Pets I used to have - and COVER REVEAL

 Much as I like this topic from Long and Short Reviews, I'm a bit limited when it comes to photos. I had a lot of fish as a child, mostly shubunkins - I had one named Flipper who lived for five years. However, the only previous pet I have photos of is my dearly-departed cat Tigger.

Tigger had two goals in life - to eat, and to sit in boxes. Since my husband loves to buy trainers, there was rarely a time that Tigger didn't have a box to sit in. As for eating, dinner was always a struggle since he would fight you for every mouthful. It did, however, make getting him to do things (like stay in the kitchen when I was leaving for work, for instance - he liked to run outside and go under my car) much easier, since all I had to do was put some treats down and he'd be on them straight away.

And while I'm here, I have a new cover to reveal...

She ran away from her life – straight into his arms.

Photography graduate Starla Brower has always regretted not running away from her abusive home when she had the chance, as her older sisters did—especially her sister Electra, who fled with band Torque Converter six months ago. So when she decides to hitchhike away, she’s shocked to find Electra has arranged for the band to pick her up. And when lead singer Valen Lesellane rescues her from a gang of thugs by announcing she’s his fiancée, Starla goes along with it. Why not?

The band’s manager, Mike, is furious at this turn of events and the press attention it receives, but Starla finds Valen’s impulsiveness to be infectious and his touch to be irresistible. Before long she has regained contact with her other sisters and finds herself finally able to be happy, both with Valen and with her family.

But with her parents pursuing her and Mike fiercely against her relationship with Valen, can their unexpected engagement last beyond the bus tour?

It's on pre-order now from Totally Bound, and I hope everyone enjoys it!

Languages I'm learning or want to learn

 I liked this topic from Long and Short Reviews. There was a time when I was learning every language I could. I've always been good at languages, and my degrees are in linguistics, so I love to pull a new language apart and see what makes it work. However, I admit right now I'm not learning any.

In the past I've learned French, Italian, German and Spanish in the traditional way, and also attempted Polish, Portuguese, Dutch and Norwegian by way of Duolingo and Babbel. I may return to Norwegian and Portuguese at some point - Polish gave me a headache with all the inflections, but Norwegian and Portuguese were fun. Which led to one very interesting moment a few years ago.

I was getting a tattoo done - my very first specially-designed back piece, done by a Brazilian tattoo artist who was sharing a studio with a Brazilian-Japanese artist. I was on that table for about six hours, including the time my tattooist stopped for his lunch break, and the whole time he and his coworker were talking about me in a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish. I wasn't fluent enough to pick it all up, but I definitely caught a few off-colour remarks about my body, along with "Are you sure she can't understand us?"

Sadly I also wasn't fluent enough to answer them back in either language, otherwise I would have done. And at least it was a decent tattoo.

So which languages are you learning?

A celebrity I'd like to meet

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews made me smile, partly because this was a question that used to come up whenever my last workplace would ask people to be interviewed for promotion purposes, and for some reason people would always say the Dalai Lama. I have no idea what I would have said at the time, but it wouldn't have been him.

I can think of two celebrities I'd like to meet. One is Craig Charles, primarily famous for "Red Dwarf". I was a huge Red Dwarf fan as a teenager and had a massive crush on Craig, which has long since disappeared, but I'd still be curious to meet him simply because I wanted to for such a long time. Among other things he inspired my first novel, which fortunately was lost when my old computer was sold, because it was absolutely terrible.

The other celebrity I'd like to meet would be Justin Hawkins of my favourite band The Darkness. Having seen him on stage many times I know he's got a sense of humour and loves his fans, so it would definitely be good experience.

So which celebrity would you like to meet?

Hobbies I used to enjoy

 It's the first Long and Short Reviews topic of 2024, and I struggled a bit to think of a hobby I don't still have. In the end, I could only come up with one... singing.

I used to be a trained classical singer - I took lessons every week, never doing any exams (I'm terrible at music theory) but performing musical theatre, classical, some pop and a little operetta. I performed in a few Gilbert and Sullivan shows, always in small roles, but they were so much fun to do I never cared that I wasn't a soloist.

When my singing teacher retired, I auditioned at a different music school. They were happy to take me on, but they couldn't offer any times I could actually do, and I didn't like the tutor enough to shift things around. He informed me during my audition that I had no business singing "I'll Give My Life For You" because I didn't have children. Well, pal, I've done Sweeney Todd as well but I've never baked a man in a pie.

So which hobbies did you enjoy?

Gifts for people who are hard to shop for

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews reflects something that used to be an issue for me, but no longer is.

My husband, you see, is hell to shop for because when he sees something he wants, he buys it. He's also very good at finding gifts hidden around the house even when he's not trying to, so I've given up attempting to surprise him and I just ask him what he wants instead. Believe me, it's easier. My usual fallbacks of gift cards, wine and mugs aren't going to work on him.

However, I did manage a good one once.

On one occasion a friend asked me in exasperation "What do you get for the man who has everything?" and I jokingly replied "A box to put it in." This turned out to be a great idea. My husband collects watches, and while I can't afford the sort of watches he likes, I could easily afford a leatherbound watch box for him to keep them in. And he loved it - so much that now he has several.

I'm keen to know what everyone is going to suggest!

My winter holiday traditions

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews was a good one, although whether I could call what we do "traditions" is open to question. 

For a start, having anything Christmassy in the house is limited until at least the second week of December. I always have an advent calendar (actually I have two this year) but the decorations don't go up until later because my husband, who is the one to put them up, is not a Christmas person. There are houses in our area that cover their entire place in lights, but we generally just stick to a tree and lights in the windows.

On Christmas Day we go over to the local working men's club with my in-laws for a drink before going back to theirs for Christmas dinner. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are incredible cooks, so generally everyone eats enough to keep them going for about a week.

As far as presents go, this year we're doing a Secret Santa with my husband's family, so I'm only buying one present for family plus one for my niece. My husband and I will swap presents before we leave - mine will usually involve at least one surprise as I love surprises, but my husband is always well aware of what his presents are because he's not bothered - plus it's impossible to hide his presents around the house.

For New Year we go out to dinner and then usually go to the working men's club with my in-laws to ring it in. Apart from one year when somebody started a fight on the dancefloor, it's usually a great atmosphere to spend New Year in.

So what are your winter holiday traditions?

Criticise my favourite book, show or movie

 I love this topic from Long and Short Reviews. For many years my favourite film was "Heavenly Creatures", and I still do love it. More recently I discovered "Hell House LLC" and its sequels, and those now take precedence. However, the one point of criticism I have for "Hell House LLC" also applied to "Heavenly Creatures" - the director's cut is better. yet harder to find.

"Hell House LLC" uses the mockumentary/found footage format to great effect and manages to evoke real dread, even though from an analytical perspective it's probably quite simple. It does, however, tread a fine line with how much it reveals of what's really going on, and possibly falls slightly on the side of not revealing enough. The director's cut does a better job, as it reveals a little more without going over the top, and as a result is scarier than the original - however, the director's cut has only just become available on Shudder after waiting ages for it, and the DVD and blu-ray are US only.

The film also has one issue which annoyed me the first time I saw it - every haunted house film has to have a good reason why they're not leaving the house, particularly when it's found footage, but in "Hell House LLC" they literally turn the camera off for this conversation and then switch it back on to say "You're right, we can't leave." The reason is revealed in a later film, but this seriously irritated me at the time. 

I'm interested to see what everyone else is going to come up with!