Monthly Archive for June, 2011

Updates! Reviews! Pimpage! LONDON!

Hello my lovelies!

Sorry I’ve been MIA. I had our June residency for our MFA, and that’s always a ton of work (albeit very fun work). Our MFA in Writing Popular Fiction is what they call a “low-residency” degree, meaning that most of the coursework is done long-distance, through on-line classes and through an individual relationship with a mentor. But twice a year, every January and every June, all of our students converge, en masse, to Seton Hill, where we have an intensive five day Residency, full of critique groups, workshops, and tons of other things.

I had a great time at this residency. As usual, I taught our “2s” (second term students) in a module on close reading. I led three critique groups, all of which had some absolutely fabulous stories. Finally, I taught a workshop on Trends in Mystery. Half of the workshop was on trends, the idea of trends, and specific trends in mystery. But it was the very last day of the residency when I led the workshop, and my goal was to leave everyone inspired. So the second half of the workshop was loads of group and individual work, scoping out the scene in mystery (or whatever other genre the attendee writes) and coming up with some ideas for other, future projects. I think it went well, and I know I was inspired at the end of it!

We also had great speakers visiting! The lovely Heather Osborn, editorial director of Samhain, and equally lovely Lucienne Diver, author and agent with the Knight Agency, came in to speak. They were fabulous: super enthusiastic, excited about the business, and really knowledgeable. I also got to spend some bonding time with both ladies, which was great as they’re awesome.

The day after Residency, I packed up and headed to Chicago. I solved my laundry issue (there was not time to do it during Res) by taping shut my hamper and sticking the whole thing in the car. So I basically turned up at my parents like a college freshmen, laundry in tow. It was like an episode of the Cosbys! I’d like to say I was playing the part of Denise, but realistically I’ve always been a Vanessa.

But in the meantime, much has been happening with my upcoming release, Eye of the Tempest! Publisher’s Weekly says that the fourth book “brings even more sass, snark, and supernatural action.” Meanwhile, Romantic Times gave the book 4 1/2 stars, saying that I “keep the action brisk and the emotions sharp.” Don’t cut yourself! ;-)

I’m betting there’ll be Eye spottings in the wild as soon as the middle of this month, but if you need something to read in the meantime, have no fear! First off, Sophie Littlefield’s Bad Day For Scandal came out a few weeks ago. I love this series, and can’t wait to dig into this book!

If you want something in the Urban Fantasy realm, have no fear. K.A. Stewart’s Shot in the Dark is coming July 5th. It looks great! I love these covers:

And speaking of cover love, my critique partner, Diana Rowland, has her ABSOLUTELY AWESOME book My Life as a White Trash Zombie also coming July 5th, although I just saw it yesterday on the shelves of Barnes and Noble:

This cover by Dan Dos Santos absolutely rocks my world, and the book is great. Even if you don’t like zombies I think you’ll like this one, as Diana’s taken the zombie to a whole ‘nother level of trashy-cool.

Kevin Hearne’s Hammered also has a July 5th release. I blurbed the first book of this series and can’t wait to catch up with the rest. These also have great covers, as I greatly enjoy Atticus and his mighty sword.

Releasing from my own publisher, my friend Philip Palmer’s Hell Ship comes out this month, and it looks awesome. I’ll be hanging with Philip in London, and will definitely be digging into this bad boy before I see him. It’s got a skull! And a pirate ship! And I heart it hard:

Last but certainly not least, my other fellow-Orbiter, Gail Carriger, is releasing Heartless today. Happy Book Birthday, Gail! Can’t wait to read it, as I’m a big fan of the series:

So there’s a roundup of some recent/new releases! As for me, I will also be released into the wilds of London tomorrow. I am stupidly excited to get back, as you can imagine. I’ll be there for a whole month, and it’ll be great to see all of my friends, and to finish my fifth book in the country where I wrote my first. It’s all circular, and shit. ;-) I can’t wait to see everyone, and to be back in a real city. I’m at a really good place in my life, and it’ll be nice to be in that great place while also being in an actual great place–London’s a fabulous city and it’ll be nice to give it real twirl rather than just being a regular, week-long tourist.

But don’t worry–I’m sure I’ll be blogging, Facebooking, and Tweeting from London, have no fear! In the meantime, feel free to read some good books. There’s a ton coming out over the summer!

 

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Published on June 30, 2011 in Eye of the Tempest, Pimpage! and Reviews. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Cooking With Nicole: Turkey Ragú

Hello my friends! I know I haven’t done one of these in a while, mostly because I haven’t been cooking. I live alone, and don’t really entertain much in Pennsylvania, so cooking hasn’t been top of my list.

That said, I’ll be in London on July first for a whole month and I have loads of friends there, and friends coming in from places, and friends, friends, friends. For whom I intend to cook, seducing them into visions of domestic bliss with me living amongst them. And then hopefully one of them will offer to transport me  to London and sponsor the louche lifestyle to which I’ve become accustomed. Think it will happen?

It might, actually, if I make what I’m about to show you. It’s a simple ragú, which is fancy for a meat-based pasta sauce. They’re thicker and chunkier than your normal tomato sauce, with more stuff than tomato, if that makes sense. I love ragús, but the problem with them is that they’re very heavy for summer. Granted, I’m going to London and not Hawaii, but still. No one wants to eat a winter meal on a summer day.

Then I saw this recipe over at the New York Times. I loved a number of things about it: I loved that it looked a bit lighter than most ragús, especially with the use of turkey meat instead of the beef, veal, and pork many recipes call for. But I also loved that except for being a tad bit lighter, it wasn’t too fucked with–the soffritto is the traditional onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, without any Neapolitan flourishes like dried fruit or nuts.

Anyway, it looked good, it looked like something my friends will eat, and it looked like something I can make a day ahead of someone’s arrival, so that he has a nice meal waiting for him while I get to enjoy his company rather than my kitchen’s. That’s my perfect kinda cookin’, right there. ;-)

The first thing I did, as the recipe calls for, was to render my pancetta. Unfortunately, I no longer live in a place where pancetta is readily available. But a nice, thick-cut, bacon will do nicely. Now, this recipe is on crack with its timings, especially the fat rendering. It’ll take longer than 2-3 minutes to properly render some bacon, and bacon is nothing if not properly rendered. ;-)

So plan for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how much fat is on your pancetta.  Here’s mine, fresh in the pan. Mmmmmm. Bacon.

While the bacon cooked, I chopped up all the vegetables. Remember to chop the soffritto finely–it’s supposed to be almost like a paste as it cooks down, not like a bunch of chicken-soup vegetables. I cut corners by grating the carrots, rather than chopping. I also threw in a bunch of mushrooms I had left over from the party I’d held a few days earlier. They were delicious, giving the ragú a nice earthy flavor and chunkier texture. Here’s my lovely veg all ready to go in the pot:

The next step is to take the bacon out and put it on a plate, but leave the fat in the pan. Pour in the olive oil, then add your vegetables. And here’s what you want them to cook down to. They should be soft, and just starting to get golden and stick to the pan. You don’t want to burn the hell out of anything, but you want some lovely caramelization happening so you can scrape up all that goodness when your wine goes in.

When the vegetables are done, take them out and add them to the same plate that you did your bacon. Then fry up your turkey, breaking it up so it’s in nice small chunks and cooked through. Then you just throw all the veg and bacon back in, and add your red wine. Let that cook on the bottom of the pan for a few seconds, then start scraping all that caramelized goodness up into the sauce with a wooden spoon (be sure to use wooden as many pots are damaged by metal spoons). This is called deglazing your pan, for those of you who give a toss. ;-) When  you’ve got all that lovely goodness off the bottom of the pan, then season everything and add the crushed tomatoes. It’ll look like this as it cooks down:

To serve, spoon some sauce over pasta and add a dollop of ricotta cheese.

This sauce is super easy, super fast, and tastes relatively light for the season. But it’s absolutely delicious, and you can really taste the vegetables, the garlic, and that lovely bacon.

Buon appetito!

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Published on June 20, 2011 in Cooking with Nicole! and Food!. 1 Comment Tags: .

On Covers and Authors . . . and a Wiener!

Hi folks!

How are y’all! I thought I’d take this blog post to clarify something that a lot of people have been asking me about. Basically, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about why I “chose” to change the covers of my book. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love that people are curious, I love that they care, and I don’t mind answering this question. I just thought I’d do it here, so everyone can see, in case you were wondering that same thing.

The thing is, unless you’re self-published, authors do not choose their covers. Instead, our publishing houses choose them for us.

I have been really lucky in that my publisher, Orbit Books, has been really nice about asking me my opinion. They’ve worked with me loads, trying to make sure I’m happy. And I absolutely love them for it. But the fact is, they don’t have to do any of that…they’re just a really good company.

Because the only thing authors control are the words inside the book. We don’t choose fonts, we don’t choose headers, we may not even have been able to choose our own titles. Depending on who you publish for and how big your name is, you have more or less control, but most contracts stipulate that an author’s position on these sorts of decisions is that we have the right to be “consulted.” Which means if we absolutely hate something and threaten to poison ourselves in order not to finish a book with that cover, they are free to take on board our opinion. Or not.

So I had nothing to do with the changes made to the covers of my books. Do I like them? Yes. Did I like the original covers? Yes. Do I understand the marketing strategy behind them making the changes, after it was explained to me? Yes.

And that’s what I think is hardest for people outside the business of publishing to understand, and I include myself in that camp. Publishers aren’t just creating the perfect art for a book–they’re creating a product they want to attract people’s attention and make them want to buy it. So choices that might seem arbitrary or weird to me, may actually be a great marketing strategy.

Will the new red panels and the big, bold branding of my name and titles sell millions of copies and rocket me to the top of the New York Times Besteller list? I certainly hope so, although it’s doubtful. But I’m really lucky to have a company that’s investing in me, and trying new things to try to make me as successful as I can be.

That doesn’t mean you have to like the changes, obviously. And if you love them feel free to attribute any and all genius solely to me. ;-) But seriously, I just wanted to let you know how things worked, so you got a better idea of the biz we’re all a part of, as readers and as writers.

So that’s my lecture for the day! Dr. Peeler will now take off her lecturing cap and put on her CONTEST LEIS!

I wish I did have contest leis. That would be awesome.

Who won a copy of any one of Juliet Blackwell’s FABULOUS BOOKS?

The contest can has spoken . . . and the wiener is . . .

LETHEA B!

Yay, Lethea! Pick out any of the books listed here, and email your choice and your address to ihearstselkies(at)gmail(dot)com. Let me know if you have any questions and congratulations!

To everyone else, thanks for playing and I’m sure I’ll have another contest soon. I should also probably start doing some stuff about the book that’s out in about a month, shouldn’t I? Maybe some readings? Hmmmm?

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Published on June 17, 2011 in Contests and Cover Love. 7 Comments Tags: , .

Finally! A Cover for Eye of the Tempest!

Oh, my friends, how I have waited for this day. A number of you have emailed me over the months as various versions of the cover for my fourth book, Eye of the Tempest, have found there way to the surface of the internet. I met most of these emails with silence, ‘m afraid, as I’m a terrible, terrible liar and I’m not supposed to reveal anything about covers until they’ve been officially released by my publishing company.  So I ignored these emails not because I didn’t appreciate people’s enthusiasm about the book, or excitement about seeing what they thought was a new cover, but because I can’t talk about this stuff until it’s official.

But now it’s official! Here’s the final version of my beautiful new cover for Eye of the Tempest:

As you can see, Orbit’s made some changes to the general layout, but the artist, Sharon Tancredi, is still rocking out, doing her thang! Wait till you see the back!

What do you think? I hope y’all like it as much as I do.

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Published on June 13, 2011 in Cover Love and Eye of the Tempest. 20 Comments Tags: , , .

Guest Post and Contest with JULIET BLACKWELL!

Hello my lovelies! Today we have a special treat–a guest blog by the lovely Juliet Blackwell! I’ve been so lucky to get to know Juliet, and I absolutely adore her books. Her latest, Hexes and Hemlines, came out this week. There’s information about that book in this post, and there’ll be information on how to enter a contest to win one of Juliet’s books after she’s done talking. ;-)

But first of all, let’s have Juliet’s very awesome bio. She’s done so much and she’s definitely one of my heroes.

Nationally bestselling author Juliet Blackwell writes the Witchcraft Mystery series (Secondhand Spirits, 2009; A Cast-off Coven, 2010; Hexes and Hemlines, June 2011; Obsidian). If Walls Could Talk launched the Haunted Home Renovation series in 2010; Dead Bolt, the second in the series, comes out in December. As one-half of the sister duo dubbed Hailey Lind, Blackwell wrote the Art Lover’s Mystery Series–including Agatha-nominated Feint of Art and the most recent, Arsenic and Old Paint (September; Perseverance Press). A former anthropologist and social worker, Juliet has worked in Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Italy, the Philippines, and France, and is now a painter in Oakland, California. She served two terms as president of NorCal Sisters in Crime.

Contact her through her website, www.julietblackwell.net, and join her on Twitter @JulietBlackwell and on Facebook!

 

Misunderstandings and Magic: Why Bring the Paranormal into the Mystery Genre

It’s such a pleasure to be asked to write for the blog of a good friend…and Nicole’s the best! Do we have conference tales to tell…;-) Thanks for having me, Nicole!

I’ve been asked many times: why muck up the mystery genre by adding the supernatural? Why bring witches and ghosts into a classic mystery story?

(Besides the obvious, of course, which is that paranormal themes are cool, and fun, and interesting. And you get to hang around extraordinary people like Nicole Peeler…)

But as a writer, the very best thing about bringing the world of the “paranormal” into the mystery genre is that it opens up a whole new world of mysterious possibilities in fiction.

It couldn’t have come at a better time: The advent of modern technology has killed off a huge chunk of old plot stand-bys.

Cell phones are a particular bane. Consider the free-floating angst that motivates so many storylines, all those misunderstandings that could have been cleared up with a simple phone call: In Casablanca, what if Ilsa had just been able to call Rick and explain why she didn’t meet him at the train station? Or in An Affair to Remember, if Deborah Kerr’s character texted Cary Grant from her handy Blackberry to tell him she’d been hit by a taxi?

In a mystery novel, let’s face it: anyone investigating a murder these days would probably make sure they had their cell phone with them, and that it was charged. How often can you manage to get your protagonist stuck somewhere without the possibility of calling for rescue, or back-up, or a simple clarification? There are only so many dead zones.

And don’t even get me started on the internet…what happens to all those wonderful scenes where characters used to need to track down reclusive experts or ancient libraries to dig up arcane information? Now so much of that info is available with a few clicks of a mouse…and unfortunately, to paraphrase author David Sedaris, “tapping at a keyboard is not an inherently dramatic activity.”

It’s boring. And boring has no place in genre fiction.

A little magic throws a fabulous monkey-wrench into the banality of modern life. The cell phone doesn’t work because…um, yeah, it throws off a witch’s vibrations, so she won’t use one. That’s the ticket! Besides that, maybe someone cast a spell to bend time, and there are a few ghosts and maybe a demon or two lurking, and they sure as heck don’t adhere to conventions of modern physics. And there’s only so much information available on Google when it comes to things like that.

Suddenly, a person finds herself with a plot.

Often in novels that feature so-called “amateur detectives”, one doubts motive: normal people don’t often get involved in murder investigations, and if they do, they work with the police, and/or wisely halt their snooping as soon as they’re threatened/ shot at/beat up. But bring magic into the mix…and suddenly there’s a crime that the all-too-normal-human police can’t figure out, and maybe a hex or two left on doorsteps, and what’s a witch to do but step in and take care of matters?

In my latest Witchcraft Mystery, Hexes and Hemlines, natural witch Lily Ivory steps into a murder investigation that has the police stumped: the leader of a local rationalist society is murdered amidst symbols of bad luck: a black cat, a broken mirror, on the thirteenth floor. As someone with special paranormal talents, Lily is in a unique position to help suss out whether the man’s death had anything to do with tempting the fates. And when the main suspect turns out to be someone Lily knows, and a friend is threatened by an evil practitioner, and an aging Satan worshipper enters the mix…a witch might be compelled to use magic to find the murderer before everyone’s luck runs out.

Lily may not have a cell phone, but she’s got a direct line to ancient powers. In fiction, as in life, that’s a lot more interesting.

How great is this post? As an urban fantasy writer, I’ve thought a lot about what bringing the supernatural into “our” world does for writers, but I’ve never thought of it from the “genred”-perspective of the mystery writer. It’s so true about how much technology has mucked up the author’s job, and I love Juliet not only for applying this to the paranormal-trend in today’s fiction, but also that she effortlessly quotes Sedaris’s “Nutcracker,” one of my all time favorite essays.

So Juliet rocks, her books rock, and I hope that this post not only made her fans smile but also made some new readers want to pick up her books. To facilitate this call to Juliet, I will hold a contest to win any one of Juliet’s books, including the new one, Hexes and Hemlines. The winner chooses!

To enter, please comment below with one thing you like about adding paranormal elements to fiction! I’ll choose a wiener at random next Friday, June 17th. I know you’ll love Juliet’s books as much as I do!

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Published on June 10, 2011 in Contests and Guest Blogs. 25 Comments Tags: , , .

Breaking Dawn AND Spines!

Okay, for those of you who follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I have an almost obsessive fascination with the upcoming movie versions of the fourth Twilight book, Breaking Dawn. I read the shit out of those books, and the fourth was amazing. It’s like everything that was a little weird in the other books got together, decided to smoke some crack, and then wrote their own scenes.

*** HERE BE YER WARNING: There are spoilers following if you’ve been living in some hut somewhere and don’t know what happens in these books, but still plan on reading them.

Keep in mind, first of all, that the entirety of Breaking Dawn was a fabulous hot mess of crazy. I’ve never read a nuttier sex scene that wasn’t actually written than I did here. The depiction of Bella and Edward’s fast-growing, scarily mature child freaked me right the fuck out. And I can’t even begin to assess my joy at the batshittery that was Jacob bonding to a toddler.

But there was one scene that totally blew me away. Here’s the trailer, and the scene I’m waiting for is hinted at right at the end…

 

Yes, it’s the birthing scene. For those of you who don’t know what happens, and don’t care that I’m gonna spoil this shit like maggots on a piece of tenderloin, the birthing scene is FUCKING CRAZY. Here’s a bullet pointed list of the crazy:

  • We get to HEAR an actual placenta displace! Really!
  • Bella pees herself.
  • Bella vomits a “fountain” (yes, really! A “fountain!”) of blood!
  • There’s no need for an epidural as the baby BREAKS BELLA’S SPINE!
  • Edward rips into his wife’s uterus like a hungry man confronted with a pot roast, delivering his own baby using his OWN MOTHERFUCKING TEETH.
  • After delivering his baby with his OWN MOTHERFUCKING TEETH, Edwards proceeds to stab his wife multiple time with a venom-filled syringe.
  • And this is when the whole Jacob-falling-in-love-with-the-baby-that-broke-mom’s-spine epic craziness begins.

Needless to say, I want it ALL. I want to see the piss darkening Bella’s jeans a moment after I hear that placenta rip away from her insides. I want that blood to FOUNTAIN like a goddamned geyser. I want to hear the crunch of the spine, and maybe get a little more pee as Bella loses all control over her lower body.

And for the ripping-the-baby-out-with-teeth part, I want it slow-mo, with much gnashing, and spitting of uterus chunks, and maybe some tears dripping from Edward’s eyes as he attacks Bella’s internal organs like a five-year-old with his first Pop Tart.

Then the stabbing should be done with gusto, as all venom-stabbings should, really. After which we cut to the grown man falling in love with the BABY which is totally okay, apparently, as they’re just going to be “friends” until the soon-to-be-stupidly-named-child is “ready for more.”

I’m tamping down the thrill, and the nausea, just imagining it all.

Seriously, I want that shit to be brutal because it’s what it deserves. Meyers didn’t fuck around when she wrote that scene: she apparently wanted it to be horrifying, and she achieved it. So don’t go pussyfooting around in the movie version, you movie makers!

Ideally, I want there to be YouTube videos going up all over the place with people’s reactions to seeing this birthing scene, just as there are for “Two Girls, One Cup.” Also, for the love of all that’s holy, if you don’t know what I mean when I say “Two Girls, One Cup,” DO NOT GOOGLE AND WATCH IT. YOU CAN’T EVER TAKE IT BACK AND YOU WILL FOREVER BE CHANGED, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.

I still can’t eat chocolate ice cream.

Anyway, seriously, I want the film version of Breaking Dawn to do justice to the original, in its blood-fountaining, peeing, uterus-chewing glory.

Do me proud, Hollywood. Do. Me. Proud.

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Published on June 6, 2011 in Reviews. 28 Comments

Pimpage, Updates, and A Linkie-Loo…

Hello my friends. Today’s a beautiful day in Greensburg: the sun is shining, the breeze is cool and fresh, and it’s not 90-fucking-degrees. Seriously, I thought I was going to die last week. But today I’m wearing long sleeves! That makes me very happy, not least as I managed to burn one (but just the one!) arm yesterday. I’m considering cutting off my other sleeve when I go run, to burn that arm and balance myself out, but I think that’s ill-reasoned on a number of levels.

What’s also probably ill-reasoned is the fact I’m going to shoot for a 45-minute run today. I’ve been doing 30, but the next step up is the rather improbable jump of 15 minutes. Think I can do it? I don’t, so if you see me tweeting from a hospital bed later, don’t be too shocked. Okay, I probably will just stop running before I actually collapse, but that doesn’t mean I won’t bitch and moan the rest of the day about being stupidly sore and worn out. Now there’s something to look forward to!

Before I go off for the jogging torture, I have some pimpage for you! First of all, my very lovely friend, the incomparable Jeanne C. Stein, has work out in two new anthologies. These anthos look awesome, and I want both! The first release is a novella, in which we meet a new love interest for Anna Strong. Hot!

Jeanne’s other new release is another Anna story in the very awesome looking antho, Chicks Kick Butt, which also features stories by Rachel Caine, L.A. Banks, and Lilith Saintcrow:

Both of these books look great, and I haz a hankering. ;-)

Also hanging out in the Southwest, Kevin Hearne’s second novel, Hexed, is already being spotted in the wild. I blurbed Hounded, and really enjoyed it, and I have no doubt this one is even better:

On the northern shores, meanwhile, Kat Richardson has hatched a very cool scheme involving official minions. She’s looking for twenty people to be her official 2011 minions, and you get a host of cool prizes and stuff. Who doesn’t love prizes, or Kat, or being Kat’s minion??

As far as my own work is concerned, Book Five, Tempest’s Fury, is going swimmingly, all of a sudden. I’m just short of 100 pages, and I have no idea how that happened. I’m getting into my zone, basically, which means I’m at that stage where I’m not entirely sure where I left my car keys, as I’m eating, breathing, and living Jane.

I did take a brief moment, however, to think through my thoughts on V. S. Naipaul’s comments regarding women writers, over at Pens Fatales.

So that’s my life in a nutshell. I’m unfocused, slightly barmy, and unable to concentrate on much besides my own imaginary worlds. In other words, fairly normal, for me. ;-)

How about you guys? How is your life treating you? And have you read or watched anything really good, with which I can distract myself?

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Published on June 3, 2011 in Over at Pens . . ., Pimpage! and Tempest's Fury. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .