the league of reluctant adults

The League is poised to strike Denver this weekend. Nicole Peeler and Jeanne Stein , plus Kimberly Frost , threaten to ravish my fair city in a One-Two-Three literary throw down. Eins . The Denver Public Library through their Fresh City Life program hosts Mucho Mojo, Urban Fantasy Authors Hex You Up! Don't let the title fool you, it's really an excuse for boozin' and depravity as the authors read the dirtiest passages of one another's books. If we don't get arrested for public lewdness, it's because we didn't try hard enough. The raunch happens Thursday, Aug 4, 7-9pm , at MadWine, 1200 Acoma St, Denver. Don't believe me, then read this pimpage from Westword . Zwei . RomCon 2011 ! Suffice it to say, what happens at con, stays at con . Enough said. Heh, heh, heh. Drei . If you thought three UF authors was enough awesomeness to go thermonuclear critical, then imagine the damage potential of five writers when Lizzie T Leaf and Melissa Mayhue join in! S...

This week, I've been working in Starbucks to avoid the scorching heat and the laundry piling up as I get closer to deadline. Two incidents, though, are making me rethink working in public. First, I was focusing on my laptop, typing away like a fiend. I reached the end of a sentence and looked up to ponder my next step. The door of the store was right ahead of me and I noticed a familiar-looking woman walking across the parking lot toward her car. "Hmm," I thought, "Is that Heidi?" I shrugged it off and got back to working. Half an hour later, I gave myself a quick twitter break. Sure enough, Heidi sent me a message asking if I had been working at that Starbucks. She then informed me that "You looked pretty intense so I didn't want to interrupt." I panicked. What did people see when they witnessed me working? I thought about how I will often make expressions reflecting those of my character's emotions. I'll laugh out loud and tear up. I spil...

This past week, I’ve been on vacation from the Real Job™, entertaining my #1 Beta who was visiting from out of town. In theory, she visits so we can get some face-to-face brainstorming time on whatever I happen to be working on, writing-wise. Naturally, like most well-thought-out plans, this results in us doing a lot of running around like headless chickens, and very little working. (But we DID get to see the new Harry Potter, and a very hot and sticky outdoor showing of Guys and Dolls, and I had a kickass book release party, details here ) Still, we did finally manage to do some brainstorming during the last twenty-four hours she was here, which means we will qualify the trip as a success. I now have four pages of rather garbled notes (but they make sense to me) on what may eventually become books 4 and 5 in the JJD series. Y’know, in case anyone ever wants them. So yesterday I put #1 Beta on the plane home, and I have today left as my last decompression day before my return to th...

Hello my darling Leaguers! I'm writing to you from London, where I just finished at the Doctor Who Experience. It was insanely nerdy and fun. It was a treat for a friend who just had good news, and I think we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Now we're off to Brighton for a louche evening at a posh hotel. From dork to debauched, that's how I roll. ;-) Meanwhile, in very exciting news, Orbit UK has relaunched my series with an entirely new look. These covers are totally different from Sharon's, and I love both looks. Both are so quirky, which I think is great for the series. Here's the UK cover for Tempest Rising: And Tracking the Tempest : And Tempest's Legacy : And, finally, Eye of the Tempest : Release dates for these are as follows: Tempest Rising and Tracking: Both out August 4, 2011 Tempest's Legacy : September 1, 2011 Eye of the Tempest: October 7, 2011 Tempest's Fury : July 5, 2012 So for those of you who have been so patiently waiting for book 3, it w...

Last week I caught a random tweet about something called Womanthology . I adore comics and I adore woman-centric projects, so I thought I'd check it out. (I always enjoy watching the process of how a project like this comes together.) Basically it's a collaborative effort between some awesome comic book artists/writers (Barbara Kesel, Gail Simone, etc.) teaming up with unknowns to produce over 300 pages of stories and artwork for charity. It's spearheaded by Renae De Liz, who did the absolutely gorgeous graphic novel adapation of The Last Unicorn. (Yes, I have a signed copy. <3 ) According to their website: "Womanthology is an anthology graphic novel created entirely by women for Charity. The purpose of the book is to showcase the works of female creators of every age and experience levels. The Graphic Novel will majorly consist of many short stories interpreting our theme for this volume; "Heroic". We'll also have interviews and how-to's w...

In the last couple of months, I can think of at least four articles/posts that came out on the Internet and criticized some aspect of young adult novels. Unsurprisingly, these posts stirred up quite a flurry of responses, some more so than others. If you're not up on your latest Internet kerfuffles, here's a handy rundown: "Darkness Too Visible" in The Wall Street Journal , discussing the dark and disturbing nature of YA. It references Leaguer Jackie Kessler, who wrote a wonderful response . "Writing Young-Adult Fiction" on slate.com, which riled up readers and writers alike for painting YA as a simplistic genre. Some Teen Books Surprisingly X-Rated, Study Finds from LiveScience.com and distributed via Yahoo and Fox News websites. Leaguer Jeanne Stein's books (which aren't YA) were originally cited and later changed to PC & Kristin Cast's series on LiveScience's site. Other news sites still mention Jeanne. "7th Harry Potter Movie ...

This blog is being written while enroute home from a short trip to New York. Of course sixteen hours both ways may not actually count as a short trip, but still.. It's always interesting to travel to a new city. Of course, for me, part of the fun is always deciding how much damage my various characters would do to the place. As soon as I passed Le Cirque, I knew it would be a great building to have Greta (the most homicidal of my Void City Vampires) utterly wreck during a brawl. She'd like the subway, too. The press of bodies would help keep her warm and it would also provide easy access to tons of victims. Eric, would like the way the shade of the tall buildings let him walk out and about during the day as long as he was careful about his route. He wouldn't be careful - because he almost never manages that kind of prep - but he'd like that it would theoretically work. Talbot (my enigmatic shapeshifting kind-of-a-cat) would dig the museums and he might drop drop into th...

Wow. It's been three months since I've blogged here at the League. Don't think I haven't thought about that fact. I used to be the one that bitched until other Leaguers blogged. The times, they are a changin'. Anyways, since I don't have anything "Mark Henry" related to blog about and likely won't for the foreseeable future. I thought...why not give you my alter-ego! So...without further ado...here's the world premiere of my new book recommendation vlog, aptly titled Book Show Book Show!!! Thoughts?

As one might imagine, whenever I get together with my editors, we tend to Plot Shenanigans of a Sordid Nature. Raucously. Drunkenly. Boorishly, even. Peppered with Evil Sniggers. And we leave our servers wondering how we ever managed to get ourselves Gainfully Employed. More on this below... The first thing I did when I entered the Random House building on July 5, the release day for HAMMERED , was thank the nice security lady who saved my life the previous year from the dangerous vagaries of their turnstile system. She did not remember me. She saves lives EVERY DAY, so I was just another face in the crowd for her. But she was special to me, and I let her know. Next I got to jump up and down and squee with my editor, Tricia, because HAMMERED was already doing well on Amazon and had gotten some kind reviews. And then we went down to see the Beast of the East, Viking Mike, and deliver a comic I drew of him and Atticus O'Sullivan slaying demons together. Here it is—you can click t...

So many awesome league releases today, I'm devoting my post to it.  First off, Diana Rowland is launching her awesome new series with WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE, and if she hits the NYT list, she'll be getting this tattoo!  Wouldn't you love to see Diana Rowland wearing this fabulous tattoo? I know I sure would! MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE  by Diana Rowland The description , from the author’s site: Angel Crawford is a loser. Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken. That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous lette...

First, Happy Fourth of July :) Yay, fireworks, independence and barbecues. Second--it’s a holiday. You’re all probably recuperating from heinous weekend hangovers filled with drinks I’ve never heard of, wild orgy pool parties, and too much sun. You’re tired from lugging lawn chairs, coolers filled with the above booze I’ve never heard of, and boxes of overpriced sparklers. You’ve eaten your fill of hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad. I get it. So I’ll keep this blog simple. Supernatural. Sam? Dean? Or Cass? Hit me :)

It's the beginning of the July Fourth weekend. That means fireworks, BBQs, and patriotic memorials to the fallen. I've given my own tribute to the fallen, specifically to people who meant a lot to me, in the dedication page of three of my novels. I dedicated my second book, X-Rated Bloodsuckers , to Jad Duwaik, who I had met through a mutual friend. I sensed that Jad had gone through a lot but didn't ask. He lived in the basement of my friend's mom's house, and he didn't have a job or money. No car. But he was smart and social and a lot of fun to hang with. At the time, I wasn't yet published, and he and I would talk a bit about writing. Then, in a flurry, he decided to go to China and teach English for a six month assignment that lasted more than three years. In January 2006, I received word that he had died of a brain aneurysm in Shenyang, China. He was 35. It was in the preparation of his eulogy that I learned much about Jad, and how much we had in common...