You'll have to wait another day for the big trip report, as I still have some business to take care of.

First, I'm happy to announce the stops on the official Damsel Under Stress book tour. If I'm not coming to your city, it doesn't mean I don't love you. It means my budget is really, really low for this, so I'm limited to places I can reach in the Saturn. I'd have to move up in the world considerably before they'd buy me plane tickets. I'll be posting this to my web site and mailing list soon, but you heard it here first!

Thursday, May 3—DALLAS, TX
7:00 pm
Talk & Signing
Borders Books & Music
10720 Preston Road, Suite 1018
Dallas, TX 75230

Saturday, May 5—TYLER, TX
2:00 pm
Talk & Signing
Barnes & Noble
4916 South Broadway
Tyler, TX 75703

Wednesday, May 9—ROUND ROCK, TX (AUSTIN)
7:00 pm
Talk & Signing
Hastings Books, Music & Video
2200 IH 35 Ste B1
Round Rock, TX 78681

Saturday, May 12—FT. WORTH, TX
2:00 pm
Talk & Signing
Barnes & Noble
1612 S. University Dr.
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Wednesday, May 16—SAN ANTONIO, TX
7:30 pm
Talk & Signing
Borders Books & Music
255 E. Basse Rd., Ste. 350
San Antonio, TX 78209

Saturday, June 23—HOUSTON, TX
2:00 pm-3:30 pm
Talk & Signing
Houston Public Library
Jungman Branch
5830 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77057
(I'll also be at ApolloCon that weekend.)

Note that these are supposedly talks/readings/Q&A sessions instead of just the sit behind the table and smile as people come and go signings, so please show up, bring friends, tell your neighbors, etc. It would be really embarrassing to face an empty room! Mark your calendars!

I have a long list of cons I'll be at this summer, but I'll post that later.

And now, I have three more advance copies of Damsel Under Stress to give away, but you'll have to earn them by proving what a devoted reader you are. Send me your answers to the following quiz by 5 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday. The ones with the most correct answers win. In case of a tie, winners will be determined by a drawing (or maybe bribes of the "here's how I'll promote your books" variety -- I can probably be bought). I'm going to have to limit this to people with United States mailing addresses because even sending to Canada requires me to fill out forms and stand in line at the post office instead of using the automated machine, and by the time I get around to that, the book will be out and shipped by Amazon all over the world. E-mail your answers to shanna@shannaswendson.com and put "Quiz" in the subject line so I don't lose it.

1) Who is the first guy Katie goes on a date with in the entire series?

2) Name two major fairy tales that have been used/spoofed/referenced in the series so far. (For help with this, you can check out the SurLaLune Fairy Tales site, which I use as a reference.)

3) Who broke the frog enchantment on Philip?

4) Who is Owen's pet and what is its name?
Bonus: What's the source of the name, and who came up with its nickname?

5) Who is Owen's assistant?
Bonus: What kind of music does the assistant like?

And finally, I continue catching up with things I was supposed to post while I was out of town, so here's the latest Out of the Blogosphere book, Sight Unseen, by Samantha Graves (you also may have read her C.J. Barry books).

As a consultant for API, an art recover company, Raven Callahan gets to steal—legally. But when her colleague is kidnapped during an assignment, Raven is forced to steal a priceless master painting to save his life.

David "Dax" Maddox was the perfect street cop—until a botched burglary raid cost his partner his life and Dax his ability to see color. Now, with his world gray, Dax has only one mission: to take down the murderer. And he’ll use anyone—even a sexy thief with questionable ethics—to get justice.

Soon Dax and Raven are forced together as pawns in a madman’s scheme. From the heart of Cuba to the New York art world, they find themselves in a race against time to stop the ultimate revenge.

For more info and an excerpt, visit Samantha's web site.