• 998 and counting …

    Finished Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child. This is one of his books about ex-military policeman Jack Reacher.

    In this one, Reacher is bumming around Oregon when he gets a message that one of his old Army buddies is in trouble. He goes to Los Angeles, where he learns that someone threw his buddy out of a helicopter — and that several other members of his old Army unit are missing. So Reacher teams up with Frances Neagley, another one of his former officers, and they start digging into what happened. Along the way, they join forces with two more members of their unit and uncover a conspiracy to sell weapons to the highest bidder …

    I really like the Reacher series — they’re just fun, action-packed reads. This one is no exception. I loved the interaction between Reacher and the members of his old unit in this one, as well as Reacher questioning whether he’s really happy bumming around the country with only his toothbrush and his passport in his pocket. This is definitely one of the more realistic, sympathetic portrayals of Reacher in the series.

    In fact, I thought this was going to be one of the best books in the series — until I got to the end. Then, it all spun out of control for me because Reacher does something that just seemed completely out of character for me — he waits to take out the bad guys and save his friends. I won’t spoil the ending here, except to say that I can see that Child was going for poetic justice with it — it’s very eye-for-an-eye. But I just couldn’t help but think that someone as smart as Reacher would take out his enemies as soon as possible, rather than set them up in an elaborate trap — and make his friends suffer while he carried out his plan.

    But overall, this is still an entertaining read. If you like thrillers, you have to check out this series. Thumbs up.

    Up next: Something About You by Julie James.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 20.

    What about you guys? Anyone planning to read something good this weekend? Share in the comments.

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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! šŸ˜‰

    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:

    Iā€™d rather face a dozen lethal assasĀ­sins any night than deal with someĀ­thing as tricky, conĀ­voĀ­luted, and fragĀ­ile as my feelings. But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assasĀ­sin known as the SpiĀ­der. HovĀ­erĀ­ing outĀ­side sexy busiĀ­nessĀ­man Owen Graysonā€™s front door like a nerĀ­vous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesnā€™t shy away from my pastā€”or my present. And right now I have a bullā€™s-eye on my foreĀ­head. Cold-blooded Fire eleĀ­menĀ­tal Mab MonĀ­roe has hired one of the smartest assasĀ­sins in the busiĀ­ness to trap me. ElekĀ­tra LaFleur is skilled and effiĀ­cient, with deadly elecĀ­triĀ­cal eleĀ­menĀ­tal magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powĀ­ers. Which means thereā€™s a fifty-fifty chance one of us wonā€™t surĀ­vive this batĀ­tle. I intend to kill LaFleurā€”or die tryingā€”because Mab wants the assasĀ­sin to take out my baby sisĀ­ter, DetecĀ­tive Bria Coolidge, too. The only probĀ­lem is, Bria has no idea Iā€™m her long-lost sibĀ­ling ā€¦ or that Iā€™m the murĀ­derer sheā€™s been chasĀ­ing through AshĀ­land for weeks. And what Bria doesnā€™t know just might get us bothĀ dead ā€¦

    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! šŸ˜‰

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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. šŸ˜‰

    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,Ā all those thes and buts and ands would beĀ 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,Ā 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.Ā Is anybody reallyĀ worth that kind of money, especiallyĀ 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, breezyĀ 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 …

  • ·

    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.

    Iā€™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 Graysonā€™s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesnā€™t shy away from my pastā€”or my present. And right now I have a bullā€™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 thereā€™s a fifty-fifty chance one of us wonā€™t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleurā€”or die tryingā€”because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea Iā€™m her long-lost sibling … or that Iā€™m the murderer sheā€™s been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesnā€™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. šŸ˜‰

    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 storiesĀ 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!