over the god damn rainbow

One thing I don't think we've shared are action scenes. Those that get your heart racing and blood pumping and you find yourself holding your breath--

At least that's what we often hope to accomplish!

Why don't we each share one short action scene from one of our FFF novels?

I always forget this part: Edited to say, tell us why you like it!

EDIT TAKE  2: In response to a question, yes, *any* FFF reader or author can post an action scene. I just meant whatever it is must have fangs or fur or fey or any combination of the above! Well, urban fantasy, urban paranormal, you get the picture. :o)

EDIT TAKE 3: Sorry! Whatever works! I'm confusing everyone. Whatever you write, except non-paranormal, post like we always do. I've got walking pneumonia and I think I'm going back to bed. :P

Don’t you hate it when you read and really enjoy a book, then meet the author and she’s some horrible old witch you just want to douse with water so you can watch her melt?

Yeah? Well, that’ll never happen with Jeanne Stein. She’s got a feisty streak, but she’s absolutely one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

Her newest novel, LEGACY, came out September 1. Just prior to that, Jeanne took some time from her busy schedule to talk to Fangs, Fur and Fey about her new book and writing in general.

 

( Read more... )

My dad actually called me back today. I didn't think he would. My grandfather isn't doing well. His cancer is back.

This means that both of my grandfathers are not in good health. My maternal grandfather may not be able to get the heart surgery he needs, and my paternal grandfather has cancer again.


Fuck. It kind of feels like someone just pissed in my Cheerios's

To celebrate the September release of the third Bigtime book, Jinx, I'm hosting a contest over at my blog through Friday. I'm giving away free books and T-shirts. Hope you can check it out! ;-)

Devo has decided I am a planning whore. I think I am just terribly efficient. For those of you who don't all ready know devo and I are Engaged :)! Yay! In the last couple of days I have started the preliminary stages of planning. Lists, decisions, place, ceremony type, ect. Devon is blown away that I am just running with it. Hell I even called the florist today. We want to get married on June 13th of 09, so if thats going to happen we really need to start planning now. I am also going to make a bridezilla filter for anyone who doesn't want to hear about my ramblings. Let me know if you specifically want to be on it.

Yay! Today it's finally official. It only took me twelve years, but my first release has finally hit the shelves. Sleepless is a paranormal YA thriller that's been called "heart-pounding." I could not be more thrilled myself. I hope you'll check it out. If you'd like more details, please visit my newly updated website: www.terriclarkbooks.com.

Thanks!
Terri

I'm giving away five copies of my new YA, Revealers, this Thursday along with a large, glass witch ball and an Ugly Doll Ice Bat Plush. If you'd like to be entered you can head over to my blog for details.

Amanda

[cross posted at Romance Vagabonds]

I just got back from Dragon*Con — got woken up this morning by my Precious Little Tax Deductions (ages 7 and 5) who jumped into the bed at 7 am (sleeping in, at Casa Kessler) and hugged me to pieces. Ah, bliss! I’d say that today the decompression begins, but who am I kidding? I have the full-time day job AND the boys with me AND revisions for the next book due AND the boys’ soccer practice today AND my Loving Husband won’t be home until late because his first class this semester begins for him after his full-time job. So…in other words, back to business.

But I wanted to talk Dragon*Con. Picture, if you would, 40,000 people, spread over four hotels in Downtown Atlanta. Add incredibly creative costumes to a full two-thirds of the people. And tons of panels. And vendor booths. And music. And noise. And yep, crowds. Oh, and you’re on three panels, so you’ll have to actually Speak In Public. There you have it: every introvert’s worst nightmare.

I mean, look at me: I’m a soccer mom who telecommutes for her day job and locks herself in her home office at night when the kids are asleep so that I can write. Most of my good friends are virtual, people whom I see maybe once a year, if at all. I’m horrifically shy. I tend to get nauseated before going to conventions, and I usually have at least one AHHHHHHHHHHHHH moment when I have to retreat to my hotel room and just breathe.

But I survived Dragon*Con! More than that: I had **fun**. So here you go:

 

( Read more... )
Jackie Kessler

The following FFF titles released in August and were showcased on the blog sidebar. It's not too late to pick up copies for yourself or someone else.

To see the (many - 14!) September releases, check out the updated FFF sidebar.

Happy Reading!

( See the pretty covers... )

Since it's Labor Day here in the States, I thought I'd pose a Topic of the Week concerning our work habits, and since it's a holiday, that I'd ask this question specifically:

Do you write 7 days a week, 365 days a year? Or do you try to take weekends and holidays off? (Which leads to a bigger question): How do you reconcile the demands of family with writing deadlines?  I don't mean demands like feeding and clothing; I'm referring to their desire to have you join their leisure activities.

I find that weekends are the best time to write, because that's when the Internet is quietest. No need to check e-mail for urgent messages from editors or agent. Fewer people reading blogs. In short, everyone else is out having a life, thus leaving me alone to get work done.

Speaking of which...I gotta go labor. :-) 

You know the drill: share your thoughts in the comments, and everyone is welcome--Members and Watchers alike. 

Have a great week!

--Jeri Smith-Ready

I seem to have a bad habit of thinking to myself that "I'll never write X," and then shortly thereafter writing--and selling--X after all. It started with my very first book, Watchers in the Night, which is a "reunion romance." (You know, the kind of romance where the hero and heroine were an item in the past but something went wrong, and they meet each other again years later.) The whole idea for that series began when I read a reunion romance that I found unsatisfying. I thought to myself, "I don't like reunion romances. I'll never write one." Then, of course, I started wondering what would make me like one, and shortly thereafter, I started writing Watchers.

Next, I started reading lots of urban fantasy and really loving it. But I was convinced I would never write an urban fantasy myself, because in the past, whenever I'd tried to write in first person, the result sucked. (My first person voice always came out really stilted and old-fashioned.) But then, because I enjoyed reading them so much, I thought, what the heck? I'll give it another try. If the result sucks, there's no harm done and at least I'll have tried.  Hence, the Morgan Kingsley series.

I have Rachel Caine to blame for starting me down the YA road. I'm a big fan of her Weather Warden series, so when she started writing her YA Morganville Vampire series, I absolutely had to read them. And that was the birth of a new addiction. I discovered I love reading YA urban fantasies. As usual, I didn't think I would ever write one. But I had some spare time between books, and I had this idea that wouldn't go away. So I wrote a proposal, fighting against my usual self-doubt. And yesterday, I agreed to a three-book deal with St. Martin's for my new YA urban fantasy series. I'm still a bit stunned--and intimidated. It's always so scary starting something new! But it will be fun, too.

I don't have a whole lot of details to share yet. The first book should be a fall 2009 release, but we don't have a title yet, and I'm not even sure whether I'll be writing it as Jenna Black or not. (I want my adult readers to be able to find my YA books, but the other way around . . . not so much!) But now I have to stop writing about the book--I've got a lot of work to do in the next month or so!

Basic Accounts
As we noted in our last News post, as of today users will be able to downgrade their account to Basic through the Manage Account page. In addition, visitors who are not logged in to LiveJournal will now be seeing ads on Basic accounts and communities; the experience of logged-in users will not change.

Paid Account Sale
We are having a paid account sale starting today through September 30, 2008. During that period, you can purchase a 12 month block of paid time and receive a 20% discount – this paid time can be added to any account, or purchased as a gift for your favorite LJ-friend. For full details, see our Paid Account Sale page.

Announcing lj_advisory
We are pleased to announce the creation of the lj_advisory community, set up so you can find news and information related to the activities of the Advisory Board. We recognize that it has taken us a while to get this community up and running, and that has caused some frustration. From now on, we will post topics which will be discussed by the Advisory Board prior to the date of the meeting and summaries of meetings after they occur. Throughout the year, the Advisory Board may also post requests for opinions on topics which may be discussed at future meetings. This is the official community for communication with the Advisory Board – comments will be read by Advisory Board members who will respond as they feel appropriate.

RTE + Opera and Safari = <3
RTE stands for Rich Text Editor, which is the default method of posting entries from the Post an Entry page. Our Rich Text Editor is based on the open-source FCKeditor code. It allows you to make links or LiveJournal user tags, insert photos or videos, and format your entries without needing to know HTML. That is, unless you use Opera or Safari as a browser, in which case you couldn't use the RTE.

That will be changing today. We are pleased to announce that the RTE has been upgraded to the latest version of the FCK code, which includes support for Opera and Safari! In addition, many of the bugs in the old version have been fixed. If you've been using RTE, you will most likely need to clear your browser's cache in order to use the new version.

<strike> vs. <b>
Last year we changed the visual display of deleted and suspended usernames from a line through the username to a bold font. This had the effect of making the name unclickable - which meant that no one could easily determine whether the username had been deleted or suspended. We've reversed this display, returning deleted and suspended usernames to a struck-through and clickable state.

Flash Fiction Contest Update
The deadline to submit your flash fiction entry to "Quick Tales," LiveJournal's partnership with Caferati in India is fast approaching. Users who wish to find out more about this exciting contest should take a look at our india_writing community. Be quick! Entries must be received by midnight, September 7th, 2008 and the contest is open to all who have a mailing address in India, regardless of where they currently reside or citizenship.

Welcome, welcome to Nalini Singh! Nalini has become a mega-popular author and we want to hear more!

1.     What makes Nalini Singh tick?

 

Chocolate, books and of course, writing. :)

 

2.     What drew you to writing?

 

Welcome to FFF author Jackie Kessler who is now firmly among my favourite authors because HOTTER THAN HELL is one of the most fabulous books I’ve read. It’s one of those rare books I would read again because I enjoyed it so much.

 
Now for Jackie to tell us a little about herself!

 

1.     When did the dream of being a writer begin for Jackie Kessler?

 
When I was in college. Before that, I had my heart set on becoming a comic book artist. But once I was in college, I started taking creative writing seminars, and that’s when I started falling in love with the idea of writing stories instead of illustrating them. And then I promptly started working on my Great American Novel. Here it is, twenty years later (eek) and that book still isn’t published. (But a version of it is currently on submission. Wish me luck!) I didn’t get serious about wanting to write novels until 2003, and in 2004, I started learning (the hard way) about the business of writing. The third novel I wrote, HELL’S BELLES, sold in December 2005.

 

2.     What is would readers be surprised to learn about you?

Today is our day for posting interviews of your favorite FFF authors! Coming right up!

 

I finally have permission to post the cover for AT GRAVE'S END, book three in the Night Huntress series. Without further ado, here it is! This may be my favorite cover so far. Sorry it's huge; I've been wrestling with LJ and Photobucket for half an hour. Results - they won, because I couldn't make either program resize the pictures to medium:

*Cross-posted from my LJ*

( Click for the covers! )

As I stated in a previous post, the quotes on the cover are changing, but everything else will be the same as in the final, printed book version. I love, love, love the winter background, because the climax of AT GRAVE'S END takes place on New Year's Eve in Canada, so the snow and ice images are perfect! 

From the back of the book:

SOME THINGS WON'T STAY BURIED...AT GRAVE'S END

It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield's life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she's successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat's worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover's finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.

As if that wasn't enough, a woman from Bones's past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat's about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she's learned as a special agent won't help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself - and Bones - from a fate worse than the grave.

***

Look for the first chapter of AT GRAVE'S END to be posted on my website at the end of the month. 

-Jeaniene Frost

Meme
I got the idea for this meme to share with the rest of you from the wonderful panel I was at on sunday morning. It was the one on Young Adult Fiction. At the end of the panel the moderator had us do an exercise based from the book Fahrenheit 451. She asked all of us in the panel to choose one book that we would be, and why.

I choose to be American Gods by Neil Gaiman, however it was the first book I thought of. After a few days of thinking of it I change my mind. I would actually want to be Little Women. There are various reasons why, but mostly it shows family structure and a coming of age story. It left quite an impact on me as a young reader. It is now taken, so you may not choose it.


So what book would you be?






xposted

Hey all! A reminder to our authors to send me info for the Newsletter. I *know* some of you have great news to share! Please send info to katewriter AT gmail.com

Also, for our members/watchers who have yet to sign up for our newsletter, the link is on the right. This is a great way to keep up with what your fave FF&F authors have going on.

Thanks!
Kathryn

Hi everyone! Here's a Topic suggestion from sorcha_ruel. We've discussed this here before, but not for a long time (I think), and since we're always adding new Members and Watchers, I decided to let it roll:

Do you use a pen name? How did you come up with it?

For me the answer is no so far, but if I did, I'd use my grandmother's maiden name (Nita O'Donnell), because I love the way it sounds and because she would've gotten a kick out of it.  Especially if it were for naughty books.  :-)

How about you?  If you use a pen name, what led you to that decision?  For those who don't (Members and Watchers alike), do you plan to, and if so, how would you choose?

Forgive me if I don't reply to comments until tomorrow.  Deadlines today.  Have a great week!

--Jeri Smith-Ready

Because I don't drive around too often it takes me a while to get through an audio book, so I'm still listening to one by James Lee Burke. The way he sets a scene is so well done. Between his character and setting descriptions--and how he executes them so flawlessly--he has me shaking my head and just thinking how amazing he is. And aspiring to be him when I grow up!

Choose a favorite scene or snippet from your WIP, or published or soon to be published novel. Pick one that shows your character in a setting that we see through the character's(s') actions, etc. Not just a description, but putting us in the environment the character is in and letting us see it through the character's thoughts and actions.

And let us know what you like about it!