Regan Summers's Blog, page 5

Cover Reveal: Running in the Dark

I am tremendously pleased to present the cover for Running in the Dark, the sequel to Don’t Bite the Messenger.

 

Those of you with keen eyes, or those of you who regularly circle Anchorage by air, will notice that the city on the cover is not Anchorage, Alaska. Not even close.

 

Santiago, Chile

After surviving a vampire turf war in Alaska, vampire courier Sydney Kildare is back behind the wheel and working under an assumed name in Chile. She doesn’t speak the language, doesn’t know the city and—worst of all—has to drive a crappy car.

What she does have is Malcolm Kelly, her sort-of boyfriend and manager of the city’s vampire population. But with Malcolm preoccupied by bloodsucker business—and a gorgeous vampiress from his past—Sydney feels more alone than ever.

But Sydney has more than her love life to worry about. She’s got vamps on her tail, mysterious deliveries that leave death in their wake, and old enemies targeting her to get to Malcolm. Turns out he’s got a history more deadly than she ever imagined, and she’ll have to use every skill in her arsenal to stay alive…

 

This is the feel-good story of what happens when you think you’ve found Mr. Right only to discover that he’s got baggage. Cruel, angry, resourceful baggage. And I might be kidding about the “feel-good” part. Being an outsider is hard. Being an outsider surrounded by monsters is even harder. Think Syd’s up to the task?

 

Running in the Dark will be released on October 29th. It is available for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

RWA Nationals

 

Last week I attended the RWA (Romance Writers of America) national convention for the first time. It was in Anaheim, CA, adjacent to that most merry location on the planet (not trademarked). The convention was HUGE, something like 2,000 people, including authors, aspiring authors, agents, publishers, booksellers, librarians, genre aficionados, and strategically handsome massage therapists.

 

The convention has something for everybody: educational workshops, introductions to publishers, agent and editor pitch sessions, and tons and tons of networking opportunities. I met my fabulous Carina Press editor – Mallory Braus – for the first time, as well as dozens of authors, readers and bloggers. I even got a little work done, perhaps because the “work spaces” were so veddy, veddy nice. What? I’m from Alaska. I need Vitamin D.

 

Here’s a little of what the conference looked like, for me.

 

Poolside at the Anaheim Marriott. I promise I’m working!

View from the room – also working. (Note the laptop)

Cocktail time.

Carina Press editor Mallory Braus engaging in editorial revisions on author Sandy James.

Harlequin party. We arrived about 15 minutes into the party, and the dance floor was already PACKED. Also: crepe bar.

Where to Find Me This Week

 

I’ll be at the RWA national meeting in Anaheim (adjacent to the happiest place on Earth) starting on July 25th.

 

If you want to ping me or follow my exploits (bound to be less daring and more klutzy than anticipated), hit me up on twitter! Also, please note that I’m terrible with out-of-context names, so please remind me of how we know each other or are networked – unless you’re an old prison acquaintance. In which case…congrats on your release, dear friend! Sorry I didn’t visit. Things came up. You know how it is. *creeps away*

Weight Loss in Four Easy Steps

 

Break your silverware drawer
Remove broken drawer from cabinets
Place it 15 steps away from the kitchen, preferably with obstacles in the way (strewn Legos and a small art table are perfect for this)
Mean to fix it, but don’t.

Out of sheer laziness, you’ll eat less. You’ll also get an extra 900,000 steps in during the day, and will inadvertently engage in interval training by sprinting when you have something threatening to burn or boil over on the stove. If you have children, you’ll get something like 1.1 million extra steps in.

 

You’re welcome.

 

Writer Lairs

 

One of the major lessons I learned while househunting a few years ago was that I do not like to go into strangers’ homes. Even when they’re cleaned up for showing, there’s something bizarre and slightly creepy about walking into a lived-in house while the owners are away, then wandering through their things, judging everything. Of course, some people’s ideas of the definition of “cleaned up” might have something to do with this. Also, there was this odd phase in Alaskan home-building (1968-1992) where everyone wanted saunas in their homes. Then they decided to stop sweating in the privacy of their own homes and either started storing things in there (guns, food, shoes) or carpeted them and pretended they were normal rooms (they aren’t).

 

Also, most people don’t have books. [insert sad, slightly bewildered face here].

 

There is one kind of space that I like to peek at, though, and that’s the places in which writers work. My fellow Carina Press author David Bridger posted a photo of himself in his work space, and a bunch of us are following suit. Following is a picture of me working inside my carpeted sauna.

 

Just kidding. Claustrophobic here. That would never work.

 

Here’s my work space. (Sorry for the photo quality) I didn’t really clean it up but believe me when I say that every single thing on that desk has a purpose, down to the oxidized metal elephant.

 

 

And here is me in said workspace. I mostly work on the laptop, and the desk is usually behind me. I am joined here by part of the kitteh known as Lola. She is, in this very moment, sinking her claws quite deeply into the flesh of my thigh, hence the stilted expression.

 

 

Want to spy on other writers at work?

Toni Anderson

Christine d’Abo

Jodie Griffin

Veronica Scott

Cindy Spencer Pape

On the Brink!

 

 

300 has become my favorite benchmark number. It’s not large, or even all that substantial, but no other number allows me to toss on a fake beard* and bellow “THIS IS SPARTA”.

I mean, I guess I could do that every time I did twenty-eight or a thousand of something, but I feel that it wouldn’t resonate quite as well.

Now, because I adore this number so much, the universe is playing the lame joke of constantly bringing me to the brink of achieving it, and then backing off. How many twitter followers have I had over the last week? Between 292 and 301, but never 300! How is that even possible? How many adds does Don’t Bite the Messenger have on Goodreads? Wouldn’t you know it? Hovering at 299.

It’s like somebody doesn’t want me to jump up on the table at yell “THIS IS SPARTA”. Or maybe they’re just tired of me kicking people into wells.**

I’m not sure what to do with this, since I can feel a patriotic shout hovering behind my breastbone. Maybe I’ll start working with multiples, or all the prime numbers under 300 (I believe there are 62, in case you were wondering). Or maybe I’ll just wait.****

Le sigh.

 

*Yes, I often do carry these about in my purse, if not on my person.

**I pretty much never do this. In fact, we don’t even have a well. We live in a bog*** (Don’t be jealous. It’s totally not as glamorous as you’re thinking), which doesn’t lend itself to stable well construction.

***Recovered bog, according to the city.

****I was never good at patience.

And, for good measure:

 

Busted!

I was in a meeting the other day, the kind that runs about 30 minutes longer than it should have, and involves faceless parties on the other end of speakers, none of whom are concerned with the sands running out in the hourglass of your mortality. I tried to pay attention, I really did, but my mind wandered. One thing led to another, and pretty soon I was putting together a mental list of my top five sex scenes from books. About ten minutes in, when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to select a top five, let alone put them in order, I focused instead on particularly colorful/strange turns of phrase and/or perfectly timed dialogue. The things that stick with you.

 

And then random fragments of scenes started butting in, and pretty soon I was sitting in a room full of people while secretly remembering the awfulest of written sex scenes.

 

THE TRULY AWFUL.

 

Scenes where you turn the page from some seemingly innocuous conversation and the characters just go at it. No flirtation. No signals. No foreplay. No point?

Scenes where the things the characters say to each other are so cringeworthy that you wonder if you’ll ever be able to have sex again.

Scenes where the choreography leads to certain important areas not lining up correctly, leaving you to wonder why the author had never mentioned that the heroine’s arms were six feet long or that the hero’s tackle was shaped like a corkscrew and lit up at night while making pew-pew noises.

 

And then the meeting leader said she was introducing something brand new, and I knew with absolute certainty that the “new thing” was mental telepathy and I was busted ten ways from Sunday.

 

Does this sort of thing ever happen to you?

News on Upcoming Release. Also, Bad Analogy

 

I’ve finished the major developmental edits for Running in the Dark, the sequel to Don’t Bite the Messenger. Running is a novel, whereas Messenger was a novella, a meal versus a snack if you will. Both made with quick, slightly steamy, rather bloody ingredients. Am I taking this analogy into disgusting territory? Probably.

 

This doesn’t mean that I’m kicking back with my feet up until the book comes out. Far from it. There will likely be another round of edits, then copyedits, then promotion, the last of which uses a part of my brain I generally don’t acknowledge and therefore find exhausting. And scary. And thrilling. Book bloggers and reviewers (I learned when Messenger released) are some of the nicest, most passionate people out there. But they’re also the first to expose my work to the public, and therefore they give me heart palpitations. In a good way.

 

I’m also writing a story for a side character who is introduced in Running in the Dark. She has inspired strong positive feedback – emphasis on strong – from readers, and I find her fascinating. I expect this companion story to be novella length, and I’m writing it in a paranormal romance style, third person with alternating hero and heroine viewpoints. It’s also going to be hot. Did I mention that? No? *nods* Hot.

 

Running in the Dark is currently slated for an October 29, 2012 release date, from Carina Press. I’ll add updates as the cover art is revealed – I’m really looking forward to that since I think Messenger’s cover is stunning – and as it becomes available for pre-order.

Deep Breaths

Me: Hey, what's going on, popular word processing program?

PWPP: Blergh.

Me: Oh, okay. Well, why don't we try to do a little work. Maybe that'll make you feel better. *opens document. starts working*

PWPP: I spit on your grave. *crashes*

Me: O_O

fin

Lucky Number Seven…Or Is It?

 

7 days ago I was tagged by the fellow Carina Press author Natasha Hoar for a 7-line writer game. I think this is actually the third time I've been tagged for this same game, but lo! I actually have a moment to post something.

I'm going to cheat though. I will go to page 77 in my WIP, and I will take the 7 lines starting on line 7 and post them below but I'm >. > not going to tag anybody. If you'd like to play along, feel free to pull these parameters and post 7 lines on your own blog. Let me know if you got the idea from here, and I'll be happy to link or tweet for you.

This is from Running in the Dark, the forthcoming sequel to Don't Bite the Messenger. Sydney Kildare is, if you can believe it, caught in a sticky situation. (I'm editing now, so these lines might not survive  "as is" until publication.)

 

* * *

 

"My name, little one, is Bren. Drive me to the Autopista Central and go north. Take the fastest route. No tricks. No attempt to gain attention. And no more questions." The cold force of his will seeped through my eyes and into my head.

Bren let go, and the glamour washed through me, strengthened by his name. I blinked and waved a hand over my face as the command burrowed in. I was too freaked to deflect it properly. Malcolm had gotten me once before, when I was hurt. I bit the inside of my lip. I wasn't hurt, not yet, and I wasn't about to obey as someone tried to make me drive myself to my death.

 

* * *

 

Will she survive? Dun-duh-DUN! Tune in next…well, in October when Carina Press releases Running in the Dark.