Summer is a Tough Season

We've hit one of our 3-4 weeks a year when its over 20C even at night.

Which is no excuse for me not having a post out yesterday. No, I put that blame entirely on the concert I went to see. Blackstreet Boys came to my hometown this week and I'd bought tickets months in advance. That was on Wednesday evening and I admit, I danced my ass off and sang loudly to every song and screamed like a fangirl. Then I did nothing but draw on Thursday while listening to BSB music on repeat, not realizing that I was supposed to have a blog done. 

However, instead of panicking, I'm simply going to own up to it and apologize. I am very sorry and I promise that I will have a full post up next week on time. And in lieu of my normal post, please appreciate what I did produce yesterday.  

Tragedy in Japan Kills Thirty-three

Back in 1996, I was in high school and I was clearly too old for cartoons. Then out of nowhere, Nickolodeon started playing Dragonball on the weekends. While the art interested me enough to watch it if it was on, the story did almost nothing for me. Whenever I'd get into the story, they'd take three episodes to have people scream about how they were powering up and it drove me mad. Even now, I am not a Dragonball fan, unless its TeamFourStar's Dragonball Z Abridged (if you haven't seen it, go check it out). Fortunately, a few months after Dragonball had started to air, Sailor Moon came out. 

I denied for months that I actually liked this silly cartoon about a crybaby who saves the world through the power of love and friendship... but the truth was that I was enamoured, both of the art style and the stories they told, a romance to last through the ages. Magical Knight Rayearth was the next thing to show up at my local card shop. Then a store opened selling bootlegs video cassettes. I bought posters, videos, cards... nearly everything I could. And when I met my boyfriend, the man I eventually married, he introduced me to even more. Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Ranma 1/2, Macross Plus... 

That was a little over 20 years ago now. 

So when I say that anime has been a huge influence on me and my writing (which I originally began writing around the same time... it was horrible), I'm not simply jumping on a bandwagon. The Asian style of storytelling is different than what is done in the west and I adore it, even if it means that I have to admit that Dragonball is simply a super-extended story and not straight out bad writing (in most cases). Hells, this year I'm helping to give a panel on how to incorporate Japanese storytelling into your writing. I suggested the panel to friends who write Asian fiction, wrote up the base description and submitted the version the rest of my friends helped edit to WWC. 

This has been a long-winded way of coming around to it, but I wanted to give some background before I jumped right into the news today. 

On July 17, a man started screaming death threats in the front office of Kyoto Animation Studio 1 in Uji. He splashed the area with a flammable substance and then lit the studio on fire. With the front door and bottom floors blazing many people tried to escape other ways. Most went for the roof. At the time of this writing, thirty-three people have been confirmed dead in the arsonist's blaze, with nearly everyone else in the building injured. My heart goes out to everyone involved in the attack and to all of Japan, dealing with the shockwaves of this incident rolling throughout the country.

I have no stakes here beyond my love for the art and my respect for this incredible company which is known for promoting women directors and paying their workers more than above-average wages. Yet somehow this attack feels personal, like I lost something, even though I have lost nothing. I'm stuck feeling confused, lost, and angry as hell over this. Perhaps that's just grief I'm feeling at such senseless destruction and loss of life. I've certainly lost nothing compared to those poor people who lost their lives or to those who survived and will have to live with the injuries of this ordeal for the rest of their lives. 

I am not going to put that man's name in my blog. I don't believe in giving people like him the screentime. I do want to send my heart out to everyone who worked in the building or had family that was injured or died. There has been a GoFundMe started to help the survivors and families of those who died. If you can help, please do. If you can't, then please at least share the link and the news so that people know what happened. 

I'll end here, still confused and lost... because what else can I do when all I'm feeling is anguish for those involved. Again, my prayers goes out to everyone in Japan, and every victim of this senseless attack, but most especially to those who actually worked for Kyoto Animation. Our hearts all beat for you today.

The First Days Back are Always the Hardest

... especially when you changed your sleep schedule for it. I was full of hope, ready to get back to work last week and yet, I am definitely not up to where I wanted to be working yet. Still, I have finished 15 more pages of the edit, which leaves me 85 to go. I'm not worried about getting it done yet, but I really do need to get to work on it, if that makes sense. That said, I'm going to keep this one short this week. 

Last Sunday was my second signing and despite a few hickups, it went swimmingly. I sold a few copies, I had the poster of my cover in their window all day. I got to talk to more than a few people and get the lay of the land. I didn't sell quite as many novels as I'd originally guessed, but I had forgotten to account for the fact that it was the first weekend of Stampede which, again, made for a quiet weekend for the location. Still, despite that, I really enjoyed myself. The staff was great, as well. 

In very interesting news, I started my first advertising campaign for Hunter's Gambit. Hopefully, I'll have some interesting factoids for you once it's over and I have some information to compare it to. Also, hopefully, it will get Hunter's Gambit out there and a few more reviews. Before I move on from this point, I'll remind everyone that if you've read my novel, reviews really help, even if you're going to give me a low star rating or your entire review is "I really liked it". Amazon specifically, but other places as well, use those reviews to decide if they start working to share your stuff with others. Please, if you want to help me out, leave a review. 

And I think that's where I'll end this week. Next week, I think I'll jump back into religion... so which religion of Hunter's Gambit would you like me to talk about next? Let me know in the comments below. 

A Mini Vacation

A year ago, for I and my husband's 10th anniversary, we got out of the city and travelled to Banff. While we enjoyed the trip all-around, the mind-blowing thing for me was the hot springs. Despite being within a few hours drive from Calgary, I had never been to them before. I am one of those women who is almost always cold, so the feeling of almost being too hot was amazing and I loved it. Since I've discovered it, we have gone back twice more on day trips. Yesterday was the most recent trip. It was rainy and cold; mixed with the hot water, again, I was in heaven. It's nice on warm days, but I much prefer cold days instead. I brought back pictures of the hot springs, if not me in it... I'm one of those people who refuses to take my phone into a pool.

This is the view from the front steps. You can see a bit of Banff in the background but look at how close the clouds were to us. It's one of the reasons I love heading up into the mountains. That hill on the other side actually goes much higher and its all covered by clouds.

This was the hot spring pool.  Not as rustic as it originally was, but the fog, low clouds, heat and rain combined to make it a truly magical experience.

This is what is left of the original springs... while without the clouds it looks dull, with the clouds and fog it looks rustic and wonderful. You can expect me to try to slip it into a book one of these days.

I adored the trip! If you haven't been to the Upper Banff hot springs, five out of five will go again is my recommendation.

Als, I wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow I'll be at Owl's Nest Books, signing books and chatting up customers from 11am to 2pm. Take a look at their site, it's a gorgeous little shop. You can expect some pictures as always!