The picture is worth

First, I just need to mention this, because it's pretty cool:

My work is going to be translated into German! Woohoo! Kathleen is amazing with the foreign rights stuff. She's off in Italy now, in advance of the Bologna Children's Book Fair. I am jealous--but only because she's in Italy. Not because she has, and I do not exaggerate, 72 meetings she will be attending during the fair.

NOW, last week I posted my Sarah Fine author pic. I say it like that because I also have an S.E. Fine author pic which has yet to be unveiled. Kathleen told me I needed two different photos. SCAN is a thriller, whereas SANCTUM is an urban fantasy. Two genres, two author names, two pictures. Both photos were taken by Rebecca Skinner, who is now my favorite photographer ever.

But SCAN comes out in fall of 2013, and SANCTUM comes out in the fall OF THIS YEAR OMG OMG, so bemusedly-standing-amidst-the-rubble is my persona of the moment. It's ideal for the story, because the bulk of SANCTUM takes place in a vast, desolate city, full of dark alleyways and abandoned buildings, a bunch of hollowed-out, unhappy people, a crew of mischievous and seriously evil creatures, and a cadre of indentured Guards charged with keeping things under control. At one point a character actually does huddle against a large pile of rubble. Yay, rubble!

*ahem*

So! I asked you to caption my photo, and you folks did not disappoint. I had so much fun last week, with all these enormously witty comments popping into my inbox. As promised, I entered all commenters into the random number generator, and the winner of the $25 Amazon gift card is:

Michael Di Gesu!

Michael's entry was also quite fitting, and captured the way I think about a lot of these abandoned buildings and lonely, desolate locations, places that snag and hold my attention more often than not. His caption also happens to be perfect for SANCTUM itself, in which the main character finds herself falling for a guy while trapped in that terrible city I just described.

Michael's caption: "There's beauty in the least likely of places ..."

Thank you, Michael, and thanks to all of you who played along, and for all of your generous compliments!

Now, because it's Monday, please go visit Lydia to read her Medical Monday post, and Laura for her Mental Health Monday post!