Elemental Assassin series

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    Taking over the internet (again) …

    8 Comments

    Elemental Assassins Book #3 - VenomSo the release of Venom, the third Elemental Assassin book, is coming up on Sept. 28, which means that it’s time for me to do another blog tour. 

    Why do I do blog tours? Well, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a free and easy way to promote my books. There are tons and tons of great book blogs out there. Promotion is all about having an online presence these days, and I think doing a blog tour is one of the best ways that you can get the word out about your books, especially if you’re a new or midlist author. And did I mention that it’s free? All it’s going to cost you is a little bit of time and some postage to mail books out to giveaway winners.

    Second, it’s just fun. I like visiting other blogs, interacting with folks, and seeing what they have to say about my blog post or books or what other titles they’re reading and loving right now. I can’t tell you how many book recommendations that I’ve picked up just by doing guest blogs. To me, that’s just the icing on the cake, since I’m always on the lookout for new books to read.

    I’m pretty ambitious when it comes to blog tours. As soon as I have my e-ARC, I send it out to various book bloggers and start asking folks about guest blogs. I’m kind of anal in that I like to work well ahead. Then again, since I have a day job, I sort of have to. 

    The Venom blog tour is definitely my biggest one to date. I’m sure folks are going to get real sick of seeing my name all over the place in the coming weeks. LOL.

    Anyway, here are the blogs that I have set up so far. I’ll be posting links to all of these here on the blog, my Facebook fan page, and my Twitter page as the various dates approach. I’m also giving away at least one copy of Venom with most of these posts.

    Sept. 7: Rex Robot Reviews  

    Sept. 15: The Romance Reviews

    Sept. 16: The Book Binge

    Sept. 17: Ellz Readz interview  

    Sept. 19: Amberkatze’s Book Blog

    Sept. 20: All Things Urban Fantasy

    Sept. 21: Literary Escapism

    Sept. 22: Lovin’ and Livin’ Life in the 808

    Sept. 23: Fresh Fiction

    Sept. 23: Fiction Kingdom

    Sept. 24: Shiloh Walker’s blog

    Sept. 24: Fiction Vixen Book Reviews  

    Sept. 27: Paperback Dolls

    Sept. 27: Smexy Books

    Sept. 27: Book Talk with J&J (aka Romancing-The-Book)

    Sept. 28: Bitten by Books

    Sept. 29: True Romance Blog

    Sept. 30: Magical Musings

    Oct. 1: Book Crazy Scrapbook Mama  

    Oct. 4: A Buckeye Girl Reads

    Oct. 5: Books and Things

    Oct. 5: SciFi Guy

    Oct. 6: Smokin’ Hot Books

    Oct. 6: The Romance Dish

    Oct. 7: The Book Smugglers

    Oct. 8: Supernatural Snark  

    Oct. 11: Urban Fantasy Reader

    Oct. 12: Paranormal Haven

    Oct. 14: Dark Faerie Tales

    Oct. 18: All Things Urban Fantasy

    Nov. 2: Night Owl Reviews

    Nov. 9: Larissa’s Bookish Life

    Whew! That’s a lot of blogs, but I think the tour will be a lot of fun. And I’m always open to doing guest blogs — it just doesn’t have to be when I have a new book out. So if you want me to drop by your blog sometime, send me an e-mail.

    What about you guys? Do you like blog tours? Why or why not? Share in the comments.

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    Second printings …

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    I have some more cool news to announce — both Spider’s Bite and Web of Lies have gone into small second printings. Huzzah!

    So what does this mean? Well, basically that sales of both titles have been steady enough for my publisher to print more copies of the book beyond the initial print runs. In other words, there have been enough sales/interest that my publisher printed additional books in hopes of selling even more of them.

    Admittedly, my initial print runs weren’t very large — certainly nowhere near the hundreds of thousands or even millions of books that are printed for the big-name authors like Nora Roberts or J.K. Rowling. Still, this is the first time that any of my books have gone into second printings, which is really cool.

    I just want to say thanks to all the readers out there for making this possible. I write the books, but you guys buy them, and I appreciate everyone’s interest in the Elemental Assassin series and all the positive e-mails and comments that I’ve gotten from readers. I hope you guys enjoy Venom when it comes out on Sept. 28 even more than the first two books.

    For those of who you didn’t like the books, I appreciate you giving them a chance in the first place. I know my books aren’t for everyone, and that’s cool too. Different strokes for different folks, and all that.

    Anyway, I’m doing the happy dance. 😉

  • That sound you hear …

    6 Comments

    I have some cool news to announce — the first three Elemental Assassin books are going to be turned into digital audio books. Huzzah!

    The digital audio books are being done through Audible, which is part of Amazon. The way that I understand it, the audio books will be available for things like iPods and MP3 players. This is the first time that any of my books have been turned into audio books, and I think it will be really cool to hear Gin tell her story.

    And before you ask, no, I’m not narrating the books myself. Believe me when I tell you that I don’t have the voice for that — people would cringe if they had to listen to my Southern hillbilly drawl for hours on end. LOL.

    However, the folks at Audible and the book’s narrator have e-mailed me a few times about how I think the characters sound and for tips on pronunciation. I think it’s really cool that they’re asking for my input on things like that, and I appreciate being involved in the process.

    I’m not sure when the audio books will be available. The narrator started recording a few weeks ago, but this is a new area for me, and I have no idea how long it takes to go from the recording studio to a finished audio book.

    Anyway, I’ll let you know when I get more information. Right now, I’m doing the happy dance. 😉

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    Venom short stories and more online …

    8 Comments

    For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been doing a series of free short stories to go along with my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy books. I love playing in my own little sandbox, so to speak, and I thought the stories were something fun that I could do for readers — for free. 😉

    Anyway, here is the info on the two stories that I’ve posted to go along with Venom:

    Poi­son: This short story takes place when Gin is a teenager and is told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, Gin’s fos­ter brother. After a party one night, Finn finds himself in a sticky situation. Click here to read it.

    Wasted: This short story takes place in between the events of Web of Lies and Venom. One day, a beau­ti­ful woman walks into the bank where Finn works, and trou­ble soon fol­lows. Click here to read it.

    You guys wanted more Finn, and you’re getting him with these stories.

    Also, please note that Wasted takes place before Venom. Since I didn’t want to give away or spoil a particular plot point in Venom, I don’t exactly explain what someone needs Finn’s help with in the short story. But once you read Venom, you’ll understand what I was trying to get at. At least, I hope you do.

    Also, I’ve gone ahead and posted the first chapter for Tangled Threads. Yeah, I know it’s kind of early to post it, since Venom hasn’t even come out yet, but I had some free time, so I went ahead and posted it And for those of you who get Venom, the first chapter of Tangled Threads will be in the back of the book anyway.

    There are a few mild spoilers in the chapter for stuff that takes place in Venom, but really, I don’t think it’s anything that you guys couldn’t see coming. So read now if you want, or wait until after you’re read Venom. Click here to read it.

    Anyway, I hope you guys have as much fun reading these as I did writing them. Happy reading! 😉

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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! 😉