Betas Make you Better!!!

I'm not here today, so please, nobody feel obliged on any front. My office is moving and I have no computer access for the day...

But I just wanted to give a HUGE SHOUT of thanks to first round beta readers for Ill Omens:

Stacy Gail
Jill Haugh
Jade Jamison
Teresa Coltrin
Marissa Montano

You ladies ROCK!!!!!

(please enjoy this eye candy)

A cruise, with this for your captain...

And him below decks...

Stop at an island for a swim with him...

And then a sneak peak at MATT...

Seriously, accolades to all of you...

Every one of you caught things and called me out on pieces where no one else did, so THAT is fabulous (and evidence we ALL need multiple readers). And there were a couple (well ONE) biggie you ALL called me out on (what the hell was I thinking?) so THANK YOU!!!

And so friends who stop by here today... would you mind PLEASE giving a visit to one or more of my FABULOUS READERS to help express my gratitude?

And for the couple of 2nd round readers who have signed on... my goal is Friday to have input incorporated...

Fire! Wait, no, that's just Magic Mike!

*cough*

So last Thursday I came home from work... a systematic combo of walking and bus ride, as when it is over 100 degrees, I am just NOT walking all the way. But I am reading Losing Beauty (which is very good, and you should read it too) so apparently when I got to MY street, I was so sucked into the reading and walking at the same time that I failed to OBSERVE that there was a whole bunch of excitement on my street.

To be fair, they really ought to shout a lot when there is excitement, don't you think? To make things more noticeable to those of us easily sucked into reading while we are walking...

I got inside and hubby pointed out that a tree fell on a car... *look out* Sure enough... Tree branch on car. CHECK. (it didn't actually do much damage, strangely, but why is it, out of a whole street, the tree branches always fall on the cars?)

Not the ACTUAL house and fire, but this is pretty close

And there was a fire.

Wait, what?

“Didn't you see the fire truck?”
“Erm...”
“Didn't you smell it?”
“Uh...”

I tell you. That is a FABULOUS book that I almost missed the bloody fire. It was maybe five houses down and it wasn't actually the HOUSE on fire. A power line had been knocked out in a big storm around noon (a different storm than stole the power from the people across the street from us—that was the 4:30 am storm...) and the line had started a fire in a garden. Not great... But worse (meaning the part that affected ME), they were going to have to cut the line at a higher point to cut off the spark supply so they could put the bloody fire out (which they did around 6pm)... 'probably no power until Saturday night'.

GADS!

Now ME... I can live a few days without power (call it an adventure. I'm a-okay). What I have trouble living with is my HUSBAND when he has to live a few days in SUMMER without power. True story. HWMNBMOTI is a big giant BABY about the heat.

Daughter bailed on us. Her boyfriend's house had power, so she came home at midnight and left again by about 9 the next day. Son and I swam next door and then played cribbage by candlelight, which was very enjoyable. Went to bed earlyish and woke up with no alarm (only about half hour late, so perfectly justifiable with no power—besides, no morning computer meant I was actually only about ten minutes late for work)


This really served as another reinforcer that I sure love my neighborhood... it is nice when things like this happen to see everyone sharing information and helping each other out. I love where I live, shoebox or no shoebox. I mean sure... if I could buy one of the houses at the OTHER end of the street with twice the square footage, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I don't want to leave completely.

Power came back on Friday afternoon, more than a day early, so that was a bonus... and put back ON something I'd feared we'd have to call OFF.

You heard me...

Joe (#3) is my flavor...

Magic Mike with the Couch to Keg Team and our buddy Patti

Now as much as I'm a nudist and all for all that naked stuff... and I adore men... especially naked men... This is a movie I probably would have skipped without the accompanying 'Lady's Night'. Eye candy is well and good in passing, but experiential stuff requires some company to say 'oh yeah, baby' next to me... if that makes any sense.

But about two weeks ago my friend Patti suggested she'd love to come over and see it—she lives about 2 hours from me and her local friends seem to be the wholesome exercise sort instead of the... you know... naked cocktail sort... so she thought of ME. And I invited the couch to keg team... we started with sushi, which was fabulous (HWMNBMOTI won't eat it, so I'm glad to have friends to eat it with) and then we went for the HUMINA HUMINA experience that was Magic Mike.

As a movie plot, I was left a little frustrated with 'the kid' who for all intents and purposes was central, so I thought his storyline should have been tied up better, but Mike's story wasn't bad and the eye candy was FABULOUS. It's not like I expected a knock-dead plot. From an aesthetic perspective, Joe is most my type—I like some scruff better than clean-cut (Though Channing Tatum almost won me with his dexterity.... MAN, I love a bendy man, plus the flips and such—coordination is a good thing. I wonder if they did their own stuff...). I love Adam Rodriguez for his smile and dimples, but at 5'11” (me, I mean) I gotta give the big guys the edge. So yeah... Joe...

[he's in True Blood? Holy COW, there is my incentive to get back to THAT—I haven't made a point after the first season, but that can be changed!]

The huge win of it, though, was seeing it with my girlfriends—it was definitely a movie best seen in company with a little wine lube beforehand.

Blogging 'bout Butts

To anyone new around here, you may not know this, but I should let you know before I frighten you. I'm sort of a nut. My first year with the A to Z event, I began the month with the intention of blogging about lovely man-butts every day (Admirable arses, beautiful buns, etc...). It's just sort of the way I roll. I try to keep things PG, but I decided early on that the only way I had a hope in heck of sticking out in this ginormous blogosphere was to be as ME as I could be. And what DEFINES me... what I am BETTER at than most, is I'm not afraid to play. In fact I love it. And I love to encourage others to do the same. Find what you love and who you are and RUN with that.

So blogging bout butts may not be YOUR thing, but I am paying brief homage to this history today with some LOVELY shots of beautiful buns.

I've often said I could watch Nathan Fillion fold socks and be entertained, but how awesome is it when you can watch him in FIREFLY and he gets naked on top of that!?  (WIN!)

 This might be a girl butt, actually, but it is an AWESOME tattoo.

This tattoo is a little more suspect in taste, but he wears it well...

This is a promo for Naked Sunday, something I'd like to encourage everyone to take up...

Some might call him a poser, but he can pose for me any day...

And finally, last but not least...

Oh, yeah...

Hope I didn't scare anyone too badly!

Man Muse Medley

I bet you think I'm going to post just a bunch of naked men, don't you? Well, you're probably half right, but I am actually ALSO choosing men who engage my mind... Muses need a little of that cerebral flow thing.

Calliope is the Muse of Epic Poetry, so her representation needs to be filled by a writer, yes? I am going to go with Tom Robbins here, as he is a twisted guy who always gets the creative juices flowing, even if they end up seeping into really strange places...

Clio is the Muse of History, so I am going to go with a CLASSIC. Pretty darned clear what Clark Gable has on HIS mind *fans self*

Erato is the Muse of Lyric Poetry, so I will go with my favorite musical story teller, Art Alexakis.

But wait!!! Erato is also... you know... Erotic... I need a dirty mind involved here, too! Best Dirty Song writer is probably Chad Kroeger *nods decisively* (yes yes, now we can start weaving in the naked part...)

Euterpe is the Muse of Music. I am going with an old favorite here because the guy ROCKS and is one of the sexiest men around in spite of not actually being great looking... (I LOVE that as an element... the radiated sexy because of ATTITUDE) So I present Steven Tyler...

Melpomene is the Muse of Tragedy and so I will go with my favorite recent Television Anti-hero... Sawyer.

Polyhymnia is Muse of Sacred Poetry... if you were here yesterday, you've seen this one... but if fighting demons doesn't make a guys sacred... am I right? Ahhhh, Sam...

Though I don't want to leave out the Dean fans... MAN, they'd make a nice set of book ends... You know... assuming I'm the book and all...

Terpsichore is the Muse of Choral Dance and Song, which HAS to be Lucius Malfoy (any of you who've read my fan fiction stuff will get this...) This shot was taken from the Playwitch spread... *cough* Is it weird that I know there is such a thing?

Thalia is the Muse of Comedy, and though I like him in other stuff, he is DIVINE in the wacky stuff... (and this is the best picture of him EVER, though I might miss the eyeliner...) Johnny Depp...

And finally Urania is the Muse of Astronomy, which I am using loosely here, as Middle Earth is more other world than in the sky, but still... Mmmmmm Aragorn...


So there you have it... some of the men who inspire me...



And finally, a couple of Can't Miss M Blogs (extras today, as there are a lot of Ms and it was already hard to limit it this far...)


The Middle Ages:  Deb and Barbara are nothing short of divine. I love these two. Their blogs are done together—they alternate who leads... she gives her thoughts on a topic, and the other responds... It's honest, funny and fabulous.

Missed Periods and Other Grammar Scares:  I LOVE this... it starts with a funny situation, then leads to grammar... and for a geek like me, it is PERFECT. I love grammar humor (and I sometimes even learn something)

Musings of a Palindrome:  Hannah and I seemed to have near misses for a long time until I finally read some of her comments and realized we have nearly identical tastes in entertainment... since then, we've become good friends.

Mystery Writing is Murder:  Regulars around here know Elizabeth is my idol. She has this social networking stuff DOWN... when I started blogging, I stumbled across her and have been following her around ever since. And with good reason, she was recently awarded (for the 2nd year running) Writer's Digests top 101 Sites for Writers seal... You definitely need to be there.

Eye Candy Blogfest

So what better idea is there, really... than a bunch of eye candy on a day famous for low attention? When I say the Eye Candy Blogfest,  I signed up AT ONCE, not least because eye candy is sort of RELIGION around here...

So I will start with my favorite celebrity shot...

Though I should also offer one for the practical... Look! He is HELPFUL! AND CLEAN!

and one for the frivolous...

And maybe one for the boys... (who says I'm not a kind, gentle dominatrix?)

and I really can't skip one for the animal lovers...

My favorite OUTFIT:

And FINALLY, my favorite FUNNY... (or at least up there somewhere... the flashing cat is probably my favorite, but I've shared it recently)








I wish all of you a FABULOUS 2011!

Twelve Great Gifts

On the... erm... day of Twelvsies, her Tartness Gives to YOU..

Twelve Christmas wishes... ironically in the form of the song which this entire twelve days of twelvsies has been in, but never mind...

I need to acknowledge I saw something similar... possibly twice. I was to say RaShelle and Katie, but I might be making that up (I do that)  [added:  HA!  Found the second... Jayne... still think the other is RaShelle]

On the Twelfth day of twelvsies her tartness wants for YOU:

12... partial requests
11... author book blurbs
10... next book ideas
9... foreign trade rights
8... agents pudding wrestling (over YOU, silly)
7... cool trips to sell it
6... publishers bidding
5... BIG REVIEWS
4... million dollars
3... reprints
2... movie deals
And your book atop the bestsellers list...

And maybe to tide you over UNTIL then... one of these lovely Christmassy fellows...

I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas! I am going to skip tomorrow and will continue with my Twelvsies on Sunday. Until then, indulge, enjoy, and give thanks. Life is good, and hopefully will just keep getting better.

Love you, beautiful bloggie friends!

Twelve Lovely Man Butts

On the... erm... whatever Day of Christmas her Tartness Gave to US.... Twelve, Lovely Man Butts!!!

I should add here, that today was chosen for this special honor because it is both my friend The Beer Wench's Birthday, AND a book release day for her...

So Happy Birthday, Wenchy friend!  Some man butts in your honor!

I've started off with two prime examples of CLASSIC back side... I think you will agree, they are divine...

Some butts are sort of utilitarian... you know... they got dirty and needed to prove it wasn't everywhere...

(does he maybe look like a soccer coach?  I'm just sayin...)

Some might need some help GETTING to the butt part... this is especially true of men who wear tighty whiteys... if you ever see a man in tighty whiteys, you should ALWAYS offer to help him get out of them.

This butt is on the skinny side, but I gotta confess I sorta like a skinny guy... and I LOVE the tattoo...

Okay... ready for a cold shower at the halfway point?  This one will join you...

Some people are not OUT YET in their pantslessness and feel compelled to hide it...

And sometimes I have to turn to butts with CHARM... you know... Soap teen, becomes starflyer captain, becomes FAMOUS NOVELIST!!! Is there ANYTHING Nathan Fillion can't do?  I think not. And I love him in all of it.

Of course that's not the ONLY famous butt around here. I particularly like Daniel Radcliff's butt dimples.

Though I hear Voldemort is the one willing to induct you into the mile high club *shifty*

For those of you with an international flair...

Oh, and here is another utility model... he will keep your garden for you!!!

And as a grand finale... a whole COLLECTION!  Oh, to have a fraternity at my beck and call...

And as TODAY'S bonus, but I am doing it as a link instead of a pic because it contains frontal nudity and not all of you may be interested... but this is actually an exquisite pic besides the hot bodies...

Beautiful: The Prophecy

I am over at Burrowers, Books and Balderdash today being a lot more serious than I normally am, so I thought maybe I'd leave you some Tartishness here...

first... a test...

What did you see?

How about here?  Is my nefarious plan to warp you working?

Maybe it is time for some re-education...

Though it's more likely you just need a shower...

And it might even help if you helped somebody else clean up their act...

So there... that's what I've got... the perfect balance to actual content elsewhere...