Juno Books

SILVER ZOMBIE, fourth in the Delilah Street, PI series, will be released November 30, 2010.

BTW: Carole Nelson Douglas will be the Guest of Honor at the Malice Domestic 23 mystery convention April 23 - May 1, 2011!

While you are reading FATAL CIRCLE here’s the cover for book #4 in the Circle Series to whet your appetite for more!

The official release dates for BOTH books are now October 26, 2010.

BTW, sometimes a Web site will post a cover they aren’t supposed to. For one thing, what they may find online may not be the final version. For another, it’s technically illegal for them to do so. Just because you can find something online doesn’t give you the right to display it. There still may be minor changes even to these covers, but at least I’ve been given permission to post them.

Evil doesn’t have a prayer…

Brynna is a fallen angel trying to earn redemption. She’s escaped Hell and come to Earth, but Lucifer’s deadliest hunters are hot on her trail. And they’re not the only ones who’d like to send her back where she came from. Detective Eran Redmond needs Brynna to help find a serial killer who is terrifying Chicago…and that means battling her own very dangerous kind. She’s also got a very human problem: dealing with a stubborn, sexy cop she knows better than to get involved with.

Staying alive long enough to earn a shot at Heaven will mean breaking some major rules in the mortal world, as she learns just how complicated and wonderful being human can be. With so much stacked against her, even Brynna has to wonder if she’s crazy. But she’s not giving in without a fight. Not a chance in Hell….

Texas is heating up. . .

The summer heat wave that’s hit Rio Seco, Texas, has even the vampires complaining, but with Keira—the Kelly heir—home from Vancouver, the weather isn’t the only thing too hot to handle. Keira should be setting up her court and planning the big reception where she and her consort, vampire ruler Adam Nightwalker, will receive the magical leaders from the local area, but pomp and circumstance just aren’t Keira’s thing, especially not with trouble smoldering in her domain. A werewolf couple has mysteriously gone missing from a local pack, and when Keira is asked by their leader to investigate, she finds that some dissatisfied neighbors may have been taking—well—strong action against the wer community … action that could be repeated, and could involve Keira and those she loves. So, with the reception looming and danger fast blazing out of control, the pressure is on Keira to keep Texas safe for supernaturals. Sometimes, it’s just not that great to be Heir….

BTW, there will be a newsletter out later today and a Web site update. I’m running 1.5 days behind due to some personal issues. But, for now, here’s a great new cover to look at.

(Also if you are wondering about AMAZON QUEEN’s cover, it is here.)

This is not the final cover. There’s still a blurb to put somewhere and I requested that the hair be fixed — smoothed out rather than this sort of lame white chick Jheri Curl do. Probably won’t get my wish.

““A compelling story with an intelligent heroine and a fast-moving plot pitting intuition against conspiracy, crime, and dark science.””—Linda Robertson, author of the Circle Series

“Bickle has something great in Anya. Embers has everything: demons, ghosts, dragons, love, sex, police, and murder.”
—M.L.N. Hanover, bestselling author of Darker Angels

“Gritty but never grim, Embers is a truly urban fantasy, where the soul of a city haunts every page. I can’t wait for more of Anya and the unforgettable Sparky!”
—Jeri Smith-Ready, award-winning author of Bad to the Bone and Shade

RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2010 (Pocket Juno’s May title)

Coming March 2010

Doesn’t yet have this quote for the cover from bestselling author L.A. Banks: “Seressia Glass conjures a powerful blend of ancient Egyptian mysticism, urban legend, and genius imagination. The characters are hot, the setting rocks–this novel is on fire!”

And the description…

For Kira Solomon, normal was never an option.

Kira’s day job as an antiquities expert, but her true calling is as a Shadowchaser. Trained from youth to be one of the most lethal Chasers in existence, Kira serves the Gilead Commission dispatching the Fallen who sow discord and chaos. Of course, sometimes Gilead bureaucracy is as much a thorn in her side as anything the Fallen can muster against her. Right now, though, she’s got a bigger problem. Someone is turning the city of Atlanta upside-down in search of a four-millennia-old Egyptian dagger that just happens to have fallen into Kira’s hands.

Then there’s Khefar, the dagger’s true owner—a near-immortal 4000-year-old Nubian warrior who, Kira has to admit. looks pretty fine for his age. Joining forces is the only way to keep the weapon safe from the sinister Shadow force, but now Kira is in deep with someone who holds more secrets than she does, the one person who knows just how treacherous this fight is. Because every step closer to destroying the enemy is a step closer to losing herself to Shadow forever. . . .

There are those who whine and wail over some aspect or another of all urban fantasy covers. I suspect they don’t remember the days when “science fiction” meant plastering a phallic-symbol-with-fins spaceship on a cover or maybe a blonde in a furry bikini…even if there were no spaceships or females in the book. Or that fantasy once tended toward the “vaguely Medieval”… no matter what the content.

And, admittedly in the urban fantasy/paranormal genre we’ve have seen a lot of covers with the “the faceless female”, the “random sexy body part”, the “tramp stamp” tattooed female, the “intense chick in acrobatic pose”, the “stilletto heel(s) and, let I not forget the ever-popular “butt cover”!

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of “atmospheric urban fog” covers…

I mean, we could go in other directions. Maybe something more “realistic” and tied to the book…

For instance, instead of sexy shoes, we could go with Mel’s Wisconsin Badger cap for AMZON INK…

OR…Nana’s pink fuzzy slippers for VICIOUS CIRCLE…

OR…Keira Kelly’s plaid shirt for MATTERS OF THE BLOOD, BLOOD BARGAIN and BLOOD KIN…

Maybe we should portray Megan in her role of radio host in PERSONAL DEMONS and DEMON INSIDE?

The heroine of SHADOWBLADE, Kira, is first met wearing a lab coat and gloves (sorry, will have to add those gloves…)

And in EMBERS, Anya’s work clothes sometimes look like these hot outfits below (and we do mean hot, as in real she’s a former fire fighter who now investigates fire scenes)…

Heroines also have to don other protective suits, so here’s another seductive look…one Kira’s pal in SHADOWBLADE might wear…

The Delilah Street series is always a challenge. Del love vintage clothes, but period clothes might give the wrong impression of the books. In VAMPIRE SUNRISE, though, Delilah meets a CinSim Theda Bara and Theda (pictured here) loans her an outfit like the one below. Have to admit this would be a great cover…for something…

These looks all just SHOUT “contemporary urban fantasy” don’t they?

Just got clearance to post this…

You might recognize the artist

There’s also a page and excerpt up.

Our August Release:

Hey, note the terrific Tanya Huff quote. Ms. Huff was kind enough to read the manuscript and comment

Yet another revision in the guidelines. This time I’ve tried to make it clearer that we are not looking for.

Truth is, if you read “this kind of book” then you KNOW what we want. And we want it to be original, imaginative, and well-written with three dimensional characters and a plausible “world”. Admittedly not all the books being published as “this kind of book” are such.

Link to large version of full cover.

Tim’s art, without title/author is also now on the Gallery.

And here’s what the inside front cover will look like:

If you were wondering about NIGHTS OF SIN — it is shipping now. I have copies and as soon as the office gets some we’ll send out review copies and have them for sale directly. Be about two weeks before they hit stores.

I’m behind on posting covers, so, a twofer:

The back cover is slightly different & has a barcode and all…

Thanks to GalleyCat for this tip: “As a teaser for their forthcoming instructional DVD, Book Cover Illustration with Dan Dos Santos, San Francisco’s Massive Black studio has released a video that condenses the time and effort spent into creating the cover for Brandon Sanderson’s new fantasy novel, Warbreaker, into five-and-a-half minutes.”

I have no idea how much time actually was involved, but just watching this is astonishing. [I’ve removed the embedded video and just left the link as the vid was slowing the page load down: Link to Dos Santos video.

Here’s the finished art from the Dos Santos site:

(Click image for a larger view.)

Now, if this were a Juno cover, we’d probably be told it was “too soft and female” and that “no man would be caught dead reading it in public”.

Dorchester Publishing is sponsoring a contest for amateur and professional filmmakers to create book trailers based on their favorite novel in the Shomi series, the publisher’s line of speculative romances. Stephen King will select the best trailer, and it will be shown at a movie premiere in New York and in the winner’s home market.

Details on the contest are at www.shomifiction.com.

Actually the Shomi site shows an interesting evolution happening in their covers. When first announced, they were very big on the manga-like covers for these “speculative romances”…the latest release (top) has a photo-realistic cover.

Fictionwise now has multi-format ebook versions of next month’s print release, SEABORN by Chris Howard, available. As a new release, the book is currently 15% off.

And you can wirelessly download SEABORN to your Kindle.

And here is the final front for the PRINT EDITION cover. (I still do not have a copy of the final-final back cover myself.)