Fresno!

I had a Fantastic day in Fresno! First I talked at a school (great kids.) Then had a fun TV interview (I'll post the link here in a few days!) After that I met with my new friends Glenn and Angelica, had lunch with them, and got a tour of an AMAZING kid lit research library. (See the link to it on the side of my blog!) The amount of Lewis Carrol books (variations of his books, books about him...) alone was amazing. And I'm a big Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass fan! Glenn, a professor at Cal State, interviewed me on film for his students. Then I had a signing at night. So, overall, a great day!

I found out that Angelica is a big Oz fan (as some of you know I am!) And I now know that there is an international Oz club! (Wow...!) Here is the link: http://www.ozclub.org

Love and Hugs,
Kaza

Friends...

When I talk at schools and get interviewed people often ask what my favorite part of being a writer is. Of course, my answer changes day to day. But I think the bottom line is the friends I have made and am making along the way. There are a lot of people who are special to me that I never knew before I began this adventure. Some are fans, others teachers, booksellers, artists, writers. I could go on and on!

So - to just a few of you (and there are more than I could begin to list here): Daanon, Whitney, Jonathan, Mark, Melvyn, Heather, Rocel (Bugg!), Kennyth and Samantha, the Johnsons, David, Erin, Matthew, Kaleb, Kim, Jo, Rick, Silas, Aaron, Dennis, Nona and Rose (of course!) ... and so many more of you that I now know and love who were not in my life before this magical series came to life!

Thanks for being with me on this incredible ride. Thank you for your friendship, support, and enthusiasm. Love you all!!!

Yours always,
Kaza

I am SOOOO excited!!!!

I am SO excited about this animated video! The best animation artist in the world (by my estimation) did this video to promote my Erec Rex series. It's AMAZING!

The artist is Jonathan Fesmire. Check out his sites at http://myspace.com/jonathanfesmire and http://jfesmire.deviantart.com/ . I absolutely love what he did. The video got a little degraded on YouTube, but the detail is fantastic. Check out the chocolate shop Erec walks into! The little dragon creature on the side. The grizzly look of some of the bad guys. The background. (I could go on and on!!!)

And you probably won't have heard the music before, either. It's from a Fantastic new band called Soldiers for Solace. I love this song, called "The Fallen." You can see their info at http://myspace.com/soldiersforsolace


If you like this, pass the link http://youtube.com/watch?v=I8ph8s4psyU around to your friends. It helps promote my books, Jonathan's art, and Soldiers for Solace's music -- and is fun to watch!!!

Love ya,
Kaza

Look Alikes?

Hope you're all doing well! I had an Awesome signing today at Cincinnati's first annual Books by the Banks book fair! I was only there two hours, and my first book sold out, a lot of my second, too. It was a really fun crowd, and I met some fun authors... All in all a great time!

Okay, I finally gave in and checked it out. This is a fun site - check it out at http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php. I haven't seen anyone get close to 86%, which is odd because I don't see my resemblance to Natalie Imbruglia ...
Fun anyway!!




And here is a cool add-on trick! I think this one is awesome!!




I'm trying to enjoy this R and R now - I'm off to California on Wednesday!!
Love and Kisses,
Kaza

Phew!!!

Man, it's good to be home. I had such a great time on the East coast ... up until the last few days. I was so excited before that, enjoyed every minute of it. I, literally, was the only person smiling on the subway from Brooklyn (where I stayed with my sister) into NYC. (I'm sure the regular passengers thought I was nuts. I was just so excited to get into the city again!)

But the second to last day of my tour I got the Big Sign that it was time to go back. I had a lot to do - certain stores I had to stop by and sign books for, a store event that night, an afternoon online appointment... But to start I had a killer amount of email to answer - the night before I was up 'til 2 AM, then did two more hours that morning before I got started. So I essentially (after all that) started my day in a panic. After that, my rental car broke down, computers malfunctioned so I missed my afternoon online thing - after half an hour of needless trying - parking was impossible all day, I hit traffic . . . And basically I lost every reserve of energy I had.

Perfect time to come home and collapse!!

But - I'm already getting excited for my California part of my book tour. I have some great events and school visits lined up, and some great people to hang out with over there.

Until then,
All my love --
Kaza ;D

Things are Getting Stranger...

I just got into DC last night. It was great hanging with my brother. He told me something freaky though, and I just have to share. It's becoming a strange world (guess it always has been, but wait 'til you hear this!)

Because of all the gamers online now, there is a new sweatshop type industry that has popped up in China now. People (mostly kids) are working around the clock doing video games - for money - to rack up points for people. In other words, gamers can buy points online to help them with their games. But the points have to come from somewhere. These people, called "gold farmers," are racking up points, getting paid for them, and their employers are selling the points online.

This amazes me. Any time I think my life is strange...

Here's a YouTube vid about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Yxe6UVv4

and here is more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmer_(gaming)

Hope you're all doing great!!
Love, ya - Kaza

Sister Time...

When I was in NYC a few days ago I got to stay with my sister, Jennifer. It was great to see her, her husband Sam, and their cute baby, Isaac! Sam was out of town two of they days I was there, so at night, when I was done signing books at stores, and Isaac was asleep, Jen and I got some rare sister time to talk, eat pizza and laugh. I think I kept her up far too late, considering she had to get up early for Isaac and for work!


And, of course, while in New York, I couldn't resist stopping by China Town and getting tons (yes, tons) of amazing Chinese pastries. Jen, Sam and I shared what I didn't scarf down immediately. (If you haven't had fresh rice cakes from a Chinese bakery you don't know what you're missing! They can be gooey - and I guess might be an acquired taste - but ... yummm!!!)

And I bought myself a little dragon to add to my small collection. I like to look at them when I write.

Since then, I did a great signing in Willow Grove (Philly) and got to eat a cheese steak (yes, this is becoming all about food...)

Then I did a signing at the Barnes and Noble Power Plant in Baltimore. The coolest interior of a Barnes and Noble I've seen yet! It actually used to be an old power plant. This link shows some of the brass and metal structures running through the middle of the store!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nd.edu/~sheridan/Baltimore%25202006/Baltimore%25202006-Images/38.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nd.edu/~sheridan/Baltimore%25202006/Baltimore%25202006-Pages/Image38.html&h=449&w=674&sz=165&hl=en&start=4&sig2=nagxvLybcKVUje2Wv3xJsw&um=1&tbnid=z7N8vBM1dwfUPM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=138&ei=3r4cR6aAPY7mgALhxe2RCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarnes%2Band%2Bnoble%2Bpower%2Bplant%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN
This one shows the cool look from the outside. The whole area feels like a big party:
http://www.teemorris.com/blog/uploaded_images/powerplant-730871.jpg

Now on to DC and to see my brother!!

All love,
Kaza