Mort's Comic

Mort (Maggie Shayne) had a house fire a few weeks ago, and she's been an absolute goddess coming to terms with it, helping the workers rip out the burned stuff and making her home her own again.
But her stuffed critters got pretty well smoked, so I decided she needed a plushy to make her life complete, and of course it would have to be a vampire, and of course, since it's from me, it has to be Japanese.
And then Macs come with the coolest program called Comic Life, so I decided to writer her a little story to accompany Vincent Valentine, former Turk from Final Fantasy and luscious kind of vampire.
So here's her comic:







And here's lovely Vincent himself, about to travel across the vast, snowy wastelands to Mort's side.

Knees and Berninas and Snow (Oh My)

Blogger's not working for me today either. I wanted to upload a photo of my Bernina 1000 (I decided to call her Bernadette, not for Bernadette of Lourdes but for the song by the Four Tops) but the internet was being stubborn.

But let me tell you about Phantom, the gray cat whose picture showed up last time.
He arrived at our house last winter, slipping through the darkness like a ghost. We called him, but he vanished, we were patient, but he scampered away like a ghost, so of course we named him Phantom. Finally my daughter Kate went out with a piece of cheese and lured him into the house and he hasn't left since. Well he leaves long enough to slaughter innocent birds and mice but he always returns, and sleeps on my stomach or hip when he's not sprawled in the sun.
And he's still Phantom, because oddly enough, half of his face is white, like the mask on the Phantom of the Opera. A great, great cat. (We never need to get cats from rescue -- they find us).

My poor knee blew up last week, and I spent last Monday in the ER, unable to blog, but now I'm hobbling around, doing a stellar impersonation of Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men (though my hair is better).
And my depression is slowly lifting. It's a sunny day (though it's 25 degrees) and no snow or ice storms for a couple of days so at least I can enjoy it while in lasts.
In the meantime, I bought Bernadette a baby brother (Benny). An 802, which is small and portable and cute as hell. I may give it to my pal, but it's hard to let go of a Bernina, even if you already have three other sewing machines.
We've finished DOGS AND GODDESSES, and we're turning it in today, and now I can turn my thoughts to serial killers. Doing creepy research, I found out Ted Bundy worked for the Republican party (even found a bumper sticker on ebay that reads TED BUNDY WAS A REPUBLICAN) and other, even more disturbing things. I'm really not big on putrefaction and severed body parts, so I'm not sure how my serial killer is going to progress, but I've got an open mind and a fabulous heroine, so we shall see.
In the meantime, I gotta deal with a crippled knee (they're talking total knee replacement now) and a landscape formed of solid ice.
But spring is coming, I'm losing weight, I've got two Berninas and books to write.

To quote Ike and Tina Turner, I know it's gonna work out fine.


Who among you like serial killers? I think they're kind of vile, but I did write an excellent Jack the Ripper book any moons ago (BREAK THE NIGHT) so I'm hoping I can make this work.

What are your favorite serial killer books? I need inspiration.