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    Thread of Death e-novella released …

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    Thread of Death, an e-novella in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, has been released. Huzzah!

    Thread of Death takes place around the time of the end of Spider’s Revenge. Note that the following description contains some spoilers for Spider’s Revenge, so if you haven’t read that book yet, you may want to skip the description:

    Gin Blanco, aka the assassin the Spider, might have finally killed her nemesis, Mab Monroe, but that doesn’t mean that it’s smooth sailing. Gin goes to Mab’s funeral to say her goodbyes and runs into some of Ashland’s most notorious underworld power players, including Jonah McAllister and Phillip Kincaid. McAllister wants her dead, and Kincaid has his own murky motives when it comes to the Spider, and Gin once again finds herself fighting for her life. Only this time, she might wind up in the cemetery right next to Mab …

    Basically, Gin attends Mab’s funeral and finds herself in trouble once again. It’s also sort of a round robin story and features the points of view of Gin, along with Jonah McAllister and Phillip Kincaid.

    The e-novella is around 20,000 words. You don’t have to read the e-novella to enjoy By a Thread or the rest of the series, but it gives a little insight into what McAllister and Kincaid think about Gin. It also hints at and sets up a few things for Widow’s Web, the seventh book that will be out on Aug. 21, 2012.

    Thread of Death is $1.99, and it is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online booksellers. Hope everyone enjoys it. Happy reading!

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    Website updates …

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    Just a note to let everyone know that I (and my website guru) have updated the site with all the information and book covers that I have available right now.

    So if you haven’t seen the back cover copy or read the excerpts for Thread of Death, By a Thread, Dark Frost, or Widow’s Web, you may want to check out the Books at a Glance or Excerpts and More pages. Beware of spoilers, though, because some of the descriptions and excerpt do contain them.

    As the year goes along, I’ll start posting about my 2013 releases, which will include Crimson Frost, Mythos Academy #4, in January 2013. So stay tuned for more.

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    Dark Frost bookmarks available …

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    I now have bookmarks available for Dark Frost, the third book in my Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series. Bookmarks for Touch of Frost and Kiss of Frost are also still available.

    As always, the bookmarks are free to readers, librarians, booksellers, reading groups, schools, and anyone else who wants them. However, I do ask that folks send me a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with two U.S. stamps on it in order to get the bookmarks. This helps me cover postage costs. If you don’t put stamps on or include them with your SASE, I will not be able to send the bookmarks to you.

    Also, if you are overseas, I ask that you include $2 worth of U.S. stamps or that much in international postage coupons with your SASE. Again, this helps me cover postage costs.

    If you want more information about how to get the bookmarks, you can e-mail me.

    Dark Frost will be out on May 29. Here is the back cover copy. There are a few spoilers for Kiss of Frost in this, so if you haven’t read that book yet, you may want to skip reading the description:

    I’ve seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall.  I know I’m supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I’m just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me — again.

    Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects — and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school.  But I’m also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way.  The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom.  So why do they have it in for me?  It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can’t use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me — and I’m in for the fight of my life.

    You can also read the first chapter of the book. Dark Frost is also up for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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    You say tomato, I say toboggan …

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    Since we are well into January now, I thought I would post about something winter- and book-related.

    In both the Elemental Assassin and the Mythos Academy series (and in the Bigtime series too), I refer to characters wearing toboggans, or knit/winter hats. A while back, a reader wrote to me asking if maybe I meant toque (also a winter hat) instead because toboggan can also mean a sled. Honestly, I had never heard of the word toque before, and it never occurred to me to use another word for toboggan.

    I think this just might be a regional difference. I’m from the South and in my neck of the woods, a toboggan is a winter hat, and a sled is a sled. If I tell my mom that I’m wearing my toboggan, she knows that I’m wearing a hat. I would never say that I’m going to slide down a hill on my toboggan; I would slide down a hill on my sled.

    Since both the Elemental Assassin and the Mythos Academy series are set in the South, I didn’t think anything about using the word toboggan. But I’ve had a couple of folks e-mail me about this now, and I’m wondering what other words/phrases I use that might mean something else or might be interpreted differently in different parts of the country and world.

    And it’s not just words — it’s food too. I know when Wheezley and I travel to other places, especially when we go up north, we always wonder if the restaurants will have sweet tea or not. For those of you who don’t know, sweet tea is just what it sounds like — tea that already has sugar in it (usually a lot of sugar). In the South, practically every restaurant (even the fast food joints) will offer you a choice between sweet or unsweet tea. But when we went to Texas a few years back, they only had unsweet tea in one of the restaurants we ate at.

    But it works both ways too. For example, I don’t eat grits, which are another Southern staple. In fact, I’d never really even heard of grits until I visited some of my cousins who live in another Southern state where they are more popular. So I guess it all just depends on where you grow up and what you hear and eat along the way.

    What about you guys? What regional words or food items have you noticed in books, if any?

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    Widow’s Web back cover copy …

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    I have posted the back cover copy for Widow’s Web, the seventh book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series.

    There are no big spoilers here, but if you absolutely don’t want to know what the book is about before you read Thread of Death (since the e-novella hints at a few things in Widow’s Web) or By a Thread (the sixth book), you may want to skip this post.

    Here’s the description:

    I used to murder people for money, but these days it’s more of a survival technique.

    Once an assassin, always an assassin. So much for being plain old Gin Blanco. With every lowlife in Ashland gunning for me, I don’t need another problem, but a new one has come to town. Salina might seem like a sweet Southern belle, but she’s really a dangerous enemy whose water elemental magic can go head-to-head with my own Ice and Stone power. Salina also has an intimate history with my lover, Owen Grayson, and now that she’s back in town, she thinks he’s hers for the taking. Salina’s playing a mysterious game that involves a shady local casino owner with a surprising connection to Owen. But they call me the Spider for a reason. I’m going to untangle her deadly scheme, even if it leaves my love affair hanging by a thread.

    Basically, this story will delve into Owen’s past, and readers will learn what Owen was up to while he was living on the streets of Ashland with his baby sister, Eva. You can also read the first chapter of Widow’s Web, if you wish. Again, if you absolutely don’t want to be spoiled, you may want to skip reading the chapter.

    I’ve seen the cover art, which is awesome as usual. I can’t share the cover just yet, but the predominant color is blue this time, and Gin is seen with a weapon that is not one of her silverstone knives. Is that enough of a teaser for you guys? 😉

    Widow’s Web will be out on Aug. 21. Technically, it’s a September book, but instead of releasing the book the last Tuesday before the first of the month like usual, my publisher decided to bump it up a week to Aug. 21. Widow’s Web is up for pre-order at Amazon, and I imagine it will be up for pre-order sometime soon at Barnes & Noble. I’ll post more information as it becomes available.