EVERYBODY HAS A FANTASY

WHAT’S YOURS?

 “George Clooney was a shoe salesman, kneeling at my feet. In my fantasy...”

-PJ SANTINI, Hell On Heels, the new first book of my PJ Santini Series

Our girl  PJ Santini has lots of fantasies. Sometimes they keep her alive, when they reflect reality and she imagines how badly a private investigative job could turn out. That’s when they jump-start her brain into Fight-or-Flight, and she tries everything she can think of. Sometimes her fantasies collide with stressful reality, causing her to stop thinking of the present altogether and imagine herself down to a size 6 and light as a feather, with plenty of leeway to throw down a bowlful of macaroni and cheese soup followed by a good-size piece of New York cheesecake, just to keep up her strength.

Then there are the shoe dreams... and George Clooney, who is cradling her bare foot in his hot hands. He never really says anything, preferring to shoot her meaningful glances with his moony eyes. Her subconscious is beginning to reason that if he isn’t going to talk, his tongue won’t mind running some moisture along her instep....

MEN INVENTED FANTASY

What’s that? Women are too given to living in a fantasy world? PJ and I have one word for you: Playboy. At this point, I’m thinking of a fun piece I wrote for one of Jeff Cohen’s Playboy Newsstand Specials called Body Language. 

Have a good day.

The Safest Book Store In Town!

I would like to thank Tall Tales Books in Atlanta, an honest-to-goodness, 40-year-old book store dedicated to aficionados of the written word (and our  thanks to its camera shy owner Rebekah!) for hosting the book signing party for the first two PJ SANTINI SERIES novels, HELL ON HEELS and HEELS OF FORTUNE, yesterday! 

Surprise guests included my 1st Choi Kwang Do instructor, 8th degree Grandmaster Marshall Pereira, and 6th degree Master Susan Whitfield. I am happy to report that during that period of time not a single item was stolen from the store!

And CNN was there  - Classic CNN, as anchor Toria Tolley  pronounced when she blew in and saw director D’Antonio Dixon, who had brought his tripod/camera. (Does that count as three guests? Probably not, since the tripod didn’t eat any cookies.) 

We also were joined by brilliant photographer Claude Wegscheider; physician to the stars James Kinahan; and  the female whose combustible combination of creativity and shrewd business woman, Renate Stender Kinahan, established the original two Café Intermezzos In Atlanta. 

Thank you for coming, everyone! 

I’ll be on the road and posting more information as we go.

And of course there will be the largest independent book festival in the United States over Labor Day weekend:

The AJC Decatur Book Festival

Come for the Street Fair!

See you at BOOTH 411 !

Saturday August 31, 10am–6pm
Sunday September 1, 12pm–6pm.

www.Cosmopolitan.co.uk

Brazilians vs Nails.
Where to put your money.

“One spa waiting room said “Nails”, the other said “Brazilians”. Clients on the “Brazilians” side looked a lot happier. My guess is it’s because 99% of them were getting laid. Just a theory.”

-PJ SANTINI, #HeelsOfFortune, the new second book of the #PJSantiniSeries

*******************

In Atlanta This Weekend?

It’s a date! Lynne Russell will be at

Tall Tales Books

2 PM, Saturday July 20, 2019

for a PJ Santini Series book signing!

Tall Tales Books, in the Toco Hills Shopping Center, 2105 LaVista Rd NE, near Emory and the CDC

See you there!

ATLANTA BOOK SIGNING!

Save the date! Saturday July 20 at 2 PM 

Atlanta’s classic Tall Tales Books

2105 Lavista Rd NE, Atlanta, GA. 

It will be such fun to meet fans of Hell On Heels and Heels Of Fortune!  PJ Santini  fans tend to share certain aspects of PJs wacky world ... dangerous men, an irresistible passion for shoes, curiosity about things better left alone, a secret pair of “fat“ jeans  in the closet, a knack for thinking of almost any food as comfort food... and relatives who may or may not be rational at any given moment. Then there’s the TV News business, which really can be murder. 

So mark your calendar, and let’s get together. The third Saturday in July! See you then. 

Sometimes I buy wine just for the label, like  #Cat’sPeeOnAGooseberryBush, then I take off the label and have no idea what the #MysteryWine is.
-#PJ SANTINI, #HeelsOfFortune, the new 2nd book of the #PJSantiniSeries

Dear Graduate: Life in a few words.

It’s the time of year when lots of advice is handed out in graduation speeches. Flowery sentences and tortured paragraphs. I can’t remember a damn word of mine. Which is why, when I address a graduating class, I like to keep it short - listening to anybody for longer than twenty minutes puts me to sleep, even if I’m the one doing the talking. And I have concluded that the absolute best, most honest, most helpful bottom line to deliver is always the same. It’s a 60-second lifesaver to throw to every student, one that respects, protects and celebrates each individual’s abilities and unique gifts. Here it is:
                                                                    
*As you go through your life, be true to yourself. No one knows as much about you as you do.
*Do no intentional harm. And remember,
*You are what you think.
     We live in our heads. There are fancier ways of saying it, and lots of expensive research about it,
     but the truth is you create your own day. No one is in there but you.
*Find your bliss.
     Your bliss is the happy thing that makes you forget, even for a moment, everything else.
      (For me, it’s the sound of my hockey skates on the ice. Never mind that when I fall it takes four
      people to get me up.)
*Keep your style.
       Life throws you curves. People tell you how, when, where, and what you should be. Don’t let it
       change the way you celebrate your own style. The way you feel about yourself will always affect
       the way you feel about others.
*Nurture your mind. Feed it, challenge it every day. People don’t stop learning because they get old;
       they get old because they stop learning. (Grandmaster Pereira)
  Nurture your body. Give it what it needs and respect it.
  Nurture your spirit. Give it space and quiet. It supports those two off-the-chain entities just
      above, and will outlast them.

That’s it. If someone had told me this at graduation, I’d remember more than the fact that Susan Russell was sitting on my left and some kid whose last name began with an S was on my right. And that my girlfriend’s party was canceled by her father the cop. After he bailed her out.

Ah, the common threads women share. Or is it threats. Some actually consider them in advance (don’t feel bad, I didn’t either!) But when you’re writing fiction, you can give your heroine the benefit of your own real-life experience. Will PJ Santini buy me a beer for it, or lob me a gift card? Probably not. We all know she’s hanging on by her fingernails.

   “When I fantasize about a possible future with him, I picture myself a year down the road, 7 months pregnant, in a pink terry cloth robe and fuzzy scuffs in a laundry room, spot-cleaning his Jockeys. I’m allergic to that.”  

-#PJ SANTINI, #HeelsOfFortune