...April Fools'!
April Fools' Day is a holiday we don't cherish or celebrate at the Turner house but, if we've read our notes correctly, it's existed since the days of Geoffrey Chaucer -- we're talking the 14th century. The French embraced the tradition in the 1500s, the British took it up in the 1600s, and it's gone on and on until it looks as if we'll never be rid of it.
(The picture on the left? Geoff Chaucer, in his younger days. You might well say, "But Renee and Harrell, there were no cameras to take photographs back in 1346", and you'd be right if this was a photograph. It is, however, a remarkably life-like painting, created by the Italian master, Paolo di Giovanni Fei. He was so ahead of his time, he painted this to look like a photograph in an effort to trick his companions into believing that cameras had already been invented. Which suggests that the Italians were into the "April Fools" thing, too.)
If you are one of life's mischief makers but somewhat short of imagination, the Huffington Post is offering 17 Easy April Fools' Day Pranks To Play On Your Friends and, we're telling you now, you'd best hope your friends are more easy-going than we are. If any of our buddies offered us a cream doughnut filled with mayonnaise, we would not rest until we'd gotten them back. In time, they'd tremble when they just heard the words, "Krispy Kreme".
We're also feeling a touch irritated at the spelling of both "krispy" and "kreme". If you go to Google and type in "crispy cream", the way your English teacher intended you to write the words, the screen actually defaults to Krispy Kreme. Geoff Chaucer would be disgusted.
Misspelled words and April Fools' pranks aren't any big deal so why are we feeling so grumpy this morning? It could be that we're just feeling a touch stressed because of our current time-crunch. We're busily editing our new novel for the third time, trying to get it ready for an upcoming book tour. One of our beta readers has reported in with a detailed report -- so far, so good -- while another couple are still flipping through the pages. The book tour people want...well, they want the sun and the moon, don't they?, and all in the next ten days. Cover images and a synopsis; book excerpts and ARCS for reviewers; gifts for each of the 20+ stops; and more! We can't supply a final edit or advanced reading copies until we've heard back from all of our beta readers and two of the team are taking their own sweet time.
And rightfully so. Our beta readers are WONDERFUL, especially since they're doing the work without pay, and it doesn't matter if they've gone a few days past their own self-imposed deadlines. We adore these people. And just to prove out much we love them? If they take much longer, we'll be sending them each a box of "cream-filled" donuts....
Reading: The Lovecraft Chronicles (2004) by Peter Cannon. Now we want to read Cannon's Scream for Jeeves....
Watching: Haunter (2013), free on Netflix but well worth the rental if you're not a 'flix'er. Abigail Breslin rocks...
Pleased to hear: Luke Forney sa hard at work and will soon bring "Luke Reviews" back to life. Unless, of course, he was playing an April Fools' joke on us....
April Fools' Day is a holiday we don't cherish or celebrate at the Turner house but, if we've read our notes correctly, it's existed since the days of Geoffrey Chaucer -- we're talking the 14th century. The French embraced the tradition in the 1500s, the British took it up in the 1600s, and it's gone on and on until it looks as if we'll never be rid of it.
(The picture on the left? Geoff Chaucer, in his younger days. You might well say, "But Renee and Harrell, there were no cameras to take photographs back in 1346", and you'd be right if this was a photograph. It is, however, a remarkably life-like painting, created by the Italian master, Paolo di Giovanni Fei. He was so ahead of his time, he painted this to look like a photograph in an effort to trick his companions into believing that cameras had already been invented. Which suggests that the Italians were into the "April Fools" thing, too.)
If you are one of life's mischief makers but somewhat short of imagination, the Huffington Post is offering 17 Easy April Fools' Day Pranks To Play On Your Friends and, we're telling you now, you'd best hope your friends are more easy-going than we are. If any of our buddies offered us a cream doughnut filled with mayonnaise, we would not rest until we'd gotten them back. In time, they'd tremble when they just heard the words, "Krispy Kreme".
We're also feeling a touch irritated at the spelling of both "krispy" and "kreme". If you go to Google and type in "crispy cream", the way your English teacher intended you to write the words, the screen actually defaults to Krispy Kreme. Geoff Chaucer would be disgusted.
Misspelled words and April Fools' pranks aren't any big deal so why are we feeling so grumpy this morning? It could be that we're just feeling a touch stressed because of our current time-crunch. We're busily editing our new novel for the third time, trying to get it ready for an upcoming book tour. One of our beta readers has reported in with a detailed report -- so far, so good -- while another couple are still flipping through the pages. The book tour people want...well, they want the sun and the moon, don't they?, and all in the next ten days. Cover images and a synopsis; book excerpts and ARCS for reviewers; gifts for each of the 20+ stops; and more! We can't supply a final edit or advanced reading copies until we've heard back from all of our beta readers and two of the team are taking their own sweet time.
And rightfully so. Our beta readers are WONDERFUL, especially since they're doing the work without pay, and it doesn't matter if they've gone a few days past their own self-imposed deadlines. We adore these people. And just to prove out much we love them? If they take much longer, we'll be sending them each a box of "cream-filled" donuts....
Reading: The Lovecraft Chronicles (2004) by Peter Cannon. Now we want to read Cannon's Scream for Jeeves....
Watching: Haunter (2013), free on Netflix but well worth the rental if you're not a 'flix'er. Abigail Breslin rocks...
Pleased to hear: Luke Forney sa hard at work and will soon bring "Luke Reviews" back to life. Unless, of course, he was playing an April Fools' joke on us....
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