From the Author Pages…

Updating time once again…

• While the very, very long delayed Alejandro’s Sorceress is apparently going to make it to e-release sometime next week, it looks like Alyssa Day is also going to be re-releasing her previous novellas in e-format as well.  Wild Hearts in Atlantis (originally published in the Wild Thing anthology) will be released on October 2nd, and Shifter’s Lady (from the anthology Shifter) will follow on November 6th.
• Originally scheduled for a mid-January release, looks like Jennifer Estep‘s third Mythos Academy book, Crimson Frost, is up at Amazon for preorder for December 24th.
• Looks like Lara Adrian is getting in on the e-book re-release thing, too.  Written under the name Tina St. John, Lara has recently released the Dragon Chalice series in e-format (Heart of the Hunter, Heart of the Flame, Heart of the Dove).  Turns out they will also be coming in trade paperback format, as well.  Details to come.
• There will be a compilation book from Sherrilyn Kenyon featuring all of the short stories written for St. Martin’s Press.  Dark Bites will feature Fear the Darkness (first time in print), and an all new short story starring Acheron.  This one will be out on November 5th.
• oh, and the blurb for the upcoming Elder Races novella from Thea Harrison, Devil’s Gate, is now out.  I am still iffy about a medusa lead – snakes ain’t my thing – but who knows?

Synopsis…

When it comes to love between a medusa and a Vampyre, it’s every man, woman, and snake for themselves.

As a coroner, medusa Seremela Telemar has always felt more comfortable chatting over a dead body than over drinks. But when her wild niece, Vetta, runs off to Devil’s Gate, a lawless town that has sprung up overnight in a modern-day gold rush, she knows she has to extricate her before the rebellious girl gets into real trouble. Though she’s confident in her head snakes’ ability to defend her against attackers, Seremela is still a bit nervous about braving this modern-day Wild West by herself.

Vampyre Duncan Turner is not about to let his new co-worker go into that chaos alone. His Vampyric power and lawyer smarts make him the perfect ally, and the fact that he already had his eye on Seremela for more…personal reasons, doesn’t hurt matters. Any romantic thoughts pull up short, however, when they arrive at Devil’s Gate and learn Vetta is set to hang by morning.

In order to save Vetta and themselves, Seremela and Duncan are going to have to fight fire with force and magic with fangs. And pray they make it out of Devil’s Gate alive.

 

Cover Lover – Devil’s Gate

Well, Thea Harrison has upped the cover for the third of her four e-novellas, this one called Devil’s Gate.  Due out on June 6th, this one will feature two Elder Races characters we have already come to know – medusa Seremela Telemar and vampyre lawyer Duncan Turner.  Now, I love me the vamps, and Seremela is a great character, but I have to admit the head full of snakes is a bit iffy for me.  Not to mention the pale green skin.  I sort of snickered when I noticed that Duncan was solo on the cover, but it was a good call.  The preorder links should be up at Amazon.com soon.

Spotlight on…Lord’s Fall

Thea Harrison posted the cover, step back and blurb for her upcoming fifth Elder Races novel, Lord’s Fall.  This one is a return to the original couple of the series, Dragos and Pia, and it will be available on November 6th.

          In the latest Novel of the Elder Races, two mates find themselves on different paths, torn between their duty to the Wyr and the passion that binds them…

Before she met Dragos, half-human half-wyr Pia Giovanni was alone and on the run. Now, she’s mated, pregnant and heading south to repair the Wyr’s frayed relationship with the Elves. Being separated from Dragos is painful, but for the good of the Wyr demesne they need to figure out how to be partners, in more places than just the bedroom.

In New York to preside over the Sentinel Games, Dragos is worried about his mate, but knows that finding two replacement sentinels is essential to show the rest of the Elder Races just how strong and brutal the Wyr demesne can be. But as the games heat up, Pia’s negotiations with the Elves take a turn for the dangerous, straining her bond with Dragos and threatening everything they hold dear…

I have to admit, I was surprised when I found out that this one was going back to Pia and Dragos.  I figured we would just be getting glimpses of their lives interwoven into the story of the other sentinels, since there are still so many new stories to tell.  The write up makes it sound like these two are headed for trouble, and the excerpt makes me wonder how much time they will even be spending together since Pia is traveling to the Elven demense and Dragos is staying in New York.  I do wonder how this will work out.

Cover Lover – Natural Evil

Thanks to Jemma, who pointed out that Thea Harrison had upped the cover for her next e-novella, Natural Evil.  It is part of her Elder Races series, and features the characters of Luis and Claudia.  It will be released through Samhain Publishing on March 20th, but I am not sure when that will be available through Amazon.

New Release Dates

I do love the first of the month, since I can usually find a bunch of new release dates.

• Michele Vail‘s first book, Undeadly, has been pushed back to November 20th.  It is the first book of The Reaper Diaries series.
• Erin  McCarthy and Kathy Love are pairing up on The Fangover, due out on November 6th.
• What I believe is the last book of Jessica Andersen‘s Final Prophecy series will be called Spellfire, and it should be available on November 6th.
• October 30th is the release date for the third book of Donna Grant‘s upcoming spin-off series, Midnight’s Seduction.
• Shadow Rising, part of Yasmine Galenorn‘s Otherworld series, will be available on October 30th.
• The paperback release date of J.R. Ward‘s Lover Reborn will be October 2nd.
• Mate Claimed, the next book in Jennifer Ashley‘s Shifters Unbound series, will be available on October 2nd.
• Erica Hayes starts up a new series this October with the release of Revelation.  It will be followed by Redemption in 2013.
• The next Wild About You novel from Vicki Lewis Thompson will be called Werewolf in Denver.  It is scheduled for release on October 2nd.
• The Castle of Dark Dreams series from Nina Bangs will continue this October with the release of the 6th book, Wicked Whispers.
• Archangel’s Storm, Jason’s Guild Hunter story from Nalini Singh, will be available on September 4th.
• The next Dark book from Christine Feehan is now officially titled Dark Storm, and it too will be out on September 4th.
• Dragon’s Moon is the next book in the Children of the Moon series from Lucy Monroe, and it is now available for pre-order on September 4th.
• Up next for the Broken Heart series from Michele Bardsley is Only Lycans Need Apply, due out on September 4th.
• Katie Reus has a second book coming for her Moon Shifter series.  Book two will be called Primal Possession and is scheduled for release on September 4th.
• A Tale of Two Vampires, part of Katie MacAlister‘s Dark Ones series, will be released on September 4th.
• November 6th is the date for Thea Harrison‘s 5th Elder Races book, Lord’s Fall.
• Magic for a Price is the name of the next Allie Beckstrom novel from Devon Monk, and it should be out on November 6th.
• Christina Henry will release Black Lament, part of her Black Wings series, on October 30th.
• and the next Jane Yellowrock novel, from author Faith Hunter, will be called Death’s Rival.  Look for it on October 2nd.

Updates…

Only a couple of little changes to the site this go round.

• First off, the Elder Races Character Guide has been updated to include the recently released e-book, True Colors, from author Thea Harrison.
• Since we have officially rung in 2012, I deleted all of the monthly new release pages for 2011.  However, I did leave the yearly summary alone, just in case anyone needs a reference.  We probably don’t need that one, either, but I figure it won’t hurt.  The 2013 monthly release pages will be done up over the coming months.
• The Author and Series reading lists are being worked on a bit at a time.  I believe I am now done through the I – J page.

And I have been updating the new release pages, as well.  These are some that I have added…

• 2013 will see the release of the fourth Dark Angels book from Keri Arthur, this one called Darkness Hunts.
• Yasmine Galenorn is going to be busy.  There are no official release dates, as yet, but books 4 and5 of the Indigo Court series will be called Night Vision and Night’s End, respectively.  On the Otherworld side of things, number 13 will be called Haunted Moon, and it will be followed by Autumn Whispers and Crimson Veil.
• A new series from Kami Garcia will also be getting a start in 2013.  Unbreakable is the first book of the Legion series – and the movie rights have already been sold.  It will be followed by Unbound in 2014.
• Erica Hayes will also start up a new series at the end of 2012.  Revelation is the first book of the Seven Signs series, and it will be followed by Redemption in 2013.
• The second book of Meg Cabot‘s Abandon series, Underworld, will be released on May 8th.
• The second book of Kimberly Frost‘s Etherlin series, All that Falls, is due out on June 5th.
• I was so excited to add this one, even though word came out a while ago.  September will see the release of the fifth Guild Hunter book from Nalini Singh.  Archangel’s Storm will feature spymaster Jason.
• March 6th will see the release of another Geared for Pleasure, the first book in the new Elemental Steam Steampunk series from Rachel Grace.
• and Melissa de la Cruz‘s second Beauchamp Family book, Serpent’s Kiss, is going to be released on June 12th.

Upcoming E-books

Ok.  I have bored all with my refusal to get into the whole e-book thing on a couple of different occasions.  I was feeling pretty smug about the whole thing, too, clinging to my beloved paper-and-ink books with the shiny covers.  And then sometime in the last couple of days I started to notice something that rocked the boat a bit – a few series that I follow faithfully are releasing new stories that will be available ONLY in e-format.  Huh.  That sucks.

Coming up on December 5th is A Taste of Midnight from Lara Adrian‘s Midnight Breeds series.

A shimmering holiday gala lights up an ancient castle in the Scottish Highlands, but beautiful widowed Breedmate Danika MacConn feels alone in the crowd. Even among the friends and festivity of the Darkhaven celebration, she can’t forget her lost love, a fallen warrior of the Order. Her brief return to her mate’s homeland has become treacherous after rejecting the advances of a dangerous Edinburgh crime boss with a taste for blood sport. As Danika seeks to expose the vampire and his dark trade, she discovers an unexpected ally in his forbidding, enigmatic henchman, Brannoc, a man who exudes heat, danger, and dark menace—and seems somehow achingly familiar. Bran has his own reasons for wanting to keep Dani out of his employer’s business . . . and his own secrets he means to keep buried. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a woman who tempts the wildest part of his Breed nature—especially when that woman is Danika MacConn, the one woman capable of bringing him to his knees.

Now, for this next one, you have to head over to Samhain Publishing.  It will be releasing an Elder Races story from Thea Harrison on December 13th, called True Colors.

Meeting your soulmate? Great. Preventing your possible murder? Even better.

Alice Clark, a Wyr and schoolteacher, has had two friends murdered in as many days, and she’s just found the body of a third. She arrives at the scene only minutes before Gideon Riehl, a wolf Wyr and current detective in the Wyr Division of Violent Crime—and, as Alice oh-so-inconveniently recognizes at first sight, her mate.

But the sudden connection Riehl and Alice feel is complicated when the murders are linked to a serial killer who last struck seven years ago, killing seven people in seven days. They have just one night before the killer strikes again. And every sign points to Alice as the next victim.

Shannon K. Butcher will be releasing an e-book from her Sentinal Wars series early next year called Bound By Vengeance.  There is a pretty nifty cover, but no other info available as yet.

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Now, this next one confuses me.  Alyssa Day is supposed to be releasing a Warriors of Poseidon story in December – but there is no trace of a link as to where you can download Alejandro’s Sorceress.  And there is no info, cover blurb, nada.  Just a cover.   Strange.  And it is due out in a couple of weeks…

Now, that is not to say that I am against the e-books – I’m not.  Authors like Kresley Cole, Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost are all going back and re-releasing their novellas in e-format, and I think it is great.  I would just like there to be a print option for us paper-lovers.  I don’t even mind buying an anthology just for one story – I do it all the time.   A while back, I read an interview with Christine Feehan somewhere where she talked about how print runs for romance books are down since people are buying more e-format stories, but that not printing books is forcing people to go in an electronic direction.  It seems like a catch 22, and still leaves me wondering if I just might have to take the plunge one day, after all…

You Said…

People have been so good about trying to keep me updated on the many, many things I miss that I thought I would put a few of them here.

• Both May and Amber gave me the heads up that Lynsay Sands next one, Under a Vampire Moon, has changed both from hardcover to paperback, and also changed release date to sometime in March/April.
• Jemma Hagerman said that G.A. Aiken is listing another Dragon Kin book, this one called How To Drive a Dragon Crazy, for release next year.  I remember that her last one was originally called that before becoming The Dragon Who Loved Me.
• Amber and Leah found some info on the upcoming Thea Harrison Elder Races e-book.  True Colors, #3.5 for the series, will feature a hero who has literally only been mentioned once within the series as a whole.  His name is Gideon Riehl, and he works just below the Sentinels for Dragos.  His heroine is an as-yet unknown character named Alice.

Pick of the Week

Thea Harrison seemingly came out of the blue a mere few months ago with her Elder Races series, and jumped to the top of the heap with the first book, Dragon Bound.  My pick this week is for the third book, the much anticipated Serpent’s Kiss.

Synopsis…

In order to save his friend’s life, Wyr sentinel Rune Ainissesthai made a bargain with Vampyre Queen Carling—without knowing what she would ask from him in return. But when Rune attempts to make good on his debt, he finds a woman on the edge.

Recently, Carling’s Power has become erratic, forcing her followers to flee in fear. Despite the danger, Rune is drawn to the ailing Queen and decides to help her find a cure for the serpent’s kiss—the vampyric disease that’s killing her.

With their desire for each other escalating just as quickly as Carling’s instability spirals out of control, the sentinel and the Queen will have to rely on each other if they have any hope of surviving the serpent’s kiss…

Book number four, Oracle’s Moon, will be released on March 6th.  From what I have heard, there will be at least two more books to follow, as well.

This and That…

Well, this is a post about a bunch of…stuff.  You know, not enough to have its own post, but rattling around in my head bugging me that it has to be said?  Looks like strange info-dump time, with no theme…

• first of all, I noticed that Wicked Scribes doesn’t work in Internet Explorer very well.  Things look funky sometimes, and fixing them for IE made them look wonky in in Firefox.  So, if you have the choice, Firefox is the way to go.
• um, yeah.  I am in the process of adding e-books to the author pages and their reading lists.  New sections will be added, especially for authors like Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost.  I haven’t tackled adding e-books to the new release pages yet, since I figure that will take a good long while and I have to track the suckers down first.
• the Elder Races Character Guide has now been updated to include Storm’s Heart (on the day The Book Depository shipped out Serpent’s Kiss, no less).  I will be starting the re-read of Archangel’s Blade tomorrow, and hope to have the Guild Hunter Guide updated by the end of next week.

and on the book front…

• looks like the next Anita Blake officially has a title now.  Kiss the Dead will be the next book from Laurell K. Hamilton, and is due out on June 5th.
• and Andrea’s book now has a name, as well.  The first book from Ilona Andrews‘ spin-off from the Kate Daniels series will be called Gunmetal Magic.  Look for it next May.
• I was hoping for the next Christine Feehan Ghostwalker book next March, but seems like Thorn’s story will now be pushed back to July.  Blech.
• looks like Lover Reborn might be getting a cover-makeover.  The original version of the J.R. Ward book has been pulled recently from the publisher’s site, so here’s hoping.  Dude was fugly.

I think that is about it.  Still looking for covers for Once Bitten, Bear Meets Girl, and a few others.  I do love my hunting…