Whoo hoo! I can finally share some great news I've been sitting on for a while. (It's a little squished, but still fun.) I'm going to be a cover model!

No, not on the cover of one of my books (although there are folks who think that the picture of Barbara Yager, my first Baba Yaga, looks a bit like me on the cover of Wickedly Dangerous -- yes, my abs look *just* like that...snort). And not on the cover of Time Magazine as Witch of the Year, although really, I'm not sure why not.

This is what I'm talking about:

Yes, that's me (and Magic the Cat, of course) on the cover of the upcoming issue of Witches & Pagans Magazine. Color me seriously excited. Possibly bordering on the ecstatic :-)

As some of you know, I write a regular column (Everyday Witchcraft) for the magazine, and I have been a dedicated reader for many years. So it is pretty thrilling to be featured on the cover and in the wonderful interview inside written by my Pagan author pal Ceallaigh MacCath (you may remember that I wrote the introduction to her fabulous collection of Pagan tales and poems, The Ruin of Beltany Ring and that we were both included in The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction).

I'm very grateful to publisher/editor Anne Niven Newkirk for putting me on the cover, and for my friend Bobbie Hodges for taking thousands of pictures in order to get a couple of ones that were good enough for us to use without making me want to hide under the bed. (She also gave me the broom I'm holding in the picture.)

I hope that some of you will reward Anne's faith in me by making this the Most Popular Issue Evah. If you don't already have a subscription (what?!), you can get one, or preorder this particular issue by clicking on this link:

The Deborah Blake Cover Girl Issue!

Of course, the preorder price of $6.45 is a deal, so you know you want to get a copy. (Mom, I'm looking at you.)The magazine will be out in December.

And just for fun, here are a few of the shots we didn't use either for the cover or inside. Which one do you like best?