Year: 2010

  • A deadly web …

    So in unveiling the cover for Web of Lies last week, I neglected to, you know, post what the book is actually about. Duh, Jen! Anyway, here’s the back cover copy (which will probably get tweaked a little bit:

    Web of Lies 1-6-10 smallCuriosity is definitely going to get me dead one of these days. Probably real soon.

    I’m Gin Blanco. You might know me as the Spider, the most feared assassin in the South. I’m retired now, but trouble still has a way of finding me. Like the other day when two punks tried to rob my popular barbecue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the barrage of gunfire on the restaurant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren’t aimed at me. They were meant for Violet Fox. Ever since I agreed to help Violet and her grandfather protect their property from an evil coal-mining tycoon. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really retired.

    So is Detective Donovan Caine. The only honest cop in Ashland is having a hard time reconciling his attraction to me with his Boy Scount mentality. And I can barely keep my hands of fhis sexy body. What can I say? I’m a Stone elemental — with a little Ice magic thrown in — but my heart isn’t made of solid rock. Luckily, Gin Blanco always gets her man … dead or alive.

    Yep, in Web of Lies, Gin takes on an evil coal-mining dwarf (who also happens to be a Stone elemental just like she is). I’m really happy with how this book turned out. In some ways, I think that it’s even better than Spider’s Bite. But anyway, now you all know what it’s about! 😉

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    I love it when a trailer comes together …

    4 Comments

    I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before on the blog or not, so here goes.

    I am a HUGE A-Team fan. Seriously. It’s my favorite show ever. I love it more than Alias, more than Chuck, more than just about anything else (with the possible exception of the James Bond movies). I have all the DVDs, and I even made Wheezley buy me an A-Team T-shirt for my birthday one year.

    So my inner fangirl squealed with delight over the weekend when I found the trailer for the movie over at Entertainment Weekly.

    Yeah, there’s a lot of cheesy dialogue in the trailer and what looks like some really implausible action/CGI. But you know what? That’s what made the TV show so great — it was just cheesy fun. And it looks like the movie is in that same vein. (One day, I’m totally going to do a blog post about how everything I know about writing books I learned from The A-Team.)

    Plus, it’s got a pretty cool cast — Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson all look the part.  (Although I do not remember Bradley Cooper having abs like that on Alias, but hey, I’m not complaining.) And the van! The van’s in the movie!

    I know what I’ll be doing on June 11. 😉

    How about you guys?Am I alone in my A-Team love? Which cheesy ’80s shows do you love? Share in the comments.

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    Blogs, blogs, blogs …

    Since Spider’s Bite is coming out Jan. 26, I’ll be doing a lot of guest blogs/interviews over the next few weeks. Here’s a list of what I have lined up so far. And if anyone wants me to drop by their site, just send me an e-mail. I’m always up for doing guest blogs/interviews when time and my schedule allow:

    Jan. 15: Tote Bags ‘n’ Blogs

    Jan. 21: Literary Escapism

    Jan. 24: All Things Urban Fantasy

    Jan. 25: Dark Faerie Tales

    Jan. 26: Smexy Books

    Jan. 27: ParkAve Princess

    Jan. 28: Magical Musings

    Feb. 2: The Romance Dish

    Feb. 3: SciFi Chick

    Feb. 4: Pop Syndicate

    Feb. 15: Tote Bags ‘n’ Blogs

    Feb. 15-16: Book Talk with J&J

    And these too: I’ll be over at Vampire Wire, Debuts & Reviews, and Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings, but I don’t have firm dates for these yet.

    I’ll post reminders here and on my Facebook page about where I’ll be guest blogging over the next few weeks. Also, a lot of these posts will have giveaways with them.

    Also, I’m scheduled to sign copies of Spider’s Bite starting at 1 p.m. on Jan. 23 at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. Several other authors/comic book artists are supposed to sign their books/comic books that day too. I’ll keep you posted. Let’s just hope there’s no snowy weather that day! 😉

  • Another gorgeous cover …

    8 Comments

    Web of Lies 1-6-10 smallWell, the good news just keeps on coming here in the land of Estep. Guess what my editor sent me yesterday? Cover art for Web of Lies, which I am happy to share with you here.

    So shiny! So pretty! So very Gin! 😉

    This is not the final cover, although I don’t think that it will change too much from what you see here.

    Once again, kudos go out to the awesome Tony Mauro, who’s the artist (he also did the fantastic cover for Spider’s Bite). I didn’t think I could have a better book cover than the one for Spider’s Bite, but luckily, I think that Web of Lies is just as cool!

    Also, in other news, Web of Lies is now up for preorder at Amazon. So go forth and click and pay, if you so desire.

    Once I get the final-final cover, I’ll get some bookmarks made, design some info flyers, etc. I’ll keep you posted on when those will be available, especially the bookmarks. But for now, I’m just going to bask in the awesome that is this cover. So shiny! So pretty! So very Gin!

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    Sold, baby!

    13 Comments

    So I guess I can go ahead and announce this since it’s mentioned in the February issue of Romantic Times magazine.

    I’ve sold books 4 and 5 in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series to my publisher, Pocket Books. Huzzah!

    I’m super excited about this because my editor and all the other folks at Pocket have been absolutely great to work with. Plus, books 4 and 5 will let me finish out the first main story arc with Gin and her nemesis, which I hope will please readers.

    Of course, I want to write more Gin books beyond these five, but that will depend on sales, like everything does in the book world.

    At this point, I don’t know when books 4 and 5 will be out — I’m hoping both of them will be published in 2011, but we’ll see. In the meantime, there will be three Elemental Assassin books out in 2010, which will hopefully get folks hooked on the series. (Three weeks to Spider’s Bite!)

    But for now, I’m doing the happy dance! 😉