Jane and the Very Damned, A Contest

The Contest is over, and thanks to everyone who participated! There were some great suggestions and I've had quite a bit of trouble picking a winner because I liked so many of them. But...drumroll...I've decided to take the suggestion of Krista who posted on August 16...Les Sales, which means the unclean or dirty ones. Brilliant, Krista, and contact me for your prize--a signed copy of Jane and the Damned and some other goodies--at jmullanyATcomcastDOTnet.

I need to tap into the creative, snarky brilliance of the paranormal reading and blogging community. That's YOU, folks.

I have this problem. I'm writing the second book about Jane Austen as a vampire, a loosely-related book set in Chawton, Hants, where Austen lived with her sister Cassandra, her mother, and her friend Martha Lloyd from 1809 until her death. I visited her house, now a museum, where you can see her writing table and many of the family's possessions, just over a month ago. There's an account of my visit at riskyregencies.blogspot.com.

After several years of moving around, experiencing deaths of loved ones including her father, and the realization that at this late age (33 when they moved to Chawton) she probably wouldn't marry, Jane pulled out her neglected manuscripts, and produced. There are many theories why Austen, after the burst of creativity in her late teens-early twenties, had a massive case of writer's block for a decade. Was she too busy partying in her nomadic existence and found the stability she needed at Chawton? Was she secretly writing all the time? Or observing and mentally, or physically, taking notes? Since so few of her original mss. survive and so many of her letters were destroyed by family members, we just don't know.

Although I do. She was coming to terms with recovery from vampirism and lost love and you can read all about it in my October release JANE AND THE DAMNED.

And therein lies my problem for the next book. By 1810, the Damned, the gorgeous, sexy vamps of Georgian England, are out of favor with high society. The Prince of Wales (soon to achieve his dream of becoming Prince Regent) has dropped them, as he tended to do with many of his friends. Some of the Damned decide their survival depends upon integrating themselves into a less exalted sphere and lying low for a few centuries. Other Damned are just mad at the fall from favor and start behaving badly, going feral and attacking instead of seducing.

So here's the Contest: What do I call the feral Damned? At the moment I'm referring to them as the Very Damned for lack of a better term, which is very, well, lame!

I have definitions of a few expressions of the Damned here where you can also read an excerpt, (and there's another regular sort of contest on the site here). The term has to sound eighteenth-century/Regency, sophisticated, and avoiding such terms as fanged or feral which are quite modern. French is great--for instance, en sanglant means to have a fang-on. Basically, I want a good, juicy euphemism (and how often do you hear that?).

How to Enter: Post your suggestion here. I'll take entries until the end of August and announce the winner at the top of this post in September.

The Prize: A signed copy of JANE AND THE DAMNED plus some chocolate and Austen-related goodies, and a mention, if you like, in the acknowledgments of the book.

So get your thinking fangs on! I'm really looking forward to what you'll come up with.

JANE AND THE DAMNED an impressively compelling Jane Austen mashup full of humor and poignant irony. Publishers Weekly (October 2010).

Forbidden Fruit

***WINNER ALERT*** Congratulations to DANIELLE (Comment #8), who won the hardbacked copy of Insatiable!  Thanks so much to all who commented! :-)

The apple is dangling on the tree right in front of you.  It's deep red in color, ripe and shiny and plump with juices; a perfect orb just begging to be cupped by your hand.  One sharp tug and it'll be freed from the tree, ready to be raised to your mouth and bitten; you can practically feel the crispness beneath your teeth.  One bite, and there's no going back.  The pristine perfection of that shiny, untouched apple can never be regained, lost forever the moment you reach out your hand, and take it.

Do you take it?

Maybe you're not hungry.  Maybe you know that it doesn't belong to you, or maybe you don't like apples.  Maybe you think it will be there another day, when you are hungry, or (oh, yes!) maybe there's an even better apple on the next tree!  Or, (oh, no!) the apple belongs to someone else, and if you eat it, it would be stealing.  Even if you just took one bite and gave it back, it would be forever spoiled.

So many decisions. So many complications, when really, all you wanted was a simple bite of an apple.

The cycle of temptation, choice and consequence is a recurring theme in our lives, and why, in my opinion, romance novels are the perfect solution.  You can pick up a romance novel, and while you're between those pages, you can sample as many red, juicy apples as you like, no strings attached.  With paranormal romance, you can kick it up a notch, and let your imagination go wild!  Dark-haired men with magical powers? Open the pages of a romance, and you can try out as many wizards, warlocks, vampires or demons as you like without having to actually take orders from them, cook their dinner or pick up scattered pieces of eye-of-newt.  Prefer the sensitive type?  Here's a savage, leonine beast with brown hair and green eyes who--at heart--is really a pussycat.  Or how about this one, the proud hero with the blood of the Fey in his veins, whose anger threatens to rule his life, but is calmed by the touch of your hand on his brawny, muscular arm?

So many decisions. So many complications, but between the pages of a romance novel, none of them actually affect you! You can finally take bite of that apple.

No guilt, no consequences.  A veritable orchard of ripe, crispy apples, waiting to be tasted.

Romance novel sales defied industry trends last year, up $100 million in sales from the year before, in the face of an almost 2% drop in overall book sales.*  And yet, we're a genre that still gets very little respect from the general public. Even those of us who read it and love it sometimes feel like reading romance novels is our "dirty little secret".

I, for one, have decided that there's nothing wrong in having a dirty little secret, particularly when it contains forbidden fruit that's perfectly safe to eat.  :)

Today I'm giving away another book I got at the recent Romance Writers of America conference, a hard-back edition of INSATIABLE, by Meg Cabot (in large part because I love the cover, which reminds me of forbidden fruit).
 

For a chance to win, just answer me this:  Isn't it fun having a dirty little secret?

*Bloomberg Businessweek, July 26-August 1, 2010, by Spencer Morgan

The (AAP) Association of American Publishers reports an overall 1.8% drop in book sales for 2009, except for one genre: romance. Romance novel sales in 2009 defied industry trends, increasing 7.7%, up $100 million from the year before, to the tune of $1.4 billion dollars a year. Some 75 million people read at least one romance novel in 2009, and it's the top-performing category on the best-seller lists compiled by the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly.

Writing the Story -- Just a trip on the open road

I used to think I was a plotter. Or maybe I just wanted to be a plotter since it appealed to my control freak side. The idea of sitting down to write with a thoroughly plotted outline at my fingertips enthralled me. I imagined that marvelous document, each chapter broken down into detailed scene-by-scene action, emotion, and descriptions, with character goals and conflicts spelled out in perfect clarity. Writing would be a snap, I thought.

Then I tried it. And failed. Miserably.

I spent months creating that brilliant outline for one of my early books (a Scottish historical that will never see the light of day). But at the first critical turning point in the story, all that meticulous planning fell apart. The hero, who had come roaring to life in the first few chapters, simply refused to react to that pivotal moment the way I (and my beautiful outline) required him to. I could have forced him, of course. And he and anyone who read the book would have hated me for it. So I didn't. I let him react the way he needed to, which sent the story spinning in a direction I'd never foreseen. And all the meticulous planning I'd done from that point forward had to be scrapped.

So, I tried again, carefully plotting the rest of the story from that point on, convinced it would work now that I understood the hero better. Wrong. Within a few chapters, he was glaring at me, arms crossed, a mulish set to his chiseled jaw. No way in hell was he doing what I'd intended. Again.

I'd love to say that after two failures I'd learned my lesson. Nope. To paraphrase one of my favorite fictional characters (Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum), I try never to make the same mistake more than two or three times. Eventually, I figured it out. For me, traveling through a story is a lot like traveling by car along roads I've never visited before. Yes, I can grab a map and plan the route ahead of time, in detail, but all I'm doing is guessing the best way to go. We've all done it--chosen a route that appears to be quick, or short, or interesting, only to find the reality anything but. That 'straight shot' through the city has us caught in traffic so thick we haven't moved for an hour or that 'short cut' between two highways turns out to be little more than a track through the mountains where we can hardly tell the roads from the driveways.

Planning the trip ahead of time is all well and fine, but it's not until I get into the middle of it that I'm able to see where I really want to go.

I still plot, because my stories are too complicated to simply dive into without any plan. But my plotting these days looks more like a trip itinerary that reads: Atlanta to Cincinnati to Denver to Albuquerque. The highlights only. I refuse to plan the details of how I'll get from Cincinnati to Denver until I reach Cincinnati. At that point, I'll look at the situation (how much time I have, how much money, what the weather looks like, and how the traffic reports are stacking up), and make my decisions based on up-to-the-minute data. And even then, I'm okay with things changing. If a road looks good, I'll take it. If not, I won't. No commitments. No meticulous pre-planning. And if it starts to make more sense to switch Albuquerque with Denver, that's okay, too.

My current go-with-the-flow approach to storytelling allows my stories to develop and grow as they need to. And it gives my characters the freedom to be true to themselves, to act and react as they must. I find that this approach makes the writing far more fun, even if I don't always feel in control. Like life itself, I never quite know what the next day, or the next chapter, will bring.

The Lighter Side of Paranormal

If you walk through the sci-fi/fantasy or young adult sections of a bookstore, you will see a predominance of dark covers. Black, charcoal gray, midnight blue. (Just take a quick gander down the right side of our page and you'll see what I mean.) And then, if you're in the YA fantasy section, you'll come across a bright spot. A hot pink or royal blue or bright turquoise spine. Those would be my books.

There aren't many of us out there writing light paranormal books. (To be fair, many of the darker paranormal books have strong humor elements. To be even more fair, some of the lighter paranormal books still get packaged with dark covers. And to be the fairest, my new series that starts next fall about descendants of Medusa swings a little darker than my other books.) But we are out there.

Whether a book is light or dark has less to do with the type of paranormal elements in the story, than with the voice and style of the author. While my mermaid books (Forgive My Fins) are super light, there are darker YA mermaids stories (Sea Change by Aimee Friedman and Siren by Tricia Rayburn), as well. Oh. My. Gods. take a lighter look at mythology, but the Percy Jackson series edges a little darker, and P. C. Cast's Goddess Summoning books darker still.

Maybe the determining factor is whether lives (or the fate of the whole entire world) are at stake. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that nobody dies in either my mythology or mermaid series. (I'm making no promises about the Medusa girls, though.) Or maybe it's just a darker, edgier outlook on life from the main characters. I guess it doesn't really matter why some books are darker than others, it only matters that there are readers out there for them both.

My question for all you readers out there is simple:

Do you prefer your paranormal on the dark side?
Or do you like the light, too?

Really, this paranormal author wants to know.

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

Signed Goodies from the Underground!

****WINNER ALERT!!**** Congratulations to Amy J - Book Addict for winning a signed copy of Juliana Stone's HIS DARKEST HUNGER, to Jacqueline C. (post #64) for winning a signed copy of Kathryn Smith's BEFORE I WAKE, and to Alicia 0605 for winning a signed copy of Jocelynn Drake's DAWNBREAKER!  Thanks for sharing your karaoke choices - wish we could all hang out together and sing them at the same time!  Amy, Jacqueline, and Alicia, contact us at booksthatgobump@gmail to claim your books!

Ok, boys and ghouls, I promised you some signed goodies from some of the authors here in the Underground, gathered while we were attending the recent RWA conference in Orlando. Here are a few of us yakking it up (l to r) Juliana Stone, Pamela Palmer, Terri Garey (me), Jocelynn Drake and Joss Ware) before heading off to some of our various signings and workshops.

Lest you think it was all work and no play, however, here's a shot from the workshop we paneled on the cross-genre aspects of Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy and Sci-Fi Fantasy.  (Don't we look official?)  This motley crew, from left to right, is Juliana, Terri, Joss, Jeaniene Frost, Kelley Armstrong and C.L. Wilson.

Of course, it would be lying to say we had NO fun, as evidenced by this shot of Joss Ware, rocking out to Madonna's Material Girl during Karaoke night (I would've taken more pictures, but I was too busy singing along!) 

At any rate, in between the work and the play, I made a point to snag some signed books during the conference, specifically to give away to those of you who lurk in the Supernatural Underground!

 

First up is a signed copy of HIS DARKEST HUNGER by Juliana Stone,

and a signed copy of DAWNBREAKER by Jocelynn Drake,

 and a signed copy of BEFORE I WAKE by Kathryn Smith!

Yep, three giveaways today, and more to come (I feel like Jack Skellington in the Nightmare Before Christmas!)

So tell me, for a chance to win one of these autographed books, if you were going to Karaoke your heart out with your best ghoulfriends, what song would you choose?  (You're allowed to state your preference of books in your comment, but I can't promise that will be what you get if you win.)

fun at san diego comic-con international!

hello supernatural book-loving fans! i thought i'd spend this month's posting opportunity by sharing some fotos and experiences from this summer's comic-con festivities! i was only there for two days-- as i find the con quite overwhelming! i went on friday in costume then on sunday to moderate a YA ANGST panel with some awesome authors!

*me and megan whalen turner, author of newbery
honor The Thief, Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia
and A Conspiracy of Kings. one of my favorite series
and one of my favorite people! we're at the harpercollins
booth. you can see merrie's awesome debut poster for
Afterlife behind us. i was bummed i missed out on her
paranormal panel.

*my pirate soulmate saw me in costume and
asked for a foto! he lent me his gun as he thought
i was weaponless, but i had a dagger in my right
boot. (you can see the tip of it in this foto. =)
i take my costumes very seriously!

*the day ended with a fancy party thrown
by penguin called "fangfest". it was a lot of
fun and although i was there only briefly,
i got to catch up with margie stohl and
kami garcia (Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful
Darkness) as well as meet heather (The Chronicles
of Vladmir Tod series) and her son.

*sunday was my comic-con panel and i had
awesome authors on it! [me, james owen, emily
drake, nancy holder, kathy reichs, d. j. machale,
neal shusterman and michael spradlin.] foto
courtesy of liz's blog.

i managed to end the panel on time after some great
discussion and questions, and herded the audience
and authors to the open signing area without a hitch.
*pats self on back* =D

*the calm before the signing.

*a view of our line and the readers waiting
patiently.

we managed to get a group foto after it
was all said it done. the signing was run
by mysterious galaxy and i always have fun at
their events--it was such a pleasure meeting
these new authors. i've been introduced and read
many great books because of this! [kathy reichs,
me, james owen, d. j. machale, michael spradlin,
nancy holder and patrick from mysterious galaxy!]

In the Beginning...

[Edit: The winners of the contest are: Cheryl Kordes, Tura Lura, Mandy, and tsalvatore! Please email me at JocelynnDOTdrakeATgmailDOTcom with your name and mailing address so I can mail out your signed copies of Wait for Dusk]

In the beginning, there was a daydream of a woman who was strong and stubborn and more than a little broken. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. She occupied my daydreams and stalked me while I slept until I finally started to put her on the page. And even then, there was no evading her. For more than five years now, there has only been Mira with the flaming red hair and explosive temper.

Recently, Wait for Dusk: the fifth book in the Dark Days series was released into the world. It follows Mira and Danaus along with a couple nightwalker companions to Budapest where they have to not only face a familiar enemy that has been haunting Mira for most of her existence, but she and Danaus also have to escape a plot that nearly claims their life and destroys their budding relationship.

Today, I thought I would take a step back and wander down memory lane for a moment to talk about where and when Mira was born, because she had a somewhat rough and unusual start in comparison to other stories that I’ve written.

While I’ll admit that I’ve only been an author for three years now, I first started writing stories when I was twelve. I spent one summer retelling the tale of Robin Hood so that it included a kick-ass female that could hang with the boys. It was just an early sign of the direction that I would be headed. From there, the stories just kept coming. I filled notebooks with random scenes that would pop into my head. During high school, I kept two notebooks on my desk at all times. In one, I took notes for the class I was in and in the other I wrote stories during the boring parts of the lectures.

The scenes rarely ever turned into books. They were just scenes filled with unique people that interested me for a flash of time. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I was introduced to fantasy novels, and suddenly my world exploded into this vast new universe where magical things could happen and characters could be so much more than what I was writing. It was then that I started my first novel. It was the first time that I outlined an entire novel and actually finished it. It was the first time I drew out a detailed map of the world and kept it close to my side as I worked. It was my first true labor of deep love.

Years flash by and the stories continue to come. And one day, a character walks into my brain after I had spent several months reading a wide variety of urban fantasy novels. She was tall, lithe, and strong. She had red hair and a mischievous smirk and a sarcastic biting tongue. I wanted to play with her. I needed to. So, I started some scenes with her in them. At first, she was an elf and then a witch and then finally, a vampire. I found that I would write about thirty pages for each tale she was involved in and then stop. I would open up a fresh document and then take her in a new direction for thirty pages before stopping again.

All those scenes that will never see the light of day were practice. I needed to hear her talk, watch how she walked into a scene and interacted with other characters of varying strength and temperament. I needed to know what lit her temper and broke her heart. I needed to make her smile when all she wanted to do was cry.

Weary of scenes that went nowhere, I finally tried to put this character aside, whose name had evolved from Miranda to Mira. I started a short story about a vampire hunter, but I wanted to tell the story in such a way that it wasn’t from his point of view, yet it was about him. When the narrator opened her mouth for the first time, I knew that I was listening to Mira and the words flowed like water down a mountain.

I was content to leave it as a short story. On a whim, I showed the story to a friend. When he was finished, he simply shook his head to me as he handed it back, saying “You’re not finished.” He wanted a book. It had never occurred to me that Mira and Danaus needed an entire book, but at that point Mira was screaming for more pages and Danaus had begun to intrigue me as well.

For the second time in my life, I outlined a book and the pages pour forth with a new deep love. And Nightwalker was born.

So, for the curious, yes, I still have that map that I made during high school and dream of returning to that fantasy world I created so long ago. And I still possess every note, character sketch, and lengthy scene that I ever wrote involving Mira. The love still runs just as deep for my characters. But if you love the Dark Days series, direct your thanks to my friend Joe. He’s the one that said that I wasn’t finished, and without that, the tale might never have continued.

To celebrate the release of Wait for Dusk, I am going to give away four signed copies of the book to people who leave a comment in this blog entry. The contest is open to domestic and international readers. I will draw the winner on Sunday, August 8 and will announce the winners at the top of this blog post. Good luck.