PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Special thanks to a wonderful friend for sharing this with me. This video was created in Type Books in Toronto. A previous video, Organizing your Bookshelf is pretty neat, too.

One Love features more bright, fun illustrations by Vanessa Newton. The text is simple and easy to follow or read-along. This board book can be enjoyed by ages 0 and up. One Love is also available in a Kindle Edition. If you enjoyed Three Little Birds and One Love, check out the album B is for Bob. It contains several of Marley’s most well-known hits with simplified music (no live recording sounds, etc.). It’s also a favorite around here.

“Satire is rarely moving. And A Handbook of American Prayer is. Shepard views all his characters’ foibles and weaknesses and stupidity with an utterly clear eye and a consistently forgiving heart.”
—Russell Banks, author of The Lost Memory of Skin, from the Introduction

  For more information about Jumpstart and Read for the Record, check out this post: Read for The Record.

Lucky Me?
By Deborah Coonts,
Author of Lucky Stiff

After reading one of my Lucky books, people think they know me. I know. Go figure. Silly people. I mean how much personal stuff would a writer put on paper for all the world to see? I’m not that crazy. Writing is exposing enough as it is without everyone thinking they know my sexual preferences, my family dysfunction, my hopes, my dreams, and my drink of choice.

Although . . . and I’ll deny it if you ask me . . . it turns out I’m a bit crazy after all. Normally I would never admit it — but I’m having a weak moment. Yes, there’s a lot of me not only in my stories, but in my protagonist, Lucky.

Since I write in the first-person, Lucky’s voice is mine. Sarcasm is my first language. Ditto with Lucky — no mealy-mouthed wilting lily, that’s for sure. And we share a rapier wit — although my verbal sword is a bit dull. What Lucky thinks up on the fly will often take me months. Good thing my deadlines are fluid. It’s hell to be stupid.

Of course, there are differences between me and my alter ego: she’s a couple of decades younger and a good six inches taller, and she seems to have way more gorgeous men vying for her affections, but even in that there’s a reflection of me. I’ve always wanted to be taller.

Yes, yes. Men. Who doesn’t want more? Oh. Wait. They are a lot of trouble. And at this juncture in my romantic journey I’m thinking the perfect man is the one who shows up when beckoned, appropriately attired (or not, depending) and ready to do my bidding with a smile — or at least with enthusiasm. Then, when services have been rendered, I can send him home and curl up with a good book. What can I say? I’m a dreamer. Lucky’s a bit of one as well. And we both have yet to master all the steps to the relationship dance. But, we’re still hoping — Pollyannas to the death.

And she’s a one-guy-gal — or at least a one-at-a-time gal. Ditto her creator. Juggling multiple men is not in my skill set. I wouldn’t even know how to keep all those balls in the air. Oh, did I mention it? Lucky and I both love a tortured pun . . . perhaps even a cliché or two.

And shoes! OMG shoes! Knock me down and you-know-what me shoes! I am a card-carrying member of the cult of Jimmy Choo. Although, with very little provocation, I can defect to the Christian Louboutin camp. And I have no idea where this girly-girl thing came from. I used to be a Converse and kickers kind of gal (Iam from Texas after all). Now if the heels are less than five inches I’m a bit disappointed. Five inches really is a good cut-off point, don’t cha think?

Honey, I’m talking shoes — stay with me.

In thinking back on it, I’m sure Lucky had something to do with enhancing my fashion palette. Vegas without high fashion? It just wouldn’t be Vegas, that’s for sure. One famous local magician told me that after reading WANNA GET LUCKY? all he wanted to do was to see my shoes. Well, anything to get a man in my boudoir, right? Oh yeah, one at a time . . . darn. Maybe I’ll have to rethink that.

Lucky is also a woman of simple pleasures — we’ve already hit on the men. Not that the men are simple — well, okay, pretty simple — but you get my drift. Now I’m talking about food (warm and comforting), drink (stiff), a nice bath (hot) — sorta sounds like I’m talking about men again. What is it with me today? Oh yeah, Lucky has that whole libido thing going on, too. But I’m not tellin’ where that comes from. Remember the what-happens-in-Vegas thing? In these parts that is gospel, absolute gospel.

So, Lucky is me in many respects, but she is also who I want to be. She has an uncanny ability to see past the façade to the person inside, to understand them or accept them with a total lack of judgment. In this regard, she is not only who I want to be, but also the personification of Las Vegas. This City embraces all who come here, nurturing them to find their dream and live it. Hey, I’m living proof.

And I can’t think of a more noble trait — I know calling Sin City noble is a bit of an oxymoron . . . or at least a bit of a stretch. But acceptance is what this city sells (along with a few other things). And, if anything, Lucky embodies acceptance — the one trait her creator aspires to.

© 2011 Deborah Coonts, author of Lucky Stiff

Author Bio
Deborah Coonts, author of Lucky Stiff, says her mother tells her she was born in Texas a very long time ago, though she’s not totally sure — her mother can’t be trusted. But she was definitely raised in Texas on barbeque, Mexican food and beer. She currently resides in Las Vegas, where family and friends tell her she can’t get into too much trouble. Silly people. Coonts has built her own business, practiced law, flown airplanes, written a humor column for a national magazine, and survived a teenager. She is the author of the Lucky O’Toole Las Vegas adventure series.

Her first book, Wanna Get Lucky?, was released in 2010.

For more information please visit http://www.deborahcoonts.com/, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

There’s a list of booksellers to buy from, but if you need a suggestion: River’s End Bookstore in Oswego, NY. If your favorite local bookstore is not on this list, mention it to them.
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Just for a fun little comparison, here is the 1st Generation Kindle. The very first Kindle was released in November 2007. Priced at a whopping $399, the Kindle sold out in just over 5 hours. It boasted a mere 250MB of internal memory and no wi-fi. Dear clunky, 80s-looking device, thank you for putting yourself out there and plowing a path for devices like the Kindle Fire. Four short years later, ereaders are truly little bits of lit-tech beauty.