RUNNING FROM THE SKADGER

by Barbara Poelle

Thrillerfest was an actual thrill this weekend as my author Jamie Freveletti walked with the ITW Award for best debut for RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL. Hurrah! All hail the Freveletti! Doesn’t that make you ALSO want to read the next book in the series, RUNNING DARK? Well thank goodness it is available now! Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! Organize a 5K that ends at a local bookstore and then as the runners cross the finish line, buy them a copy! (Well, pick two of those choices, at least.)

Jamie’s win was a fabulous cherry on top of the already deliciously successful sundae which was T’fest. Shane Gericke was, as always, a delightful puppet master and Liz Berry was as effervescent as she was organized- this is a high caliber conference with quality attendees and presenters and I am always so pleased with the outcome. After all, it was at Thrillerfest where Jamie and I first met and I signed both Jamie and Graham Brown (have you reserved your copy of BLACK SUN yet?) as a direct result from that conference. Thrillerfest is always an eventful week and this year most especially with the added bonus that I was licked by a Skadger on Wednesday night. My how the week packs in the most bang for the buck!

Next up for me is the Romance Writers of America conference in Orlando, Florida, and I…

Hm?

Yes. That’s right. Licked by a Skadger Wednesday night.

Anyway, so RWA is also a—

What? Okay! Geez. I’ll elaborate.

So Wednesday night in the late evening Husband and I adjourned to the back yard to enjoy a frosty glass of milk before bed. And by milk I mean buffalo’s. And by glass I mean pitcher. Anyway, about halfway through the glass (pitcher) I noticed our good friend Francisco the Skadger lumbering around the corner garden…but wait! What’s this? A mini-me Francisco! A baby Skadger! He was quickly christened “Enrique” and thus needed a much closer look in order to assure the naming was fitting. So I crept up within a respectable distance and said, “Psst, Enrique!” to see if he seemed pleased. Well, it was at that moment that Enrique decided to reveal that he may be more skunk than badger as he turned and lifted his tail, taut, in my direction. So I peeled out of there and ran back to the bench next to Husband where we giggled maniacally for a few seconds until Husband’s eyes suddenly widened and he hissed, “Don’t MOVE.”  I peered out of the corner of my eye, and Enrique was 3 feet away and closing in.  I immediately flashed to calling Shane Gericke’s cell and saying, “Yeaaaah, uh, sorry I can’t come to Agentfest because I was sprayed by a skunk.” He would of course assume that meant I had pounded seven G&Ts and fallen down a flight of stairs which is oftentimes referred to in my house as “calling in sick”.

So I froze.

Enrique did not.

Nope. Instead, that baby Skadger waddled right up and nuzzled my ankle and then proceeded to lick my foot.

A lot.

I said, as if practicing my ventriloquism through clenched teeth with a whispered hiss, “Enrique is licking me,” Husband was stunned into immobility as if by the errant wand of a Hogwarts student. Then, the rock of Gibraltar that he is, he goes apoplectic with muffled wheezing hysterical laughter. After a tense (and actually kinda sweet when you think about it) 7 seconds of Skadger bath, Enrique shambles off like a drunken toddler and I leap up and run into the apartment to scrub my feet with soap and water and lye.

Now all of you rabies people, (I am looking at YOU Folly Doot) no panicking. The skin was not broken and I asked Sophie Littlefield who is writing a brand new series for Luna about saliva transmitting diseases and she said I was fiiiiine. (Yes, I get all of my medical advice from my fiction writers. So?)(And hey! Don’t forget to check out AFTERTIME, hitting stands in Spring 2011 by some brilliant author named Sophie Crane.)

So, as promised, the week of Thrillerfest is ALWAYS aptly named.

(Okay, FINE, mom, I talked to an ACTUAL licensed physician and no, I don’t need the rabies shots. SO See? Sophie was right, and Janet Reid is FOILED once again.)

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Sophie Littlefield]

so incredibly proud of Jamie!!!

[Alli]

Congrats to Jamie and oh... a Skadger bath? Tuesdays never fail to get that old belly laugh going.

[Alison Janssen]

This could be big:

In a bustling, busy city, one lovely plot of grass houses the love story that will melt your heart this summer ... The Unexpectant Mother.

Can a shark agent raise a tender skadger baby to read manuscripts and spray unwanted queries?

[Libby Hellmann]

OMG... have you heard about my war with skunks? If not, it's all on Facebook. How did you make friends with him? All they do is spray my house, my car, my basement window... and I NEVER did anything to them. Really. Neither did my sweet lately departed Beagle who got skunked three times in one summer!

Because of their maladorous behavior... if I even see one, it's a battle to the DEATH. And I refuse to be the one who dies.

[barbara]

Clearly the feel good read of the summer. Let's get on it.

[barbara]

Not Enrique, Libby! He is just a country skadger trying to make it in the big city....

[Noelle Pierce]

Ohmigod, I just laughed so hard my kids (each in a room over with doors shut) woke up. I don't think I could sit there with any wild animal licking me--though that is assuming I was paid a great deal of money to be sitting outside in this heat in the first place.

I wanna get back to the RWA comment... :-D I hope I get to see you there (I didn't make appointments cos my MS isn't quite there yet, but I'm really excited!)

[Skadger Family Circus]

Damn that Enrique. I thought I taught him to gnaw, not lick.

[Shane Gericke]

Yer damn tootin' I woulda figured you were calling in sic to AgentFest cause yer hubby was in town and you were sluggin' down the Gs and Ts before traipsing off to show him your, um, silken finery! Twas delightful to see you all too briefly at ThrillerFest, my friend. And I adore being your Puppet Master.

Shane

[Shane Gericke]

Er, that's "sick," not "sic." Don't know if one can actually call in sic. (Sic.)