Archive for the 'Signings' Category

RomCon Rumbled…

Hi folks! I’m back from RomCon in Denver. I went last year, and although the con was significantly smaller than it was, it was still fun. Not least because we were hosted by the fierce creatures otherwise known of as Mario Acevedo and Jeanne C. Stein. Here they are, looking like they might shiv me:

Just as fun as seeing old friends is meeting new friends, and I shared a room with an author I’ve “known” through email, etc., for a long time, but had never actually met. Her name is Kimberly Frost, and we’re both with McIntosh and Otis, although with different agents. Kimberly was a great roommate and an awesome human being. She’s an ER doctor for her day job, and she regaled us with harrowing stories, assuring us that we’d “love how lungs felt, they’re like souffles!” So basically we were all obsessed, and made her tell us everything while we made ick faces. Well, while I made ick faces. Then Kimberly would say, “Oh, I’m grossing Nicole out, I’ll stop,” and I’d shake my head furiously and say, “No! I want more! Keep talking!” It was awesome. And a bit icky. Let’s just say I never knew there were so many ways to “crack a chest.” *shudders*

The first night we were in Denver, we did an event for the Public Library, called Mucho Mojo. It was super fun, and we got to hang out with Mario’s awesome friend Jennifer Mosquera, an incredible artist who runs one of the coolest galleries I’ve ever been in, The Art Salon in Denver. She wants it to be a real Salon, so there are tons of really interactive, awesome events, and also classes. If you live in Denver or the surrounding area you MUST check it out! Check out her website and the Salon’s for upcoming events.

The next day was full RomCon action! There were some peeps from last year, whom I was happy to see again, such as the lovely Monica Kaye:

There were swag bags full of mysterious, vaguely alarming items, such as this one. It’s called, quite ominously, “The Buzz Brush.” What do you think it’s for?

Finally, there was both cardboard and in-the-flesh man meat, as any good Romance Con must have. here’s me with the cardboard version:

We tried to get Mario to play with the fleshly version of the one on the right. He was there wearing leather pants and had a plethora of props, such as a dagger and a whip, to help him take pictures with the ladies. The model was also on hand to take pictures….

HAHAHAHA. See what I did there? I made it seem like Mario was walking around in leather pants with a whip hoping to get pictures with ladies.

Which he was.

No, seriously, Mario was his using charming self, and he even entertained us with this adorable fork dance:

I cackle like a hyena, which is my superpower. It can be ear shattering, depending on how much whisky has been consumed.

The final day we were in Denver, we did a signing at the Broadway Book Mall, my favorite coop bookstore ever. It was really cool, but when I did the same signing last year, I just had the one book out and I think everyone who came out was really there for the store and had no idea who I was. This year, there were tons of people there and all of them were there to see me or one of the other authors, so it felt like we had real fans. It was awesome! I saw the difference a year makes in publishing, in terms of building a readership, etc. There was even one of our SHU students there, Lesley, who blogged about her insights into author signings.

All in all it was an absolutely fabulous time, and I even managed to get a lot of school work done. I also signed up for an intensive Spanish class on Saturdays this semester, to brush up on my Espagnol. I used to chatter away quite rapidly, but now I sound like a three-year-old who may or may not have been drinking. So I’m very excited about that!

Tomorrow, meanwhile, will find me flying out to AAD in Philly. If you’re in the area but aren’t doing the con, there’s a FREE public booksigning Saturday, August 13th, from 2-5 in the Ormandy ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel, Center City Philadelphia. Come see me, Carolyn Crane, Dakota Cassidy, Anton Strout, Allison Pang, and tons more!

So hope to see you in Philly! Ciao for now!

Published on August 9, 2011 in Appearances, Conventions, My Travels, Nicole Peeler and Signings. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Denver May Never Be The Same

Hello mah sweets,

I’m writing to you from the comfort of my flat in London, where I’m curled up on my couch, watching the rain and very much enjoying a quiet night in. I had a fabulous week last week–a friend was visiting, and we did loads of stuff, including a trip to Brighton to visit my awesome US cover artist, Sharon Tancredi. My dear friend, Jana, was also in town and we got to see her. And we had a great night out with one of my favorite Orbit pals, Philip Palmer, and a group he put together, including Mike Carey and other SF/F and comic writers. All together, it was a fabulous night and an equally fabulous very long weekend!

But today was back to the grindstone! Luckily, my visitor came just when I got officially stuck in my manuscript. I’m in the final few chapters, and I have vague notes in my outline, such as “Big Battle Scene,” which are outrageously unhelpful. But I had a nice distraction for five whole days, and when I sat down to write today everything made so much more sense. So another chapter is written and the final chapters are much more thoroughly outlined.

This week, then, will be mucho writing-o, but it’s not all sweat and tears. Last night I saw my friend from high school, Erik Tomlin, who is hilarious. Today I had a lovely long lunch with my editor here in the UK, Anna Gregson, and tomorrow I’m getting together with a bunch of writers, including Karen Mahoney, Stacia Kane, and Suzanne McLeod. Stacia’s spending the night so I’m sure there will be shenanigans involving vodka, fire, maybe one of Stacia’s switchblades, and definitely a certain self-pubbed erotic hot mess that makes us pee ourselves laughing. Ohhh yeah, I’m looking at you, PE!

Thursday I’m having a dinner and movies date with Dr. Ruth, then bright and early the next day I head up north to meet my friend for a final bout of research for the book. And by “research” I mean wandering around, eating pub food, and being generally debauched. In all seriousness, however, I will also be scouting out sites for the final two locales of book five. I’ll not tell you where they are, however, to keep you guessing, but mayhaps I’ll post a pic or two on twitter to give you evil, vaguely spoilery hints.

So that’s my life, here. It’s going stupidly fast, and I’m already dreading leaving. I love it here, I have so many friends, and London’s just a great place to be. But the good news is that when I DO return to the States, it’s to two very fun conventions, the first of which is in Denver.

Now, Denver is also host to the beauteous and wonderful Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein, and Mario was his typically generous self in organizing us a bunch of non-convention shindigs, to make the visit to Colorado even more fun. He’s organized a Mucho Mojo tour for us, and here’s the flier he made. I’m stupidly excited to be a part of all of this:

The first event is Thursday, August 4th, from 7-9 pm at Madwine Bar and Novo Coffee. I’m apparently contributing talismans and bringing my mojo, but considering how jetlagged I’m gonna be you might all have to buy me some drinks to get me going. Like nine. Nine drinks should do it. ;-)

The next event is another signing with a load of other local authors and authors in for RomCon, and that’s Sunday, August 7, 4 pm at Broadway Book Mall.

So print off the flier and come see us!

Published on July 19, 2011 in Appearances, My Travels and Signings. 0 Comments Tags: , .

A London Signing! Huzzah!

Hello folks! It’s with huge excitement that I announce I’ll be taking part in Orbit UK’s London Summer Signing!

It’s at Forbidden Planet, London on Saturday 30th July, 3-4pm, and I’ll be with Tim Lebbon, Philip Palmer, and Simon Morden.

More details are on the Forbidden Planet events page, here, and on my own appearances page, here.

                   

                  

I’m so happy I get to do this, and I hope to see some of my UK fans there. Forbidden Planet is the ultimate Nerd Mecca, so I’m having a bit of a nerdgasm that I get to sign there. It’s truly an honor, and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone involved.

This week will be Officially Crazy, with some guests and fun and maybe a naughty field trip at a very swank hotel. Or, it’s what I like to call VACATION, bitches. ;-) I wish y’all could join me.

 

Published on July 11, 2011 in Appearances, My Travels and Signings. 4 Comments Tags: .

More Pimpage! Updates! And a London Signing!

Hello darlings,

Things have been glorious here in the UK. I’ve spent loads of time with friends since I got in, and it’s been so nice! Last week found me doing lots of catching up with people, and it’s been lovely to have a chance to do so. Tonight I’m going to my friend Linda’s in Notting Hill, where we’ll hang out till our friend Judith arrives from Belgium. Tomorrow we’re throwing our friend Kristin a baby shower, which is not at all a British thing, so everyone’s quite excited.

I’ve finally gotten some work done on my rough draft, and I’m super inspired for Other Projects from being back here. Jane’s series is wrapping up with book six, but I’ve got loads of other things on various burners, simmering away. Meanwhile, in very exciting news, Orbit UK has relaunched my series with an entirely new look. These covers are totally different from Sharon’s, and I love both looks. Both are so quirky, which I think is great for the series. Here’s the UK cover for Tempest Rising:

And Tracking the Tempest:

And Tempest’s Legacy:

And, finally, Eye of the Tempest:

Release dates for these are as follows:

Tempest Rising and Tracking: Both out August 4, 2011

Tempest’s Legacy: September 1, 2011

Eye of the Tempest: October 7, 2011

Tempest’s Fury: July 5, 2012

So for those of you who have been so patiently waiting for book 3, it will be out soon, with book four shortly thereafter!

In other exciting news, I will be doing a London appearance. It’s gonna be a big event that should be loads of fun, and will include other authors. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve got official word of everything that’s going on, so watch this space!

In terms of pimpage, there were a few releases I FORGOT to pimp with the last batch. I am horrified at such a slip up, and my pimp hand burns with shame.

First of all, the ever lovely Dakota Cassidy has just released Burning Down the Spouse, which looks adorable:

Dakota’s offering these very cool trading cars, featuring her adorable mug:

For details on how to get the trading card, email her at dakota(at)dakotacassidy(dot)com.

Finally, last but certainly not least of our awesome Month o’ League Releases, Michelle Rowen has released the smexily-covered Bloodlust:

So go forth and read! I am now off to zumba. Yes, I’m so addicted I’m doing zumba in London. YAY FOR ZUMBA.

Published on July 8, 2011 in Cover Love, Pimpage! and Signings. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

The Tour: Snarking LA-TEX

Hello mah beauties!

I’m writing to you from Shreveport, where I am recovering from our Snark-La-Tex tour with the gracious care of my good friend Mary Lois and her husband, Doug. They keep feeding me and carting me places, bless them.

The tour, itself, was fabulous. Here’s a rundown from me, but you can also get more narrative over at Jaye’s site. I arrived the day of our first signing, last Sunday, in Dallas. Jaye picked Mary Lois and me up at the aiport, as ML tagged along as our driver/bodyguard/handler. It was so much fun to have her, and she totally saved our asses in Baton Rouge, but more on that later.

We started out our roadtrip by Jaye taking us to a place called Fuzzy Tacos. I love good food with stupid names, so I was in heaven. We then cleaned up and went to our signing at the Borders in Allen, TX, right outside of Dallas. The store was gorgeous, and we had a great turnout. You may recognize Dakota Cassidy, Renee George, and Michele Bardsley sitting front and center, in all of their splendor.

The staff at Borders were awesome, as was the audience. I met loads of people I’ve been tweeting or Facebooking with for a while, which is always fun. There was also a great turn out of book bloggers and reviewers. So fun!

After the signing, we headed out with Jaye’s husband and son, Michele, Dakota, and Renee to another Mexican restaurant (I’m making up for the horrible Mexican around where I live). This one, however, is famous for margaritas so potent you’re only allowed two or you’re taking a taxi. The conversation was about as raunchy as you might imagine, and it was great to catch up with Dakota, Michele, and Renee, three of my favorite people.

The next morning found us, rather unsurprisingly, EATING AGAIN. This time we went to Cafe Brazil, which has the most amazing chorizo empanadas. After fattening up, we drove to Austin. I’d never been, and it was such a cool city. First we met up with an Austin librarian, David, and his wife, Marlena, both avid readers. They were unbelievably generous and took us to a gorgeous restaurant named Bess’s Bistro. It’s owned by Sandra Bullock, so we were certainly not the biggest celebrities they’d every seen, but we were still treated royally. The food was delicious and the aesthetic of the place really great, so I highly recommend it.

After dinner, we headed to one of the coolest indie bookstores evah, BookPeople. We were definitely small fry for a bookstore that hosts such celebrities as Simon Pegg, but you wouldn’t know it from the way we were treated: like gold. They were so nice and so very, very welcoming. There was even a marquee!

And tons of other pimpage, including very cool posters they’d whipped up:

The space in which they do their signings is lovely, and we felt very professional. Or at least as professional as Jaye and I can feel, which is not all that professional, really.

We did readings, and then some Q&A:

And thanks to Pam (SpazP on twitter) for the gorgeous photos. She’s not so shabby herself (hubba hubba!).

After our signing, Jaye and I bought a metric fuck-ton of mustaches. Why? You’ll see! We also found this AMAZING MASK:

We realized later we missed a golden opportunity to stage a cock fight, which MUST HAPPEN the next time we hit BookPeople. I’m sure they’re thrilled at that idea. ;-)

The day after our Austin signing, we headed to Houston and one of our all-time favorite indies, Murder by the Book. John from the bookstore was sweet (or perhaps crazy) enough to let us stay at his house, and he and his partner Matt were the perfect hosts. Their house is gorgeous and cozy, and they could not have been sweeter.

Mary Lois did nearly steal their cats, but that’s another story.

The signing, itself, was a hoot. As I said, we bought lots of mustaches in Austin, and we put them to good use in Houston . . . by making everyone in the store wear one. The view from the front was awesomely mustache-tastic:

But I’m fairly certain the view from the audience was equally (if not more) ridiculous:

Just putting them on was a challenge, as we were giggling so hard:

But the effect was awesome, and it was great that the Murder by the Book people also played along. Here’s John looking verreh handsome in his ‘tache:

And here’s ML, Jaye and I posing in all our hirsute glory:

Mary Lois, for one, looked rather nice in her hipster ‘tache. Meanwhile, the signing itself was great. The audience was SO good-natured about being asked to wear things on their face, and they were so funny and fun about it. I also met some people I’ve been tweeting with for awhile, although one girl stayed incognito by not reminding me of her Twitter handle! (glares at @lobsterbandita)

She was already wearing a mustache, would I really have embarrassed her further??

After dinner, we went out to the amazing restaurant, Mockingbird Bistro, where ML and I had gone the last time I had a signing at Murder by the Book. I loved it then, and loved it just as much this time. Besides Matt and John, my very talented mentee from SHU’s MFA, Elle Stone, came with us to dinner. Her awesome first book, a YA fantasy, is currently on submission to editors, so I’m keeping all my body parts crossed for her. Not that I think she’ll need it: the book is phenomenal.

We had a great deal of food, but also a few cocktails . . . which were very, very strong cocktails. I’d become rather obsessed with the tattoo of one of the ladies at the Borders in Allen, TX, which was of a mustache on her finger, so she could be in disguise whenever she felt like it. I’d seen them before, but something about this ‘tache just really resonated with me. And after a few cocktails, somehow there were all sorts of jokes about finger ‘taches, and poon (I have no idea how that happened), which morphed into the idea of “poonstache,” and then we decided our next tour would be called Poonstache 2012, and then it went downhill from there. We closed out the restaurant after nearly howling down its walls with laughter, and with my being firmly committed to getting my own mustache tattoo.

Which brings us to New Orleans.

Obviously, much debauchery happened in New Orleans, right? Including that tattoo, right? We did hit Decataur, and Coop’s, hard, having a few drinks and feeling our oats. Unfortunately, we made the wrong decision after that and ended up at my favorite NOLA eatery, Muriel’s. Now, don’t get me wrong, Muriel’s was as delicious as ever. But we ate ourselves into a COMA and it was all we could do to drag our sorry behinds back to our hotel and go to bed. At 11:00 pm. In New Orleans, city of sin. It was pathetic!

But dinner was delicious, and we were up nice and early to work out and then undo the workout by eating beignets. Then we spent a delicious afternoon in the quarter, buying chicken feet from voodoo shops and clothing from Trashy Diva. As one does.

Then we went to Baton Rouge. Or we tried to. The drive was easy, up until we hit the city that, historically, I’ve always breezed through driving to and from NOLA. But not this time! A combination of crazy construction and some flooding in other parts of the city meant that everyone, their mama, and their voodoo priestess were on the highway. Jaye did a great job blogging the gritty details, but suffice it to say that Mary Lois totally saved our butts by taking us a ninja back route and getting us to the store only one minute late.

But it was worth it! The Baton Rouge Books-A-Million was very fun, and its employees Randolph and Pepper were super. Randolph also told us about a great place to go for dinner, Red Zeppelin Pizza, which was delish. Handily, right across the street from the pizza join was a tattoo parlor! And what more does a mustache-themed book tour need than a mustache tattoo???

Atomic Tatto was a great studio, much to Jaye’s relief. I loved the guy who did  my tat: he was all squirrely, offbeat, and wry (also probably very high). And he did a beautiful job! Here’s the finished ‘tach:

I didn’t think the tattoo hurt, but then I’m a bit of a piercing champ. So those needles compared to tattoo needles is nothing. It’s healing up well and I still am endlessly amused by it, so I’m happy.

The next morning we headed out for our last stop, Shreveport. It was so nice to be back! We had a lovely crowd full of old friends and familiar faces from other signings. That said, I think both Jaye and me were just about running on fumes.

Not that we didn’t get a kick out of reading some raunchy self-help guides:

After the signing, we went to the Noble Savage, where Chef and Lee knew just what I needed:

The lovely dram on the right is Adelphi’s Breath of Islay (pronounced EYE-LA, btw), and the golden beauty on the left is a Laphroig (pronnounced LA-FROY) 18-year-old that Chef brought out specially for me. I love the Savage.

We ate meat pies, drank Scotch, and listened to Chef’s partner, Angela, regale us with hilarious stories. It was lovely seeing my friends from Shreveport, whom I’ve missed very much.

Tomorrow, however, I’m returning home to Pittsburgh. My friend, Wendell, is my knight in shining armor and driving me all the way to Dallas for my flight. Thanks, Wendell!

Once home, I plan on embarking on a strict regime of exercising and writing book five. I’ll let you know how that goes. ;-)

Finally, don’t forget there’s still time to enter my contest to win one of Kat Richardson’s Greywalker books. Details are here.

Talk to y’all when I get back! In the meantime, be good. Unless you want to be naughty. Then feel free.

Published on May 24, 2011 in Appearances, My Travels, Signings and SNARK-LA-TEX. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

Update and Guest Blog from KAT RICHARDSON!

Hello lovelies!

I’m updating you from a hotel room in Baton Rouge. Snark-La-Tex has been a BLAST. Seriously, it could not have gone better. We had fun turnouts in awesome bookstores, and we’ve had so much fun together. Everyone’s asked, “Have you killed each other yet?”, which couldn’t be further from the truth. We’ve had an awesome time, laughing our way through everything.

There has been a lot of eating, a lot of snarking, a ridiculous amount of swearing, and a tattoo. Whose? Where? You’ll just have to wait if you don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter. ;-)

I’ll blog the whole tour soon enough, when it’s over. Tonight we have our last signing in Shreveport, at the Barnes &  Noble on Youree, at 7pm. Be there or be square.

But now I’ve got a special treat for you, a guest post from Kat Richardson who has done a very cool walking audio tour for her books. Kat’s books are set in Seattle, so if you’re a visiting fan these tours have to be a must-do on your list!

Here’s Kat!

Playing Tourist in Harper Blaine’s Neighborhood

Nikki, being the fab human that she is, asked if I’d say something about the walking tour I put together recently for YodioTours.com. Well, OK, because I’m always one to toot my own horn if someone is fool enough to ask.

Which is kind of how the whole thing started—Clay Loges asked me if I’d like to make a tour based on my Greywalker books for his new service and since it was a chance to get some more exposure in a new way, I said “sure!” Clay had been referred to me by the staff at Seattle Mystery Bookshop who are the best book-pimps money can’t buy. I just love those guys.

So I walked around, took photos, wrote the script, edited the script with Clay’s help and then recorded the audio once we’d got all the photos and the script set to our satisfaction. It was fun to take a look around the neighborhood again since it had been a while since I’d spent much time in Pioneer Square. The books had started out there, but the later ones had often gone out on vacation to other parts of town or even other towns and I’d almost forgotten some of the things that had made me love the historic district to begin with. So I guess I’m back in love with my character’s old stomping grounds. It’s nice when a new project reminds you how much you loved the old ones.

If you want to take a look, the tour is up at YodioTours.com (http://www.yodiotours.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=164) and you can view it online or download it to your phone and follow along, when you visit Seattle.

Thanks to Nikki for letting my squat in her blog like this—she’s the best!

I AM the best, Kat. ;-) But seriously, thanks for posting and this walking tour is such a great idea. In fact, I’m so psyched about this idea that if you comment about which other series of books you’d think would make a great walking tour, and why, I’ll enter you into a contest to win the book of your choice from Kat’s Greywalker series. Sound good? So comment on this blog post, and if you win then you can pick any of Kat’s Greywalker books and I’ll have it Amazoned to you. ;-) If you’ve never tried this series, I think you’ll love it. I’ll draw the winner next Friday, May 27th.

So comment away and thanks for blogging, Kat! I’ll blog myself soon about the tour (the tats and the plans for Poonstache 2012). But if you miss me that much, you can finally see my debut post at Pens Fatales, on carpeing your diems. ;-)

See all you Shreveporters shortly!

Published on May 20, 2011 in Appearances, Contests, Guest Blogs, My Travels, Over at Pens . . . and Signings. 9 Comments Tags: , .

Pop the Champagne!

And feel free to call it “champag-nah!”

For I finished grading today! I also knocked out a massive chunk of my to-do list, including deciding what texts to use for my literature course (writing about literature) next semester. It’s a writing intensive course, so there’s not too much we can do, but here’s what I chose:

Don Delillo’s White Noise

Angela Cater The Bloody Chamber and Other  Stories

Henry James The Turn of the Screw

Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author

And an antho of poetry, plus the readings from the textbook.

So I’m very excited! White Noise is one of my all time favorite books, and it’s great to study with English majors, not least as it makes so much fun of academia. I also have a near obsessive love of The Turn of the Screw, but I’m sure there’s a pill for that on the market by now. I’m really excited to teach Carter, as I’ve not taught her before, but I think she’ll BLOW SOME MINDS. ;-) And who doesn’t love Pirandello? I mean, really?

And meanwhile, what finishing all of this means is that I get to be an AUTHOR again. The deadline for Tempest’s Fury is alarmingly close (like nibbling on the nape of my neck close), but I’ll be jumping back into Full Author Mode with a book tour. So by the time that’s done I should be totally recharged and ready to write! After a nap. For those of you who are like, “Book tour? What book tour?”, Jaye Wells and I are going to be all over Texas and Louisiana, swarming like ants on the ass of a dead armadillah. Here’s the roster if you’re interested:

Sunday, May 15th — DALLAS, TX

4:00 pm, Borders (965 West Bethany Dr., Allen, TX 75013)

Monday, May 16th –  AUSTIN, TX

7:00 pm, BookPeople (603 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, TX 78703)

Tuesday, May 17th — HOUSTON, TX

6:30 pm, Murder By The Book (2342 Bissonnet St., Houston TX, 77005)

Thursday, May, 19th — BATON ROUGE, LA

6:30 pm, Books-A-Million (2380 Towne Center Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA, 70806)

Friday, May 20th –  SHREVEPORT, LA

7:00 PM, Barnes & Noble (Bayou Walk, 6646 Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA, 71105)

Jaye and I will be doing all sorts of stupid shit with each other’s books, because we get bored doing regular readings. You can also meet the infamous Mary Lois, from Shreveport, who is serving as our Turtle.

You have to get through her, people.

So that’s what I’ll be doing Sunday! Friday and Saturday will be taken up with last minute crazy prep for the tour, plus graduation and the two solid days of activities that it entails.

But then I’ll be FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

Man I love being a teacher. :-D

In the meantime, let me know if there’s something you think would be really funny if Jaye & I do on the tour, or what you’d like to know about touring. I’m gonna try to take lots of pictures (read, make ML take lots of pictures), so that we can do some major Bloggage. ;-)

See y’all on the flipside!

Published on May 13, 2011 in Appearances, Day Job!, My Travels, Signings and SNARK-LA-TEX. 4 Comments Tags: .

Update and a WIENER!

Hello mah beauties!

I hope you’re well! I’m fighting off a bit of a cold I picked up at JFK. I swear, every time I fly through that airport I get sick. I can’t complain too much, though, as this is just a head cold. That last time I went to London through JFK, I picked up what I think might have been ebola, and spread it all around to friends in the UK and then back to my colleagues in PA when I returned. They claimed I was the Outbreak monkey, and they are, realistically, correct.

But DC was wonderful, and it was lovely to spend time with my parents. My dad sat at the hotel while my mom and I wandered around the city. And by “wandered,” I mean walked for miles and miles and miles. It’s a fabulous place though, and it was great spending quality time with Rella.

As for me, I’m working slowly but surely away at Tempest’s Fury, and finishing up all my grading for the end of the year. I’ve got one class done, and just three big things to grade before I’m finished! It’s still quite a bit of work, but totally doable.

And then on Sunday, I leave for Dallas, to join Jaye Wells for our SNARK-LA-TEX tour. If you’re in Louisiana or Texas, we might be near you next week!

We’ll have Mary Lois, our Turtle, with us, so hopefully she’ll take lots of pictures. You got a camera, ML?

Our goals for the tour are to have a) a buttload of fun and b) not get arrested. Although Jaye keeps reminding me that we also want to sell a lot of books, so that’s c) sell a lot of books (while having fun and not getting arrested).

I’m very excited to be back in the South, and especially to spend some time with my friends in Shreveport after the tour.

So that’s the next few weeks of my life! Typically busy, crazy, and fun…hurrah! I hope to see some of you on the tour, and for those of you who can’t make it, I’ll try to blog lots and remember, you can always email me at iheartselkies(at)gmail(dot)com for a signed bookplate.

But speaking of books, I know what you really want . . . to know who won a signed copy of Kevin Hearne’s Hounded!

The contest can has spoken!

And the wiener is Damaris T!

Congrats to Damaris. Email me at iheartselkies(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll forward your info to Kevin.

Thanks everyone for playing. You all had great entries, some of which I’m still giggling over.

See you soon, and come play if you’re in LA or TX! ;-)

Published on May 10, 2011 in Appearances, Contests, My Travels, Signings and SNARK-LA-TEX. 2 Comments

Book Tour News: Who’s Afraid of SNARK-LA-TEX??

In today’s big, exciting announcement, I’d like to warn anyone who lives in or near Texas or Louisiana: Jaye Wells and I are coming to gitcha!

It’s the SNARK-LA-TEX Book Tour! Come for the signing, stay for the snark!

Sunday, May 15th — DALLAS, TX

4:00 pm, Borders (965 West Bethany Dr., Allen, TX 75013)

Monday, May 16th –  AUSTIN, TX

7:00 pm, BookPeople (603 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, TX 78703)

Tuesday, May 17th — HOUSTON, TX

6:30 pm, Murder By The Book (2342 Bissonnet St., Houston TX, 77005)

Thursday, May, 19th — BATON ROUGE, LA

6:30 pm, Books-A-Million (2380 Towne Center Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA, 70806)

Friday, May 20th –  SHREVEPORT, LA

7:00 PM, Barnes & Noble (Bayou Walk, 6646 Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA, 71105)

We’ll be reading, answering questions, and probably saying something offensive. So strap on your snark and come play!

Published on March 31, 2011 in Appearances, My Travels and Signings. 8 Comments Tags: , .

Good News, Everybody!

Book Four, Eye of the Tempest, has a completed rough draft! Next weekend will be some major revising, then I send it to my beta readers and critique partner on November first.

Yay.

And on that note, I will be taking a Blogging Vacation for a few weeks. I’ll be back November 8th, with a vlogged reading from Tempest’s Legacy and, hopefully, some other exciting things to gab about. But right now, I have to get this MS ready to send out, and I have an absolute butt-load of grading to do, at the same time.

So don’t miss me too much, and know that I will come back refreshed, thrilled to see you, AND with some teasers for Legacy. And don’t forget, if you’re in the area, that I’ll be in Lancaster, PA, on Saturday, November 6th. Check my Upcoming Appearances page for more details.

Ciao for now! ;-)

Published on October 25, 2010 in Appearances, Coming Soon!, Day Job!, Eye of the Tempest and Signings. 12 Comments