Hey, everybody… I hope you all are getting your BBQ on… trust me I am, LOL! I want to also thank you for the well wishes and all the lovely comments about my boo’s prom — BIG GRIN!

However, let’s also take a pause for the cause for just a moment to remember all Veterans out there who made the ultimate sacrifice or who are out somewhere working hard while those of us who are civilians can bust a good, family-cooked grub. I have to always go there because my Dad was a very proud WWII Vet who flew his flag high every Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, even Labor Day… so I wouldn’t feel right not taking a moment to honor the men and women in uniform today.

Also, while I’ve been in the writer’s cave, we’ve got some serious tour stuff lining up First we’re gonna hit Chi-town like crazy… see below (and big ups to my sister author who pulled all this together!)

CHICAGO WHIRLWIND TOUR

Friday, July 11
11:00- 12:15
Sweep Signing at Waldenbooks
Citicorp Centre
500 W. Madison
Chicago, Illinois 60661

Friday, July 11
12:30 - 1:30 (Lissa)
Sweep Signing at Books a Million
144 S. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60603

Friday, July 11
3:00 p.m.
Stock signing at
Borders on Michigan Avenue

Friday, July 11
3:45 p.m.
Stock signing at Borders on State

Friday, July 11
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Signing/Discussion at Borders in Hyde Park
1539 E. 53rd Street
Chicago, IL 60615

Friday, July 11
8:30 p.m. - until
Come Out and Play with Naleighna Kai
& L. A. Banks
(Sponsored by Da Book Joint)
1925 * 1925 E. 95th * Chicago, IL 60617

Saturday, July 12
Stock signing at Borders in Evergreen Plaza

Saturday, July 12
1:00 - 2:45
Signing/Discussion at Borders in Oak Park
1144 Lake St *Oak Park, IL 60301

Saturday, July 12
3:45 - 4:45
Sweep Signing at Azizi Books in Matteson
134 Lincoln Mall
Matteson, Illinois 60443

Saturday, July 12
5:15 - 6:15
Sweep Signing at Waldenbooks River Oaks
50 River Oaks Centre
Calumet City, Illinois 60409

AIRPORT… whew! Chi-town folks don’t play, dang, LOL!

From there we’re gonna have us a Hueman Experience at Hueman Bookstore in Harlem, NYC–yep, right before the Harlem Book Fair… and then swing on out to San Diego for ComicCon rolling with The Devil’s Candy Store.

At ComicCon I’m gonna team up with The Devil’s Candy Store for my first West Coast appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con 2008. The Devil’s Candy Store sells exotic contraband from impossible worlds and the Vampire Huntress series will be the first world they visit. Tony Swatton of Sword and Stone is building the vampire killing sword, Madame Isis, and its sister dagger, both to be displayed at San Diego this July 24-27. We’ll be auctioning off the one-of-a-kind “hero” sword and you will be able to pre-order the Baby Isis dagger.

Craig Elliott, a Devil’s Candy Store artist, is designing some Vampire Huntress-based jewelry for the show and will be one the concept artists contributing to our limited edition art book, featuring the characters, Damali Richards and Carlos. Artists planning to be in the book are:

• Dave Dorman

• Craig Elliott

• Tom Baxa

• Stone Perales

• Peter Bergting

• Cyril Van Der Haegen

• John VanFleet

• Eric Battle

• Alex Wald

• Ray Frenden

• and Charlie Athanas

So… yeah… it’s been a little crazy behind the scenes, but we’re trying to do a LOT of stuff, rest assured. It’ll be a fun summer! After this gorgeous, picture perfect day today we had here in Philly, I can’t wait! Stay tuned, we’ll be adding dates and places on the regular–meanwhile I’m gearing up for the high school graduation phase… it’s ALL good!

Have a safe and happy holiday, everybody… hugs, Leslie!

Hey folks, what can I say? I admit I’ve been a blog fugitive ever since I got back from RT, LOL! Deadlines… yeah… that had something to do with it, but something even more insane was the true cause—my daughter’s senior prom.

I don’t think there’s anything that can prepare one for the onslaught of events that happen in the senior year of a high-schooler that’s morphing before your eyes into a young adult and college student. I write about transitions of the mysterious and paranormal kind, but I can assure you that nothing is scarier for a parent than being on the cusp of watching your kid fly the coup. And, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all claim that we’re gonna be different when it’s our turn—BIG SMILE. I really have no excuse, given that I was a child of the seventies, and I’ll just leave it at that and never try to run for public office.

But, still, there’s nothing like seeing your baby girl all dolled up and then turning her over to the arm of a suit-bedecked young gentleman in a tuxedo. The experience truncates time. I saw a grown man (her Dad) get all misty-eyed one moment as he looked at “his little girl,” and then go all alpha male werewolf in the next, LOL… something like a cross between Big Mike calling for an RPG shoulder launcher and a Shadow Wolf… you know that low growl, “Take care of my baby or I’ll come visit you in hell” mano-y-mano routine. It is genetic, the warning growl… and younger males do know what looking death in the eye means when a bristled dad takes that quiet, solemn oath to hunt them down, should anything untoward happen to his daughter. (Sigh)

However, all things considered, we had fun—the adults—that night. We embarrassed my poor kid by taking amateur paparazzi shots like crazy, laughing on the steps, holding buffalo wings with one hand while saying, “Wait, boo, turn this way,” and trying to navigate a handheld digital camera with the other. Then we stayed up waiting for the couple’s return, transforming the prom send off into a reason for the family to hang out with folks on the block and share laughs, as the mortified young couple made haste away from the madhouse into a limo… and the young man was both handsome and such a good sport. I swore I wouldn’t do that family ambush thing to my kid, but it is, after all, genetic, like birds that must migrate to the same nesting grounds—there we were, all hanging out on the front steps hollering goodbyes, LOL!

I figure a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few showing me doing the Mom make up thing (and thank you Roshida & Sandra for the matching t-shirt, LOL!), and a couple of my daughter and her date. Seems like time sped up and pulled me through a vortex; how did my kid go from being a little one on my lap to this project runway diva? My BFF, Tina, created the mango-hued gown from pure concept ether and made my daughter’s eyes light up… that is a bippity-boppity-boop Fairy Godmother move, if ever I saw one, so yes, I believe in magic—BIG SMILE!

Thank you all for enduring this spring of AWOL author status. Between Mother-daughter school events, the prom, school spirit day, an 18th birthday, and then graduation—all of which requires a party per event, I won’t be back to even keel until after the first week of June, LOL… or, most likely, until I keel over! But I wouldn’t miss one iota of this for the world. These rites of passage moments are what we Kool Aide Moms live for

BIG HUG for understanding… even bigger hug for not getting mad at me for not answering posts individually like I normally do–and for giving me a “senior year syndrome” mother pass, BIG SMILE… and much love, Leslie!