Note
from Suz: It's time for...Countdown to
12/14/04
14 days (and counting to Hot Target, in stores on December 28th)
Note
from Suz: It's time for...
Tales from the Road!
But first, the winners and the answers to the trivia quiz!
The winner of Trivia Quiz # 2: THE COSMO QUIZ is:
Michelle Hill
Michelle answered all the questions correctly, as well as selected the tie-breaker number! She won an audiobook (tape) of HOT TARGET!
Congratulations, Michelle!
TQ # 2 went something like this:
The Cosmo Quiz
1. What injuries
did Cosmo suffer in GONE TOO FAR while guarding Kelly Paoletti?
2 broken legs (GONE TOO FAR, 314 hardcover)
2. What did Cosmo
and two other SEALs help Mike demonstrate to Joan DeCosta? Also, name
the two other SEALs.
Climbing the cargo net on the O-course,
& Jenk and Gillman (INTO THE NIGHT, 69 & 70)
3. What animal did
Mike compare Cosmo to as he saw him on top of the cargo net?
A weird giant bird (INTO THE NIGHT, 77)
4. What rumor
about Cosmo was joked about during the wheels up party in INTO THE NIGHT?
He was recruited from the “lifer’s wing” of federal
prison to join the SEALs (INTO THE NIGHT, 218)
5. In GONE TOO FAR
what was Cosmo’s role in Tom’s wedding to Kelly?
Witness (GONE TOO FAR, 144 hardcover)
6. Where was Cosmo
when he saw the TV news report about SEAL Team 16’s operation in Afghanistan?
in a sandwich shop not far from the shooting range the
team had nicknamed "Caliente" (INTO THE NIGHT, 246)
7. What was Cosmo
doing while Joan and Mike shared their first kiss at the Lady Bug Lounge?
Playing pool (INTO THE NIGHT, 305-308)
8. What did Cosmo
say to Mike as he exited (not excited -- sorry about
the typo!!! LOL!) the helo with a broken knee cap?
“Hoo-ya, Sir. Glad
you’re on our side.” (INTO THE NIGHT,
15)
9. In Flashpoint,
before Nash is introduced to Cosmo, name one of the nicknames that Nash has
given him.
Dog-eye man, Fido or Siberian Husky (FLASHPOINT,
374-375 hardcover)
10.
In which Troubleshooters book are we first introduced to Cosmo?
OVER THE EDGE
Whoops --my bad -- this went up last night saying INTO THE NIGHT, which is WAY
WRONG!!! Sorry about that -- major brain-typo. See, this year,
instead of creating these quizzes myself, I've had assistance from my intrepid
team. When this question (which was a really good one, I thought!) came
back, it had as the answer INTO THE NIGHT. And I thought: No, Cosmo was in
the picture way before that. It's hard for me to remember exactly when he
appeared, because he's been in my head for a long time. Long story short,
I used my computer to search for his name on the manuscript/draft versions of
the books that I still have on my computer. BUT... Drafts can be
changed during revisions, and I have been known to trim down scenes with groups
of SEALs -- so as not to overwhelm readers with too many characters. So I
printed those draft pages out, and we double checked the text of OVER THE EDGE
to make sure and... Then I didn't change the answer to OVER THE EDGE on
the master list that I used here on this webpage. <sigh> (IT
was changed, however, on the master list used to check the winners answers!)
11. Pick a
number from 1 to 100
Forty-two (42)
We have a saying here at Brockmann HQ: "Another book, another road trip!"
I have enormous amounts of fun hittin' the road with my husband Ed and my best bud, Eric. It's wonderful to get a chance to meet readers face to face!
Although, for Hot Target, we're trying something new. We've got a very limited number of stops planned as we travel to Florida for our TARGET: TAMPA weekend party in January. (Wilmington, Delaware; Fairfax, Virginia; Richmond Hill, Georgia; Orlando, Florida! Details re: where and when on my appearances page -- if you live near one of those cities, I hope we'll get a chance to meet you!)
See, we've decided to see what happens when we plant ourselves in one location (Tampa!) for an entire loooong weekend. Our goal is to get readers to come to us and to have a great, big weekend-long party with lots of time to get books signed, to schmooze, to have parties and trivia contests, to win cool door prizes, and even to visit with guest authors! (Catherine Mann will be joining us, as will other special guests!) We hope you'll join us in Tampa -- it's going to rock!
Anyway, we chose Tampa over someplace like, say, Detroit for our January event for obvious reasons. No offense to readers in Detroit, but BRRRRR!!!
Okay, back to today's topic...
Tales from the Road!
Chapter One: The View From The
Rear -- by Eric Ruben
On our first tour together, in the summer of 2002, Suz, Ed and I went from Boston to Colorado in a Ford Taurus. Before we go further, let me paint a more detailed picture for you of the “glamour-fest” that the tour was. Ed drove the mid-sized American sedan with Suz comfortably resting in the passenger seat. I was in the back. As we were traveling for three weeks, the trunk housed three weeks of clothes for three people making an average of two public appearances a day. There were also promotional materials regarding Suz’s books (pamphlets, handouts, bookmarks, etc.) which overflowed and found their way into the back seat. This made the space available to me, and my 6’3” corpulence, much of it attributable to my long but masculine legs, even scarcer.
That wasn’t all that we needed, however. We also needed food and drink as we traversed the great nation because we could not eat fast-food only, lest we perish or suffer one of several maladies, not the least of which could be an allergic reaction to hidden ingredients. So, a cooler and a variety of food supply bags also found their way into the back of the Taurus. Finally, I was left with the same amount of space in the back of the vehicle as an astronaut in an early Mercury mission.
Chapter Two: Hero -- by Ed Gaffney
Much of what Eric writes is true -- we made our first cross-country Suz booksigning trip in a Taurus, and he did sit in the back seat. Eric was, however, too humble to note that the hourly sacrifices he made to ensure that Suz could successfully make each and every one of her public appearances caused him so much personal anguish that Suz and I were moved to do something to relieve his misery. We went to ToysRUs and bought Eric a very special stuffed rabbit. A blue and pink one, which we call “Eric’s Sadness Bunny.” That way, when Eric begins to sob uncontrollably on our way to booksignings, he can hug his new furry friend, and cry himself to sleep.
Chapter Three: Ed is a Liar, and We are Lost Again -- by Eric Ruben
There are three important things you need to know as you continue to read this. First, my friend Ed is a liar.
Second, his lack of a sense of direction is legendary. When exiting any building, Ed will turn left, and that means you need to go right. And vice versa. So, in a way, he DOES have a sense of direction. It’s just always wrong.
And finally, as you may or may not know about me, I am a city mouse. One of our more “remote” destinations on tour was Mattoon, Illinois. Without large buildings looming over me or the smell of fresh diesel exhaust, I become nervous. So, as we drove through miles of corn fields toward a remote Sears shopping center, I started shaking.
The signing was successful and the people we met were wonderful, filled with that Midwestern friendliness that seems almost alien to urbanites like myself, even though they do have pizza that is inedible. As we left the event, I made an almost fatal mistake. I looked down.
You see, whenever we leave a signing and head to the next event, Ed just gets in the car and starts driving. Indiscriminately. He doesn’t feel bound to look at directions we may have in the car, nor does he ask anyone else in the car anything. At the time in question, Suz started to dig through her pocketbook for reasons unknown to me and I looked down to start to read something when suddenly Ed started to make noises. Strange, frightened noises. I looked up and saw we were stopped at a curb in the middle of a parking lot. It was as if the car was a toy that just kept going until it bumped something that then just stopped. Ed had run out of places to drive. Not having any idea of what he was doing or where he was going, he headed away from our parking space in a straight line until he came to the curb. At that point I calmly explained to Ed that we needed to traverse a “ramp” which would take us from the parking lot and onto a road. He seemed thrilled to have found someone who understood the fearful magic of parking lots and once again we were on our way.
Overcome with my own sense of triumph, I erred again and looked down. This time there were shouts of surprise and alarm from both Ed and Suz. As I looked up I saw that we were approaching a frozen custard stand. No one mentioned the need for frozen custard. In fact, I was pretty sure that Suz was allergic to custard in any form. Then I realized, as I looked at the panic in their faces, that they tried to make a driving decision without my help. Fools.
Once again I helped negotiate us out of yet another parking lot debacle. I thought, “Surely that’s the end of this. They can find their way back to the highway.” It was not to be.
As I started reading, I heard Ed let out a nervous laugh. I looked up. We were in an airport. I am not kidding. There were small planes and runways and, once again, I helped my pathetic friends get back to the highway.
And this has been part of my job ever since. I no longer close my eyes in the car, or even look down. If I did, you’d never get to meet Suz or get your book signed. No need to thank me. The fact that we reach any of you in your hometowns across America is thanks enough.
Chapter Four: The Insanity of Parking Lots -- by Ed Gaffney
Eric is also correct when he describes my approach to leaving parking lots. He fails, however, to properly explain my thinking.
You see, I am a logical man. If I am in a parking lot, and I want to get to a road, I look around, find where the road it, and drive toward it. Thanks to the genius of those charged with designing parking lots, this invariably leads me to a dead end.
The Mattoon incident did happen, but not quite as Eric would have you believe. The pattern of behavior at booksignings goes something like this: We pull into a parking lot, park the car, enter the store, do the booksigning, leave the store, enter the car to resume our trip, and Eric instantaneously collapses into a coma.
This is understandable, because at the booksignings, Eric is often extremely busy. And as anyone who knows him knows, Eric operates at two speeds: frenetic, and unconscious. When he’s on, he’s way on. But when he’s off, pull back the eyelids, and the pupils barely respond to light.
So we go to Mattoon, and Suz does a great signing, and Eric does his entertaining thing, and it’s time to go, and we’re in the car, and I look for the road, and I head for the road. Because that is what I do. Since it’s well-known that I think that parking lots should be designed so that if you want to go to a road, you drive toward the road, I have come to expect a lot of noise about how I shouldn’t be driving across the parking lot, and why aren’t I heading for the exit, and other such annoying protests. Ed, nobody drives like that in a parking lot. Ed, how can you possibly be going that way? Ed, oh my God, you almost got us killed again. Blah blah blah. But in Mattoon, I hear nothing. Curious.
A quick check of the back seat confirms that my friend the hero is clutching his Sadness Bunny to his chest, murmuring something about how Robin Williams never rode in the back seat in his life. Suz is looking at a map, and confidently announces that as long as we can average 96 miles per hour over the next fourteen and a half hours, not stop for the bathroom, and share a single slice of bread for lunch and dinner as we drive, we’ll arrive at the next booksigning with at least seven seconds to spare.
Sadly, I note that I have, in fact, come to a dead end in the stupid parking lot. As I bring the car to a full and safe stop, my passengers are alerted to the opportunity for a stunning crescendo of criticisms and conflicting directions, which I dutifully begin to follow. At the first sign of trouble, however, my critics have lapsed back into their respective states of non-attentiveness, and I am forced, once again, to bring the car to a full and safe stop.
At the frozen custard stand.
The decibel level soon achieved by my navigators now reaches dangerous levels. Personal attacks are flying willy-nilly all about the cabin, and I find that I must call upon the best of my nature to rise above the unfortunately negative tone taken by some of my detractors. Again I do my best to follow the contradictory directives being flung about with such vigor, and again, the car becomes a place of relative quiet. If snoring counts as quiet.
My directions sounded something like the following: If you manage to follow the gigantic arrows painted on the parking lot pavement which is right in front of your incredibly not-paying-attention nose and make it out of the parking lot alive, take a left turn onto the only road you can see, and then make your first right onto Smith Street. Do you think you can do that without creating some kind of international crisis? Please? I’m begging you.
Inwardly, I wonder if the tone is necessary, but I am willing to be a team player, and I follow the shouted instructions out of the parking lot onto the only road I can see. And then, I make my first right.
Bad news. Smith Street looks a lot like an airport runway. I am philosophical about these things, and decide that someone must have made an error -- perhaps when Eric was exhorting me at high volume to listen carefully to him for the love of God, he suffered a small stroke, and the ensuing brain damage caused him to direct me to the Mattoon Airport. I discreetly execute a U-Turn, and regrettably, my passengers are alerted to the change in direction, and once again, discussion is lively.
But thanks to my expert driving, fourteen and a half hours later, we arrive at our next signing.
With a full ten seconds to spare.
(I'll be climbing in the car with these guys on Friday morning, January 7th. HELP!!! <g>)
Gay 101: Tolerance is a Fabulous Value!
from Be Yourself, a PFLAG publication about coming out, for GLBT youth http://www.pflag.org/publications/BeYourself.PDF
Will people accept me?
THE SHORT ANSWER: Some people will accept you and some won't.
Prejudice and discrimination are everywhere in America, and around the world. There's prejudice against African Americans, against Latino/as, against Arabs, against Asians, against women, against poor people, against older people and youth, disabled people and others. It takes time to overcome prejudice and change attitudes.
If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender you're going to run into prejudice. Our society has a "heterosexual assumption." We're taught —by our families, our schools, our religions and the media — to assume that everyone is straight, and we're often influenced to discriminate against those who aren't or who don't appear to be. That "assumption" has begun to change only recently. Likewise, our society has assumptions about what it means to be a boy or girl, man or woman, and may judge others by how they conform to those preconceptions.
The prejudice you run into could be fairly mild, like people assuming you're straight when you're not, and embarrassing you (and themselves!) with their mistake. But it could be much worse. GLBT people are at risk to be beaten up, kicked out of their homes, and fired from their jobs — just for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. And, the discrimination that GLBT people face can be compounded if they belong to other oppressed communities as well. People often fear what they don't understand, and hate what they fear. That's the basis of prejudice and, when it's aimed at GLBT people on the basis of their sexual orientation, it's called "homophobia."
Homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are being challenged, however, as more and more people are learning the truth about GLBT people. Attitudes are starting to change partly because GLBT people are being open and honest about who they are. Attitudes are changing also because other people are standing up with GLBT people to say, "They are my friends, or my children, or my brothers — and I'm proud of them."
That's all for now! Be sure to come back for tomorrow's installment in the Countdown to HOT TARGET!
See you tomorrow!