Jeri Smith-Ready and another special guest

And the winner of signed copies of Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone is...Amy! (Comment #30 on Monday's blog.) Congrats!

Amy, please send your mailing address to me at jeri AT jerismithready DOT com by Friday. If I don't hear from you, I'll draw another name Saturday.

Thanks for all the great comments!

As promised, I have another guest-guest blogger with me today: the hero of my vampire novels Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone, Shane McAllister. Shane's been online a lot lately: he has his own Twitter account, plus a page on the WVMP Radio site, complete with a playlist that gives a sample of his radio show.

(Also, unbeknownst to him, his "origin story" was posted to my website a few weeks ago. Shhh.)

Here he is:

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Since Jeri is busy writing about other people today, I've been asked to say a few words. It's not often I talk about anything other than music or sports, so I asked my girlfriend Ciara what I should write about. It went something like this:

She looked up at me, all bleary-eyed from studying for her accounting final (which is tonight, so go wish her luck).

Ciara: Readers don't want to hear about your theories on the evolution of punk, and they don't want to hear you gloat about the Steelers or bitch about the Penguins. Tell them how you've changed and grown as a hero between the two books.

Me: That's a little touchy-feely, isn't it?

Ciara: Have you seen the photos on that blog? Either discuss your feelings or take off your shirt. Your choice. Now get me another macademia nut brownie. (winsome smile) Pretty please?

I did as she asked, because like most women (most = 99.999%), she's wiser than her mate.

So how have I changed and grown? Well, I learned to drive stick shift, for one. That might seem minor, but we vampires tend to get really stuck in our ways (yeah, I still wear flannel and say, "kickin'").

Most of the other DJs at WVMP are cluless about new music, but I've started checking out new bands from this decade and actually liking what I hear. Like the White Stripes, or the Killers, the Strokes, Dead Confederate. Last week, I even accidentally tapped my foot to a Justin Timberlake song.

Whoops. I wasn't supposed to talk about music.

Let's see...feelings. Uh, well, back when the book takes place, I was going through a mess of crap about my family. My dad had just died, and the Control wouldn't let me go home for the funeral or even call my family in Ohio, because they (the Control) thought it would blow my cover as a vampire.

See, I was 39 but still looked 27. Not a big deal, but if I'd gotten back with my family after twelve years, they'd want to draw me back in, and so what happens in another ten years when I'm supposed to be 49 and I still look 27? I could see their point, but man, it killed me to add to my family's pain like that.

So I was kind of in a dark place (yeah yeah, darker than usual for a vampire) when Bad to the Bone starts.

On the other hand, I had the smartest, sexiest girlfriend in the world. We were getting along great, and once the nights got longer as winter approached, we could actually spend serious time together without her having major sleep deprivation.

So to paraphrase Charles Dickens and Bill & Ted: it was the most excellent of times, it was the least excellent of times.

And then things got interesting.

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Since Shane also has a Blogger account, he can answer your questions without any mediation from me. But be aware that he needs to sleep between noon and 6, since he has a show tonight.

Thanks to the DIK Ladies for having me on the island again, and to everyone for making me feel so welcome!

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