Interesting adventures

I was a little frazzled over the past few weeks since I was editing a wonderful anthology of 7 interracial romances...I will have the pleasure of hosting the authors when the book is released, and there are definitely some fun and romantic tales included.  Consequently, I am even further behind than usual on my reviews, which is compounded by the fact that two of them are for VERY long books.  One of those is Mirror Sight, by Kristen Britain, a rousing fantasy story that is part of her 'Green Rider' series, which I fell in love with many moons ago when I read the first volume, Green Rider.  I admit, I haven't been as enthralled with every book in the series, but it is a very nice fantasy set nonetheless, and a great choice if you are looking for books for the young adult fantasy readers in your life.


                   


The other massive tome is geared for the science fiction lover, the Species Imperative collection by Julie Czerneda.  I will write more about this trilogy once I get it read and reviewed...but don't hold your breath, it's about 1,000 pages since it is comprised of three full-length novels!

But, lest you think I never leave the house...I will tell you about the adventures I have had over the past few weeks!

I enter contests all of the time (I am sure you have seen my name submitted at all sorts of places as you wander through the book sites) but I don't limit my entries to those related to books!  So, a few weeks ago, I received notice that I had won a trip to see the Soul Train Music Awards in Las Vegas!

We were flown to Vegas (the organizers were not amused by my offer to rent a car and drive and use the excess money that they were ostensibly paying for our flight to go shopping--we looked in the newspaper and the flights were listed at less than half of what they supposedly were paying!), they put us up in a nice hotel room at The Orleans (where the ceremony was to be held), we were able to attend a pre-party and see stars such as Doug E. Fresh, the master of beatboxing (if you've never seen him perform, look up a YouTube video...he is so IMPRESSIVE!).  We're short, and shy, so we didn't wade into the crowd around Wendy Williams but we watched the hubbub as she made her brief appearance.  Sadly, the itinerary was mistaken, and we did NOT get a chance to see Kool and the Gang (pout), but we saw them the next night as they received their awards.

The next afternoon, we were able to watch folks as they came in on the red carpet...since I haven't really kept up with the current artists, I didn't know many of them, but I was SO impressed to see the female artist, MC Lyte, present scholarships to three young men for their college education, awarded by the Hip Hop Sisters Network.  More information is at this link.  I was disappointed that we were not allowed to bring our cameras, just to use our camera phone (and those who know me are aware that I don't use a cellphone and the hubby has one of those very basic ones)...and I still haven't figured out how to get those fuzzy pictures onto my computer but one of these days, lol.  Then we were escorted into the building past these VERY long lines of folks waiting to enter...wow, what a way to feel special.

Our final treat was to attend a comedy show hosted by Bill Bellamy.  The only drawback was that it was supposed to start at 10:30 p.m. and they didn't start letting people in until after 11:00 p.m.  Geesh.  I read until the wee hours of the night, but I am usually tucked into my bed, lol.  It was a very good show and I liked all of the routines except one, and I managed to doze through most of that one.  Naturally, they were a little politically incorrect, and unfortunately involved way too much profanity for my tastes, but they were undeniably funny.

After way too little sleep, we got the shuttle back to the airport and flew back to our home city...exhausted but entertained.  What a blast!

Then, today, I participated in the gun trade-in being hosted by the County Sheriffs.  But...I think I will save that story for another day...
anything interesting going on in your life?  Feel free to share...