• Fall TV …

    So one of the things I’ve been doing while the Web site has been down has been sampling all the new fall TV programs.

    Meh. Overall, I’ve not been that impressed with this year’s crop of new shows.

    I’m really enjoying The Good Wife, and NCIS: Los Angeles is slowly growing on me. Melrose Place is okay, but they really need to start moving things along with some of the characters. C’mon. Let Violet go all Sydney Andrews-crazy on somebody already. 😉

    But other than that? I’m not watching anything new. I gave The Vampire Diaries a try, but I just didn’t get hooked. Eastwick is really fun, but I think it’ll probably get canceled soon (Leno beat it in the ratings last week, not a good sign). Modern Family and Cougar Town were both okay, but not nearly as good as How I Met Your Mother.

    So overall, just … meh.

    I’m thinking about buying some stuff on DVD, though. Everyone keeps raving how good The Big Bang Theory is, so I might treat myself to the first season of that sometime soon.

    What about you guys? What programs are you enjoying this fall? Share in the comments.

  • ·

    And we’re off …

    Okay, the Web site guy tells me that everything is more or less resolved. There might be a few more tweaks this weekend when the site might go down briefly, but that should be it. Huzzah! I’m so happy that the site is finally back up. I’ve really missed blogging and interacting with readers. 🙂

    Spider's Bite high resSo I thought I would do a quick update about what’s going on with the Elemental Assassin books. The first book, Spider’s Bite, will be out on Jan. 26 (getting close now!). If you’ve looked at the rest of the site, you’ve probably seen the cover already. But here it is again in all it’s glory. Pretty cool, huh? In case you were wondering, the cover was designed by Tony Mauro, who I think did an excellent job.

    Last week, my editor send me a mockup of the cover for the second book, Web of Lies (due out in June 2010). I can’t share it just yet, but it looks just as cool as Spider’s Bite does. The art department really outdid themselves. Kudos to them.

    The third book, Venom, will be out in October 2010. I won’t see any cover art for it anytime soon.

    In the meantime, to whet folks’ appetite for the series, there’s a free prequel short story called Spider’s Bargain posted here on the Web site. It’s on the Excerpts page, along with the first chapters of all three books. I plan to do free short stories for each of the books. I’ll probably start working on the one for Web of Lies in a few weeks. There’s also a lot of info on the Elemental Assassin series in general on the site. So go check out all the new shinies. 😉

    So that’s what’s been happening in the world of Gin Blanco lately. I hope you guys like the new look of the site. I also want to give a big shoutout and kudos to my Web designer, John of Atomic Cherry. I really think he did an excellent job with everything. Thanks so much John!

    So what have you guys been up to while I’ve been incommunicado? Share in the comments.

  • A few more kinks …

    Okay, my Web site guy is ironing out a few last-minute kinks, but once that is done (this week or next), we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled (and hopefully hack-free) blog posts.

  • I’m back!

    3 Comments

    I’m back! As most of you know, my Web site started getting hacked back in April.

    But now, we are back with a shiny new redesign — and hopefully a hack-free one too.

    There’s tons of new stuff on the site, mostly to do with my new Elemental Assassin series.

    I’ve also got a ton of blog posts to catch up on (mostly book reviews).

    Anyway, I hope you’ll look around the site. Happy reading!


  • 936 and counting …

    Finished What a Scoundrel Wants by Carrie Lofty (who I got to meet briefly at RWA this year).

    This book takes the legend of Robin Hood and twists it by focusing on his nephew, Will Scarlet. While working as a hired swordsman, Will finds himself caught up in a deadly plot — along with Meg of Keyworth, a blind alchemist that he saves. Soon, the two are off on a dangerous adventure to save Meg’s sister from the clutches of an evil man — and fighting their attraction to each other …

    I don’t read a lot of historical romance (unless they’re westerns), but I picked this one up because I’m a sucker for Robin Hood stories. And Lofty does a lot of interesting things in this book.

    For one, Meg is blind. I can’t remember the last time I read a book where the hero/heroine was blind, and Lofty does a really good job of depicting how horrible it must be, especially back in those days. But Meg doesn’t let her blindness keep her from doing anything she wants to — including bedding Will. She was a really cool heroine.

    I liked Will too, and there was some nice banter between the two of them, as well as some action scenes. And you all know that I love me some good action scenes. 🙂

    It all added up to a very enjoyable read, especially if you like Robin Hood stories like I do. Thumbs up.

    Up next: Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 25.