To increase my book's visibility in the jungle that is Amazon.com, The Mumbo Jumbo Circus Kindle version and Barnes & Noble Nook version are on sale for 99 cents for a limited time! Get it. Read it. Have fun!

If you enjoy the book and just happen to post a customer review on Amazon or B&N, I will do a happy mime dance. I promise not to put it on YouTube.

And the winner of the Circus Waffler is:
CLARISSA!

Congratulations!!!
Clarissa, please contact me (on the Home page contact form) with your address, and this bit of fabulousness will be wending its way to you soon.

Yesterday's blog received 200+ hits. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, even if you didn't have the intestinal fortitude to go for the Waffler, LOL.
I'll be giving away a paperback of The Mumbo Jumbo Circus soon. A circus parade will come through town and let you know when. 

Whoah, is that a portal? Gotta go...

In addition to being available on Barnes & Noble's Nook and Amazon's Kindle, you can now get my young adult novel, THE MUMBO JUMBO CIRCUS, in print. Finally! Yay!!!!!!!!!

To celebrate, I'm giving away THE MOST FABULOUS OBJECT IN THE WORLD. 

Along with my apologies to Terry Gilliam, I offer you the chance to win...

Is it not fabulous? This Circus Waffle Maker is brand-new, never-been-opened, in-the-box pristine.

To win, simply comment on your favorite Terry Gilliam movie, or breakfast food, or anything you like! (As long as you're nice. I don't give out fabulous objects to trolls.) I will randomly draw one comment for the win! Sorry, you must live in the US to enter this contest, as I cannot afford to ship all this fabulousness internationally. Contest ends at midnight, PDT, 4/25/2011.

And if you think THE MUMBO JUMBO CIRCUS is fabulous too, or you're just in a good mood, go to the above Amazon link (the "in print" link in red) and click on the Like button and the category tags; it moves the book up in the search pages (I think).

Have a tasty Monday. Don't let the Time Bandits get you down.

Love,

Jane

Some people REALLY HATE clowns. I was surprised to discover there is even an anti-clown movement. Why do clowns evoke such strong emotion? For example, I dislike monkeys, (possibly for many of the same reasons others despise clowns), but I could never muster up enough energy in my dislike to label myself anti-monkey. You just won't see me purchasing Paul Frank items or sock puppets.

I'm not talking coulrophobia here, as in awww, Johnny Depp is afraid of clowns. I mean, Sam in Benny & Joon is a clown and he's adorable. Sigh. Must watch that movie again soon.

Ahem, do I really need an excuse to post a Johnny Depp pic?

Sam aside, whether it's due to the distorted features, big shoes or squirting flowers, the widespread negative reaction towards clowns is very useful to writers and filmmakers.

(And in the interest of my Don't Add Hate to the World general outlook, you are under no obligation to check out The No Clown Zone.)

CLOWNS MAKE EXCELLENT VILLAINS. The fact that clowns have so often been used as bad guys, (REALLY bad, bad guys), reinforces our reaction to them.

Somebody, quick, stuff a bunch of cotton candy in there!

As a writer, I'm no exception. I have a clown villain in THE MUMBO JUMBO CIRCUS. 

My challenge was how to make him different?  I went all the way back to the Commedia dell'Arte for inspiration. I combined a Pantalone-type character with a knife-throwing stilt clown who wears a vintage plaster mask. I named him Kingpole, after the main pole that supports a big top. 

No worries, I haven't spoiled the show. The book has more than one villain and we know from Kingpole's first appearance that he's Bad News.

The sequel to THE MUMBO JUMBO CIRCUS will be THE DARING YOUNG MAN, due out in October, if all goes well. 

In the book, I will be delving more deeply into clowns and clowning. Hey, I'm up to the challenge, just don't expect the clown to have a monkey. 

And if you need more evidence than Johnny Depp as Sam to prove that NOT ALL CLOWNS ARE BAD, I leave you with Danny Kaye.

As long as no one makes a film with a sharp-toothed Danny Kaye zombie, we're all good.

Pass me the cotton candy.



Do you hate clowns? Why? 
Love clowns? Let me know!