First, some pics from the Borders Los Gatos Romance Readers Group discussion and signing with romance authors Jami Alden, Bella Andre, Mardi Ballou, Jasmine Haynes, Paty Jager, Crystal Jordan, Kate Perry and Veronica Wolff and mystery author Diana Orgain.
1- erotic romance authors Jasmine Haynes and Crystal Jordan, me and mystery writer Diana Orgain.
2- Jasmine Haynes signing. (You can just barely see our awesome hostess, Ellen Higuchi in the background.)
3- Diana Orgain with Paty Jager, Bella Andre and others in the background
1- SFWA President Russell Davis, N.K. Jemisin (whose fabulous debut THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS releases in February from Orbit) and John Helfers from Tekno Books
2- Jennifer Heddle from Gallery Books/Pocket, copyeditor extraordinaire Deanna Hoak, the notorious Graham Joyce, Cat Sparks and Deborah Biancotti at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.
3- Jen Heddle and I hamming it up with Tut (or a reasonable facsimile thereof)
4- Jim Minz of Baen Books, author Russell Davis, James Frenkel of Tor/Forge Books.
5- Jasmine Haynes/Jennifer Skully, Crystal Jordan and their two fall friends at the Winchester Mystery House. (On a personal note, I've decided that Crys is a fashion psychic, since completely unplanned she was wearing the same color as I was when she picked me up on Thursday and the same color as Jennifer when we met for the Mystery House!)
More later as my migraine allows.
1- Kepler's!
2- The very cute table they set up. You can just barely see the skull armbands, one of which I had to buy, of course.
3- From L to R: my awesome authors Crystal Jordan (UNTAMED) and Diana Orgain (BUNDLE OF TROUBLE) then me. No, Crys and I didn't arrange to be dressed nearly identically. I had to remove my black jacket so we wouldn't be mistaken for twins.
4- Me and Angela Mann from Kepler's, who set everything up and was so amazingly knowledgeable about teen fiction.
I was awed to have been signing at Kepler's, where Jeff Kinney of the Wimpy Kid books had just been the week before. In fact, there were still a few signed copies in the store, so I had to buy one of the new books for my son, who's a HUGE fan. In case anyone is interested, Kepler's has some signed copies of VAMPED as well! Michael Chabon was appearing at the store later that same day. I missed him by just hours because I had to be over in Los Gatos later that evening. Bummer.
Stay tuned for more pics as the week goes on and I find time to upload and post.
Happy release day to the authors of the NEVER AFTER anthology - Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu and Sharon Shinn - and to Diana Pharaoh Francis for her brilliant urban fantasy BITTER NIGHT, Crystal Jordan for her wicked hot erotica UNTAMED and David Mack for his 4400 tie-in PROMISES BROKEN!
Michelle Buonfiglio from Barnes & Noble Bookclub's Heart to Heart blogged about Jasmine Haynes' upcoming November 3rd release YOURS FOR THE NIGHT. Click here to check it out.
In other news, I'm off at the crack of dawn Thursday morning for two signings in California and then the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose. For any VAMPED fans out there, the venues for Thursday, the 29th of October are:Kepler's Books and Magazines
1010 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: (650) 324-4321
4 p.m. PST - Greet and Sign
Borders in Los Gatos
50 University Ave., #280, Los Gatos, CA 95030
Tel: (408) 395-6622
6:30 p.m. - Multi-Author Signing with romance authors Jami Alden, Bella Andre, Mardi Ballou, Jasmine Haynes, Paty Jager, Crystal Jordan, Kate Perry and Veronica Wolff; mystery author Diana Orgain
Don't forget that The Knight Agency is hosting Halloween Week on our blog, complete with giveaways. Today's guest blogger is Chloe Neill, author of SOME GIRLS BITE and FRIDAY NIGHT BITES.
After her husband's death, Holly Bancroft Cole knows Christmas won't be the same this year. Still grieving, she decides to complete the renovations on her North Carolina farmhouse and hires a construction worker. Drawn to his piercing eyes and gentle manners, Holly can't shake the feeling that secrets lie behind the handsome stranger's warm smile.
Haunted by memories, Matt Rankin can't remember the joy that simple pleasures bring until he meets Holly. When a harrowing attempt is made on her life, Matt realizes he can't live without this beautiful angel. Now he must protect the woman he loves at all costs—even if it means risking his own life.
Dyce (short for Candyce) Dare never thought she’d end up twenty-nine and divorced, with a toddler to raise, an ex who “forgets” his child support and a diet consisting mostly of pancakes.
To make ends meet, Dyce takes a chance and starts up Daring Finds, a furniture refinishing business. But finding things to refinish is tough—especially when Dyce goes Dumpster diving for discarded furniture and uncovers a gelatinous-looking corpse. Turns out the body was immersed in a vat of lye—a technique used for refinishing furniture—making Dyce a prime suspect.
Now, in order to clear her good name, Dyce has to play private eye. But solving a murder isn’t child’s play, especially when the next victim might be her….
The story of a young heiress's initiation into the dark society of the Chicagoland Vampires continues...
Ten months after vampires revealed their existence to the mortals of Chicago, they're enjoying a celebrity status usually reserved for the Hollywood elite. But should people learn about the Raves-mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle-the citizens will start sharpening their stakes.
So now it's up to the new vampire Merit to reconnect with her upper class family and act as liaison between humans and bloodsuckers, and keep the more unsavory aspects of the vampire lifestyle out of the media. But someone doesn't want peace between them-someone with an ancient grudge...
BITTER NIGHT by Diana Pharaoh Francis (October 27, Pocket)
SOMETIMES YOU CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. AND SOMETIMES, THEY CHOOSE YOU...
Once, Max dreamed of a career, a home, a loving family. Now all she wants is freedom...and revenge. A witch named Giselle transformed Max into a warrior with extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance. Bound by spellcraft, Max has no choice but to fight as Giselle's personal magic weapon -- a Shadowblade -- and she's lethally good at it. But her skills are about to be put to the test as they never have before....
The ancient Guardians of the earth are preparing to unleash widespread destruction on the mortal world, and they want the witches to help them. If the witches refuse, their covens will be destroyed, including Horngate, the place Max has grudgingly come to think of as home. Max thinks she can find a way to help Horngate stand against the Guardians, but doing so will mean forging dangerous alliances -- including one with a rival witch's Shadowblade, who is as drawn to Max as she is to him -- and standing with the witch she despises. Max will have to choose between the old life she still dreams of and the warrior she has become, and take her place on the side of right -- if she survives long enough to figure out which side that is....
The biological warfare of the twenty-first century changed the planet in astonishing ways, transforming humans into shape-shifters who love to walk on the wild side - reveling in danger and the explosive desire that consumes them...Half-human, half-lynx, Delilah Chase makes her living as a professional thief. But when half-human, half-hawk Hunter Avery catches her trying to steal his priceless ruby, he makes her a proposition: spend a week in his bed, or take a trip to jail. What follows is seven days of unrelenting, primitive passion neither can live without...As the owner of Tail, the most notorious techno brothel in New Chicago, mink-shifter Lorelei Chase specializes in fulfilling all of her clients' kinky fantasies. She just has one rule: Never sample the goods that her customers or workers offer. But every day, jaguar-shifter Nolan Angelo tempts her to break that rule - until she ultimately gives in to a burning lust that knows no control...
4400 taken, 4400 returned.
All were given startling new abilities.
Now they are sharing their power with the world …
But is the rest of humanity ready to join the 4400?
Promicin — which kills half of those who dare to inject it and grants paranormal abilities to those who survive — is spreading across the globe and threatening to plunge the entire world into chaos.
A year has passed since Jordan Collier and his followers seized control of Seattle and renamed it Promise City. American armed forces have surrounded Seattle, and each day brings Collier and his Promicin-Positive Movement closer to all-out war with the world's greatest military superpower.
However, the real threats are the Marked — agents from the future whose identities were encoded into body-hijacking nanites and sent back to thwart the efforts of the 4400. The last three surviving Marked lurk in the shadows, working in secret as they prepare to deliver a deathblow to the planet.
Caught in the crossfire are NTAC agents Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris. His son, Kyle, and her thirteen-year-old adopted daughter, Maia, are both more loyal to Collier's movement than to them. And when the standoff between the Movement and the military explodes into open conflict, Tom, Diana, and their fellow agents wind up outnumbered and outgunned.
In the end, the fate of all mankind will rest in the hands of one man: Tom Baldwin.
Keith R.A. DeCandido will be presented with the Grandmaster Award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers on Saturday at Comic-Con. Go, Keith!
Faith Hunter is the featured author this month at Romance Divas. If you haven't read her work yet and want to know where to start, her latest (and first in the new Jane Yellowrock series) is SKINWALKER. I can promise, you won't be disappointed.
1-The gorgeous and talented Gena Showalter, RITA finalist for Best Paranormal
2-Me and Karen Whiddonat the Harlequin party with Gennita Low shaking her grove thing in the background
3-Becca Stumpf of Prospect Literary Agency eating a suggestively shaped potato and Gennita Low pointing it out for the camera at the St. Martin's Party
4-Kristin Nelson and Sherry Thomas, her double RITA-Award-nominee for Best First Book and Best Historical, all glammed up for the award ceremony
5-National Readers Choice Award-winner Jasmine Haynes (aka Jennifer Skully, aka JB Skully), erotica author Crystal Jordan and futuristic and fantasy writer Michele Lang
6-RITA Award winner Rosemary Clement-Moore and her fellow finalist Tina Farraro
7-Melissa Jeglinski of The Knight Agency, me and Deborah Blake (
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
deborahblakehps ), fellow Llewellyn author at the Harlequin party
There will be a fuller report with many more pictures once I'm back from RWA and other travels, but for now I wanted to congratulate Rosemary Clement-Moore (first pic) for her awesome RITA Award win for HELL WEEK, second in her Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil young adult series and Jasmine Haynes (second pic, star spangled shirt, seen hear with the also incredible Crystal Jordan and Michele Lang) for her National Readers' Choice Award for Best Novella for "Undone" in the UNLACED anthology.
Rosemary Clement-Moore: RITA finalist for HELL WEEK, the second in her great Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series
Crystal Jordan: erotica author extraordinaire
Susan Krinard: amazing and bestselling paranormal romance writer
Janet Mullany: wonderfully edgy author who wears many hats, including presenter of "Writing the Hot Historical" with me and Pam Rosenthal at the conference
(I just spotted this great write up including her new Immortal Jane Austen series in PW.)
Michele Lang: two words "LADY LAZARUS" - look for it in 2010
Jasmine Haynes/Jennifer Skully/JB Skully:
Debra Mullins: award-winning historical romance writer
Karen Whiddon: author of the tres popular Pack series for Nocturne
Vicky Dreiling: whose debut novels we've just sold to Warner Forever/Grand Central Publishing for publication in 2011
Not to mention the parties, the chocolate, the Oscar-style RITA Award Ceremony. Sigh. Life is hard.
I'm especially excited about the "Readers for Life" Literacy Signing event on Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Washington Marriott Wardham Park at 2660 Woodley Road NW , Washington, D.C. Just check out this amazing line-up. I'll be there with VAMPED as well!
If instead of RWA (or in addition to) your plans include San Diego ComicCon, check the schedule for great events featuring Rob Thurman, Marjorie M. Liu, Lynn Flewelling and Keith R.A. DeCandido and be sure to pencil in the Sci/Fi/Fantasy Discussion Panel withPatrick Rothfuss, Rob Thurman, Amber Benson, Thomas Sniegoski, Seanan McGuire, Jeanne Stein, Kat Richardson at Borders, 668 6th Street on Saturday, July 25th at 8 pm.
I'm also thrilled to report that David Mack, author of the forthcoming uf/supernatural suspense novel THE CALLING is guest blogger today at The Knight Agency's site. Comment there to win a signed copy of THE CALLING!
Crystal Jordan for "In Ice" (in SEXY BEAST V anthology)
Jasmine Haynes for "Undone" (from the UNLACED anthology)
Both in the novella category, of course, so I have to root for a tie!
We have so much to talk about today! For one, don't forget the virtual holiday party today at The Knight Agency site at 12:30 ET! Hope to see y'all there.
For another, the winner of yesterday's signed copy of Jane Lockwood's FORBIDDEN SHORES is Diana Cosby (and not just because she had such nice things to say, I swear!). My son chose her name in a totally blind draw from a hat!
Tune in tomorrow for another special blog, this one from fellow agent Roberta Brown and her author Jina Bacarr and yet another fantastic giveaway!
Commentors today will be entered to win a signed copy of Crystal Jordan's fabulous collection of erotic stories, CARNAL DESIRES. And don't forget to look for her next one, ON THE PROWL.
"Writing Erotic Means Sex Is A Journey, Not A Destination" by Crystal Jordan
Most romance writers I know started out as readers of romance. I won't say every one of them, because inevitably there's an exception, but I think most of us began in the same place. For me, it was stealing my mother's historical romance novels to read while she wasn't looking. In terms of sex, the stories always progressed in a similar fashion: boy met girl, boy kissed girl, and I had to wait until the very end until boy and girl did the deed. In these books, sex was something that happened after the characters were either already in love or well on their way to being there. Sex was the final physical expression of their love for each other. It was the *destination* for their relationship within the book.
( Read more... )
Crystal Jordan impressed me right from the get-go by her ability to create unique worlds, wonderful, fully-developed characters and outstanding eroticism all in the space of a novella. CARNAL DESIRES is her first solo volume, though an earlier, related story can be read in SEXY BEAST V.
*Keeping it Real: Using Your World Building to Develop Your Characters in Paranormal Romance* by Crystal Jordan
One of the most important parts of writing paranormal romance is putting your own spin on the genre. Let's face it, there are no *new* ideas--someone out there has written about every imaginable supernatural creature (and put those creatures in just about every imaginable setting). We can only tweak, futz, or tilt our heads sideways and squint until there's that special *
something* that makes our work different than anyone else's.
For me, the thing that I try to use to make my supernatural characters different is my world building. Regardless of genre, your world building and character development should support each other, but it's especially important when writing paranormal. However, world building shouldn't be info dumped all over your readers. Sounds contradictory, right? World building is what makes a writer's work special, but she shouldn't give it *all* to her readers.( Read more... )
In other news, my father, who actually reads Fox News (hangs head in shame), sent me this, which just cracked me up:
They say beauty is only skin deep. Tell that to GINA.
Instead of a metal or plastic body, BMW's latest concept, the GINA Light Visionary Model, drapes a flexible fabric material over a moveable wire mesh frame, creating a nearly seamless surface that can alter its form at the whim of the driver. (Link to story)
Profile
- varkat
- varkat
- Lucienne Diver
Syndicate
