Going on an ActiveRain road trip while writing for the NaNoWriMo competition. I'm also reading Sabrina Benulis...

It's time to head down south! Stephen, the Minion Blur is waiting for his Mama to come home with the big yellow crayon and lots of hugs and kisses. I'm sitting in the corner of my fave Starbucks (on a stool my blogger's butt is particularly fond of) watching people rush about in the rain while writing a new chapter for my novel (that I am supposed to be editing but I got another idea - silly grin). As I gear up for the NaNoWriMo competition I'm trying to handle the last few details regarding my departure from New York City.

NaNoWriMo requires 50,000 words in 30 days so I need to clear my virtual desk and finish seeing my brick-n-mortar loved ones. Saw Sana by accident today and was thrilled she wandered into Starbucks while I was writing furiously in the corner. I'm going to miss so many wonderful people (sigh). I've been bribing everyone to come to the FL house and am happy to announce it will be vacation central for a number of fun friends looking to conduct mad scientist experiments, babysit the little minions, explore geriatric suburbia hang out with us. We have plenty of room and a quirky bucket list of fun things to do (evil grin).

(cool tiles on the walls of the 42 Street Train Station enroute to NYCC 2011)

I have more Kim Harrison limited edition swag to give away (yay!). I shall be in Kew Gardens for a while engaged in that endeavor while I stalk my e-mail for the people who owe me their mailing address. Psst... you know who you are. Harper Collins and Kim were mad cool and let me give away 30 limited edition The Hollows Insider Comic Con 2011 posters with my blogging partners in crime. Carla Galloway of the Literal Addiction Paranormal Book Club is working with me on this fan project so go "Like" the club's Facebook page and keep your eyes peeled for a chance to get your hands on one. If you haven't pre-ordered your copy of The Hollows Insider you may want to do so now. It's a gorgeous world book and there's a Hollows storyline in progress between those full color pages.

A gentle shout out to Jim from Warren: I need to have all of these posters gone before I start the road trip for the author blog tour. Vicki Pettersson, Jaye Wells and Kim Harrison book signings are up on deck for my driving/travel agenda south. Stephen's poster should be the last in the big yellow crayon so e-mail me buddy. Don't make me beg you on Kim's blog. People are trying to get their hands on this crayon and I have to take it with me to the bathroom (said the chick who leaves her laptop on the counter when she goes - LOL). Priorities, priorities... (silly grin)

Got a Sabrina Benulis Book Club Bookie update for you guys: She's hard at work building new websites in anticipation of the release of her new book Archon. There will be a Facebook page. There will be an author website. I'm hoping she does Twitter too... I love lurking in twit streams and the instant gratification of an author update is always such a neat, sweet treat. I had the pleasure of meeting her at New York Comic Con 2011 and she's one of the fabulous authors on the "We're No Angels: Leading Ladies of Sci-Fi" panel.

According to her Goodreads.com bio Sabrina is, "...a debut novelist with Harper Voyager specializing in crossover YA/adult fantasy. My novel Archon, the first book in The Books of Raziel series, comes out December 27, 2011. Currently, I live in Northeastern PA with my husband and a spoiled cockatiel. When I'm not writing, I'm usually watching my latest anime obsession or playing an old school video game. As you can imagine, those times are now rare!"

Sabrina Benulis on Amazon

I hate spoilers but will share what Sabrina has to say about her book: "Angela Mathers is plagued by visions of angels, supernatural creatures who haunt her thoughts by day and seduce her dreams by night. Newly released from a mental institution where she was locked away for two years, she hopes that her time at the Vatican’s university, the West Wood Academy, will give her a chance at a normal life. Unlike ordinary humans, Angela is a blood head — a freak, a monster, the possible fulfillment of a terrifying prophecy of overwhelming death and destruction. Only in Luz, the Vatican’s wondrous enclave, are blood heads accepted and encouraged to discover what kind of powers or special abilities they might possess."

"But within West Wood, a secret coven plots, and demons and angels roam the streets searching for the key to open Raziel’s book — a secret tome from a lost archangel. Some are determined to destroy Raziel, while others, like the beautiful Supernal Israfel, one of the highest of the high, wish to free him. And when the Archon — the human chosen to possess the spirit of a dead angel — rises as foretold, they will control the supernatural universe."

"Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, Angela holds the key to Heaven and Hell — and both will stop at nothing to possess her."

It's a fabulous read (and I bet you wish you had an advanced copy - evil grin). Never fear, it's available for pre-order and will be released on December 27, 2011. This isme telling you to go buy her book if you want to know what I'm grinning about in my little corner of the world (LOL - happy sigh). Meeting Sabrina Benulis and Kristen Painter is a wonderful example of why you should always try to support your fave authors by going to their events. If I was not chasing Jeaniene Frost / Kim Harrison swag I never would have discovered how wonderful Sabrina and Kristen are as people. Pssst... You can never have too much author swag (or cool social media peeps - LOL). New York Comic Con 2011 was a fabulous venue to discover new, amazingly talented writers while happily gawking at the urban fantasy divas that already make your paranormal loving heart sing.

I have to get back to my novel. NaNoWriMo is around the virtual corner and down the ticking clock block. While I happily torture myself listening to old people complain about the air conditioning being on (it's raining Starbucks, HEAT wold be nice) here's a 16 minute clip of some panel highlights with Sabrina and the rest of the marvelous writers who presented at this venue:

WNA-The Leading Ladies of SF/F
New York Comic Con 2011 - Sunday, October 16th, 2:30pm-3:30pm Room# 1A23

Authors:

Patricia Briggs, Alison Goodman, Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Sabrina Benulis and Kristen Painter.

 

 

 

NYT Bestselling Authors Jeaniene Frost and Kim Harrison

 

October 25th The Bite Before Christmas

Jeaniene Frost on Amazon

Jeaniene Frost on Facebook

Jeaniene Frost on Twitter

JeanieneFrost.com

Processing digital film and sorting through photographs can take a while. Sometimes, you get distracted and start smiling over the beautiful experiences photographs can remind you of... like meeting and speaking briefly with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jeaniene Frost. Her Simon and Schuster bio is a snarky bit of fun (just like her - silly grin): "Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and Night Huntress World novels. She lives with her husband and their very spoiled dog in Florida. Although not a vampire herself, Jeaniene confesses to having pale skin, wearing a lot of black, and sleeping in late whenever possible. For information on Jeaniene Frost books, including sample chapters, book trailers, deleted scenes, creature mythology, and more, please visit: www.jeanienefrost.com"

Cool is the fact that her Amazon bio continues the fun JF banter: "Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to seventeen different countries. Jeaniene lives in Florida with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she swears like a sailor, rarely cooks, and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling - by car. Airplanes, children, and cookbooks frighten her..."

If I had to add my two cents I would say: she podcasts, does cool tee shirts, has sexy wallpapers, shares great writing advice/links, will whack publishing money myths and sometimes engages in writers Q-n-A. Yup. Definitely my kinda gal (LOL). She writes fabulous books would definitely be my book club mantra... However, l have yet to figure out the correct publishing order (because I plowed through them like an addicted fiend - LOL) and am still getting a lot of flack behind that bit of blogger laziness (Oh joy!).

This is me confessing I am a Baby-Frosty with my reading pampers on (blame author Vicki Pettersson: RWA-Redux - evil grin) so here's how I did it and feel free to read them your way in the order of your choice because Jeaniene wont mind (and go buy her books - silly grin):

What did I learn from meeting and briefly observing Jeaniene for two days at New York Comic Con? She has a wonderful sense of humor, is gracious, kind, charming, witty, sharp and one of the most engaging authors I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I shall treasure my author swag and photograph with her. Looking forward to the next opportunity to meet again.

Debi Murray, Theresa Brundage and Vicki Pettersson were absolutely right: Jeaniene Frost is a beautiful person and a wonderful talent who is a lot of fun. You can see her in action in the video highlights from the 16 minute NYCC 2011 clip regarding "Leading Ladies of Sci-Fi" with bestselling authors Marjorie M. Liu, Kim Harrison, Sabrina Benulis, Kristen Painter, Alison Goodman and Patricia Briggs.

P.S. Meeting Kristen Painter for the first time was a huge thrill. I was so awed I forgot to ask her if I could take a picture (head thunks on table, eyes rolling - silly grin). She provided me with one of my fave quotes of the afternoon (there were a lot of good ones from all the authors) plus gifted and signed her panel display book for me (the last available copy at NYCC). I was very happy to discover that Kristen is mad funny too (I have to start following her in cyberspace - wicked little grin).

Everyone on the panel made me laugh. It was standing room only with three rows of people sitting on the floor in back by the entrances and I had to wait outside in the hall with 12 people for a half an hour into the presentation because we could not fit and they had to enforce the fire codes regarding occupancy. I missed half the show because every time a person would leave they would allow a person to enter (body for body rule - sigh). One woman left to go to the bathroom and was horrified to discover she had to get on the end of the line to wait to return to her seat.

Everyone outside protested with her and we placed her at the front of the line but she still had to wait for someone to leave before she could re-enter. THAT IS HOW FREAKIN HAWT THESE SEVEN AUTHORS ARE... I stopped feeling bad about having to wait to see my fave writers after that and (a) silently vowed to ignore having to go potty at the next event while (b) praying someone else had to go pee and would leave, leave, leeeeeaaaaave the closer I got to the forum doors. Dude, part of the Unbound crew was in there... No shame to my game - I wanted in (LOL).

 

What I did manage to capture on digital film was quite enjoyable (when I was not getting jostled about and distracted by the crowd packed in the back near the exits eying each others swag - silly grin). I tried to hold still but we were bumping into each other and my tripod legs kept getting shifted by the people sitting on the floor (sigh). Because there was not enough room I could not shoot with two cameras like I did with the other panel. I had to zoom in/out/around with one instead of trading cameras to set up the next shot (melodramatic sigh). My only complaints to an otherwise stellar experience (LOL).

FYI: It takes just over 7 hours to compress and process approximately 16 edited minutes of digital film at a render batch ratio of 1440x1080x29.970p. Discovered the "No Angel" panel lights were more dim than the "Demon Hotspots" panel lights so Jen insisted on a higher processing ratio. Turns out she was right (as usual) because there is a soft, night grain pattern from the low lighting visible in the black background...

WNA-The Leading Ladies of SF/F
New York Comic Con 2011 - Sunday, October 16th, 2:30pm-3:30pm Room# 1A23

Authors:

Patricia Briggs, Alison Goodman, Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Sabrina Benulis and Kristen Painter.

 

 

 

KimHarrison.net

Kim Harrison is @BurningBunnies on Twitter

Kim Harrison on Amazon

Kim Harrison on Facebook

A Perfect Blood Feb 2012

 

 

Did I mention my 5 year old is the boss of me? He adores the concept of Jenks and likes every Kim Harrison book cover and wanted a limited edition glow in the dark "The Hollows Insider" poster just as badly as I did. Just the idea of one had my kids and I drooling over our peanut butter and jelly. Turns out "the big yellow crayon" Stephen insisted his Hollows poster must be transported and delivered in was a stellar idea from Shorty because it enabled me to make a lot of social media and brick-n-mortar Kim Harrison NYC fans happy. Harper Collins and Kim were very gracious about my swag request regarding the people who could not make it to NYCC 2011, so I would like to thank them for letting me give KH limited edition swag away with my virtual blogging partner in crime - Carla Galloway of Literal Addiction Paranormal Book Club. My boys and I have been waiting for The Hollows Insider to come out since we discovered what Kim was doing this spring.

For those of you new to my blog, my 5 year old, Stephen the Minion Blur is PDD-NOS and my 9 year old, Noah the Net Geek is Autistic. They do not ask for much so when the wee people insist something is important to them I take them very seriously. Because they are both visual learners, I habitually have them help me with my social media projects so they know exactly who Kim Harrison is. Step has nick-named her RED (silly grin). I Video-Skype with them when away on business and we were impatiently counting down the days to NYCC. Thanks to the Skype app for Android and WiFi at the Javits Center the shorties got to see parts of New York Comic Con while in Florida and Stephen was thrilled to discover RED autographed Blood Work and The Hollows Insider. He is helping with the give aways. ;-)

They love blogs and if you do cool embeds like Kim Harrison (e.g. "Went To The Animal Fair") my wee people may actually have you bookmarked. SERIOUSLY. My kids are cyberminions growing up in a social media world and even Google themselves (yes, I have littered cyberspace with our little adventures). I mention this because they were lurking with me every step of the way while Kim was giving her fans an opportunity to submit photographs for The Hollows Insider. Noah loves photography and was completely fascinated with the entire process (and so was I).

    

Do you know about the social media mischief involved with creating part of this project? It was a lovely social media adventure for a huge portion of her adoring fans... I did not join the Kim Harrison love fest until April 2011, so a little history is in order regarding the fun and games: On January 5th, 2011 "I Found Some Tacks" was the beginning of a beautiful but subtle tease where Kim casually mentions during her "antique fair" project, "I got the pages back from the HOLLOWS INSIDER, so I’ll be working on that sometime this week. I can’t wait to get back into it. I should have some interesting news about content before too long. I have some blank pictures I might need some help filling..." Pssst... To creative social media people, that is like dangling an "Oooooo Shiny" carrot to keep us spellbound and enthralled. If you are a Kim Harrison fan the word "help" is a "what can I do" trigger that makes us sit up and take notice because we heart Kim. 

On January 20, 2011 "Moving Forward" would have made Alfred Hitchcock very proud because he was the master of suspense and Kim took a page out of his book by building fan anticipation with the tease: "If you’ve not caught mention of it, it is due out this November, and will be called THE HOLLOWS INSIDER.  This is going to be F.U.N. and I can’t wait till I can tell you more.  AAAAkkkkk!  It’s killing me here!  (but in a good way)." 

On March 17, 2011 "Boards On My Ceiling" started a social media buzz:

"Well, I tried. I really did. I blame it on the MPL. I wanted a real certificate, so I spent an entire day trying to figure out how to make one, and I did.  Once I had that, I wanted Rachel’s driver’s license, a menu from Juniors, and a walking tour of downtown Cincinnati.  It just got worse.  I added pictures, (Thank you, Mark!) and spell books, and journal entries, and performance reviews, and police reports, and newspapers.  It evolved into an entire story line that explained the Hollows while giving that same dry information most world books contain.  I had fun–too much fun, as I cramped my writing schedule and ate up my vacation."

"Heart in my throat, I bundled it all together and sent it to New York, knowing it was not what they were expecting, but hoping they could see what I saw. This could be beautiful, colorful, and utterly unique.  And I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Wrote another Hollows book, and waited until I got the news that they could work with what I gave them and I wouldn’t have to rewrite the whole thing to make it easy to produce instead of beautiful to hold.  Now I can’t wait for you to see it.  There’s just a few pieces missing, and I’ll be asking you for that over the course of the next few months with several contests where you can submit pictures for the newspaper pieces. I’ll give you the caption, and you get creative."

On March 24, 2011 "World Book Rewrite" gave fans a gorgeous peek of her writing desk. Fans also discovered, "This is what it looks like for the rewrite for the world book. (Phew. A lot messier. It has a title now, if you’ve missed it: THE HOLLOWS INSIDER ) The picture really doesn’t do the chaos justice. The wad with the blue sticky notes is my character sheets. The calendar is the month that one of the books takes place in. Cards are for info on the characters and institutions that I’ve had to create for the world book (phone numbers, etc.) Sunrise/set, moon rise/set tables on my mouse pad. Dog treats to keep ‘em quiet when the mailman comes. I’ve got the plot spread sheets out of sight on my open file drawer, and if I have to look anything up (like the phase of the moon on October 3rd 2007 or if there really is an address in Cincy that matches Rachel’s mother’s)."

On April 21, 2011 I realized I was falling a wee bit in love with an intellectually drop dead gorgeous mind. I had been lurking across her social media accounts (and playing with virtual friends in common) while toiling away on my writing projects happily sucking up her writing advice and doing lots of homework when "I'm Going To Need Your Help" posted. By then I was a die hard Kimaholic and watching every single YouTube I could find to bring me up to speed on what I had missed while living ignorant under my literati rock (silly grin). Fans were thrilled to read, "Yesterday I got my first glimpse of what the final version of the HOLLOWS INSIDER is going to look like, and it totally delighted and bedazzled me.  (Seriously, I almost cried into my keyboard.)  I couldn’t even look at it objectively for things I wanted to shift and change, because it was like . . . wow.  All that work I put in not knowing if it was going to fly or not... and it looks fabulous. I’m going to look at it again today, but I don’t think there will be many tweaks coming from me."

Kim actually apologized for being a tease in the post (which was sweet but unnecessary because her teasing us is also why we love her. She's mad fun on-line (silly grin). Then the kicker: "I’ll be running 6-8 separate contests, and the winners will be the ones who look closely at what I’m asking for and supply it. Winners will also get a full color, signed page from the upcoming graphic novel, BLOOD WORK as well, as sort of a thank you from Guy and myself. (I’ll post them for your perusal as well) Monday. I’m hoping to start this on Monday."

 

 

On April 25, 2011 the "Hollows Insider Photo Contest 2011" posted. Fans were thrilled to discover:

"I teased you Thursday with me being excited about my first glimpse of the HOLLOWS INSIDER, which, if you missed it, is the Hollows world guide, the definitive source for all things Hollows, with spells, character descriptions, species descriptions, interoffice memos, murder and mayhem.  The last two were kind of accidental as I slipped a story line in among the dry facts.  It’s not necessary to read it to enjoy the regular Hollows books, but much like the novellas and shorts, it expands your understanding of the characters and world tremendously.  It was also a chance for me to cut loose and develop all sorts of tantalizing tidbits like what an After Hours Runner Pass looks like."

"Needless to say, it’s illustration rich, with all of the photos for the newspaper articles coming from you, the readers–I hope.  This is your chance to be a part of the Hollows in a very real and public way.  Those chosen will not only get a signed copy of the finished product, but also a full-color, signed page (I’d call it a page proof) of the upcoming Hollows graphic novel, BLOOD WORK, due out July 12, just as a second thank you."

Fast forward to NYCC 2011 where 100 advance sales of The Hollows Insider were authorized... I found myself staring at one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. It was a labor of love that fans all over the world did a virtual cheer off for. Think about it... Our fave author wrote a cool book about the world of our fave characters and showed us the kindness of placing our virtual/brick-n-mortar friends, neighbors and loved ones between the pages... It is as visually beautiful as it is emotionally stunning.

The cover is textured and also glows in the dark...

How cool is that? Very...

Did I mention my kids are visual learners? They gravitate towards the colorful and textured. They watched Kim create and place the finishing touches on a wonderful project with a little help from her readers. Now they have me illustrating their versions of children books Skype Sketching on the fly because Kim showed them they could. That alone is reason enough for me to love her...

My boys are going to love this book as much as I do... It is simply Kim-Fabulous.

 

 

Check out the Hollows/Rachel Morgan series:

Dead Witch Walking

The Good, The Bad, and The Undead

Undead in The Garden of Good and Evil--Ivy novella in the anthology Dates From Hell.

Every Which Way But Dead

A Fistful of Charms

Dirty Magic--Mia short story in the anthology Hotter Than Hell.

For A Few Demons More

The Bridges of Eden Park-Kisten/Rachel short in the US mass market edition of For a Few Demons More

Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel--Robbie/Rachel/Pierce novella in the anthology Holidays from Hell

The Outlaw Demon Wails (retitled Where Demons Dare in the UK)

The Bespelled-Ceri/Al short story in the US mass market edition of The Outlaw Demon Wails

 
White Witch, Black Curse

Ley Line Drifter--Bis/Jenks novella in anthology Unbound

Black Magic Sanction

Pale Demon

Hollows Insider (Hollows world book) October 2011

Next stop on the Kim Harrison book tour: 

October 25, Lansing MI ("The Hollows Insider" release day)

Schuler Books & Music
2820 Towne Center Blvd
Lansing MI
7:00 pm

November 1 , MI

Nicolas
2513 Jackson Av,
Ann Arbor, MI
7:00 pm

 

 

 

DEMONIC HOTSPOTS, INFERNAL PIT STOPS AND THE BADLANDS:

THE GREAT AMERICAN ROAD TRIP TO HELL

Authors:

Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Anton Strout, Edward Lazellari, Rachel Caine and Christina Henry.

Editor:

Diana Gill

 

Working on a 45 minute webisode covering The Demon Hotspots NYCC Panel

I love being a Kim Harrison fan... she has fun friends (LOL). There's nothing like a group of fabulous authors spoofing on the demonic to keep you giggling in the isles at New York Comic Con. I've been processing and batching digital video for 19 hours straight (happy sigh). I finally went to Starbucks with my laptop because I'm not going to make it through the rest of the night without lots of caffeine. There is approximately 8 hours of processing left... I kid you not - check out these cool screen shots:

My gal pal thought it would be cool to embed a brief audio-clip of Uber-Editor Diana Gill who started the ball rolling with a wee bit of author fun with her version of "abbreviated biographies." As soon as she said the name Kim Harrison fans started a cheer off (LOL). I was taking still shots with the Nikon and digital film with the Sony. I was caught by surprise and had to rush to capture the start because I kept slipping out of my seat to take pictures (LOL). In the dashboard edit shot she's the lovely blonde with her back to the camera holding the mic. My gal pal Jen has been riding shotgun to make sure I don't release a single visual clip because we have something marvelous to share with you guys if we get the batch files completed on time. We almost have the entire panel presentation. Here's 4 minutes of audio (because I'm a tease and want you to check back for the embed of the film - evil grin):

 

Diana Gill - Author Intro - NYCC 2011 Demon Hotspots Panel by C Tann Starr

 

After doing the batch math with Jen for almost an hour, 1280x720x32 at 23.976p was the final webisode render selection we agreed to work in. We really wanted to do it at a higher resolution but I didn't want to stay up for more than three days (LOL). I've discovered working 72 hours straight makes me really cranky but I'm good for the first 24-36 hours before I need a nap. It's an ex-law enforcement thing. Back in the day we routinely worked 17 hour shifts so that became sort of a norm that never really went away, especially when I'm having fun on a project.

FYI: The Kim Harrison Book Tour is a lot of fun so I'm engaged in a virtual book tour with my bookie blogging buddies. We're going to see how many KH events we can cover across our social media accounts and websites. Yes, there's another silly blog bet regarding our Google stats in progress... (it's what we do - LOL). Besides, all that snarky social media bantering keeps Book Club interesting (LOL). I will release more audio clips tomorrow. We're still watermarking everything in the middle to pimp the KimHarrison.net website (silly grin).

My K-Stream Facebook peeps are instant messaging me like crazy because I plugged into Jen's gorgeous flat screen TV with my HDMI cable and we watched Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Rachel Caine , Christina Henry, Anton Strout and Edward Lazellari like it was Author Reality TV. Rachel Caine had us howling with laughter because she's playfully punishing her Vamps (allegedly with Kim Harrison - silly grin). Laughter set the tone for the evening... I can't wait to get this file processed and uploaded into YouTube.

 

This panel was flipping hilarious and I captured 98% of it on digital film (happy sigh). Can't wait for tomorrow...

 

Looking forward to seeing what the next panel does and yes, there will be video because filming Kim is fun. We are hoping for hall shots with our fave authors after the "We're No Angels" panel is done. Next stop on the Kim Harrison Book Tour:

WE’RE NO ANGELS:

The Leading Ladies of SF/F
Sunday, October 16th, 2:30pm-3:30pm Room# 1A23 : Patricia Briggs, Alison Goodman, Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Sabrina Benulis and Kristen Painter."

October 25, Lansing MI (release day)

Schuler Books & Music
2820 Towne Center Blvd
Lansing MI
7:00 pm

November 1 , MI

Nicolas
2513 Jackson Av,
Ann Arbor, MI
7:00 pm

Club Chaos Eye Candy: Video Q&A With NYT Bestselling Author Kim Harrison

Kim Harrison is @BurningBunnies on Twitter

Kim Harrison on Amazon

Kim Harrison on Facebook

A Perfect Blood Feb 2012

Kim Harrison NYCC Comic Con Schedule

 

Kim Harrison at RWA-NYC 2011

KimHarrison.net

Kim Harrison is @BurningBunnies on Twitter

Kim Harrison on Amazon

Kim Harrison on Facebook

A Perfect Blood Feb 2012

Kim Harrison NYU Bookstore Book Signing Thursday Oct 13th

726 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-4667

6:30 pm for Q&A/Signing

Events are held in the events space at the back of the store.

A 20% discount is offered on event related books on the day of the event.

NYU Bookstore Events

     

 

NYT Bestselling Author Kim Harrison will be at the NYU Bookstore Thur Oct 13th

 

October 13-16 New York Comic Con, NY

Thursday, October 13th aat 6:30pm:
Kim Harrison at NYU Bookstore for signing and Q&A
726 Broadway NYNY 10003 (closet MTA Train stops: Astor Place and 8th Street)

Friday, October 14th at 4:00pm Kim Harrison, The Hollows Insider Comic Con Commemorative POSTER Signing at the Harper Booth #944 (free). Change of venue, same evening 6:00 - 7:00pm, Kim Harrison, Blood Work signing at Random House booth, #1040.

DEMONIC HOTSPOTS, INFERNAL PIT STOPS AND THE BADLANDS:

THE GREAT AMERICAN ROAD TRIP TO HELL
Friday, October 14th, Room #1A15  8:45PM – 9:45PM : Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Anton Strout and Edward Lazellari, Rachel Caine , Christina Henry, Duane Swierczynski.

WE’RE NO ANGELS:

The Leading Ladies of SF/F
Sunday, October 16th, 2:30pm-3:30pm Room# 1A23 : Patricia Briggs, Alison Goodman, Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Sabrina Benulis and Kristen Painter."

October 25, Lansing MI (release day)

Schuler Books & Music
2820 Towne Center Blvd
Lansing MI
7:00 pm

November 1 , MI

Nicolas
2513 Jackson Av,
Ann Arbor, MI
7:00 pm

 

 

 

 

 

  

Book Club Author-Candy Alert:

Kim Harrison and Jeaniene Frost are coming to New York Comic Con 2011.

 

Kim Harrison NYU Bookstore Book Signing Thursday Oct 13th

726 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-4667

6:30 pm for Q&A/Signing

Events are held in the events space at the back of the store.

A 20% discount is offered on event related books on the day of the event.

NYU Bookstore Events

One Grave At A Time

 

Are you ready to play 6 Degrees of Kim Harrison and Jeaniene Frost? That's what I was doing when I started happily embedding all those author links because you wont know who or what is going to pop up until you click one (silly grin). If the massive mystery web of author link love doesn't intrigue you, I promise to throw in some random Urban Dictionary vacation Ebonics to make you go hmmm and feel right at home (because you know I'm gonna be teasing peeps - it's what I do - LOL). ;-)

One stellar Penelope Trunk conversation I happen to be VERY fond of is "Use Blogs As A Career Tool For Becoming Super-Connected." Authors do that a lot so I figured we'd start our chat over there. According to P, "Blogging allows you to create a high-quality network for yourself based not on the old model of passing out business cards but on a new model of passing out ideas."Penelope also points out the fact that, "Most of the time you spend blogging will be reading other peoples' blogs and linking to them and writing commentary on your own blog about what others in the blogosphere are talking about."

Hmm... We do that a lot, especially when engaged in book club, so my bookies and I are going to be naughty bloggers and have a marathon link fest for our NYCC 2011 posts (starting with this one - LOL). Sometimes, I think the main reason why I love hosting Book Club is the fun we have lurking live on author blogs while bantering in Skype about the unexpected, mad funny, subtle but snarky blog moments that keep us entertained and craving more updates from our favorite cyberlebrities. When it comes to fascinating characters like Rachel Morgan or Cat and Bones, we can Skype about the authors and their wonderful creations for hours. We happen to be huge fans and the people who routinely read me know that I'm absolutely wild about Kim Harrison's work.

I have a thing for Ivy, Jenks and Rache. You'd think they were real people the way we mourned over Mati (sigh). Cat and Bones have one of the most engaging urban fantasy relationships I have ever seen. If you read Kim and Jeaniene you'll find the hypothetical concept of how bookaholics morph into fanatics easy to grasp. Authors who write excellent books seduce readers into falling madly in love with their book series. Fans will band together behind their favorite writers and become their virtual cheerleaders if they produce consistent quality work. It doesn't just happen with books. We also fall in love with bloggers like Penelope and at some point start becoming fans of Uber-Editors like Diana Gill too. Dude, where would our authors be without their editors and agents? We pay attention to them as well we just don't blog it much (LOL).

Some of us are still squealing like a bunch of three year olds on a literary sugar high in our electronic sandbox because we love the Holidays are Hell - Hotter than Hell - Unbound - Dates from Hell - Prom Nights from Hell crew and can't wait to see a couple of them. Harrison, Frost and Liu? Um... Can you say Author-Candy? (LOL)

According to Wikipedia: "A fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom. They may show their enthusiasm by being a member of a fan club, holding fan conventions, creating fanzines, writing fan mail, or by promoting the object of their interest and attention."

 

October 25th The Bite Before Christmas

Jeaniene Frost on Amazon

Jeaniene Frost on Facebook

Jeaniene Frost on Twitter

JeanieneFrost.com

Sometimes, the best part of social media is the ability to simply be a happy fan.

I don't have any Jeanine Frost author swag but as a adoring fan I always wanted some while buying every electronic download of her books I could get my hands on.

Because I like lurking on-line peeking at her updates I know that on Saturday, October 15th, 6pm – 7pm at the Harper Collins booth #944 on  the main show floor New York Times Bestselling Author Jeaniene Frost is signing “The Bite Before Christmas” (special early release) and on Sunday, October 16th, 1pm – 2pm at the Harper Collins booth #944, Jeaniene is signing “First Drop Of Crimson” (free giveaway of book). 

Her urban fantasy books are romantic, snarky and absolutely fabulous so you should definitely snap those puppies up. Here's my reading order (I was clueless as to whether it was in the correct order at the time I did this so feel free not to follow me because I still don't know - LOL):

You'd think I'd figure it out by now since I routinely get regular e-mail alerts to keep up with author blogs. I like to make sure I don't miss lurking on 'em (LOL). I don't always comment on blogs but I do make it my business to try and read my faves when ever I can. I fool around a lot on-line and goof on a handful of writer sites so much people actually e-mail me links when I do things like miss commenting in the Kim-o-sphere for more than two days in a row. Three days of not talking gets my virtual butt kicked because I'm messing with the routines of the 30 people I normally Facebook direct chat about her with (silly grin). If I don't go back to posting cartoons and learn how to draw a pixie rumor has it FB people are coming to my house to confiscate my sketchbooks and upload the stuff I've been hoarding and picking over (LOL). ;-)

 

Kim Harrison at RWA-NYC 2011

KimHarrison.net

Kim Harrison is @BurningBunnies on Twitter

Kim Harrison on Amazon

Kim Harrison on Facebook

A Perfect Blood Feb 2012

For those of you new to my blog I happen to be an unrepentant Kimaholic. If there were a 12-step program to cure me I'd play hookie from it (LOL). I LOVE being addicted to her brilliant plot twists bouncing off the edge of all that fun, dark and twisty, snarkily-ironic dialog. I could re-read a Harrison novel all year and never get bored. I've grown a wee bit dependent upon all those pleasant little surprises hidden within her complicated characters who happen to give the cartoons in my head something mad fun and very cool to do. Best part? Kim is a sweetie pie. Go check out her blog at The Drama Box. It's a comfy nifty place to hang out with KH and her readers and I like chatting over there. K-Stream peeps are playful (and so is she). We have a lot of respect for her.

 

     

I am hooked on all of her books. If you are going to read The Hollows/Rachel Morgan series do read them in order:

Dead Witch Walking

The Good, The Bad, and The Undead

Undead in The Garden of Good and Evil--Ivy novella in the anthology Dates From Hell.

Every Which Way But Dead

A Fistful of Charms

Dirty Magic--Mia short story in the anthology Hotter Than Hell.

For A Few Demons More

The Bridges of Eden Park-Kisten/Rachel short in the US mass market edition of For a Few Demons More

Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel--Robbie/Rachel/Pierce novella in the anthology Holidays from Hell

The Outlaw Demon Wails (retitled Where Demons Dare in the UK)

The Bespelled-Ceri/Al short story in the US mass market edition of The Outlaw Demon Wails

 
White Witch, Black Curse

Ley Line Drifter--Bis/Jenks novella in anthology Unbound

Black Magic Sanction

Pale Demon

Hollows Insider (Hollows world book) October 2011

A Perfect Blood (coming spring 2012) FYI: "A Perfect Blood" is Book #10 of The Hollows/Racheal Morgan series. According to GoodReads, "Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth — a would-be creator is determined to make his (or her) own demons. But it can’t be done without Rachel’s blood..."

That tease has us all drooling to read this book. We are in ARC Hell trying to get our hands on an advanced reader copy (melodramatic sigh). Psst... Fans routinely chase advanced reader copies. We like author collectibles, "like" being an understatement.

Dedicated fans interconnect. Street Teams Super-Connect because organized fans have a vested interest in pimping their fave interests like author books/blogs to the max. I am addicted. I am quite happily invested and my friends and I adore pimping books (LOL). Our devotion to great writers on our own blogs is the equivalent of having season author fan tickets and doing a play by play of our fave moments in their writing games. Each time they publish something new it's like going to the literati version of the Superbowl where everyone who loves them is a winner because the authors that blog have shared their creative advances and retreats, character stumbles and emotional falls, writers blocks and Hail Mary chapter passes with us. We tune in to their reality TV and frequently enjoy the YouTube show especially when a fave author is chatting about creating a graphic novel and new projects.

Some dedicated fans (like me) are notorious swag chasing autograph hounds who will do a lot for a beloved writer because they value every encounter and treasure every book. Some of us are so into writers we gravitate to street teams because we want to get in on the marketing and promotion action. We're the unpaid interns learning a cool craft because we realize the value of doing something fun that we love and appreciate all those times authors paused to share writing tips and encouragement to total strangers interested in them and their profession.

If you read Kim Harrison and Jeaniene Frost I bet the more you discover their work the more invested you'll gradually become. They have a wonderful gift for writing that will blow your urban fantasy mind (in really nice ways - LOL). They inspire people like me to get excited just by the thought of hearing them speak on a professional panel. It's a very neat and rare treat that has us lined up twitching on our coffee bar stools in excitement while babbling all day on Skype as if the Pope were coming to town for four days (LOL).

 

Stacia Kane Street Team

 

Obviously we need a literati keeper (insert wicked little grin here). Authors, you might want to organize a few of us instead of letting us all run amok half crazed and hopelessly drooling over the prospect of being near you (LOL). If you want a cool, savvy author example of how to discover who your unofficial street team members are and harness their fan wielding power by giving us a few lines of useful direction, take a page from Stacia Kane and captivate us happy little volunteers (and give us a spot to register) because you never know when you may need a creative minion or two to hand some event fliers out (or tape those puppies up in our neighborhood libraries and stores so book-lovers know you're gonna be in the area). Some of us actually have newsletters we publish in other venues. I could be pimping you to law and real estate firms while plastering your widgets on music websites (Um... wait, did that already - LOL).

FYI: Our fave authors have us spellbound and captivated already so our Street Teams are already proactive that way (plus I am an incorrigible blogger who posts incessantly, is mad competitive and I routinely engage in search engine optimization blog bets so expect more bookie coverage and link love mischief - silly grin). Of course there will be more links. Do you know why? Authors active in social media lead readers on brief literary adventures with a wide spectrum of subjects from sharing relaxing moments and quiet insights into their day to whooping it up celebrating details about their new projects. There's always something to talk about. Talented authors have a way of inspiring readers to want to read more, so we gravitate towards the authors who blog and maintain active social media accounts because we know we are going to learn something new, something old and keep talking between projects until we can get our next read on.

Penelope Trunk (@penelopetrunk on Twitter) is an author, fascinating blogger (http://blog.penelopetrunk.com) and entrepreneur that I happen to love to follow because you can count on her to keep talking. Every time I read one of her posts I learn something that makes me think. Then I hop on Skype and start talking to people about what I'm thinking about, wander over to blogs and social media forums and talk about what they are thinking about and the chatter/banter/debates just keep flowing.

Be interactive like Penelope, Kim, Jeaniene and a host of other fantastic authors. They don't always write a serious business post. Sometimes they simply come out to play, share a personal thought or family moment. You may find yourself staring at a dog or a goat or a bit of knitting or a piece of cheese. It's not knowing what we're going to get next that make them so captivating, honest and real... Some of my best ideas have been birthed during playtime, like Skype-Sketching, high-jacking social media models with the wee people or spoofing and goofing with cool authors while creating author tribute tracts. Work becomes the new play if you can get a bunch of stellar professionals together to let their hair down and do what they do while chatting about what would be kind of fun to share. (Psst... Book Club Blues Vol.02 is in progress - author portraits and tribute tracks are also up on deck and Kim has me inspired to try to knit - evil grin).

Getting Super-Connected can be a lot of fun because hanging around talented people sparks creativity. It opens the door to discovering common personal/business ground that may lead to all sorts of interesting little "personal projects" among friends where it becomes a pleasure to get creative, complete work that feels like play and become part of a virtual street team supporting the people, places and things that matter most. 

  

New York Comic Con 2011 happens to be a fabulous venue to hang out and network with creative people. FYI: If you want to know who's coming, what is happening, what New York Comic Con is, how to get to NYCC and where to stay start clicking the links (NYCC 2011 tickets are on sale here).

Supporting authors is one of our favorite projects and we treat it like being miniature patrons of the arts every time we buy their books. My favorite authors are simply amazing people who repeatedly leave me in awe so I love running a quirky book club and keeping tabs on their projects. They paint entire worlds into existence with the power of their words and I crave their work like an addict focused on the next artistic fix. Sometimes, I count down the days to the next publication and actually go into withdrawal waiting for new releases (LOL).

Some of the most effective people I have ever seen that cultivate an active, dynamic, on-line presence are many of my fave authors. Besides Penelope, I've seen variations of this "super-connected" strategy effectively put into action across the blogs and social media accounts of fabulous writers like Claire Legrand, Lynn Rush, Sherry Soule, Jeannie Holmes, Amy DeZellar, Michele Hauf, Jaye Wells, Stacia Kane, ILona Andrews, Faith Hunter, Jeaniene Frost, Kim Harrison, Vicki Pettersson, Jocelynn Drake, Patricia Briggs, Kendall Gray, Allison Pang, Lydia Y Kang and a host of others who happen to be mad fun on-line. It's the quality of their conversation, not the quantity of posts that keep me checking back for more info on their projects and how their writing or general day is going. It's the totality of the experience, not a brief splinter of an encounter that keeps me invested in supporting them and their work and looking forward to coming back for more encounters.

Kim Harrison at RWA-NYC 2011

KH happens to be a fave author we love to chat about who actually triggered my fascination with urban fantasy writers. I can't get enough of the authors on our book club author family tree (and you can trace them all back to Kim Harrison, Jocelynn Drake and Vicki Pattersson) so we are absolutely thrilled that Kim is on a couple of NYCC 2011 panels:

DEMONIC HOTSPOTS, INFERNAL PIT STOPS AND THE BADLANDS:

THE GREAT AMERICAN ROAD TRIP TO HELL
Friday, October 14th, Room #1A15  8:45PM – 9:45PM : Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Anton Strout and Edward Lazellari, Rachel Caine , Christina Henry, Duane Swierczynski.

 

WE’RE NO ANGELS:

The Leading Ladies of SF/F
Sunday, October 16th, 2:30pm-3:30pm Room# 1A23 : Patricia Briggs, Alison Goodman, Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Sabrina Benulis and Kristen Painter."

 

PAY ATTENTION: THE POSTER SIGNING IS NOT THE SAME BOOTH AS THE BLOOD WORK SIGNING

Friday, October 14th at 4:00pm Kim Harrison, The Hollows Insider Comic Con Commemorative POSTER Signing at the Harper Booth #944 (free). Change of venue, same evening 6:00 - 7:00pm, Kim Harrison, Blood Work signing at Random House booth, #1040.

I also love falling in love with the work of creative people and bragging incessantly about them. Their hearts and minds are very precious to me and the authors that share little sneak peeks into their day make the best social media peeps to follow. P.S. You can never have too much creative people swag (LOL). Swag is like reliving a Kodak moment (happy sigh). It remins you of them and what they mean to you and that you got to hang out briefly before going back to your regularly scheduled program until the next time (LOL). ;-)

The fun thing about hanging out with creative people is the fact that they improve your quality of life with their ability to entertain you and keep you thinking. You can even hone your interpersonal communications skills with fabulous personalities sharing the same interests while collecting fantastic mentors. I have a few authors I habitually share links back and forth between our social media accounts (like Beta Testing Scrivener for Windows, flipping Jango music) and fun project ideas (like NaNoWriMo). Sometimes I get tech questions. Sometimes I ask writing questions. Most of the time we just hang out and share thoughts which is amazingly cool because they are so much fun to spend time with. :-)

Alexandra Samuel is the Director of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University and the co-founder of Social Signal (follow her on Twitter as @awsamuel). Alexandra states: "The Internet's impact on our daily lives, experiences and relationships is real. Our world is deeply affected by networks. From the moment you wake up to news that was gathered online to the minute you fall asleep listening to a podcast, the Internet shapes how you experience the world around you." Ten Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your On-line Life - Harvard Business Review 

My on-line life is a lot of fun because I like adopting virtual people to visit and genuinely care about them. There are a lot of fabulous people you could be having stellar conversations with if you would invest a little bit of time to say hello to them. Here's one who does really neat ARC give aways that I enjoy chatting about on five of my blogs. Go enjoy a Claire Legrand moment by reading her post "Getting Outside Your Comfort Zone." I bet when you start bookmarking more writers like Claire they'll surprise the heck out of you and you may find yourself wanting to learn so much more about authors. While we bookies prepare for NaNoWriMo we're picking the brilliant brains of our fave authors and plan on "going to school" with their blogs. You can learn a lot from authors if you pay attention to their blogs.

Did I mention my faves are brilliant writers? That's why they're some of my favorite social media peeps (LOL).

Jocelynn Drake hosts fun live chats and always give us an amazing amount of useful material to debate. She is busy creating a new series but is very generous about taking some time out to share author resources. Jocelynn also gives fabulous generic writing advice like (a) getting to know your characters, (b) outlining a book, (c) finding an agent and (Oh Joy!) she's a gamer (LOL). If you're new to reading my blog you're going to discover that I gravitate to the fun social media peeps (and am an incorrigible tease and a fanatical gamer - silly grin). If you spend quality time with interesting/talented people life tends to become a fun adventure while exploring new learning curves.

I also recently discovered I have a thing for author chat rooms and chasing author swag. When Kim Harrison and Jeaniene Frost blogged they were coming to New York Comic Con guess who was burning up the virtual network trying to discover who else was coming? I'm not just interested in the authors, I'm also interested in the people I spend quality time chatting with about the fave authors we have in common. My fabulous Facebook peep Carla Galloway from Literal Addiction Paranormal Book Club is going with me. So are several of my Club Chaos bookies. Hopefully Christie Daratany Hernandez who happens to be a really cool Facebook peep can hang out with me at the NYU Bookstore.

Blogging is about starting conversations and trading ideas... even fun silly stuff like starting blog wars and creating author street teams. If you feel like starting a conversation, social media makes it possible to "individual" or "group chat" with people all over the world in the blink of an electronic eye. Toss a random thought into the Tweet-Stream (like join Kim's street team and pimp her blog - LOL) on any topic of interest and you have no idea who will eventually answer you back (silly bloggers like me?). That's half the fun of the Twit-experience. Make friends with the right/comfy "Tweople" and you just may find yourself linked up to wonderful new friends you look forward to spending time with. Kim Harrison has fabulous Facebook friends. I play with a few of them in Twitter and love discovering new things about them on a weekly basis (pick a link - any link - LOL). ;-)

Wanna make an instant fan-author-signing party? Micro-blog your invites when an author confirms they are going to a public author event. Pick a foodie spot near the event, do the author meet and greet, then go hang out and eat with your party peeps. Why would you not want to hang with friends, family and acquaintances at an author event and cool foodie spot before and/or after? It gives you a chance to get the physical copies of your digital books signed and spend quality time with the people you adore. :-)

For those not in the know and new to social media: Twitter and Facebook are examples of  micro-blogging... There are a lot of cool conversations, links and business venues to explore (like New York Comic Con 2011) when you start exploring the wonderful world of micro-blogs and people bring information to your attention. Some micro-blog links lead back to business blogs, audio streams or visual images. A fave author or movie star may be attending an event (or sharing an interest/moment) that you may be able to access. However, if you don't read them or monitor their social media accounts then you may miss your moment to spend some quality face to face time. 

Like if you have a thing for Maggie Q the Nikita crew will be at NYCC... Want an exclusive sneak peek at the hotly anticipated animated 3D movie from EPIX Pictures celebrating the uproarious and often sexually charged life and times of the late Graham Chapman of MONTY PYTHON fame? It's entitled, "A Liar's Autobiography." If you start paying attention to what's floating through the Twitter streams of the people you like, some of them can turn you on to a whole new level of hilarious banter while inviting you to meet up for unique experiences to spoof on later if you decide to get connected. Don't have a social media account? Why not? Most are free and social media is not a waste of time. You should get one so you can join the virtual conversations and discover fun YouTubes (like Vicki Pettersson: Tips From A Showgirl) and cool websites your friends like to haunt.

If you are looking to reinvent/improve portions of your digital life definitely go bookmark Penelope Trunk. Seriously... She can help you learn how to articulate the intangible and will teach you useful things you might not have had time to learn in cyberspace or real life like (a) "time management is about making time to connect with people" so "don’t hang out with people who don’t respect your time;" (b) "productivity is about meeting your goals, not getting out of doing work" and (c) "cut to the chase: tell people who are full of sh*t that they're full of sh*t." My point? You should come out and play with us and meet your favorite authors if you can because it is an opportunity for you to show them how much they and their work matter. http://blog.penelopetrunk.com

Penelope Trunk on Amazon

I have amazing social media conversations because Penelope teaches us to try contacting everyone and I routinely do. They are mad fun, good sports and actually put up with me (including P - LOL). Lesson learned? People are people and you should never forget that no matter what their job titles are so take time to get to know them one conversation at a time. You might make a cool new friend down the line... Or buy a stellar book or two... Or decide you want to be an author (like I eventually did - then drove everyone crazy writing like a lunatic - LOL). If you want to be a writer you really should try to attend functions like New York Comic Con 2011, Readers and Ritas 2011, ActiveRain University or any useful business conference/event/forum of your choice to get your socialization on. 

I have been fence sitting and docking my author writing ship for years (melodramatic sigh) so this is me telling you don't do what I did. Socialize and talk to publishing industry professionals who know their specific industry, then start learning the foundation of what you need to know to function in a particular genre THEN READ THE BEST WRITERS.  We all have to start somewhere, eh? Start with Kim and Jeaniene then go where ever you want to take your reading agenda. :-)

Here is a "How To Know What To Look For" quote from Penelope's blog post that I love (her third point of order): "Don’t look for a career, look for a life. It’s normal to not know what career you’d want. Because there is no way to guess what career you’d be happy in without doing it. Gilbert says that only 5% of people guess right on the first try because it’s so impossible to know. The way to increase your odds of guessing right is to look at someone’s life. Choose a life you want and then pick the career that person used to get that life."

Fun is making up fairy tales with your kids sprawled on the floor and drawing silly pictures to debate over later... They have absolutely no problem whatsoever creating custom children books. Think Autistic/PDD-NOS occupational/art therapy resulting in several fully illustrated monstrosities. I am their fave police sketch artist and frequently draw on demand for them so my kids are in possession of a lot of artwork (LOL). We eventually shred them (to the utter horror of a lot of people) but they belong to the boys so I let them keep and dump what they want (because excess inventory is very bad for an artist - sigh). Authors get it because they destroy the parts of their manuscripts they need to cut out in order to present their best work for editing and polishing. 

Don’t look for a career, look for a life is stellar advice because we can play with our paint and electronic toys, do the writing, music and art together. The best jobs are the ones that don't feel like work. Letting the wee people be the boss makes everything fun for me. They enjoy the projects and have no idea being an author, music producer or art curator are viable professions. They like debit cards and shun money demanding payment in movies, M&Ms and hot wheel cars. I obviously need to work on their business, social and negotiation skills (LOL).

Stephen really likes Kim Harrison because of her "Went To The Animal Fair" post (and red hair). Sometimes, he wants to grow up to be a pixie because Step thinks Jenks is "KH kewl." They both like the graphics on the Kim Harrison covers (so I have to get the shorties signed copies of Blood Works and a poster.

 

While I talk my 5 year old out of living in "Jenk's Tree," we are creating several new author tribute tracks and drooling over our fave three book covers:

Actually, there is a fourth cover on deck. Shorty has been bugging me about Lynn Rush too. He really likes her Wasteland book cover and wants to help me learn how to use my animation program because he likes helping me float titles. I'm experimenting with learning how to do book trailers. I've been neglecting YouTube shamelessly but plan to have some fun over there with my social media peeps who don't mind me making promos since I have a couple hundred special effects I don't know how to use (and really should learn - LOL).  ;-)