“Did you see her new hair color? It’s just not appropriate for a woman her age!”

Simple little gossipy statements like that may not mean anything to you and your friends as you whisper them over the lunch table, but they are a judgment. I’m not gonna tell you I don’t do stuff like that because just like 100% of the rest of this world, at times I do. Sure, maybe it’s only about the color of Lindsay Lohan’s panties that she’s flashing to the world this week and it’s not gonna hurt her if I think hot pink thongs look like shit on her… it’s still a judgment.

A friend of mine who had been the a victim of a crime was treated rather cruelly and unfairly the other day. The person who treated him that way? Someone who had been the victim of the same crime. However, this person played the judgment game. They weighed what they knew of the crime perpetrated against them against what they thought had occurred to my friend, and they sat in judgment, deeming themselves to be a bigger victim than him. They basically told him that it didn’t matter what had happened to him because what had happened to them was so much worse.

I have to admit to being rather shocked when I discovered this. How can you negate the feelings of another like that? How can you sit in judgment on them and brush off what happened to them as nothing because you don’t feel it was as bad as what happened to you?

You would think that they would find a commonality to bond them together rather than this person completely dismissing what had happened to my friend. I saw that as the height of selfish egoism. That person was just as cruel as the people who had hurt them and the people who had hurt my friend. My friend has risen above what was done to him and tries to find good in everyone. This person has not. They have allowed what happened to them to color their words and actions with cruelty wielded in the name of self-righteousness mounted on a flaming sword of vengeance. It was obvious to me that they felt they had the right to weigh something that cannot be weighed in order to pass judgment and find others wanting when ranged beside themselves.

I wonder that I have back teeth this morning. I ground them that much. You can’t weigh the damage done to a soul or to emotions. However, you can measure the breadth and depth of someone’s heart. My friend’s heart is as big as the sky. The person who sat in judgment on what had been done to him… well, my judgment, based on their words and actions, is that theirs is the size of a pebble, and just as stony.

I removed myself from their presence and I feel a lot better about it now. My friend will bounce back and forgive. The other person… they don’t appear to have learned that sort of graciousness and serenity yet. Despite my aching teeth, I do sincerely hope they do some day.

Now, we can all sit in judgment on a Marcus this morning. A Monday without Marcus is not a good day in my house, I can tell you.

The next time I go to a hotel, I’d like to look out at the pool and see that. *sigh* Ah, well. Not likely to happen I suppose.

Have a great Monday peeps!

Well, I have to admit it’s not so much the selling thing that I like, it’s the fans of the stories. I like it that people like and read what I write. I don’t get scads of traffic here, but with the books, my writing gets exposed in a lot more places. I like giving people stories they enjoy. I love it when they adore the same characters that I do. And it’s nice to be able to take a snippet of a friend’s personality and turn it into a character that lots of people read and fall in love with.

I can’t tell you how many people loved Karl with a K in Hot Water. They loved his snarky humor. I got so many comments on Corey in Hot Water that I decided to give him his own story Sunstroked later in the series. I don’t think I would have come up with such vivid characters if it hadn’t been for Karl and Gooster’s real personalities making an impression on me.

Next up is Marty who is the fairy godfather in The Pixie Prince. Cobblestone is releasing that book tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what the readers have to say about Marty. Ride the Lightning, which is Vahid the black dragon’s story, will probably be out in December. I have a feeling our own Vahid may have women beating down his doors even more than they do now once this book is read. (Note to Vahid… buy a bullwhip. The character has one… the ladies love it.)

In the fall and winter I’ll be getting to the sequels to The Pixie Prince which include a story about a Hilary and one about a Becky. I’m hopeful that Cobblestone will take them. Meanwhile, I’ll just do lots of pimping and hope to get more readers so more people can also find out about my friends and their blogs. I know there’s a whole phalanx of women who come through here to click the link to Gooster’s site. Okay, maybe the hotties he posts are the main draw, but I bet they read his other posts too!

Now, hie yourselves off to Midnight Moon Cafe and leave a comment. I’m giving away more books there. Have a great Thursday… oh! And wish me luck that I get to see Stone Temple Pilots on the 4th. Cross all your fingers and toes… Loves yas!

Last year for Blog Reader Appreciation Week, Motley drew a name out of a Dooney bag. This year, she just picked numbers and I looked to see whose comment was that number.

So here are this year’s Blog Reader Appreciation Week winners!

Winner of the Goodie Bag is Comment #22 DEBBY!

Winner of the Snarkcoaster is Comment #33 KIMMY L!

Winners of a book are Comments:

# 25 – Del

#1 – Maurya

#15 – Christina Engels

#2 – Trinity

#6 – Val Pearson

#16 – RachieG

#38 – Debbie Tsikuris

#19 – Bunny

Last, but never least, is the Sex Toy mug. The winner of this prize is no stranger to you. Somehow, I could not persuade Motley to accompany a package of Blogography cards to the great Northwest unless the Dave Monument was complete. Still, she did call out #11 last which makes Dave2 the winner of the SexToy mug.

Winners need to contact me at winter at winterheart dot com before the next Marcus Monday is posted. So if you know a winner, pass the word along! If you won a book, you need to include the title of the book you wish to receive. If you won the goodie bag, snarkcoaster, or mug I need a mailing address to send the prize to.

I know Maurya is taking a copy of Fire Season. However there are 8 books in all to choose from. Just please be aware that The Pixie Prince is out July 3, Fire Season on July 9, and Runaways on July 14 or 21. I don’t have ARCs for any of them yet, but if you choose one of these, I’ll send it as soon as I have it. If you didn’t win a book and wanted to, you will have other chances! Check out the SPOTS page at LexValentine.com for more info. Also, when I participate in Karl’s Summer of Love, you could win a book there too!

Here’s the book blurbs to help you choose:

Underwear model Max Fever has a problem. He’s just become the Pixie Prince and his inheritance includes big golden wings that won’t let him sleep on his back. Max has to find a soft mattress or spend the rest of his days with a bruised behind. An enigmatic waiter named Marty takes Max to club Carpe Noctem to meet a vampire who has a space foam mattress. Max falls in love with the mattress and its owner, vampire Bliss Wilde. Will the tragic pasts of Bliss’ brother and Max’s best friend become a roadblock to their bonding?

As the pack Alpha, Roul Verlaine always looked out for his twin brother Ranulf. Now, Ran’s mated and run off to New York City. Deciding to check up on his twin, Roul hires the Watcher Agency to follow Ran and his new mate. But when Roul arrives at Watcher, the owner is not what he expected. Morgan Kale is a rare white werewolf, a lone wolf. She’s not looking for a mate so when Roul walks into her office and her senses start pinging, she’s not exactly happy about it. With Roul only in New York for three days, Morgan has to decide whether to tell him they are mates… or let him walk out of her life forever.

Werewolf Ranulf Verlaine meets vampire Dante Allerton on a train bound for Paris. Overwhelmed by desire, the couple let their senses take over and before the train ride is through, they’ve become mates. Ranulf must break free of the pack that his twin brother rules while Dante cuts the controlling ties of her two older brothers. The two must quickly deal with the burdens of their pasts in order to run toward the promise of a future together.

Vampire Elysia Granville gets more than she bargained for when she attends the Undertaker’s Ball on Halloween. She’s looking for a one night stand, but the man she chooses is Declan Antaeus, a home and hearth black dragon who has had a secret crush on her for years. Can the powerful dragon make the commitment shy vampire extend one night into forever?

Black dragon Eden Antaeus is a bad girl. Or so her brother Sean would have her believe. When Sean tells Eden she’s the Queen of Kink, someone who can’t get off on normal sex, Eden runs straight to the vampire club Carpe Noctem to find someone to have vanilla sex with. What Eden finds is Colin Granville, her brother Declan’s new brother in law. Desire burns hot between them despite the lack of surnames and after one night together, they both want more. Getting past the discovery that their siblings are married, Colin teaches Eden that she’s not the Queen of Kink and Eden finds a love, and a life, she never expected to have.

Black dragon Holden Antaeus isn’t looking for a mate. His life is filled with family, work, and dating. Women adore him and he’s never short of offers for sex, but a relationship isn’t something he’s interested in. When Holden’s brother Sean hires a new executive for Antaeus International, Holden’s whole world, and everything he’s ever believed about himself, is blown to bits. Garret Renquist is a green dragon, intelligent, witty, bi-sexual, and hot for Holden. Despite the fact that Holden is positive he’s heterosexual, the moment he meets Garret, something happens inside him. What follows is a journey through stereotypes and ingrained beliefs as Holden struggles with the fact that his destined mate is a man.

Suffering from the loss of the only man she’d ever loved, Maris tries to fill her life with other things, only to find that it doesn’t work. Even after 15 years, she misses the man she left behind. Aching with despair and loneliness, she leaves all the online communities she belongs to. Alex suffers from the loss of a woman he let walk away. Determined not to let that happen again, he sends Maris an email asking her not to leave the forum. A flurry of escalating emails leads to a meeting where both Maris and Alex receive the surprise of their lives… and a past love is rediscovered.

Randall Wise is the quintessential good guy. However, all of his friends are married and he’s still single. Rand is positive that good guys finish last at love and decides he needs to change if he’s ever going to find the woman for him. Brenna Thorne is a klutzy but cute would be witch who moves in next door to Rand. Men always think of Brenna like a sister. They never see her as girlfriend or mate material. Brenna longs for a man of her own who sees her sexy side and all the love she has to give. A little magic from Rand’s godparents, a familiar who isn’t a familiar, and a host of well meaning, but surprising friends help Rand and Brenna see that all you need to find your mate is a heart that is open to love.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you all for reading Sunlight Sucks!

Now, on for some Monday YUM. I joined a new Yahoo group yesterday and they were a lot of fun. But I woke up to find apologies all over the group because someone had been offended. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what had been offensive. I’m pretty open when it comes to sex talk and giving information about stuff I’ve done. I mean, c’mon, most of the kinky stuff I’ve done is long in the past anyway.  I’m a tad on the settled down side with Rott now.  (I’m still awaiting the return of PornFest.)

However, on my blogroll is a man I’ve had sex with and known for the better part of my life. He would tell you we had sex. I might tell you more about it than he would, but I think I know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t be offended. He’s one of the most handsome, intelligent men I know… and he’s gay. Ooooh. I had sex with a gay dude. How kinky. *eye roll* (Stop laughing, David. I KNOW you’re laughing!)

So, did I just hit you with TMI? Are you running for your feed reader to dump me? Well, I hope not because it’s Marcus time. And really, my point was that the threshold is in different places for different people.  Like Popeye, I yam what I yam. If I offend you, there’s always the delete button in your feed reader. And I’m so TMI. If you’re new here, best to understand that right up front.  Now, here’s a Marcus… one I would like to lick. And lick, and lick… yeah. TMI, I know.

Ahh. My Monday already feels better! Hope you have a great one and don’t forget to check back tomorrow or Wednesday for a list of winners from Blog Reader Appreciation week!

Since I do most sincerely appreciate you all, and since somehow, as odd as it seems to me, my readership has apparently grown in the past year, I have many prizes to give away! I’m not going to make this difficult at all. Well, for you lurkers in your feed readers, it might be a tad tough. Here’s the thing… all you gotta do is leave a comment. On this post. You have until I put up my next Marcus Monday post to get in your comment.

What should you say? Anything you want about me, my crazy ass life, my dwindling blog life, my lack of Twitter at the office now, how much you wanna win a prize, how much you like Marcus Monday or… just say HI! Any and all comments are welcome and appreciates! Even better, each is an entry into the contest.

Now, what the heck am I giving away? For a woman who needs to buy a shirt that says, “I Speak Citrix” I have to say that none of these prizes are techie. If you want a cool techie prize, hop on over to Snackie’s World where you can win a very cool web cam from Snackiepoo. Hilly always gives great prizes. Motley has a web cam attached to this desktop but if I ever manage to build her a new desktop, she’ll take it and then I won’t have the cam to snap awesome I-just-woke-up photos like this one.

So I could prolly stand to win Hilly’s prize. Not that I will. Lately, my luck sucketh.

Anyway, here’s what YOU can win from me! Books! Yes, I’ll be giving away my books. If you already have all my books, well, guess what? I added two new books to this list. Runaways and Fire Season will be out in July so while you may have to wait for your prize, if you choose one of these two books, you will also receive the book before it is officially for sale!

I also have a little goodie bag of stuffs that includes awesome Blogography playing cards made by Dave2 himself and authory things like bookmarks and post cards.

Just so you know, as a sort of disclaimer here, Motley doesn’t come with the cards, and it’s one pack not two. Just sayin.

Next, I have a Queen of Snark “snarkcoaster” inspired by the Queen of Snark herself, Hilly of Snackie’s World.

And finally, a Sex Toy mug like the one Bluepaintred drinks her coffee from.

Last year, I believe my big winner was Marty of Banal Leakage who got a Socially Dead hat. This year, I like the idea of giving out lots of stuff so more people can be winners!

So leave a comment anytime from now until the next Marcus Monday is posted (approximately 6:30 am Pacific time, Monday, June 29) and you will be entered to win one of these awesome (or not, depending upon what you think is cool) prizes! I loves you all for reading and coming by and I promise you that even while I might not show it that often, I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Happy Blog Reader Appreciation Week!

UPDATE! Release date for The Pixie Prince is July 3… so it goes into the pot as a prize too!