This is Absinthe. I’m currently sitting on the sofa while I work and she is pressed up against my side being an adorable little purr-ball.

Shortly after I made my blog post yesterday Kari Wolfe from Imperfect Clarity posted an interview she’d done of me a while back. It might be interesting to you. You can see it here.

Also? I’m bad. I totally forgot to mention that I am giving away three copies of Shades of Green on Goodreads. You can enter to win by clicking here. Also, while you’re there why not friend me? My profile is here and I’d love to have some more friends over there. I really enjoy seeing what people are reading and quite often pick up books based on recomendations from my friends.

Shades of Green is a unique and unsettling tale of life after an apocalypse. The descriptions are exotic and fun to read, and I felt for Z’thandra’s plight throughout. Amongst all of the prejudice and hatred she is able to forgive, and that is truly heroic. The ending is unexpected and left me with much to think about. This is no fluffy fantasy tale, but a powerful and emotional journey with a profound message at the end.

Needless to say, that put a big smile on my face You can read the full review here.

There are also two interviews of yours truly that went live today. Firstly at Amber Stults’ website I answer questions about Shades of Green as well as what I’m currently working on. You can read that here. Some of Amber’s questions really made me think, like when she asked if I’d intentionally make the Reptars less alien than I might have.

Then over at Aubrie’s blog I answered questions about my writing process, being the editor of Niteblade and, of course, a bit about Shades of Green. You can read that one here.

I always stress about interviews because I’m never sure that my tone of…erm…voice(?) comes through in them. I did ask Jo to read these ones and tell me if I sounded like a moron. He responded with ‘You sound like yourself’ which didn’t really answer my question, but I’ll take it

Ellen and Terri consented to the interview and I put it up on Niteblade yesterday. Please check it out and leave a comment. I think Dani did a great job at coming up with questions and Ellen and Terri are made of awesome too.

Interview with Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

While I was in Winnipeg I was also being featured on Amber Stults‘ blog. I meant to post about it here as it was happening, but um…I forgot. *looks sheepish* Sorry.

Firstly, Amber interviewed me. You can check that out here. She asked me a lot of questions that I’ve never been asked before, and I had a lot of fun answering them. The interview also includes my Rhysling-nominated haiku, Lovers, in case you’re curious and want to check it out.

That same day, Amber posted a review of Sister Margaret (here). In it, she says:

“The only thing lacking in “Sister Margaret” is that it’s not enough!  I know Rhonda has written more stories and a novel with some of these characters.  I’ve been purposefully staying away as a beta reader so I can be surprised like everyone else when they get published.”

<3

Lastly, she invited me to write a guest blog post, so I wrote about falling in love with secondary characters. Secondary Characters = <3.

I would like to thank everyone who stopped by and commented and congratulate Joyce for winning a copy of Sister Margaret just for commenting.

Now I need to get my nose to the grindstone. I have a new layout for this blog I really want to install and show off!

Firstly, Sister Margaret is now available from Fictionwise. That means you can pick it up for less than two bucks. This makes me very happy. >> Sister Margaret on Fictionwise <<

Also, I finally sent out the newsletter for April. It’s late but I’ve often heard ‘better late than never’, so I’m not putting this in the loss column

I’m guest blogging over at The World Can Wait about motivation today.

There is also a new review of Sister Margaret over at Imperfect Clarity today that says, in part:

Rhonda shows her ability as a true wordsmith in this story.  As a fledgling writer myself, while reading this piece, it was as though each word was carefully measured and painstakingly chosen because it was the exact word needed to make the story flow.

The choice of details and description within the story truly bring out the richness that she has wrought.

I think she’s being far too nice, LoL but how could I not adore being called a wordsmith? I do, I love it. I admit it. Even if I’m not sure it’s deserved LOL

Included with the review is a guest blog I wrote about inspiration. Mostly about the inspiration for Sister Margaret, but not exclusively.

I think that’s it for today.

Pretty exciting to be me this Tuesday, lemme tell you

Clare Revell reviewed Sister Margaret at her blog today and said:

The book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was fast paced from the start and its twists and turns make for gripping reading. The descriptions meant I had vivid images in my mind throughout the book. At just over 4000 words, Rhonda wastes none of them, throwing you straight into the story and leaving you breathless at the end.

“Leaving you breathless”. How awesome is that? I am flattered and completely blown away Clare also interviewed me to go along with her review. She asked me a lot of great questions about Sister Margaret, Niteblade and writing in general. Tomorrow I will be guest blogging there too, talking about writing and finding the motivation to do it LOL

Please check it out >> here << and leave a comment and thank you so much Clare. You rock!

Since then things have been a bit crazy…but I’m hoping to do the newsletter today or tomorrow. If you’ve been waiting (lol) I apologise. I’m on it. Really. I haven’t forgotten, I’m just doing my White Rabbit impersonation. I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!

Kim, from Eternal Press, interviewed me recently and it went live on their blog today. Just in case you don’t know more about me than you want to already LOL You can read it >> here <<.

In other interview news, I had the pleasure of interviewing Leslie Ann Moore for Niteblade. You can check that out >> here <<. Leslie is the author of the Griffin’s Daughter trilogy. Book two recently came out and though I haven’t read it yet it is on my list because I adored the first book so much

In other news, Ellen Datlow’s newest anthology, Troll’s Eye View, went on sale yesterday. It’s aimed at an MG audience and re-tells fairy tales from the point of view of the villain. I was lucky enough to listen to Garth Nix read his contribution, An Unwelcome Guest, at World Fantasy. It was an awesome story and I will be picking up this book to read for myself…then maybe I’ll let Danica borrow it

The TOC is below, as you can see it contains stories from my two favorite writers EVAR (Peter S. Beagle and Neil Gaiman). I’m sure it’s going to be amazing

Wizard’s Apprentice Delia Sherman
An Unwelcome Guest Garth Nix
Faery Tales Wendy Froud
Rags and Riches Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Up the Down Beanstalk Peter S. Beagle
The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces Ellen Kushner
Puss in Boots, the Sequel Joseph Stanton
The Boy Who Cried Wolf Holly Black
Troll Jane Yolen
Castle Othello Nancy Farmer
Skin Michael Cadnum
A Delicate Architecture Catherynne M. Valente
Molly Midori Snyder
Observing the Formalities Neil Gaiman
The Cinderella Game Kelly Link

In other, completely unrelated news my friend S.G. Browne has got a cool widget now so you can read the first chapter of his upcoming zombie novel BREATHERS online right now. I recommend checking it out. The first chapter is what sucked me into the book and made me decide to pre-order it even before I met Scott and found out I liked him too. Clicky Clicky.