One Day at a Time--Christmas Book Wish List

The Gardener should have been live on Amazon by now. Actually, it was...for one day this week. Then, I went in to fix an administrative error, which took it offline and back in the review queue for two days. As Murphy's Law would have it, I missed another error, so it is in queue again. It seems to take two business days to go through the process. So, tomorrow (fingers crossed) it will be online at both Smashwords and Amazon. When it goes live, I'll do a few happy cartwheels and post an excerpt here.

I have a very practical family. We all have limited budgets and don't believe that we should just guess what each other would like to have for Christmas. This eliminates receiving presents like purple polka-dotted polyester shirts off the clearance rack at Kmart or jumbo sized jars of deep fried black licorice. "You shouldn't have--really!" So, we exchange wish lists each year. This doesn't totally eliminate the well-intended gifts like books on gardening (that aren't for my climate) or yet another book on cats to add to my burgeoning feline library. (Thanks, Mom...luv ya!). I've found that it pays to be REALLY SPECIFIC. I always want books. That's a given each year. But, I've started putting titles on the list, instead of just genres.
To keep things simple, I've put three on my wish list for Christmas 2010:

• The Passage by Justin Cronen - This is a must-read 'vampocalypse' that I can't wait to seek my teeth into. Check it out here: http://enterthepassage.com/
• Horns by Joe Hill - What's a guy to do when he suddenly sprouts real horns on top of his head? (Joe Hill is code for 'Stephen King's son--sorry, man...had to throw that in there. You'll never escape it.) I read his last book, Heart Shaped Box...and it was a good ride. See a YouTube clip from him here:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P8m3RJUA0I and his website here:
  http://joehillfiction.com/?cat=29
• Holy Ghosts: Or How a (Not-So) Good Catholic Boy Becomes a Believer in Things that Go Bump in the Night by Gary Jansen. I can never turn down a good ghost story, especially one that purports to be true. http://garyjansen.com/

If anyone has read any of these, I'd love to hear comments...but no spoilers please!