Together at Last...

I published my entire Alexander series at

www.lulu.com/jennifermacaire

The story about this series is a long one (so I will abridge and not bore you...)

They were published in Australia by Jacobyte Books, and did very well. unfortunately, Jacobyte folded just as they were about to publish book IV, and so the series stopped. And I got a lot of letters from readers begging me to find another publisher. Now. But publishing moves at the pace of a snail, and I thought it was unfair of me to withold the end of the series. So I have put them on Lulu and made the price as low as possible. Remember, I'm paying for each book to be made into a paperback, so I can't charge less than it costs to make the darn things - but I'm shaving my profits on the paperbacks and making the e-books 3$ each - very affordable - so that everyone can get a copy.

Anyhow, I still own all the rights, so anyone wanting to make a movie out of them please contact me. I have Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio waiting for the green light...LOL

Here is the Blurb for book 1:

Ashley is a one of the elite, a time-travel journalist who has fought to prove herself in a world that that believes her road in life was paved by her parents' money and her title.
After winning a prestigious award she is chosen to travel through time and interview a historical figure. Choosing her childhood hero Alexander the Great, she is sent back in time for less than a day to find and interview a man whose legend has survived to the present day. He mistakes her for Persephone, goddess of the dead, and kidnaps her, stranding her in his own time.
What follows, after she awakes under a pomegranate tree, is a hilarious, mind-bending tale of a modern woman immersed in the ancient throes of sex, love, quite a bit of vino, war, death, and ever so much more.

$3.00 Download
(note - this series is rated R - for ages 16 and older)

Is it New Years Eve yet?

Usually the holidays seem to go by in a blur. This year, it's like everything is going in slow motion. Is it because for once, I have nearly an entire week for myself with no lessons, deadlines, or parties? And the weather is dreadful - the kind of wet, cold weather that makes your throat hurt just to step outside. Ugh. I've been mostly cleaning, reading (Oh, I got such great books for Christmas!) and playing Heroes V, that my son Alex got me for Christmas. Yes, I'm a Heroes fan, lol.

My daughter and I sit and watch Hercule Poirot films until late at night (my husband got me a collection of them) and I munch on my Alfajores (my neice brought them for me from Argentina - they are my favorite yummy sweet!) and I take lots of pictures of the kids.

For the New Year; we're going to a friend's house. It will be just the four of us and lots of kids. (mine, theirs, plus cousins and pals) and I'm bringing dessert.

I can't wait for New Year's Day - I get to hang up my New Rugby Man Calendar! Yes - my hubby got me the 2007 French Rugbyman calendar. Whew!

But none are as gorgeous as my son. I think I need to get this guy to a modeling agency, lol. He's my voluntary fireman/psychology major son, and he's pretty handsome. (see photo taken at Christmas dinner below) (OK enough bragging.)

His twin, Alex, left to go back to the US yesterday, so I'm feeling a little heartbroken. The house feels empty without both boys here. Even the dogs were sad and moped. I cheered myself up thinking of all the presents my sister in law has given me throughout the years. She is master at finding just the right thing that you have no idea what to do with. She gave me a plastic bracelet once. Another time I got writing paper lifted from a hotel room. This year it was 6 bubble bath beads - and I don't have a bath tub, only a shower. My husband, who never drinks, got a wine thermometer this year. We have decided that the only thing better than a present from my sister in law is no present from my sister in law. But it is good for a blog posting. It also makes me laugh when I see the "Do you hate your Christmas present? Sell it online and make money!" ad here on the Wanadoo home page. (on the French site)

Well, I'm off to watch some more TV with my daughter and be lazy again tonight! Don't you just LOVE vacation?

Merry and Bright!

I wish you all a merry holiday season!Today I am cleaning the house (thrilling) and shopping (oh, the crowds!) and getting everything set for the weekend with the family. In my spare time (hysterical laughter here) I'm perusing Miss Snark's Crapometer and learning a heckova lot about writing hooks. I'm impressed with so much of the writing - a few of the hooks have me hooked, and there are one or two books I'd actually love to read! (thinking about a YA fantasy hook with two princesses duking it out over the kingdom...) My son installed a new patch for my computer and it's working really well. The joys of having a computer literate child! Too bad he goes back to college on the 27th. He's looking for a place to stay in Columbus, Ohio while he goes to the university. Know any cheap, clean, decent places? My daughter thinks we've forgotten her Christmas and is moping. She's too cheerful a person to do any serious moping, but I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning when she finds out we did not forget her, lol. Today I also have to take the meat out of the freezer for tomorrow - (note to self: Please don't forget!)Everything is glittering with frost here - the sun is just peeping over the horizon and it's making a lovely, peachy-silver light! May your day be Merry and Bright!

Get yer title here!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Grace Lady Sam the Mystical of Featherstonehaugh St Fanshaw Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Das Versprechen

My daughter just came home from school with a surprise. Her German teacher had read my book 'The Promise', and liked it so much she translated it into German! She is a native German speaker, and I think she's done an awesome job. So here I am with a German manuscript of 'Das Versprechen' - which is a science fiction YA book about a world without adults. They all died during a plague brought on by a meteorite. The teacher is now busy translating 'Red Sky', and I absolutely have to call her. I never knew she was doing this, you see. She told me daughter, who sort of said one day that her teacher loved the Promise and was translating it - but I thought she meant she was translating it for herself to read, lol.

Anyhow, I'll try to get hold of an electronic copy of this so I can send it to friends in Germany!

And here is a wonderful sculpture that I found in an antique shop here. It's called the Voyager, and it's a protrait of Napolean Bonaparte leaving the battlefield. The cold wind is in his face, it blows his cloak, and pins his horse's ears back. The sculpture is amazing - and if you have about 55,000 euros, it can be yours! *sigh* I wish I could win the lottery.

Busy!!

This week has been a whirlwind, and if you know me, you'll know I hate whirlwinds. I am calm. I am collected. I am half comatose most of the time, lol, but this week has been a busy one. And of course, I get my edits! My editor is on vacation so I don't have to hand them in until After the holidays, but it just seemed funny that they arrived precisely this week.

It started with Saturday and the Village Christmas Fête!

Every year the village has a party for 'decking the halls' sort of thing - when they decorate the village tree and have a little 'tea' for the elderly. The kids in the village get together and present some sort of act. (This is amazing to me - the kids practice every Wednesday for two months to perfect everything. The little kids have their parents to help out - this year they dressed like cowboys and did a little square dance - too cute!)

And my daughter and her friend did a sort of modern dance with lots of high kicks and lifts, and it was pretty cool! Santa came with his donkey. (Yes, his donkey, lol)

Here is a picture of the village Santa:

He gave presents after the fête - and I wished I'd gotten a picture of him with his glass of champagne, lol!


Then Sunday was the Horse Fair, and of course I had to take my daughter to Paris to see that. Millions of people. Crowds. No parking. Driving in horrific traffic. My daughter was Thrilled.
I was exhausted. Monday was almost calm - just a lunch with friends, and then Tusday another lunch with another set of friends. Wednesday was the busiest day - five English lessons and then a trip to Paris for a book signing!
A friend of ours wrote a wonderful book about polo, and he asked me to do some illustrations for it, so I did and he took six of them and used them in the book. Here is a picture of me sitting next to him in Paris last night!

Charles Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme and Moi at a book signing for the book 'POLO - A Sport to Discover' (by Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon Parme). It's written in French and English - it's got wonderful photos and art work in it, and some very funny drawings by yours truly.

If you want a copy it's 29€ plus shipping from France. Just let me know.

Tomorrow I go pick up Alex at the airport at noon! He's coming home for the holidays - and his brother actually cleaned up their room for him!

:-)

grrrrr Blogger!

I hate the new blogger account. Now I have to log in twice, for some reason, and most of the time I can't comment on anyone's board. Have been trying. Is very frustrating. Hate the new Blogger account.
OK - rant over.
I have fixed up my sites with Holiday Cheer - check them out here and here.
Lots of news and new books and contest fun, so don't miss out!
This weekend I took my daughter to 'Le Salon de Cheval' (the Horse Fair) here in Paris. There were Tons of people, tons of horses, and lots of things to buy. I resisted buynig halters, saddles, blankets...Everything. My daughter was devestated. I was smug. My husband amazed.
My daughter does not know her Secret Christmas Present. Ha ha. She will not be depressed for long. My husband wants to buy her a saddle all her own. So, I'm off to search for saddles.
Is there anything you wish for? Long for? Need desperately?
I had to think about that. Can't say I need anything desperately. My laptop is still running (OK - the i key sticks a bit, but who needs 'i's? And my car just passed inspection, and my clothes still fit, and my husband's cousin gave me some great make-up last month, so I'm all set!
I bought some books for my husband, (he loves to read mysteries) and backpacks for the twins for college. Cool backpacks from Japan.
Anyhow, I have to go find a saddle now!
Later!

The Hammam

The other night, I went to a hammam. There were ten of us gals - we got together and decided to do a 'ladies' night'. So, we took out bathing suits, our sarongs, and our shampoo and we went to the ladies' night at the nearby Hammam.
It's in a market place, in the second floor, and it's run by six very nice women from Morocco.
First you undress and shower, and put on your bathing suit bottom. Then you go into a big room that's warm and kind of steamy. You cover yourself with 'black soap' which is liquid soap that smells like Marseilles soap (a little like liquid Neutrogena if I had to compare it with something) it’s a greasy soap that doesn't dry out your skin. Then you go into a hot steam bath sauna room. I could only stay 15 minutes - it was really hot. But it felt nice. Afterwards, the woman in the warm room strips your skin off with a rough glove. OK - not really - but that's what it felt like. You lie on a big tiled table, and she scrubs you from head to toe with what feels like a metal sponge, lol. Your dead skin comes off like gray sludge. You're left feeling like you've just been peeled. Then you shower again, and I couldn't stop touching my arms - So Smooth!! My skin was like a baby's skin - and not irritated at all (and believe me, I have allergies to just about everything!) Afterwards, we dried off, put on dry underwear and the sarong, and went to sit in a big room, drank mint tea, and chatted while we waited for our turn at the massage table. There, a very old and very energetic woman rubbed sweet almond oil all over me. She rubbed all the knots out of my muscles, sternly telling me to 'relax!' I finally relaxed. It felt great. My skin glowed. And it was SMOOTH. Then we got dressed and had a big couscous dinner prepared by the ladies. It was Very Good. I stuffed myself. Couscous is a typical North African dish. It's semolina served with lots of vegetables, chick peas, lamb, and spicy sausage. Afterwards there was more mint tea and 'gazelle horns' a delicate pastry with almonds.

(picture of a typical plate of couscous - minus the lamb and sausage)

I met a woman from Lebanon there - and what do two Lebanese gals do when they get together? They talk about the best way to make Kibbi Nayye! (Of course)
We got home around midnight - and my skin is Still Smooth!

& in other news:

Congrats to Orion - Great News! (check out her blog)

Still Writing & rambling

Still writing. Not done with the mystery book yet. Is getting to the exciting part. Bodies left and right now. Killer getting carried away.
I was wondering if I wasn't taking out some frustration on my characters. Sort of a therapy. Maim and kill with words and take out imaginary characters instead of losing one's temper and driving over the neighbor's cat who insists that your front garden is the only place it can pee.

Actually I don't have a problem with the neighbor's cat since it mysteriously disappeared a few months ago.

No, I'm making up stories again. The poor thing died of old age and obesity. I kept it out of my garden by shutting my front gate - it was too fat to leap up over the wall. My neighbors have a wonderful gourmet restaurant and the cat obviously got the leftovers.

In the village next door, there was another restaurant. It closed after two people were discovered buried in the back garden. A couple. Rumor has it that the man found his wife with another man. And that is what I heard for ages, until I found out from a policeman what really happened. Supposedly the couple were gypsies and had been blackmailing the owner for quite some time. Finally he snapped, shot them, and buried them in the garden.
How many people had dinner in the restaurant while the couple rotted in the ground? I never ate there - when we moved here that was already old news. It took me a while to find out the true story.
Even older news was the story of the man who lived in Gambais and he would go to Paris on the train, find a woman to come clean his house, kill her, and incinerate her in his oven. He's a famous French serial killer. They caught him because of the train tickets. A ticket to and from Paris, and just one ticket from Paris. A one way trip for some poor cleaning woman. That affair, heavily covered by newspapers at the time, was easy to verify. But people living in the village are not eager to talk about the affair. Not unusual - it must bring the property values down quite a bit...

In Houdan, not far away, another mystery was recently solved. A hundred years ago, a woman had been accused of putting arsenic in her husband's meal and poisoning him. His body tested positive for arsenic. So did her children, her mother in law, and everyone in the house. She was put on trial and convicted of murder and attempted murder of over fifteen people. She died in prison. About a hundred years later, a scientist and historian, curious about the affair and about the unusual geographical nature of the area, convinced the town to let him exhume and test the people in the cemetery. Turns out nearly everyone was full of arsenic. The ground water, it turns out, is poisoned. A sort of natural arsenic spring. The woman was declared innocent posthumously, but most people still talk about the 'Houdan poisoner'.

I like the fact that people prefer to think of the woman as guilty. It's more exciting, and besides, she's dead poor thing and can't defend herself. I wondered about other historical reputations, like that of the infamous Tokyo Rose, who was also acquited of spying, and yet still retains her reputation. Does history ever tell the truth? What about the princes in the tower? Did Richard kill them?
I think so. But there are people who disagree with that, saying that history has distorted the facts.
Since it's obvious that even history that's only a few yers old (the man who killed the couple in his restaurant) and a hundred years old (the poisoner from Houdan) can be twisted, imagine what many centuries of propaganda can do? I suppose we'll never find out what happened to the two princes in the tower.