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Dateline: 738 Steele Street, February 3, 2008

Hi Everybody,

Lots of great mail comes in every day for the CRAZY and LOOSE books. Here's one that's almost an essay. I loved it, and wanted to share it, the writer said I could publish it on the site - a great lady named Kim :) Hope you all enjoy it, too! There is a new page of articles on the site. Use the button to check it out.

Take care,

Hi, Tara.

I hope all is well and that you and your family had a great holiday. I picked up Cutting Loose and read it over the New Year's Eve weekend. I loved it! It was such a fun read. I loved reading about Creed when he was young and just started boosting cars. It was a lot of fun going back to Steele Street with my girls Red Dog and Skeeter. I love series books. They remind me of two of my favorite past times; comics and soaps. There is always something new to learn about the characters. Always a new challenge or adventure to deal with. Along with love and life and death and family and friends the stories let you get to know characters that make the day a little easier. Speaking of comics, I've always thought that the Crazy series would be great broken down into a graphic novel style. Something like the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series that is now being release in comic book form. Red Dog should definitely have her own spin off series. I'd love to follow her on her missions. I love what you have created with her character. She was a victim but she was not defeated and she did manage to come back from the dark side thanks to Travis. Every girl needs a Travis in her life. :) Cutting Loose reminded me of how you create these smart, funny, beautiful and brave women who have had to deal with a lot of sh*t in their lives, but they still manage to survive and thrive. And of course kick ass in fabulous shoes! The whole approach reminds me that you are not throwing the women of Steele Street into refrigerators. I say this because of the web site that writer Gail Simone created back in 1999. She noticed this trend of women in comics always being punished in the most cruel ways. I started noticing the trend after watching the 6th season of 24. I sometimes see your books as 24 with hot guys and hot sex. But with 24 the female characters all seem to suffer in some way. Season one we have Jack's wife die. Two of the presidents wives have been crazy. Michelle has been killed off, the presidents wife is crazy and stabs him in front of witnesses. Then there is Audrey who ends up kidnapped and tortured by the Chinese and all she does now is mutter. These were all strong powerful women and then they just became plot twists. I still love the show, but I'm always over thinking and over analyzing everything. I like that you made Red Dog a survivor even if what she does for a living is in the gray market at times. She can flawed and scared at times as well as ruthless. The scene with her coming up from underground was brilliant. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy the stories and the characters you keep creating.

Take care,

Kim