Undead and Unworthy Shows Up Early

An interesting turn of events in the last few days...my publishing house, Berkley, moved the publication date for UNDEAD AND UNWORTHY up by a week. So instead of being out in early July, you can get UNWORTHY starting June 24. (Heh...you can get unworthy! Let's all get unworthy! That just never stops amusing me.)

The reason for their decision was both practical (apparently it's better to be out the last week in June as opposed to 4th of July week, when people tend to spend their money on stuff they can blow up...and for the record, I have no objection to UNWORTHY being blasted to smithereens), and sensible (to stop my near-continual whining, "but I don' wanna be published that weeeeeeeeek, pay attention to meeeeeeee!"). But whatever the reason, I'm pretty excited...not only does that move my book tour up, it means I'll get UNWORTHY during the week of my fifteenth wedding anniversary. (Yeah, I'll get unworthy that week, I'm already planning...yeah, I know, I've pretty much beat that joke to death, haven't I?)

My publisher is still figuring out which cities to send me to this year, so if you have any desire for me to set foot on or near your native soil (or wherever you're hanging your hat these days), either post here or e-mail me at maryjanice@comcast.net.

As my publisher is footing the bill, I of course go where they send me ("Hyah! Go to Chicago! Ya, ya! Go left, to Denver! Good girl."). So if your city isn't on the list, please don't assume it's because I have a major hate-on for...I dunno...Des Moines? No, if I had a hate-on for any city, it'd be LaGrange, naturally.

(Heh. Just kidding, LaGrange. You know I love you more than my tan and black Beverly Feldmans. And that's saying something!)

The Family Gets Blindsided

Sorry about the delay in blogging of late; I'm sorry to report that my father-in-law passed away a few days ago. This has been hard on all of us, as you can imagine. I adored him and admired him, not just as the man who raised my husband but as a truly good, thoughtful, and intelligent person. I know; I know, yawn-o-rama...it's much more interesting when a jerk dies. But I can't lie. He really was terrific. And of course my children and husband were even fonder of him. Work--everyone's work--came to a screeching halt as we came from 'round the country to pay our respects, which was only what he deserved. Let me tell you, that church was packed. There was even a dog in attendance. (I don't...I don't know what that means. It was a nice dog, though. Perhaps it was there to settle a bet?)

The really odd thing was, my mother-in-law was the sick one. She was the one we were all worried about. The one we were calling and scolding to take better care of herself. So we were all looking the other way when my father-in-law died. It was the sort of joke he would have liked. He did enjoy proving to his children and in-laws that we still had a few things to learn.

Amen to that, I s'pose.