Samhain Publishing

My first blog. The pressure. The pressure. I want to be witty and thought provoking. I want to be memorable. I want to be profound… oh hell, who am I kidding? I have a three and a half year old and an eight week old – affectionately known as Peanut and Chickpea respectively – I’m sleep deprived. There’s no way I can be witty, thought provoking, memorable… um, what was the last one again?

So, seeing as this is my first blog and my brain stopped working somewhere around mid-2004, I’m resorting to introducing myself.

I’d like to tell you I’m 28 (I’m not), tall and slim (if only) with long thick hair Angelina Jolie would kill for (I wish), and a husband as gorgeous as Brad Pitt… actually, I can’t complain on this point. Imagine a Spanish Colin Firth and that’s pretty much my husband.

The reality is, I’m blissfully in love with two daughters (the afore-mentioned Peanut and Chickpea) and a very large dog that wonders every day I’m sure, what happened to his lazy days and nights of freedom in the house? One day he’s asleep at our feet, the next his home is overrun by ankle-biters (what we Aussies call Rugrats) and he’s on the outside looking in, making me feel as guilty as sin.

I’m mad for dogs. Actually, animals in general. When I was a kid I’d bring home all sorts of “strays”. Any animal that crossed my path would warrant my full and unending love and compassion. At one stage my long suffering parents found themselves living with two dogs, one kitten, one goat and one rather cranky blue-tongue lizard. We ended up keeping the kitten, one of the dogs and the lizard whom, in a moment of sheer creativity, I named Blue.

In my wild university days I would break into science labs and free the animals within. I’m not going to climb up on my soapbox now, but I have very strong feelings on animal testing, especially animal testing for cosmetics. To this day I won’t buy or use products tested on animals. Simply put, seeing an animal in pain or knowing an animal suffered pain makes me feel pain.

My first-born seems to be following in my footsteps already. At three she “rescued” her own blue-tongue lizard from almost certain death, assuring me quite passionately the poor thing was seconds away from being attacked by a… dragonfly. grin

I love movies about animals and get really upset if the plotline of a film sees an animal hurt. Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Daylight’ upset me to no end. Not because of the people trapped in the tunnel, but because of the two dogs trapped with them. Anyone seen ‘Gladiator’? Remember the very obvious connection the director set up between Russell Crowe and his wolf in the beginning of the film? I thought it was wonderful and powerful. But then, after the opening battle scene, the wolf disappears. Gone. Never to be seen again. I spent the entire film wondering where it was and how the writer would bring it back into the story line. I think my husband was ready to yell if I’d asked one more time: “Where’s the wolf?”

Yes, I’m an animal lover. Furry. Scaly. Feathered. Doesn’t matter to me. I guess then it’s only natural that love would work its way into what I write. My first release for Samhain follows the adventures of Sydney’s leading animal rights activist as she stumbles into a battle between good and evil in Australia’s undergone werewolf society. Regan Thomas loves animals and guess what? She has a pet lizard. grin

They say writers should write what they know. I did that with Savage Retribution. I know animals, I know Sydney and I know about being in love.

So that’s me. Lexxie Couper. G’Day, Samhain. Please to meet you. Cuddled a lizard lately?