Shara’s E Zone

Way to open with a cheery sentiment, right? Actually I’ve been quite enjoying my read of Bodies We’ve Buried: CSI Training School by Hallcox and Welch. It’s a fascinating book about the National Forensic Academy. One minute I think–oh, this is so cool, I’ve gotta go there! The next I think–oh man, I’d be puking up my lunch. One particularly memorable moment was when they were talking about getting fingerprints off a corpse and breaking rigor. I don’t know why, but that got to me. Then they were talking about the different types of death and what exactly happens to you after death. I’ve read about the Body Farm before, but somehow their description of floaters and overdose victims had me cringing. It certainly makes you rethink suicide. In fact they mention that spending some time in the morgue with them will cure most suicidal thinkers.

I gave up watching CSI a season or two ago. Something about the miniature killer who left tiny models at the scenes just bugged me. Maybe I’d just been a CSI junkie for too long. I still watch NCIS, but that’s less about the science and more about the characters. I don’t watch the real life forensic shows. Somehow knowing that they’re based on actual events, actual people, makes me queasy. How sad some of our lives are and what sadder ends they come to.

I recently added to my Howdunit collection with Police Procedure & Investigation by Lee Lofland and Forensics by DP Lyle. I have another one of his books and I found that fascinating. It included writers questions to him about forensics for their books. Being a writer myself, I love seeing where the imagination takes us. But somehow it’s knowing that it’s the imagination taking us there and not depraved killers makes all the difference. Odd, isn’t it, that I write about depraved killers?

Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com

BLURB: In Finding Mr. Right is Murder, Leanne Aimes can’t believe that a woman is found dead on the first night of her best friend’s new business venture, Pajama Dates. A nasty murder won’t be good for business, but it might be good for Leanne, if solving the murder of Ms. Dead leads her into the arms of Mr. Right.

EXCERPT–Enjoy!

“Ice weighs a lot.” Leanne joined her friend near the center island. “Might’ve messed up a few lines.”

“I should’ve had this in town, shouldn’t I?” She hung her head.

Leanne patted her shoulder. “Look at the bright side, if we’re stranded, then they’ll have more time to fall in love.”

“Or hate each other,” Gage said.

“You shut up. You are not helping!”

Jenny sighed and straightened. “Anyway, I thought it might be a good time to pull out the ice cream fixings.”

“Excellent idea. What do you need?”

“Why don’t you peel and cut some bananas? And, Gage, could you be a dear and pull down that big thing of hot fudge in the pantry?”

Once his back was turned, she winked at Leanne. Leanne threatened her with the knife she was using to cut the bananas, but her friend stuck out her tongue before trotting to the large freestanding freezer.

“Here’s the fudge,” Gage said, plopping the gargantuan container on the counter with a thud. “Wanted to make sure you didn’t run out, huh?” He paused. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Huh?” Leanne looked over her shoulder at Jenny to see that her friend had turned sheet white.

“Leanne, could you come here, please?” Her voice was a scratchy whisper.

“Okay.” She stepped to Jenny’s side and looked down at the freezer lid. “What’s up?”

“Inside.”

By now Gage was crowding both of them from behind. Leanne lifted the lid.

“Holy shit,” she said.

“Yeah, holy shit,” Gage echoed.

Damned if there wasn’t a body shoved in the freezer, with the head covered by a frying pan. Leanne decided then and there that she wasn’t having any of the ice cream. She’d eat the fudge straight.

“Is that blood?” Jenny asked in the same low voice, pointing at the clumpy stuff on the cast iron pan. The clumpy stuff was a brownish-red color and had string–no hair–sticking out of it. Leanne’s stomach rolled like a barrel going over the falls. Below the pan was a white terry cloth robe, also spattered in red, and peeking through the folds was the sheer material of a nightgown.

It just seemed so wrong amid the pints of Ben and Jerry’s and the bags of frozen peas and corn.

“Shouldn’t we see who it is?” Gage asked sensibly, not realizing the two women in front of him were frozen in shock. Dumb ass. Like they saw bodies everyday. Leanne slowly ratcheted her head, so she could look over her shoulder at the man. Her mouth was slightly open and she was trying to breathe as shallowly as possible while remaining upright. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed the nightgown.

“Was she trying to cook?” Jenny asked stupidly, glancing up at the pot rack suspended from the ceiling.

“Somehow I doubt it,” Gage said. This time Leanne found enough motor function to smack him in the arm.

He finally seemed to notice her expression. Then he noticed the knife she held in her right hand. “Um, why don’t you give me that?”

“She wasn’t murdered with a knife.”

“But I might be.”CHECK OUT ANOTHER EXCERPT AT WWW.SHARALANEL.COMShara

I tend to Google myself periodically looking for reviews or blog mentions that I didn’t know about. Lately I’ve been googling my name plus “Blame it on the Moon”–the title of my latest book. Apparently this is a tremendously popular song title. Who knew?

I pulled up iTunes to check this out and found 22 songs matching this title and several albums with the name. Cool. So then I had to listen to them, of course. Moondafaruka was one of the artists I listened to. Very nice. Instrumental. Reminds me a bit of Spanish flamenco, like a mellow Gypsy Kings. I really like Katie Melua’s “Blame It on the Moon.” Jazzy, sexy. Way cool. The tomo-aki version is interesting, because it’s in Japanese. No idea what the song’s about other than the moon.

Making me think about the Big Easy in a funky, grooving way is the Bonedaddy’s version. Ray Edge does a blues version. Note: these are all very different songs, not the same one redone. Dina Regine had a folk song by that name, which sounded a little familiar. Not sure why. Perhaps I’ve heard it before. Hypnogaja changes it up a bit by blaming it on the full moon, not just any old moon.

So what I’m trying to say is that my book has some good company, and that I’ve had a hell of a time googling it! One other way to BLAME IT ON THE MOON, is to enter my giveaway of the same name. Details are on the News Page at www.sharalanel.com.

Shara

My ancient cocker spaniel Ana passed away in her sleep before New Year’s, but thankfully after Christmas. She was 15 years old and it was expected and peaceful. But looking around the house expecting to find her prompted the emotional decision to get a new puppy, so meet Perry (think of Perry Mason or Poodle+Terrier).

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve dealt with puppy antics, so that’s been a bit of a shock. The potty training (or outdoors training) is going fairly well. The biting has converted to nibbling, but he has a fascination with socks, particularly my son’s socks. Whenever he finds one tossed into the laundry pile in the hallway (or wherever my son chooses to leave it that day), Perry happily pounces on it and carries it proudly into the living room.

Then my hubby comes home and wonders why there’s a pile of laundry in the living room. Honestly, it’s not my fault. Nor is the shredded bits of paper towel tube or newspaper.

Perry was less than 5 pounds when we got him. He’s now 7.5 lbs. The person we got him from said 10 lbs. max, but the vet thinks more than that. More than that would be better, because then maybe we’d stop tripping over him. Right now he’s very cute to carry around though. My son is so happy that he likes to play fetch, because Ana had been too old to do that for a few years now. Perry’s energy almost matches my son’s…almost.

And now Perry’s glued to my thigh, waiting for me to stop typing and find a toy to tug on.

–Shara

BLAME IT ON THE MOON is available NOW at Loose Id. Read an excerpt from the 1st chapter here.

 Kitty can read your mind…

             but do you want her to?

 Haden has secrets to keep…

             like howling when the moon is full.

 And now a murderer is after them both!

–Shara

My friend Jeff invited me out to see his band, Point of Rock, down in Chester, VA (a little south of Richmond). The venue was Chester Bistro, which I found very cool, with album covers papering the walls and melted vinyl forming bowls for some of the food. It was cozy yet cool. Jeff’s band opened. A bit of instrumental, blues, excellent guitar, and of course, Jeff’s forte: good drummin’.

Still no Rick Springfield cover, though. Hah! Pickin’ on John (singer/guitarist) about this. Been trying to get him to cover “Red Hot & Blue Love” from RS’s Working Class Dog album. It’s a bluesy, lesser known number that I think PofR could do justice to. (I know, I know…I’m a little obsessed *g*)

I had a rockin’ evening with these guys. Even met Jeff’s mother. Can’t wait for their next show!

Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com

All of these shots are from Richmond, VA where I live. To enlarge the pics, hold your mouse over the picture.My son got to meet Mr. Christmas in front of his well-lit house off of Skipwith. This is one of the houses with its own radio station. It’s also one of the houses where you can catch up with the limos–handy to follow to find the best houses.
This house’s influence has spread to the house next door. I remember when a church group used to hand out candy canes and hot cocoa next door. Now both lawns are covered with lights. The traffic in this little Farmington cul de sac is insane!
Last year we got a pre-lit tree, and boy is it bright!
I believe this is one of the houses on the TLC Christmas lights special. The owners were out in the driveway chatting with folks.
In one neighborhood there’s 4 houses in a row lit up with the tacky lights and at one Santa came out to greet the cars and hand out coloring books. Problem with this neighborhood is that it’s so close to Broad St. that it causes the traffic to back up onto a main road.
We do this tour every year and it does make us miss our mini-van, but the Prius is better on gas. Some year I dream of doing one of the limo tours, just because I’ve never ridden in a limo…sigh.

One of the houses in a neighborhood off Patterson had a display set to music–I couldn’t catch a good pic since it kept changing. You tune your car radio to their station then watch the show. Very cool. We encountered at least 4 Santas, Mr. Christmas, and Mrs. Claus. Usually we go to the Farmington house and find a limo to follow, but this year I printed a list from the Times-Dispatch web site and that worked great.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! And here’s to a peaceful New Year!

Shara

When:
Saturday Dec 15, 2007
12:00 PM-6:00 PM

Where::
The Pink Banana Boutique
352 N Newtown Road
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462 Meet up to 10 authors or more during this erotica booksigning and enter a raffle to win a wonderful gift basket!!    Take this opportunity to meet the following list of authors during the erotica booksigning to be held on December 15, 2007 from 12pm to 6pm at The Pink Banana Boutique……. Crystal B. Bright/Bridget Midway
Leigh Ellwood
Alessio Brio
Monique Lamont/Yvette Hines
Denise Jeffries/Alexis Ke
Violet Heart
Pam Kinney
Cheryl Bonner
Shara Lanel
Barbara Donlon-BradleyAll authors will be on hand to meet and greet as well as sell and sign autographed copies of their latest best selling books.Also enter a raffle to win a wonderful gift basket.Look forward to seeing you on December 15th !!  –Shara

OMG! I am totally utterly completely in LOVE with my new cover! I just got it this weekend and I just want to plaster it all over my walls. Isn’t this guy gorgeous?! I also found out the release date for this fabu book–so mark it down:

BLAME IT ON THE MOON

by Shara Lanel

Buy it–January 15th–at Loose Id!

Here’s the blurb:

Kitty Lazarus can’t help reading the new pub owner’s mind—that’s her gift—but his thoughts are very different from anyone else’s, very 3-D, and they always involve stripping her naked and doing…other things. But who is this blonde lady he keeps thinking about, and why does he sometimes picture himself in front of a mirror sprouting fur and fangs?

Haden Blackwood doesn’t need the complication of lusting after the rental storeowner, especially when she leases the space he plans to expand his pub into. Worse, she has the uncanny ability to guess his thoughts. He’s got too many secrets to keep, like a tendency to howl at the moon when it’s full and a warrant for his arrest. But he can’t fight his sexual attraction to Kitty—she smells so good!—and pretty soon he’s going to have to act on it.

But his secrets may be revealed as someone from his past tries to frame him…again…for a murder he didn’t commit. If he doesn’t trust Kitty with his true nature, he may find himself locked in jail during the full moon—not the kind of publicity his pub needs. But if he does involve her in his complicated life, she may find herself the target of a madman.

Catch an unedited excerpt here!

Happy Holiday Prep!

–Shara