I admit that my husband, Captain Caffeine, and I really liked the TV show Supernatural . We started watching the episodes from season 1 on syndication on cable TV and just got completely hooked. I’m not a huge horror fan, but my husband likes to watch it occasionally, and I ended up liking the show because it had so much humor and tongue-in-cheek moments. I liked that it simply didn’t take itself all that seriously, which made for entertaining TV (despite the monsters). So while I was writing my romantic suspense, Gone Missing , I admit I might have been a little bit influenced by Supernatural . Those of you who have read my blog already know that I completely suck at coming up with character names. I was staring at my computer, trying to find a name for a minor character, when I had the brain fart breakthrough to use the names of the characters from Supernatural . Bwahahahahahahaha! At last count, there are about 33 references to Supernatural in Gone Missing , although a co...

This post about my first romantic suspense novel, Deadly Intent , was originally posted on another website. However, the post is now lost in an internet black hole because the website was taken down. So I decided to repost it here on my blog. DEADLY INTENT back cover blurb: SCENE OF THE CRIME The Grant family’s exclusive Sonoma spa is a place for rest and relaxation—not murder! Then Naomi Grant finds her client Jessica Ortiz bleeding to death in her massage room, and everything falls apart. The salon’s reputation is at stake...and so is Naomi’s freedom when she discovers that she is one of the main suspects! Her only solace is found with the other suspect—Dr. Devon Knightley, the victim’s ex-husband. But Devon is hiding secrets of his own. When they come to light, where can Naomi turn...and whom can she trust? Ten Things That Inspired Me to Write Deadly Intent: 10) It's set in a spa. Can we say, research??? 9) The heroine is a massage therapist. Again, research??? I ...

I admit I’m on the fence about the TV show, The Blacklist . On one hand, I absolutely LOVE James Spader. He has such a presence on screen that’s really exciting to watch. On the other hand, the writers have a lot of little things that bother me, some “too stupid to live” moments. Every so often I’ll get so disgusted that I threaten to Captain Caffeine that I’m going to stop watching it … and then the show has some neat twist and I want to keep watching. So like an idiot, I keep watching. There was a prediction I made at the end of Season 1, but Captain Caffeine said I should blog about it and put it out there. So here goes. The man everyone thinks is Red Reddington is not Red Reddington. Let’s call him Mr. X. He’s Lizzie’s father. The story about the real Red Reddington was that he was an officer who suddenly disappeared one day, then turned up 4 years later as a criminal. The real Red Reddington died or was killed. Mr. X assumed Red’s identity and resurfaced 4 years after t...

Has anyone seen the new TV show on Syfy, Helix? I just watched the first 2 episodes last night on On Demand. It reminds me of Resident Evil meets Outbreak or something like that. I’m not entirely sure if I’m hooked enough to want to keep watching it, although the creepy Asian scientist is fascinating in a Hannibal Lector kind of way. What have others thought about it?

I know, I'm waaaaay behind the times but we recently watched the last few episodes of this past season of The Sing Off (we had taped it on TiVo). I’m so excited because my favorite team won! It was so awesome so see 98 Degrees sing! I always liked how in their music videos they didn't quite seem to take themselves seriously. My favorite song from them was "Invisible Man" which to my teenage mind was just the Most. Romantic. Song. Ever. I dreamed of some hot guy pining after me, as unlikely as that was. I mean, seriously, who is going to pick some other chump over Nick Lachey??? So in A Dangerous Stage , when George sings to Tessa (and makes Charles a bit grumpy) in chapter 7, I had him sing “Invisible Man.” Because, you know, it’s the Most. Romantic. Song. Ever. Aren’t they just adorably cheesy????? Okay, ’fess up. Did any of you also have a secret fondness for 90s boy bands????

I absolutely adored the TV show Chuck . So in Protection for Hire , Charles’s alias at the party, Charles Carmichael, is in honor of Chuck Bartowsky’s favorite alias from the TV show. There also used to be a Captain Awesome reference, but unfortunately my editor took it out. So here’s the original excerpt from chapter 23: Josh led Velma out onto the dance floor and Charles drew Tessa into his arms. He felt as if a circle had been completed. She looked up at him, her brown eyes glowing with flecks of emerald. He thought she might have stopped breathing—he knew he did. He’d been wanting to hold her since the moment he saw her at the foot of his stairs, regal in that blue gown. She hadn’t been transformed so much as enhanced—before, her confidence had been in her walk and her athletic grace, but tonight, it shone from every pore, in the tilt of her chin, the sway of her hips, the toss of her head. His hand at her waist tightened. “The music’s started,” she murmured, and he rea...

I must admit to being incredibly impressed with the athletes who compete in this. Captain Caffeine and I started watching the original Japanese Ninja Warrior shows (subtitled) which were highly entertaining. There were more “fun” entrants in costumes who really didn’t expect to get far, but were there for entertainment value, I think. The American version is a bit more serious and there are some really amazing athletes competing. There are some unexpected qualifiers like the youth pastor who just walked on that day and ended up in the top 15 for the Midwest region. The Captain and I like watching because we love seeing people complete the course. I think I also like this show because in the Japanese version and also in the American version, everyone is pulling for everyone. The competition is not as malicious and cutthroat because the course is SO hard. Unlike other reality competitions, the atmosphere seems (so far) to be very positive. I really like that. The negativity is one...

Finally saw this on DVD last night and it was rather good! I’m not a huge Tom Cruise fan but I absolutely loved Jeremy Renner! But what was even more cool was that we went on Amazon streaming (our DVD player as internet connectivity) and were able to watch the pilot episode of the 1966 Mission: Impossible TV show! Everything was SO neat because it was from the sixties. I had never seen the original TV show before. Any of you saw this show?

Is it bad to admit I stopped watching it a year or two ago? I was just kind of turned off by Delco’s character. He seemed a bit whiney. http://tv.yahoo.com/news/cbs-cancels-csi-miami-rob-unforgettable-gifted-man-184457568.html

A rip-roaring, special-effect thriller in which the past, the present and the future all collide. Evolutionary biologist professor Nick Cutter and his team battle creatures from the furthest shores of evolution that have mysteriously appeared in the present day. In Primeval, nothing is certain, the past is as real as the present and it's just an anomaly away. The special effects aren’t quite Jurassic Park , but Primeval is a totally fun Sci-Fi series! I first discovered this show on Netflix and watched seasons 1, 2, and 3, but seasons 4 and 5 weren’t yet out at the time. Now they’re all out and there’s even going to be a North America (Canadian) spinoff! I was thrilled because you can watch seasons 1-4 online via Amazon streaming, and it’s free if you have Amazon Prime. Season 5, unfortunately, is not free, so I have it on my Netflix queue. I hope you’ll check it out and let me know how you like it!

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Captain Caffeine and I were watching last week’s episode of the TV show CSI and it was one of those funny episodes as opposed to their more serious ones (I wish they’d get back on the Dr. Jekyll serial killer! Way cool!). Anyway, poor Henry, one of the lab techs, has had some practical jokes played on him and he blames Hodges, who is admittedly one of my least favorite characters but he’s also one of the most unique characters I’ve seen on TV. Henry: ”Back off, man. I’m a toxicologist. I know every odorless, colorless, vomit-inducing liquid known to man. You think about that the next time you eat lunch.” I heard that and just howled. Captain Caffeine says it’s my geeky biologist side. I’m like, Come on, other people think it’s funny too, right? Right?

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.22.2009 I watched Season 5 and it was like watching a train wreck happening and being unable to stop it. It’s as if the entire production flushed their brains down the toilet. No one bothered to question or correct any of the logic disconnects. No one asked, “Why would Character A do that if Fact B is true?” or if someone did ask, the management ignored it. The ending was interesting if bittersweet, although him giving his life for someone else’s son was a bit hard to believe. Still, the theme of sacrifice and all that. In general, it was a really good series. That’s probably why I’m so disappointed at how it/the writing degenerated. Ah, well. And in case you didn’t know, executive consultant Joel Surnow went on to create the TV series 24 , which I love. Good job, Joel. Now I need to watch some Pride and Prejudice to wipe the bad taste from my mouth.

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.21.2009 (Warning: spoilers ahead, but I’ll tell you when I’m about to reveal) I’ve been watching the TV series Le Femme Nikita (Peta Wilson) on Netflix, and while the first DVD didn’t thrill me, it hooked me by the second DVD of Season one. And the writing and acting really pleased me, for the most part. I enjoyed all the way up through most of season four. Then it tanked for me. I liked how the plot twists and turns in each season, developing new nuances of character and relationships. There are a few “throw away” episodes that just fill up the slot in the season, but most of the episodes embellish on character or backstory or plotline. But then the stories started to fall apart logically, in my thinking. There’s a lot of “Let’s have the character do something unusual” and then reveal some hidden agenda behind it all—except the reasoning behind the character’s actions aren’t always logical in the writing. There’s also too much of the same th...

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.06.2009 So one reason I haven’t been blogging much the past week or so has been that I’ve been sick. I got sick right after I returned from the ACFW conference, and then the past 5 days I’ve also been fighting something. I don’t know why this is, but whenever I’m sick, I have the strangest dreams, and they always involve toilets. If this is too TMI for you, stop reading right now. But I also know lots of you guys are mothers, and nothing I can say could be as bad as changing diapers, cleaning yak up from your couch, and washing creamed spinach and macaroni and cheese out of a child’s hair. Anyway, some psychoanalyst will probably say there’s some deep seated insecurity from my childhood involving toilets. I think it’s because when we were kids, my brother kept barging into the bathroom even if I was on the can because he was too impatient to wait for me to finish before he could brush his teeth or take a shower. There’s also the fact that I was a biologis...

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.23.2009 I was watching So You Think You Can Dance with Tosca Lee, who used to be semi-professional in ballet. This dance absolutely blew me away! I've never been so moved by a dance in my entire life. If you can't tell, the story of the dance is about a woman with breast cancer.

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.22.2009 Captain Caffeine and I have been talking again (I know, marvel concept!). We happened to catch the last show of Rock of Love (with Brett Michaels) season ten or something like that (the boy gets around, that's for sure ... Captain says, "He's a rock star." As if that explains it all), and the Captain remarked, “You’ve got to come up with a really good reality show idea." So, after the Amish vampire kung fu Asian triad idea , creative juices were still flowing and we came up with this: Twelve contestants think they have to learn to live like the Amish in an Amish village. The TV show has remarkably found an Amish village they can film in. The contestants have to learn Amish ways and “survive” for twelve weeks. The last contestant not booted out of the village gets a million bucks. Little do they know ... Come on, what true Amish community is going to let themselves be photographed? The “Amish village” is a fake! The contest...

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.07.2009 I got this link from SHRLZI over at SparkPeople.com, in the Knitters forum. If you’re a Buffy, Angel, or Firefly fan, you’ll love this. And if you’re a knitter or crocheter, you HAVE to read this! Joss Whedon on Crafts and Craftiness: Interview Transcript You can listen to the phone interview here I have to admit I never saw Dr. Horrible. I liked the first 3 seasons of Buffy, but then it got a bit boring and I stopped watching. I haven’t seen Angel yet, either. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE Firefly. Serenity was good except for TERRIBLE ENDING! SHEESH! Anybody else a fan of Joss Whedon’s stuff?

Captain's Log, Stardate 05.30.2008 I have just finished watching the BBC production of Cranford and I am COMPLETELY FLOORED!!! I love this miniseries more than North and South and as much as Pride and Prejudice !!!!! There is humor, there is love, there is tragedy. There is hope. I love how the story flows from person to person, and how despite hardships, the kindness and love of the residents of Cranford shine through. This is a wonderful script and excellent casting. These are some of the finest actors I have seen in any movie. Dame Judi Dench is amazing, as is Dame Francesca Annis. I can’t praise this miniseries enough. I have this saved on Tivo, but I am buying this DVD AT ONCE!!!!

Captain's Log, Stardate 02.06.2008 The Wasabi Wednesday winner of Awaken My Heart by DiAnn Mills is Angela Congratulations! I’ve now finished both books by Cesar Millan and the first two seasons of The Dog Whisperer on DVD. I love Cesar! Captain Caffeine and I have noticed a change in Snickers since we started watching the DVDs and reading the books. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that we’ve changed how we act as dog owners, and so she’s become more calm and submissive. There’s still some food aggression and dog aggression, but we’ve been slowly and consistently dealing with it. For those two things, we needed both the books and the DVDs to learn how to handle her. The books talk about his general philosophy for dog psychology, and the DVDs show it in practice (the TV show kind of glosses over his philosophy, while the books go into greater detail so we understand his point on the TV show). For example, just the other night we realized that w...

Captain's Log, Stardate 02.05.2008 I just finished watching Miss Austen Regrets on Masterpiece Classic and I’m very impressed. Now, granted, I don’t know how much of the movie is true and how much is speculation. I recognized a few things from Just Jane , a novel by Nancy Moser, and so I’m relatively certain those events are factual. But much of the movie is absolutely beautiful. The casting and acting is wonderful, and the scriptwriter was masterful. The script even managed to help me keep Jane’s numerous siblings straight. One scene near the end with Cassandra was beautiful. It was overheard by their niece Fanny, and it gives some explanation (which might be speculation rather than fact) about why Jane refused her first offer of marriage, and possibly why she wrote Persuasion as she did. It’s a powerfully emotional scene that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m inspired to read a nonfiction book that’s on my TBR pile, A Walk with Jane Austen by Lori Smith. It looks like a travelogue rat...