Who you are is part of what defines your subject, your themes and your style. If you pick up a John Ringo book, you can bet that you'll see liberals getting in the way of brave soldiers who are defending the world from evil so dark only a liberal could love it. If you read Terry Pratchett, you'll catch glimmers of optimism mixed with British humor. If you read Robert B. Parker, you'll read about characters who can't get over broken relationships and who agonize over it indefinitely.

I'm a Robert Parker fan. I discovered Parker when I was in my late 20s, grabbing his early Spenser novels like they were manna from heaven. I think God Save the Child is one of the great mysteries, and The Promised Land is in the same boat. I used to watch the Spencer TV series just so I could see the flashes of Parker still shining through a million scriptwriter's work. But, based on his writing, Robert B. Parker is one troubled man. In relationships, you get to choose between the manically happy Spenser, who seems to be back with Susan Silverman for good (despite the continued hopes of this reviewer, who wishes that Susan Silverman would have a quick and painless heart attack and vanish from the fictional universe). My understanding is that Parker lives in the same house as his ex-wife, unable to move forward, but also unable to sustain a stable relationship. In the latest Sunny Randall novel, SPARE CHANGE, which I reviewed today (www.booksforabuck.com/mystery/mys_07/spare_change.html) Sunny is dressing to the nines to attract her (remarried) ex-husband back. Am I the only person who thinks this is eeew? Parker's great dialogue and intriguing mysteries just can't stand up to the baggage he loads his characters with.

I wonder what baggage I'm bringing to my characters. One thing about being a reader is that it's sometimes possible to see things in other people's work that you need to find in your own as well.

Speaking of writing, I got thirteen pages of my current WIP written (up to page 216), edited 100 pages of Michael Paulson's DEADLY TRADE, and started reading THE QUEEN OF WOLVES by Douglas Clegg. Pretty good day.

Speaking of reviews,  Cathy Richard Dodson's A TEXAS BOUNTY got a wonderful 5 Heart review from A Romance Studio. The review is here: http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/texasbountydodson.htm. Great work, Cate. In honor of this event, I'm going to make A TEXAS BOUNTY the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. When his aging uncle offers a million dollar reward for the return of a wallaby, Noah Francis knows he needs to go back to Texas and straighten things out. Unfortunately, this means running into sexy Sheriff Lou Ann Miles--the woman he left behind when he fled small-town Texas for politics and the big city. Lou Ann thinks she's put Noah behind her--until he shows up. They need to spend time together to control Noah's uncle, but has too much time and too many secrets made a relationship impossible? And then there's Krissy, Noah's teenaged daughter. Sexy, fun, and with a twist, it's only $3.99. Learn more, read our review, or buy the entire eNovel (available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Mobipocket, Palm DOC, and Microsoft Reader formats) here: www.booksforabuck.com/rompages/rom_2007/texas_bounty.html. Here's the cover (cover design by Jim Dodson):

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