Cherie Priest

• Free reads for blogging maniacs. My buddy Caitlin Kittredge has gotten the go-ahead from St. Martin’s to offer advance advance reader copies of her upcoming novel STREET MAGIC to interested bloggers. Are you an interested blogger? I ask not just because the author is a friend of mine, but because I’m a fan of this author. I was lucky enough to read a draft of this particular manuscript a few months ago, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s wicked cool. Click the link above (and scroll down a little) for details.

• Synergy at Bookspot Central. BookSpotCentral kicks off the first of a new monthly feature called Synergy. Basically, one of their contributors offers a single question for other contributors to answer. I submitted a a few thoughts on the subject, “Can you share something interesting about how you read fiction, the elements of story that you focus on that you’ve noticed others may not — ideally providing a few examples — and why you do so (if you know)?” Scroll down a bit or run a search on my name to find me.

• “Dogtown.” As featured on National Geographic’s hit television show “Dogtown,” 145 dogs were left orphaned at a desert ranch near Gabbs, Nevada when their owner died. Through a collaborative effort on the part of Best Friends Animal Society, United Animal Nations, The Humane Society of the United States, the Nevada Humane Society, and Nevada groups B.A.R.K. and Dog Town Canine Rescue, all the dogs were rescued from the ranch on January 23, 2008. The big truck came and the final dogs were taken from the ranch and placed with shelters and rescue groups across Nevada and California. One year later, many of the Gabbs dogs are still waiting for their forever homes. The complete story is here.

• Because I am an utter goober. (I’m not being paid to pimp this stuff; I’m just obscenely impressed that it works as well as it says it does, that’s all.) I’ve mentioned Zap! Professional Restorer on this page before, here and there — but I haven’t mentioned it in awhile because I ran out, and I couldn’t find any more. But then I scored some from Amazon.com, and although this stuff smells like pickled pig’s ass with a sprig of mint, there is nothing on earth that cleans half so well. Would you like to see how fabulously it performed on a 100-year-old claw-foot tub with a century’s worth of funky gunk on the bottom? Would you? Then click the jump below for pictures.
  

Before: The lighting is (only a smidge) deceptive. The tub was not quite this brown overall; it was a trick of the blinds. But in the bottom was a distinct and unpleasant gunk that coated the entire basin. The building manager assured me repeatedly that he’d done his best to scrub it out and I believe him.

After! Below, you’ll see the result of three rounds of Zap! Usually, Zap! wipes out even the worst of the bad nasties, right away, the first time. But a century of gunk required three sessions — and each session amounted to nothing more than (1). dampen tub, (2). spray Zap! all over the nasty areas, (3). scrub like a mofo, (4). rinse. By the third round, I had a damn-near pristine bathing vessel that’s older than my grandmother.

There are still a few shadowy patches here and there, but intense inspection tells me that these are merely spots where the enamel is wearing thin — and there’s nothing to be done about it. Anyway, it looks pretty damn good and I, for one, am delighted.

Tomorrow, Aric and I are going to go pick up (we hope) a pair of retro-fabulous end tables and a new kitty condo, and then our home will be complete enough for me to take pictures which I will then inflict upon you. Meanwhile, please forgive me if I remain mostly offline as I do the last of the moving clean-up and paperwork.

:-)