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April Showers Bring May...

by Tamara Hogan

Aaaah, spring! -)
...flowers? Nuh-uh.

If you grew up where I did, on the south side of the Minnesota/Canada border, there's still snow on the ground in April, and anything planted before Memorial Day weekend will be a certain victim of serial killing frost. Nope, if you grew up where I did, learning how to skate as soon as you learned how to walk, and with a "Miracle on Ice" Olympian living across the street, April is all about hockey playoffs, and May the Stanley Cup.

In Minnesota, April showers bring May mullets.;-)

They say "write what you know" so it's probably no surprise that both of the Underbelly Chronicles books I've written so far - 2011's TASTE ME and my June 2012 release, CHASE ME - are partially set in northern Minnesota, where I grew up.

One of my favorite scenes in CHASE ME occurs when my sophisticated vampire villain, Beddoe, walks into a northern Minnesota dive bar while the locals watch the Stanley Cup finals, looking for a way to get more information about the archaeological dig down the road. Did I mention that Beddoe is...alien-born, and completely out of his element on the planet's surface? Attempting to see a familiar setting through completely fresh eyes was a blast, and really gave me a workout!

(Due to paragraph formatting issues introduced by a recent upgrade to our blogging environment, please read the excerpt HERE.)

If you had to choose something other than May flowers for April showers to bring to you, what would it be, and why? 

Tamara Hogan loathes cold and snow, but nonetheless lives near Minneapolis with her partner Mark and two naughty cats. When she's not telecommuting as a quality and process engineer for a global networking company, she enjoys writing edgy urban fantasy romance with a sci-fi twist. A feral reader with an unapologetic television addiction, Tammy is forever on the lookout for the perfect black boots. Her debut, TASTE ME, was a 2009 Daphne Paranormal Winner and 2009 Golden Heart Finalist. The follow-up, CHASE ME, is releasing in June and available for pre-sale NOW! (Amz | BN | Sourcebooks)

Visit her at www.tamarahogan.com, or on Twitter at @TamaraHogan1.

Comments

  1. I hate the heat down here and already was forced to turn on the AC, but I still prefer it to snow in May! Happy flowers in June, Tamara?

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  2. I'm with Terry. We've had the AC on for 6 weeks or more, and it was almost 90 here yesterday. But I prefer it to the cold (most days). I wouldn't mind showers of cookies...

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  3. I live just over the Red River north of Terry and Shana. AC has already been on here for several weeks, too. In my writing world April showered me with many good things...the best of which is that Deb accepted my new cowboy proposals. Now May brings flowers in the form of a budding new book.

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  4. I have always loved the lift we get in May because school will soon be out. Year round school may eventually erase that, which would be a pity, but for me it's still there. Soon, we won't be stuck behind those lumbering buses, soon we won't see the kids standing at the bus stop as if they'd rather be anywhere else, soon the community pools will be full of noise and activity.... And the flowers are nice too.

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  5. Terry, I don't have much of an issue with the heat - I think my personal thermostat runs pretty dang cold. I can count on two hands the number of times I can remember feeling hot in my entire life! That said, it DOES get hot here. With this odd spring we all seem to be having, we had 80' on St. Patrick's Day, and 30' just two days ago. It's still too soon for me to put away the Uggs and down coat!

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  6. Count me in for the shower of cookies, Shana! I'm a big fan of the classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip recipe, with added walnuts. I'll share!

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  7. Yay, more cowboys from Carolyn! Congratulations, and may May bring the CasaBabes and the CasaDude many new and delicious books. I'm heads down on TEMPT ME, which is due in a couple of months. Thankfully I finally know where it's going... ;-)

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  8. Grace, I don't have kids of my own, but I always feel sorry for the kids shivering at the ends of their driveways in April and May as they wait for the bus - unless they're shivering because they're wearing shorts and flip-flops when it's 40' out. You can only look so cool when your lips, skin and toes are blue!

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  9. You have one fabulous cover there! Wow! All this talk of just turning on AC--here in our alcove of Florida we had the AC on most of the winter.
    Amelia

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  10. So glad you like the cover, Amelia! I think it's just hot, hot, hot! Aleta Rafton's done both of my covers, and does such a fabulous job.

    Today in southern MN, it's 55' and thunder storms. Gah.

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  11. Some great new books are coming out by my favorite authors. Thats what I would choose instead of flowers. Or maybe money?
    christinebails@yahoo.com

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  12. Chrisbails - yes, new books are always welcome, aren't they? And they won't make you sneeze. ;-)

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