1–What is the title of your latest release? MURDER AT HAVEN’S ROCK 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A town is being built in the Yukon wilderness for people who need to disappear, but even before it’s finished, two members of the construction crew do disappear…into the forest without a trace. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? It’s a spinoff of a book set in the Yukon—new town but same concept. I stuck with the Yukon for all the reasons I first chose it (natural beauty & isolation) 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Casey would not be the most personable companion on first meeting, but if I had time to get past that, I would definitely like to hang out with her. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Driven, idealistic, compassionate. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Placer mining. The Yukon was the site of the Klondike gold rush, but I hadn’t touched on placer mining in previous books. It’s a central part of this one—modern, small scale gold mining in rivers etc. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you…

1–What is the title of your latest release? A RIP THROUGH TIME 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? After responding to a cry for help in modern-day Edinburgh, a Vancouver police detective ends up in the body of the house maid who’d been attacked there…a hundred and fifty years earlier. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted my narrator to be a “fish out of water” in every possible way, which meant setting it abroad. Victorian Edinburgh—known for medical research—is the perfect place for her new employer to live. He’s a doctor who had to take over his family’s undertaking business and uses it for early forensic science. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Absolutely. I can’t say that about all my narrators, but Mallory would be very easy to get along with. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Brilliant, driven, guarded 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Too many things! This was endless research (still ongoing as I work on book 2) One of the joys of time travel is that the narrator takes that journey with you, learning about this new…

Women of the Otherworld #11 August 2010 On Sale: July 27, 2010 Featuring: Savannah Levine 320 pages ISBN: 0525951784 EAN: 9780525951780 Hardcover $25.95  Add to Wish List Fantasy Urban Buy at Amazon.com Completing our “road trip” week, this one includes adventures closer to home Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half-demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at 21 she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town as a favour to one of the agency’s associates. At first glance, the murders look garden-variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes. Soon Savannah is in over her head. She’s run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker, and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime….

This is the start of summer in the US, the sorta official beginning — Memorial Day Weekend. Most of the schools are out and if they aren’t then everyone attending has a serious case of “short-timers syndrome.” People are planning their summer vacations, what can we afford, whose schedule loses in the equation, you know, all the things families and friends do to plan out some “FUN.” My family has evolved into doing long weekends for our summer vacations. We’ve replaced school restrictions with job responsibilities and our pets. It was bad enough when you didn’t get any credit for missed days, but why oh why do all businesses with IT require the IT people to do installs and upgrade over holidays? Doesn’t seem fair, does it? But supposedly less people will be online and using the system so perfect time to upgrade operating systems, new development, etc. I know it will be a time when we just hope the hamburgers don’t burn while the guys are on endless conference calls! Then the dogs. Ah, my new babies. Last time we all went away at the same time and had to use a kennel or doggie boarding establishment, one dog…

What a wild week I’ve had: three signings attended (if I was a woman with super powers I could have gone to seven of interest), two author dinners, one reader lunch and one reader dinner. Today I go to our monthly tea and we’ll have a guest, Marie Bostwick. But first all this gadding about is expensive and second fun and third, exhausting. Why exhausting? Good question, I’ll tell you! Because I bought a bunch of books and oh, my, even YA ones. And now I’ve got to read them! All right I can say I’ve read YA in the recent past, after all, you’ve heard our stories of being there for at least three of the final Harry Potter release parties, which I’ll always remember until I die. They were fun and I doubt ever to be replicated no matter how hard they try to make a book or series so “important.” HP has the magical quality of reaching all generations. And it was in all the media: books, audio, movies, games. Only thing I know missing is the television and since The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ is now open, they’ve covered the theme park version as well….

Fresh Takes from the Teen Shelves All the news, updates and gossip for the Young Adult — books, authors, movies and more! Ah, spring fever. Every April, I have the hardest time making myself do work. I just want to lay around enjoying the gorgeous weather–not too hot, not too cold–goofing off. Which for me means reading books. Here are a few suggestions for your Spring Fever Slack Off, starting with interviews with Kelley Armstrong and Heather Davis, who were nice enough to tell me about their new releases. Kelley Armstrong has been delighting fans of contemporary fantasy and paranormal romance with her Women of the Otherworld series (Bitten, Dime Store Magic) for awhile, and in 2008, she added a series of YA books to her extensive list, the third of which comes out on April 6th. Kelley Armstrong: THE RECKONING is the final book in the Darkest Powers trilogy. In the first book, fifteen-year-old Chloe Saunders started seeing ghosts. After a breakdown at school, she was taken to a group home, which she quickly discovered was not what it seemed. After being on the run in THE AWAKENING, she’s taken shelter in a place that seems safe. But for…

Bantam Spectra hosts a smack down on Twitter between characters as diverse as Captain Kirk (Star Trek) versus Captain Mal (Firefly) and more. So borrowing a leaf from his playbook, I want to have some fun over the next few weeks in a smack down of our own. I will post the contestants and my thoughts, you get to vote and post your own. Commentators are automatically entered in a drawing for a special prize. Also, don’t miss tomorrow’s Snips and Clips where the Daily Dose Holiday Giveaway will be announced! Saturday Smackdown: Shape Shifters in the Ring For our inaugural Saturday Smack Down we’re looking at shape shifters, specifically werewolves because there are many other types of shifters out there. First two contestants: Clayton Danvers (Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Other World) and Charles Cornick (Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series). Read the rest and make your choice Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I signed off with that last week and didn’t get a whole ton of feedback, but ah well, it didn’t stop me from reading more stuff. So, because I’ve got a full day including an 8am stop at Central Market Plano for their ‘to-die-for’ pancakes — very very early on a Saturday — I need to buckle down and write. This week was filled with thrillers, weepers, and a little bit of historical romance. First off…finally finished DARK OF NIGHT and was a bit disappointed in the quality of the book. I mean, seriously folks, it’s a f@#ing hardcover and the pages are falling out with one read? And I am NOT a messy reader. No dog earing, no cracking of spines or folding of pages. Geez! That put me off greatly BTW. Even if I got it at Costco and not full retail, a hardcover with pages falling out! What has the world come to? Oh, and the book was good. I wasn’t entirely happy with the reason for all the thrills and chills, but the ride was satisfying. Why did Nash go on all those ‘covert missions’? I didn’t buy the “money” angle. Ah well. Maybe there is…

January marks two big milestones in my e-serial writing career.  On the 15th, I posted the prologue for the first e-serial in my YA series.  And next week will see the release of Men of the Otherworld, containing three of my early e-serials (and a new story.) For those who aren’t familiar with the term, an e-serial is a story published in segments on the internet.  When I do them, I’m posting as I write, on a set schedule, usually a chapter every couple of weeks.  There are ways to charge for the downloads, but most—like mine—are done as reader freebies. I started writing e-serials shortly after launching my website in 2002.  A web guru at my publisher suggested I find ways to make my site “sticky”—bring people back between books.  It was a time in my life when I was looking for more storytelling opportunities.  I’d finished maternity leave and decided to quit my job (two kids under the age of two plus a new career as a novelist meant something had to give.)  I decided to write an e-serial novella for my site.  I polled readers for a topic, then started Savage, a prequel telling the back-story of…