It is 80°F right now, that would be 27°C for those of you not stuck with Imperial measurement system, and my husband is giddy. He opened all of the windows and doors. This morning it was closer to 60, and when I emerged from the bedroom, he was wearing a hoodie and a big smile. Gordon loves fall. We have a friend coming in for a chat this afternoon and she is equally excited. “We can sit outside!”
That’s Texas in a nutshell for you. We live for the few brief weeks of fall and spring, between the rain and scorching heat.
The HOA cancelled their annual meeting after “conferring with the Police Department and the WCHOA” due to “high Covid case numbers for our city.” No shit.
I’ve ordered 3 cords of wood for the winter. They have received my order. It is being processed. The chimneys have been cleaned. The generator dudes ghosted me. Will have to track down a different company.
The search for the audio narrator continues. I had to pull out my dusty corporate skills and request an acknowledgment that an email has been received today. We’ve identified who we want. Fingers crossed he is available.
I went through most of the admin emails. Mod R says that the cute dog and cat picture backfired because some people thought the post was about dead pets.
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:blink:
How… Never mind. Just in case you are wondering, Minou Camille has returned to her usual hyper self.
Today we will need to write a fight scene. They are exciting to read but a bit fiddly to write. I recently had an occasion to see the artistic editorial process for comics and it has given me a new appreciation for everything artists go through.
“Make his chin shorter.”
“Make wolf scarier.”
“Make the dog’s body fluffier.
“Make her less wide here.”
“Make him more wide here.”
“Adjust the angle of the eyes here.”
“Make his leg leggier.”
Writing fight scenes is like that. Where is he? Where is she? Where are the assholes and what are they doing? Have we used “hammered” already and would sank be better for this punch? Is this even possible or did we just break all laws of physics? Can she even see what we are describing or is her back turned to them at this point?
We are setting this in Sugar Land, Texas. This is the house we are loosely using as a backdrop: Zillow listing. They are charging premium for that location. It’s a nice house but $9 million is way, way too optimistic. In Hill Country, this would be more like $4.5. Thanks to Hidden Legacy, I have looked at way too many luxury houses.
Well, I have to go and get this fight scene going. 🙂
How cool is it that our authorlords use real houses for scenes in the books. It is either a huge dedication to authenticity or the perfect excuse for an addiction to snooping lol. No babe im not on zillow to be nosy i am getting ideas for that novel i will someday write ????????
Writing fight scenes reminds me of a description I read years ago about sex scenes.
An author said she kept a set of Barbie/Ken dolls around and would move them into various positions in order to keep up/down/back/forth/left/right sorted out when she was writing sex scenes!
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post.
I am with Gordon. Fall has arrived in North Carolina. My hay supplier has a newer hay delivery tractor this year so he asked that I increase ground to limb clearance to 15 foot from road to barn. Sigh sigh.
Hmm, I knew Camille survived her attempt at world domination. Wonder if her name should be aka Pinky or Brain. My nephews loved that cartoon.
My feline climbs onto house roof every morning to observe the bird feeder and raise the sun. Okay it’s really an attempt at a crow trophy. Sly feline thinks she has me unknowing. ????
Sorry to hear about generator ghosting. Try your HVAC company for recommendations or they might also do some type of generator.
I need to switch out one of my computer battery backups this year before winter. Too many power surges and outages over last decade. Maybe if I ordered now….
On the ha ha scale, my regular USPS carrier has been on vacation this week. Her replacement is a GPS loving entity. Unfortunately our mailboxes are not sequential along road. Sigh. Fortunately we know our neighbors and just drop off their mail to them. She should be back Monday.
Pre GPS days when my folks lived in Florida they had what a neighbor called the braille proficient postman who also randomized letters. It did give the neighborhood exercise – the post van went down the road and 10 minutes later it was like a human ant hill with everyone sorting and stuffing all the letter boxes!
All of those white walls and floors in that mansion? If you set a fight scene there, it’s going to be extra shocking. Like somebody murdered the Koolaid Man and his whole extended family.
I’m in The Woodlands, TX and LOVING the cooler weather. I also very hopefully and precipitously put a sweatshirt on in the morning, but now it’s too warm????
Autumn is my favorite time of year too. That is quite a house. Do the words,” Prone to flooding” appear in the real estate listing?
I’ve read the Andrews’ books and blogs for many years, and Ilona has had many changes in her life. However, for a house like that, how much 1) lifetime is she willing to give up to clean; or 2) would she hire people to do it?
I also love the coolerness. I came from up North, and the overnite heat in Texas weirds me out.
If it were an Inn cleaning would be done by magic.
Can’t find anything to say that someone else hasn’t already said above. But same same re living through the rest of the year for a few joyous weeks of spring and autumn, though in the a different part of the world – says something about the motivating power of hope, I guess. It’s nice to know other people share that with me. And re house – yeah, I’m more Tiny House style myself. Cleaning, heating, maintenance etc etc etc. The dog and cat in the previous post were cute and, I thought, unrelated to the content of the post except in the sense of being light relief at a difficult time. I appreciate House Andrews taking time to interact with the BDH at all, in whatever form.
I’m in Seattle – it’s currently 18C and a gorgeous warm fall day. 80F/27C is the extreme heat of the summer. Near 90F there are heat warnings everywhere here. Hilarious how location changes your perspective on what is hot or cold. I grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada and almost panic at how my breath catches in my lungs if I happen to be visiting during a cold snap (<-30C) these days.
Enjoy the Texas fall, guys!!
I hope no one I really like, like Nevada or Rohan, is living in that house. Garish and gaudy, and my idea of the vulgarity of Texas. [I have MAGA, non vaxxer family in Houston, which brings out the nasty in me. I did have family in Austin, liked Austin a lot more than Houston, but they moved to Indiana.}
I appreciate the care you take with the fight scenes. I tend to visualize what’s going on, and it can be tough with some authors. Sex scenes in “romance” books can be worse…
I‘m locking forward to Reading the fight scene in Future. ????
The House is a ostentatious flashy mess. Why mix a Tudor ceiling with French Rococo chairs and Flowery cottage Style Sofas and a mediterrian outside?
History has to be lived not fake created.
And why please why are there Never any doors in the living rooms? Would you like the smell of fried onions everywhere? And There is no place to have a private Conversation that not everyone is privy to ( Kids, cleaning Stuff, because one will need cleaning stuff in this house).
American achitecture puzzles me!
The open plan thing has been all the rage for the past fifty-ish years in the US, though old east coast houses do have smaller, separate kitchens and “parlors” that have or once had doors.
Mostly, open plan works well to create the illusion of more and grander space and is made practical by the prevalence of central heating/AC and relatively cheap energy.
But part of why it works, I think, is that American homes, on average, are somewhat larger and located on more land than the ones found in Europe and the UK. Even with an open plan kitchen/entry/living room plenty of private or semi-private space exists simply by dint of being on the other side of the house- bedrooms and home offices have doors and are often on entirely separate floors from the main living area, while family rooms, garages, outdoor living spaces, and finished basements are also common. Opportunities for privacy are seldom lacking, especially in a house the size of that Zillow monster. The onion thing *can* be an issue if your fume hood isn’t up to snuff ????
Totally agree that it’s a flashy mess. No taste in design or architecture. I kept looking for the servant quarters because no way one person can keep that house clean.
Yay fall. I’m in Scottsdale and it was only 93 today, with a low of 72. Love it when it is finally cooler like that
I am choosing to interpret this as “thanks to Hidden Legacy and our eager fans, we are able to afford an expensive home.” And you guys deserve it!
Our home isn’t that expensive. 🙂 This is all just research.
FYI, my boss is a commercial real estate broker, and is talking to with a company that sells generators, including whole house types. According to his client, there is a crazy backlog on getting parts and materials. Between the extreme weather and supply chain issues due to covid, and trade problems, delays for generators are running 6-8 months if you are lucky, and more than a year if not. Just depends on what type of unit you are needing. His client said this is a national issue, not just regional. My boss is hoping to buy one by the end of 2022.
So, you might have to be creative and patient with generator companies.
I can’t even come close to imagining the details that are needed for an authentic scene. Thanks for the Zillow link. That house is wonderful. I was mentally oohing and aahing over it when the little voice in the back of my mind said, “Ha. Flood insurance has to be a bundle. And what do you think the chances are of needing it, hmmm?” Sometimes I wish that little voice would just shut up.
I wonder what the flood insurance on that place is?? As for the property, I’d rather have the George Strait mansion that’s up for sale for about half that price over in San Antonio. The views from it are insane!
We are just getting hints of fall up here in the northeast! Yay – also my favorite. Loved the property on the house. I always wondered how you did fight scenes. Good luck with the audio. My brother does that for a living so I can only imagine how hard choosing the right one must be
I remember how welcome the September cool snap was when I lived in Texas. You know it won’t last, but it’s sooo nice to get relief from the heat!
What a gaudy house. Although I did like the first floor bathroom. All five dogs would fit, and maybe I could walk around it without tripping over the dogs. Also a nice big shower bench to wash the dogs on.
I’m debating a move to Sugar Land Texas. The houses prices look pretty good compared to Miami, where pricing, even in the worst possible neighborhoods (I’m talking gunshots every night), seem to want to start at 400,000.
I don’t want the rest of that overpriced mansion but I would kill for that kitchen!
Fall? ???????? I love this. at 20degress we are out sunbathing. 27 is a tropical heat wave. I’m in the north of england. We are a looong way from Texas. I love that Gordon put his hoody on!
Holy Mother of Mosquitos. Surrounded by water? Oh Hell NO! I come from Florida and the land of the “see-able” no see-ums. I would never want to live somewhere surrounded by water, especially non-running water like a lake.
Hello! Quick question for the team, do you or the publishers plan to release any more books to audio? I’ve listened to everything I can get my hands on but I can’t seem to find anything newer in the audio format.
Hey Quentin,
All House Andrews books have an audio book version, may I ask which ones you are looking for in particular, I would be able to help? The Kate Daniels series has distribution rights issues in certain countries, but that doesn’t quite cover the most recent titles.