Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Furry family giveaway winner!

Sorry it's taken me a little while to post the results of last week's giveaway! The winner is.... 

Mara Atienza

Mara told the super-cute story about puppies and cats curling up together as friends. 

Congratulations, Mara! Drop me a line at emmie(at)emmiedark(dot)com and I'll arrange for your copy of Just For Today to be sent out to you! 


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Furry family stories

The heroine in Just For Today, Jess Alexander, is a vet. It was pretty brave (or dumb!) of me to write a character who is a vet, because I don't have any pets. Not that I don't want them--I simply travel too much to take proper care of a furry friend. But I am lucky enough to be Aunty to a furry family member: Max.
Max is pretty much the best dog in the whole universe, but then I guess everyone thinks that about their furry family.

He's especially fabulous because of how close he came to almost not being with us.

As a puppy, Max was inordinately fond of sweet things (let's face it, he hasn't quite grown out of it, either). Unfortunately for Max, lots of sweet things are not very good for puppy dogs. He is also a pretty clever pooch, and particularly talented at sniffing out anything tasty that might be in a handbag which has been left within reach.

One day my sister had left her handbag on the floor and Max discovered a packet of headache capsules and had a good old chew on it. The tablets have a slightly sweet coating, and Max found them to be a nummy treat.

The next thing though, poor little Max was being rushed to the vet for a stomach pump and long, watchful night to make sure he was going to pull through. Lucky for all of us, he did.

Those of you who read "Just For Today" might find that story sounds a little familiar once you get a way into the book. When I was researching the book I was lucky enough to get some time with a local vet in my neighbourhood who generously shared his knowledge, and I also reached out to lots of friends to ask them for stories of pet misadventures. There were lots to share! Luckily in almost all cases there was a happy outcome for everyone.

I'm going to do another spontaneous giveaway this week. Tell me about your furry family members' misadventures (happy endings only, though, please!) and I'll chose a random comment on the blog to receive an advance copy of Just For Today...


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Giveaway winner!

The "favourite doctor" giveaway is closed now, thanks to everyone for your marvellous doctor suggestions! The winner is....
Sarah Meral! 

Sarah, drop me a line at emmie(at)emmiedark.com and I'll organise to send your copy of Just For Today to you!

Sarah made the very awesome choice of Dr Walter Bishop from Fringe. (Played by renowned Aussie actor, John Noble, who I'm pretty sure I saw on stage in a totally bizarre and vaguely upsetting MTC production, but it was so many years ago it was before the internet was invented so I can't check.) The fact that I own all five seasons of Fringe on DVD only enhances my cred as a geek, I think...

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