Vanessa A. Ryan's Blog, page 12

My New Cover for A Blue Moon. Can you Spot the Difference Between This and The Old Cover?

I changed my name to Vanessa A. Ryan. I think it looks good.

An Egret Comes to Visit

The Cover for A Blue Moon - Release Date April 1 - No Joke!

I love the cover for A BLUE MOON, my urban fantasy, with a release date from Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing (CHBB) of April 1:

Midnight Hour Publishing Will Publish Three Tales in My Upcoming Book!

I just found out Midnight Hour Publishing liked all three tales I submitted to them, so in addition to my novella A Talent For Evil, they're going to add my novella The Perfect Plan and my short story The Vampire Detective and publish them in one book. 

They moved the publication date back due to logistics, so I'm looking at sometime in the spring for the release date--will keep everyone posted. 

I haven't been too active on this blog lately because I'm busy writing. I had so much fun during the holidays I have to hunker down and get some work done. I wish I had a cute picture to post, but I don't.

The Next Big Thing

I got invited to participate in The Next Big Thing Blog by two fellow authors, J. Lawrence and Jenna Brooks And if you click on their names you'll get to their blog posts in The Next Big Thing. Thanks guys!

Just to be equally conniving, I invited four other authors, who couldn't say no to my request. I was supposed to tag five authors, but I let one off the hook because it's the season of giving and forgiving. Check out their sites below:

J.D Shaw Genevieve Dewey Heaston Gretchen Elhassani Ken Puddicombe
The rules for you guys are at the bottom of the page.
===================These are the questions asked in The Next Big Thing:
1. What is the working title of your book?
A BLUE MOON.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book? That's a loaded question. I started writing the novel when I was recovering from an illness. I didn't like being sick and I wondered why things happened the way they did. But in a broader sense, I had the odd talent of saying things that would then come true––and they were usually not desirable things. I was married at the time and it got to the point where my husband would stop me from talking––he didn't want me to say what if...and have that thing come true. So I wrote a novel about this.
3. What genre does yourbook fall under?It's an urban fantasy/horror, written in a chick lit style.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Hmm. I think someone like Cameron Diaz, or Beth Behrs, the blonde in TWO BROKE GIRLS, could play Lorrie, the heroine. She has to be a bit zany. Aubrey Plaza, from Parks and Recreation, could play the snotty receptionist at the art gallery. Chris Pratt, also from Parks and Recreation, could play John.
As to the rest, I'll leave that to Hollywood, should they ask.
5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A woman's desire for acceptance among her peers and as an artist, leads to some tragic and unexpected events.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It's going to be released on April 1, 2013 by CHBB Publishing (Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing). And that's no April fool's joke.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I wrote for four months until it became 100,000 words. Then I pared it down to just under 70,000 words.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?I don't know. Today, I think of it as SEX IN THE CITY with a horror spin, though when I wrote it before the mid-1990s, the chick lit genre wasn't popular. Maybe it's a little like THINNER, where eating a certain pie makes people get thinner until they disappear, though in my story food doesn't play a big part. But like THINNER, it's about bad things happening and not being able to figure out know how to stop them.
9. Who or what inspired you to write the book?
Before writing A BLUE MOON, I had read the novel DEATH IS A LONELY BUSINESS, byRay Bradbury, which takes place in Venice, California. That gave me the idea to write an urban fantasy set in Venice, where I had once lived. While writing A BLUE MOON, I attended a lecture by Ray Bradbury. I talked to him afterward. When I told him his DEATH IS A LONELY BUSINESS had inspired me to write, he winced––because it wasn't one of his best sellers, I think––though it was quite good. He said when I got it published tosend him the eighth copy, because I should send the first seven copies to reviewers and family. Sadly, he passed away this year, so I won't get to do that.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
As the expression goes, sometimes life imitates art. As I mentioned, I had the odd talent of saying things that would come true. After writing this book, I moved to New Mexicoand met some of the characters I had written about. I met someone like Suzie, Lorrie's best friend, who became my best friend. I met a character like John, though in real life he was more malevolent than in the story. However, the worst of it was, one of the events in the book came true for me––my house burned down. I guess, sometimes you have to be careful not only what you wish for, but what you write.
===================
Okay, for the four authors I tagged -
The Rules: The Next Big Thing

Include your introduction post along with the link to the person who tagged you. Then answer these same ten questions about your work in progress/just published; feel free to include pictures if applicable. Choose four or five other writers/bloggers and contact them via email or Twitter to see if they would like to participate, then add their links.
Post your responses on your own site between December 10th-December 20th, and title it The Next Big Thing.

Guest on Dianne Harman's Blog--here's the post

Here's the link to my guest post on Dianne Harman's blog: http://dianneharman.com/new-horror-author/

I'm a Guest Author on Dianne Harman's Blog Tomorrow!

I'm a guest author tomorrow on Dianne Harman's blog! 

I'll be blogging about my two upcoming releases, A Blue Moon , a novel being released by Secret Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing and A Talent for Evil , a novella being released by Midnight Hour Publishing next year. 

Check it out my interview tomorrow at Dianne Harman's blog. 

In the meantime, visit Dianne's blog to find out about her new mystery Blue Coyote Motel at http://www.dianneharman.com. Happy Reading!

The Pelicans Come Back to the Pond

If you've seen my Facebook page, you've seen the picture of the California White Pelicans. Last Sunday one of them came back. I was hoping the rest would also make an appearance and yesterday they did. The last time they were here they stayed for about a week. Here's some pictures of these gentle, white giants. The little white duck seems to be contemplating whether these guys are here to stay. In the picture above him, he's located by the yellow pole at the top right.