The end of the year always gets so busy:  especially since I review theater in Seattle and there are so MANY holiday shows. Not complaining though, because I managed to collect a number of terrific theatrical treats, including a reading of a new Sherlock Holmes play (loved the new movie too!), a chance to see the Rockettes in action, and a post-Christmas concert of new music that reminds how many talented singers make their home in the Northwest.

The other writing went well too, with another short story finished and sent off for an anthology coming in April from Apex. There was also the publication of Cobalt City Christmas (mentioned earlier) this month.  And, in just a couple of weeks, I should be getting my copies of Realms of the Dead.

With the year ending on a blue moon, it seemed like the perfect time to whisk around the web with my digital broom and clean up some pages. You'll find a new and improved author page over at Amazon.com for example.

As for 2010, I'm resolved as always to keep on writing. Stay in touch, have a great year, and see you in the next decade somewhere on the web!

This seems to be my week to pop up as a guest blogger here and there.

You can find my views on writing in the unmapped corners of shared worlds at John Ottinger's Grasping the Wind on Friday (Dec. 18). Check out this site if you haven't visited it yet. John lined up a great number of guest while he took a well-deserved vacation, including steampunk author Stephen Hunt, fantasy author Karen Miller, editor Shaun Duke, and a whole bunch more interesting people.

And, for something completely different, you can also read my musings on the Rockettes and dance in America at a neat new arts blog called Seattle Dances. 

I've also updated my own blog with some more information about Cobalt City Christmas and a short explanation of swan napkins.

And, now, it's back to the keyboard. I have an editor waiting very patiently at Apex for my final rewrite for Close Encounters of the Urban Kind (coming summer 2010).

I'm a fan of Nathan Crowder's Manuel de la Vega mysteries, a spin-off of his superhero series set in Cobalt City. So I was thrilled to be invited to contribute to Cobalt City Christmas, a nifty new anthology that mixes Yuletide cheer with Cobalt City craziness.

My story relates what happens when Manuel's sidekick Snowflake (a genetically engineered man-panda) takes over the preparation of the Christmas feast.  Needless to say, mayhem and swan napkins result.

You can order a copy of Cobalt City Christmas for a limited time from Lulu.com.




Other contributors include Seattle authors Crowder, Angel Leigh McCoy (Wily Writers), Jeremy Zimmerman (Crossed Genres), and Nicole Burns. There's tales of tenderness, dark fantasy, superhero adventure, rubber duckies, and, yes, a little Christmas cheer.

I'm going to fall seriously short of 50,000 words in NaNoWriMo, but I had serious fun with my project and met several great writers online and at some local meet-ups.

My failure to produce can be blamed on a couple of last minute writing assignments. I will have a new short story out in Cobalt City Christmas (Timid Pirates Productions) next month. More details on how to order this limited edition book will be available on December 1.

I'm also in the final stages of editing a horror/science fiction short for Apex. This will appear next summer in Close Encounters of the Urban Kind.

And, for fans of the Carver family (City of the Dead), there's a Leaplow tale in Realms of the Dead, currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

I'm slow staring my first NaNoWriMo (being between contracts, I let a friend talk me into this).

If you're interested in seeing my word count remain stubbornly under 10,000 in the first week, or you want to give me some encouragement, become my buddy at NaNoWriMo.

And, yes, there will be some more stories out in 2010. Look for my work in the anthologies Realms of the Dead (Wizards of the Coast) and Close Encounters of the Urban Kind (Apex).

Got a run. There's a novel waiting for me!

Matt James has organized a great collection of Forgotten Realms authors and game designers to answer all your burning Forgotten Realms questions at www.loremaster.org. 

The perpetual interview lets you query real masters of the Realms lore like creator Ed Greenwood as well as some Young Dragons like myself. Check it out.

Matt will be adding more people as the months roll along and he likes getting suggestions too. So be sure to let him know who you would like to interview!

I've been adding new articles to my gig at Seattle Theater Examiner, trying to beat the heat in Seattle (we broke all records last week when the mercury went over 100!), and experimenting in container gardening on my city balcony.

While the strawberries were a bust, the tomatoes loved the heat and I was actually able to harvest enough for one tomato-and-cheese sandwich on Sunday.

Somewhere in all that flurry, I seem to have mislaid a month. Because it is August already! City of the Dead has been rolling along, garnering some nice reviews around the Web. 

My next short story will be out in January 2010 in the Wizards' anthology Realms of the Dead. If you like City, you'll enjoy this short that features Sophraea's battling brother Leaplow. 

Working on many other stories and when I know where they will land, I'll be sure to share the news here.

Once upon a time (as all good tales begin), Erik Scott de Bie and Rosemary Jones entered a Wizards of the Coast contest . . . and promptly lost.

But something in their wildly different styles (he writes dark fantasy, she writes swashbuckling silly) appealed to the Wizard editors.

Since then they've become known as Young Dragons, part of a group of new voices exploring the popular Forgotten Realms. Both being Seattle residents, they also cross paths at coffee shops, conventions, or inside the cover of anthologies.

Now, we are both stalking through Waterdeep. If you like it dark and full of intrigue, try Erik's DOWNSHADOW. Want something spooky and sassy? That's CITY OF THE DEAD (by me!).

Come meet both authors and learn how we ended up writing fantasy for Wizards of the Coast, our suggestions for launching your writing career (or your suggestions for us!), chit-chat, and other silly stuff. Erik claims that there may be other revelry afterward.

Want to sample CITY OF THE DEAD? Chapter one can be downloaded for free at Wizards of the Coast.

Erik Scott de Bie and Rosemary Jones
JULY 8, 2009: 7 p.m.
University Book Store
4326 University Way NE
Seattle , WA 98105

Meeting at a secret location in Seattle, which oddly resembled a doughnut shop, Erik Scott de Bie, author of Downshadow, bravely plunged his hand into the bag four times, pausing for dramatic effect as I fumbled with the camera. You can see Erik's brief career as a hand model at www.rosemaryjones.com.

Drumroll.....and the winners are:

Mike Drozdowski: City of the Dead and Realms of Dragons II
Tim Cassibo: City of the Dead [Castlekeep entry]
Christopher Heard: City of the Dead [Blog entry]
John Bragna: City of Dead [My Space entry]

Thank you again to everyone who entered! Because you entered you automatically qualify for a free bookplate for City of the Dead. If you want a bookplate sent to you, just e-mail me at rosemarynovels at aol.com.

Thank you to everyone who sent me a note or posted a comment about City of the Dead here.  I'll be posting the winners here tomorrow.

Some of you know that I design a special author's signed bookplate for every book.  Once again I'll be mail these out free to readers wherever the Post Office will deliver BUT there is a slight difference this year.

To earn a bookplate, you must post a comment about City of the Dead somewhere on the web.  Send me the link: it can be a comment on your My Space page, an Amazon.com review, a blog post, or whatever you want.  Just e-mail the link, your mailing address (where you want the bookplate sent), and you'll be getting an interesting envelope from me!