Lucienne Diver's Blog: Lucienne Diver's Drivel, page 26

FANGTABULOUS!

Whoo hoo!  Today is the official release date for my new novel Fangtabulous!  I’m sure I’ll have something pithier or more promotable to say tomorrow or the next day, but for now all I have is WHOO HOO!

About the book:

Gina Covello and her band of federal fugitives are on the run after taking down a secret (and sinister) government facility. Strapped without cash or credit cards—a fate worse than death for Gina—the rebels must find a place to lay low. They roll into Salem, Massachusetts, the most haunted town in America and the only place they have friends flying under the radar. But within a day, Gina and her gang are embroiled in a murder mystery of the supernatural kind.

Someone—or something—is strangling young women, and it’s rumored to be the ghost of Sheriff Corwin, late of the Salem Witch trials.  Is it the ghostly Sheriff or is someone on this side of the veil using the famous story as a cover up? Gina is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, and she needs to do it before a paranormal reporter on the scene exposes them for what they are…fanged federal fugitives.

Rave Reviews:

For Fangtabulous: “Another amusing romp in the series, this installment also sees its hardy heroine beginning to mature, adding further dimension to her character.  Reminiscent of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, Gina never fails to deliver the goods.” —Kirkus Reviews

For the Vamped series: “Readers who appreciate Diver’s light, dry humor will welcome back feisty Gina and her hunky boyfriend, Bobby… a welcome lighthearted departure from gloomy vampire romance.” —Booklist

“Diver spins an action-packed story that is filled with humor. Gina is a sassy heroine who tackles issues and challenges with proper vampire style.” —School Library Journal

“Diver successfully creates a vampire teen who is active and assertive and has no time for angst.  Gina has a biting, sarcastic voice that makes the Vamped books quick and entertaining reads.”—VOYA

“There is enough grit and wit in this installment to keep adults engaged, as well as plugged-in co-eds. So take a fabulous spin. And stay tuned for book #4, Fangtabulous” — Comicmix

Other books in series:

Vamped

Revamped

Fangtastic

DEADLY LITTLE LESSONS by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Congratulating fellow Girlfriends Cyber Circuit sister Laurie Faria Stolarz on the release of her latest Touch novel DEADLY LITTLE LESSONS (don’t you just love the cover?!).  I hope you’ll check out the info on her new novel and her Karma Chameleon contest below.  Happy Holidays, everyone!

 
DEADLY LITTLE LESSONS
By Laurie Faria Stolarz
ISBN-13: 9781423131625
Disney/Hyperion Books for Children
 

Synopsis:

Camelia Hammond’s trying junior year of high school is finally over…but her troubles aren’t. After she discovers a painful truth about her family, she escapes to a summer arts program in Rhode Island. Determined to put family – and boyfriend – drama behind her, she throws herself into her artwork.

At the arts school, she gets caught up in the case of Sasha Beckerman, a local girl who is missing. Even though all signs suggest that the teen ran away, Camelia senses otherwise. Eager to help the girl, she launches her own investigation. Meanwhile, Camelia realizes how much she misses Ben, despite being committed to Adam.

But time is running out for Sasha, and Camelia will have to trust her powers if she’s to save her. Will the lessons Camelia has learned in the past give her the strength to do so?

Wanna sneak peek?  Go here:  http://www.lauriestolarz.com/dllessons.pdf

Praise for the TOUCH series:
Texas Tayshas List, 2010 (DLS)
Children’s Book Council’s 2010 & 2011 Teen Choice Book of the Year Nominee
Reluctant Reader Quick Pick Nominees, 2010 & 2011, American Library Association
Teens@Random, Favorite Book of 2009 (DLS)
Gold Star Award, TeensReadToo.com, 2009 (DLL)
 

“…lively first-person narrative…. CW-worthy dialogue, quirky secondary characters, romance and suspense: a winning combination” – Kirkus Reviews

“An engaging, eerie tale about the darker side of relationships – when it becomes a matter of life and death to know who your friends are.” – KLIATT

“The book was full of shocking surprises and revelations, earning the book five stars. This is a must-read for fans of romance, suspense, and mystery because it won’t disappoint.” – Teens Read Too (DLL)

“Laurie Faria Stolarz is a master creator of suspense and romance. Her words cause the heart to pound, the palms to sweat, the spine to shiver, and the stomach to flutter. The trepidation born from the anonymous threats will make the pages fly, and the palpable tension between Camelia and Ben as they attempt to ignore their hearts causes the fire to burn hotter.” – TeenReads.com

Karma Chameleon Contest

In celebration of the release of DEADLY LITTLE LESSONS, I’m so excited to announce the launch of a brand new contest.  I’m calling it Karma Chameleon – yes, after the Boy George song from the ’80′s (in case any of you have heard of it; if not, you can YouTube it for fun).  I’m naming it that, not because of Boy George or his song, but because the contest is all about karma – good karma that is, and the spreading of it, and because, five books later, I thought it’d be the perfect time to celebrate Camelia from the Touch series (recall that Camelia’s real name is Chameleon).

The contest is all about giving and getting – hence the karma part.  As many of you know, the law of karma, in its simplest definition, is that whatever you put out to the world – energy or otherwise, good or bad – comes back to you.  And so, in the spirit of good karma, let’s spread some goodness.   I want to encourage readers to do a good deed, i.e. organize a fundraiser or food drive, volunteer to tutor or teach something, visit the elderly or a children’s hospital.  All good-karma submissions will be entered into a drawing to win autographed copies of some of my Touch series books. I’ll be sharing the most inspiring stories on my website and Facebook, and I’ll Tweet about them as well (with your permission, of course).  For more information, see the official guidelines and rules on my web site: http://www.lauriestolarz.com/news.html

Author Bio: Laurie Faria Stolarz is the author of Deadly Little Secret, Deadly Little Lies, Deadly Little Games, Deadly Little Voices, Project 17, and Bleed, as well as the bestselling Blue is for Nightmares series.  Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, Stolarz attended Merrimack College and received an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston. For more information, please visit her Web site at www.lauriestolarz.com.

While We’re on the Subject…

While we’re on the subject of “Best of” lists, holiday book recommendations, et. al., iO9 has come out with their Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2012 list.  Fabulously (and unsurprisingly to those who’ve read and loved her), N.K. Jemisin’s Dreamblood series, THE KILLING MOON and THE SHADOWED SUN, made the list!

In other news, SF Squeecast, Episode 19 squees about some amazing authors, among them, Ramez Naam, whose debut sf thriller NEXUS you might have heard me talk about just a bit.

Kira Sinclair has entered The Next Big Thing blog hop, and I’m pleased to present her post at The Writing Playground about her new book THE RISK-TAKER and what’s inspired her to write about a reckless POW who just wants to forget and the journalist (and girl who got away) who wants him to do anything but.

IceyBooks is doing an exclusive cover reveal today on Amy Christine Parker’s incredible debut (coming in August from Random House Children’s Books), GATED.  Since it’s about an apocalyptic cult, it’s entirely appropriate that today’s the day.  Assuming the world doesn’t actually end, I can HIGHLY recommend that you check this one out!

And a reminder that FANGTABULOUS, the fourth book in my Vamped series that began with VAMPED, REVAMPED and FANGTASTIC, is coming out in just a couple of weeks (though it may be shipping a little early!).  I may be a little biased, but I think this is a great young adult series for those who might like their tongue firmly implanted in cheek.  Or a little bark with their bite.  Kirkus Reviews gave FANGTABULOUS this amazing review, “Another amusing romp in the series, this installment also sees its hardy heroine beginning to mature, adding further dimension to her character.  Reminiscent of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, Gina never fails to deliver the goods.”  I think this might be the best present ever!  (The review, I mean, though if you take it as referring to the books, well, I certainly won’t protest.)  Buy early and often!

Okay, now really and truly signing off (temporarily) for the holidays.

More Reading Recs, courtesy of SciFi Chick

SciFi Chick has posted a list of favorite science fiction and fantasy titles read and reviewed in 2012.  The full list is here for those looking for good holiday reads!  I want to throw out some special congratulations to David Mack, Rachel Caine and D.B. Jackson, whose books from the list are posted below.  I also want to issue a special thanks to all the reviewers who take time to read, post and wrap up the year in this way.  Wonderful for holiday cheer and for gift lists!

Science Fiction:

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: The Persistence of Memory by David Mack

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: Silent Weapons by David Mack

Two Weeks’ Notice by Rachel Caine

Fantasy:

Thieftaker by D. B. Jackson

Congratulations and Happy Book Birthdays!

I’m so excited today to congratulations to D.B. Jackson for being named one of the winners of WordNerds’ Best First Book in a Series Award for his most excellent historical urban fantasy novel THIEFTAKER!

Also thrilled to wish happy book birthdays to Ramez Naam for NEXUS and to Kira Sinclair for THE RISK TAKER.

NEXUS by Ramez Naam

This is an amazing science fiction thriller that has been receiving a ton of well deserved buzz.  Just check out this amazing write-up in Wired or these fantastic quotes:

“Naam, an expert in new technologies and author of More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement (2005), turns in a stellar performance with his debut sf novel.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“Nexus is a lightning bolt of a novel, with a focus on action and plotting that will remind readers of some of the best novels from the late Michael Crichton.” -Ars Technica

“Naam displays a Michael Crichton-like ability to explain cutting-edge research via the medium of an airport techno-thriller.” —SFX Magazine 

“His breathtaking expertise and confidence as a writer makes Naam the only serious successor to Michael Crichton working in the future history genre today.” —Scott Harrison, author of Archangel

“Reminds me of Michael Crichton at his best.” —Brenda Cooper, author of The Silver Ship and the Sea and The Creative Fire

“Excellent spycraft, kick-ass action scenes, and a chilling look at a future cold war over technology and ideology… a hell of a read.” —Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

“The action scenes are crisp, the glimpses of future tech and culture are mesmerizing” —Publishers Weekly

“A ‘smart thriller’ in all senses of that phrase. Ramez Naam really does know how to make you turn that page. If you are posthuman or transhuman this is an absolute must-read for you; and even mere mortals will love it.” —Philip Palmer, author of Version 43 and Hell Ship

At the risk of belaboring how much you must go out and buy this book, if you order before December 31st, the author is giving away a copy of his award-winning non-fiction book MORE THAN HUMAN.  Details are here.  It’s an offer not to be missed!

THE RISK-TAKER by Kira Sinclair

If you want a novel to raise your temperature on the cold winter nights or to warm your heart, this is for you!  Just check out this fabulous review on CSI: Creative Scene Investigations!  Or the book description below:

Subject: Totally buff ranger Gage Harper Current Status: Walking wounded—both physically and mentallyMission: Finally get the girl he could never haveObstacle: She may just be the biggest risk he’s ever takenAll returned POW Gage Harper wants to do is forget, even if he has to let some gym rat beat him to a pulp to do it. He certainly doesn’t want to tell the tale of his heroism to the tabloids. Especially since he’s no hero…. But one journalist is determined to get the inside scoop—and she’s the only girl Gage has never been able to resist.

Hope Rawlings never took Gage’s romantic advances seriously growing up. After all, she was just his buddy, and a guy like Gage could have any girl he wanted. But now she needs his story to get her dream job in the city. And she’s willing to do anything to get it.

I’ll be posting a little bit over the holidays (for example, Amy Christine Parker’s big cover reveal on Friday at Iceybooks), so I hope you’ll stop back in before the new year, but in case you don’t, I want to wish you all now a fabulous holiday season and an incredibly happy, healthy, save and serene new year!

Also, Diana Pharaoh Francis, whose new Horngate Witches novel BLOOD WINTER comes out in just one week, is over at Literal Addiction with some pretty fascinating answers to their interview questions and at The Qwillery, talking about Becoming a Hero.  I hope you’ll check her out and show her some love!

Reading Recommendations

Looking for some great reading recommendations this holiday season?  Paranormal Haven has their Best of 2012 Poll up now with nominations from their readers, so you might find some great inspiration there and maybe want to put in a vote or two of your own.  (Voting ends Dec. 19th.)  I’m excited to see so many awesome Knight Agency clients on the list!

Best Hero:
Paris from Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter
Jason from Archangel’s Storm by Nalini Singh
 

Best Heroine:
Claire Danvers from Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine
 

Best supporting Character:
Robin Goodfellow (Puck) from Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman

 

Best Villain:
D’allyon from Death’s Rival by Faith Hunter
 

Best Anthology:
Hex Appeal  ed. by P.N. Elrod
 
Best Series:
Guild Hunter by Nalini Singh
 
Best Author:
Nalini Singh
 
Best Book Cover:
Last Kiss Goodnight by Gena Showalter
Out for Blood by Kristen Painter
Riveted by Meljean Brook*
*Knight Agency client but previously sold title

Need more? Leigh Evans, whose debut The Trouble with Fate (which I have on good authority is AMAZING), vlogs with Heroes and Heartbreakers about her Favorite Paranormal Authors.  You might want to check it out!

Week 25: THE NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP

There are the books everyone has heard about: Twilight, The Hunger Games, Fifty Shades of Gray. But what about all those other wonderful books out there? Some of them are treasures, just waiting to be found, and that’s what this blog hop is all about: the books you might not have heard about, but that you might end up loving.

This blog hop is like a game of tag. One author posts and tags five other authors who link back to their website the next week and tag five new authors. If you follow the blog hop long enough, you’re bound to find some books you’ll love! Maybe you’ll even discover a book that ends up being the next big thing.

I was tagged by Gennita Low. You can learn more about her book Tempting Trouble on her blog, www.rooferauthor.blogspot.com

This blog hop includes ten questions to help you learn more about an author’s current work in progress, so here’s a little info about my current project:

1: What is the working title of your book?

I’m not quite ready to talk about my WIP, because it’s darker than what I’ve done before, and I’m still feeling my way through it.  I can say that it will be young adult, mainstream and suspenseful, with no paranormal elements at all, which is quite a departure from my Vamped and Latter-Day Olympians series!

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

I’m going to shift over to the Vamped series here, since the latest of those books, Fangtabulous, is coming out in just a few weeks!  I love the Vamped series (think Clueless meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer), because nothing is really sacred.  My heroine is a teen fashionista, who thinks of herself as trying to beautify, not belittle the world one person at a time.  Her world gets a whole lot darker when she doesn’t survive her senior prom and wakes to discover that she’s now tanning-impaired and lacking a reflection with which to fix her hair and makeup.  Then there’s the fact that she’s legally dead.  Oh, and the vile vampiress making a play for power and willing to use Gina and her other “accident” prone classmates to fight her war.  The theme of the series, really, is change.  Not only is nothing safe from snark, but nothing is really safe from change, whether it be from life to death or…well, you’d have to read it to find out!

But to answer the question, when my publisher (Flux) contracted me for the fourth book in the series, I knew that I wanted to take my characters someplace they’d never been and throw them into a situation they’d never encountered before.  I wanted them to face the question of how to fight a body-swapping spirit.  Where better to do that than in Salem, Massachusetts, the most haunted city in America.  Of course, I’d never been there either, so I had to take a visit.  Luckily, I had a native guide, a friend I’d known since I did my first local theatre show when I was 14.  The town itself and its history with the witch trials provided all the inspiration I could possibly want, and all the plot and setting details came out of that visit.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

My Vamped series is young adult paranormal/urban fantasy.  My Latter-Day Olympians series is urban fantasy aimed toward adults.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Vamped: My heroine Gina Covello, fashionista of the fanged, I see looking like but with green contact lenses (Gina’s eyes are jade).  My hero, Bobby, looks like a young . Yum!

Latter-Day Olympians: I’d love maybe for Tori Karacis (my heroine with just enough gorgon blood to stop men in their tracks).  I’d love , maybe, for Detective Nick Armani, and or for Apollo, who’s described as having torquiose eyes and blonde waves of hair.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

For the latest book, Fangtabulous: When vampires on the run from the black ops unit to which they’d formerly belonged look to Salem, Mass. as the perfect hiding place, they discover that they’re not the only things that go bump in the night…and they’re far from the deadliest.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I’m hoping to find a great publishing house for my new, darker WIP as well, but I’m going to wait until I have it finished and polished to a high gloss before I even think of shopping it, and then it will be through an agent.  My current series are out through Flux Books and Samhain.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Fangtabulous took me approximately six months.  The WIP…that’s going to take me considerably longer.  It’s the most ambitious and emotionally draining concept I’ve ever tackled.  I just hope I’m up to the challenge.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

For the Vamped series…maybe Stacey Kade’s The Ghost and the Goth or Christopher Moore’s You Suck: A Love Story if he were a bit more YA oriented.  Vamped, Revamped, Fangtastic and Fangtabulous are very tongue-in-cheek.  Long and Short Reviews described the first Latter-Day Olympians novel as “a delightful urban fantasy, a clever mix of Janet Evanovich and Rick Riordan.”  I sure can’t do any better than that!  From these descriptions, you can see why a dark and highly emotional WIP is a little scary for me.

9: Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Yup, definitely back to the WIP here.  What inspired me…let’s just say childhood trauma and leave it at that…for now.  I’m sure that when my WIP sees the light of day I’ll feel compelled to say more on the subject.  Maybe I’ll even be ready for it.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

On the new novel Fangtabulous: vampires, witches, objects of power, ghosts with the power not only to affect the physical world, but to kill.  How do you catch a killer with no form and no forwarding address?  Read it to find out!

Here is a list of authors who will be joining the hop for week 26 on December 19th. I hope you’ll visit their blogs next week and learn more about their books. Maybe one of them will become your new favorite author!

Rosemary Clement-Moore

Janice Hardy

Amanda Ashby

Megan Kelley Hall

Ramez Naam

 

Excitement!

I don’t often post on Saturdays, but it’s incredibly awesome to see a novel doing so well even before it’s out of the gate, so I had to jump on to give huge kudos to Ramez Naam, whose fiction debut, NEXUS, has been chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the December Best Bets for Science Fiction and Fantasy.  I love this book and can highly, highly recommend it!

In other news, Two Fantasy Floozies has an interview up with me right now, about being an agent and author.  Did I mention that I have a new book coming out next month?  (FANGTABULOUS, the fourth in the Vamped series.)  Okay, now I’m being disingenuous – of course I’ve mentioned it!  But have you run out and pre-ordered?

YA Topia

Sarah Nicolas is kind enough to be hosting me today over at YA Topia…and I’m ornery enough to have done a Naughty & Nice list for my characters.  Guess which I have more of.  Oh go on, guess!

Happy Book Birthdays!

Happy book birthdays to Molly Cochran!  That’s right, “birthdays”…plural!  The paperback edition of her acclaimed YA debut LEGACY and the hardcover and e-book editions of the sequel, POISON, are both out today from Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books!

Overview

An “exciting and well-written tale of contemporary witchcraft and romance” that will “please the legions of paranormal fans looking for a sophisticated supernatural thriller” (Publishers Weekly).

When her widowed father dumps sixteen-year-old Katy Jessevar in a boarding school in Whitfield, Massachusetts, she has no idea that fate has just opened the door to both her future and her past. Nearly everyone in Whitfield is a witch, as is Katy herself, although she has struggled all her life to hide her unusual talents. Stuck at a boarding school where her fellow students seem to despise her, Katy soon discovers that Whitfield is the place where her mother committed suicide under mysterious circumstances when Katy was just a small child. With dark forces converging on Whitfield, it’s up to Katy to unravel her family’s many secrets to save the boy she loves—and the town itself—from destruction.

Legacy is a compelling tale that is as believable as it is magical, and the irresistible romance continues in Poison, its sequel.

Overview

Arthurian legend mixes with modern-day witchcraft in this haunting sequel to Legacy, which Kirkus Reviews said “Will satisfy readers hungry for a little paranormal excitement and romance in a post-Twilight world… a quick, entertaining read.”

After the riveting—and romantic—events of Legacy, Katy has won Peter’s heart and is now claiming her place in the magical world. Though half the students at her boarding school come from witching lines, the use of magic is expressly forbidden at Ainsworth, so as to keep the witching world hidden from the blue-blooded preppies, aka Muffies, who also walk the halls.

But the Muffies have at least a notion of magic, because Katy catches them staging a made-up ritual—and to her astonishment, the girls collapse at Katy’s feet and fall into comas. When Katy is blamed, she becomes desperate to clear her name and finds herself battling all odds to harness her growing magical powers in order to save the Muffies and dispel the Darkness once more.

Two great tales, no waiting!