Girlfriends’ Cyber Circuit Interview with Jessi Kirby

I’m pleased today to host Girlfriends’ Cyber Circuit sister Jessi Kirby, talking about plotting and her new and very timely book IN HONOR.  I hope you’ll enjoy and that you’ll give Jessi a shout out to let her know you’re here.

IN HONOR by Jessi Kirby

Reading level: Ages 14 and up

Hardcover: 240 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers (May 8, 2012)

 ISBN-13: 978-1442416970

 

About the Book:

Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.

Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn. . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn–but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

Early Reviews:

“A beautiful, engaging journey with heart, humor, and just a pinch of Texas sass. Hands down my favorite contemporary of the year.” –Sarah Ockler, bestselling author of Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, and Bittersweet

“An amazing novel about first kisses, last goodbyes, and what it means to finally let go. I absolutely loved it.” –Lauren Barnholdt, author of Two Way Street

Interview:

What is your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you schedule time to write each day or are you a spree writer?

If you were to take a peek in my office, you’d see, from the elaborate, color-coded index cards pinned to the massive corkboard, I am most definitely a plotter.  I like a map, and an idea of where I’m going when I write.  But that doesn’t mean I’m married to my outline.  It’s an evolving thing as I go along, and I do love when the story takes me places I don’t expect.

Along the same lines, I’m a very scheduled writer as I have two kids and a day job.
What is the hardest part about the publishing process for you and how do you get through it? (For me, it’s copyediting and sour cream and onion chips.)

The hardest part for me is definitely drafting.  I haven’t yet figured out how to turn off that inner editor, even a little bit, so it’s a very slow process for me-one that requires copious amounts of caffeine, chocolate, and potato chips.

We drop your hero or heroine on a deserted island. Quick, what are the three things he or she can’t live without?

Honor would have to have Rusty, the Impala, and her favorite Kyra Kelley album.
If your story were a film, who would you cast?

Ooh, that’s tough! For Honor it would be someone with a little sass. Maybe Elle Fanning?  As for Rusty, I’m not sure.  Someone rugged and hot.
Are there any contests or upcoming appearances/interviews/etc. you’d like to plug? 

Yes! I’m going on my first book tour with Jenny Han and Morgan Matson this month!  It’s called the Summer Lovin’ Tour, and we’ll be appearing in SoCal and the San Francisco Area.
Thanks so much for stopping by.  Congratulations on your fabulous new release!

Book birthdays!

Posting tomorrow’s book birthdays today!  (In reverse order from my last week’s “yay, they’re coming!” sort of post.)

BAD BLOOD by Lucienne Diver (Samhain), Latter-Day Olympians, Book 1

Tori Karacis’s family line may trace back to a drunken liaison between the god Pan and one of the immortal gorgons. Or…maybe it’s just coincidence that her glance can, literally, stop men in their tracks. While her fear of heights kept her out of the family aerobatic troupe, her extreme nosiness fits right in with her uncle’s P.I. business.

Except he’s disappeared on an Odyssean journey to find himself. Muddling through on her own, she’s reduced to hunting (not stalking, because that would just be weird) brass-bra’d Hollywood agent Circe Holland to deliver a message…only to witness her murder by what looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Suddenly, all of her family’s tall tales seem believable, especially when Apollo—the Apollo, who’s now hiding out among humans as an adult film star—appears in her office, looking to hire her. She knows the drill: canoodling with gods never works out well for humans, but she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Maybe it’s her genes. Maybe not.

Given her conflicted feelings for one hot and hardened cop, it’s a toss-up which will kill her quickest. The danger at her door…or her love life.

THE KILLING MOON by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit), Book 1 of the Dreamblood Duology

The city burned beneath the Dreaming Moon.

In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers – the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt.

But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh’s great temple, Ehiru – the most famous of the city’s Gatherers – must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering dreamers in the goddess’ name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh’s alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill – or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

THE IMPOSSIBLE CUBE by Steven Harper (ROC Books), Book 2 of The Clockwork Empire

In an age where fantastic inventions of steam and brass have elevated Britain and China into mighty empires, Alice Michaels faces a future of technological terrors…

Once, Gavin Ennock sailed the skies on airships and enchanted listeners with his fiddle music. Now, the clockwork plague consumes his intellect, enabling him to conceive and construct scientific wonders—while driving him quite mad. Distressed by her beloved’s unfortunate condition, Alice Michaels sought a cure rumored to be inside the Doomsday Vault—and brought the wrath of the British Empire down on them.

Declared enemies of the Crown, Alice and Gavin have little choice but to flee to China in search of a cure. Accompanying them is Dr. Clef, a mad genius driven to find the greatest and most destructive force the world has ever seen: The Impossible Cube. If Dr. Clef gets his hands on it, the entire universe will face extinction.

And Gavin holds the key to its recreation…

THE ROPE DANCER by Roberta Gellis (Sourcebooks Casablanca)

She Bewitches With Her Dance…

Carys’s livelihood depends on her agility, beauty, and balance. She enchants crowds with her exhilarating rope dance, but one wrong move leads to disaster—a twisted ankle and no way to survive. Alone and unprotected in war–torn England, she has no one to trust but a handsome stranger—a man most unlikely to give up his wandering ways.

He Enchants With His Song…

Telor is a man skilled with his hands. A gifted musician who rejects city life to travel the country on his own terms—free of any master. Taking on an injured girl will only slow him down. But Carys’s bold nature and haunted past intrigue him, and he soon discovers that beneath the beautiful exterior is a woman with a passion to rival his own.

With over eight million books in print, award–winning author Roberta Gellis sets the standard for captivating medieval romance filled with passion and pageantry.

BLACK DAWN by Rachel Caine (Berkley JAM), Book 12 of The Morganville Vampires

With its eclectic mix of vampire and human citizens, Morganville, Texas, has always been a risky place to call home. But with the invasion of the vampire’s deadliest enemy, Morganville isn’t just in danger—it’s dying…

Ever since the draug—mysterious creatures that prey on vampires—took over Morganville, the lives of student Claire Danvers and her friends have been thrown into turmoil. Most of the town’s residents have evacuated, but Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael have chosen to stay and fight.

Using the city’s water system to spread, the draug have rapidly multiplied. Things in Morganville look grim, especially since vampire Amelie—the town founder—has been infected by the master draug’s bite.

Now, if Claire and her friends don’t figure out how to cure Amelie and defeat the draug, it looks like Morganville will become little more than a ghost town…

POWERS by James A. Burton (Prime Books)

Albert Johannson lives off the grid. He’s forgotten more than he remembers about his past, but those snippets he’s retained tell him two things: he’s lived a long, looong time and he doesn’t trust anyone, particularly gods. He’s not any too fond of demons either, particularly the one that materializes in his kitchen wanting to hire him for a special mission. It’s as deadly to cross a demon as to deal with him, so Albert reluctantly agrees to investigate, putting him in the path of a prickly arson detective named Melissa el Hajj with trust issues of her own. Clashing at a crime scene, they uncover a broken seal that seems ancient enough to have been forged by Solomon himself. The seal cries out to Albert that he must mend it or something dark and dire will happen. Albert, who has a special affinity for metal, must first discover exactly what that will do to his kind – and he’s only just beginning to understand who and what he really is.

(Check out the interview with James A. Burton on Examiner.com!)

Birthdays, book birthdays and tweetables

“Happy Birthday to me, I’m a hundred and three….”  Oh wait, no, no I’m not.  Just feels like that sometimes!  Anyway, I’m taking part of the day to do fun things, like have lunch with the fab Kira Sinclair over in glamorous St. Pete Beach, but before I go, I wanted to leave you with the thought of some really fun books releasing any day now!  (May 1st to be exact.)  I’ve provided some tweetable snippets below, in case anyone out there wants to help spread the word or go forth and pre-order!

POWERS by James A. Burton (Prime Books)

Out 5/1! POWERS by James A. Burton: not your usual hero & heroine, secrets as deadly to remember as forget http://bit.ly/IQSFe5

BLACK DAWN by Rachel Caine (Berkley JAM)

A town run by vampires invaded by the one thing even they’re afraid of…how wld U fare? Black Dawn by @rachelcaine http://bit.ly/IrsQyS

THE ROPE DANCER by Roberta Gellis (Sourcebooks Casablanca)

Beautiful dancer, traveling man, a haunted past & a war-torn country…the makings of epic romance from Roberta Gellis: http://amzn.to/HL4Zhw

THE IMPOSSIBLE CUBE by Steven Harper (ROC Books)

Ragtag teams flees England w/a cure for the Clockwork Plague that will upset empires: The Impossible Cube http://amzn.to/IZrzmp

THE KILLING MOON by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

LJ says THE KILLING MOON by @nkjemisin “shines for its remarkable characters and graceful prose”! See 4 yourself 5/1! http://bit.ly/HMI19m

BAD BLOOD by Lucienne Diver (Samhain)

Gods & gorgons, murder & myth: BAD BLOOD by Lucienne Diver is out 5/1! http://bit.ly/HIEyKg

New and exciting!

Out and about!

A new version of Doranna Durgin’s excellent first mystery starring Sully Beagle (oh, and his person, veterinarian Dale Kinsall) finding murder and menace in the high desert: NOSE FOR TROUBLE.  You can check out an except and more on Doranna Durgin’s website or see what the publisher has to say here in their announcement of  the title’s debut in their new mystery line.

Blurb: Dale Kinsall, DVM, and his young Beagle Sully are brand new to the high desert of the American Southwest. Determined to escape reminders of the catastrophic fire that scarred his memory and damaged his lungs, Dale arrives to a clinic populated by an eccentric staff, even odder clients—and a community all abuzz about a recent murder.

The wagging tongues grow even louder when Dale himself stumbles across a second victim on his very first day at the clinic—a man drowned in his own drought-dusty backyard—and that’s just the beginning. Dale’s new boss is less than pleased that scandal and chaos seem to trot along at Dale’s heels.

Before much longer it becomes evident that Dale, Sully, and the clinic are all at risk, even as Dale’s fledgling relationship with a local colleague turns serious in more ways than one. Trouble seems to be closing in on all of them. But how can Dale solve the mystery when he’s not even sure what the mystery is? And how can he protect everyone and everything he cares about?

There’s only one thing for certain: just like Sully, Dale has a Nose for Trouble.

For the first time anywhere, Janet Mullany’s wonderful historical romance THE MALLORY PHOENIX on Nook and Kindle:

She plays a deadly game, but nothing is as dangerous as love.

Benedict de Malorie, Earl of Trevisan, can never forget the masked woman he met one night at a London pleasure garden. The clever pickpocket stole his heart and his family’s prized jewel – the Malorie Phoenix. But the family treasure reappears in Benedict’s darkest hour, returned by its thief, along with the unexpected gift of his infant daughter.

Believing that she is dying, Jenny Smith leaves her daughter in the custody of the baby’s blueblood father. Seven years later she finds herself in good health and alone, yearning for her only child. To raise enough money to support them both, she takes part in a daring escapade that requires her to impersonate a woman of quality. She fools the ton and Benedict himself.

When Jenny finds herself entangled in a murderous plot against Benedict, the father of her child, her carefully laid plans begin to fall apart. All she wants is her daughter back, but she never thought she’d fall in love with Benedict. Revealing her part in the plot means she will almost certainly lose Benedict and their daughter forever. But continuing to play her role puts them all in terrible danger.

Oh, I know you’ve seen this cover before!  But what’s new and exciting is that Persephone Magazine’s book club is reading N.K. Jemisin’s THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS over the weekend of May 5th, so if you haven’t read it yet, now would be a great time.  And if you have, maybe you want to swing by and discuss!

(BTW, her new series begins on May 1st with THE KILLING MOON and continues in June with THE SHADOWED SUN.  I’m so looking forward to these new releases.  Amazing books!)

Congratulations and links

Congratulations are in order for the National Readers Choice Award finalists!  All deserve kudos, but, of course, I’m going to single out my authors for a WOOT!  So, huge congrats to:

Vicky Dreiling for HOW TO MARRY A DUKE – finalist for Best First Book

Debra Mullins for TOO WICKED TO LOVE – finalist for Best Historical

Kira Sinclair for WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN – finalist for Contemporary Series- and CAUGHT OFF GUARD – finalist for Series Suspense

Also, some interesting links for the bookish (and aren’t we all?):

N.K. Jemisin’s thought-provoking article at Fantasy Book Cafe for Women in SFF Month

Heroes & Heartbreakers has posted the first chapter of BITING COLD, the latest in Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires novel (coming in August):

David Mack talks Star Trek on  The Chronic Rift and also at TrekRadio.

Janet Mullany with a blast from the past and contest (winners announced Saturday morning, so get in now!)

D.B. Jackson shares some great writing advice over on his blog (Character and Voice, Plotting versus Pantsing, etc.)

And some awesome new reviews:

Of Beth Cornelison’s TRUST IN ME in the May 2012 issue of Romantic Times: “This is a thoroughly delightful romance…”

Of N.K. Jemisin’s THE KILLING MOON in the same RT issue: “An engaging and fast-paced read with some truly excellent and complicated worldbuilding…”

Of DOUBLETAKE by Rob Thurman on Bookshelf Bombshells

And of Debra Mullins’ THE LAWMAN’S SURRENDER on Harlie’s Book Blog

More catching up

I told you there was a lot going on.  Yes, enough to merit two posts in one day!

The Knight Agency’s Say Yes to the Cover poll opened yesterday and runs to Thursday, April 26th at 11:59am ET. Help choose a new cover for Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s THE BRO-MAGNET and enter to win e-books by leaving a comment on the site about the silliest thing you’ve ever done to impress a guy or girl.  Personally, I plead the fifth.

Next, there are a few great posts I want to draw attention to:

Book Riot on the lack of a Pulitzer Prize this year for fiction

Charles Stross’s wonderful and insightful summary of Amazon’s business strategy, which I think leads right into the NY Times piece…

“Book Publishing’s Real Nemesis” about DOJ’s misplaced aim

And now, back to work.  These editorial notes won’t write themselves (more’s the pity).

A quick catch-up

Things have been moving so quickly around here that I didn’t even have the chance to post pics or blog about the wonderful Silken Sands Conference before I was away at Marcon, where I was able to spend time with the ever-awesome Faith Hunter, David B. Coe, Paula Guran (Prime Books) and others, like PJ Snyder and A.L Davroe, with whom I got to talk corsets and other frippery, and then Romantic Times in Chicago, where my authors Rachel Caine, Chloe Neill, Vicky Dreiling, Rosemary Clement-Moore and Christina Henry did many amazing things for which I, sadly, have no pictures. Other great Knight Agency authors were in attendance, like Louisa Edwards, Kristen Painter, Leigh Evans, Kerry Schafer….  A wonderful, wonderful event.

I return to all kinds of good news I have to make time to post!  First, Rachel Caine’s amazing Weather Wardens urban fantasy series was featured on Felicia Day’s web show The Flog as one of her Fave Five things.

Debra Mullins’ digital release of her classic romance THE LAWMAN’S SURRENDER is new (today!) from Samhain publishing.  Love this book!

Also band new: Janet Mullany’s hot Regency DEDICATION as you’ve never seen it before.  Love this one too!

Much, much more coming up!