Update: Celestial Blues

Many of my readers have known about this for some time, but I wanted to direct you to the announcement that just came out in yesterday's Publishers Weekly about my new Celestial Blues series.

Briefs

Vicki Pettersson, Sign of the Zodiac series author and one-time showgirl, sold a new series to Diana Gill at Harper Voyager/Morrow. Miriam Kriss at Irene Goodman negotiated the three-book, world rights deal for the supernatural noir mysteries; the first book, The Taken, is scheduled as a paperback original for June 2012.

It's interesting because I'm currently finishing up copyedits for that first book, THE TAKEN, and I'm hypersensitive to using as few words as possible to convey the utmost meaning. The above paragraph is a good example of that – and what follows will certainly be its polar opposite – but I thought I'd deconstruct a few things included in that short paragraph, given that I haven't yet said very much about this series.

I'll start with the most obvious. I sold Celestial Blues to the editor I worked with on Signs of the Zodiac. I like her very much personally and professionally, mostly because I'm a better person and writer for knowing her. (Isn't that selfish?) I also like the idea of having a long time editor at a long time house, and though I know things don't always work out that way, I'd love to work toward that with Harper. That's why, though given the chance, I chose not to take this series to any other house. Diana and I had a great rapport while working on Zodiac, so I trusted her with Celestial Blues. It's easy to take swipes at the big houses in these heady, early days of e-publishing and commerce, but remember that 'they' are actually comprised of us – good people doing work they love to the best of their ability. At least that's my experience to date with Harper.

So. What else?

Did you note the series description? Supernatural noir mysteries mean this is not an urban fantasy series – at least not as we've come to know it. I've actually been holding on to the Celestial Blues idea for years – even before THE SCENT OF SHADOWS saw print. (I write rather slowly, and only pursue those ideas that get their teeth in to me and refuse to let go.) That aside, I still knew I didn't want to write another book with a mouthy, relatively angry, supernaturally-powered female protagonist wearing lots of leather. At this point it's been done to death (no pun intended) and, really, where the hell was I supposed to go after Joanna Archer? Darker? Angrier? More powerful?

Not possible … at least, not for me.

Fortunately, as I said, I'd been sitting on the idea of a male/female investigative team, and wanted desperately to try my hand at the genre I read most: mysteries and thriller. I melded that love with my penchant for the supernatural, let it evolve for the years I was too busy writing Zodiac to give the new idea full attention, and finally ended up with Celestial Blues: featuring an old fashioned P.I and a modern-day rockabilly reporter forced to team up to solve crimes involving both the mortal and celestial realms. (More on that soon!)

Finally the words paperback original are a bit ambiguous. Harper has decided to move me out of mass market, so this is a heads-up that the Celestial Blues trilogy will be published in trade paperback. It's a bigger, more mainstream book, and the bigger format shows that Harper is still supporting and growing me. I couldn't be any more excited about that. This will give me a chance to get into more stores, libraries, and book clubs, as well as cross-over to people in the mystery audience, many of whom don't know that paranormal fiction contains elements they would love. I really believe THE TAKEN has the potential to connect with a lot of different readers while giving my readers the world and originality they loved with Zodiac. Harper, thankfully, agrees.

Of course, my first worry concerned the price difference between the two series, but given the number of kindle covers I signed and e-preorders I received on my last book, that difference has already been minimized for many. And for those who still have keeper shelves, what can I say? You'll be getting a bigger book in a more attractive format. So I do hope you'll journey with me to the next level.

There will be more on THE TAKEN itself soon – I've seen sketches of the artwork, the manuscript itself has begun making its way out into the publishing world, and the last of the major changes will be on my editor's desk this week – but let it suffice to say that I'm excited about the direction my career is heading, as well as my traveling companions.

As always, that includes all of you.