It's time for a special post-convention issue of the newsletter. I thought you would all like to see some of the pictures of the RT Booklovers Convention. Over 600 authors signed at the big signing. I couldn't get a picture of the entire room, but got a bunch of it by standing on a chair in the corner and holding my cell phone as high as I could.
And I have great news for all of you who entered the "April Favors" contest! My lovely roommate, Carole Nelson Douglas (who writes the terrific Midnight Louie mystery series) donated her convention bag to my April contest! So there are TWO convention bags to give away. Oh, wait! Did I mention that I also attended a few of the reader parties? That means I have a total of FOUR bags to give away!
Wow! They're all loaded with books (some autographed!) and tons of swag and other goodies. So, let's get to it: The winners are:
Mary P from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Lisa W from Indiana
Joanne A from Massachusetts
Donna S from Missouri
Watch your email boxes from a message from me and CONGRATULATIONS!!
I also took a bunch of pictures of some of my writer friends at the book fair. I thought you might like to see some other awesome authors. Go find their books and get some great stories!
Here's my friend and regular seatmate at the book fair Beth Ciotta. She's got a terrific new contemporary series with titles taken from fairy tales: "Marry Poppins," "Beauty and the Biker," etc. Very cute and funny!
I also attended a Vegas show. It was called "Zombie Burlesque" and it was a riot! Very old-school vaudeville with a zombie flair.
If you haven't read any of Heather Graham's thrillers, you should check them out!
Another awesome thriller and romantic suspense author is Gennita Low. Check her out!
Carrie Ann Ryan
Carrie Ann Ryan had a short story in the Hunks, Hammers & Happily Ever Afters anthology. This was the first time I met her in person. She's very funny and a lot of fun!
If you haven't heard of my buddy Sylvia Day, you've probably been hiding under a rock! Her books are AWESOME! It was hard to get to see her because she was constantly surrounded by a cadre of people, including a documentary film crew who is filming her life story! Who knows? I might wind up on camera because they were filming as we were chatting. LOL!
Some other bestselling author pals: Jeffe Kennedy, Amanda McIntyre and Lora Leigh! It was great to see them again!
New friends Sylvia McDaniel, Sabine Priestly and Kiernan Kelly
Familiar friends Linnea Sinclair, roomie Carole Nelson Douglas and Shayla Black (with new friend Eve Langlais!)
So, there you have the best of the convention! Lots of fun and it was great to run into a few of you on the newsletter list at the signing. Thanks for attending! I hope I meet with some of you at future events.
Next, for those of you that have heard of Dragon*Con, you might have already seen this news. For those who haven't, Dragon*Con is the largest SF/F themed convention in the world! It's held every year in Atlanta, Georgia over the Labor Day weekend. For the first year, the convention will have their own book award, the "Dragon Award". It's just for science fiction, fantasy and horror novels (including those in middle grade, young adult and adult ages), plus short stories, games, TV series, movies and graphic novels. Wow! It's a fan-vote award, so it's up to YOU, the readers (and watchers and players) to vote on the winners! Authors can't vote for their own books, so I need your help! FORBIDDEN qualifies under the "Best Fantasy Novel (including paranormal)" category, since it was published during the 7/1/2015-6/30/16 time period. I'm hoping that you'll go to the
Dragon Award website, and put in a vote for FORBIDDEN! Of course, please vote for your other favorites in all the categories. Thank you!
Now that my big convention is behind me, I'm starting back into writing on the next book, DENIED. This is going to be an awesome book! I've been thinking up a terrific plot and the characters are going to shock you! Someone in Luna Lake is a traitor. Who? Well . . . that's for me to know and you to find out very soon!
I'm also hard at work on the first few chapters of a new series I'm proposing to my editor at Tor. It's a brand new world with the opening book set in Alaska! It'll move around the world as each new threat rises up. It's dark and scary but the heroes are strong enough to stand up to it.
I'm also working on some short stories for possible anthologies. I'll let you know more as I find out.
Whew! That's about it for me. But oh, I almost forgot! It's contest time again. It's been raining buckets in Texas, as I'm sure you know. All the April rain is definitely making the flowers pop up, so let's make our contest "May Flowers". What shall we give? Hmm... Well, how about THREE flash drives with a very special something loaded on it. How about an early PDF of ILLICIT? I'm especially looking for bloggers, reviewers or readers who are willing to write about it on Amazon or Goodreads. Send your email to:
Have a great May!
