Geeky Things

First of all, Sailor Boy and I hit Level 24 with our “adorable couple” group on World of Warcraft. We started these two characters, a warrior and a priest, that we play together. They’re draeni, which are these enormous, noble, squid/goat/Klingon/human looking things. So cute. No, really. The female draeni, in particular, are the most bootylicious characters in the game. Plus, we have tails. And we speak with Russian accents.

So pardon me for a moment while I geek out about how awesome my draeni priestess and her linebacker warrior draeni luvah are.

But we’re not done with Diana’s descent into geekiness yet. Oh no, my friends, we’re just getting started.

So we’re playing WOW, and we’re in this area called Redfall, and there’s a merchant there, and as soon as I saw her name, I almost lost control of the keyboard. Amy Davenport.

Okay, a lot of you don’t think that’s funny. But here’s why you are wrong. In my book, the main character, Amy, lives in Prescott College, which is the alternate-universe twin to a college at Yale called Davenport. Sometimes Yalies ask me if Amy is in Pierson college, which I suppose makes sense, given that the words Pierson and Prescott look alike, and Pierson and Davenport are right next to one another. But no.

Other times, they ask me why I put her in Davenport/Prescott, when I wasn’t in that college. (“Um, because I’m not Amy?”) Seriously, though, the very simple answer to that is that in the first scene, when I envisioned her in her room, it was Sailor Boy’s junior year suite, which is a really gorgeous suite, and I’ve been told by all the Davenporters who read the book that they knew instantly what room she was in because it’s often the first round draft pick for the junior year room draw. Go, Amy and Lydia!

(And when you read Under the Rose, you’ll learn that they liked the room so much that they decided to deprive a whole year of juniors from getting it by “squatting.”)

But it turned out to fit really well, especially given the character of the college and the development of George Prescott as a main plot point. Yay for serendipity and synergy, yeah?

Still, I couldn’t resist sticking my college dorm room in there at least once. There is a scene in “my” room in Under the Rose.

One last bit of geekiness before I’m off to New York City: The Galley Gallery. If you’re an author and you want a picture of your galleys/ARCs, or a picture of you *with* your galleys/ARCs, let me know!