Monday Movie Review

Today's my official posting day at Killer Fiction, so don't forget to read me there too!

The movie is Halloween, a Rob Zombie remake of the old classic.



Saw this one last weekend, actually, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. In fact, I saw two movies, but I'm going to blog my standard fare - the horror movie.


I have to say that I kinda like this and I don't usually like remakes. Zombie took some liberties with the original script that I think worked. He built in some backstory, showing us exactly what "set off" Michael Myers as a crazy person, and had a decent plot for why he came back to his hometown.

Of course, there was a couple of stupid woman (or technically, girl) scenes. I simply don't understand when the killer is on your front porch and strangling someone, why you run back into the house instead of ducking underneath him and running down the street toward the police and fire trucks at the end of the block - but hey, I guess it all makes for good terror.


My final rating: Definitely worth a view if you're a horror fan and liked the original.

Mega Busy

I'm mega busy today, so this is just a short blurb to tell you all that Barbara Vey, a Publisher's Weekly blogger, has blogged about UNLUCKY today. Hop on over and check it out! I'm always mega-geeked when people love my books and Barbara is a super-cool lady that I've had the absolute pleasure of hanging with at two conferences this year. Be sure and post - we want to make sure Barbara is around for a long time.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Something Nice

I only have a moment before class, but I wanted to share with yall something that made my day yesterday. I was rushing around (as usual) for the past several days - working on both my jobs over the holidays, seeing family, trying to get more household stuff in order, etc. And by Monday night, I crashed. Tuesday morning, I rushed in to work because I had to be in class by 9:00.

When I left work that day, it occurred to me that my car was almost on empty the day before and I had forgot to stop for gas that morning. Realizing I'd probably made it into the office on fumes and was darned lucky I didn't get to walk, I knew I'd have to stop for gas on the way home, even though I was already running late and really, really didn't want to stop.

So I hopped into my vehicle and started the engine, looked at the display to see the damage, and my car was full of fuel! When I'd crashed on the couch the night before, my wonderful husband had gone to fill up my gas tank for me. I hadn't even noticed until that evening and what a great surprise. I know it seems like such a small thing, but it really, really made my day.

Happy Labor Day and a GCC Tour!

Happy Labor Day, everyone! Today's my regular posting day over at Killer Fiction so pop over and check out my recant of my interesting week with medical professionals. It's sure to make you renew your medical insurance policy.

Today, I'm bringing you a GCC tour by Laura Florand and her release, BLAME IT ON PARIS.

Eleven o’clock on a Friday night. The seamy, sex-obsessed center of Paris. I balanced over a Turkish toilet in a tiny bistro, one stiletto heel propped against the wall to make some kind of writing table out of my knee, trying desperately not to touch anything around me as I wrote an invitation…. Thus begins BLAME IT ON PARIS, Laura Florand’s hilarious and moving true story of a French-American romance between two people, two families, and two cultures.

What does happen when you put a small-town Georgian in Paris and a handsome, sophisticated Parisian in small-town Georgia? Especially when two huge families, one French and the other American, decide it’s up to them to further this romance. The Parisian’s family wants Laura to learn how to prepare snails, while Laura’s family keeps serving Sébastien Mad Dog 20/20 as good wine. How will true love survive?

Praise for BLAME IT ON PARIS:

“Hilarious…A fun, frothy tale for anyone who has ever conjured up a dashing handsome foreigner to sweep her off her feet. Readers will be happy to live vicariously in Laura's French fairytale.” –Booklist (Aleksandra Kostovski)

“A frothy French confection.” –Publishers’ Weekly

“Laura Florand offers up an outsider’s oddly inside view of Paris, and she does so in a narrative that is by turns witty and touching, but always charming. Best of all, she turns the tables and lets us see our own culture through the fresh, French eyes of the man she loves. Do yourself a favor: Read this book.”--Joshilyn Jackson, best-selling author of Gods in Alabama

“A fabulous romp from Paris to Podunk and back again. Loved it. Laura Florand’s reluctant heroine is adorable, and her perfect Parisian amour can wait on my table anytime.”--Haywood Smith, New York Times best-selling author of the Red Hat Club series

“A romantic, hilarious soufflé of a story! Move over, Bridget Jones. Charming and laugh-out-loud funny.”--Deborah Smith, New York Times best-selling author of A Place to Call Home

Recommended reading by Marie Claire (November 2006) and Complete Woman (February 2007).

About the Author:

Laura Florand is a native of the Deep South who began travelling the world when she was seventeen, backpacking solo through Greece. She went on to win a Fulbright to Tahiti and then to study French literature at Duke University. In addition to the year in Tahiti, she has lived in Madrid and Paris. Now a senior lecturing fellow at Duke and a new mother of one, she divides her time between North Carolina, where she also leads a Tahitian dance group, and France. For more information, please see her website and buy the book!