(click on the dragon
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The crazy person behind Dragonfare
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My
name is Kathy, aka Kat, and that's me on the left.
Yes, I like being a blonde. And I do have fun...
That's also me on the right, all dressed up to go to a Renaissance festival in Florida. I was visiting my friend Tian Ning, and that magnificent painting behind me is the genius of her sister. I made the costume (surely you didn't think I paid money for it?!?). And I go barefoot a lot. |
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My collective is called Dragonfare, if you haven't come from there and don't already know that. Why "dragonfare"? My mom suggested it as a good name once, long ago. I still like it.
Here is a bit about me ~
I like writing. I like it so much that I've inflicted it upon the world by publishing a couple of books myself, in the hopes that someone might actually want to buy one. If you want to take a peek at them, check out my sites, kathytrueman.com and catherinedove.com, where you can see samples, the covers, and details.
What else? Uh...
I'm a baby-boomer, born in the early 1950s. I'm a lucky Sagittarian, and happy about it!
I live in rural Texas, "down the road apiece" from Dallas, in a 100-year-old house on about 4 acres. I live with my best friend of 30+ years, and between us we have no husbands and no kids, but a lot of animals -- horses, dogs, cats, and birds. We used to have pet rabbits and rats, too. We call the place "The Critters Club" (can't imagine why...).
I'm an Army brat, and I've lived in Michigan, Japan, Arizona, Massachusetts, Virginia, Germany, Maryland, New Jersey, and now Texas. We moved every three years when I was growing up, and about every three years I still get the urge to move again. But nowadays when I feel that urge, I just rearrange the furniture.
Somehow, despite constant partying, I managed to graduate with a BA in English from Frostburg State College in beautiful western Maryland. I was supposed to teach high school English, but to the great good fortune of students everywhere, I turned out to be a bookkeeper and secretary instead.
I have a warm, creative mom and a brilliant dad who's a great golfer. I also have 3 brothers, a sister, and a bunch of nieces and nephews who are all beautiful, talented, and wonderful. Sort of. Most of my family has managed to settle in Florida, where I never get to see them. They probably prefer it that way.
I work as a secretary to a bunch of nephrologists (kidney doctors) in Dallas, and I have a 4-hour commute every day. Which got old about 10 years ago, but I still do it.
Things I love (in no particular order) ~
- Chocolate
- Writing
- Beer
- Sex (sorry to bring that up, but I do love it)
- My friends
- Peace and quiet
- Books and movies
- Animation of all kinds
- Being a couch potato
- Working on my websites
- Trees and growing things
- Seeing the stars
- People who are intelligent and compassionate
- The color blue
- Dragons
Things I loathe (also in no particular order) ~
- Violence (in real life, anyway)
- Intolerance and ignorance (which usually lead to violence)
- Commercials, especially roadside billboards
- Depressing, pretentiously "artsy" or "gritty" movies
- Nihilism in any form, really
- Peas, lima beans, and green beans
- Seafood
- Tequila, scotch, and (sigh) sake
Favorite things
to waste my time on:
Talking to my friends, writing, reading, watching movies and TV, working
on my websites, petting my critters.
Favorite books:
I read fantasy, mysteries, some romance, and a lot of nonfiction. Actually,
this list could go on for a long time... my house groans under my bookshelves.
But the five books I'd take with me to a desert island: The Lord of the
Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), The Heaven Tree (Edith Pargeter), The Reluctant Widow (Georgette Heyer),
Until the Sun Falls (Cecilia Holland), and the Tales of the Otori (Lian Hearn). I know that's cheating a bit, since the first and last are multiple book sets, but oh too bad.
Favorite movies:
Another long list! I especially love animated films, fantasy, musicals,
Shakespeare and Austen films, romantic comedy, monster movies, westerns,
and action films. In fact, really, the only movies I don't like are "artsy",
slasher, and excessively depressing or vulgar films. My all-time absolute
favorite film is Star Wars (you can call it "A New Hope" all
you want, but to my generation, who saw it on its original release, it
is and always will be Star Wars).
Favorite TV shows:
In not particular order, Star
Trek (the original), Firefly, the Cadfael mysteries
(especially the first season), Alias (the first two
seasons), The Wild Wild West, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Dr.
Who, Get Smart, The Young Riders, V, Airwolf, Babylon 5 (only the
first season), The Equalizer, Columbo, NCIS, Remington Steele (except
the last season)... and many more.
Favorite animation
and anime:
This gets a section of its own because so much of my attention, and my
biggest website (now sadly defunct because it got too big), are devoted to my lifelong love for animation. My favorite
animated movies include Mulan, The Secret of NIMH, The Iron Giant,
The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The
Emperor's New Groove, and anything by Miyazaki, but truly, it's
a lot easier to list animated movies I don't like. My favorite
animated TV shows are: (Western) Looney Tunes, The Rocky and Bullwinkle
Show, and (classic)
Jonny Quest; (anime) Cowboy Bebop, Rurouni Kenshin, Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai
Champloo, Inuyasha, Slayers, Peacemaker Kurogane, .hack//SIGN, Oh My
Goddess, Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Vision of Escaflowne, Trigun and Gundam
Wing.
Favorite music:
Movie soundtracks (the real ones, not those hodge-podge collections of
songs), classical, hard rock, oldies rock n roll, and a little bit of
country. For a sampling only, my favorite composers are John Williams
and Basil Poledouris; favorite oldies/rockers are Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, the Monkees, the Who, Jethro Tull,
Led Zeppelin, and Bon Jovi;
favorite classicals are Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Rossini; and favorite
country singers are Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Collin Raye.
Favorite foods:
Chocolate, turkey, watermelon, chocolate, brie and cheddar cheese, walnuts
and almonds, chocolate, and avocados. Oh, and did I mention chocolate?
Favorite drinks:
Beer (in all its stronger varieties), Diet Coke, wine, vodka gimlets,
coffee, and tea.
Does anyone really read all this stuff?
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Nobody is ever going to understand this... but this horse is a magical talisman for me. I'm hoping it will bring me good luck on all my websites, but, most important, continue to remind me how far the imagination can fly. The artist is M. Mehlhorn, aka Rey, and I thank her for this. |