Please help me welcome Laura Welling, whose debut Urban Fantasy released on the same day as Hunter by Night! Man there’s tons of cool stuff out this week. I can’t wait to check it out, and I hope you will too:
About Talent to Burn:
Passion burns. Betrayal scars.
In just a couple of days I leave for the Romantic Times con in Kansas City, and I couldn’t be more excited! Last year I had a blast. So many readers in one place, such great organization, and so author-friendly. I’m still in awe over the way shipping lost a box of books I was supposed to give away at a panel, and the RT volunteers went all over the place trying to help me get it back. Those folks kick ass.
Dearly Beloved,
Lee, the vampire king's human-hating first in command
So Anton and Tyra’s book, Prince of Power, is almost finished. It’s available for pre-order already and Amazon, B&N, and BaM, and the ARC is already up on Netgalley, I think. (correction: some of my street team members said they checked and no, it’s not on Netgalley yet, I was mistaken about that one. Sorry, folks. I’m sure it’ll be up in the next couple of months, I recall about a 3-4 month lead time on King of Darkness)
The last round of edits were longer and harder than I expected. In fact, I confess this whole book has kind of been a struggle for me. I think that’s natural. King of Darkness was not my first piece of fiction, but it was my first book. My first balls-out, full-length, multiple story arc, multiple POV full-length novel. I love that story, always will, and for my first effort I’m quite proud of it even though looking back I see a thing or two I wish I’d done differently. Prince of Power, was my first sequel. Turns out sequels are hard. You’re no longer writing a book in a bubble, there’s a waterfall
Alexia, the queen's human best friend
effect. You have to write the book so that it will make sense to anyone coming into the series late, but also so that anybody who read the previous story will feel that you did justice to the continuing story line. Tricky. I love Tyra and Anton’s characters and I pray I did it well. I certainly tried my bestest, and I hope you love them as much as I do.
And now, on to Lee and Alexia. I’ve been doing a lot of research for this one, which means more upfront legwork, the writing itself has been slow going. Lee’s character has been a little nebulous up until now, and I finally get to crack him open and see what makes him tick. I’m really excited about that. There are a lot of details yet to be finalized, but in the meantime I thought I’d share the inspirational photos I’ve been using for Lee and Alexia’s characters. Enjoy!
Okaaay, I am sort of burning the candle at both ends lately (I know – those of you who know me well are snickering: “Sort of?” “Lately?”). SO I guess I should say, worse than usual. Look, I’m a stress junkie, okay? I’m working to temper it, to make peace with it, but like an addiction, it may always be with me and it’s far more socially acceptable than passing out on my front lawn with a jug of Vanilla Mint Listerine nestled in the crook of my arm. But the gist is that I am feeling a little inside-out and upside-down today, hence this morning’s blog title. Sorry guys, I am not very lucid at the moment. Moving on… Beautiful Blue is finished!! I want to say how blown away I am by the response I got from this little experiment, so thanks to all of you who followed along. I wrote this story in a very different way than I usually work, and I was nervous that it would turn out to be a miserable failure, but I’m getting lots of great feedback from my Facebook and Twitter followers, and I have even been asked if I will repackage and sell it as a novella (maybe/probably) and if there will be a sequel/prequel (as soon as I have time to write one – those of you who are willing to provide free babysitting so that I may augment my writing hours, please leave a comment and references below). I was especially psyched one morning recently to stumble upon a blog by Mina Burrows (just for the record we are not related, and I didn’t bribe her in any way) who had written up a WONDERFUL review of Blue and also mentions King of Darkness, which I used to have an excerpt of posted on my main web site. I am finishing up work on King of Darkness this weekend!! Donations of caffeine are appreciated, btw. 😉 The manuscript has been shelved for the past few weeks in an effort to get a little perspective (meanwhile, working on the sequel, Prince of Power) but as I near my deadline I am shaking out the pages and knuckling down to work this baby over one more time. I have an AWESOME new critique buddy who has been wonderful and patient enough to slap me around and hold my feet to the fire, so that KofD can be at its best by the time I send it to my editor. Damon, by the way, is a terribly talented writer of gay romance and has a book coming out soon with Dreamspinner Press about love and the New York Fire Department (Hot in more ways than one! Come on, I had to say that…) and I encourage you to check him out. Happy Friday, folks!!