Urban Fantasy Weekend Report

INTERVIEWS AND EVENTS AT SCIFIGUY.CA:

This past week has been very busy. Thank you's go especially to Jory Strong who visited Wednesday for an interview and giveaway on Spider-Touched, and Harlequin Teen editor Natashya Wilson who guest posted about the 'Power of Paranormal' and offered a giveaway. David Mack's The Calling was also featured with a giveaway. There is still time to enter, so follow the links above.

This coming week I have two guests, science fiction, horror and now urban fantasy writer John Shirley will be interviewed about his new book Bleak History releasing on August 18. I'll have two copies of the book for giveaway. Wednesday has Australia's own Tracey O'Hara here to talk about her debut urban fantasy novel Night's Cold Kiss.

Remember to check my 'Author Events & Interviews' list on the sidebar for a full list of upcoming guests and updates.

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CONTESTS:

Suvudu has a huge contest running until 12:00 AM on August 21, 2009 for signed copies of the following books and posters -

• Mark of the Demon signed by author Diana Rowland
  
• Child of Fire signed by author Harry Connolly
  
• Luck in the Shadows signed by author Lynn Flewelling
  
• Black and White signed by authors Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge
  
• G.I. Joe vs. Cobra signed by author Pablo Hidalgo
  
• Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi/Death Troopers Double-sided Promotional Posters signed by authors Aaron Allston, Christie Golden and Troy Denning
  
• Star Wars-The Essential Atlas signed by authors Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry
  
• G.I. Joe Above and Beyond signed by author Max Allan Collins
  
• The Comic-Con Exclusive: Talisman Issue #0 signed by colorist Nei Ruffino
  
• Mirrored Heavens signed by author David J. Williams
  

Darque Reviews has a chance to win one of two copies of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. Two winners will be chosen on release day, August 25, 2009.

Alexandra Ivy has a chance to win an ARC for Darkness Unleashed. Open until August 18.

Susan McLeod has an offer to win a copy of Fire by Kristin Cashore. Two winners to be drawn by Random.org. Contest open to all, and ends end of day [anywhere] Thursday, August 20th.

Laura Anne Gilman has a contest to win the first finished copy of Flesh and Fire. Open until August 25.

Ilona Andrews website has been updated and in celebration is giving away 3 copies of the MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS anthology. The contest is open to everyone. Hurry for this one, the deadline is Sunday noon EST.

More contest and giveaway links can be found at My Blog 2.0 and Donna's Blog Home. If your blog features lots of links to contests and giveaway for urban fantasy, paranormals, fantasy etc, and would like to to see it featured here in my weekend report, please leave a comment and I'll include it in future reports.

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AUTHOR AND BOOK NEWS:

Updates from Marta Acosta’s newsletter about her various book projects -

I finished up my revisions on Nancy's Theory of Style, which will be released in June 2010 by Simon & Schuster/Pocket. My editor was thrillified. She wants to lift a line from the novel to describe it: noodles of fun, a lasagna of laughs. I'm hoping that people will not mistake it for a cookbook. Or maybe they should cookbooks are hot right now. It's a romantic comedy based on Nancy, Milagro's friend from the Casa Dracula books.

I'm back to working on Casa Dracula Book Four, which I'm thinking of as Return to Casa Dracula. Here's the first line: "The next time a sex toy sales consultant offered to teach me how to open handcuffs with a paperclip, I would accept." This book should come out next year, too.

I've also handed a revised version of my young adult novel, Shadow Girl of Birch Grove, to my agent, Alexandra. I hope she'll be able to find a publisher soon.

Chloe Neill has update her publication schedule - Chicagoland Vampires 2, FRIDAY NIGHT BITES releases October 6, 2009, Chicagoland Vampires 3, TWICE BITTEN releasing July 2010, Chicagoland Vampires 4, HARD BITTEN and Dark Elite 1, FIRESPELL releases January 5, 2010.

Jeaniene Frost is interviewed at Pop Syndicate about Myth, Magic and Media.

io9 has an interesting article In Which Some Steampunk Novels are Discussed.

Publishers Weekly has an interview - A Potent Vintage: An Interview with Laura Anne Gilman about her forthcoming Flesh and Fire conducted by John Ottinger from Grasping for the Wind. This is John's first byline for PW, so congrats John!

Literary Escapism has plenty of urban fantasy news coverage this past week here, here, and here.

Carole Nelson Douglas tells me that she has a series cross-over story in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 called Buttefly Kiss, a Midnight Louie-narrated novella set in Delilah Street Paranormal Investigator's Las Vegas where she helps a dying vampire find his would-be killer and true love. Carole's latest issue of her newsletter is just out and you can subscribe to it here.

A new page for Tempted is up at the House of Night website.

Book trailer for Tim Waggoner's urban fantasy Nekropolis narrated by the author.

Jessa Slade has sold the next two books in her Marked Souls series. Here is the release schedule for the series -

SEDUCED BY SHADOWS October 6, 2009
FORGED OF SHADOWS May 2010
VOWED IN SHADOWS (tentative) Early 2011
SURRENDER TO SHADOWS (tentative) Fall 2011

Tate Hallaway revealed the back cover copy for her young adult novel called ALMOST TO DIE FOR (tentative title). According to Penguin USA, it will be out in August 2010.

Back Cover Copy:
On her sixteenth birthday, Anastasija Parker’s present winds up being the shock of a lifetime. When her mom referred to her absentee dad as a deadbeat it was actually half true—he’s a vampire. And a king, no less. A king who wants his daughter to assume her rightful position at his side. But, thanks to Ana’s mother, the blood of a witch also runs through her veins…

Too bad vampires and witches are mortal enemies.

With her parents gearing up for an all out brawl over her destiny, Ana’s about ready to scream. But things get even crazier when a male witch and a brooding bad boy vampire start vying for her affection. Then the barely leashed tension between the vampires and the witches starts to boil over, and Ana has to figure out once and for all if she wants to become heir to her dad’s throne. And deciding your eternal destiny is a pretty big deal for a girl who just wants to get through high school.

The Clockwork Century (Cherie Priest) has a new article posted - Steampunk: What it is, why I came to like it, and why I think it’ll stick around.

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MEDIA:

SCI FI Wire has an update on the proposed Underworld 4 which may be in 3D.

True Blood Season 2, Episode 9 Preview Trailer:

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FEATURED AUTHOR: KEITH MELTON

Not being an ebook reader I was pleased to hear that author Keith Melton's Blood Vice from Samhain was going to be available in print this coming December. Keith's newest release is the novella Run, Wolf which will be released in ebook August 25. I just love the "WARNINGS" posted along with the blurb for each book, for example -

• Blood Vice Warning - Intense, graphic mafia-related violence, profanity, gangster slang, assassinations, fang punctures, explicit vampire sex, betrayal, greed, murder, gangland warfare, pervasive supernatural mayhem, large-scale explosions, and extremely expensive Italian suits, and
• Run, Wolf Warning - Contains savage werewolf combat, defiant love, graphic violence/language/sex, kangaroo trials and unrepentant criminal havoc.
  

Keith Melton was born in Arizona, but has careened around the country from Oregon to Alaska to Rhode Island. He’s landed back in Oregon, where he lives with his writer wife, daughter and son, and a demon possessed cat. An escapee from the bowels of the corporate world’s lower dungeons, he now writes urban fantasy in the tower of a castle that normal people, including licensed health professionals, assure him is completely imaginary. You can visit him on the web at www.keithmelton.net.

One choice means heartbreak. The other, death.

Nightfall Wolf Clans, Book 1

Leah Kendrick is guilty of only one crime: loving her human mate, Tom, enough to give him the gift of The Bite. The Pack council is merciless, and the punishment swift. In an instant everything she’s ever known is ripped away, and they’re turned out into the long winter with nothing. No money, no car, and no protection from a variety of creatures who’d like nothing more than to take down a lone wolf.

Friendless and broke, they form a daring plan to take back what’s theirs and chase safety north. But the Pack has other ideas. And with time running out it’s about to call their bluff…

“Run, Wolf” by Keith Melton
Read An Excerpt Online
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1-60504-653-2
Length: Novella
Price: 3.50
Publication Date: August 25, 2009
Cover art by Anne Cain

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COVERS & ART:

Fantasy Dreamer has the new book cover and blurb for The Devil's Playground by Jenna black, the fifth in her Morgan Kingsley series, releasing on February 23, 2010 as well as the cover and blurb for the Hellbound Hearts anthology featuring a Kelley Armstrong story.

Scooper Speaks has the dish on a new anthology called Running with the Pack releasing in May, 29, 2010.

Harlequin Teen Art Director Erin Craig talks about the development of the cover for Intertwined [via Deirdre Knight's Blog]

Check out the Chart of Fantasy Cover Elements created by Tim Holman of Orbit Books. Number 1 is SWORDS! [via OCD, vampires, and rants, oh my!]

Smexy Books has a whole lot of covers, first chapters, excerpts and blurbs.

Cover art featured here at SciFiGuy this past week included:

• Roadkill by Rob Thurman
  
• "My Dead Body" by Charlie Huston
  
• Changes by Jim Butcher
  
• "Soul Catcher" by Leigh Bridger
  
• Awakening Heroes series by Joss Ware