Guest-Blogging: My first time. Be gentle.

When Jeff approached me a couple of months ago, asking if I'd be game to guest-blog for him around the middle of November, the first thing I did was engage in a little dance of hand-flappy joy.  I mean, he and his wife are only the present alpha cat-herders of all things steampunk -- and steampunk is a bandwagon I've flagged down and flung myself in front of, then threatened the driver with a rusty screwdriver, and lashed myself into a seat with an old bicycle lock.  So it's not as if I could say "no," even if I wanted to.  And I didn't.However, I've never guest-blogged for anyone before, and now that the date has arrived, I find myself riddled with performance anxiety.  What on earth am I going to talk about for five days?  I should say something smart and pithy, shouldn't I?  At the very least, I should find links to smart and pithy things other people have said, right?  I can't just hang out in Jeff's cool blog-space and post pictures of my cat ... except that now, fully three people have dared me to do so, so here you go for form's sake:Let it not be said that I ever shied away from a silly dare.When it comes to serious content, I'm not always the first blogger who comes to mind.  Hard to believe, I know.  Mostly I bide my internet time posting ridiculous movie reviews, slapping IMPACT words on photos of my feline companion, grousing about my work-in-progress word counts, and rounding up links to things I'd like to remember later on.So this is my self-introduction, less formal and concise than the very kind one Jeff left posted for me yesterday.  My name is Cherie Priest. I have a fondness for Victoriana in all its forms, speculative fiction that smells slightly of academic seasoning, zombies, arguing fiercely over things most people find wholly unimportant, owls, long walks on the beach (no seriously, I'm from Florida), cheap red wine, ghost hunting in unlikely places, urban and rural exploration of the "dangerous trespassing" variety, and collecting old things.  I dislike large adult sloths, unfinished ceramics, nasal congestion, bad HTML, and black licorice because it's gross.I write stuff.  Mostly I write books, but sometimes I write short stories -- and I'm particularly proud of one that can be found right this moment, live and free, here in Subterranean Magazine. That story is called "Tanglefoot," and it's the very first bit of fiction appearing anywhere that takes place within my steampunk universe The Clockwork Century -- which is introduced briefly at the beginning of the tale.  Next year, two novels set in this world are scheduled to appear: Boneshaker from Tor, and The Clementine from Subterranean.I'm proud and excited to be here, and I thank Jeff most heartily for having me. I will try not to make myself look like an ass.