Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Leather Pants

I have never bought anything on ebay and have rarely visited the site. However there’s an ebay auction that is taking place right now that warrants your attention. Someone is selling a pair of men’s leather pants and last I checked there were 22 bids on them. The seller posted a picture of the pants and they look like they’re in good condition but I think it’s the product description that has compelled people to bid. It reads as follows:


You are bidding on a mistake.
We all make mistakes. We date the wrong people for too long. We chew gum with our mouths open. We say inappropriate things in front of grandma.
And we buy leather pants.
I can explain these pants and why they are in my possession. I bought them many, many years ago under the spell of a woman whom I believed to have taste. She suggested I try them on. I did. She said they looked good. I wanted to have a relationship of sorts with her. I’m stupid and prone to impulsive decisions. I bought the pants.
The relationship, probably for better, never materialized. The girl, whose name I can’t even recall, is a distant memory. I think she was short.
Ultimately the pants were placed in the closet where they have remained, unworn, for nearly a decade. I would like to emphasize that: Aside from trying these pants on, they have never, ever been worn. In public or private.
I have not worn these leather pants for the following reasons:
I am not a member of Queen.
I do not like motorcycles.
I am not Rod Stewart.
I am not French.
I do not cruise for transvestites in an expensive sports car.
These were not cheap leather pants. They are Donna Karan leather pants. They’re for men. Brave men, I would think. Perhaps tattooed, pierced men. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say you either have to be very tough, very gay, or very famous to wear these pants and get away with it.
Again, they’re men’s pants, but they’d probably look great on the right lady. Ladies can get away with leather pants much more often than men can. It’s a sad fact that men who own leather pants will have to come to terms with.
They are size 34x34. I am no longer size 34x34, so even were I to suddenly decide I was a famous gay biker I would not be able to wear these pants. These pants are destined for someone else. For reasons unknown - perhaps to keep my options open, in case I wanted to become a pirate - I have shuffled these unworn pants from house to house, closet to closet. Alas, it is now time to part ways so that I may use the extra room for any rhinestone-studded jeans I may purchase in the future.
These pants are in excellent condition. They were never taken on pirate expeditions. They weren’t worn onstage. They didn’t straddle a Harley, or a guy named Harley. They just hung there, sad and ignored, for a few presidencies.
Someone, somewhere, will look great in these pants. I’m hoping that someone is you, or that you can be suckered into buying them by a girl you’re trying to bed.
Please buy these leather pants.


I gotta tell ya, after that little essay I was tempted to bid on the pants just as a way of thanking him for the laugh.

Kyra Davis
http://www.kyradavis.com/
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

What I Have To Be Thankful For

Yesterday my son came home from school with a drawing of a turkey under a purple and blue sky. Underneath the picture he had written “I am thankful for my mom.” I was understandably touched and told him as much.

He shrugged nonchalantly and said, “We were supposed to draw a Thanksgiving picture and write what we were most thankful for so of course I said you. What else would I write?”

“Well,” I said slowly, “I didn’t know about the project ahead of time so I didn’t have any expectations but you could have written a number of different things. You could have said you were thankful for your toys or something.”

My son looked at me with an expression that hinted of shock and then suddenly collapsed into a fit of laughter. “Mom,” he gasped in between giggles, “nobody would write that they’re more thankful for their toys then they are for the people who they love!” And then he started laughing even harder because to him just articulating the idea was so incredibly silly.

There are a lot of grown-ups who have a hard time with the concept of putting people ahead of material possessions and yet a six-year-old boy finds the very idea of that level of materialism so absurd that it’s literally laughable. It got me thinking…at what point will my son realize that there are an enormous number of people in this world with seriously messed up values? Will it be something he slowly comes to terms with or will there be a sudden epiphany brought on by the thoughtless action of some idiot? I remember telling him about the story of my great-grandfather being kidnapped by the Russian army. My son looked at me in utter confusion and said, “But I thought armies were there to protect people.” That was one of those epiphany moments. He learned that day that sometimes governments don’t even try to do what’s best for the people. Sometimes it’s all about the leaders. Those are the lessons that I dread teaching my son. I have no hang-ups about talking to him about sex, drugs and all that stuff. That’s easy. But teaching him about some of the awful things people do to one another and the justifications they use (religion, and the like), that’s the stuff nightmares are made of.

But I don’t usually dwell on all that and I’m certainly not going to dwell on it during Thanksgiving. Instead I’m going to take a moment to send up my own message of thanks. I’m thankful for my friends, family, and of course for my writing career and all you wonderful readers. But above all else I’m thankful that I have a son who constantly reminds me of what’s important in life. To say that I love him with all my heart is an enormous understatement.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Kyra Davis
http://www.kyradavis.com/
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Friday, November 18, 2005

The New Cover

Isn't it fabulous?!

Kyra Davis
http://www.kyradavis.com/
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

They Like Me! They Really Like Me!

Before I begin I want to thank you all for your feedback about the title for the Mira book. I went ahead and told my editor that So Much For My Happy Ending was the way to go.

Now moving on: I just got an email from V-Day. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. It developed as an outgrowth of Eve Ensler's Obie-Award winning play, The Vagina Monologues. Anyway they contacted me because they are holding a benefit production of The Vagina Monologues along with an auction in Bethesda to raise money and awareness for organizations in the Metro-DC area during the first weekend of March. They are requesting that I send them a signed copy of my book for the auction. I’ll gladly do it but what surprised me was that they wrote the letter to me personally and made a specific reference to my novel. They said, and I quote:
“In view of your immense popularity and the high esteem held for you by so many, your involvement, in any small way, would be a great asset in our endeavor to make the evening a success.”

Okay so I read this sentence and thought…are they sure they have the right person? At what point did I become “immensely popular”? I literally reread the email three times to assure myself that they did mention Sex, Murder And A Double Latte by name and weren’t mistaking me for Candace Bushnell or something. I then checked to see if I knew the woman who was sending me the request but I’m fairly sure that I’ve never met or corresponded with this person before. It’s funny, but I just can’t see myself as someone who is nationally popular or held in high esteem by people I’ve never met in Maryland. It’s very cool but it’s a difficult idea for me to wrap my mind around.

I’ve also been invited to contribute to an anthology that is being put out in 2007 by Pocket Books. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to talk about it yet but I will say that it will be a tribute to one of America’s most popular and influential authors and that the other contributing authors are fairly big names within the world of women’s commercial fiction. I’m incredibly flattered that the editor wanted to include me in the project and to be honest I’m still a little surprised that she asked. It’s like all of a sudden I’m one of the cool kids.

The other day I was at Starbucks with my six-year-old and a man recognized me from one of my book signings. He asked how my sales had been so far but before I could respond my son smiled and said, “Great! She’s on her way to fame.”

I’m not sure if that’s true or not but it’s nice to know that so many people believe in me.

Thank you!

Kyra Davis
http://www.kyradavis.com/
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Monday, November 14, 2005

News And A Little Cry For Help

Okay lots of news this week.

First item: The new Moms Of Mystery quarterly e-newsletter is available online. It’s put out by me and my friend and fellow author Alina Adams. This time we’re also featuring an article by author Jackie Brooks. So check it out and let me know what you think. Also if you’re a mom who writes mysteries and wants to write an article for the newsletter let me know. I can’t guarantee that it will be included but I promise it will at the very least be considered.

Second: I have received the new cover for the next Sophie book, Passion, Betrayal And Killer Highlights and it’s great! My publisher didn’t send me a jpeg so I’ll have to take a picture of it myself and post it—I guess it’s time I figure out how to post pictures, huh? For a gal who lives in the outskirts of Silicon Valley I am pathetically incompetent when it comes to anything technical. I should probably take a class or something. Or maybe I should just start dating men who work with computers and let them deal with my tech problems---yeah, that sounds more fun.

Anyway my name is a little bit bigger on the cover of this next book. I guess for every successful book you write your name increases an extra quarter of an inch in size on your next publication. Have you noticed that Jennifer Weiner’s name takes up about half the size of her covers? And as far as I can tell Janet Evanovich’s publishers don’t bother designing covers for her at all. They basically just throw her name on a bright glossy piece of paper and sit back while people line up to buy it. But I’m getting way ahead of myself. My name is only a small part of this cover which is bright red and features Sophie holding a hairdryer like it’s a gun… it really is very cute. And speaking of cute the outfit Sophie is wearing is fabulous. I’d rush out to the stores and try to duplicate the look but, according to the graphic artist’s vision, Sophie’s built a bit like a super model and I’m…not.

I’m also really happy with the synopsis that is included on the inside flap. A lot of people seem to think that authors write those little summaries but that’s actually done by the publisher (presumably by an editor or someone in marketing). Anyway the tag line is “Sophie Katz has just offered a man $12,000 for his services...is she desperate of just meshugeneh?” Gotta love that.

Okay lastly, I really need your help with something. I have a book coming out by Mira in September. While it contains a lot of humor it deals with some issues that are a bit more serious (and realistic) than the stuff dealt with in the Sophie novels. My editor and I have been going back and forth on what the title should be for literally months. It's funny how the few words that comprise a title can dramatically affect book sales. I am constantly amazed by the number of people who contact me and let me know that they initially decided to purchase Sex, Murder And A Double Latte because they were so fond of the book's title. Anyway we are now down to two title finalists for the Mira book and I’ve been told that the final decision is up to me. Here are the candidates:

Happily Ever After (And Other Myths)
So Much For My Happy Ending

Yes, the second is the title of a currently popular Avril Lavigne song although I’m not sure my publisher is aware of that. I’ll admit that bugs me a little, particularly since the only song references I have in the books are to Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn and the Black Crows’ Seeing Things but on the other hand you can’t actually copyright a title and perhaps the familiar reference will help me sell books. So what do you think? Let me know ASAP so I can get back to my editor and we can get to work on the cover art.

Thanks in advance for your help and I’ll post the cover of Passion, Betrayal And Killer Highlights by the end of the week!

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Our Ancestral Debt

While flipping through the channels last night I came across a replaying of the eulogy Oprah Winfrey delivered at Rosa Parks’ funeral. In her speech Oprah said that she owed it to Ms. Parks to succeed. Basically what she meant was that Rosa Parks risked a lot in order to take a stand, not just for her own rights, but for the rights of all African Americans. She sacrificed for us and we now have an obligation to her and all those who struggled for racial equality to make something of ourselves. We need to make sure we live a life that makes us worthy of the blood, sweat and tears that were shed on our behalf.

I’ll admit that I’ve never really thought about it in that way but I think Oprah has a point. My great-grandparents came over here from Eastern Europe for one reason and one reason only, they thought that this was a country in which Jews could live a life that was fulfilling and happy. It is always a difficult decision to leave your country of origin even if conditions in that country are truly horrible. Moving to a place that is completely foreign, without a job lined up, where you don’t speak the language…well let’s face it, it’s scary and it takes a lot of courage. In some respects it’s easier to sit back and be oppressed. And of course the process of immigrating to the States is in and of itself a difficult one, particularly when immigration means taking a long and often treacherous boat ride. And then, in the case of my family, there was the problem of being able to leave Russia. Of course my great-grandparents left well before the Soviet Union was formed but that didn’t mean it was easy for Russians to just pick up and travel around. My great-grandfather was actually kidnapped by the Russian army when he was just a child and forced to serve. When he grew to be an (apparently extremely attractive) young man he decided that he didn’t want to spend his entire life as an indentured servant while being subjected to extreme anti-Semitism so he took a major risk: he seduced a few of the officers wives and then convinced them to talk and/or manipulate their husbands into letting him go free. Obviously that plan could have backfired on him in a very big way but I guess he must have picked his targets wisely because he was granted his freedom. He then walked across Russia until he got back to his family. It was at that point that he married my great-grandmother who he had known in his childhood and together they decided to get the hell out of dodge.

Naturally there were others in our family who stayed in the old country. They had children and raised their families there and for a long time they stayed in touch with their American relatives. But there is no longer any contact between my family in the States and those in Easter Europe. That would be impossible because my relatives in Eastern Europe have all been killed. Several died during the pogroms and the rest (who were living in Latvia and Lithuania) were victims of the holocaust. My great-grandparents decision to leave Russia made my life possible. I owe it to them to make sure that I take advantage of the opportunities that are afforded me as an American citizen.

My grandfather on my father’s side (Charles Trammell) was a DJ for a major radio station. That may not seem like a very big deal and maybe it wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t started his career in 1950 and if he wasn’t an African American. Black DJs were virtually unheard of at that time. Furthermore, while the music on the radio during the 50's was heavily influenced by Black music, it was being performed by Whites. Yet my grandfather did a lot to promote and further the careers of several Black musicians and through his radio show helped many become successful. This was before the civil rights movement had really taken off. He was a pioneer. Unfortunately for my father he wasn’t a very good family man but he was a man with a vision and he helped to pave the way for other minorities to take jobs and pursue endeavors that were traditionally reserved for Caucasians. In a way it would be a betrayal of him if I were to neglect my own artistic pursuits.

America is a nation of immigrants. If you look far enough back you will undoubtedly find someone in your ancestry who fought to raise their family in a place that was free from severe oppression. I think we owe it to them not to waste our lives. We need to strive to be ethical and compassionate people and do our best to fulfill our potential. To do otherwise is kind of an insult to those who worked so hard to give us the opportunity to be happy.

Kyra Davis
www.kyradavis.com
Sex, Murder And A Double Latte IN STORES NOW!!!
For The Love Of A Dog--A fun online read!
Moms Of Mystery--An e-newsletter!