Are you excited about the release of Stephenie Meyer’s BREAKING DAWN, Minions? I am! In fact, I’m speaking at a BREAKING DAWN release party on August 1st in Fairview Heights, IL. You should come out and say hi! There will be food, fun, prizes (can you say “Vlad’s hoodie”?), and extensive discussions about both THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD and the TWILIGHT series. And the evening ends with you picking up your copy of BREAKING DAWN (and hey, if you take Vlad home too, it won’t break my heart).

See you there!

Friday – August 1, 2008 – starts at 9pm!
“Breaking Dawn” Midnight Release Party
Borders
6601 North Illinois Street
Fairview Heights, IL 62208
For more info call Borders at (618) 397-6097

For those of you who haven’t been following our story, here’s part one and part two. And now…

Nosbearatu quickly made friends with a cast member at the Haunted Mansion, by the name of Judy. Judy was kind enough to help him out with a great pic on the coach in front of the mansion. (She also gave us all a second ride right away – Judy rocks!)
But our trip couldn’t be a peacfeul one, as Nosbearatu threatened to suck the life out of a cast member for Pirates of the Carribean and was promptly thrown in the slammer. Luckily, bail money in Disney World consists of an apology and pixie dust.

He made lots of new friends on his trip, but Pluto was by far his favorite (probably because when he said “Bow like a dog before your master!” Pluto obliged). Nosbearatu likes being obeyed.
He also likes being shot out of a cannon.
Nosbearatu insisted on the obligatory “in front of Cinderella’s castle” pic.
He couldn’t find any hidden Mickeys…
And at times he took things way too literally.
But all in all, he had a fabulous trip. And ended his eight days in Disney World the right way.

P.S. I had a great time too. =

As I was saying…

The next morning, Nosbearatu found something to drink that didn’t come from an artery.

He decided to hop the monorail to Epcot, and while my family and I checked out Soarin’, Nosbearatu hit the World Showcase.
While he was dissapointed not to find a Romania pavillion there, he did find terra-cotta soldiers in his size in China (he kept insisting that they were his Minions)…
…and a miniature village, just his size…
And you would not believe how difficult it was for Nosbearatu to ride the bus back to the resort.
Tomorrow, Nosbearatu visits the Haunted Mansion!

The day we (that is to say myself, my family, and Nosbearatu) left for Disney, it was rather gray and glum outside, so of course Nosbearatu decided that he should come out of his coffin and, after a bit of an argument (which he won – vampires always win…it’s the fangs), it was decided that Nosbearatu would be the one giving you the lowdown of his vacation (with brief mention of how it affected me).

We woke up at 4:30am, and by 6am, we were at the airport. Nosbearatu demanded Starbucks (which he says is the next best thing to AB Negative).
Luckily, it wasn’t much of a wait, as Nosbearatu was eyeing our fellow passengers and smacking his lips. Soon our plane pulled in and Nosbearatu asserted his dominance by declaring that all who boarded the winged vessel would be subject to much vampire bear munchiness.
But…they were okay with that. So we buckled up and were on our way.
We arrived in Orlando with hardly any bitemarks, and after a short bus ride (during which Nosbearatu proceeded to devour passengers en masse), we checked in at the Polynesian Resort.
After we got to our room, Nosbearatu squealed with non-vampire delight at the hidden Mickey made of towels on his bed.

Tomorrow, you’ll see what awaited Nosbearatu in the Magic Kingdom…

By the way, to date, the Sugarloot contest has 1,213 entries and those entries have received 138,683 views! Have you entered yet??

EDITED TO ADD: By the way, it looks like the paperback of NINTH GRADE SLAYS is now available for pre-order!

She’s just recovering from a totally sweet vacation with the mouse. And she’ll tell you all about it, starting tomorrow.

How are my Minions??

*blinks* So….

Here we are. On my blog.

Only one problem. I can’t think of anything to talk about, mostly because I’m leaving for Disney World this week. So…since you probably won’t hear from me until after I return, I’ll leave you with this.

Back on the evening of the 18th!

HUZZAH!

I love fireworks. Venture out at night to see a flame setting forth a series of colorful explosions, a shower of lovely destruction…what’s not to love?

So, of course, I’m happy to see Independence Day fast approaching. (Yay, fireworks!) And as such, I won’t be blogging until next week at least. FYI.

Something else. I’ve recently met a fangtastic new author who (heart)s Vlad and you all need to support him, as he is gonna rock the socks off of many a young Minion. Any Minion brothers and sisters like the spookies? This is for them! His name is Tommy Donbavand, and here’s what Darren Shan, author of Demonata and Cirque du Freak, had to say of his SCREAM STREET series: “Lightning-paced, blood-curdling fun. I wish I’d been able to visit Scream Street as a kid!” So…give him some love, Minions.

I’m off to write, and then to watch fiery explosions!!!

I get it. You like the hoodie Vlad’s wearing on the cover of EIGHTH GRADE BITES. Like it? Oh heck no! You LOVE it! You want to know where you can get one for your very own. And you will stop at nothing until you have one.

Only, there’s a problem. See, Auntie Heather only has two hoodies left. That’s right. TWO. As in “one, two, buckle my shoe”. TWO. And one goes to this contest. The other I’ll be giving away at Borders in Fairview Heights, IL at the BREAKING DAWN midnight release party, along with many t-shirts (as featured on the cover of NINTH GRADE SLAYS). So what’s a Minion to do??

Well, first, you enter the Sugarloot contest. It’s easy. It’s free. And you promote the heck outta your entry, because you could win all sorts of cool stuff, INCLUDING A HOODIE. Second, you get your butt to Borders in Fairview Heights, IL the evening of August 1st and grab a raffle ticket from Paul (don’t worry–I’ll point you in his general direction). It’s free to enter. And there will be a ton of fun, free stuff going on. And you know you want to grab a copy of BREAKING DAWN anyway…

Third…well, third is where it gets a bit complicated. You have a choice. You either A) Let it go, and realize that you and Vlad’s hoodie are not meant to be. -or- B) You become a patient individual and wait for Auntie Heather to announce that the new, zip-up hoodies are in stock (they AREN’T…but they will be soon). Your choice. I’d go with B.

And stop asking me where you can get a hoodie.

Okay, you can ask, but I’m pointing you to this blog entry.

OOOH! Wait! There’s another option! Option C: you can make your own. And send Auntie Heather cool pics of it!

I like that option too. So does Vlad. =