Family stuff

My dad and sister are on their way home now. It was a good visit, but very tiring.

Asking me to socialize on the two days when my energy is at its lowest ebb for the week is asking a LOT. I can manage one of them, but two just leaves me wrecked.

But we had a good visit. Dad brought enough food for the Seventh Fleet and my fridge is stuffed and my freezer is mostly full. I'm making sweet potato pie tonight, I think.

We went bowling yesterday. Dollface tells the counter man "Size nine please." He looked down at her and said "Big ladies' nine?" She nodded so he looked at me. I said "Yep. Shocked me too when we bought shoes last week." Everyone had a good time.

Jonner and Grandpa went to see Ice Age 3, Mudd went back to the hotel, and the rest of us saw Half-Blood Prince. I was pleased by it. They whacked out a lot, but it did make a good movie in the series.

And they are off today. So I get a day to recover before work.

Contest!

You, yes YOU, can win a free copy of Heart of a Forest, the new trans Robin Hood novel coming out this Friday from Ellora's Cave.



In 1199, King Richard the Lion-Hearted lay dying in France. He commanded his lover, Sir David of Doncaster, to protect his small son by any means necessary.

Marion Fitzroy, princess of the blood on the wrong side of the blankets, now lives a constrained life in Nottingham castle, dreaming of her childhood betrothed, the son of the Earl of Locksley. As the Barons’ War rages around her uncle King John, her dispossessed fiancé—now called Robin Hood—and his merry irregulars make life miserable for Phillip, the sheriff of Nottingham. And fires Marion’s blood.

Robin, for his part, is about to learn the secret that Marion guards with her life. Thwarting Phillip’s gambits for Marion’s hand, a doubled price on his head, even shooting for an arrow of pure gold all pale next to the pleasures to be had under Marion’s skirts, deep in the heart of Sherwood Forest.

But Marion is no ordinary woman, no ordinary princess. In fact, her body isn’t a woman's at all.


Here's how to play:

1) Read the series of 10 Robin Hood trivia questions below. These are tough, google away.
2) Leave a screened comment with your answers and e-mail address.
3) Wait. On Friday, we will randomly draw a winner from all the correct answers.

Robin Hood Trivia Questions

1) What actor played the same Merry Man in three different films, one a silent?

2) Ben Burtt is a sound director who so loves the sound of Robin's arrow from the 1938 that he has included it in an entire series of movies. Which series?

3) Which Robin Hood does not speak with an English accent?

4) Maid Marion's horse, called Golden Cloud, went on to fame with a western star. What did the new owner rename this palomino?

5) In which Robin Hood does Little John whistle “Sumer is i-cumen in” before his fight with Robin?

6) What actor--the oldest ever in the role--played an explicitly illiterate Robin?

7) Which Robin Hood film uses two famous college fight songs: "Fight on" and "On Wisconsin" in its score?

8) Although Basil Rathbone played Sir Guy of Gisbourne as a natty dresser, the legendary Guy of Gisbourne wore what?

9) We all saw Men in Tights. But what was Mel Brooks' TV parody of Robin Hood called?

10) In the legends, Robin fights many men: Little John, Will Scarlet, Much the Miller's Son, and even Maid Marian who is disguised as a boy. Does he ever win these fights?

Good luck!