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    Oh, what a tangled web Gin weaves …

    12 Comments

    Look what my editor sent me — the preliminary cover art for Tangled Threads, the fourth Elemental Assassin book. So pretty! So shiny! 😉

    Seriously, I think this is another kick-ass cover. There are so many little details that I love about it — the use of the spider rune in the title, the rune showing on Gin’s hand again, how tough and cool bad-ass she looks. And the background is just perfect, since a lot of the action in the book takes place at a train yard.

    For those of you who missed it, here’s the back cover copy for Tangled Threads:

    I’d rather face a dozen lethal assas­sins any night than deal with some­thing as tricky, con­vo­luted, and frag­ile as my feelings. But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assas­sin known as the Spi­der. Hov­er­ing out­side sexy busi­ness­man Owen Grayson’s front door like a ner­vous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my fore­head. Cold-blooded Fire ele­men­tal Mab Mon­roe has hired one of the smartest assas­sins in the busi­ness to trap me. Elek­tra LaFleur is skilled and effi­cient, with deadly elec­tri­cal ele­men­tal magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone pow­ers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t sur­vive this bat­tle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assas­sin to take out my baby sis­ter, Detec­tive Bria Coolidge, too. The only prob­lem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sib­ling … or that I’m the mur­derer she’s been chas­ing through Ash­land for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead …

    In other news, Scott on my Facebook fan page alerted me to the fact that Tangled Threads is now up for pre-order at Amazon. So go forth and buy, if you wish. It looks like the book will be out in May 2011 (April 26 to be exact), unless something drastic changes. I’m pretty sure that book #5 will be out on October 2011, but I’m still waiting on confirmation on that one too.

    Anyway, I’m doing the happy dance about how cool the cover is. I hope you guys like it too! 😉

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    Rob-Con 2010 …

    6 Comments

    So I did a book signing this weekend at Rob-Con, a comic book convention that’s held every July in Bristol, Va. The event is sponsored by Mountain Empire Comics, and I want to give a shout-out to Rob, the owner, for having me back at the con again. Thanks, Rob!

    Yep, that’s me on the right, telling someone all about the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. Many thanks go out to Wheezley, my significant other, for snapping the photo.

    A couple of weeks ago, I did some posts on book promotion, and one of the things that I mentioned was that I don’t do any book signings at chain bookstores any more. Why not? Well, I just never seem to have any interest or sell more than a book or two.

    But going to Rob-Con is totally different. There, folks know all about superheroes and fantasy books, movies, and TV shows. So even if I don’t sell any books, I can still have a good time talking to people. I much prefer doing events like Rob-Con or group book signings rather than sitting by myself in a chain store for two hours. And yes, people will think that you work at the store and ask you where the bathroom is when you do those kind of signings. Sigh.

    So how did I do at Rob-Con? Well, I sold seven books, and several more people came over and got me to sign copies of the books that they already had. Any time I can sell more than five books in two hours, I feel like I’ve done okay. And of course, I handed out some bookmarks and flyers to everyone who stopped by my table. Overall, it was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. 😉

    For those of you who might be interested, I’ll probably be doing a signing for Venom at Mountain Empire Comics sometime in late October, when the store has its big Halloween sale/party. I’ll post the details when I get them.

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    $50 million reasons to smile …

    There was an interesting news item at Dear Author last week about Janet Evanovich, author of the hugely popular Stephanie Plum series, asking her publisher for $50 million for her next four books.

    Yes, you read that right — $50 million for four books. Assuming that the four books are each around 100,000 words that is $125 per word. Yep, all those thes and buts and ands would be worth $125 a piece. If the books are only around 90,000 words (which seems more likely to me), that figure goes up to about $139 per word.

    This boggles my mind.

    Most writers, including yours truly, are lucky — lucky — to get 20 cents a word for whatever they write, whether it’s books, magazine articles, or something else. Some publications literally only pay pennies per word — if that.

    Sure, the powers that be in Hollywood are making a movie out of Evanovich’s books, which will only increase her sales. But $50 million? For only four books? At $139 per word? C’mon. Is anybody really worth that kind of money, especially in today’s economy? I don’t know how many books Evanovich sells, but she would have to sell a whole heck of a lot of them to justify that kind of advance and for her publisher to make a profit.

    Now, I’ve read several of the Plum books. I found the first four or five to be great, fun, breezy reads, so much so that I bought copies for friends for birthdays and whatnot. But somewhere around book seven or eight, the series starting feeling a little repetitive to me. It seemed like Stephanie was making the same mistakes and telling the same jokes over and over again. And don’t even get me started on the love triangle between her, Joe, and Ranger. I quit reading the series because I just wanted her to pick one of them already (!), and it didn’t look like it was ever going to happen.

    Am I jealous? Yeah, a little bit. It would be nice to be as successful as Evanovich. I’m sure I would be quite happy to swap all of my book advances for just one of hers. Heck, forget the advance. I’d be happy with just her sales numbers.

    It’ll be interested to see if Evanovich’s current publisher agrees to her price, if she’ll move to another publishing house, or if anyone will shell out that kind of money to her.

    Perhaps if Evanovich’s Plum series ever gets up to the number 50, she can title the book Fifty Million Reasons to Smile …

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    Tangled Threads …

    23 Comments

    So my editor sent me the final version of the back cover copy for Tangled Threads, the fourth Elemental Assassin book that will be out in May 2011. Here is it.

    Note: There are a few mild spoilers below.

    I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.

    But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead. Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling … or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead …

    Pretty cool, huh? I hope it makes you want to read the book because I think that LaFleur is one of the best villains that I’ve ever written — mainly because she’s just like Gin. 😉

    In other news, I am slowly going through and updating the website in anticipation of the release of Venom on Sept. 28. The book is up for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, if you are so inclined.

    One of the things that I’ll be doing is posting the first chapter for Tangled Threads along with a few new recipes of things that Gin makes in the various books. I’ve also written two more free short stories that tie in with Venom. Right now, I’m calling them Wasted and Poison — and both are told from Finnegan Lane’s point of view. Y’all wanted more Finn — you’re getting him.

    The stories need a bit of light editing, but I’m hoping to get them up on the site by Aug. 1. I’ll keep you posted and let you know when everything is up and formatted properly. Until then, hope you are staying cool this summer!

  • Countdown to Venom and more …

    4 Comments

    I found something cool on Twitter this past weekend. Larissa, a book blogger, has made countdown widgets or buttons for several fantasy books, including Venom. Thanks, Larissa!

    Here’s the link to the post so you can see all the covers and get the code for the widgets. Less then 70 days now until the book is released. 😉

    In other news, Jennifer over at Rayment’s Readings, Rants, and Ramblings posted about her family making the Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich that Gin makes in Spider’s Bite. Here’s the link.

    Thanks, Jennifer! I hope you guys enjoyed the sandwich — I know I always do when I make it for myself. 😉

    I have to say that these are the first countdown widgets for my books that I’ve seen and the first time that someone’s made one of the recipes from the books and posted about it online (at least to my knowledge). Knowing that folks are looking forward to Venom and the rest of the books in the Elemental Assassin series really does make my day. So thanks!