What’s next for you book-wise in 2012?

2012 is looking to be a pretty awesome year. I have Sins of the Demon coming out in January, and Even White Trash Zombie Get the Blues will be out July 3^rd, 2012. I don’t yet know when the fifth Kara Gillian book will be coming out (Touch of the Demon,) but at the best it would probably be near the end of the year (though I imagine that most likely it’ll be January again.) However, I’m hoping to have some good news soon to announce about future books!

 What is the worst gift you’ve ever received or given?

I’ve been sitting here racking my brain for a good five minutes on what the worst gift I ever received was. And, y’know, I can’t really come up with one. I’m sure I’ve received crummy or thoughtless gifts, but nothing so egregious that it stuck in my head. And I really hope I haven’t given anything awful!  Though I do admit I occasionally re-gift—but I don’t think I’ve ever regifted a gift back to the giver. Or at least I hope not!

That being said, I can definitely tell you what my best Christmas present was. Nine years ago my husband gave me a full-length black leather coat. This thing is awesome, and is exactly what every urban fantasy author needs! (Unfortunately, I live in south Louisiana, which means that opportunities to wear full length black leather coats aren’t as frequent as in other climates. Basically, anytime the temps dip below 55, I’m putting that baby on!)

What is your favorite Holiday food?

Pumpkin pie. Oh, yes, pumpkin pie.

What is your least favorite Holiday song?

Umm, most of them…LOL The ones I do like are either the more traditional types (Hallelujah Chorus, O Holy Night, et al) or the modern instrumental stuff (e.g. Trans-Siberian Orchestra.)

Do you have any Holiday traditions?

My inadvertent holiday tradition is that every year I swear I’ll get my stuff done well before Christmas… and every year I’m scrambling to get things done the week before. Sadly, this year is no different!

Any favorite Holiday memories?

My best holiday memory:

Back when I was a street cop I was single and as poor as anyone who makes a cop’s salary could be, and so I worked a fair amount of off-duty details to make extra money. Any that fell on a holiday usually paid double-time, and since I didn’t have any family obligations I always signed up for the Christmas Eve/Day details. The one I worked almost every year was at the local Walmart. They closed at 6pm on Christmas eve and didn’t reopen until 6am the day after Christmas, and so there were three 12-hour shifts available.

One year I was working the 6pm-6am shift on Christmas Eve—and since the store was closed, all we had to do was park out in front of the store in our cruiser and tell anyone who came up that Walmart was closed. (And you’d be surprised at how many people couldn’t figure that out by the simple fact that the lights were off and the big metal gate was down over the doors.)

Late that night, as midnight approached, there was a man driving a streetsweeping machine around the parking lot, busily cleaning it up. (Looking back I’m not sure why he was working on Christmas Eve, but maybe they figured the best time to get the lot swept and cleaned was when there were no cars in it…?) Meanwhile I sat in my car and read books, watched movies on my computer, and generally did my best to stay awake for 12 hours. Whenever he’d circle around near where I was parked we’d wave politely at each other.

But shortly after midnight, he left the lot, and then reappeared a few minutes later and came up to my car. I rolled down my window and he passed me a cup of coffee and held up a piece of paper (because his streetsweeping machine was still on and was loud as all hell) that had “Merry Xmas” scrawled on it. Then he drove off before I could do anything more than yell a thank you. The coffee was typical gas station coffee—strong enough to put hair on your chest, and had no sugar and no cream, but it was steaming hot and filled me with all sorts of Merry Fucking Christmas cheer. J

If you could share one lesser known fact about yourself with our readers, what would it be?

Little known fact: My first date with my husband was December 28^th, ten years ago. Our wedding anniversary is July 13^th, but we both forget it Every. Single. Year. However, we always remember the day of our first date, and that’s the one we celebrate.

Diana Rowland has lived her entire life below the Mason-Dixon line, uses “y’all” for second-person-plural, and otherwise has no southern accent (in her opinion.) She attended college at Georgia Tech where she earned a BS in Applied Mathematics, and after graduation forgot everything about higher math as quickly as possible.

She has worked as a bartender, a blackjack dealer, a pit boss, a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant, which means that she’s seen more than her share of what humans can do to each other and to themselves. She won the marksmanship award in her Police Academy class, has a black belt in Hapkido, has handled numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition, and can’t rollerblade to save her life.

She presently lives in south Louisiana with her husband and her daughter where she is deeply grateful for the existence of air conditioning.

Giveaway: Diana won’t tell me. So it’ll be a surprise! To enter, leave a comment telling us your favourite or least favourite Christmas Memory!