Sunday, May 2, 2010

Incriminating Photos

What exactly is this balloon creation you ask? It is the first of my brief photo series celebrating my successful trip to the 2010 Romantic Times Book Reviews Book Lovers' Extravaganza. Beautiful Columbus Ohio and the RT organization hosted a fantastic conference. Dalton all ready threw up some pictures last week. I was an RT virgin before attending. But I'm virgin no more.


And on arriving at the convention I received the squeeeee news that Bound Odyssey had received a four star review from the Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine. Yay!!! Okay, blatant self-promotion finished.


Now, for inquiring minds. The above picture features our table mascot at the Intergalactic Bar & Grill party hosted by a group of sci-fi writers. We affectionately called our mascot Long Duck Dong. He had four eyes and three penises. And really, what more do you expect of a bunch of out of control female romance readers and writers hell bent on having a good time? I believe we received the mascot as a prize for answering an important trivia question at the event. Which animal, proportionate to its body size, has the largest penis? A dog, a duck or a giraffe? The answer is duck. Hence, Long Duck Dong.



Here are two readers I met at my table holding a picture of Captain Kirk and Long Duck Dong. Hopefully I got their names correct. The picture features Carla Wedding on the left and Candice Manning on the right. (Long Duck in the middle of course) If I screwed up names, please forgive me ladies.

Here's the fantastic author Jade Lee, one of the event hostesses, holding the little tyke.

But the conference did not consist of that single event. Above was my fan girl moment at a seminar panel featuring urban fantasy authors whose books had been embraced by the movie and television industries. On the left is Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series, and in the middle is Jim Butcher who pens the Harry Dresden series. I am in love with Harry Dresden. I want to marry Harry Dresden. This may be a problem since I am married and Harry is a character in books, but I'm willing to put those issues aside. These two are some of my favorite authors and I was thrilled to see them. They were both wicked funny. The far right of the picture is Holly Black who wrote the Spiderwick Chronicles, but I have not yet read her books. I am sure they are fantastic.

Okay, here's what you've been waiting for. Pictures of men with no shirts. This is me at the Red Dress Ellora's Cave party along with three hunky EC models. Earlier in the evening when these gentlemen put on a sexy dance routine, they stole three EC authors from the crowd and plopped them down in chairs as centerpieces to their performance. They then proceeded to gyrate around the seated women, among other things. Guess who was one of the lucky three authors? Um, yeah, me. And if the incriminating video pops up on the web, just let it be known that the man sitting on my lap started the whole thing when he put my hand down his waistband. I was just trying to be a good sport about it all. My apologies to the gentleman because I do not know his name. And that makes it sound even more lurid, doesn't it?


And finally, me all dressed up for the Vampire Ball in my corset, black velvet skirt and black boots. Sorry the picture is a bit dark, but it lends to my air of mystery, don't you think? I have the lovely Dalton Diaz to thank for taking this photo. She helped me celebrate big time this week since she was a pro at RT conventions, attending past years.

I had a fantastic time and hung around with so many talented, lovely authors. My roomies included Samantha Cayto, Frances Stockton and Ella Drake. Special waves go to M.A. Ellis.

The best part of convention was seeing all of the authors I've met on-line and putting faces to names. That and the dancing. Can't forget the dancing. I only wish more of the Naughty Author Chicks had been able to attend this year, although I and Dalton tried to represent the crowd valiantly.

So what photos do you prefer seeing from authors when they come back from conventions? Any? Do they put you to sleep? Were you asleep right this minute in fact? No, the photo of the bare chested male models woke you up I'm sure. I'll take suggestions for my photojournalism efforts for the next time I go to convention.
.

10 comments:

Penny Watson said...

You look gorgeous, baby! (and the guys don't look so bad either...hee hee!).

Wynter said...

I went last year and loved it! Congrats on the review - that's awesome. RT isn't easy to please. I like all the pics. I love seeing hot half-clothed men (my fave) and other authors.

Michelle Polaris said...

Thanks guys. It was a lot of fun.

Katie Reus said...

I think all the pics are great! Especially the hawt menz ;)

Jina Bacarr said...

Absolutely loved ALL the pix!! You look so cool and collected with the EC hunks. It's fun to see the costumes and all the authors.

Michelle Polaris said...

Costumes were loads of fun. The hawt menz most definitely. And I practice that calm cool and collected look just so I don't melt at the wrong time (grin).

Cara McKenna said...

I love that pic with the models—it looks like they won you in a contest!

Naima Simone said...

Congratulations on the review, Michelle!! *knuckle bump* Loved the pictrues!! You look hot in the black, girlfriend!! LOL! And of course the EC men...ahem...I love red suspenders...that's why it's my favorite...totally. Hee-hee-hee! It sounds like you and Dalton had a ball. Thank you for the pictures!!

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Well, of course I love the shirtless men. And Michelle, if you find a way to stay married and also marry a character, let me know!

Ash

Dalton Diaz said...

OMG, when they pulled you up there...I wish I had been closer to catch some video myself. One of the women chosen got thrown over the guy's shoulder, and all I could think was wardrobe malfunction!

You did great, and seem to have found the fun on your own just fine. Did you know I do balloon animals, among other, um, blow up items?