We don't get many thunder storms. One or two a year. We may get more if the weather stays the same tho'.

We very rarely get forked lightning...did you get to see the forked lighning... it was really cool!

Ah, thanks for the warning. I'm a hard copy reviser, but lately I've been finding a fairly clean mark up from one of my critique buddies and using that, or worse, trying to revise on screen and getting disturbed by how fast paragraphs can be sent to oblivion. It just makes me think how fast an entire published novel can be sent to oblivion. I'm going back to my hard copy today!

Just making sure that you have a UPS and surge protector. Rumbly thunderstorms are fun and good for the soul, but make for nasty voltage spikes that computer equipment find oddly unamusing... No accounting for taste, I guess. :)

SO, havn't read you b4 Winter Moon, but I must say, I liked you as soon as I read your paragraph. After chuckling to myself (because, yes, M. Lackey equal VERY intimidating... at least when she is inspired)I went on to read Banshee Cries, thinking that anyone who writes such a great introduction had to have written a great story... I wasn't dissapointed.
You definately have some GREAT moments. I ended up laughing out loud quite a few times, and (being a quite person) that doesn't happen too often. The character of Joanne, I really like, as well of that of Billy Holliday. Their interactions were perhaps the best part of the story, and without it, I don't think it would have worked. I also adored Joanne's love of her car, Petite. That type of thing, you do not see too often. It was not the whole "I love it 'cause it's fast thing," it is something completely different. Perhaps I can best describe it as the way a child begins to see a best friend in the eyes of her teddy bear. When the child grows older, they have the same effection for other things, but do not really talk about it because it seems too juvinile. So, you wrote about one of those things everyone has but no one talks about, which, in my mind, is Jackpot... endeered me to Joanne right away.
If I have any complaints, it would be that you left a lot of loose ends. WHY does Billy wear heals? He's not gay, and he doesn't act bi, and it is humerous but all very confusing. I am sure that a staight guy can wear heals, but WHY? Third, why did someone rip an axe through Petite? I know it is explained in your previous book, but it seems like you miss a lot if you are a new reader. (Charles de Lint has the same problem... I had to have one of his novels thrust upon me before I finally began to appreciate his short stories.) I know it is tempting to leave loose ends, because it has the potential to make the reader HAVE to read your next installment. However, if you leave too many, they might just abandone the thing.
Ok, I do have one more (small) complaint. I really liked Joanne's character, but it seemed that, at times, you were untrue to her for the sake of commedy, or dramatic effect. For example, when she suddenly felt very childish in front of her mother in her Garden. I would think that if she felt childish, even in the slightest, she'd be so furious at herself that it would nutrilize the whole shrinking thing. I thought this was unnessisary. Joanne, herself, is great enough, and you don't need to add anything to her.
Okay, yes I'm done. But, if you are ever anywhere near Milwaukee, you should stop by the Milwaukee High School of the Arts and give a speach. I havn't met your fan club there, but in MHSA, you are bound to have one. Plus, all us young writers need all the help we can get!

Thanks for reading!
Jean Dahlquist
(Stareyed04@aol.com)
SELF EXPRESS Magazine
Milwaukee High School of the Arts

I'm glad you enjoyed the novella, Jean. :) There are unanswered teasers in that story deliberately: the idea is to encourage you to go out and buy URBAN SHAMAN and THUNDERBIRD FALLS! No on-going series answers all the questions in a single book, and "Banshee Cries" is no exception. :)

It didn't occur to either me or Jo to be angry in that garden scene, so while you may have felt it wasn't the appropriate character response, it seems Jo was good with it. Characters, like people, don't always do what we expect!

If I'm ever in Milwaukee, I'll do my very best to arrange coming by MHSA. Thanks!

Oh you in sooo much trouble, when you come to TX in Nov. it will be still in 80's & 90's your minion

I intend to stay in the airconditioned hotel the entire time. *shudder* :)

Only 100, with out the heat index which was 10. so it was 110 in S.A.