Appearance change, flattered and a funny

This post is going to skip around a bunch. I'll start off with the appearance change. Unfortunately, I will not be attending Shameless Con in Orlando this October after all. I'm sad to miss it, but I have a good reason that I hope will make you happy. As it turns out, on that same weekend in October (the 19th & 20th) my publisher is hosting another Avon Kiss Con and they had already penciled me in. Now, SHADES OF WICKED (more commonly referred to as Ian's book :)) doesn't officially release until October 30th. However, because my publisher is hosting Avon Kiss Con - and my publisher has all the books - they're allowing a special early release of SHADES OF WICKED (paperbacks only; no ebook or audio) during Avon Kiss Con. So, attending readers will get signed copies of the book ten days early. Yay! I don't have permission to share the Avon Kiss Con city yet, but I can tell you that it's in the Southeast. As soon as I get the green light, I'll post all the info.

Next up, I'm going to point you at something that made me so flattered when I saw it. I've long been a fan of author Charlaine Harris. Needless to say, I love love loved her Southern Vampire Mysteries series featuring Sookie, Bill, Eric, Sam, Pam, Jason and the rest of the gang. Some of you might know them from the show True Blood. Anyway, I loved them so much that when I finally met Charlaine Harris years ago, I fangirled all over her. Seriously, I couldn't get out a complete sentence without fitting "I love your books!" in there somewhere. As it turns out, Charlaine is also one of the most gracious people I've ever met. She even headlined NOLA StoryCon twice, which is the reader conference me, Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong created it from scratch.

See? I still can't talk about Charlaine without gushing, lol. Now, to what flattered me. Earlier in the month, Charlaine wrote a blog where she talked about how she's often asked which novels featuring vampires are her favorites. Among the ones I expected to see (Bram Stoker's Dracula, Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels, and more) I saw a name and series I hadn't expected to see. My own Night Huntress novels. I couldn't have been more flattered. Thank you, thank you, Charlaine! 

Finally, a funny. As many of you know, I'm friends with author Ilona Andrews. It's not usual for us to send the other person scenes from our current works-in-progress to get a second opinion. That's what Ilona recently did with a scene from her upcoming novel IRON AND MAGIC, first in the new Iron Covenant series featuring Hugh D'Ambray and new character Elara Harper. Readers of the Kate Daniels series will recognize Hugh as one of the most badass antagonists in the #1 NYT bestselling Kate Daniels series, but Hugh gets to tell his side of the story now, and wait until you meet Elara. Anyway, Ilona sent me a scene a couple weeks ago to critique, and I also got her to send me the rest of what she had written of Hugh's book up to that point. I had intended it as a treat for when I finished my book, which - side note - I'm very close to finishing. But last Sunday, I was taking off writing because my creative brain was fried, yet I was bored because hubby was watching the NBA playoffs. So, I opened my partial file for IRON AND MAGIC thinking, eh, I'll read a couple chapters. But just in case I read more, I sent Ilona the following polite, reserved request via text message:

Hey, favor. Will you send me the updated file of Hugh's book?  Wanted to start reading and I know you'll be out of town next week.

Then, I started to read. Two hours later, here is the exact email I sent Ilona because she hadn't responded to my text yet. As you can see, the message is a little less reserved.

Have read the first hundred pages of Hugh's book in only two hours. Only have 150 more pages until I run out. Can I PLEASE have more?????

 

I am loving this! Think I actually like it more than Hidden Legacy series so far, and you know how I loved that.

 

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZE more bookie????"

 

*grins* She replied three hours later, shortly after she got off the plane because I was wrong and she had already left to go out of town. The subject line was THIS IS ALL I HAVE and the message was "Emailing from hotel room. First email failed to attach, so try 2. Hope you like it!"

 

People, I am a bad friend for badgering her while she was out of town on a business trip and I DON'T CARE THE BOOK IS SOOO GOOD! :)

 

But don't worry, Erika (my editor). I haven't stopped writing to read the rest of Hugh's book. I'm only reading it at night, after I make my word count, heh.