Thanksgeeking

This year, I'm packing up my contributions (pie, ham, salad, rolls) and going to Thanksgiving dinner with friends. It's about a mile away and we have had Thanksgiving with them for a few years running. We often have Christmas dinner with them, too. It's what comes from living 2000 miles from family and not being rich enough to fly "home" all the time. We haven't had Christmas with my parents in a really really long time. Maybe next year...

This year, though, my boys (two teens and husband) and my friend's boys (a teen, a 20-something, and a husband) and some other boys are going to spend the day playing Dungeons and Dragons.

My friend's calling it Thanksgeeking.

So now I'm thinking about all the geeky things that I am thankful for.

Maybe you do and maybe you don't think of romance novels as geekery, but some of us readers are pretty intense about our favorite authors and favorite books. Just recently, I got into a big discussion of some small aspect of Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series with some other people (all authors) on Twitter. It was divine.

And authors are pretty intense about the hard work that goes into crafting a plot and characters and being entertaining. And developing the character's goals and motivations. And making sure there's enough believable conflict to keep the reader reading. And getting attached emotionally. Feeling all the feels. Yes, including sex. *gasp*

I went to see Fantastic Beasts with my three kids yesterday, because I am a huge Harry Potter geek and have been reading the books to and watching the movies with my kids since before they were completely ready to sit still and listen. My introduction to them was when my husband brought home a box set of the first four in paperback and gave them to me for Christmas. He pretty much lucked out with those, because I didn't know I was going to read them all in about two days (while nursing the baby) and then read them again. Then surface and think that maybe I should get a wand. I mean, we lived in London at the time, so obviously Diagon Alley wasn't all that far away.

So Fantastic Beasts was good. Not as good as the HP books, but better than most of the HP movies. Newt was really cute and socially awkward and a genius. Talk about geeks!

My middle son went to see Dr. Strange the other day with a friend and I still want to take my oldest. We're not really comic book and superhero geeks, but have an appreciation for them.

I'm hesitating about taking my eight year old because it might be more than I want her to watch. Already Fantastic Beasts was a bit more intense than I think she should be watching, but of all my kids, she's actually the least sensitive about scary stuff in movies.

I'm much more excited about the next Star Wars movie. I've been a Star Wars geek since I was seven, after all. I definitely cheered for #7, too. (I hated #1 so much I never saw more than snippets of #2 and #3 while my kids watched them on DVD).

My oldest son is working his way through the entire oeuvre of Orson Scott Card. He hit Asimov for a while a few months ago. He gets the love of SciFi from my husband, because I've never been into it very much. Star Wars and Hitchhiker's Guide are enough for me.

If we ever can't think of Christmas presents for my husband, we fall back on Lord of the Rings or Star Trek.

My kids are into computer games, especially Minecraft and, right now, Terraria. This is two teen boys and an eight year-old girl. My poor daughter never had a chance, really. I assume she'll go through a girlie phase at some point, but other than wanting to wear dresses for a brief time in Kindergarten, she's always preferred her Creeper shirt. Oh, and horses, because somehow, that passed from me to her. I was crazy about horses at her age.

In other words, we cover most of the main targets for geeking, with the exception of any current TV geekery.

And I'm thankful for it all.

I'm thankful for readers, too...

Pre-order Henri et Marcel now! Beat the holiday rush! Just $3.99 for almost 40,000 words! One tenth of a cent per word!

ALL THE LINKS ARE HERE

Also, if you're an historical fiction geek, or a France geek, or a historical romance geek and would like a preview copy, let me know! I have my ebook files and would love to send them out, especially if you would like to leave reviews.

While you're waiting for that one, please read the other three!

Henri de Cantière has been surly since he returned from visiting his family at Versailles, but he doesn’t want to burden Marcel Fourbier, his longtime lover, with his problems. He can’t sleep and hurts all over at exactly the time when everything else seems to be falling apart.

Marcel can barely keep up with his usual duties of running their household and creating beautiful furniture in the de Cantière factory when more burdens fall on his shoulders. His estranged Huguenot family condemns him to hell but wants his help, a stranger attacks him in a dark street, an arsonist tries to destroy the factory, and Henri’s beloved sister-in-law, who has been like a sister to Marcel, is weakening after being in labor for several days.

Most of all, Marcel wants to find a cure for Henri, the man who holds his heart.