Vicki Pettersson's Blog, page 11

My week in review:

I’ve a fistful of professional flotsam and jetsam to report for the week so I’m going to do the least creative thing possible and give ya a bullet point list of my week in review, because there’s been quite a few highlights, and as this career is a marathon – rather than a sprint – the high points should always be celebrated and shared.

(A quick note before start: I have one cover flat of THE TAKEN to give away. I’ll sign it (or not) but there’s only one and I’m giving it away to one of my newsletter subscribers next week. If you’d like a shot at it, you can sign up for me newsletter at the bottom of my homepage. Easy peasy, no spam, or shared contacts between me and Nigerian princes.)

 

1)   I had a glimpse of my Booklist review! It comes out in the May 15th issue, and I don’t want to cut them off at the knees by posting it first, but it was positive, it was gratifying, and it labeled THE TAKEN as “a sure bet.” I’m a Vegas girl, so I can appreciate that.

 

2)    Suspense Magazine also reviewed it positively, calling THE TAKEN an “Intriguing mix of paranormal, romance and mystery with just enough suspense!” They’ll be running the full review in the June issue – just in time for the June 12th release date – along with an excerpt and an extensive Q&A I’ve already completed for them, which goes in-depth on the series origins and world and character building. I can’t wait to share that with you.

 

I’ve word that there’s some more good early buzz coming, and I’ll share that as it hits my desk, but I have to say Thank You to those who’ve embraces THE TAKEN, and my new friends, Kit and Grif. I love writing them, and I’m happy to finally share them with you as well.

 

3)   DARK MATTERS, my e-book containing the Signs of the Zodiac short story from the UNBOUND anthology came out Tuesday, and you can dl it for only $.99! (Remember: cheap … not easy!)

If you’re uncertain where this falls in the series – and are loathe to read out of order – the suggested reading order is here. Happy reading!

 

4)   Personal note: I took a day off from writing this week to attend the Superstars Writing Seminar, held in Vegas this year and featuring a slew of hardened writing professionals who shared … well, everything I wish I’d known starting out in this business. It was organized in great part by Kevin J. Anderson, and in addition to being a tremendous and prolific author, he is an incredibly generous person. Seriously, every once in awhile you meet people in this business who make you happy you chose this career just for having met them. Kevin and his wife – another generous, awesome writer – Rebecca Moestra, are a force in kindness and professionalism.

Note: New writers looking to go to the next level: there are DVDs and MP3s available of all the workshops, so check out their site to see if any might be of interest to you. Also keep the Superstars Writing Seminar on your radar and see if it’ll be in a town near you next year. It’s well worth it. (And Rebecca/Kevin: if you ever read this: I promise I’m going to try the recorder thing – even if the thought does make me break out in a cold sweat!)

 

5)   Second personal note: I took another day off this week to have a Life. My girlfriend was in town from Scotland, and obviously we don’t get much time vis-à-vis. But you know how there are some people you can leave off with for six years, and then when you do meet up again it was like you’d seen them yesterday? This is that friendship, she is that girl, and I go back to the page more energized and happy today because of her space in my life. Goals are nice, but good friends are truly a blessing. Champagne on a warm day is a blessing too – another reason why I didn’t make it to the page, but I suppose that’s another personal note.

 

6)   Third personal note: Champagne is a blessing. There.

 

7) Work: I had some great meetings with my agent this week. We’re both excited about this new idea I’m picking my way through because it’s both 1) awesome and 2) won’t leave me alone. The second point is the most important. When it comes to committing to my work, I need to be haunted.Anyway, I’m working to make sure it’s grounded and real enough in my mind before I have to leave that world for THE LOST edits, second in the Celestial Blues series. Those land next week.

 

So, yeah. Busy week, but busy learning and plotting – which is essentially one’s dreaming caught in a web of words – and living … and better for it all.

 

Hope you’re all learning, dreaming and living well, too.

The man behind the curtain…er, cover.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

We’ve all heard it, but we all do it anyway, and that’s why it’s such an art to design a good one – reflective of the book’s content and genre and vibe, but simple enough not to overwhelm the eye. When my editor sent me the artwork for THE TAKEN – sans lettering – I knew we’d nailed it. It was more gorgeous than we’d hoped for, and it also made you look twice. I’ve had more comments on it than any other cover, and one reader is even sewing a copy of Kit’s cupcake dress for her own use.

To back up: I actually started dreaming of the cover while writing the book, and researched a ton of artists, finding that there was one whose work I returned to time and again. That was Larry Rostant, and I was thrilled when my editor told me Harper works with him extensively. So I put in my .02 cents (which consisted of “Please, please, please!”), we asked to work with him, and THE TAKEN, as it appears now, was born.

So I am so happy that She-Wolf Reads tracked down Rostant for an interview about his work, process, and a bit more regarding his interpretation of THE TAKEN. I’d searched for more info on him as I was researching artists, and came up with very little. Here’s a snipped from said interview:

SWR:  How did you get involved with the Vicki Peterson cover specifically?   Was this one of those cases where the Art Director said, “What do you want to do with it?”

No, with this one, they knew exactly what they wanted on this cover.   With this one, I don’t think it’s only the Art Director.  But it’s the Art Director and the Editor that work very closely together on these covers.  They are a team I think.  And I think it’s the editor who had a very strong view of what she wanted to see, and then talked that through the Art Director.  They then came to me because I had done lots of work for them in the past for lots of different authors.   And they said, “This is the vision we want to bring forward.”  But then again, it taps into all those things that are currently popular.  I understand the way that the color and the lighting are done on the “Twilight” posters – the fact that this is a noir-ish cover, so we need to borrow a bit from the film noir posters, and what those films look like.  So, bringing together all those things.  They had their vision, and talked to me, and said “This is the sort of thing we want.  What do you think?”  And I reinterpreted it with my own sort of spin on it, as it were.

Go here to read more – it’s worth it to know more of this amazing artist. He’s booked up months in advance so obviously I’m the only one who thinks so.

Also know that I’m re-working my Facebook “Like” page, and it’ll include exclusive THE TAKEN wallpaper for my friends there. I have a spare cover flat, too, which I’ll be giving away to those on my newsletter list — all of which is to say that the synergy between Rostant’s art and my text works, and I’m thankful, and can’t wait to see what he does next.

Meanwhile I’ll be attending the Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas this week, as well as making steady progress for an on-spec project until edits arrive for the second Celestial Blues book. We’ve cover conferenced (it’s an action word!) that one too, and it looks to be a spring 2013 release. Working title: THE LOST.

Writing Workshops in Las Vegas

As someone who knows how important and uplifting a good writers conference and/or workshop can be, I wanted to make those in and around the Las Vegas area aware of a series of high-end writing/publishing workshops at the end of this month and going into May.

It’s the Superstars Writing Seminar, designed for pros and really-dedicated new pros, with emphasis on the nuts and bolts of the business. It’s taught by five international bestselling authors — Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Brandon Sanderson, David Farland, and Eric Flint, with guest instructors Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, and bestselling YA author James A. Owen.

It’s at the Golden Nugget Apr 30-May 2, and I’m definitely going to try to attend. The lectures look extremely valuable, and a full list of the workshops can be found here. I really hope local writers in/near the Vegas area will check this out. There are few events like this in the area, so it’s nice to see something so valuable being held in our fair city.

Happy writing!

E-news, including DARK MATTERS

The big news round these parts was a surprise reveal late last week that RT Book Reviews has made THE TAKEN a Top Pick! for June, and gave it four and a half stars. They said:

“Pettersson’s amazing new series is off to a rocking start with this compelling read.”

It’s my first Top Pick! from them, so I was chuffed to say the least.

I’m not sure how much this means to all of you who have to wait a bit longer to read this book, but the advance word-of-mouth is so important to an author, and the Celestial Blues series is the first “new” thing that I’ve written – ie. outside of my bread and butter, the Zodiac books – so it’s incredible and gratifying and relieving that it’s being received so very well.

But – lest you think I’ve gone ‘All Celestial Blues, All the time’ – here’s something I’ve been sitting on for a bit: DARK MATTERS, the short story originally released in this anthology:

Is going to be released as an e-book on May 1, for only $.99. Looksie, there’s a shiny new cover to go with it:

Nice, right?

As mentioned, this is a Signs of the Zodiac world story, and if you haven’t read it yet, it gives some background on two of the main players in the full length books (especially re. the last two books in the series). If you’re intent on reading in order, this novella should be read between CITY OF SOULS and CHEAT THE GRAVE.

You can find the order of all the books and novellas here.

My other anthos are slated to be release as e-book stand-alones as well, so for those of you who’ve read the novels in the Signs of the Zodiac series, but have had trouble hunting down the novellas, they’re all becoming more readily available. (Give me some time and I’ll also manage to upload my sole vampire story – which I’m told is incredibly dark, even for vampires – to e-format.)

Here are the links to pre-order DARK MATTERS — for only $.99!

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

A related and important note: independent bookstores now have their own e-reading platform! Now you don’t have to feel guilty for buying online. (You did, right? Especially if there’s an amazing brick-and-mortar store right around the corner from you filled with people who love and handsell amazing books?)

Anyhoo.

Here’s the link for more information. I think it’s a great way to experience instant gratification while keeping those amazing indie booksellers well fed.

Okay, I am off to work on a side project that has pitbull teeth and a firm grip on my gray matter.

I need to go feed this beast.

Not the traditional Easter weekend…

Okay, so I did go over to my mother's house and have Easter dinner with the fam on Sunday.

But prior to that, it was all rockabilly, all the time — I attended the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender — and this time (my third) I had my bearings. I say that, but got so caught up in the sensory overload that I didn't tweet and post photos the way I promised. Y'all will forgive me for living fully in the moment, won't you?

The first photo I took was of my new female protagonist, Kit Craig's, girlfriends. Or who I imagine Kit's girlfriends to be. My husband, James, and I were walking by the bar and I stopped him dead, saying, "OMG, those are Kit's girlfriends! They don't know it, of course, but that's them!"

So I went back, and very weirdly asked to take a photo of them. This is Carla and Elaina. They were incredibly sweet, looked gorgeous (I love their cupcake dresses) and Elaina is an artist, so we exchanged cards (check out her fantastic work here – it's so vibrant and beautiful, just like her!).

Let me also point out that I'm wearing the full slap here – ie., full make-up as I had a morning photo shoot that day, and these girls still make me look washed-out. Pin-up makeup is de riguour at these events, and if you're not sporting it, you're just not seen. (After two days of donning it, I can tell you it's also friggin' exhausting.)

My big band photos are on my other camera (drat!) but trust me, there was lindy hopping and jive contests going on all over the hotel. I didn't get any photos of the Burlesque competition, but I touched on that aspect in a previous post with my lovely friend, ChaCha, who was also in attendance (by the way, fake names are a part of the subculture. Everyone has them. Some I saw: Lux De Ville, Masuimi Max, Angelique Noire, Coco Lectric, Jolie du Beau, Audrey DeLuxe. I'm trying to think of a good one for myself, but I gave them all away to Kit's girlfriends, so I'll have to get back to you on that.)

And on Saturday, a car show. Vintage American cars are also a huge – and another fun – part of rockabilly culture, and these guys take it seriously.

This guy doesn't look as happy to be at the car show as we were:

But it was a stunning day (and warm — thus the vendors were doing a brisk sale in parasols!) and the pin-ups had a GREAT day!

I had to have my pic taken with this beauty, too:

I have a few more images, but James took off with my other camera so I'll upload them later to my gallery page. I've started a rockabilly grouping there, and I have a feeling it isn't going to be lacking in the least for images.

So I think I've given you a brief intro/overview into the rockabilly world over the past few posts. What do you guys think? Extreme glam, extreme cars, big bands, and tattoos. Look like fun? For a girl like me, who has little opportunity to get dolled up in daily work life, it was like a little escape into another world. I'll definitely be back at Viva next year.

Q&A with Publishers Weekly

Happy Monday! Today doesn't just bring the start of a new work week – I have an "in-between" book that's been poking at me for a while, and now I'm poking back – but it also ends the much anticipated "Viva" weekend: the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender.

As you can see, I had a great time *koff* "researching" the rockabilly lifestyle, and I'll have pictures for you tomorrow, but today I have some more great – and timely – linkage.

Publishers Weekly has run a Q&A about THE TAKEN, including info on how my rockabilly reporter, Kit Craig, and my busted angel/50′s P.I. team came to be.

THE TAKEN also gets some nice airtime in PW's feature article, The New (Para)Normal. The article's focus is actually horror, but as befitting the paranormal genre, it lists a broad range of subgenres and authors. Of my new supernatural noir trilogy, it says:

Originality, a rare commodity in such a frequently tapped genre, is also a hallmark of Vicki Pettersson, whose The Taken (Harper Voyager, June) inaugurates her Celestial Blues series … Diana Gill, executive editor for Harper Voyager, noted that the book "appeals to both the supernatural and mystery audiences…"

You can read the whole of the article online if you're a subscriber, but if you love paranormal fiction it's certainly worth making a trip to the bookstore to pick up a hard copy too.

As for my Q&A, here's my talk with Publishers Weekly. I'm thrilled to finally be able to speak so opening about Griffin Shaw and Kit Craig — I can't wait for you to meet them!

More weekend news

As I said in yesterday's post, the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender is going on in Vegas this weekend, and I'll be heading in later today, after sending my latest ms to my editor, along with a letter about the book that can be summed up in one word: Help!

After yesterday's post – and hey, man, if I knew all it took to get comments was some victory rolls, I'd have donned some sooner; thank you ALL for commenting – I realized that some people may still be a bit sketchy on what rockabilly is and why. Why live that lifestyle? What's the draw? These are questions I asked myself upon beginning research for THE TAKEN, and attending Viva was the way I got some answers.

Fortunately for you, reporter Cindi Reed asked the same questions for her readers in this week's Vegas Seven. The article is called Of Poodle Skirts and Pomade, and like me, Cindi is an interloper in the rockabilly subculture. So why do we both find it so much fun? Cindi says:

Yes, music plus shopping plus dancing plus cool cars equal fun. But what is it about the '50s (and early '60s) that is eternally appealing? I have plenty of smarty-pants, over-thinking-it reasons. The biggest is nostalgia for a simpler and better time. In the '50s, we were fresh off the victory of World War II and the good ol' USA was king of the world. Since then, we've traded the G.I. Bill for crushing student debt, the middle class for class warfare and innovation for outsourcing. Everything else that wasn't actually better (like percolating coffeemakers and the Cold War) is glossed over with a patina of selective memory and wistfulness. What was a legitimate fear then—say nuclear annihilation by the Soviet Union—seems quaint now that we know everything turned out all right.

That's just a portion of the article, and she interviews people who are seriously involved in the subculture, including a modern-day pin-up and a burlesque dancer. You can go here to read more, including MY answers to the above. By the way, she also did a great job of introducing Kit Craig, my female protag in THE TAKEN, to her readers — which I'm incredibly thankful for since the book isn't out until June.

Okay, so I'm off to compose my Help! letter, but I'll leave you with a terribly mysterious photo from this morning's 5 am photo shoot on the Strip for Vegas Magazine. It was 48 degrees, dark and blustery, but don't worry. You won't see any of that – or the dirt lot – come June.

All things Rockabilly…

So as you all know by now my main female character in the new Celestial Blues series, Katherine "Kit" Craig, is a woman who lives the rockabilly lifestyle in earnest. She dresses only in vintage midcentury clothing – actually, anything cute from the pinup period of the 40's through the Mad Men cocktail culture of the '60's – and her belongings are equally curated, from her vintage bar cart to her convertible car. She swing dances and goes thrifting and attends car parks and tiki conventions. She lives nostalgically and is always and ever era appropriate.

A bit different from my previous protag, Joanna Archer, isn't she?

Anyway, I want to introduce her to you a bit more in the future, but right now I'm focused on her rockabilly lifestyle because, frankly, it was the most fun I've ever had researching a subject for a book — and the strangest thing is that while I was exerting my influence and thoughts on THE TAKEN, my subject matter was also influencing me. Now I don't have the dedication to be able to commit in such an extreme way to an alternative lifestyle, and I think that's why I admire those who do, but rockabilly is so tactile and fun and alive that its influence has stayed with me, broadened my life, and taught me even more about the human condition. That's absolute manna for me, folks.

Anyway, that's why I'm so excited about the annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender being held today through Sunday here in Las Vegas. It's all rockabilly, all the time – and up on the to-do list for me is big bands, swing dancing, burlesque shows, car shows, vintage shopping, and people watching (the very best part, IMHO).

There will be pictures.

For now, here's me at the Rockabilly Weekender last year, doing research (koff) for THE TAKEN. As I said, the people-watching was the best part, and I wanted to see what it was like for those women – like my girl, Kit – who do participate full-time in this lifestyle. So I took a series of pics of my transformation from normal ol' me into a rockabilly chick. To start, nobody even noticed me as I arrived looking like plain Jane – no hair, makeup, or period clothing. I grabbed a Pabst Blue Ribbon, though, and immediately started feeling it:

And I just had to take this woman's picture (below). She was so perfect, from the Betty bangs to the bamboo earrings to the hairnet and umbrella – accessories are everything:

How on earth do you compete with that sort of extreme glamour?

Well, I started by heading to the Stop Staring vendor booth, where the owner, Alicia Estrada, quickly hooked me up with some sweet dresses (plural because I couldn't stop at one. So sue me for the girly moment). Here's my purchase, step 2 (after the Pabst) in the transformation:

In retrospect, I'm not curvy enough for a wiggle dress … so the swing dress I also bought should come in handy this year.

Up next, makeup. No pics of that as I had to do it myself, and – I should get my showgirl card taken away for this – but I didn't have pancake makeup. A major faux pas in the show and rockabilly world. I did have red lips, though, and – hey, man – any excuse to don lashes again. Writing is fulfilling, but a bit lacking on the glamour side ifyaknowwhaddImean.

On to hair…

They have on-site styling, and believe me, these girls are always busy. So what did I choose for my first-ever rockabilly hairstyle? Victory rolls, of course!

Almost there…bought me some shoes, 40′s style, and now I was getting some traction, and feeling like I was starting to fit in:

Now obviously living the rockabilly lifestyle is about far more than playing dress up, but I did it for a day, and one thing that astounded me was the attention I received outside of the Viva con. Inside, I was just another rockabilly girl, and it felt good to be included, if only for a night. Again, the lifestyle is edgy and vibrant and alive, and I'm so lucky to get to play with it for three whole books.

But the hubs and I later decided to check out the chandelier bar at the Cosmopolitan so as I wore victory rolls out into Vegas, and around girls dressed in the tightest, shortest, stretchiest fabric possible – like a Snooki or a Fauxdashian – I was startled by the attention I received. I got the second glance, yeah, but moreover I was treated like a lady. (It reminded me of the famous Edith Head quote: "Your dresses should be tight enough to show you're a woman, and loose enough to show you're a lady." Rock on, Edith.

And as the woman I interviewed about the rockabilly lifestyle for THE TAKEN said, "I don't know of anyone who learns about rockabilly and doesn't think it's cool. And if you pair any woman with beautiful hair, pancake makeup, fake eyelashes, and red lips, you end up with this super fem glamour – it almost makes you Everywoman."

Everywoman, huh?

Maybe my girl, Kit, isn't so unlike Joanna Archer after all.

Later, gators. Off to find a Pabst.

THE TAKEN receives starred PW review!

Wow.

My first gold (well, red) star:

The Taken
Vicki Pettersson. Harper Voyager, $13.99 trade paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-06-206464-6

In a world where angels can be monsters, Griffin Shaw, a murdered PI turned tough-guy soul-collector, and Las Vegas reporter Katherine "Kit" Craig lock horns and hearts in this supernatural noir mystery from veteran paranormal romance author Pettersson (the Signs of the Zodiac series). Kit is a rockabilly devotee of the 1950s who passionately pursues the human element behind the news. Grif's from the actual 1950s; dead 50 years, he's now an angel who collects just-murdered souls like Kit's photographer friend Nicole, killed while investigating a child prostitution ring that serves the rich and famous. After Grif loses his wings for breaking the rules to help Nicole, he decides the time is right to solve his wife's long-ago murder—and his own. Meanwhile, Kit is determined to break the prostitution story and justify Nicole's death. Pettersson hits every note in the familiar duet of a "reticent, complicated, darkly sexy man" and a luscious, plucky "girl reporter" out to save the world, and laces it with dollops of unconventional angelology. The resulting irresistibly good yarn proves that there's still plenty of room for brilliant innovation in urban fantasy. Agent: Miriam Kriss, Irene Goodman Literary Agency; author now represented by Peter McGuigan, Foundry Literary + Media. (June)

*

Again, Wow.

Stay tuned: I have a Q&A with PW coming April 9th, and will certainly link then. Meanwhile, I continue to be gratified by the way Celestial Blues is being received by reviewers in these early days. I really can't wait to get it in to my readers' hands!

Thank you all for continuing to support me beyond the Zodiac series. I love bringing you new worlds.

Everyday magic.

I don't normally post randomly, but this touched me, showing you can find beauty in such unexpected places and moments.

Like the New York subway system.

These two apparently hopped on the same train with instruments and started jamming, and together created the most magical moment. I love it when two seemingly disparate people find common ground. It's one of the most magical things about daily living, and it's also why I write. I don't ever envision a bunch of people reading my book. I write for One, I write for that connection, and these two found a similar connection through music.

Magic, man. I hope you find some in your day today.

(Note: and is it me, or do I hear a bit of Ani DiFranco in this woman's voice and lyrics? Now I have to go dig out my old DILATE album.)