Ben Sherman And The Lion

Title: Ben Sherman And The Lion
Rating: PG-13 (for The Swears)
Warnings: None.
Summary: Ben and Cooper get a home invasion call that turns out to be a little more than Ben bargained for.

( The call said "possible intruder"... )

(no subject)

Best spam ever: Penis enlargement pills on a post about Jack the Ripper.

I was remarking to Junie the other day that everything I write seems to get pretty epic nowadays, and I wasn't sure I was even capable of telling a coherent story in less than a thousand words anymore. She said I should challenge myself to do a month of fanfics with no more than a thousand words, and while I'm not sure about the whole "month" thing, I decided working through my to-write backlog this way would be efficient and fun. There are a lot of stories I've been meaning to write but almost unsure how, and knowing I'm limited to a thousand words helps me boil them down to their essence.

So here's the first, and it's a Southland fic, in celebration of Southland being back on the air. It's pretty focused; even if you don't watch, essentially all you need to know is that Ben Sherman is an LAPD rookie and John Cooper is his training officer, and they are both made of awesome.

Title: Ben Sherman And The Lion
Rating: PG-13 (for The Swears)
Warnings: None.
Summary: Ben and Cooper get a home invasion call that turns out to be a little more than Ben bargained for.

(no subject)

Way to stay on top of current events, me.

So, half of Australia is underwater and some of the rest is on fire. You can see some amazing pictures and video footage of what's going on. It's intense and scary.

Aussies on the Cafe, check in and let us know you're all right, yeah? Use the comments as a messageboard if you need to find someone or ask for help.

If you'd like to help out, the Australian Red Cross is taking donations, as is the Queensland Government's Flood Appeal. If you're having trouble there, try the Red Cross main page; you can usually designate where you wants your funds to go from there.

(no subject)

This is a post All About Books. Books! Yay!

fitfool was kind enough to send me a copy of Cooked, by Jeff Henderson, which I would have finished a lot sooner if I'd remembered to bring it with me to Texas. Henderson is the Bellagio's first African American executive chef in Las Vegas; he came to cooking through a job in a prison kitchen where he was serving time for drug dealing, and Cooked is his story of how.

It's a pretty awesome book -- my usual critique techniques don't really apply, because it's an autobiography, but Henderson tells a very engaging story and it's fascinating to watch his life unfold. He talks about his childhood, his career as a crack cook and dealer, his prison experience, and his struggle to become a recognised chef despite a felony record and multiple encounters with racism in the kitchen. If you're looking for a really interesting read, Cooked delivers. :)

Second, when I won the Author Sales Contest at Lulu.com in November, I started chatting back and forth with a very nice Lulu employee named Josh, who invited me to do a short piece on "Sales Secrets" for the January newsletter. My Sales Secret: BLOGGIN.

(That's just a clip from the newsletter -- if you're on Lulu and would like to receive the newsletter, it's slightly difficult to locate but you can find signup instructions here.)

And finally, here is chapter four of Trace!

You all are exhaustingly thorough in your commentary -- which is not in any way a negative. I'm loving every minute of it and getting some really useful insights. But afterwards I often need a nap. :D

(no subject)

It has been snowing like a bastard here all day.

I weighed the dolorous walk through the snow to the train against the dangers of being in a car on the roads this evening and decided to risk taking a cab home. We did not crash, and I was thrilled to be getting home without major injury, which is why I didn't take proper precautions when leaving said cab, and bashed my head on the corner of the cab door, then fell down in the snow in surprise.

So I'm sitting here with an ice pack on my head. It's quite soothing really.

For the win, Sam. For the win.