Dirty Kiss’s release date is fast approaching. I don’t know the official date yet but we’re gearing up there. The cover artist has been tapped for the book… the lovely Anne Cain whom I’ve worked with before and had a lovely experience. Someone asked me: “Why didn’t you design it yourself?”

Well, I wanted the full “author” experience.

And I also know how hard it is to find hot, pretty Asian boys in stock photos. :::grins::: Have fun, Anne! :::waves:::

I joined Goodreads. Odd thing that. Adding people I read. Books I read. Debating public face happy now that I’m Rhys Ford because really there is a certain diplomacy that one should take when representing a brand… in my case, Rhys Ford. Douchebaggery is not the image I want to project and God knows I’ll be chewing on my foot in no time, I don’t need help steering it past my lips.

Pray with me that I can sustain that. :::grins:::

I had a point to this post. And now it’s lost. Really, someone showed me a picture of a guy in a hideous outfit and it shoved all thought from my head.

I haven’t posted in two week! Wow. So much and so little has happened. Mostly what’s been going on is the horrible sinus headache from the back and forth of San Diego’s weather. Hot then cold and rainy. Always a fun thing.

Currently in the Rhys Ford household, the three dogs are asleep and I’ve just finished watching American Idol. This is actually the first time I’ve ever really followed the show. Why am I watching now? Steven Fucking Tyler.

Really I don’t think you can say Steven Tyler without using that as his middle name.

Aerosmith has always been one of my favourite bands. They’ve taken me through a lot of really hard times and I’ve celebrated many a happy moment with a soundtrack laden with Steven Tyler’s voice and lyrics. And let’s not forget Mr. Joe Perry. Yes, the Toxic Twins are combative and still remain best friends. You gotta love that in a rock star.

Been watching a lot of television. I really need to be writing. So, back to the grindstone I go.

So I’ve forwarded the “what would you like on the cover” specs to Dreamspinner. Now to be fair, the boys….Cole and Jae… are Asian. Cole is half-Japanese and Jae is Korean. Stock photography is lean on having hot Asian bois. That’s just… well, the sad truth.

I would love for Anne Cain to do the cover. I adore Anne and loved working with her before. Ah, and she gives good cover :::winks::::

A minor character in Dirty Kiss is a cat named Neko. She belongs to Jae Kim. I’ve included her because I felt it would be humanizing to include a pet. So many of us have pets, be them dog, cat or ferret. There’s something about a character in a book having a pet that fleshes out the person.

Now some people create animals in a book and them make god-like, capable of talking or even cooking dinners (I’m being sarcastic). The Neko in the book does come from my own cat, Koneko and much like the real Neko, isn’t any thing other than a cat. A demanding, screaming diva of a puff ball.

Why am I talking about a cat? Because I’m working my brain loose and need to get something down in pixels to shake the cobwebs from my grey matter.

And I’m waiting for Castle to start.

(The screaming one is Neko. The one sleeping and ignoring her is her brother, Tam.)

Well to be fair, one does not own a cat. One is allowed to live with a cat. In my case, I have three.

I didn’t want three cats. I was happy with two, Neko and Tam. They are a bit aloof and really keep themselves amused. Once in a while, they want love and well, a clean litter box.

Then Yoshi arrived.

She appeared on my rooftop one afternoon, screaming and filthy. I got her off the roof and with all good intentions, took her to the vet to get fixed so she could be fostered into a new home.

She was pregnant. The kittens were stillborn and while the vet was doing the surgery, he discovered it was a tubal pregnancy.

Needless to say, she ended up costing me hundreds of dollars and I had a new cat.

She definitely is MY cat. She prefers to be with me. Sits on me. Wants love from me. She beats up my dog with a regularity that amazes me. She actually beats up all of the dogs. She’s not picky.

Yoshi is always disgruntled and will gladly tell you her opinion if I happen to move her from my lap, chest or shoulder.

She will also throw herself down in the middle of the living room floor for a belly rub. In front of anyone. Including the other cats and the dogs. Sometimes she does it when no one is in the room and you’ll come across of her lying in wait like some sort of quicksand trap looking for a victim.

She’s a good cat for all of her oddities. Mostly well behaved.

I don’t regret ever pulling her from the roof but I’d like her to stop beating up the dogs.

First off, this is crack: http://baboon.co.il/mitoza/

I’m just saying. Total crack.

I’m left wondering how to cross-market Dirty Kiss. While I know where to hit for most urban fantasy genres and reviews, marketing DK perplexes me. I probably will ask if Reviews by Jessewave (http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/) would like to review it but beyond that, I do not know.

I think it’s up to the author really to cross-sell any book that they write these days. So much of it means getting the word out and hoping for good reviews. I’m leery regarding how DK will be received mostly because I’m not sure how it reads to the average reader. I’ve been elbow and armpit up in it for so long, you’ll understand if my perspective is a bit slanted.

I can only hope for decent reviews and a fondness for Asian boys.

Actually, I’m just attempting to get this blog up and running. Or at least limping.