House of Dance, Undercover, Friendship, and Gratitude

I owe some very big thank you's to some very dear people, and I won't waste your time with preliminaries, except to say that this photo was taken last Thursday, at DanceSport Academy, the inspiration for many scenes in House of Dance. That's Aideen O'Malley (who inspired some aspects of the grandmother in the story). And if you look really hard, toward that slice of mirror, you'll see Scott Lazarov. Scott runs the studio (the very best anywhere). He was among my first teachers, and still teaches me tango, lindy hop, jive, bolero, and salsa when he can. It was Scott's wisdom and patience that inspired the character, Max, in the novel. Scott who made the dance scenes live.

All right, I've said more than I meant to for someone promising few preliminaries. What I came here to do was to say thank you to Laurie and Betty and Boo's Mommy, both, for their recent exquisite reviews of House. I meant to thank the always-wonderful Miss Em, for highlighting Undercover in her recent (gonzo) Winter Book Giveaway. And I meant to thank Anna Lefler, the comedienne extraordinaire (I was just watching one of her Hollywood gigs on YouTube; she's incredibly feminine and hysterical at the same time; get to know her) for well, hmm. Let's see. For the mug and for the postcards, both. For the mid-week pep talk when stuff was getting me down. For putting together an ad—an ad, I tell you—for my own little Beth Kephart blog.

Someday I'll throw a party for all the special people in the world. Hopefully all you will come. And when you come you'll get to meet all those other special people. (You know who you are.)