J.A. Pitts

Honeyed Words in the house

My most excellent editors have sent me an early present — two copies of my new book.  They don’t go on sale until July 5th, but I’ve had them in my hot little hands for a few days.  The artist, Dan Dos Santos did another excellent cover here, don’t you think?

I continue to find myself in excellent company.

And if this wasn’t enough crazy good news, Tor also sent me come cover flats that I’m going to give away to a few lucky readers.

So, for this week, comment on my blog, tell me what you liked about Black Blade Blues, and/or what you are looking forward to in Honeyed Words.   I’ll give away two this coming week (through July 2nd) and two the week of book launch.  Chime in if you want to have your very own copy of this book cover.

Then, on the 5th you can pick it up with the story inside and everything.  Of course, you can always pre-order it right now at your favorite online or brick-and-mortar outlet.  Support your local bookstores!

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention another book that’s coming out on the same day as Honeyed Words.

My Life as A White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland.  I gotta tell you, Diana is an awesome writer.  I love her Demon series, and I can’t wait to get my hands on this new one.  It looks like a rollicking read.

So, let’s go out and prove the economy is on the rise.  Buy some books, win some prizes, make a difference in the world.

Best of all, support new writers, so we keep bringing you top-notch entertainment (and dragons and zombies).

Hope to see some of you at my book signings.  Come out and visit.

Crazy Happenstance: Honeyed Words gets a surprise venue

It’s a funny thing, the intertubes.  I’ve become quite fond of my name over the years I’ve used it.  It was interesting enough, and not too hard to spell as a kid, and I just rolled with it.  But, come to find out, there are more than one John Pitts out there.  I know, crazy, right?

Every now and again, I’ll end up with an email for another of my dopplegangers and I promptly reply to the sender asking for clarification, or a suggestion that they have the wrong individual.

This happened to me yesterday and something nice came out of it.

After a brief, but very polite email exchange things were resolved, and the emails got to the correct individuals.

Then, as happenstance occurs lemonade was created.  I met a very nice individual who happened to be looking for a subject to blog for the day, and I happened to have a book coming out in the next month.  It was kismet.

check it out

Finding a way

I normally work out at the YMCA. I’m a creature of habit. I like doing routine things, it gives me comfort. With our local YMCA closed this week for their annual renovations, I’ve been floundering around, doing little beyond some stretching and angsting.

So, yesterday, with the help of my ever capable wife, I dug the rowing machine out of the storage area and set it up. Had to remove some corroded batteries from the Concept2, but once I had it cleaned up and re-batteried, it was great. That, of course, was enough of an accomplishment yesterday.

This morning, I had a regular fasting blood draw for my doctors appointment next week, and I was suddenly very aware that I hadn’t worked out in way too long.

Time to fix that. Tonight, when I got home from work, I downloaded one of the new short stories from Clarkesworld Magazine (Semiramis by Genevieve Valentine) onto my ipod, and set to rowing.

The story was excellent. Kate Baker did a superb job reading it. Her lovely voice carried me through 5250 meters of rowing. Not bad for not being on the machine for a couple of years.

But, this has given me a new plan. I desperately need cardio, and with my knees the way they are, I’m struggling to get enough to lose the weight I want. Now, I will be taking advantage of my newly discovered pod casts out there, and rowing on the nights I don’t end up at the YMCA. This way I get weights three to four days a week, and cardio three to four days a week. I expect better performance than I’m seeing on my diet and exercise so far.

And, I get to discover more great podcasts. Besides having Kate tell me stories, what other podcasts should I be listening to?

You can help me keep my mind off the pain of working out, with your timely and insightful suggestions.