role playing game kind. D&D as in Drinking and Debauchery…

Anyhow, one of the friends with whom I stayed makes wedding cakes as a supplement to her regular income. She won’t make them for just anybody, usually friends or referrals from friends, but let me tell you she could stand toe to toe with the best of them in the biz if she wanted.

Either way, I had never seen this done. I mean, yeah, I’d seen cakes made and have even made a few myself, but I’d never watched anyone make and decorate an actual wedding cake, which was quite an interesting process, what with the fountain and all that jazz.

And so, this is where cake tops and the “equation” in the title of this blog came from.

After baking all these different sized layers, in order to make everything nice and level for the pedestals and such, she lopped off the tops of the cakes, tossed ’em on a plate, and put them well across the room from where she was working. Why? So all of us idiots who were standing around in her kitchen watching (i.e. getting in her way) would have something to nibble on and therefore would leave her alone.

Just like the origin of the Hush Puppy…

Murv

PS. Yeah, I know. Not much of a blog, but I’m really concentrating on writing a book right now so there isn’t too much frivolity in my head for me to toss this way. I promise I’ll try to make the next one more interesting.