The Flight of Fantasy - A New Blog Award

A huge thank you to the lovely and talented Sophie Tallis for nominating me for the Flight of Fantasy Award. You can check out her book, White Mountain (Darkling Chronicles), out from Safkhet Publishing.

Onto the Award!

The Rules of the Award are as follows:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 11 things about yourself (it’s a Spinal Tap thing!), including why you love fantasy and your first or favourite fantasy book.
4. Nominate 7 bloggers for this award and link to them. (If you want to link back to me as well, that would be lovely but isn’t required!)
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

I've already done steps 1 & 2, so now I'm on step 3. Let's see if I can think of 11 interesting things about me.

• I love fantasy because it allows me to bend reality. I'm not forced to follow real-world rules, which means anything can happen. The only limitations are my (or the author's) imagination.

• Favorite fantasy book is hard. Who can really pick only one? If forced to grab one off the bookshelf while my house was on fire, I think it would be THE PRINCESS BRIDE by William Goldman. It's one of those favorites that has stood the test of time. Or at least the test of time for the length of my own life, which is close enough. ;-)

Those were the easy ones. Now to think of 9 random interesting things:

• I have two children, a 6-year old boy and a 4-year old girl. They are as different from each other as it's possible to be. My son is neat, studious and mostly quiet. My daughter, well, think opposite of that.

• I've been married 7 1/2 years. Most of that time was spent in western Massachusetts.

• This is the fifth interesting fact about me and my favorite number is 5.

• My favorite color is blue.

• I play clarinet 'professionally.' By professionally I mean, I get paid to squeak my way through concerts.

• Favorite snack: cheese & crackers with jam. You should all try it and thank me later. And don't get the cheap stuff. It's best with Irish cheese and homemade jams or preserves, not jellies. This is why I don't get to eat it often. :-)

• Ever see the movie 'Dumb & Dumber'? That was totally based on my family. We would take road trips out to Aspen, CO from our home in RI every year. Part of the reason was because my mom was a rabid John Denver fan. Unfortunately the film-makers missed some golden opportunities, like getting stuck in Kansas during torrential downpour and accidentally driving into a train tunnel because it totally looked like an off-ramp.

• Speaking of John Denver, my mom smacked him in the head with her camera once. Good thing he was a nice guy.

• I have a B.A. in theater. See how far that one got me.

And that's 11 random and odd facts about me. It's everyone else's turn now. My nominations are as follows (make sure you check them out):

1. Veronica Bartles
2. Thomas Knight
3. Kay Kauffman
4. Sophie Tallis
5. Hart Johnson (Not specifically a fantasy writer, but she does a lot of world building. Check her out.)
6. John Lucas Hargis
7. William Macmillan Jones 

Take a look at these lovely writers and their blogs. You never know when you'll find a new favorite author.

*Nerd Cat Diaries will return tomorrow, for anyone looking for this week's installment.*