Okay, totally cool news! I’ve had a trip to Dragon*Con in my plans for a few months, but it wasn’t until today that I found out that I’ve been approved as an author speaker along with good pal Tanya Michaels/Tanya Michna. We are such geek girls about certain TV shows, so in addition to our speaking and autographing duties we’ll be prowling the halls looking for cast members from Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville. My goals for the weekend of Dragon*Con (Aug. 29-Sept. 1):

1. Meet lots of readers to get the word out about my books
2. Meet Tahmoh Penikett, Katie Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber (Helo, Starbuck and Apollo from BSG); Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin (from Serenity and Firefly); Michael Rosenbaum and Erica Durance (from Smallville); and James Marsters (from Buffy and Angel). Yes, I’m letting my sci-fi geekdom shine!

The only thing that could make this weekend better would be if the boys from Supernatural were going to be there. Then I would be absolutely beside myself. (But Mary and Natalie might hate me forever. Eek.)

Check out the Dragon*Con site for more info, including the huge list of celebrities attending. I’m not on the list yet because I just faxed in my letter of agreement tonight.

I haven’t watched my TiVoed episodes of Smallville and LOST yet, but I thought I’d comment some on my favorite night of television.

Survivor — Poor Erik. I’m of two minds about his ouster tonight. On the one hand, it really was an incredibly dumb move to give up his immunity necklace to conniving Natalie (Please don’t let her win!), especially after what had happened at Tribal Council in recent weeks. Don’t trust anyone! But on the other hand, I hated that he was trying to do a good thing and, I think, honestly preserve some friendships for after the game was over, and the girls repaid him by not only voting him out but rubbing in how “stupid” he was. I do feel sorry for him. I wonder what the jury members said to him when he joined them.

Supernatural — The clock is ticking down to when Dean’s deal comes due and the hellhounds come for him. How in the world do you think he’s going to get out of this? Or do you think they’re going to have him really die and go to hell in the finale and not bring him back until next season? And do you think we’ll see Bella again? I feel like there’s more story to tell about her.

LOST — Haven’t watched it yet, but there was an interesting link to a theory a fan has in the May 9 issue of Entertainment Weekly. I don’t know if any part of this time loop theory will prove true, but it was interesting reading. Check it out at www.timelooptheory.com.

On the writing front, I finished and turned in a freelance article today and read some interesting articles on promotion. Soon, I need to come up with a master plan for promotion for the weeks surrounding the September release of my first book.

Okay, not TV Land as in the network by that name. I’m talking about TV in general. With the writers’ strike still under way, the ol’ TiVo has been recording mainly movies and some random shows I’ve never heard of, plus, curiously, episodes of Gunsmoke. Maybe that’s because I recorded The Quick and the Dead. Hmm. Anyway, some shows are coming back on with the few episodes they were able to complete before the strike. Here’s a quick roundup:

Prison Break — So it’s incredibly far-fetched. So what. Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell still have me glued to the episodes, and I can’t help rooting for Agent Mahone. I HATE what happened to the Sarah storyline because of actress Sarah Wayne Callies’ departure from the show, and I don’t know how Michael will possibly get any sort of happy ending after all he’s gone through, but I’m intensely curious how it’s all going to play out.

Smallville — If you’ve read my blog for very long, you know I love superhero stuff. No surprise I’m still watching the boy who will become Superman. I’m ready to say bye-bye to Lana now though. Her and Clark’s romance doesn’t feel real anymore, and I’m ready for the turn toward Lois to start. It’s fun to see James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) back as Brainiac though. I’ve read he also has a role in Torchwood now, but that’s on BBC America and I don’t get that channel.

Supernatural — The Winchester boys are BACK! This is my favorite show, and it came back on tonight. We got to learn a bit more about Ruby — I think she’s a cool character. I mean, Dean and Sam hunt and kill demons and she’s a demon. BUT she’s on their side. More fuel added to the “everything isn’t black and white” fire tonight when Ruby revealed a fact to Dean about her own past and the nature of demons. I think something else she revealed to him is the turning point for him in how he thinks about being doomed to die within the year. My poor Sammy, pinned to the wall AGAIN.

Stargate Atlantis — I’m excited about the potential new romance between Dr. Keller and Ronon. Plus, I just like sci-fi shows. John is still snarky, Ronon still kicks butt, and Rodney is still fantastically annoying and yet endearing.

LOST — I haven’t watched tonight’s premiere yet. Must write a guest blog post for next week instead.

Anybody out there in blogland watch these shows? What do you think of recent episodes?