Organized Chaos

Release Day: Wrong Side of Dead

2012-01-31T10:24:00.002-05:00

Guess what's out today????

Monster hunter Evangeline Stone woke up on the wrong side of dead this morning—and now there’s hell to pay.

Barely recovered from her extended torture at the hands of mad scientist Walter Thackery, Evy can use a break. What she gets instead is a war, as the battered Triads that keep Dreg City safe find themselves under attack by half-Blood vampires who have somehow retained their reason, making them twice as lethal. Worse, the Halfies are joined by a breed of were-creature long believed extinct—back and more dangerous than ever. Meanwhile, Evy’s attempts at reconciliation with the man she loves take a hit after Wyatt is viciously assaulted—an attack traced to Thackery, who has not given up his quest to exterminate all vampires . . . even if he has to destroy Dreg City to do it. With Wyatt’s time running out, another threat emerges from the shadows and a staggering betrayal shatters the fragile alliance between the Triads, vampires, and shapeshifters, turning Evy’s world upside down forever.

It's available at all major retailers in both paperback and ebook format, so go forth and enjoy Evy & Co's latest adventure!

Four Chapters, AAD and Were-Critters

2012-01-27T11:52:00.003-05:00

With WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Dreg City #4) releasing in just four more days, there are a few related things going on around the 'net.

As part of their 50 Page Friday feature, Suvudu has the first four chapters available to read right now! Lots of Evy and Phineas, with a side order of Wyatt, Felix, Kismet--and some new faces--all dealing with a new set of problems handed down by an old nemesis....

Over at Julie's awesome Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks blog, I'm the featured AAD author this week. There is an interview with some WSOD dish, as well as a giveaway. The winner can choose any of the Dreg City books as a prize! Julie also posted a fabulous review of WRONG SIDE OF DEAD. It's the kind of review an author wants to have babies with (and the Wyatt quote she picked out is one of my favorites, too).

I'm over at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs talking about shapeshifters, and I'm asking readers about their favorite were-critters.

Giveaway Winners

2012-01-17T10:22:00.002-05:00

Thanks to everyone who entered in the giveaway for signed copies of WRONG SIDE OF DEAD. Looks like Wyatt was the overwhelming favorite, with Phin coming in a close second.

I used Random.org to select five winners.

*drum roll*

Jerrilynn Atherton, who said "Definitely Wyatt!!"

BWest, who said "I'm looking at seeing more about Wyatt."

@djlatty1, who said, "I want to see Phin come through and show Evy his wild side. ;)"

June, who said, "More about Phin."

poisnivyred, who said, "Well if I can't pick Evy, I must say Wyatt!"

Congrats to the winners! Please send your mailing address to me at mail(at)kellymeding(dot)com ASAP so I can get the prizes out. And happy reading!

Giveaway: Wrong Side of Dead

2012-01-14T17:32:00.005-05:00

***GIVEAWAY CLOSED***

A box of author copies of WRONG SIDE OF DEAD landed yesterday, so I'm giving some away. Because let's face it, I've read it and I don't need this many. The giveaway is open until late Monday, January 16th. I'll randomly select 5 (five) winners on Tuesday.

Yes, I said five winners. Five signed copies are up for grabs, so tell your friends.

How do you enter? Leave a comment on this post telling me which Dreg City character (except for Evy, who's kind of a gimme) you're most looking forward to reading more about in WRONG SIDE OF DEAD.

Ready? Go!

RIP: One Life to Live

2012-01-13T10:07:00.002-05:00

I've never been a dedicated soap watcher, but I've jumped into different shows from time to time, and I've posted on the subject a few times. I don't have a lot to say today, except that in the evolving landscape of daytime television, it's sad to see the soap opera format dying out. Anytime scripted drama is squeezed out in favor of talk shows, reality shows, or lifestyle shows, it makes me angry. And a little sad.

I wish the cast and crew of "One Life to Live" future successes, and I thank them for 43 years of dedicated television drama.

1968 -- 2012

Cover Art: Changeling

2012-01-06T11:41:00.004-05:00

The cover art for CHANGELING (MetaWars #2) has started popping up across the internet, so I figured it's time to post it here. I think it's gorgeous, and a terrific companion to TRANCE's cover.

The blurb hasn't been released yet, but the character depicted on the cover isn't Teresa. For those of you who've read TRANCE, you'll know who she is (the fire gives it away), and CHANGELING is told from her POV.

What do you think?

My Top 10 Reads for 2011

2012-01-03T11:26:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was invited to post my Top 5 reads from 2011 on the blog Nice Girls Don't Read Naughty Books. The post went live today, and you can see my picks, along with top reads from Nicole Peeler, Dakota Cassidy, Michelle Rowen, Laurie London, and several other authors.

I wanted to do a Top 10 reads of 2011 post, anyway. In 2011, I read 126 books. 43 were ebook, 83 were physical books. 8 were nonfiction. I read a bunch of different novel genres: literary, all kinds of romance, horror, urban fantasy, SF, mystery. And everything from adult to YA to middle grade. All in all, it was a very successful year of reading.

And here are my favorites:

#1 Soft Apocalypse, by Will McIntosh / Science Fiction / This is the only book I read this year that gave me actual nightmares. I thought about it for days after the final pages, because it's the kind of SF novel that really could happen--sooner, rather than later. Riveting and dramatic, it has one of the most brutal death scenes I've ever read.

#2 Sweet as Sin, by Inez Kelley / Contemporary Romance / A beautifully written love story about two damaged people who find each other. I loved the way the author used the book-within-a-book method to further illustrate the emotional battle waged by the hero, as he comes to terms with his past in order to find a happy future.

#3 Deadline, by Chris Crutcher / Contemporary YA / Even though the description of the book makes the ending a gimme, I still sobbed, because I loved the main character that much. A wonderful story about making the best of the time you have left.

#4 Precious and Fragile Things, by Megan Hart / Contemporary Fiction / I'm a huge fan of Hart's erotic contemporaries, and this book was a super departure for her. It was the first book I read in 2011, and it's still one of the best, with its nail-biting story line and a heartbreaking conclusion.

#5 Across the Universe, by Beth Revis / YA Science Fiction / Lovely writing, a fresh premise, and a tense mystery all wrapped up in a spaceship-shaped package, with a dash of teen love story. I loved everything about this book, and I can't wait for the sequel coming in 2012.

#6 Twisted, Laurie Halse Anderson / Contemporary YA / A book I couldn't put down once I started, it brilliantly shows how a single mistake can label you forever--especially in the unforgivable world of high school.

#7 Okay For Now, by Gary D Schmidt / Middle Grade / Set in the late sixties, this story of a boy, his dysfunctional family, and his discovered love of drawing is incredibly heart-wrenching and well-written. The backdrop of the Vietnam war just added to the many layers of this story.

#8 Bad Boyfriend, by KA Mitchell / m/m Contemporary Romance / The sequel to Bad Company, I fell head over heels for Eli and Quinn in this book. Both funny and heartbreaking, this showcases what I love most about Mitchell's books and realistically drawn characters.

#9 The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific, by J. Maarten Troost / Memoir / The author's sharp wit and sarcasm kept me glued to this story of two years spent on an equatorial atoll. From illness to insects to beer shortages, I was right there in Kiribati with him--and at the same time, extremely glad to be in the comfort of my own home.

#10 Double Blind, by Heidi Cullinan / m/m Contemporary Romance / A long, meaty love story between two very different protagonists. I loved the intimate look at Las Vegas casinos, and the intricate plot kept me on the edge of my seat.

What were some of your favorite reads this year?

Wrong Side of Dead: Snippet 2

2011-12-31T10:04:00.002-05:00

I want to end the old year with another snippet from WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (31 days!), and it's a challenge to find good snippets that aren't also chock full of spoilers. This book addresses a lot of questions that have been raised during the previous three books (including Walter Thackery, Clan politics, various personal relationships, and what's really up with the Fey), so finding something to post is a bit of a challenge.

I chose the following section because it amuses me. You get to meet a new-ish character, were-jaguar Marcus Dane. He was first introduced in my Suvudu.com short story PRIDE BEFORE FALL, along with his sister, Astrid. Both come back as major players in WRONG SIDE OF DEAD as the Triads and Therian Clans ally themselves.

In this scene, set a couple of days after the final events in ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, Evy and Milo are being given a tour of their new headquarters by Marcus, and they end up in the gym.

####

Milo clears his throat. "The gym's great. With everything that's been going on, I haven't had a good workout in ages."

"You don't consider Sunday to be a good workout?" I ask, caught between amusement and surprise.

He gives me a baleful look. "I was thinking more along the lines of improving mobility and fighting skills, and less battling for my life."

"Good point. The barbells don't usually fight back."

"That removes some of the fun, don't you think?" Marcus asks. One corner of his mouth quirks up, and I swear there's an amused glint in his eyes. "You spar?"

He isn't asking me, and it takes Milo a moment to realize it. "Boxing? No, not really."

I manage to keep surprise off my face. He knows how to fight as well as I do, but I don't contradict him. Not in front of a cat and two bears.

"Wrestling?" Marcus asks.

"Some."

Some? Learning basic holds, pins, and throws was part of Boot Camp training. We all took the course. I remember all the moves and can re-create them all in my mind, but even if I wasn't in such poor shape, I'd hesitate to try wrestling in this new body before it's properly trained. Especially not wrestling against a were-cat who outweighs me by a good fifty pounds.

"Great." Marcus strips out of his T-shirt without ceremony, showing off a ripped torso and tanned skin. I know my jaw dropped. "Let's go, then." He strides toward the far end of the room and the archway into the matted area. He pauses there and looks back, grinning right at Milo. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Uh, no?" Milo says.

I lift a shoulder in a half shrug, offering him no help. His own attempt at reverse psychology didn't get him out of it. He responds by sticking his tongue out at me, then following Marcus. I laugh. Sometimes I forget how young we both still are.

Okay, maybe Milo more than me. He's legitimately twenty years old. I was twenty-two when I died almost three months ago. The body I have now is twenty-seven—a five-year gap physically, but my emotional and mental ages are playing catch-up. Still, I manage to not flip Milo the bird as I trail behind the pair, curious about how this impromptu wrestling match will turn out.

Both men are in jeans, which aren't ideal for wrestling, but I bet that neither is going to strip down to his boxers. Or briefs. Or whatever. Milo follows Marcus's lead and takes off his own T-shirt. He's got a fairly average build, lean, with muscles hinted at beneath his tanned skin without being obvious or bulked up. An odd pattern of faint, pencil-thin scars checkerboard his back and shoulders—a peek into his past and a story I don't know.

Marcus notes them, I think, with a flare of his nostrils, then redirects his attention to the fight. Physically, Milo is no match for Marcus. Strategically…well, we're going to find out.

I lean against the wall to watch.

The first round goes as expected—the bigger, stronger Marcus has Milo on his back in less than ten seconds. They reengage. Marcus pins him again, but this time it takes longer. As Milo rolls up off the mat, he flashes me a confident grin.

We've also gained an audience. Shelby and Jackson stand by the wall opposite me, smirking. I bite my lower lip, confident the tables are about to turn.

Round three ratchets up my respect for Milo. Now that he's tested Marcus's strength and maneuvers, Milo adjusts his own movements to compensate. He skillfully rolls and ducks, easily avoiding the larger, slightly slower were-cat bearing down on him. Marcus lunges. Milo twists away. It's an amusing dance that's lasted over a minute already.

Marcus turns again, and I catch a glimpse of his face. His teeth are bared like any predator, but he's smiling. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was on the verge of laughter. Milo seems equally amused—enjoying the challenge.

"Come on, Marcus, pin the child," Shelby says.

Milo flips him off without breaking concentration, and I snort laughter. Shelby growls. Milo pulls to his right, and Marcus compensates—perhaps anticipating it as a feint. Only Milo doesn't feint. He keeps going around, twists, and ducks lower. His shoulder hits Marcus's lower abdomen full-force.

In a move as graceful as a ballet dancer's, Milo lifts Marcus up with his shoulder while anchoring him hands to ribs, and executes a perfect flip while falling backward. Both men land on their backs, Milo angled higher up so Marcus's shoulders hit the mat at the same time. It's a beautiful pin.

Milo rolls away, then comes up standing, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. I half expect him to crow a little over the victory, or at least smirk. He just watches Marcus with a comical wide-eyed innocence as the larger man stands up, making a show of dusting himself off.

Jackson and Shelby are silent.

Marcus crosses well-toned arms over his chest. "You must have made a fortune hustling pool," he says with a grin.

Milo laughs.

New Year's Resolutions: Make 'Em Right

2011-12-29T10:35:00.004-05:00

A wise man once said "I resolve to make no resolutions." Or if he didn't say that, he should have.

With New Year's Day fast approaching here in the States, all manner of things abound on the internet. "Best of 2011" lists are being posted all over the place, from books to movies to blog posts. People are doing their Year in Review posts, and they are looking forward to 2012.

This got me thinking about New Year's Resolutions. Year after year, we say we'll change something/do better at something/be a better person. And year after year, we fall back into the same old patterns. Why? Because change is hard. Real change requires commitment and determination.

Real change means that you have to do it for yourself, not because you flip the calendar to a new year and people say you should.

I'm thinking about this for two reasons. One, someone I follow on Twitter was talking about losing weight, keeping it off, and how it has to be a lifestyle change. Two, someone I've known for over three years told me he might be trying to quit smoking again (this will be the fifth time since I've known him). In order to succeed at those two things, the person must want to do it.

Yes, I know it's not as easy as simply saying "I want this." Life isn't like that. But having a positive mindset and being determined to reach your goal for yourself definitely gets that goal closer to you.

Another reason so many resolutions fail is that while people are good at the "what?" of a resolution, they aren't very good at the "How?" part. How are you going to achieve your goal? How are you going to lose ten pounds? How are you going to quit a ten-year smoking habit? How are you going to "be a better person?"

And don't forget to consider "how long?" Give yourself a proper amount of time to achieve this goal. Don't rush change, and don't expect more from yourself than you can reasonably achieve--setting unreasonable expectations is another way to set yourself up for failure.

So be smart about your resolutions this year. And if I don't post again before then, see y'all in 2012!

Merry Winter Holiday of Your Choice!

2011-12-23T10:48:00.002-05:00

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

And I'm leaving you with a small slice of my favorite Christmas movie, THE REF.

AAD Featured Author

2011-12-01T10:12:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it, but I'll be attending Authors After Dark 2012 in New Orleans next year. And yesterday, I was a Featured Author at Wicked Little Pixie's site. Come on over, read a short interview, and leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of TRANCE!

Teaser Tuesday: Wrong Side of Dead Snippet

2011-11-22T10:51:00.002-05:00

Someone on Twitter reminded me it was Teaser Tuesday, and since WRONG SIDE OF DEAD is out in just over two months, I thought I'd provide a brief snippet from that book. I redacted a tiny bit of info just to avoid big spoilers (although if you've read ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, you probably saw the first chapter of WSOD, so it isn't really that huge of a spoiler, but still...).

The snippet is from Chapter Four, and it features a familiar thorn in Evy's side. She and several others are on their way back from a crime scene that hits particularly close to home for Evy.

Enjoy!

#

On the trip back, I somehow got stuck in the rear bench seat of the SUV between the window and Paul Ryan. Phineas had shifted into osprey form—to save seating space, he said, but I was jealous of his clever way of avoiding conversation—and was perched in the small rear compartment with his pants and shoes.

I gazed out the window at the passing mountains, and then the outskirts of the city, trying to ignore Paul. We'd managed to mostly avoid each other these last few months, and for good reason. He'd been a one-week rookie in the Triads when I was first resurrected, and his twitchy trigger finger had gotten Wyatt killed. Granted, a gnome healing crystal had brought Wyatt back, but that wasn't the point. And he'd helped out at Parker's Palace and fought hard at the Boot Camp slaughter, but I still wanted to dislike Ryan on principle.

And he was still twitchy. He shifted on the crowded seat, hands tapping on his thighs, like someone in the middle of a sugar high. Or someone who wanted to say something and kept changing his mind. I resisted the urge to elbow him in the ribs. Hard.

Lucky for him, I dozed off for the last half of the trip. I jerked awake as we pulled into the parking area. As soon as the side door slid open, Phineas flew out and away. I was the last one out of the SUV. The cold cement floor sent a shock through my bare feet, reminding me that I needed to find shoes and a change of clothes.

"Stone?" Paul's voice stopped me short.

I turned and shot him an impatient look.

"I'm real sorry about your friends," he said. "Not just [X], but the [Z], too."

"Um, thanks." I didn't know what else to say. We were in no danger of becoming BFFs or anything, but the sentiment was a pleasant surprise.

He nodded, and then followed the rest of his squad out of the lot.

I cast around for Phin. He'd gone off on his own, probably to calm down before going back to work. I kind of liked the idea. I could use a little relaxation, too, so I didn't take my temper out on someone who didn't deserve it. The gym was a good place to do that.

TRANCE Spoiler Thread

2011-11-07T12:51:00.003-05:00

I've never done this before on the blog, so I thought I'd try an experiment. I'm opening up the comments section of this post to discussion of and questions about TRANCE and the MetaWars series. It'll be a SPOILER ZONE, so if you haven't read TRANCE and are spoiler-phobic, don't venture into the comments.

So, thoughts? Comments? Questions?

Bueller?

What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

2011-10-31T09:45:00.003-05:00

For me, Halloween was a bigger deal when I was a kid. I got to dress up, go trick-or-treating, and bring home a crap-load of candy (I lived in a trailer park and back then, about seventy percent of the residents gave out candy, so the haul was spectacular). Nowadays, it's an excuse to wear cute pumpkin earrings and then buy candy at a discount the day after.

It's also all about the scary movies.

I'm a huge fan of horror movies. Have been since I was a kid. I can't recall ever not knowing who Freddy Krueger was, or being unaware of Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein, and the Crypt Keeper. That love of horror tends to creep into my writing (people coming back from the dead, bloody torture, losing body parts, etc...). But good horror isn't easy. Good horror should evoke a visceral reaction from the reader/audience.

So in honor of Halloween, I wanted to share five of my favorite horror movies. I'm not sure if they're my absolute favorites (those types of lists are very difficult to come up with, because my choices tend to change by the month). But these are five current favorites.

The utter creepiness of this movie is amazing. And the fact that the monsters are not completely CGI, but rather old school latex and makeup, makes it all the more impressive. The somewhat ambiguous ending just completes the creepy factor, and it makes me a bit leery of foggy days.

One word: Pinhead.

Two words: puzzle box.

Three words: Don't open it.

As much a riff on horror movie cliches as it is a true gore-fest, this movie just rocks. It's gross, it's hilarious, and it's got characters you don't mind watching. Just don't trust anyone's Life Expectancy Rating.

The most self-aware slasher movie ever, this one turned the psycho-slasher genre on its head. It's the perfect movie for people like me, who were raised on the eighties slasher films and were also teenagers in 1994. How can you not think of it when someone asks, "What your favorite scary movie?"

While the grand dame of this series will always be the first installment, I'm putting the boxed collection on the list because it's my favorite movie series. If you can ignore parts 2 and 6, the series is pretty awesome in how it follows certain characters from film to film. And the seventh movie, A New Nightmare, totally rocked my world by having Freddy going after the actors themselves. I'm not terribly fond of last year's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, so let's pretend it didn't happen.

How about you? What's your favorite scary movie?

Release Day!

2011-10-25T18:43:00.003-05:00

THE METAWARS HAVE BEGUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, I sit back and look over the journey it's been, getting this book into readers' hands. I wrote the first draft almost four years ago. I revised it quite a lot. I queried it. I revised it again. I trunked it. I signed with my agent and sold a different series. I pulled it back out and revised it again.

I sold it. Quite a different version from that first one, but the book it became is so much improved from what it once was.

And it's so pretty.

Thank you, everyone who helped bring this book to fruition. Thank you, especially, my loyal readers. This one's for you. :)

Spooky Legends and Chili

2011-10-24T12:58:00.002-05:00

My post for Spooky Legends extravaganza is up at All Things Urban Fantasy. Teresa "Trance" West tells her rendition of the "finger in Wendy's chili" tale.

Abigail also reviewed TRANCE here.

Several other awesome advanced reviews have been popping up, and I'm tickled to see readers embracing the new series. Little birds have told that copies of TRANCE have been spotted in the wild at Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, so you might be able to find yours early!

Ten hours left until official release! Squee!!!!

A Gathering of Links

2011-10-21T08:51:00.004-05:00

To celebrate the upcoming release of TRANCE, I've put together a couple of fun character interviews, in which a character from the Dreg City books chats up their counterpart in the MetaWars series.

Thursday, the first interview went up at Book Faery's Blog. In it, Evy Stone and Teresa West discuss leadership, powers, and the man in their lives.

Friday, interview two is up at Smexy Books. Wyatt Truman and Gage McAllister...get through it. What can I say? My heroes aren't very gregarious.

Saturday, the third interview is up at Kevin Hearne's blog. I love this one. Milo Gant gets moderately terrorized by the force of nature that is Renee Duvall. *grin*

Edit: added a link 10/22.

#

On another note, I'm excited and humbled by the positive reviews that have been popping up for TRANCE. It won't be everyone's cuppa, but so far it's been well-received.

This morning I woke up to a fab review from Julie, at Yummy Men & Kick Ass Chicks, and it just made me grin like a loon. Julie is a big fan of the Dreg City books, and her comparison of the two was terrific. Plus, one of the giggle-worthy quotes she picked out is one of my absolute favorites, too.

Here's another, from one of my previous ARC giveaway winners!

Four more days until the MetaWars start! Eeeeee!

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 6

2011-10-19T14:03:00.002-05:00

1. The incomparably Jaye Wells (author of the Sabine Kane novels, as well as fellow League member) has declared her own damned holiday. You can read about it, as well as get in on a massive giveaway of urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels (including a signed copy of TRANCE). Just let us know why you love urban fantasy!

2. The movie trailer for The Avengers is up online. If you haven't seen it, watch it! This movie looks like it will be amazing (and with Joss Whedon at the helm, it's almost a guarantee).

3. The cast of The Princess Bride, 25 years later. I adore this movie. I've met few people in my life who don't like it.

4. I am stupidly excited by the upcoming "The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs" competition. Why? Have you seen the chefs competing? Anne Burrell versus Robert Irvine, again! Plus Geoffrey Zakarian! The only problem is that it's on at 9, opposite "The Walking Dead." Although TWD repeats immediately at 10, so I think it's workable. *grin*

5. With TRANCE releasing in just six days, I'll be all over the internet for the next week, doing guest posts and stuff. Stay tuned for links!

A Picture Worth a (Literal) Thousand Words

2011-10-13T09:03:00.005-05:00

Last October I was lucky enough to enjoy an extended weekend frolicking around New York City with a good friend. We went to see the fabulous show "Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson," eat good food, walk a bazillion miles, and even throw in a little book research.

You see, the opening chapter of TRANCE takes place in Central Park. In it, sixteen teen and tweens training to be superheroes are running from a group of bad guys. It's the final battle after years of fighting between the adults, and everything has come to a head in Manhattan.

The problem was, I had never been to Central Park, and while I'd found lots of nice photos online, it's an entirely different experience to walk the Park itself. For one thing, it's huge! And you can't really get a sense of scale without being there. So we went, and we walked, and I took lots and lots of pictures.

You can read Chapter One of TRANCE here, or you can hang around and read here, as well, complete with pictures. Unfortunately, I lack the drawing skills required to insert my characters into these photos, so the narrative action will have to suffice.

ENJOY!

####

One
Central Park

The bronze man's head was melting. It oozed fat splats of liquid metal and swirled down the front of his old-fashioned suit jacket to puddle at his feet. Some of it hit the bronze duck below him, adding layers of new metal that mutated it into a nightmarish goose. The molten metal cooled and hardened as it hit the sidewalk. Mayhem's heat blasts were concentrated above the statue, and metal needs a constant heat source to stay liquid. I learned that in class.

Gage had told me the statue was of a once-famous man who wrote stories for kids. I don't know for sure, but if Gage says so, it must be true. He's in charge while the adults are fighting for all of our lives, and he kept us quiet and hidden. For a while.

Until Mayhem found our hiding place.

"We have to run for it," Gage said.

I didn't want to run. We'd been running for hours, from the southernmost point of Central Park to where we were now. I don't know how many blocks, but a lot, and it was raining, too—light, chilly rain and heavy, splattering rain. Sometimes it stopped and just blew cold wind; then Ethan would use his Tempest powers to try to redirect it so we didn't freeze.

Hours of it, and I was exhausted. We all were. Each time the Banes gained ground and pushed the last of the grown-up Rangers north, we kids ran ahead and took cover. We were there to fight if we had to, but the grown-ups didn't want us to—not until absolutely necessary. At fifteen, Gage was the oldest; I'm the youngest at ten-almost-eleven. He says we're the last line of defense for the city of New York.

We're the last line of defense for the rest of the country.

And we're just a bunch of kids.

Mayhem kept blasting.

Ethan stepped out from the shelter of the stone wall, all wiry and red-haired and cocky thirteen. He raised his hands to the sky. A blast of wind shot away from him and swirled toward Mayhem. She was a good hundred yards away, across a cement hole that had once been a lake or something, near a statue of a bronze girl on a mushroom. The statue was losing shape, turning into goo from her being so close to it.

Ethan's air blast slammed Mayhem's heat back at her. She was wearing street clothes, just jeans and a black shirt, and they were nothing like our special uniforms. No armor to protect Mayhem from her own powers or ours, so she flew backward with a piercing shriek. Her braided black hair flipped around like snakes, and she landed out of sight on the other side of the mushroom.

"Go!" Gage shouted.

Mellie ran first, as fast as she could across the cement ground, toward the nearest clutch of unburned trees. Renee went next, a streak of blue skin and honey-blond hair, with William behind her. He carried Janel, who was unconscious from power overload; William had superstrength so he could run and carry her at the same time, while I could barely run and carry myself.

I followed the big kids, including Marco, who was still in panther form, and fifteen of us streaked across the way, rounding the edge of the cement pit, seeking our next place to hide. Just like we'd done all day. My lungs were burning, aching with smoke and cold and overuse and unshed tears. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep. I was sick of being cold. I didn't want to be afraid anymore. I didn't want to have to think about tomorrow—if we had a tomorrow.

I was only ten. Almost eleven. I wasn't ready to die.

None of us was.

Mellie sure wasn't when one of Mayhem's heat blasts caught her full in the face and melted her skin down to her bones. Mellie didn't even get to scream. I screamed plenty. So did Renee and Nate and William. Only panther-Marco paused long enough to sniff her, then loped past.

Ethan cried out, and then he wasn't running with the group anymore. I didn't stop to see what happened, but a few seconds later, Mayhem shouted again. This time, the roar of wind was louder. I hoped he tossed her into a tree or something.

We left poor Mellie on the ground and kept going, like we'd left three others behind already. My jelly legs didn't want to keep running, and one by one the older kids moved ahead of me. Toward the trees and the promise of safety somewhere else. I'd get left behind and it wouldn't matter. My powers were stupid; I couldn't help in a fight. My ability to hypnotize people and alter their thoughts worked only if I looked them in the eye. That was hard to do in the middle of a war zone. I hadn't done anything today but cry and scream and get in the way.

Not like my dad, Hinder, one of the greatest heroes in the Ranger Corps. He was fighting south of us with the last half dozen grown-up Rangers, keeping the horde of Banes (sixty-something of them, Gage had said) from overrunning us. We were kids training to be heroes. If our parents and mentors died, how did anyone expect us to stop them?

We could barely save ourselves from one Bane with a superheat blast. Once the line fell and the Banes got through, sixty-something of them would crush us in seconds.

No, the line couldn't fall. Not with my dad in charge. He'd save us.

A hand grabbed my arm and yanked me forward. I nearly tripped. Gage didn't let go as we ran; he was practically pulling me along. It was as close as we'd ever come—or ever would—to holding hands. I'm still a baby and he's a teenager. He's just helping me because he's in charge. He can't let me lag behind.

We found a wide path. It took us under a stone archway and we emerged onto an open lawn. If it was ever green, it was now brown and rutted and overrun here and there with clumps of dried weeds. A lot of Central Park looked like that now. After New York City's first major battle in the War, most of the city had been evacuated and a lot of the buildings destroyed. I'd seen it from the helicopter that brought us here this morning—burning, crumbling skyscrapers, gutted old theaters, debris in the empty streets. William had pointed at a tall, skinny building called the Empire or something, and said it used to be twice as tall. I didn't believe him.

Manhattan was a good place to fight, we were told. Early evacuation meant fewer civilian injuries. One of the major rules of the Ranger Corps code is protect civilians at all costs. Even the dumb ones who stand there and scream, instead of getting out of the way.

I once overheard Gage's mentor, Delphi, say that any civilian who didn't get out of the way of battling Metas was too stupid to save. It had made the other adults laugh. I didn't know why it was funny, and I couldn't ask her to explain it. I shouldn't have been listening in the first place. But Delphi was smart, so it had to be important. She'd mentored a lot of kids who didn't have anyone to teach them about their powers and how to be a Ranger. If I'd been an orphan like Gage, I'd have liked Delphi to be my mentor, too.

No one else attacked us on the lawn, but it was too open. Gage changed our direction, sideways instead of across the lawn. It felt like forever before we hit the cover of trees again. In the distance, peeking through the crisping, late summer leaves, was the turret of a big stone building.

"Head toward the castle," Gage yelled toward the front of the line. William and Renee altered their path just a little. We passed what had once been a pond of some kind, and soon we were all going up.

"Can we hide there?" I gasped. The cold and wet made my lungs burn.

"I think so."

Somewhere south of us, something exploded. It sounded like a truck got dropped from the sky and hit another one on the ground. I felt the rattle of it in my bones. Gage looked over his shoulder. I couldn't. Every ounce of my attention was on not falling over my own tired feet.

We went up a set of stone steps. The paths intersected at the top and seemed to go off in four different directions. To our left was the castle—a stone building that had so far avoided complete destruction and shone like a hopeful beacon. Thick, round stones made a sort of patio that led to the castle itself, and it had two fancy pavilions on the left and right of the steps we came up. Except for a few blown-out windows, the castle was intact. Past it, farther to the north, was something that looked like an outdoor theater surrounded by bony winter trees.

A figure emerged from the castle, and everyone ahead of us came to a clumsy, jumbled halt. Gage let me go and jogged to the front to see. I sidled closer to Renee, who stretched one blue arm out to grasp me around the shoulders. She was twelve, almost a teenager, and my best friend. I loved her Flex power that let her bend and twist into funny lengths and shapes. It was a useful power, too. When we first got here, she'd used it to yank me out of the way of Mayhem's heat blast.

"You gotta keep up, T," Renee said. Her teeth chattered and, instead of red, the cold made her cheeks look purple. "Can't lose you, too."

"I'm trying," I replied.

"Who are you?" Gage asked the stranger. His voice was still changing, going unpredictably from high-pitched to deep in timbre, so it squeaked a little when he tried to be bossy. Like now.

I peeked around William's bulk—twelve and almost six feet tall—to get a better look.

A dirty man in ragged clothes was leaning hard against the stone wall. His face was sunken and filthy, and he probably stank, if the look on Gage's face said anything. All five of Gage's senses were hypersensitive and picked up on all sorts of things. Something about the stranger, other than being homeless and in our hiding place—was bothering Gage.

"Sir, you shouldn't be here," Gage said. "It isn't safe."

"Nowhere's safe from your kind nowadays," the man said. His voice was slurred, thick, like he was both drunk and half asleep. He wouldn't look up from some interesting spot on the stone. Loose, torn clothing hung limply, covering his hands and feet, as if he'd shrunk inside them.

"There's a battle moving this way. You can't stay here."

The man shrugged.

Another explosion, similar to the first, rocked the ground. It was closer this time, louder. One of the younger boys whimpered. Panther-Marco stalked around the group to stand sentry next to Gage and hissed at the man. The two boys with the best noses knew something was wrong.

Nate's voice rang through all of our heads as his telepathic warning blared like a neon sign: Back up and get out of—

The stranger raised his right hand as he looked up. His sunken eyes glowed with yellow-orange power as he fired the little revolver in his hand, creating chaos.

Her arm still around me, Renee practically dragged me toward the larger pavilion. We all fled there while three more shots were fired. I couldn't see for the flurry of moving bodies. I didn't know where Gage was. Someone was screaming about Nate.

At the back of the pavilion, more stone steps led down to a rocky surface that overlooked the dried-up pond. We crouched there, using what little cover our hiding place provided. Fear clutched me colder than the January freeze, but I still glanced up and around a stone column, heart kicking against my ribs, a bitter taste in my mouth.

Nate was dead on the ground, a hole in his chest. The homeless man looked on, his eyes glowing death, smug like a Bane. He threw back his head and laughed—it might have been scarier if he weren't so hoarse.

Nearby, under the pavilion and behind a stone wall, William was bleeding at the hip. Down on the rock floor with us, Ethan was shot in the left shoulder. Both were panting, trying to be brave and to not cry. I looked away before I started crying, too.

"We're ending this tonight!" the man shouted. "Your pathetic Rangers are falling as we speak. You'll see your parents in hell soon enough."

I shivered.

"Specter," Gage said, and I jumped at the sound of his voice right beside me.

It couldn't be Specter, the leader of the Banes. My dad said he was the one who'd rallied them together and initiated the War that had raged and ruined the country, killed hundreds on both sides, and left Metas nearly extinct. The last surviving Metas in the world had descended on Central Park to fight each other today. Dad said Specter could possess anyone who was unconscious or had a weak mind—take them over like a puppeteer, and make them do whatever he wanted.

Specter had found a man with a gun who could cut us kids down as surely as superpowers had taken five of us since the morning.

He strode out to the middle of the stone patio, gun raised but pointed nowhere. We didn't have a lot of cover, crowding low on the cold stone steps and behind two columns and two bits of waist-high stone wall. The wounded were now in the rear, the most powerful in the front. I was somewhere in the middle beside Gage, whose hands were shaking. His lips were pressed together so tight I couldn't see them. He looked like he wanted to barf all over the ground.

He was terrified.

Gage couldn't be terrified. He had to lead us, tell us what to do so we survived this.

"Gage?" I said.

He didn't look at me. He scrubbed a hand through his spiky blond hair, down over his face, then clenched it in front of his blue jumpsuit. Tugged and pulled at the material.

I tried again. Maybe my powers couldn't save us, but I could help him save us. "Gage?"

He just wasn't paying attention to me, like usual, so I grabbed his hand and gave it a solid yank. He looked at me then, his dark eyes flecked with little bits of silver that made them look like a starry night sky. As soon as I caught his gaze, I locked in and let my Trance powers do the rest.

You're a brave man, Gage. You wouldn't be our leader if you weren't brave. We need you to lead us. We need you to save us. You can do this.

Tears glistened in his eyes. I felt him fighting it, fighting the Trance, the urge to do anything I told him. Being scared was easier—I knew it and so did he. I forced a little more at him, as much as I could muster through my own terror.

Trust me.

His hands stopped shaking. He was calming down, bucking up, accepting my influence. My own fear lessened a little, but not enough. I wished I could Trance myself.

Trust me, Gage, and lead us. Save us.

The Specter-host took three more potshots. Someone screamed—I couldn't look, didn't want to know. Didn't want to see any more of my classmates hurt or dying or dead. A third explosion, horrifyingly close, sent a blast of hot air scorching across the pavilion, layered with the stink of smoke and ash. And something burning sweet.

Death was coming closer.

"Angela, I need a distraction," Gage said, breaking our lock. He moved away, toward a blond girl who could leave up to twelve copies of herself behind as she walked, like holographic bread crumbs. "Marco, raven form."

Nearby I heard the funny, wet-Velcro sound Marco made when he shifted. The large black bird hopped over to Gage and waited for orders.

"I can still help," Ethan said. He was sweating, so pale his freckles looked like pimples, his uniform front soaked with blood.

Gage whispered a plan I couldn't hear while our attacker shot at us twice more, exploding stone and cement, in no hurry to kill us all. Or he was waiting for something.

"Ready?" Gage asked. The other big kids nodded. They all turned, prepared with their plan.

An energy orb slammed into the Specter-host and spun him around—but it wasn't from any of us. He squeezed off a wild shot that shattered the stone near Gage's head, and then the dirty man fell facedown on the cobblestones. The cold rain started falling harder.

A hunched, bleeding figure shambled toward us from around the stairs. Her white hair was stained red, plastered to her skull, and she looked a hundred years old. Gage and Angela ran out to help her, and they practically carried the old woman into the pavilion. She was bleeding from a dozen wounds, her hands and knees scraped from multiple falls. I saw her face and started to cry.

"Granny Dell," I said, shouldering my way through the older kids. I dropped to my knees next to my maternal grandmother, confused and horrified. She shouldn't be here. She'd retired forty years ago, long before I was born, and had lived my entire lifetime in Europe. We'd only met once, but had chatted on the phone dozens of times. She told me stories about my mom, who I didn't remember much.

And now Granny Dell was in Central Park. I'd heard the grown-ups say that everyone was being called to duty, but I had never imagined they meant my grandmother.

She turned weepy eyes toward me, like someone so desperately tired she wanted to burst out crying. I couldn't stop my own tears from falling, or the desperate sobs that hurt my chest.

"You kids need to go," she gasped. She was trying so hard. "They're coming. He's coming."

"We have wounded," Gage said behind me. "We can't leave them."

"Have to, son. You kids … you're the last. Have to live."

"We're not," I said. "Dad's still fighting. He'll save us." Her sad, sad face told me something about my dad I didn't want to know. My lungs hitched. I ignored her face. If I ignored her, it simply wasn't true.

"They'll be here soon, Teresa," Granny Dell said. "You have to run. Hide."

"Rangers don't hide." Dad taught me that. All I wanted to do was hide until the bad guys went away, but we couldn't. If we hid from the Banes now, we'd never live it down later. Unless we died after all.

Was it better to die a hero or live a coward?

I didn't know. All I knew was that I wanted to live.

Granny Dell choked up blood and stopped breathing. I kept holding her hand, afraid that if I let go, I'd run and hide just like she wanted me to, find a tree to climb or a hole to burrow into and stay there until the battle was over.

"We stand here," Gage said, rising up and addressing us like a general. Still brave, still saving us. Not giving up. "The man out there was right. It comes down to what we do tonight. We have to make our parents and mentors proud."

They were all talking at once, a buzz of voices and sounds and movements, and situating those who were too hurt to fight in the back of the pavilion, down in that rock-bottom hiding place. Forming a defensive line based on powers. Someone dashed outside to retrieve the gun. No one would use it; they just couldn't leave it lying around for a Bane to pick up. I stayed in the rear with the wounded and the dead, too cold and scared to help. I was useless.

Again.

An agony-filled shriek rose up from the trees surrounding the south side of the castle, carried on a wind that brought more of that awful roasted-sweet odor. Female scream, I thought, unable to think of the other adult Rangers who'd been left. I couldn't think of anyone except my dad, hurt, maybe … No. Just hurt. Or still battling his way toward us, leading his Rangers as only he could. Hinder would save us.

Renee and William stood together. I was surprised that William could be shot and still standing. He was strong. I thought he had a good power, just like Renee. But he didn't like her ability to stretch her blue body out like taffy. He said it was creepy, and she loved to torment him. Seeing them together was weird.

Marco was back in panther form. He paced the length of the pavilion, thick tail swishing, a predator. He told me once he'd rather be a big cat than a person. I didn't understand, but I was always jealous of his being a shapeshifter.

Even hurt, Ethan was waiting to help. He had one of the strongest powers among us, and he knew it. He was being brave. Everyone was being brave, except me. Might as well only be eleven of us left, instead of twelve.

Stupid, useless Trance.

The castle's spire exploded. Fire and rock blasted outward and rained down on the cobblestones in front of the pavilion. Some of us shrieked. I know I did. A second blast took out the rest of the turret. Smoke choked me and stung my eyes. Gage was shouting orders.

The first Bane crested the stairs at the far end of the stone patio. I didn't know her. Just saw her stop, locate us, then let out an excited war whoop. Terror hit me like a blast of fire all over my body as more Banes joined her.

The heat of the fire increased to all-over agony. This wasn't fear. Something was happening. Marco screamed, a too human sound. Everything went gray, and then the agony swallowed me whole.

© 2011 Kelly Meding

Podcast!

2011-10-11T08:36:00.003-05:00

Fellow UF author and League of Reluctant Adults member Anton Strout has a fantastic podcast on his website called The Once and Future Podcast. He invited me to be a guest on the podcast, and it's now live.

So check it out. I blather on a bit about writing, horror movies, and my new release TRANCE.

Boycott us!

2011-10-07T10:53:00.003-05:00

Because of an ongoing head cold, I'm not even going to attempt a coherent explanation of what the post title means. Just click this link.

You know you want to.

It's League stuff.

And writerly stuff, too.

And it's funny as hell.

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 5

2011-10-05T18:48:00.003-05:00

Item the First: One winner in the TRANCE ARC giveaway still hasn't contacted me. Spread the word, folks, so I don't have to redraw!

Item the Second: For your reading pleasure, a terrific article by Chuck Wendig about changing the conversation regarding self-e-publishing: The Publishing Card Before the Storytelling Horse.

Item the Third: This is the first of two blog posts about research. This one is from Shiloh Walker regarding using television as a primary resource for fiction (in other words, don't).

Item the Fourth: The second blog post about research. From Dear Author, a letter about common mistakes made when writing about lawyers.

Item the Fifth: I stumbled over this a while ago, but it was pretty neat to see. 10 Unconventional Bookstores. I wish some of these were near me, so I could visit them.

TRANCE Giveway Winners!

2011-10-03T16:40:00.002-05:00

I'm so sorry I didn't get the winners posted sooner! I got crushed under a mix of family obligations and CHANGELING edits (MetaWars #2). I'm happy to report that the edits went well, and CHANGELING is on its way back to the peeps at Pocket.

Anywho, to the winners! Using Random.org, I have randomly selected three winners from the forty-five entries (you guys rock, by the way). I loved reading your comments and seeing some of my own favorites on the list. Thank you to everyone who entered, tweeted, and told people about the giveaway.

And so, the winners are:

Ceridwen83, who said "Mine is Phoenix from x-men, not the movie version but her comic and cartoon incarnations both light and dark."

Sherri, who said "I always wanted to be just like AquaMan when I was a kid. Was there ever an AquaGirl, because I would want to be HER now."

Paris, who said "My favorite superhero is Rogue from the X-Men comics and cartoon (definitely not the lame ass Anna Paquin Rogue from the movies). She's totally badass and has an attitude that makes you definitely not want to mess with her."

Congrats to you all!!!!!

You can email me your mailing address to mail(at)kellymeding.com, so I can get these out in the mail. I can't believe release day is only three weeks away! Squee!

Supernatural Smackdown Time!

2011-09-30T10:46:00.002-05:00

You may have heard that Dark Faerie Tales and Parajunkee's View are hosting another Supernatural Smackdown on their respective sites, and this year I'm participating. Well, I'm not, but the heroine of TRANCE, Teresa West, is!

Check out the match and see her opponent, and don't forget to vote! Simon & Schuster is generously giving away copies of TRANCE to five winners!

Let's help a superhero kick butt!

The TRANCE ARC Giveaway is Here!

2011-09-23T10:18:00.004-05:00

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

Real life has been a little exhausting/hectic lately, so my apologies in taking so long to get this up. But, as previously announced in a few places, I have in my hands a couple of TRANCE ARC's, and they are yours for the taking!

I'm giving away three signed ARC's, as well as a TRANCE cover flat, so you have the text and the pretty!

Such a lovely match.

So how do you enter? Easy. The MetaWars series is about superheroes, right? So to enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me the name of your favorite superhero. It can be from film, comics, television, etc... It could be Peter from the TV show "Heroes." It could be Hit Girl from the movie "Kick Ass." It could be Dean Cain's version of Superman, or the Golden Age version of the Flash.

Tell me who!

The giveaway is open until September 30th, and I'll use a randomizer to select three winners. Winners will be announced here the first of October. So spread the word! Be the one of the first folks to get a sneak peek at TRANCE before it releases October 25th!

Ready?

Go!

Romantic Times Review of TRANCE

2011-09-20T16:33:00.001-05:00

And it's 4 stars!!!!

UF rising star Meding offers up the first book in a new series with her twist on the world of superheroes. A devastating war between the Ranger Corps and the Banes nearly destroyed all the Metas. This story follows the journey of a young woman finding her place in a world that is about to grow much more treacherous. Meding sets a dark tone and packs in plenty of action and high-stakes thrills. A great start for an exciting series!

The review will be out in next month's magazine (Nov '11)!

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 4

2011-09-15T09:21:00.005-05:00

Item the First: I have a secret love for couscous. I don't cook it much, because if you don't add stuff to it, it's can be kind of bland. And the instant varieties that are common in my local grocery stores aren't all that...um, good. And buying the good stuff is a little expensive. But last weekend a friend came to hang for the weekend, and she brought supplies to make a very lovely dish involving Israeli couscous. It was also my first time eating leek, fennel, and saffron (the dish also had garlic, white wine, peas and veggie stock). It was amazing. And it made A LOT. I was still eating it several days later.

Item the Second: Publisher's Weekly posted an interesting article called "Authors Say Agents Try to 'Straighten' Gay Characters in YA." It caused a bit of a stir on Twitter, which you can check out on the hashtag #yesgayYA . And the comments section of the article has led to some pretty fascinating discussions about gay characters in YA fiction. No matter your views, I do urge you to check it out.

Edited: In the thirty minutes or so since I posted this, another article has appeared online from the agency addressed in the PW article. It is absolutely worth a read, as well, since it tells another side of the story.

Item the Third: I have a fun new Sekrit Project. It's not a market I've written for before, but the story started banging away at my brain last week while babysitting my niece. In just over a week, I've passed the one-quarter complete mark and I have a new beta all lined up. Yay for a Sekrit Project!

Item the Fourth: Publisher's Weekly reviewed TRANCE. It's not a super-great review, but they didn't seem to like THREE DAYS TO DEAD much, either, and y'all ended up loving it, right? *grin* I did, however, really like this particular quote: "Meding (Three Days to Dead) successfully captures the action-packed pace of superhero team comics—particularly The New Teen Titans, which she cites as an influence—with her group of colorful young adventurers." I'll take it.

Item the Fifth: Speaking of TRANCE, I have galleys! I have four very pretty ARC's, all bound up, to give away. I haven't decided how or where, but it will probably happen this weekend at some point. So keep an eye out for details!

More TRANCE goodness!

2011-09-13T08:39:00.002-05:00

A new TRANCE snippet is up at the League or Reluctant Adults!

Yes, I remembered to post. I should get a cookie for that....

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 3

2011-09-06T09:20:00.003-05:00

I forgot to do this post last week (for various reasons), and even though I wanted to get into the habit of doing these on Wednesday's, I won't be around online much tomorrow. So I'm doing it now.

Yay?

Item the First: It's the day after Labor Day, which for anyone who grew up in my area, means summer is officially over. Even though beach-going tourists will continue to flock here well into October, summer is finished. Kaput. And it's sad. I don't feel as though I accomplished much this summer. I wrote a little. I read a lot. But I didn't really go anywhere or do much of anything. Maybe autumn will be more exciting?

Item the Second: Author Jim C. Hines has a fabulous new post up on his blog about sexism in the publishing industry. I won't even try to summarize it, but it's an excellent read.

Item the Third: A friend sent me something really awesome, because she saw it in a store and it made her think of Evy and the necklace she wears on the Dreg City book covers. My first real fan gift! Isn't it gorgeous?

Item the Fourth: I went on a bit of an historical romance reading frenzy this weekend. Polished off PLEASURE ME by Monica Burns, and JUST LIKE HEAVEN and WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON by Julia Quinn. Loved all three of them, and I definitely need to find more Quinn books. She just tells these wonderful, fun and emotionally satisfying stories.

Item the Fifth: Sometime later in the week, I'll be on Twitter tweeting lines from TRANCE, using the hashtag #Trance. I'm not sure which night, so stay tuned! And don't forget, the MetaWars start next month! Squee!

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T11:46:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I've actually been in a hurricane. We've had a lot of tropical storms and Nor'easters hit these parts in the last twenty years, but a hurricane?

I live about thirty miles west of Ocean City, Maryland (which had a mandatory evacuation yesterday). I grew up three miles from the Cape Henlopen State Park, in Delaware (which was part of a coastal evacuation this morning). It's just a scary thought. And not because of the winds, but because of all the rain that this storm has already dumped on North Carolina. We get serious flooding from tropical storms. I can't imagine what the Rehoboth Boardwalk will look like tomorrow.

I'm also planning on losing power sometime this evening. My bathtub is full of water for refilling the toilet tank. I have pots of water on the stove to use in my Brita dispenser. And I have a case of bottled water on standby. I have food, batteries, flashlights and lots of candles. My cell phone is staying plugged in today, so I know it's fully charged. My laptop will last about two to three hours on battery.

But I do have one failsafe option for entertaining myself this evening: books. Lots and lots of books to pick up and read. I'll probably pick some fun romances. There will be enough action and drama going on outside in the storm. ;)

To everyone else in Irene's path, stay safe!

I think this week is going down in history for me. I mean, it's the first time the mid-Atlantic has had both a 5.9 earthquake AND a hurricane.

Five Items of an Everyday Sort 2

2011-08-24T09:27:00.004-05:00

Item the First: In case you haven't heard, the awesome Stacia Kane's Downside series is on sale for Kindle and Nook. You can download the first book, UNHOLY GHOSTS, for $.99, and the next two books, UNHOLY MAGIC and CITY OF GHOSTS, for $4.99 each. That's the entire digital series for $11! Give it a try, why dontcha?

Item the Second: This might seem obvious, but here goes. Social media is not private. Corporations and companies pay big bucks to track what people say about them in Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and anywhere else you post stuff publicly. So be careful what you say and how you say it, especially if it's about something YOU WORK FOR.

Item the Third: I think I've seen a total of two episodes of EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION. It's not a show I tend to watch, but I will be tuning in for their Thanksgiving special episode. Why? Because it's currently filming in my hometown of Lewes, DE. And they're helping out a very wonderful lady I went to church with once upon a time. I'm so excited for Dale and for all of the good work she'll be able to do in Sussex County with her new, improved soup kitchen.

Item the Fourth: Yesterday afternoon, I was taking a break from reading SOFT APOCALYPSE by Will McIntosh to check Twitter on my computer. The book is near-future, not-quite-SF, and pretty dark scary in how possible that future seems. But just as I was sitting down at my desk, it started to shimmy. Then the wall started to shake. And I started to freak the hell out. It lasted about forty-five seconds. I remember thinking "This feels like an earthquake, but that's not possible. We don't have earthquakes this strong out here!" Then a friend in DC emailed me and asked if I'd felt it. Then my sister called. Yep. We'd had an earthquake.

Item the Fifth:

If you read anything this fall, read this book. It's going on my top 5 for the year. It isn't a happy book, but it also isn't a sad book. It's a hopeful book, with a narrator you can't help but root for. I just loved it.

Snippet: Trance

2011-08-19T11:34:00.004-05:00

Who wants a snippet?

With the release of TRANCE (MetaWars #1) looming on the horizon (October 25, in case you forgot), I thought I'd offer up a snippet from the book. I hope to post a few of these over the next two months, as well as some fun character interviews in October.

This is from Chapter 2. Teresa "Trance" West has just been fired from her waitress job, and has gone home upset and with an upset stomach that she hasn't yet realized is the return of the superpowers she lost fifteen years ago.

#####

I curled onto my side and pondered the tip money in my back pocket. Five hours and only twenty extra bucks. My jackass of a boss docked me for kicking that guy in the crotch. As if firing me wasn't humiliating enough.

I wished I'd controlled my temper.

This was the fourth time in three years that I'd been fired for not reining it in. Sooner or later, I'd run out of noncareer opportunities in Portland and then I'd really be screwed. And I had to go job hunting tomorrow if I didn't want to end up on the street by the end of the week. Work and sleep—there had to be more to life than this. Oh yeah, there was. Pain.

Those invisible hands returned and twisted my intestines into knots. Scalding tears pricked the corners of my eyes. Drawing my knees up to my chest, I ground my teeth and waited for it to pass. No such luck. I tried to stand, preparing to run to the toilet and yak. Threadbare sheets had tangled around my ankles and legs. My left elbow scraped against the industrial carpet as I hit the floor.

Had to be my appendix. I was going to die after all.

The pain spread as I lay on my cold apartment floor—had I bounced another check on the heating bill? The water-stained plaster ceiling pressed down on me. No, it couldn't be my appendix. That pain stayed in the abdomen and lower back. This pain was spreading all over, from my stomach to my chest to my throat. It radiated outward from my belly button, nothing like what I'd earlier mistaken for heartburn. Gooseflesh dotted my arms. My nipples hardened. Searing heat, like swallowing a gallon of boiling water, raced through my veins and arteries, heating my extremities and curling my toes. My mouth opened to scream—no sound came out. My eyes burned; I squeezed them shut.

Had I really worked so hard and survived so much only to die alone, on the floor of my crappy apartment?

The blazing heat ended as abruptly as it began. I curled into a ball and pressed numb hands against my chest. Chills tore up and down my spine. Something was happening to me, something bad. Fear warred with an odd sense of déjà vu. I longed to cry, but no tears came. My eyes still burned. I slit one open. The chilly apartment air cooled the hot cornea, and I opened the other for similar relief.

I tested the muscles in my abdomen. Nothing twinged. Legs and arms seemed equally okay for use. I rolled onto my right side. A lock of hair fell across my face and into my mouth. I spat it out. It tasted as bad as it smelled. A flash of misplaced color caught my eye. I grabbed a handful of hair and inspected the strands. Thin streaks of purple colored half of the light brown.

Crap.

Five Items of an Everyday Sort

2011-08-17T09:36:00.004-05:00

Item the First: Wednesday seems to have become my default blogging day. I'm not sure how that happened. Probably because I tend to have the day off from my Day Job, and I usually have time to come up with witty, scintillating posts (*cough*). Alas, I don't really have a single awesome topic with which to fill an entire post, so I figured I'd break it down into a few bite-sized chunks.

Item the Second: I put a call to Twitter for blog topics, and I got an awesome suggestion to talk about Audiobooks. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about audiobooks. The only audiobooks I own are copies of my first three Dreg City novels (all available from the lovely folks at Tantor Audio). But I know people who listen to them all the time. I'm actually a little jealous of them. My best friend's mom travels a lot to dog trials and she keeps them in the car (I don't travel much, and my drive to the Day Job is about ten minutes). And I can't listen to them at home, because my mind tends to wander (trust me, I've tried), and then I have to rewind to see what I missed. So yes, jealous of the folks who get to absorb the awesome talents of so many audiobook narrators.

Item the Third: DEADLINE, by Chris Crutcher. If you haven't read this book, go read it. Now. Bring tissues.

Item the Fourth: Dante's Cove. This show will never win any acting awards, but does that really matter with these guys to drool over? I think it's sparked an unhealthy obsession with actor Charlie David (the hawtness in the center).

Item the Fifth: TRANCE has received it's first review! I'm excited that it was very positive and from a new-to-me reader. I really hope Dreg City fans embrace this new series, as well.

Cover Art: Wrong Side of Dead

2011-08-10T09:14:00.002-05:00

The cover art for WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Dreg City #4) has been floating around the internet for about a month now, but I wanted to wait to show it off here until after ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD came out. Mostly because the copy for WSOD has spoilers for AKOD.

It looks like the same cover model from THREE DAYS TO DEAD. I really like the city street background in this one, as well as the green font.

Monster hunter Evangeline Stone woke up on the wrong side of dead this morning—and now there’s hell to pay.

Barely recovered from her extended torture at the hands of mad scientist Walter Thackery, Evy can use a break. What she gets instead is a war, as the battered Triads that keep Dreg City safe find themselves under attack by half-Blood vampires who have somehow retained their reason, making them twice as lethal. Worse, the Halfies are joined by a breed of were-creature long believed extinct—back and more dangerous than ever. Meanwhile, Evy’s attempts at reconciliation with the man she loves take a hit after Wyatt is viciously assaulted—an attack traced to Thackery, who has not given up his quest to exterminate all vampires . . . even if he has to destroy Dreg City to do it. With Wyatt’s time running out, another threat emerges from the shadows and a staggering betrayal shatters the fragile alliance between the Triads, vampires, and shapeshifters, turning Evy’s world upside down forever.

Three Links and a Good-Bye

2011-08-03T13:42:00.002-05:00

It's another small Event link round-up kind of post.

I had the good fortune to be invited to participate in the Fantastic Fables: Paranormal Edition event, hosted by Dark Faerie Tales and Tynga's Reviews. My offering is a little Rapunzel-inspired bedtime story told by our favorite were-osprey, Phineas. Check it out and leave a comment for a chance to win one of four copies of ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD!

Event number two is Book Faery's Battle of the Sexies: Sidekick Edition. And once again Phineas is getting some time in the spotlight, as I try to argue why he's the sexiest sidekick of them all. As a giveaway prize I'm offering a signed copy of ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, a TRANCE postcard, and a little stuffed falcon toy!

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For added fun, I did a guest post at Urban Fantasy Investigations, in which I talk about writing a series.

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The excitement of release week has also been tempered with a lot of sadness, as we all learned yesterday that author LA Banks passed away from adrenal cancer. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. Fellow League of Reluctant Adults member Michele Bardsley did a wonderful tribute post here. I never had the opportunity to meet Leslie, but those who did have nothing but wonderful things to say about her. She will be missed.

Release Day!!!!

2011-08-02T08:53:00.003-05:00

It's finally here! ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD (Dreg City #3) is in the wild!

All formats are available today: print, audio, Nook, Kindle, and other electronic formats, so pick your poison.

My friend and fellow writer Phil Giunta has a new interview with my posted on his blog, in which I ramble about inspiration and other things.

And Another Kind of Dead has been chosen as one of the AUGUST FEATURES on the Barnes & Noble Book Club SF/F Forums, so check out the discussion thread there!

News, Reviews, and a Little Trance

2011-07-27T08:03:00.003-05:00

Countdown: Six more days until ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD hits shelves (and Kindles and Kobos and Nooks)!!!!

Some very awesome early reviews have been popping up around the blogosphere. This is definitely helping to keep my blood pressure down as the release date looms ever closer. It's been a year since your last new Dreg City adventure, and AKOD is a difficult book (emotionally, anyway). So it's wonderful to see some positive advance reviews!

A Book Obsession (4 Butterflies) pretty much nails the complicated relationship between Evy and Wyatt:

Their love for one another is so incredibly strong, yet so very fragile as well. They need each other more than anything, yet neither one seems to know what to do with that fact.

From The Spinecracker (5 stars):

Around page 125 I sucked air and expelled horror and a little excitement.... exactly what I want from my UF books.

Smexy Books gave me something nice to wake up to this morning (B+):

There is a deeper emotional aspect in here then the other books. Evy is tested in ways that would destroy a less indomitable person and your heart breaks for her. We are also given a more in depth look at the intricate relationships between the members of the Triad which paints a different picture than what we have thought.

In other news....

I have a guest post up at Paranormal Haven, where I discuss the villain from ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, Walter Thackery. I also talk a little about other mad scientist characters in books and movies. Stop by and tell me about some mad scientists you enjoy!

Nocturne Romance Reads has posted an interview with me, in which I discuss my inspiration for Dreg City, a day in the life of me, and my favorite guilty pleasure.

And finally...

In my last week as the Featured Author at Drey's Library, I wanted to offer something a little bit different for you guys. So I've posted a snippet from my upcoming Pocket book TRANCE (MetaWars #1). If you're curious to see a little bit more about this new series, check it out and let me know what you think!

Round 'Em Up!

2011-07-20T08:42:00.002-05:00

I have a bunch of links today, so it's more of a roundup kind of post.

1. "Throwing Grandma Down the Stairs!" Before you think I've gotten totally violent on you, this is a guest post over at Larissa's Bookish Life. And it's about writing. With a video clip!

2. Part three of my month as Featured Author on Drey's Library is up. I'm chatting about my Top Five Reads.

3. My post for Deadly Destinations takes you on a tour of Dreg City with Hunter Milo Gant. Milo got roped into this because...well, Evy wouldn't do it, and as the newest member of his Triad, he got volunteered. Plus Random House is giving away three copies of ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD to commenters!

4. Fellow Leaguers Jaye Wells and Nicole Peeler have some awesome Kindle Deals happening on their UF novels, so if you haven't checked out those ladies, run over to Amazon and stock up your Kindle!

(Edit: There is a slight glitch happening, so Nicole's book isn't showing up at $1.99 yet, but she says they are working to fix it!)

5. Speaking of deals, my fellow A GLIMPSE OF DARKNESS co-author Harry Connolly's CHILD OF FIRE is only 99 cents on Kindle! This is another series you really should be reading!

6. Less than two weeks until ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD hits shelves!!!! Remember, it's releasing 8/2, NOT 7/26. The audiobook version from Tantor releases the same day!

7. Amazon is having a 4-for-3 sale on paperback books, and all of mine are included. It looks like even pre-orders for my new releases. There are over 9,000 SF/F books in the sale, so check it out!

8. RIP Borders...

2011-07-14T17:13:00.004-05:00

So I totally missed my day to blog at the League yesterday. Even though I had it written down on my calendar, I didn't even look at it once. Probably because I spent the morning in an insane amount of pain, and then the afternoon at the doctor's office, followed by a long nap.

The good news is, it's not life threatening. The bad news is, it's my right wrist, and the orthopedist I saw isn't sure what's causing the pain and swelling (I had no apparently injury to the wrist). So we're in a "wear a brace, take pills, don't work, and we'll see you in a week" kind of place. Which beats the hell out of him ordering a bunch of expensive tests, since I'm self-pay. But this brace makes typing very hard, and I can't go back to the day job for a week (we don't have "light duty").

This is going to make a very, very bored Kelly over the next week or so. It's not how I'd choose to take some vacation time, since I can't really write or lift anything, and going to the beach would give me a very freakish tan line on my arm. But I guess I can catch up on some serious reading. And movie watching.

One of the few highlights of my week was getting a glimpse of cover art for WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Dreg City 4, 1/31/12). It is a little different from the other covers, but also similar in composition and elements. I don't think I want to show it off until after ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD comes out, though, because there is a spoiler for that book right on the cover. *grin*

But soon. Only eighteen more days until AKOD releases!!!!

Featured Author and Q&A

2011-07-06T18:01:00.002-05:00

This month I'm delighted to be the featured author at Drey's Library. We'll be doing a few different posts on the Wednesday's of this month, along with a giveaway.

Today kicks off the month with a Q&A. You can find out what I'm listening to, what my writing space looks like, and what I think would happen if Evy and Wyatt ended up in the ring together. I'm answering questions in the comments stream, as well!

I'm super-stoked to be leaving for Shore Leave on Friday. If you see me there, stop me and say hello!

Six in One, Half Dozen in the Other

2011-07-01T09:20:00.003-05:00

Happy July! The year is officially half over. Six months down, six to go. It's so true that the years go by faster the older you get. It feels like 2011 just started.

It's odd to think that a week from today I'll be heading out to Shore Leave 33. It's my first year as an Author Guest, and I'm really excited. I'm on a handful of panels, including one on "Commercial vs. Self-Publishing," and the 2-Hour Writing Workshop. I can't wait!

In case you missed, I announced the winners of the Audiobook giveaway.

I'll be doing quite a few guest blogs this month, leading up to the August 2 release of ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD (Dreg City 3). I know I keep saying I'm super-excited about this book, because I am. So much drama and lots of changes for some of your favorite characters! I'm working on WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Dreg City 4) galleys right now, which deals with the fallout of those changes. It's a little sad, in some ways, because as of right now there aren't any more Evy books to work on. Sales are always a factor, and I'm not done with Evy's story yet. So keep your fingers crossed, and make sure you're pre-ordering or buying the book release week. It's sales that keep these stories coming! *grin*

I also thought I'd also do a mid-year reading roundup. According to Goodreads, I've read 61 books so far this year! That's awesome, considering last year my entire year's tally was only 44. Now to be fair, about a dozen of what I've read this year would count as a novella (shorter word count), rather than a novel. But that's still really good. I'll be curious to see if I can match that number for the last half of the year.

I can quite a few five-star reads in the bunch, but if I had to go through and pick three to recommend, they would be:

PRECIOUS AND FRAGILE THINGS, by Megan Hart.
DIRTY SECRET, by Jessie Sholl
LAST NIGHT'S SCANDAL, by Loretta Chase

Any top three years this year?

Xe Sands Interview/Giveaway Winner

2011-06-29T17:12:00.004-05:00

I know I'm a day late posting the winners of the THREE DAYS TO DEAD audiobook giveaway. My apologies (if it helps any, my copies still aren't here, so I can't mail them yet anyway).

So, I've added together the commenters from both Organized Chaos and The League of Reluctant Adults, and Random Number Generator has declared the winners are:

Erik and Moishe Moose!

Congrats!

Please send your mailing info to mail(at)kellymeding.com and I'll get you set up!

Thanks to everyone who commented! Xe has been amazing about the entire audio process, and I can't wait to settle in and listen to her narrate some of my favorite scenes.

Summertime Roundup

2011-06-22T09:17:00.003-05:00

First: HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!

It's strange, but knowing that it's finally, officially summer kind of makes it okay for the weather to get hot and humid. And it will. Because it's already been pretty gross. The temperature has bounced between 75 and 102 over the last few weeks, as I've tried to take advantage of spring. I'm much rather have my windows open than my air conditioning running, but I think the days and nights of open windows will end very soon. And I'm okay with that. Because it's summer.

As I'm sure many of you are aware, author LA Banks is battling cancer, and two different charity auctions have been set up to help with her medical expenses. I've donated here, and the auction is for a signed set of my first three Dreg City books (Three Days to Dead, As Lie the Dead, and Another Kind of Dead). I'll mail the books to the winner as soon as my author copies of AKoD arrive. There are lots of amazing things up for auction, so head over and check it out!

The audiobook version of AS LIE THE DEAD is now available from Tantor Audio. The Audible site has an interesting alternate cover (winged hawtness is there, but poor Evy looks like she thinks she holding a sword, rather than a knife). As always, Xe Sands has done an amazing job narrating.

Pre-order links for WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Dreg City 4) are going live on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which is awesome! And there is a sales rank, so you lovely folks are already ordering the book. *love* I just want to warn folks DO NOT READ THE COVER COPY YET!!!!! The cover copy for WSOD has a few big spoilers for ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, so don't read it if you want to avoid being spoiled before AKOD releases on 8/2.

A little reminder to folks in the Baltimore area: I'll be attending Shore Leave as a guest this year, July 8-10. It's a fun multi-media SF/F convention that I've been going to for ten years, and it's always a blast. Actor guests this year include the amazing John de Lancie, "Warehouse 13's" Eddie McClintock, and "Battlestar Galactica's" Tricia Helfer. So if you need something to do that weekend, check it out!

And it tickles me to end this blog post with some fun news. The first review for ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD is in, and it's from Romantic Times:

"Meding brings back her indomitable heroine Evy for a third installment in her fast-paced, memorable series. The bonds of friendship and love can be uplifting or devastating as these protagonists learn. This mad scientist-run-amok tale will grab you by the throat and never let go. -4.5 stars"

*dances*

This was a difficult book for me to write, because it was a difficult book for Evy to endure. Her strength and love is tested to the limit, and she's not given any easy answers to the questions she faces. So it's a great relief to see those four-and-a-half stars, and to know the story did what I hoped it would do.

I can't wait for you guys to get this book. Six more weeks!

A Narrator, an Actor, and a Superhero Walk Into A Bar....

2011-06-16T16:18:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, I asked folks what they wanted to know about TRANCE, the first book in my MetaWars series with Pocket. I've combined some of the questions, but hopefully this gives everyone something to look forward to.

But before we get to that, a few housekeeping things:

My interview with audiobook narrator and voice artist Xe Sands is here, and I'm running a giveaway. And since everyone loves free stuff, go forth and comment!

I spent some time on the super-fun site StoryCasting.com, where you can cast your favorite books. I've put up my dream cast for THREE DAYS TO DEAD. Check it out, and then add a cast of your own. You have to register, but it's free and it's fun!

I feel like there was a third thing I wanted to add, too, but it's slipped my mind. Oh well...on with TRANCE!

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*Who's the heroine? What is special about her? Is there a hero?*

The heroine of TRANCE is Teresa "Trance" West, and the book is told from her first-person perspective. She was raised by superhero parents and trained to one day become a superhero herself, but she lost everything (including her parents and powers) before she was able to fulfill that role. After growing up alone, tormented by what she sees as personal cowardice during the end of the MetaHuman War, she's basically skating through her life—until her superpowers unexpected return. But while Teresa's original powers were telepathic in nature, her new powers are telekinetic, and much more violent. She can create power orbs strong enough to blast holes in walls (and in people). She's tasked to not only deal with these new, strange powers, but also to in discover why she and her former classmates lost their powers to being with, all while being hunted by an old villain out for revenge. (*cue dramatic music*)

And yes, there is a hero. This series is heavier on romance than my Dreg City series, without actually being romance books. Gage "Cipher" MacAllister is the guy that Teresa had a childhood crush on, and the crush is still there fifteen years later when he comes back into her life—older, hotter, and with a lot of his own inner demons. And it's the battle between her personal life and her duty to her teammates that challenges Teresa the most. She never wanted to be a leader, and she never wanted to fall in love—now she's on the precipice of both.

*Why did you create this world? Why did you write it?*

Various incarnations of this world have been swirling around in my head since I was a teenager, but most of the specific world-building (especially the violent history between the Rangers, who are the heroes, and the Banes, who are the villains), came about in the last couple of years.

Mostly I created this world because of my love for superheroes. The first real comic I picked up and read was "The New Teen Titans #9".

I remember digging it out of a box of comics, looking at the cover and thinking, "Dude, Robin was part of a team of heroes?" I had no idea what reading that book would spawn, but the issue hooked me on the Titans and I began hunting down every issue I could find. I loved the concept of a team book, and I've always been a fan of the "family you make" theme, and I use that a lot in the MetaWars books. These heroes aren't related by blood, but they're still family.

When I was fourteen, I decided to create my own superheroes. I still have a notebook full of character ideas and costume sketches that will never be used, and storylines that are more soap opera than novel-ready. But pulled out that notebook around….2006, I think? Because I needed a new novel idea, and I figured I could scavenge some parts and put together a new book. The original draft is pretty different from what will be coming out from Pocket, but the overall concept is the same, and I truly love writing in this world.

*What troubles lie in the world? Does she [Trance] seem to find trouble, or trouble find her?*

One of the major troubles of this world is something that always irritates me about big Hollywood spectacle movies: the collateral damage. Homes and businesses get blown up, bystanders get crushed, lives are ruined by whatever catastrophe strikes next. And I wanted to really touch on that in these books. The battles between Rangers and Banes have ravaged the country—major cities are devastated, thousands of innocent people have been killed, water sources are contaminated, the economy is in the toilet. People are angry and scared, and they blame the Metas for it all.

So when all of the Meta powers suddenly return, the new Rangers are not immediately embraced. There are political ramifications. Even Trance and her friends are reluctant to reveal themselves, because they don't want to be attacked by terrified citizens. It's not a happy world to be a MetaHuman in.

Personally, Trance is not a trouble-magnet. She tries hard to maintain a low profile, and she spends most of her time working three jobs just so she can eat and keep a crappy apartment. So she's pretty unbalanced when her life turns on its head, and she's suddenly forced to confront not just old Bane enemies, but also federal agents.

*The process from idea, to characters, world-building, outlining, planning, pantsing, etc*

I think I touched on some of these in the paragraphs above. Because I created the initial world so long ago, and because it's been about 4 years since I wrote the first draft of what became TRANCE, it's hard to remember the process anymore. I didn't outline, which became a bit of an annoyance when it came time to write the climax, reveal the villain, and tie up the loose ends. Plus the original the Meta powers changed between initial draft (don't ask what it was, because in retrospect, it was pretty silly) and what finally went on submission to publishers.

The characters were, I think, the most fun to create. Since I was writing a team book, I needed several unique people, and I think I settled on an arbitrary number of six. Trance was easy enough to figure out. She goes from the timid girl with somewhat useless powers to the mega-powered leader of five other people—and she isn't happy about that. Leadership isn't her strong suit, and she leans heavily on Gage for advice.

Of all the characters, Gage gave me the most trouble. Gage has enhanced senses—he can see farther, hear better, smell stronger, etc…than the average human, and he has to learn to control his senses again. He was also a very private character, and as much as he disliked discussing personal issues with Trance, he wasn't much better with his author. It sounds goofy to say a character won't talk to me about his past, but Gage really wasn't talking. It was several rewrites before I figured him out and finally understood why he acted the way he did (some secrets are worth waiting for, let me tell you).

My other favorite of the group is Renee "Flex" Duvall. I love her because she's bubbly, big-mouthed, not afraid to say what she's thinking, comfortable in her sex appeal, and very proud of her boob job. She also has blue skin and can bend, stretch and contort into crazy lengths and shapes (think Mr. Fantastic meets Angelina Jolie). But she's also very fragile inside, and while we don't get to see a lot of that side of her in TRANCE, Renee will have her moment in the spotlight if the series is picked up past book two.

Rounding out the sextet of heroes are Marco "Onyx" Mendoza (shapeshifter, able to take the form of a raven, a panther, and a black house cat), William "Caliber" Hill (super-strength), and Ethan "Tempest" Swift (control of the air, including tornadoes and windstorms).

*Is the series YA or adult?*

The series is definitely adult. While the main characters lose their powers as children, they regain them and come together again as adults (twenty-five to thirty is the age span). There has been a little confusion about that, so I wanted to clear that up. :)

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So that's what I've got so far. Feel free to ask anything else that's on your mind! October is only four months away! (I can't believe I just typed that....)

Interview: Xe Sands, Audio Narrator

2011-06-13T07:35:00.002-05:00

Cross-posted to the League of Reluctant Adults.

So before reading this post, who knew June is Audiobook Month? Anyone?

I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't been recently been involved in the creation of audiobooks for the first three Dreg City books (although when I say involved, that mostly means signing the contract, helping my amazing narrator with pronunciation questions, and then pimping the project here and there). The books are with Tantor Audio, and THREE DAYS TO DEAD is currently available for purchase. AS LIE THE DEAD will be available June 20, with ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD releasing August 2 (same day as the print version).

My absolute favorite part of this whole process was "meeting" Xe Sands, who is the voice behind these audiobooks. She's a fabulous lady and her enjoyment of my books has meant the world to me. And since the process of audio narration is brand new to me, I decided to pick Xe's brain and share the results (kind of sounds like I'm inviting you to a zombie buffet, doesn't it?). Xe was kind enough to do an interview with me, and the results are below. Stick around to the end, too, because there will be a giveaway!

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First off, how did you get into this kind of work?

You know, so many narrators come from an acting or performing arts background, but me? Well, I didn't. Although I do have experience with public performance, what really shaped my entry into the field of narration is my daughter's love of reading - specifically, how much she enjoyed me reading aloud to her. I joke that she's my harshest critic, but it's actually true, because as she matured, so did her taste and her preference for a more nuanced and authentic performance of the stories we shared together. Now how did that shared experience and love for storytelling parlay into a career as an audiobook narrator - ah, bit more complicated, of course. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just wave a magic microphone, utter a few choice words and suddenly be imbued with the necessary training and a contract in hand? Right.

What really happened is...after reading to my daughter for nearly ten years, I began to realize that I derived an immense sense of satisfaction from performing for her, from her emotional reaction to the experience. At that point, a fire was lit inside me and once that happens...well, there isn't much to be done except move forward really! I began researching how narrators get their professional start, and at the same time, found and starting recording for librivox.org, which publishes audio of work in the public domain. Such an amazing learning experience in an incredibly supportive community! After volunteering for several years, I realized that raw talent was the foundation, but that professional coaching/training was the walls of the house of my dreams (hey, did I say I was a writer? No I did not). Fortunately, I was granted a scholarship to attend a working session with the amazing Pat Fraley, then followed that up with ongoing coaching with Carrington MacDuffie, and attendance at my first Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) last year. I made several invaluable connections at APAC 2010, one of which led to my initial work with Tantor Audio, an ongoing relationship which eventually led me to recording the Dreg City series :)

But the short answer? I am where I am because of my daughter's love of ,and relentless appetite for ,storytelling...and her belief in me.

Was it something you always wanted to do, or that you found later on in life?

I would love to say that I was caught reading aloud to an audience of stuffed animals, using rudimentary accents and characterizations at the tender age of 5 - ha! But reall, until I realized how very much I loved doing it, and more importantly, how much she and other children enjoyed it too, I just didn't view myself that way. However once I had that epiphany, I realized that *this* was the passion I had been waiting for all these years, the one you always hope you will find. It's what I want to do until I'm physically incapable of continuing.

How do you get jobs? Are they assigned? Are they offered and you can say yes/no based on the material?
(Let's assume you mean after you are established with a publisher)

Getting the job/job assignment: In my experience, this happens in one of two ways: (a) I'm asked to audition for a particular project, based on a short sample of text; (b) I'm sent an offer to narrate a particular project sans a custom audition. I find this completely depends on the publisher. Some prefer to audition narrators for each project, send those samples on to the author/agent/client, and then base their decision on client feedback. Some prefer to do the casting internally, based on demo samples and prior experience with a particular narrator (and perhaps author/client request). I've experienced an equal mix of both approaches to casting.

Can I say no? Yes, I can and I have - although I have not yet had to turn down an actual offer. I have, however, chosen not to audition for a particular project based on concerns over the content. I'm a bit of a "method" narrator and tend to really "live with" the characters of my projects and the worlds they inhabit pretty thoroughly, so if there is material that is truly offensive to me or with which I truly cannot connect, I may turn down the project. That said, I do not reject projects based on genre preferences. I feel that being open to many genres, even those outside my personal comfort zone or interests, encourages me to grow and open myself to new experiences...and bring my discoveries of new worlds into my narration.

Can you briefly take us through your process for narrating an audio book? From receiving the manuscript to final editing?

Sure! Course I'm laughing about this because I can't imagine I've ever been able to be brief about anything - but I will try! Going to number these to keep myself honest in the length department. Let's use the recording of Three Days to Dead as our model, shall we?

1. I receive the text from the publisher and begin my pre-read (pre-reading is a MUST! No cheating!)
2. Pre-read the book, taking notes along the way - specifically for characterizations, pronunciation questions, accent questions
3. Contact the publisher (and/or author, depending) for confirmation on any pronunciation and/or characterization questions
[Intermission: time permitting, I let the book percolate a bit, come together in my head/heart/voice*]
4. Head into the studio (usually my home studio) to begin initial character studies and narrative voices. Play around with character voices and narrator tone. Meet/conference with coach to go over tone, any tricky characterizations, etc.
5. Begin recording the book in earnest (using one of two recording methods, depending on the publisher I'm working for). Proof each day's work the following morning, paying special attention to narrative flow, characterization consistency.
6. Finish initial recording and go back for final round of proofing and tweaking
7. Send files back to publisher (most publishers do not want any processing on the completed files; if they want editing/processing, this is when that happens).
8. Complete any corrections reported back to me once final proofing is completed by publisher, and send the corrected version back to the publisher.

*And as in the case of one of my other recent projects, meet with a dialect coach in order to develop a specific accent for the project.

What were three of your favorite titles to narrate?

Thank you for not asking me to name only one! That's impossible, really, as they are all so different and I almost always fall in love with them in some way.

The Sweet Relief of Missing Children, by Sarah Braunstein
Three Days to Dead, by Kelly Meding (and I'm not just saying that - there are three powerful scenes that pushed this into my top three)
Fire and Ice, by Anne Stuart (bad boys, simply can't resist them!)

Is there a book you wished you could have done, but someone else got the job?

Yes. I auditioned for a poignant memoir...first person narrative, tortuous, darkly humorous - my favorite thing! And although I was disappointed upon hearing that I wasn't selected, I was blown away by how perfectly suited the chosen narrator was for the project. That was actually a very lovely feeling in the end, and a great reminder that the perfect casting is so essential. Yes, I wanted it...but someone else was perfect for it. And I can respect that.

Is yours a competitive line of work, or are you guys pretty supportive of each other?

Such an interesting question, and one that came up at APAC just a few weeks back. You know, when I first started, I assumed it would be a very competitive business...but it just doesn't feel that way. The casting is so individualized and each of us has a unique sound and "thing" that we're perfectly suited for, that I don't feel I am in competition in the same way I assume other performing artists might feel. The community of audiobook narrators feels much smaller and more tight-knit than I expected it would, as well as feeling incredibly supportive. I have been very blessed by the generosity of time and spirit of more established narrators - offering their guidance, sharing their experience, and introducing me to various individuals in the industry. I hope to be able to do the same for others that come into the industry after me.

Do you do any other kinds of audio work, other than book recording?

I have been fortunate to have worked on several video games, the last of which had me playing a sexy, ancient vampire created by Charlaine Harris. Character was essentially a sexier, snarkier, more confident version of Evy (like that's possible!) and it was a blast. I really enjoy working on video games...it's like performing only the emotional dialog from a novel :)

What do you do for fun when you aren't working?

Believe me when I tell you that now that I'm narrating full-time, work IS my fun. I'm completely addicted to it and find myself sneaking into the studio at every opportunity. The medium combines all of my interests - emotional performance, inhabiting other worlds and characters, reading, creative expression. But when I do manage to surface [read: am dragged kicking and screaming from the booth], I merge back into the life of my family and friends. Recording projects require my full attention and energy, so when I come up for air, free time is spent reconnecting with loved ones. And of course, no big surprise, I love to read! The only downside to my work is that I no longer have as much free time to read books outside of project work...my to-be-read pile is seriously going to topple right over very soon...and with all the amazing bloggers I interact with on Twitter, it grows daily.

Is there anything you'd like to add? Plug? Chat about? Warn against?

I suspect this is where I'm supposed to be extraordinarily clever and "WOW" you with my witty banter, isn't it? Sigh. Well I'm afraid that between you, Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman, all the charming witty banter the world has to offer has been just about used up and I will need to leave it up to the characters you create to be charming, snarky and witty in my stead. Me? I'm just the narrator ;)

#

Thank you, Xe, for taking the time to do this!

And if y'all have made it this far, I'm giving away two copies of the THREE DAYS TO DEAD audiobook! All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment. You can enter twice by leaving a comment on both blogs (here and the League). The contest is open until June 27, so there's lots of time! Winners will be announced on my blog.

This 'n That

2011-06-11T19:07:00.002-05:00

I'll start this one off with a bit of good news. I found out that the release date for WRONG SIDE OF DEAD, Dreg City #4, has been moved up! Instead of being Spring 2012, it's now scheduled for release on January 31, 2012! I hope this makes up for the long wait between books two and three, with book four coming only six months after three.

I also have a contest coming up on June 13th. Stay tuned for deets. The contest itself will be posted on the League of Reluctant Adults blog on Monday, and it has to do with June being Audiobook Month.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Rockville, MD to hang with some of my awesome writer friends. There will be food and fun, and probably crabs. Er, the kind that come from the ocean, folks (gutter brains!).

I also learned a very important lesson today: don't assume all restaurants make fish tacos the same way. Despite the name on the menu, what I had for lunch today was not a fish taco. It was depressing.

See you Monday!

A Buffy/Angel fan trailer

2011-06-08T10:19:00.003-05:00

I found this video via a tweet from Karen Mahoney. As a long-time fan of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," this video just rocked my socks off! I had to put it here for posterity.

If you haven't seen these shows yet, maybe this will convince you!

Edit: Blogger seems to be cutting off the side of the vid, so here's the link to the YouTube page where you can probably see it better.

The Dialogue: Talking about the Darkness

2011-06-06T08:19:00.003-05:00

I sometimes wonder if adults forget what it was like to be 11, 12 and 13 years old, teetering on the cusp of childhood and being a teenager, and wondering how to make sense of it all. If adults forget that insatiable curiosity they had about all things "grownup" and how anything that your parents told you was off limits was something you wanted More Than Anything.

It's been eighteen years since I was in that group of awakening tweens, and the kids who are in it now are so different from me that it's kind of scary. They're smarter, they're more tech savvy, they are more connected. They were raised using digital technology, so they know how to get the answers they want. And if Mom and Dad won't talk to them about things, they'll get those answers from friends or from the Internet. Or from books.

Books were my life force as a kid. I was always very shy (and still am, to some degree). But during those awkward adolescent years, I had very few books to help me transition, to help me face those darker times ahead. I had Sweet Valley High (hard-hitting stuff there, /sarcasm). I liked those books well enough, but I wanted more. Which is why I loved the books by Norma Klein--books that touched on sexuality and teens. I still remember reading "It's Okay If You Don't Love Me" as a twelve-year old and being shocked that the author was writing an actual sex scene, and that the girl was the experienced one!

That book was pretty risque for me at the time. And in just a year, I was moving on to adult authors like Stephen King and John Jakes. I was hungry for books and for information, and my parents encouraged me to read.

Did they always like what I was reading? No. Did they say I couldn't read certain books? Yes. Did I read them anyway? Absolutely. (Sorry, Mom and Dad)

Teens are going to do what you tell them not to do. How is it that we grow up and forget that little tidbit of information?

So why the sudden long post on YA and reading? Because of a Wall Street Journal article that's been making the blog and Twitter rounds since Saturday. "Darkness Too Visible" made me laugh, and then it made me angry. Because the author seems sincere in thinking that our children should be shielded from difficult topics like sexuality, rape, and self-injury. Hello?!! That stuff is happening RIGHT THE HELL NOW in our schools, to our children, and your answer is to pretend it's not? To hide these scary facts from tweens and teens, and tell authors to write happy books?

*snorts*

There is a lot going on in YA literature right now, but you only have to look as far as "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson to understand why it's important that authors write about these topics.

Graphic violence/sex is not new to adolescents (sorry, parents). It's all over television and movies, and it's in every magazine and billboard. It's there. So rather than trying to cover up their eyes and pretend it isn't, talk to your kids. Ask THEM questions, instead of waiting for them to come to you (because they probably won't). It's easier for teens to talk to other teens, instead of talking to a grownup, so you need to start the dialogue. Not the lecture. Not the "don't do this/don't read this."

The dialogue.

A few other great blog posts have popped up in response to the WSJ piece, and I want to link to those.

The awesome Jackie Morse Kessler has a piece, as her book "Rage" was mentioned in the article. Leave Jackie a little love on her blog, and then go buy her book. You won't regret it.

Booking Through 365 has an article, written by an actual teenager. Good stuff there.

And from Publisher's Weekly. From that article:

Teens are committing suicide because of bullying, eating disorders are common, even kids in “nice” neighborhoods have drug problems, and kids sometimes get pregnant. And sadly, some kids grow up in abused households with alcoholic parents. Reading about kids with alcoholic parents can make a kid feel better. Kids reading about cutting will not make them cutters. It might, however, make them recognize when one of their friends is cutting and could use help.

We can't hide our kids from the darkness in the world. But we can talk to them about it. And that, dear parents, starts with you.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

2011-06-01T17:08:00.002-05:00

(I couldn't resist the thread title. It's one of my very favorite Christmas songs.)

It's finally June. June means summer, my birthday, Father's Day, and (most importantly), it means only two more months until ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD finally releases! Can I get a WOOT!?

It also means that THREE DAYS TO DEAD is available for purchase from Tantor Audio. It's narrated by the fantastic Xe Sands (if you don't already follower her on Twitter, go follow her. It's okay, I'll wait....). I'll be posting an interview with her later in the month, so look out for that.

TDTD is currently 50% off at Tantor's site, so go order! They also gave the book a super-sexy cover!

I like this version of Evy and Wyatt. It's true to the original cover, while still being original and sexy. For some reason, the model makes me think of Kate Beckinsale.

June is also Audiobooks Month, which I only learned yesterday. If you want to learn more, search the Twitter tag #JIAM. Help me celebrate the month by listening to an audiobook or two! I'll be doing a giveaway for audio copies of TDTD soon, so stay tuned.

Remember

2011-05-30T09:13:00.001-05:00

Release Date Change

2011-05-18T14:55:00.001-05:00

So that year-long wait for Dreg City 3, Another Kind of Dead, is going to have to last for another week. The on-sale date has been pushed back from July 26 to August 2, 2011.

Remark your calendars folks, and help spread the word!

To Fong Who? Thanks For Nothing, Kevin Hearne....

2011-05-03T07:57:00.004-05:00

Okay, so the blog post title only makes a funny pun if you've heard of a certain drag queen movie starring Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes. If not...well, go watch it!

Today is the day that fellow League of Reluctant Adults member Kevin Hearne pops his cherry! Not just by guest blogging here (although that must be pretty spiffy, too), but also by having his first novel released by Del Rey!

HOUNDED is the first Iron Druid Chronicles book, and it's fabulous. I'm not just saying that--I've read it. And blurbed it. And it's fabulous. Ever wanted to get in on the inner workings of the mind of an Irish Wolfhound? This is your book. (Oh, and the Druid dude is pretty cool, too.)

So without further blathering, here is Kevin's post. And with his post, a challenge for me. Because what goes around, comes around....

#######

The Challenges of Writing

Hi there, fans of Evy Stone! I’m not here to talk about the challenges of picking the right word for the right moment. I’m here to talk about the challenge of having the word picked for you and finding someplace to stick it in your book, or suffer the relentless taunting of your peers. Authors do this to each other, because the pressure of meeting deadlines and doing publicity and stuff just ISN’T ENOUGH.

A few months ago, Kelly challenged me to put Rocky Mountain Oysters into my next book. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the polite term for fried bull balls. It’s not the sort of thing that casually comes up when you’re writing about a Druid caught in the middle of a vampire territory war. But she double-dog dared me to do this, so of course I had to accept. I successfully inserted them into Chapter 14 of my current work in progress, TRICKED, which will be the fourth book in The Iron Druid Chronicles. (Book one, HOUNDED, is available now, and the next two books, HEXED and HAMMERED, will be released on June 7 and July 5, respectively.)

Now I get to challenge Kelly in turn. No, wait: I get to TRIPLE-DOG DARE her! Without further ado, here it is: In Dreg City #5, Kelly must use the word “fong” as a running joke. To fong is an endearing verb that means to kick the living poo outta something, and since this is an activity Evy and her cronies rather enjoy doing, I don’t think that’s going to be especially difficult. (Fong was used most famously in the movie A Knight’s Tale. You should watch it again!) The trick here is going to be turning it into a joke. Knowing it has to be a joke will freeze Kelly at the keyboard for WEEKS. I can already taste the victory, and it is sweet, my friends. Sweet.

Challenge delivered, I can now confess to you that Kelly has been completely sweet to me and does not deserve to be cruelly fonged by my evil machinations. She’s been a tremendous font of wisdom as I’ve tried to figure out the publishing biz as a newbie author, and she was even kind enough to write a blurb for the back cover of HOUNDED for me. I still think the first chapter of THREE DAYS TO DEAD is one of the best in all urban fantasy, and I’m as addicted to Dreg City as you are. Personally, I cannot wait for books three and four, much less the epic fonging to come in book five! Please give Kelly all the support you can in the comments, because she could always use the additional pressure of your high expectations.

Mwah-ha-ha-ha!

Cover Reveal: TRANCE

2011-04-28T11:38:00.004-05:00

I saw this cover a few weeks ago, but now have a final version to show off. TRANCE is the first in my (what I'm currently referring to as) MetaWars series from Pocket, due October 25, 2011. I really love this cover--from the L.A. setting (palm trees!), to Trance's hair and powers.

Enjoy!

The cover copy:

Kelly Meding’s war-ravaged Los Angeles is ground zero for the ultimate Meta human showdown in this sexy, action-packed new series.

Fifteen years ago, Teresa “Trance” West was a skilled telepath and a proud member of the Ranger Corps. But ever since the Rangers were inexplicably rendered powerless at the climax of the devastating Meta War, she’s bounced from one dead-end job to another. Now her powers have reappeared just as mysteriously as they vanished— only they’re completely transformed and more potent than ever. And they’re threatening to destroy her.

Trance heads to Los Angeles to track down the surviving Rangers and discover who restored her powers—and why—but a phantom enemy is determined to kill them before they can reassemble. As they dodge his deadly attacks and come to terms with their new role as heroes, Trance and the rest of the team set out to annihilate the sinister madman . . . only to discover their own powers are his greatest weapons.

ETA: Artist is Don Sipley.

Third Snippet: Another Kind of Dead

2011-04-27T14:11:00.002-05:00

Three months to go until ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD hits shelves! So here's another snippet from the book, this time from Chapter Seven. There are, of course, minor spoilers for this story's plot.

###

Five minutes or so before the call was expected, I was in the bathroom, hands braced on either side of the porcelain sink bowl, glaring at myself in the mirror. A wave of nerves had hit, leaving me completely unsettled. I'd walked into unknown situations before, faced unknown enemies alone, and even tackled one particularly nasty hostage situation involving my late partner Ash and three Halfies. I had no reason to be so scared of this phone call.

No, that wasn't true. [redacted name] had something that, if released, could be truly devastating to this city. He wanted us to give him two unknown vials of liquid, for his own unknown purposes. In an unknown location, with a very uncertain outcome.

I hated the word "unknown."

I splashed cool water on my face and patted dry on a frayed towel. Compared to the rest of their apartment, the bathroom was oddly tidy. I guess they had some standards of cleanliness when it came to their throne. Even the mirror lacked water spots or toothpaste spray. I had a clear view of my face. The tension bracketing both brown eyes, lips pursed so tightly they were almost gone. Familiar and foreign—mine and hers. Sometimes I still glanced in a mirror and expected my old face—blond hair cut short and uneven, wide blue eyes, pale skin. Not the dark-haired, curvy, freckled-nose woman I'd been for nearly two weeks.

The door opened and shut. "You okay?" Wyatt asked. He shuffled behind me, and our gazes met in the mirror's reflection.

"If I say yes, will you believe me?"

"Not while you're hunched over the sink like you want to vomit."

"What happens if we don't get the crystal back?"

"We deal with it."

"Deal with it?" I rounded in the tiny space, long hair whipping across my face. "I saw that entity in Tovin's body, Wyatt. I have never been so terrified as when I looked into its face and knew it could snap me in half before I could blink. It was the ugliest, most evil thing I've ever seen. We can't just deal with it."

Warm palms framed my cheeks. I wrapped my hands around his wrists. His outward calm helped, even though I imagined his insides quaked as hard as mine. No one else had seen the Tainted elf; my description could never do the terror justice. He couldn't understand.

"We. Will. Deal. With. It." Each word from him fell like a promise, driven home by the gentle crackle of energy around us. I tried to believe in that promise.

Then the damned cell phone rang, and my stomach clenched. We parted. I fished the phone out of my jeans pocket as I led the way back into the living room.

Audio Books Are Coming!

2011-04-25T13:46:00.003-05:00

I mentioned this on Twitter a week or so ago, but now that contracts are winging their way to the appropriate parties, I'll officially announce it.

We've sold audio adaptation rights for the first three Dreg City books (Three Days to Dead, As Lie the Dead, Another Kind of Dead) to Tantor Audio! The books will be narrated by Xe Sands, and the first, Three Days to Dead, will be available May 30th. Yep, in just over a month! How awesome is that? As Lie the Dead will follow on 6/20 and Another Kind of Dead on 7/26 (same day as the paperback release!).

I'm really excited to hear Evy's world come alive, and I'll definitely be doing some giveaways once I have a few copies in my hands.

For now...

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T10:54:00.001-05:00

No matter how you may (or may not) celebrate today, don't forget: microwaving marshmallow Peeps is FUN!

The Good, the Bad, and the WTF?!

2011-04-20T13:16:00.003-05:00

THE GOOD

I'm a huge horror buff, which I bet is no surprise at this point. When the first Scream film came out in 1996, I was in high school. I'd seen the slasher films from the eighties, and I loved anything scary. But at the time, very few horror films were being made and released by major studios. And Scream was exactly the creative boost that the horror genre needed at the time. It revitalized the genre, while making fun of itself at the same time. I'm a huge fan of the entire trilogy.

Needless to stay, I was absolutely pumped when I heard that Scream 4 was being made, with original director Wes Craven, original screenwriter Kevin Williamson, and original stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courtney Cox. How could a fan not be stoked for this?

So I admit to going into this film with pretty high expectations. And you know what? For once, my expectations were very much met, maybe a little exceeded. Scream 4 was brilliant. It does for the glut of horror film remakes what the original film did for the dying slasher genre: it exposed the cliches, makes statements on society, and it also (minor spoiler) remakes the first film! Remakes it in a hugely original way that I didn't always see coming.

Horror fans may still appreciate this film, but if you haven't seen Scream 1-3, then don't bother with Scream 4. You just won't have the same experience.

THE BAD

So there was once a time when I loved "Glee." I bought the boxed set of Season 1 at the end of last summer and I spent an entire weekend watching it. It hooked me. I loved the characters. I loved the stories. I loved what they were doing with the songs and musical numbers, and how everything flowed well.

Cut to the hot mess that's been Season 2 so far, and can I just say "Gah!"? Gah!

The show's been on a month hiatus, and the last aired episode was amazing. It was the Regionals ep, and the cast sang original songs. It was tense, it was emotional, and it was what the show used to be.

A new episode finally aired last night. I watched it this morning. Gah!

I just don't have the energy to rant on everything that I thought sucked about last night's episode. So I'll talk about the only good thing (besides the fact that Paltrow is gone for the foreseeable future). The corridor confrontation between Kurt, Blaine, Santana and Karofsky--pure gold. I loved Santana getting up in K's face, and I really hope this is setting up for what was promised to us earlier this year. There is a lot of potential with the Karofsky character, and I'm afraid the writers will butcher it, like they've managed to butcher most of this season.

One more "Gah!" for good measure....

THE WTF?!

Last week, ABC Daytime announced the cancellation of daytime soap opera staples "One Life to Live" and "All My Children," leaving the network's daytime lineup with one soap opera ("General Hospital"). GH joins what will become only four surviving soap operas on network television (ABC's "Days of Our Lives," and CBS's "The Bold & the Beautiful" and "The Young and the Restless"). OLTL and AMC become the third and fourth soap to be canceled in the last two years.

I watched "One Life to Live" for a few months last year and then stopped once the stories I was following ended, and most of the actors were fired. But it wasn't a terrible show, and I'll mourn its loss. I can agree that television is changing, and that maybe soap operas are a somewhat dated format. But there are still loyal viewers and fans out there, and it sucks that they are losing shows they've watched for THIRTY or FORTY YEARS. That's a lifetime.

I think my major complaint is that these dramatic serials are being replaced by more cookie cutter talk shows. I mean, really, do we need more groups of people gabbing at each other over inane topics? Really?

I don't know. But I do applaud Hoover for listening to their consumers and pulling their ads from ABC. Some might say it's counterproductive to pull ad revenue from a show that relies on it to stay afloat, but it's already canceled, no? I can't imagine ABC Daytime would eat humble pie and reverse the cancellations, so why not show them exactly how their fans feel about this betrayal?

Another Kind of Dead Cover Copy Reveal!

2011-04-14T09:21:00.003-05:00

As previously splashed all over Twitter yesterday, the back cover copy for ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD is up. You can finally find out (more or less) what Evy's next adventure is about!

She can heal her own wounds. She can nail a monster to a wall. But there’s one danger Evangeline Stone never saw coming.

Been there. Done that. Evy Stone is a former Dreg Bounty Hunter who died and came back to life with some extraordinary powers. Now all but five people in the world think she is dead again, this time for good—immolated in a factory fire set specifically for her. Evy and Wyatt, her partner/lover/friend, can no longer trust their former allies, or even the highest echelons of the Triads—the army of fighters holding back from an unsuspecting public a tide of quarreling, otherworldly creatures—they can trust only each other. Because when the Triads raided a macabre, monster-filled lab of science experiments and hauled away the remnants, they failed to capture their creator: a brilliant, vampire-obsessed scientist with a wealth of powerful, anti-Dreg weaponry to trade for what he desires most of all—Evy Stone: alive and well, and the key to his ultimate experiment in mad science.

Evy and Wyatt are back, and they're facing a brand-new foe...who might not be so new, after all. *cue dramatic music*

What do think?

A Challenge Was Met -- At the League

2011-04-13T08:52:00.002-05:00

I've posted over at the League of Reluctant Adults today about a book, a challenge, and probably one of the strangest things that most of us have never eaten.

Check it!

One Man Disney Movie

2011-03-23T11:54:00.004-05:00

I'm an old-school Disney animation fan. My teen years were filled with such amazing films as "Aladdin," "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast." I'm also a huge fan of their own personal send-up, "Enchanted."

I found this video via Twitter, and it's amazingly well done. I just could not resist sharing it.

By Pixar modeling artist Nick Pitera:

EDIT: Apparently my blog is cutting off part of the video, so here's the link to YouTube for better viewing.

Happy Spring!

2011-03-21T17:59:00.004-05:00

I have to admit, I'm happy to see spring finally arrive. I hate winter. I hate being cold. I like being warm, and I like sunshine. But in retrospect, this winter went by very quickly. VERY quickly. I can't even figure out where the time's gone.

This past week, though, I know exactly where my time has been spent: up to my ears in Dreg City. Edits for book four landed the week before last, and I've been digging into those. I really do love this book for a lot of reasons. The flashbacks are handled a bit differently than in the first three books, you get to meet some new shape-shifters, and--wait...that's just mean, isn't it? Talking about a book that won't be out for another year? *innocent smile*

Anyway, those edits are done. I'm letting it sit for a little while before I give a few sections another reread, just for clarity. Then it's back to Bantam! Yay!

Right now I'm preparing to dive into edits for TRANCE. Funny story about publishing to go along with this: when I went to open my digital file last night, it said the last time the file was modified was August 2009. I immediately thought that I'd misplaced/lost/corrupted the original file, and that I was in deep trouble. I searched my files, then searched my Sent emails. Surely it hadn't been a year and a half since I'd last modified the book!

And yet, it has been. That's the file that was sent to my agent, which was sent to my Pocket editor. It really floored me to think about the time frame, and then I got a good giggle out of it. It honestly didn't feel like it had been that long since I'd fiddled with this book, but it had.

But now I get to play again, in a world where superheroes are scarce, feared, and your own powers can be turned against you.... *cue dramatic music*

Critiques for Charity

2011-03-16T13:03:00.003-05:00

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the disasters in Japan. I try not to look at the photos and footage of the destruction, because it always makes me cry. And it's easy to try and ignore the utter devastation of it all, because it's happening on the other side of the world.

Until you realize that the very nice lady who was about to buy a red sofa from you just got a phone call from her daughter, who was in Japan, and who she hasn't heard from in days.

This affects us all.

That's why my friends at the League of Reluctant Adults are auctioning some things off for charity. All of the money raised will go to the American Red Cross and relief efforts.

So what are we auctioning? Critiques, ladies and gents! Two different partial manuscript critiques by two different sets of Leaguers.

Team Claw.

Team Fang.

Get thee hence and bid!

Spring Colors, Slow Cookers, and Edit Letters - Oh My!

2011-03-09T19:06:00.003-05:00

So I've had a mini-vacation of sorts. The interesting thing about working in retail, even part-time, is that your days off are never the same week-to-week. And sometimes they fall in such a way that you have days off at the end of one week and the beginning of the following week. The end results: five days in a row away from the day job.

It's been awesome.

I spent the weekend doing some really cool things. Namely, shopping. I don't generally like shopping (unless I'm in a bookstore or a thrift store). But I really wanted to put some bright, spring colors into my apartment (which is mostly neutral colors). So I did. And I love the way it looks. I'll post some before-and-after pictures in the near future, but I went with aqua and lime green accent colors, and it looks really nice. Fresh. Ready for spring.

I also spent time with my sister, niece, and parents on Sunday. We went over to belatedly celebrate my dad's birthday with presents and a cake. Yesterday I made a lovely pot roast in my slow cooker (first time I've used it since I got it for Christmas) with a mostly-made-up recipe. Much yumminess.

I've also been fiddling with getting my tax information prepared. Every year, I tell myself I'll be more organized with my receipts, rather than just throwing them into an envelope. Every year, I open up an envelope and spend hours sorting. But Tax Day is drawing ever nearer, and I must get this finished.

Meanwhile, my edit letter for WRONG SIDE OF DEAD (Dreg City 4) is here! I can't wait to jump back into Evy's world for a while and whip this book into proper shape. My lovely editor really likes the direction I've taken the series in this book, so yay! (yes, that was a tease, since this book isn't coming out until next spring)

I've also seen the cover for TRANCE (Pocket, 10/25/11), and I love it! I promise I'll share as soon as I'm able.

Happy March (Plus Someone Else's Giveaway)

2011-03-01T11:05:00.003-05:00

Happy March! There's something wonderful about flipping the calendar out of the last winter month and into the first spring month (even though spring is still technically 20 days away). I have this adorable homemade calendar that my sister gave me for Christmas, and each month has a different picture of my niece. In March's picture, my niece is eating a piece of corn on the cob. It's so cute! And I get to look at it for a whole month!

Today is also a big release day in the urban fantasy realm. Here's a handy link to fellow Leaguer Carolyn Crane's blog, where she is hosting a cool giveaway for several of those releases. If you like free books (and who doesn't?), check it out!

As for myself, I don't have much to report. I admit, I'm insanely excited about the Food Network's new special, Chopped: All-Stars. I love Chopped and tend to Tweet about it if I'm home to watch new episodes. And this time, both regular judges and other FN chefs are the ones competing. It looks like a lot of fun.

Alas, I only read eight books last month. I know, some folks are thinking "ONLY EIGHT?!?!?!" But considering I read 21 in January, eight is a big step backward. Then again, I don't think I read anything the first two weeks of the month, so maybe it's not so bad. My reading choices were pretty evenly divided between urban fantasy and YA, plus one true crime and one contemporary romance.

Anyone else read anything good recently?

Teaser Tuesday: Another Snippet

2011-02-22T10:27:00.003-05:00

And the countdown continues: five months and four days until ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD releases! In honor of that (and the blog meme called Teaser Tuesday), I have another snippet for you. The first, from Chapter Three, is posted here.

This one is from Chapter Four, is much shorter, and it does contain a plot spoiler. If you don't want any spoilers, skip this one.

Enjoy!

#

Giving Amalie my undivided attention, I asked, "What's going on that concerns me so much?"

"Something valuable has gone missing," she said.

"Gone missing?"

"Stolen."

Alarm bells clanged in my head, telling me I really didn't want to know the answer to my next question. "What's been stolen?"

"The crystal in which we sealed the Tainted One."

Wyatt made a soft choking sound. I couldn't tear my attention off Amalie, too mesmerized by what I saw in her face—fear. Never in my life had I thought to see a frightened sprite. They could manipulate so much power because of their direct ties to the Break. It was the reason sprites, and no other race, held the most sway over the Fey Council, and why we needed to keep them as our allies.

But more than that, my ears had filled with a dull roar, and even above the fear I saw in her, I didn't believe what I'd just heard. Heart jackhammering, I asked, "Say that again?"

She didn't. Instead, she started in on a story. "After your initial entrapment, we devised a method to more permanently seal the Tainted One's essence into a crystal. When the spell was cast, we sought a safe place for it elsewhere. We gave it to our brethren in the forest west of here, an expanse of mountains few humans ever hike into. They could cloak the Tainted's draw. I believed it was safe there."

I snorted, red fury creeping into the corners of my vision. "Why the hell did you take it out of First Break?"

"The power of the Tainted affects not only humans, Evangeline, but many of my kind as well. Having its evil so near was…unsettling. I feared its effects on our well-being. One does not allow disease to remain in one's orchard to infect all around it."

"So you let someone steal it?" I seethed, in no mood to understand her reasons. Only one thing was crystal clear to me. "The fucking Tainted is loose?"

Group Signing Event

2011-02-16T22:01:00.003-05:00

This is kind of last minute, but I'll be participating in a group Signing/Conversation on Sunday, February 20th, from 2-4 pm.

Barnes & Noble
Annapolis Harbour Center
Annapolis, MD

Happy February 14th

2011-02-14T09:58:00.002-05:00

I found this brilliant little video on YouTube, and I just had to share it.

To those of you celebrating today with someone you love, congrats and enjoy.

To the rest of us...well, enjoy the video. I know I did. :)

League Post

2011-02-13T11:12:00.002-05:00

Today I'm posting over at the League of Reluctant Adults.

Check out: Susan Lucci is a Vampire!

Just a Few Things

2011-02-10T18:40:00.004-05:00

The last few weeks have gone by in a bit of a blur, and I apologize for the lack of blog activity. I generally hate these final weeks of winter, because I've become sick of the cold and ice and darkness. Thankfully, though, it's only a few weeks until March. And spring. And warm weather.

Yay!

I've been spending quite a bit of time reading. I ended January with 21 books read for the month, including a few catch-ups (the last couple of releases in some favorite series). All in all, I read some really great books--a memoir, a nonfic about chemicals in our daily lives, a horror, five YA's, and a bunch of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. It was quite an eclectic month.
*
So bad news first. My book signing scheduled for February 12 in the Winchester, VA Borders has been canceled. If anyone had planned to attend, I do apologize. The cancellation was short notice for us, too.

On the upside, I'll still be attending Farpoint next weekend! And I can't wait!

The good news. Two things, actually.

My new superhero series with Pocket has changed titles. The title of the first book is now simply TRANCE, and it has a street date of October 25.

The other good news is that you may notice the League of Reluctant Adults blog has become much more active this week. We've created a posting schedule and hopefully this means lots more interesting, snarky, fun content for you guys. And if you haven't seen that blog yet...well, why not? ;) It also means that I'm up on Sunday.

Now I just need a topic....

February Appearances

2011-01-16T10:59:00.002-05:00

Now that I'm thinking about it, just about a year ago this weekend I was doing my very first book signing up in Newark, DE. So much has happened since then that it's kind of mind boggling.

We're in the middle of winter here, and even though February is the shortest month, it always seems longest to me. Probably because it's the last month before warm weather starts (not to mention Valentine's Day, which I think should be renamed Singles Awareness Day), and by March I'm itching to spend time outside again.

So if you're looking for something to spice up the winter doldrums, I'll be out and around a bit in February.

February 12, I'll be doing a joint signing with Stacey Graham at the Borders in Winchester, Virginia. We'll be there 2 pm. Stacey has a story in the fun zombie anthology HUNGRY FOR YOUR LOVE, so come out and see us!

Also! I'm popping my convention guest cherry! February 18-20, I'll be at Farpoint, a multi-media/multi-fandom convention at the Crown Plaza hotel outside of Baltimore. I've attended this con in the past as a member, and this is my first year as a guest! I'm really excited to be there (and to see my name on a list of Confirmed Guests that includes Peter David and AC Crispin).

And you know who else is a guest at Farpoint this year? Tahmoh Penikett.

I will resist the urge to stalk him...

Snippet: Another Kind of Dead

2011-01-10T12:11:00.003-05:00

It's still a little over six months before ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD (Dreg City 3) is released, but I wanted to start teasing--um, I mean, enticing you guys a bit. The official blurb isn't out yet, but I'm giving y'all a snippet from Chapter 2.

Enjoy!

#####

Wyatt was pacing in and out of the narrow kitchenette, lips pressed together, eyebrows furrowed. He dialed another number, then listened. He had to be getting a lot of voice mails, but he wasn't leaving messages. Unless they were ignoring him, which was also entirely possible. Apparently, while I was unconscious and recovering from my dive out a four-story window, Wyatt had said some pretty cruel things to both of his former fellow Handlers Gina Kismet and Adrian Baylor.

I perched on the arm of the apartment's faded sofa and watched him dial again.

His face brightened. "Morgan, it's Truman. Look, has anyone else reported a minor earthquake this morning?" He listened. "Claudia's Gifted, right? Yeah, thought so. I felt it, too." Another pause. "No idea what it could be, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining things. If you hear anything…. Yeah, thanks."

He snapped his cell phone shut and dropped it on the narrow counter.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

He started, gazing at me with surprise. As if he'd forgotten he should be able to see me. "I'm thinking I started out the day hoping to relax after the memorial, and now that hope has been shattered."

"How do you figure?"

"Come on, Evy. Anything strong enough to affect the entirety of the Break like that isn't going to just go away."

"Doesn't mean we'll automatically get swept up into it." But even as I said the words, I knew how ridiculous they sounded. Ever since my resurrection, I'd been at the center of every major event affecting the city and its nonhuman inhabitants. Factor in my training-born need to protect the innocents of the city, and I'd probably get myself sucked into it anyway. "Dead" or alive.

"We've put up with so much these last few weeks," he said, almost sulking. "I just want a couple of days of peace and quiet." He didn't have to say "with you." The words were in his tone and in the way he was looking at me.

Three days ago, after waking up from a brief coma, I'd finally told him I loved him and hadn't repeated it since. He didn't push. I didn't want the inevitable discussion that would come with a revelation of feelings. I didn't want to talk about it or us, or anything else. Avoiding it meant avoiding any potential "next steps" in our burgeoning relationship.

It wasn't like we'd never had sex. Well, that was half-true. We'd slept together once, two weeks ago, right before I died and left my old body behind. We hadn't had sex since my resurrection—although we'd come close once—mostly due to my inability to figure out my own emotional chaos.

Before I'd died, I hadn't been in love with Wyatt. I'd loved him, sure, as a coworker and a man I respected. But being born again into the body of Chalice Frost came not only with handy teleporting powers but also with a powerful physical attraction to Wyatt. My head and my heart were on two different wavelengths, and I just didn't know how to reconcile them.

Sex with Wyatt now, as the people we'd both become, was a step I both craved and feared. I wanted him; I also didn't think I deserved him.

"Peace and quiet don't come with the job description," I said.

"Need I remind you we're both unemployed?"

I slid off the arm of the sofa and sank into the springy cushions. It was the same sofa from when I'd lived here before; nothing had changed except the inhabitants. The apartment had always been a haven of sorts, a place away from the chaos and bloodshed of our daily (and nightly) lives. It still felt like that sanctuary. But with the ghosts of my old life so firmly entrenched in each piece of furniture and carpet stain, it also felt like a prison.

Wyatt sat next to me, sinking the old cushions toward the middle. I let gravity tilt me sideways and rested my head on his chest. He draped his right arm over my shoulders in a gentle embrace. His familiar scent—spice and cinnamon and male musk—filled my senses. Relaxing and safe.

"Five gets you twenty your phone rings in the next ten minutes," I said, "and shatters the mood."

He chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest, against my ear. He didn't laugh nearly enough. Neither of us did. "You do realize you've jinxed us by saying that?"

Update

2011-01-04T13:59:00.004-05:00

A belated Happy New Year to all!

It's been pretty quiet here on the home front, as I get things from 2010 organized, and prepare my goals for 2011. I'm also excited to finally be able to say "I have two books coming out this year!" The third Dreg City book, ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, comes out in July, and the first superhero book from Pocket, WARDEN'S TRANCE, comes out in November. I also have several conventions lined up, and will be doing a handful of book signings, as well.

I've also managed to (finally) update my website. It has all of my new and upcoming releases listed. I also hope to add some things to the Free Reads section in the upcoming months. So check it out, and if you still get the original, un-updated page like I was, just clear your cache and close your browser.

The Year in Review

2010-12-27T11:24:00.003-05:00

'Sup, folks? I hope everyone had a good holiday. Mine was much better than last year, and I got some nice things (new slow cooker, some gift cards, jewelry). We even had a white Christmas, and it got even whiter yesterday. The winter storm dumped about a foot of snow on us, which killed the big after-Christmas sales up and down the eastern seaboard. Right now the wind is gusting up to 45 mph, which is making it hard to keep the roads clear.

It's been an interesting weekend.

The year is winding down, and it's hard to believe that it's only five days until 2011. The new year is almost upon us, so I've been thinking a lot about the year that's almost over. After checking back through older posts, I realized I never did post my goals for 2010 here. I did post them over on Absolute Write, so I brought that list over.

1. Sell at least two more books in the Dreg City series to my editor
2. Submit a second adult series (if my current editor decides not to take it on)
3. Discuss and prepare with agent a YA project
4. Continue writing short stories and submit to short story markets
5. Promote the hell out of my July '10 release
6. Continue blogging
7. I hit my goal of reading 100 books/novellas this year, so I'm putting next year's goal at 115.
8. Write, write, write to keep those muscles limber

So how did I do?

1. Sold. ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD releases 7/26/11 and WRONG SIDE OF DEAD sometime in 2012.
2. Did that. Sold it to Pocket. The first book, WARDEN'S TRANCE, releases 11/1/11.
3. Did that, too. Details forthcoming.
4. Er, not so much. I've fiddled with a few shorts, and I suppose my chapter of A GLIMPSE OF DARKNESS counts.
5. Did that. My readers are awesome.
6. I didn't blog as often as I would have liked, and it's something I hope to do more often next year.
7. Epic fail. As of yesterday, my Read List is 40 books. It'll probably be 41 before the year ends.
8. Definitely did this. I wrote Dreg City #4, a spec novel that's currently in limbo, finished the aforementioned YA book, and dabbled in a few other side projects. Not to mention the rewriting/editing of some other works.

So 2010 was definitely a productive year for me. I haven't written up my 2011 goals yet. Turning in the second book in my Pocket contract is the only outstanding thing I have to do in the new year. I also hope to do a few more conventions this year, so stay tuned for those details.

How did 2010 treat you?

Cover Art: Another Kind of Dead

2010-12-13T17:34:00.003-05:00

I can now unveil the cover for Dreg City #3, ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD. And can I just say how much I love this? I have truly been blessed with some amazingly awesome covers, and this one is no exception.

The background is a train yard, which see a little action this time around. And the super-cool lightning is a fun plot point, as well. Evy looks particularly bad-ass in this one, and the tag line says it all: She was born for this fight--no matter how many times it kills her.

Love. It.

Release Day: A Glimpse of Darkness

2010-12-06T10:49:00.003-05:00

A GLIMPSE OF DARKNESS, my collaborative short story with fellow Del Rey/Spectra authors Lara Adrian, Harry Connolly, Stacia Kane and Lucy A. Snyder, is now available as an ebook! You can get the entire adventure for just 99 cents!

To help celebrate the release, each of us briefly blogged on the Kindle Daily Post about our experiences writing a collaborative story, as well as submitted questions to each other about the process. Check out the first post by Lara Adrian here.

In other news, I finished page proofs for ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD. It's always an exciting step to see what the actual book pages will look like. Couple that with having seen cover art, and it's starting to feel like a real book! I'll share the cover as soon as I can, promise!

Food Court Serenade

2010-12-03T00:03:00.002-05:00

If this doesn't put you in the holiday spirit, I don't know what will.

How come I'm never at the mall when cool stuff like this happens?

Thanks to SciFiGuy for the link.

On Thanksgiving Day....

2010-11-25T20:19:00.003-05:00

...I'm thankful for a lot of things. But rather than boring you to tears with a long list, I figured I'd go for five. Five is a nice number.

5. I'm thankful I didn't have to cook and host the entire Thanksgiving meal this year. We three siblings (myself, sister and half-brother) put it all together and took it to my parents' house. Dad couldn't travel because of #4.

4. I'm thankful my Dad finally got the surgery on his leg that he's needed for months, and that it went well.

3. I'm thankful that I have an amazing agent who sold 4 books for me this year.

2. I'm thankful to have a happy, healthy kitty cat who is eating well, doing well, and is all-around terrific. This time last year she was just starting to get sick, and every time she purrs for me I remember how lucky I am to still have her.

1. I'm thankful for you, Readers, for making it possible to get paid for what I love to do: write.

What are you thankful for?

Five by Five?

2010-11-23T09:53:00.002-05:00

In what is probably one of the most bizarre studio decisions I've read about in a long while, Warner Bros is developing a reboot of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." Without the brains behind the cult hit, Joss Whedon.

No, that wasn't a typo. Check it.

I'm not even going to go into all of the reasons why this feels like a terrible idea. There are probably enough blog posts and editorials surfacing that across the internet that pretty much cover it. And so far, the 'net response has been overwhelmingly negative. I have a feeling this reboot is either going to fail dismally, or it will be wildly successful--the jury is still out on which, since there is no director attached, the script isn't finished, and no one's been cast.

I am just a little tired of the reboots. For frak's sake, Hollywood, do something a tiny bit original! Or at least wait for the franchise you're trying to reboot is at least twenty years old. Let the corpse cool!

Yes, I understand that WB wants to jump on the hot paranormal bandwagon and make a crapload of money, but rebooting a franchise that is one of the best loved cult shows out there? *facepalm*

We'll see, I guess.

And as a slight aside for anyone who read the comments section of the article I linked above, someone in there decided that since the attached screenwriter, Whit Anderson, is from Delaware that she must be a rich, upper class snob with absolutely no real attachment to the series.

To which I call bullshit.

As someone born and raised in DE, that commenter needs to get his head out of his own ass and realize that there is more to DE than duPont and New Castle County. Also, posting a laundry list of personal information about Whit proves...what? That you like to assume a lot about people you don't know, because it makes you feel better about yourself? Uh huh. Y'all know what happens when you assume, right?

*sigh*

Radio Interview

2010-11-18T10:46:00.003-05:00

It's kind of bizarre to hear yourself on the radio. You don't realize how you sound to other people until you hear yourself talking to someone. The only reason I know this is because I was interviewed on a local radio show last Saturday, 92.7 WGMD, by Jared Morris.

I admit to being terrified at first, but it ended up being a lot of fun, and you can listen to the podcast here. We chat about the Dreg City series, publishing in general, and how it feels to be a "local personality."

Pre-Order Links

2010-11-04T09:10:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a fabulous Twitter follower, I just found out that ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, Dreg City 3, is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca! Very cool news, indeed. Hopefully I'll have a cover to tease y'all with very shortly...

Also, the first book in my Pocket series is up for pre-order on Amazon. Just bear in mind that the release date is changing. I don't know to when, yet, but I'll let everyone know when I find out.

Home Again

2010-11-03T12:27:00.001-05:00

I'm back from my long weekend in New York City. Lots of pictures were taken, and lots of yummy food was sampled. I'll have a longer, more detailed post up this week. Once I stop feeling like I was run over by a truck. I took cold with me to NYC, and it's still hanging around. Blah.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

A Glimpse of Fire Alarms in the Dead of Night

2010-10-24T09:10:00.003-05:00

There's nothing quite so disorienting than being terrified awake by a loud, obnoxious noise.

Especially if said noise is a fire alarm, it's blasting in your living room, and it's 2 o'clock in the morning. That was my Thursday night. And being two a.m., it took me several seconds to have an actual, coherent thought, which was, "Shit, where's my cat?" I didn't know if it was a real fire somewhere in the apartment building, or if some bastard had pulled the alarm for kicks--but I wasn't leaving Anya behind.

Which lead to a frantic search for her carrier (I could remember the first place I put it, but not where it actually was). And then a frantic search for the cat, who I had to yank out from under the bed where she was cowering. All while this alarm is flashing and squawking loudly enough to give me a headache. Then I realized, "Hey, pants! Coat!" All good things when it's about forty degrees outside.

It occurred to me later that I had the forethought to grab three things (clothes notwithstanding) -- my cat, my cell phone, and my car keys. I didn't even *think* to grab my purse.

Fortunately, it wasn't a real fire. Alarms had gone off in multiple buildings, so it took a while for the fire department to get to ours and turn them off. Forty minutes of sitting in my car (some of you may have seen my Tweets on the experience), and I finally got back inside.

Not cool.

***

So who's excited to see how A GLIMPSE OF DARKNESS ends? I know I am. It's been such a blast participating and seeing this story come together, and I just can't wait to see how Lara Adrian wraps it all up tomorrow!

***

I'll see in New York City this weekend for Halloween! I've made day trips to NYC, but this is my first overnight stay, and I'm ecstatic to get away. I never managed a real vacation this summer, so this (along with June's D.C. trip) kind of make up for that. We aren't making too many plans, because part of the fun is discovering things to do, but we are going to take in a Broadway show, as well as hit Central Park and a recommended restaurant. I'm also going to meet Agent J!

Anyone else have fun plans for Halloween?

Darkness and Hunger

2010-10-19T08:51:00.002-05:00

Chapter five of A GLIMPSE OF DARKNESS, by Stacia Kane, is now posted and open for voting! This is your last chance to vote on the course of the final chapter, which will be written by Lara Adrian. Voting is open until Thursday!

Also, HUNGER, by Jackie Morse Kessler, is officially on sale. It's a YA novel about an anorexic teenage girl who becomes the new Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I've been waiting on this one ever since Jackie read an excerpt last year at Dragon*Con, and I'm eager to dive in. A portion of proceeds is being donated to the National Eating Disorders Association.

It Gets Better

2010-10-04T12:14:00.003-05:00

Who let October in? Seriously, who's the blame? I had to turn the heat on last night, and I've begun the process of swapping winter clothes for summer clothes. *sigh*

You guys remember my post about the horror flick THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE? Well, I have to say, the French film MARTYRS? Way worse on the "what kind of fucked up things can one human being do to another?" level. *shudders*

Chapter Three of A GLIMPSE OF DARKESS, by Lucy A. Snyder is now live on Suvudu! Go vote! I'm up next, so this is your chance to tell me what to write about. And the two choices are awesome. I think I'll have a lot of fun, no matter which way it ends up going.

****

IT GETS BETTER

Recently in the news, there have been several different stories about teenagers committing suicide. Yes, teenagers. Committing suicide. Why? They were being bullied because they were (or were assumed to be) gay. It's heartbreaking.

Katiebabs, over at Babbling About Books, and More, has an amazing post on the subject. She has made a pledge to donate $500 to The Trevor Project and The Matthew Shepard Foundation, so please help spread the word. Stop by and comment.

Her post also directed me to a movement called It Gets Better. Started by columnist Dan Savage, he has this to say:

I've launched a channel on YouTube—www .youtube.com/itgetsbetterproject—to host these videos. My normally camera-shy husband and I already posted one. We both went to Christian schools and we were both bullied—he had it a lot worse than I did—and we are living proof that it gets better. We don't dwell too much on the past. Instead, we talk mostly about all the meaningful things in our lives now—our families, our friends (gay and straight), the places we've gone and things we've experienced—that we would've missed out on if we'd killed ourselves then.

My heart breaks every time I hear about another child killing him or herself because of being bullied. It isn't just gay kids, either. Our children are being bullied for a lot of reasons--their weight, their looks, their religion, their sexual orientation. This should not be happening.

Don't turn your back on bullying. Ignoring is tantamount to participating.

And please spread the word that IT GETS BETTER.

Several Things at Once

2010-09-27T09:31:00.002-05:00

So a funny thing happened last week - I finished writing another novel. This one is kind of special, though, for several reasons. The first of which is that it's my twelfth completed novel (I know, it boggles my mind, too). The second reason is that I started writing this particular novel back in the spring of 2007, before the Dreg City series was even a glimmer of an idea. It was one of my "what am I going to write next" beginnings, and it's started/stopped several times over the last few years. The third reason it's special, though, is also why I've stuck with it these years - it's my first real YA attempt, and I like it a lot.

So at a healthy 70k words, the Untitled YA of 2007 is finally complete! It needs some work, of course, including the ironing out of world-building details. Stayed tune...

Also happening around the internets: I have a new interview up HERE. The very awesome Ray Wong (The Pacific Between) asked me to partake in his "I, the Author" interview series, and he asked some pretty cool questions about writing, my adventures in fanfic, and why I write "dark and twisty."

Two of my fellow Leaguers have releases tomorrow, so be sure to check them out! First is the mass-market release of JF Lewis's REVAMPED (Void City #2). Second is fellow Dell/Spectra author Carolyn Crane's DOUBLE CROSS (The Disillusionists Trilogy, #2).

Copy edits for Another Kind of Dead have landed, so I'll be working on those this week, as well as crossing my fingers and turning Wrong Side of Dead (Dreg City 4) in to my editor.

And make sure you check out Suvudu.com later today for Chapter 2 of A Glimpse of Darkness, this one written by Harry Connolly!

Goodnight, Jennifer

2010-09-23T09:14:00.001-05:00

It's with a heavy heart that I say goodnight and good-bye to a fine lady and very talented Urban Fantasy author. Jennifer Rardin (the Jaz Parks series, Orbit) passed away Monday, June 20th.

I never met Jennifer in real life, but had the good fortune to know her online, via the League of Reluctant Adults. My thoughts are with her family, friends and fans.

A Glimpse of Darkness

2010-09-22T15:23:00.002-05:00

If you haven't seen this yet on Suvudu or Twitter, let me explain: A Glimpse of Darkness is a multi-author, fan-driven original story featuring myself, Lara Adrian, Stacia Kane, Harry Connolly, and Lucy A. Snyder. Each week, one of us writes a different chapter based on what you, the readers, decide should happen.

I'm a little late in posting about this, because Chapter One is UP! And the voting deadline is today! Then it's Harry's turn!

Spread the word and join the adventure! My turn is the second weekend in October, and I'm very excited to play in this amazing world we've created together.

The Bad Kind of Excitement

2010-09-08T10:20:00.003-05:00

So this has been a mostly uneventful week for me. I'm fond of saying I'd rather have boring than the bad kind of excitement, which is very true.

Although last night was kind of fun, in a voyeuristic sort of way. My sister, her SO (significant other), and their 3 kids were at the Outer Banks this weekend, and they came back last night to return SO's sons to their mother (school and all), and to turn their daughter (Lovely Niece) and house (cats and dog) over to me until Saturday. The plan was to go back to the OB last night and finish up the vacation.

I was expecting them back around dinner time; arrival ended up being 8pm. Not terrible. The boys got picked up, Niece was in bed, things were unpacked...and then SO realized the water pump wasn't working. Uh oh.

So he spends the next hour and a half trying to fix the thing, with Sister and me in the kitchen flipping switches and faucets. Eventually, he gets it working around ten. He still wants to drive back (it's about 4 hours from their house). So they pack up and plan to go. I'm exhausted, so I go to bed. A bit later, I hear something creak, open my eyes and there's a person in the doorway.

Yes, I kind of screamed.

They came back because the engine was leaking anti-freeze. SO plans to try and fix it. Plans go awry. They decide to take the other car. I think they eventually hit the road around 11:30 pm, arriving back in the Outer Banks around 3:30 am.

*facepalm*

Yeah, bad excitement.

Anywho, Dreg City 4 is finished and now in my agent's capable hands. Lots of twists and turns in this book, so I'm curious to get some fresh eyes on it.

Also, just a reminder that I'll be signing copies of THREE DAYS TO DEAD and AS LIE THE DEAD at the Christiana Mall Barnes & Noble (Newark, DE), this Saturday at 4pm. So if you're in the area, stop by and say hi!

How Did It Happen?

2010-09-01T09:29:00.002-05:00

I'm talking about September. About back to school, Labor Day weekend, the end of summer, and all of the things I didn't get to do yet. Like take any sort of vacation.

It has definitely been one of the most hectic summers in recent memory. Moving pretty much ate up a month of time during July and August. But I'm settled in, loving my new place, and about to go drop off rent (not loving that part so much, but what can you do?).

Book-related things are going well, too. My editor accepted my revisions for ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD (Dreg City 3) and it's heading off to production. What can you expect from this book? SPOILER BITS! More relationship development (and angst) for Evy and Wyatt, a brand-new paranormal creature, answers about the hybrids found at Olsmill, and a sacrifice or two.

I've also completed the first draft of Dreg City 4, and will be giving it a thorough read-through very soon. It had a huge twist I didn't see coming, and I'm excited to see how it affects things in the future.

Also a reminder for anyone in the Eastern PA/Northern NJ/DE area, I'll be at the Christiana Mall Barnes & Noble in Newark, DE on Saturday September 11th. The signing starts at 4pm!

Guest Blogger: Paul Jessup

2010-08-24T07:58:00.003-05:00

I have something a little different for you today, friends. Writer Paul Jessup is stopping by as part of his Virtual Blog Tour, and he's chatting a little bit about his thoughts on Urban Fantasy.

Welcome, Paul!

****

Urban Fantasy as a Reaction to Classic Horror

I make no bones about it, I love me some classic horror. In the movies, on television, in my books, whatever, whenever I can find it. The pitch perfect time was those three decades where low budget meant bad acting and limited special effects, but it was made up for with sheer terror.

But let's be honest. The golden decades (60's, 70's and 80's) had a small problem. Especially in serial killer/slasher films, but in monster films as well. And that was, plainly put, sexism. It continues onto this day, and it's not just sexism, it's violence towards women glorified to pornographic levels. Especially any woman that's not the "last girl" (the good girl who doesn't have sex or do drugs and ends up surviving the terrifying ordeal somehow).

Look at most most posters for Horror Films. It shows women crying, screaming, or abused. What does that say, when this is your advertisement for a movie? What does it say about your genre?

IMHO, Urban Fantasy is a straight up rebellion against that. Their is no Last Girl. The Last Girl was a victim who fought back. Urban Fantasy protagonists are not victims and they are definitely not good girls who don't have sex or do bad stuff. It's a moral grey area, the entire existence of the heroine of an UF novel. The good guys do bad shit. And they kill. And they are the ones fighting monsters.

And it's not like Epic Fantasy where the good/evil lines are drawn clearly in the sand. No. A lot of UF protags end up risking becoming the very monsters they fight. They are the ones in power, and they are the ones taking risks. Sure, it uses all the horror tropes and horror monsters, but it turns the very groundwork of the horror genre on it's head.

For the longest time I wondered why there was so much vile hate in the Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror community towards Urban Fantasy. Esp. from the old guard. And now I realized this is the core of it- they want their female characters abused and victims. They don't want strong, sexy woman kicking the crap out of some terror that walks in the night.

***

Paul Jessup is a guest blogger, going on a small virtual tour of the internet to promote his new book Werewolves. It's an illustrated book about the journey of one High School teen named Alice, and her voyage into the violent werewolf community. She tries to find a cure, help her brother, and survive violent pack conflicts. You can purchase a copy here. The art is done by Allyson Haller, and it's published by Chronicle Books. You can view the rest of the blog tour as it chugs along this week at his website, http://pauljessup.com.

I Am Thrilled to Finally Announce....

2010-08-19T17:08:00.002-05:00

You remember that "other good news" I was teasing about early this summer, but couldn't talk about yet? I can talk about it now!

Here it is (cribbing from the original Publisher's Marketplace announcement):

Kelly Meding's WARDEN'S TRANCE, the first book in a new series in which adult children of the world's slaughtered heroes suddenly regain their lost superpowers after a mysterious, fifteen-year absence, only to face a fearful public, a leery government, and the villain responsible for the deaths of their parents, to Jennifer Heddle at Pocket, in a two book deal, by MY SUPER-AWESOME, AMAZING AGENT!

So that wasn't exactly how it appeared in PM. I might have embellished one part.

*happy dance*

For those of you who've followed my publication struggles these last few years, I wrote WARDEN'S TRANCE a year before I wrote THREE DAYS TO DEAD. I submitted TW to agents, received a lot of rejections, and a handful of requests. I admit now that the book did need some work. And through the wisdom of a lot of people, including my agent and an amazing crit partner, plus what I learned by writing TDtD and its sequel, I whipped WT into shape and we sold it to Pocket!

So my advice to folks who are querying agents, feel they have a strong query, but find that they aren't having any luck? Write another book. Not all good books are good FIRST books.

Also, the awesome site i09.com did an interview with me back in late May, when the deal was first announced. You can read it here.

The first in this new superhero series, WARDEN'S TRANCE, should be out some time next summer/fall. Book two, QUEEN'S CAPTURE, will follow at some point after that. :)

Peeking Out of the Cave

2010-08-11T08:41:00.003-05:00

The last two weeks have just flown by, and I truly cannot believe it's already August 11th. What's happening to my summer????

I'm all moved into the new apartment. There were only three casualties on moving day - two glass tumblers and the carafe of my big coffee pot (the little one survived). The apartment is just as spacious as I remember, and except for a few minor tweaks here and there, all decorated. Kitteh is settling in, as well. We're settling into a routine, and the new place is starting to feel like home.

So here's the laundry list of stuff to catch y'all up on....

BOOK SIGNINGS - I have two events coming up.

Saturday, August 14th, 1-3 pm
Borders
Camp Hill, PA

Saturday, September 11th, 4-7pm
Barnes & Noble, Christiana Mall
Newark, DE

Following that is the sad news that I'm no longer able to attend Dragon*Con this year. Something came up, and it was a hard decision to make, but it had to be made. However, I have every intention of being there next year (and some other cons/events, as well).

I'm thrilled to say that AS LIE THE DEAD is an August Pick for the Barnes & Noble Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Book Club. It's easy to become a member and join in the discussion.

Reviews for AS LIE THE DEAD have been popping up on various sites and blogs.

The wonderful Carol, at Bitten By Books, had some lovely things to say. On Evy's emotional journey:

Evy’s struggle to accept and embrace the melding of her former identity with that of Chalice’s memories, emotions, and physical reality results in confusion and pain, but she never doubts that her purpose remains the same – to fight to protect the innocent and those unable to defend themselves.

ALTD also received 4.25/5 stars at Nite Owl Reviews. Among the lovely comments was this gem that just made me squee for joy:

But it did bring Phineas to the forefront so, there you go. If there was going to be teams, I would so be Team Phineas!

*loves*

We'll see what happens, shall we?

Now it's time to go back to my cave. I have Dreg City 3 edits due back in two weeks, plus Dreg City 4 due to my editor by October 1 (and hoo-boy, is this one going places I didn't expect...).

The End is Nigh!

2010-07-29T13:13:00.002-05:00

Well, the end of living in this lovely old house with my roommate of seven years. Tomorrow, I'll be packing up my stuff (way too many boxes of books, God help us), and Saturday, moving into my new apartment with Kitteh. I'm both excited and terrified.

Preparing for the move is one of the reasons the blog has been kind of boring lately (huge apologies for that). But once I get settled in, I hope to post more regularly again. My brain can't seem to concentrate on much besides the move, and trying to write Dreg City #4.

So the internet goes out tomorrow night, and it won't be back at my new place until Monday afternoon. Until them, my lovelies, happy reading!

Release Day: As Lie the Dead

2010-07-27T09:49:00.003-05:00

It's here! It's here! I'm a multi-published author!

AS LIE THE DEAD is now available for purchase from Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Powell's, Book-A-Million, and other retailers nation-wide, in both paperback and e-book formats. It's a HUGE release day for urban fantasy, with new titles from Stacia Kane, Jeaniene Frost, Jeri Smith-Ready, Seressia Glass, Marjorie M. Liu, Kelley Armstrong, Jocelynn Drake, and Mark Del Franco, so I hope you've been saving those pennies!

Two new interviews are available for your perusal.

At Larissa's Bookish Life, I'm chatting about Urban Fantasy, writing, and my favorite characters. I'm also giving away a signed copy of AS LIE THE DEAD.

At Writer's Grove, I'm chatting about superheroes, comics, coffee versus tea, and vampire trends. Stop by and say hello!

I'll also be doing an event at Bitten by Books tomorrow, with a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card. RSVP for extra contest entries!

***

I can't quite believe I'm moving in four days. The house is mostly packed, and I have a list. I'd be lost without my lists.

Seven/Eleven Isn't Just a Convenience Store...

2010-07-20T07:46:00.002-05:00

Are you excited yet? I'm excited. For two reasons. In seven days, AS LIE THE DEAD hits store shelves nationwide! And in eleven days, my cat and I are moving into our brand-new, beautiful apartment (with an office, I'm so happy to have an office!).

I have lots of stuff coming up in the next two weeks or so, including somethings going on right now. There's a fun interview up at Book Lovers, Inc, in which I'm answering questions about Evy, Wyatt, and their future shenanigans, so please stop by and ask me something. I'm giving away a signed copy of AS LIE THE DEAD to one lucky commenter!

The ladies at Book Lovers,Inc, were also awesome enough to post an ARC-review of AS LIE THE DEAD. There are very minor spoilers, and it's a great review, so thank you!

The characters are wonderful and the story is full of revelations and has it's fair amount of action. A highly recommended read that will keep you on the edge of your seat and won't let you stop till you read the last page.

Okay, I think I've used quite enough exclamation points for one post. *g*

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Anyone who is waiting on a prize from me - everything is in the mail and should be arriving shortly.

Also, I'm happy to announce that Dreg City #3, ANOTHER KIND OF DEAD, has a release date. Brace yourselves. It hits stores July 26, 2011. I know it's a whole year from now, but I hope to write a couple of short stories in the interim to keep y'all jazzed for book three (I know I am, I just loooove the bad guy in this one).

Twitter Giveaway

2010-07-16T08:47:00.003-05:00

I've run giveaways on my blog before, but I haven't done one on Twitter yet. Until today. It's open to all of my followers (I Tweet as @KellyMeding), today only. At around 10am today, I will tweet that the giveaway is open. All you have to do is Tweet back the answer to my question, and you'll be entered.

I'm posting this here on my blog for easy reference.

Rules:

1. One entry per person. Even if you tweet me six answers, you're entered once.
2. You have to tweet me an answer. Just RT-ing my question isn't enough.
3. Open to international Twitter peeps.
4. Contest is open all day, until around 8pm Eastern. I'll tweet when it's over.
5. Winners will be randomly chosen.

What do you win? A signed, early copy of AS LIE THE DEAD (due in stores July 27!). TWO lucky winners will be announced later tonight!

Linkage Round-Up and Stuff

2010-07-13T08:43:00.003-05:00

Two more weeks! Fourteen days! Wheee!!!!!

Bitten By Books hosts weekly polls over on their site, and this week AS LIE THE DEAD is nominated in their Best Paranormal/UF Cover for July 2010 poll. There's some stiff competition and lots of lovely covers, but if you have a moment to stop over and vote, please do. Several fellow Reluctant Adults (Dakota Cassidy, Stacia Kane, Nicole Peeler) are also nominated!

I was also interviewed by the talented and very funny Shennandoah Diaz here on her blog. I talked about writing a series, plotting, and the future of Dreg City.

There's also a fantastic review of THREE DAYS TO DEAD up at Book Lovers, INC. It's wonderful to know that even eight months later, folks are still reading, enjoying, and talking about the book. I also have an interview coming up on their site on July 19th, so keep an eye out for that.

For anyone who followed my #ShoreLeave tweets this weekend, much fun was had. I met some really cool people, networked a bit, and even signed two copies of TDTD for the con bookseller! But the best part of the weekend? Three words: Edward James Olmos.

SO SAY WE ALL!

Reading, Reviewing, and Ranting (just a little)

2010-07-06T19:34:00.003-05:00

So people who aren't me, my agent, or my editor are reading AS LIE THE DEAD and liking it. Larissa's Bookish Life has a lovely ARC review posted here.

A favorite quote:

If you haven't checked out Kelly Meding’s Dreg City series yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. There are so many Urban Fantasy novels and series out there, it’s great to read something that at the same time is faithful to the classics and brings something fresh to the table.

AS LIE THE DEAD was also reviewed in the August '10 issue of "Romantic Times Book Reviews," and received a 4-star rating!

The reviewer had some super-cool things to say:

Solving her own murder was just the warm-up for newly resurrected dreg hunter Evy Stone. Rising star Meding returns to the ominous world and gutsy heroine first introduced in her exceptional debut. Menace oozes from the pages, as Meding places her heroine in the middle of a maze where deceit and betrayal run rampant. Evy is an unforgettable heroine and Meding an author to watch!

Yay!

It certainly balances out the craziness that was this past weekend. I supposedly had an apartment all lined up, move-in ready on July 31. I even put a $100 GOOD FAITH deposit down on the apartment on June 25. The leasing agent called me July 3 and said the current tenants were no longer vacating, so the apartment was no longer available. So sorry, and by the way, we only have two other empty units for $200 more a month than what we promised you.

Er...uh...?

Alas, I'm a non-confrontation person, so I didn't give this guy hell on the phone. I hung up and cried (yes, I'm that person). I got really, really mad. It pretty much ruined my weekend.

I'm better now that I'm distanced from it. I'm looking at a place tomorrow, and I have a good feeling about it. I'll still be writing some very angry letters to this other management company, but overall, I'm over it. Stay tuned...

Big Birthday Giveaway Winners!

2010-06-29T18:26:00.003-05:00

Huge thanks to everyone to left a comment in the Big Birthday Giveaway! It was great to see such an amazing response, so thank you, thank you!

The 3 winners of the signed copy of THREE DAYS TO DEAD, a bookmark, two Dreg/Triad pins, and a "Note to Self" mini-notebook are:

unseelieme
RobinK
Marguerite Butler

Congrats!

Aaaaand, the Grand Prize Winner of all this stuff

is... *drumroll*

Jessica!

Congrats! To all the winners, please email your postal address to mail(at)kellymeding.com.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated!

Babies, Vampires, and Shapeshifters, Oh My!

2010-06-25T17:36:00.002-05:00

Wow! The response so far to the Big Birthday Giveaway has been awesome! You guys rock so hard! If anyone hasn't checked it out yet, scroll down or go here.

Author Scoop is running a series of posts in which they ask authors about the saying "my book is my baby." Head over to see what I have to say on the subject.

I also participated in a joint interview for Flames Rising, in which I sound off on vampires, along with fellow Reluctant Adults Dakota Cassidy, Mark Henry and Nicole Peeler.

Last but not least, I am guest posting in the Paranormal SummerFest over at All Things Urban Fantasy. Abigail was kind enough to invite my THREE DAYS TO DEAD heroine, Evangeline Stone, back for another round of information sharing. Check out Shapeshifters 101 and enter to win a signed copy of THREE DAYS TO DEAD, plus swag!