It's June!

The 2007 Arkansas Writers Conference is history. I had a great time, didn't win any contests, sold a couple copies of "Handfast," and won a door prize. More than that, saw old friends and met new ones. Copies of the chapbook (pamphlet format) can be ordered from me and paid for via PayPal [to emma@ emmakeigh.com]. It's $5 (US), shipping included. Just e-mail me with your mailing address and I'll send it out as soon as PayPal tells me you've paid.

I have to congratulate Jennifer DiCamillo (aka Carys Weldon) on placing in several of the contests. It was great to meet her husband, Tony, too.

Spent the remainder of Saturday night with the Little Rock Science Fiction group (LRSFS) celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Wars with a viewing of the original version of the movie. We also watched a great short, Revenge of the Brick, all done with animated Lego parts.

The Spring issue of Shadow Sacrament is live, and my story, "Ephanie's Story" (I know, I'm terrible at titles), is featured. I've also had news from Sybaritic Press that Slash & Burn will be coming out sometime this summer (crossing fingers and toes).

Be sure to keep up with Valerie Mingus Beck's blog on her fight against breast cancer. If you haven't been reading it, start at the beginning and read the entire story. It's one of the most inspiring stories I've ever been priviledged to read.

Romance Cover Models?

My friend Carys Weldon blogged today about the cover models she saw and met at the Romatic Times convention. I thought I'd post a couple photos from last year's Fan Odyssey (unfortunately, the last Fan Odyssey) where I met a couple of hunks.... See the photo album called "Cover Models & Me." Sorry to say, I can't remember their names after all this time (with the amount of tequila that flowed at that convention, it's surprising I remember I was there!).

Check Carys's blog for photos from RT.

Men In Kilts

I'm back from a weekend at the (28th Annual) Arkansas Scottish Festival and Games. Three days among men in kilts. (Pause. Deep breath. Go on.) The Festival was held (as usual) at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas.

The find of the weekend was a musical group from Dallas, Texas, called Need Fire. They are terrific! They play rock adaptations of traditional Celtic music, original songs and instrumentals, and bagpipe blues. The last has got to be heard to be believed. With John Cleghorn playing a fairly traditional blues guitar (and remember, I'm a big fan of Jim Byrnes), Brad Madison plays (what traditionally would be a harmonica part) the bagpipes. Also phenomenal is fiddler/digeridoo player Dylan Cleghorn (John's son!). I've never seen a bass player have more fun (and play better) than Ed Walewski, and Gabriel Martinez may not sound Celtic but drums up a storm. They have two CDs currently available and are working on a third. Don't miss them! I've posted photos (the look red because of the red tent) in an album – look to the right sidebars for the links.

Also at the festival was the preeminent Scottish folk singer, Alex Beaton. He's in fine voice these days, and has moved from California to Tennessee.

It was a beautiful weekend (I'm a bit sunburned from standing in the sun most of Saturday) and we had a wonderful time.

Another week until I have to have the Arkansas Writers Conference contest entries in... I'll just have to see what I an wrench out of the various muses. Carys Weldon has been writing in her blog about her entries to the same conference contests – so far it doesn't seem like we're entering the same contests, but we may be in competition with each other... Good luck, Carys!