a few weekends ago, i was very happy to attend
my friend, lisa’s, signing at Mysterious Galaxy
for her debut, Rock Paper Tiger.
it’s gotten great press and critical reviews!

American Iraq War veteran Ellie Cooper is down and out
in Beijing when a chance encounter with a Uighur—a member
of a Chinese Muslim minority—at the home of her sort-of
boyfriend Lao Zhang turns her life upside down. Lao Zhang
disappears, and suddenly multiple security organizations are
hounding her for information. They say the Uighur is a terrorist.
Ellie doesn’t know what’s going on, but she must decide whom
to trust among the artists, dealers, collectors, and operatives
claiming to be on her side—in particular, a mysterious organization
operating within a popular online role-playing game. As she tries
to elude her pursuers, she’s haunted by memories of Iraq. Is what
she did and saw there at the root of the mess she’s in now?

…

doesn’t it sound so cool?
the signing was great. lisa’s mom even baked
cookies for reading!

*deborah, lisa and me!

afterward, we took lisa to the extraordinary desserts
near little italy. a favorite destination of mine for
friends who visit! and we got some fun fotos! hee!

*lisa is duly impressed by her chocolate
monstrosity!

*deborah swears she is not as naughty
as this foto might suggest. i can neither
confirm or deny this statement. haha! =D

but we had loads of fun and chatted about
(what else?) books and publishing and writing
and everything else.

i’m fully immersed in my first set of line edits
for Fury of the Phoenix. so happy to be within
my story again. i’m also enjoying an art/craft
class in the name of sequel research and found
myself daydreaming of a third (unsold) novel
on the drive back on saturday. exciting but also
makes me slightly apprehensive. ha!

currently reading :

the agency by y. s. lee