Urban Fantasy Releases for May and Other Fun Stuff

Happy Monday! I sent out the May issue of my urban fantasy newsletter last week. For those of you who don't get it directly by email, here's a link. And here are some of the ones I think look extra cool:

You guys know I love True Blood, so this choice is obvious. I do need to catch up on a bunch of books in this series, though... this one is book 12. It seems Sookie and Bill are trying to solve a murder pinned on Eric.

I just love the title of this one. The little catch phrase on the front says: A novel of the good, the bad, and the enigmatic. Sounds fun to me!

This is the sequel to the hugely popular book, Divergent. Which I haven't read yet. And is very high on my TBR list. And the trailer for this rocked (click the link for my newsletter if you want to watch).

I am behind on this series, too. But I loved the first three.

This is about a girl obsessed with getting struck by lightning. Super cool premise.

I absolutely ADORE the cover art for this series. And the books are pretty good, too :) Well, I only read the first one, but it was good. Back to the covers - whoever designed these, can you please design the covers for my books when they come out? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Not that I have any control over that, but a girl can dream...

In other news: I got my first rejection for Martinis with the Devil last week. It's funny how much I've changed since I start querying Countless a couple years ago. I got that first rejection, and I cried (a LOT) and ate massive quantities of junk food. But now, with a lot more experience under my belt, the first one this time around barely phased me. So, that's cool in my book (pun not intended).

I also continue to procrastinate on starting my new middle grade fantasy. I think I'm afraid I won't get the voice right. I can tell I'm going to have to experiment with it a little. I am planning on locking myself away and starting on it tonight. I'll tweet everybody later if I succeed.

So, what new releases are you excited about? Who else is querying out there? And what about my fellow procrastinators?

Have You Come Out Of The Closet?

I'm sure most of you have noticed that when you tell people you're a writer, you often get lukewarm responses. When I was writing novels in my teens, people would say, "Well that's nice, and what are you going to do when you grow up?" And as an adult I often get strange or even incredulous looks since my full-time job is as a department head at a non-profit corporation. Especially when people ask me what I write and I have to explain what urban fantasy is...

So, when I got back into writing in 2009, I kept it quiet at first. It was a fragile hope, and just easier not to talk about. But writing has gotten to be such a big part of my life that I can't keep quiet about it anymore. And so, my horrible secret has leaked out - I'm one of those dreamer-artsy people. I'm incredibly lucky in that my family and friends, and even the few coworkers that know about my secret life, have been very supportive. Then the only problem I have is that everyone wants to read my books.

See, the book I'm querying now is not exactly something I'd want my grandmother, aunt, or super sweet father-in-law with the Jesus decal on his car to read. It's laden with foul language, some pretty sultry scenes, and my own personal take on angels, demons and the Devil. And thinking about that makes me realize that once my baby is published, anybody can read it! Okay, so I can hear you muttering, "Well duh, Captain Obvious." I guess what I mean is that once I'm published, the secret is fully out of the closet. Then I guess I just need to advise some of my family that they may want to wait until my middle grade fantasy comes out :)

Are you kind of one foot in the closet, one foot out, like me? How far in or out of the closet are you?

P.S. No query news yet. Still sane (yay for me).

The Weather in Queryland and Other Adventures

I'm back from semi-hiatus! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've been finishing up the line edits and final polish of Noir a/k/a Martinis with the Devil, and was going to start querying. Well, I did and I have! I usually send in small batches, so I've sent 6 out, and will see what kind of feedback I get before proceeding to Round 2. So, clear skies thus far in Queryland, though I have no doubt there'll be some rain clouds along the way. It's just the nature of the agent-finding beast.

So, now that Noir is out the door, I'm going to be starting the first draft of my middle grade fantasy soon. I always love first drafts, so I'm excited. And since I finished one big portion of my goals for the year with Noir, I checked the little timeline I'd written at the beginning of the year, and I'm only about a month behind on them. Not so bad, huh? I can catch up.

In other random news, I finished the Hunger Games trilogy. I read the first one over a year ago, and then never moved on to the second until the movie came out. I thought the second was good, but - don't kill me - I really did not like Mockingjay, the last book. Not that the writing is less great, but it was just such a depressing and sudden ending to me. You guys who have read it will know what I mean. And the conclusion to the whole Peeta vs. Gale thing? Lame. Anyone else felt like that about this series, or another?

So, what all have you been up to, writer friends?

Urban Fantasy New Releases for April

Hi, blog friends! My April urban fantasy newsletter went out yesterday, and I've listed some of my top picks below. I love fresh content for my newsletter, so if you are an urban fantasy writer or know an urban fantasy writer who'd like to be featured in some way in an issue, please let me know! Here's a link to this month's issue, with way more new releases, a book review, an author profile and a really well-done book trailer. I hope you enjoy!

I met Holly Black at World Fantasy Convention, and she was super cool. The book sounds cool, too:

Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love. 

I like the choice of New Orleans for an urban fantasy... and there's a vampire pirate. Groovy.

As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond.

Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters. While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover.

To make it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and for the serial killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter gumbo.

This sounds creepy and fun:

Miriam Black knows when you will die. She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.

But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.

No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.

So, I'm still working on line edits, on target to begin querying in 10 days. Otherwise, nothing new. How about you guys?

Rome! Florence! Venice!

I'm back! I know I said I might not post again until after I sent out my first round of queries, but I miss you guys. So, here's a visual tour of my Italy trip.

ROME

The Colosseum

Inside Saint Peter's basilica - the most extravagant building I've ever seen.

The Trevi Fountain. Pictures just don't do it justice. So cool.

A fat, friendly and sneaky pigeon who gobbled some weird Italian Dorito type things I tossed him while sipping Prosecco.

Me atop the Castel Sant'Angelo. After Prosecco.

FLORENCE

The Duomo. Didn't go to the top. Deathly afraid of heights.

Just a random cool clock. I have a thing for vintage clocks.

The River Arno at sunset.

On our vineyard tour. The vineyards all keep one bottle of each variety from each year (or something like that). A lot of bottles at this place.

During the wine tasting. Yummy Chianti and the remainders of some Tuscan bread and olive oil.

The Tuscan hills.

Cute rustic signs during our vineyard hike.

Another cool countryside view.

And we totally had an Irish pub by our hotel in Florence. Huzzah.

My future home.

VENICE

One of many cute bridges.

The Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge.

Some boats near the produce market. Got some yum strawberries and grapes.

A cool door. Right up on the water. Isn't that so weird? Just boat up and step into your house.

A seagull. I kept cursing them for not standing still, and this one finally did.

So, what happened while I was gone? How's life? And writing?

Don't Be Afraid: A Big, Random and Somewhat Lengthy Post

So, my computer has not been my friend lately. It came down with another virus, this time requiring my hubs to completely wipe the whole hard drive and reinstall everything. So, yeah. Add that to my already inconsistent blog posting, and that to the fact that I'm headed to Italy on Sunday, and you get one BIG post to catch up and tide you over until my return.

First, random news:

• I got an email last week from an agent I queried last summer, who had already rejected me (very nicely I must say), rejecting me a second time though I had not resubmitted. I had to get a little cosmic giggle out of this, because I am about to start querying my latest book, and it was like the universe saying, "Gear up, girl, it's time for some torture".
• I officially bombed out for the second half of the Campaign thing. Partially my computer's fault, partially me being lame. Sorry, guys.
• I've officially named by current book. I was calling it Noir, as a nickname, but since this had been used before, the new name is (drumroll, please): Martinis with the Devil.
• I entered Janet Reid's pay-it-forward agent contest. Universe, now is the time to repay me for that double-rejection thing and the computer virus thing.
• I will be in Italy from Sunday to Sunday. Yes, I will post pics when I get back!
• After that, I am doing a "final" read through of my book and beginning to query. I've done all the major structural edits and all the boring nitpicky edits, and now it just needs some polish. Then, Query Land! So, (and hold me to this) I will be querying by April 15th. Tax day.
• So, I may not post again until after the first round of queries is out. We'll see how it goes.

Okay, now for some fun! The lovely T.F. Walsh has tagged me in the Lucky 7 Meme! It is super fun (make sure you check out hers). Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

And here's my snippet from Martinis with the Devil. Unfortunately it hit right at a scene break.

It wasn’t Alexander.

It was a woman wearing a mask over her eyes, ninja style. At that moment, that split second when the shock of realization hit me, something smashed into the back of my head and everything went black.

* * *

Something acrid was being waved beneath my nose. I jumped up and moved across the room in an eye-blurring motion.

“Settle down, Zyan, it’s just me.” Eli was sitting on the floor of the safe room. The HR sat next to him.

“Oh, thank God,” I breathed. The HR was okay.

“Yes, I’m sure He had something to do with it,” the HR said, a gentle smile on his lips. Such a peaceful expression, despite coming within a hair of being murdered.

“How long was I out? Where’s the assassin?” I asked in a rush.


Hope you enjoyed it! I am tagging:

Abby Minard
An Alleged Author
Colene Murphy
Matt MacNish
Deana Barnhart
Jai Joshi
Rachna

Have fun, writer friends! Have grand adventures while I'm on my maybe-hiatus. Talk to you soon!

Urban Fantasy Picks for March

So, I've been trying and not succeeding to get better about posting my newsletter stuff here on my blog... it's a work in progress :) Anyways, click here for this month's issue. Also, I'd love to get more interviews/reviews/fun stuff going on with the newsletter, so if you are an urban fantasy writer and/or reader and have an idea or want to be featured, I'd love to hear from you.

These are the books I'm stoked about this month:

Newly-bitten tattoo artist Riley Poe feels herself changing in unimaginable ways. Eli Dupre, her vampire lover, has seen the change in her and fears for her humanity. His rival, Victorian, tells her she must see the patriarch of the vampire cult that attacked her to save her soul. In the vampire cult's fortress in Romania, Riley will face her worst fears-and the dark powers threatening to destroy her. And she'll have to do the one thing she's been determined not to do-put her trust in Eli.

I love the tattoo artist thing here. Fun! But this author should know I already have claim to the names Riley and Eli :)

Rayne would do anything to save her twin sister, Sunny, from the Vampire Consortium dictator who wants her dead. Instead, she's been commissioned by Slayer Inc. to find Sunny and Magnus and deliver them to the Consortium...which Rayne knows means certain death. She also knows that if she and her boyfriend, Jareth, disobey orders, they are signing not only their own death warrants, but also those of every vampire in the Blood Coven.

As a rival slayer with a personal vendetta moves in, Rayne and Jareth must do something to stop her. So they embark on their most dangerous journey yet, deep beneath the streets of New York City and through the Gates of the Underworld. But when a greedy god demands the ultimate sacrifice, will Rayne be forced to choose between her sister...and the vampire she loves?

Gorgeous cover, right? Gates of the Underworld... rad.

 

Okay, so honestly? I just picked this one because Damon's yummy. Not even putting the description in. Haven't read these books. Addicted to the TV show. Enough said.

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

This just sounds super fun. Plus, the MC and I share a nickname.
 

When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity: Chess’s boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the sparks between him and Chess.

Plus there’s the little matter of Chess’s real job as a ghost hunter for the Church of Real Truth, investigating reports of a haunting at a school in the heart of Downside. Someone seems to be taking a crash course in summoning the dead—and if Chess doesn’t watch her back, she may soon be joining their ranks.

As Chess is drawn into a shadowy world of twisted secrets and dark violence, it soon becomes clear that she’s not going to emerge from its depths without making the ultimate sacrifice.

Sounds like a neat plot. And I swear, I just realized this one has a Lex in it, too. Not doing this on purpose :)

So, what are you dying to read this month?