Thursday, July 29, 2010

Shuffle Up -- Top Pick!

Such cool news -- Shuffle Up and Deal has been chosen as a "Top Pick!" of the month by RT Book Reviews Magazine. It's even featured on the front page of their website.

Reviewer Keitha Hart had this to say about it: "Fantastic! DiPlacido writes with humor and passion. The characters are well written and likable, and the shifting point of view is orderly and allows readers to mark the growth in the characters’ development. Love scenes are hot and inventive, but the attraction between the protagonists outside of the bedroom is just as enthralling. Readers will adore this unexpected gem that perfectly blends humor, sex and a satisfying storyline. " Full review available right here.



Yay!

Shuffle Up paperback available right here

E-book also available

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Fireworks

This is one of my all-time favorite works of fiction. It's a novella about a fifteen year old in 1945 at a Japanese internment camp in Manila. This story by William Reese Hamilton lives up to its title. "Fireworks"

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I Got a Right to Sing the Sartorial Blues

"I would love to rip you open and wear your ribcage as a hat!"

So says Lorena to Sookie. At this point, I'm not sure if Lorena drinks blood or just wakes up in the morning and does shots of crazy bitch to get her going. Ribcage hats -- if anyone could pull it off, she could. Or, also maybe Pam, but Pam would look hot in anything. And speaking of nutty women, how funny is Talbot? Bill murders a vampire in the foyer and Talbot just shrieks at his husband: "Does nobody care about our house!" Then, later, "You never take me anywhere!" They are so much more entertaining than the Baronnes ever were.

One style that's not so becoming on the ladies of Bon Temps is the "escaped from Juniper Creek" wardrobe, most recently seen on Jason's new love interest, Crystal. Seriously, is the HBO budget that stretched that they just raid each other's departments when in a pickle? Perhaps we'll see Barb or Nicki walking around in some of Sookie's old traveling clothes next season? Now that I think about it, maybe Eric's track suits are leftovers from Christofuh Moltisanti's closet! On the bright side, I do enjoy that they aren't bothering to clothe Joe Manganiello's Alcide at all! From wolf to naked, just the way we want him! But Jason and his pathetic letter jacket -- too funny.

And as for Eric, he's in tip-top shape, if garishly overdressed in a thin sweater.


Tsk tsk. On the upside, his flirting with Talbot is pure joy, not to mention his vicious attack on Queen Sophie-Anne, looking stunning in white pearls and pantsuit.


Those two together are just too smoking hot. And his love-hate with Sookie escalates! Get some Sook!

And I did love her showdown with the king. She went from tart to teary in under 30 seconds!


But once again stealing the show from Sooks was Tara. Tara! Tara, all trussed up in that awful nightgown and then Franklin, joining her in bed in his white silks. And then Tara not just biting his neck, but gnawing on it like it was a prize-winning rib at the state barbeque championships.


And then her choice of weapon -- that medieval spike-ball to bash in his brains, which she then wore as proudly as Lorena claimed she'd wear Sookie's ribcage!

Bill was appropriately dressed thanks to Lorena. She kept him in silver chains and his own blood.


You know how I feel about Bill getting tortured. It's always a welcome sight.

Poor Lafayette got his car all fucked up, before I could even figure out exactly what it was. (Someone? Anyone?)


Worse, he seems to have screwed the pooch with Jesus (that's Hey-soos, not the actual Jesus/Godricklike being) when Jesus finds out he's a drug dealer. He gets all sanctimonious and "take me home" on Lafayette. Seriously? How exactly did he think a cook at Merlotte's was driving a car like that in the first place? And why else would he be wearing gold eyeshadow and a kimono?

And as for Merlotte's -- I still don't really care about Sam's dog-fighting family. Fuck 'em. But I did love Arlene mouthing off to a customer about the peas: "Do you think this is Red Lobster?"

Next week, put on your Sunday best, people, because it's a truly pivotal episode, not just for the season, but the entire series.

Drama King

I want to talk for a minute about Entourage. This year hadn't really caught fire for me yet, but that's not unusual. Entourage has the luxury of a devoted viewership, so they can afford to have a few building-block episodes to set things up for the chaos of the rest of the season. Usually, I get a few more laughs from those early episodes, but it was still pleasant enough so I've been watching. Things took off this week for both Drama and Turtle. Though they're the supporting players to the supposed main draw of Vince and Eric, Drama and Turtle have definitely managed to steal the show outright over the past couple years. This could possibly be because Vince and Eric have hit a career point where they're at least safe. They may suffer aggravations or setbacks, but they're never really on the brink of disaster.

But Turtle is still trying to make his own way in the city, and he's still struggling mightily. This season is no exception, and just when he thinks he's making up ground, the bomb gets dropped that they're using him to get to Vince.

Meanwhile, it's no secret that I love Johnny Drama.


I think Kevin Dillon does a spectacular job playing him, too. Drama's an easy target, and he's suffered plenty of humiliation for laughs. At first glance, he comes off as an over-the-hill, preening, pompous fuck who's leaching off his brother. But Dillon is great at showing us the tiniest of cracks in his hard, self-loving veneer, giving us the insight that he's actually terrified of being a washed-up, arrogant sycophant. His constant humiliations are what represent the toughness of the Hollywood business, what can be so soul-crushing about it, to constantly be judged and deemed not good enough. But he's a scrapper, and he's intent, if not obsessed, with getting one more shot. It looked like he had secured his place with a hit network show, but in true Drama fashion, he went and fucked it all up.

But it's not like he trashed his good fortune for no reason. One of Drama's most endearing traits is his willingness to immolate himself for his family. In past seasons, no matter what was going on with him, he'd drop everything in a wink to help his baby bro. This past season, it was in defense of Turtle and Turtle's girlfriend that he effectively ambushed himself and destroyed what could've been his final shot at "success."

This year, he's got a producer in his corner, (the always awesome William Fitchner as Phil) and this guy has managed to produce the impossible: and Emmy-winning writer has written a script FOR Drama, and Phil has also gotten John Stamos involved, therefore securing network interest. The only hitch is that Drama now has to impress Stamos.

I love it when Entourage convinces stars to come on and play themselves as somewhat assholes, and they didn't disappoint with Stamos. During his supposed meeting with Drama, Stamos breezes past him, calling him "Jimmy" and sucking up to Vince. Vince eventually gracefully turns the attention back to Drama by having them play a game of ping pong. And that's when the Drama disaster begins. Drama kicks Stamos's ass. Stamos steams. Producer Phil freaks on Drama and tells him the sitcom is dead unless Drama manages to suck his way back into Stamos's good graces. It's a classic Drama scenario. Does Drama really have to back down and let Stamos publicly beat him to secure a job? Stamos cockily proposes the opposite. If Drama manages to beat Stamos again, Stamos will do his shitty tv show. This spells bad news for Drama all around. It made me squirm for him.

But, that's the beauty of where Doug Ellin has come with Drama. He used to be a punchline with his humiliation. But over the years, Ellin has taken him to heart with his fierce desires and unswerving loyalty and therefore has somehow elevated him to a sort of working-class hero for Hollywood. So when the game comes down, Drama of course loses, and then he takes it like a true gentleman. Stamos, of course, feels vindicated and agrees to do John's show now. YAY, Johnny Drama! And, of course, as Vince tries to console Johnny about losing in front of a huge crowd, Drama shrugs it off and says, "I threw the game." And we know he did. And we're really proud of him for doing it.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Lady Luck Giveaway

Hey everyone. I'm giving away a few copies of Lady Luck over at GoodReads. So if you're a member there, click on over and enter.



Goodreads Book Giveaway



Lady Luck (Paperback) by Susan DiPlacido



Lady Luck



by Susan DiPlacido




Giveaway ends August 05, 2010.



See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.





Enter to win



If you're not a member of GoodReads, you can also enter by sending me your name and address, and I'll pick a winner and send out a book on August 21. Good luck!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Sookie Goes Rogue

Hot on the heels of the news that Sookie is the fifth hottest girl's baby name of 2010 so far, our little Southern Belle went a little X-Men with her troubling touch when she again flashed someone's face with her palm.

Back in Bon Temps, times weren't so good for Hoyt, who took an irritating girl out on a date to Merlotte's, obviously upsetting Jessica. No news on the decapitated body that Franklin left in the ditch which was Jessica's kill. I presume things will only get rougher for our redheaded lass before the season catapults to the halfway point. But it was pretty funny to watch her get feisty with Arlene and glamour her customers into not tipping her.

But truly bringing the funny? Franklin!


Franklin and Tara brought it all this week! Horror! Laughs! Action! Heartrending wailing -- that was hilarious! I'm usually slow to warm to new characters, but Franklin has won me over. And Tara is the perfect, horrified foil for him. I hope they spawn lots of British-backwoods vampire progeny to be pissed off all over Mississippi and Tennessee.


Closer to the "I don't give a fuck" scale, Sam sunk deeper into his blood family's mire. The suspense is not killing me to figure out what's going on there. And thoroughly embedded in the "rat's ass or less" part of my interest-level is Jason and his blonde. Evs.

On the better side, Debbie Pelt! What a trashy bitch! I know we have to suspend our disbelief quite a bit for this show, and I'm cool with that. But I just sat there thinking there is NO FUCKING WAY that a guy of Alcide's caliber would ever be with that chick! But I'm really glad that he is. Quality television is finding the characters who make crack-addicted strippers seems soft and sympathetic in comparison, and Debbie achieves that goal.

And then there's Bill. *sigh* Poor noble fucking Bill. He's busted by the king for withholding information, then turns a cold shoulder to Tara and her plight, but then goes all renegade to try and save Sookie, only making things that much worse. That's why I love this show. Bill just causes the shit rolling right on toward Sookie and is unable to help her, but she turns on her light-saber hand and zaps the crap out of a werewolf to save herself. Good ole Sooks!

And, of course, who can forget Eric? Hot on the heels of Franklin, vying for favorite new character, is the king's lover-progeny Talbot. This guy is hilarious, but his reactions to Eric were priceless. And even better was Eric smiling and flirting back, subduing his concern for Pam and keeping himself in check until his spots the Viking crown.


Then we get a great flashback to Eric being all "I don't care about being king" and screwing handmaidens in the barn until his father gets mauled by a werewolf. It's a little odd that he's never crossed paths with Russell over the past 1,000 years before, but, if it gets us sex flashbacks, I'm all for it.

Also not to be forgotten? Lafayette dates Jesus! I *heart* it!

Question of the week? Why must all vampires leave their faces all blood-covered after feeding? Are they all, as a species, completely unaware of wetnaps? Or even their own goddamn sleeve?

As the Pegasus Flies by Sue Nami

I've got a little something unique and quite entertaining for you today. (If you like Mad Men, I think you'll LOVE this.) Sue Nami's As The Pegasus Flies is a soap opera set at Reader's Digest in the 1950's. It's filled with a crazy cast of characters, wild sexual encounters, and more mayhem than a David Fincher movie. In other words, it's great fun!

You can check her and the stories out at the pegasus blog. (Start from the oldest post, as the characters keep reappearing.) And as an added bonus, she now carries the delightful stink of controversy, as she's officially been censored at Reader's Digest! That's how you know she's churning out some worthwhile reading, people! As an even bigger bonus, just in time for summer reading, her ongoing collection has been published. Now available for just $7.50 at Amazon is the print version of As the Pegasus Flies. Enjoy!

Monday, July 12, 2010

9 Crimes -- of Passion!

Ask and ye shall receive! See that. Just a little bit of grumbling about the previous episode, I float that idea that the way to make it up to us is to give us shirtless Manganiello, and VIOLA! It's better than a magic trick. Alan Ball knows how to keep his faithful female fans happy. First scene this week, and we've got shirtless Joe Manganiello. They are totally picking up what I'm putting down! All apologies to Alexander Skarsgard, who's still one sexy sonuvabitch, but I'm not quite sure we can make human beings more good looking than this:



Seriously, congrats to True Blood for snagging an Emmy nod for best drama, even if the cast did get snubbed. But when they roll out the award for best-looking cast, Blood will certainly be in the running. And this from a show that I totally bitched about the lack of sex appeal in the men in the first season. Then again, the first season was being carried by Bill. Pfft. Bill.

Speaking of Bill -- Cripes! He's up to his ass in alligators, again. He's back in Lorena's clutches -- again. He's got to stay away from Sookie for her own good -- again. He's procuring strippers as entrees for royalty -- again. Oh, wait, that's new. He's getting totally dogged by Eric -- again! I do love that one, though. Because frankly, if it's Bill's fangs in the Magister's pliers or Pam's, go right on ahead and rip Bill's fangs on out, baby. Anything to save our fabulous Pam! If you weren't about sick and tired of Zeljko's asshole routine yet, then him taking silver to Pam probably tipped the scales. But I did love that Eric was fully on board to sell Bill up the river to save his progeny!

Though his intentions are noble, Bill's breakup with Sook-ay sent her into desperate sobs. Well done, again, for Anna Pacquin. That chick can pull off drama like crazy with tears and snot and all sorts of sympathy. Another thing she's good at? Throwing sparks with nearly any costar. As ambivalent as I am about Bill, she and he were hot. And then Eric? Off the charts. I love the twist that it was him dreaming about her this week. We are so gonna get Sookie-Eric sex before this is all over. But for now, her cuddling up to Alcide and his shirtless body just makes perfect sense. And when she went all bad-ass brunette and wore black? HOT!

Let's see, what else happened this week? Oh yeah, Jason went deeper into his psychosis of wanting to be law enforcement. Evs. Tara got bitten and abducted by Franklin -- the fucker. I hope she ends up staking his ass. Lafayette drove his new car! And Eric saved him from a bunch of redneck methheads! How IS Lafayette supposed to deal with all this fucked-uped-ness? Sam, he's got hillbilly trouble with his homefolk. But he hired Jessica! Let's hope she's not filling the "waitress-to-be-killed-later" slot at Merlotte's. And then, last, but certainly not least was the appearance once again of that Patrick Swayze-lookin' werewolf. I did a double-take the first time I saw him, then when he cornered Sook last week I was all, "Huzzah?" Then, this week, I read the credits and see that his IS a Swayze! Just as I was hoping he'd say, "Nobody puts Sookie in a corner" she damn well did end up quite cornered in a roomful of crazed wolves. Now I tell you, what more can a show do to get that Emmy statue. Swayzes and leather-clad Sookie and werewolves and silver and exsanguinated strippers and shirtless hot guys. If it doesn't get the Emmy, it at least gets my appreciation.

Friday, July 09, 2010

House Money -- New Review

Though it's still not available in paperback, the good news keeps rolling in for House Money! (Medellin, I tell you. Medellin, baby. Please don't let me end up like Billy Walsh.)

This latest is from Night Owls Reviews, and it's a sentence that makes me shiver with glee. I swear, I did not write this, someone else did. Melinda said:
"Man oh man move over Jackie Collins for Susan DiPlacido sure knows how to write gangsta."

YAY!! I got compared to Jackie Collins! I lurve Jackie's Lucky series, and it was obviously a huge influence on me and that review is like --- YAY!

You can read the full review right here. And you should check it out, because it's got more good stuff to say, like:
"The scenes of Las Vegas were great in this story, the tension of who's going to get the Oasis was awesome and all the characters from her previous books appear here. That was the great part seeing Marina, Miguel, Lisa, Val and Vinny were a treat to read about. If you haven't read her series you should go get them."

Damn right!

You can find House Money right here in e-book.

Playboy

I have a huge collection of Playboy magazines. When I say huge, I mean I have every single issue (except one) from 1955 through 1998, including special editions like the Vixens and Lingerie. It's mostly in very good to mint condition, and I even have double copies still in the original plastic wrap for several of the decades. It's uh, well over 1,000 magzines. The only one missing is April 1958, and I technically have it, but it's "Playboy in Las Vegas" so I want to keep that one.

I want to sell this collection. So, if you or someone you know is interested, drop me a line. You can get me at susandiplacido @ aol.com. (remove the spaces) Bear in mind that the shipping alone on this collection is going to cost a lot