Swaddled for the summer

It's the time of year when we break out the bar-b-que, ice the margarita glasses and decide by sniff-test if we'll use the coconut suntan oil or the more sensible 100+ SPF paint we picked up by the bucketful for the five kids. It also means my husband wraps the crazy amount of windows in our house in every sheet, blanket and heat-blocking material he can find to save on our air conditioning bill. Virginia can be brutal between the sun and the humidity.

While practical, it's hard to get excited about becoming a mole for three months and missing the delicate shades of blue at twilight because the best window is covered by SpongeBob sheets. No amount of fooling myself that it's softly raining outside (thus the darkness) or that this benefits my moody side works. The rest of the year is lovely and we wouldn't miss the light that comes in from our bare windows so we don't invest in shades or curtains. The Shenandoah Valley lay below, visible only in the winter and its river winds through the cracks between the trees that separate us. Can't miss that because of a little blazing heat in the summer, eh?

So why am I fussing now? A lovely reporter from the Winchester Star will be coming with a photographer on Friday, as well as guests Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will be in the high 90s -- we'd fry like crawdads in a skillet.

Chance to win the ZOMBIE TAROT signed by the author!

Zombie Tarot duckface

The Zombie Tarot has been getting a lot of very nice reviews and buzz online, thank you very much to everyone who has taken the time to buy or received the deck from Quirk to review and let your mumbling zombie pipes be heard.

I love a good dead man's party so to celebrate its release, I'm going to have a wee contest. To win a deck signed by me, like my page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. Easy, right? Not so fast, Sparky. Upload a photo of you zombified either on my Facebook author page or send me the pic on Twitter with the hashtag #zombietarot. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced July 1st.

Contest open to USA residents only.

Good luck!


Curious to see how five of my favorite classic authors would fare in the inevitable zombie apocalypse? Check out my article at the Huffington Post.

Here ghostie, ghostie, ghostie. Join me on an investigation on the spookiest night of the summer.

Join me at Paxton Manor in Leesburg, Virginia on Friday, July 13th for a paranormal investigation and a sneak peek at Paxton's famous Shocktober haunted house event.

Paxton Manor's underground lake and foreboding house was the inspiration for one of my earliest novellas, Blackbird. I can't wait to work with new and experienced ghost hunters to explore the twists and turns of this magnificent 19th century mansion. I hope you can join us!

Cost: $35 per person. Cost includes investigation and a crash course in ghost hunting, snacks and a place to hide until morning. All proceeds will be going to the ARC of Loudoun, a fantastic organization with a strong commitment to the community.

For more information and reservations, please contact Matt Smith at 703.344.4695 or msmith[at]paxtoncampus.org.

Now *this* is a book signing

I may be getting a little spoiled here. My first book signing in 2010 for Hungry For Your Love was at zomBcon and I had Breathers author, S.G. Browne,and Married with Zombies author Jesse Petersen there to show me how to Get It Done. Then tonight for the Girls' Ghost Hunting Guide, I had a wine bar and jazz trio at the Fire House Gallery and a packed house full of lovely people with fascinating stories. Most of them didn't come to see me but of those that stopped by to chat or see me specifically, THANK YOU! I had a wonderful time and that's not just the red wine talkin'.

For those who couldn't make it or wish to buy a copy via a fine online retailer, just drop me a note if you'd like a signed book plate or handy Phantom or Fake postcard to tuck into your ghost hunting kit.

A big thank you to the Fire House Gallery in Berryville, Virginia. It was a fabulous evening!

Everyday I'm Shufflin': The Zombie Tarot Staggers Your Way Today!

After sitting on the idea for a couple of years then putting my big pants on and pitching the idea to Quirk Books (who snatched it up in a matter of minutes), the Zombie Tarot finally managed to stop licking the windows and turn the doorknob to get into bookstores today.

It's been a whirlwind of interviews, readings and podcasts as I got ready to shove the zombies into the daylight but we handled it with only a few missing body parts. Thank you to all involved in its creation and promotion, especially my editor Jason Rekulak at Quirk Books and Paul Kepple and Ralph Geroni from Headcase Design, I appreciate your support very much! I'll trip y'all last when the zombie apocalypse comes.

Find your copy of the Zombie Tarot at your local Barnes & Noble or online at Amazon!

PS: Stay off the Bath Salts. Yeesh.

Update: Holy bananas! Zombie Tarot is a pick for the L.A. Times Summer Reading Guide!

This publisher's not called Quirk for nothing. It has given us the ghoul-meets-Jane-Austen novel "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame Smith (screenwriter for Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" among other things), Ransom Rigg's "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" ... and now a deck of Tarot cards riffing on the popularity of zombies. The accompanying booklet gives a quick, breezy guide to the Major and Minor Arcana, as well as a how-to for conducting a successful reading. Just the sort of thing you'd expect to find on Ozzy Osbourne's nightstand. (June)