All About Writers

• On Guide to Literary Agents, 7 Things I’ve Learned So Far, by Holly Schindler
• We’ve been blogging about our characters on Bloodleggers.  By co-writer R.J. Robyn, Searching for Billy Knox… and by me, two part interviews with Regina Todd
• On Dark Faerie Tales, Author Interview & Giveaway: 13 to Life by Shannon Delany

All About Books

• On Bitten By Books, How Honest Is Too Honest In A Review?
• On Book Junkie, Bookswim Book Rentals

Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:

• On Fangtastic Books, A Review of Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams
• On Darkly Reading, Review of The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells
• On Fantasy Literature’s Fantasy Book Reviews, The Etched City: Dark and decadent
• On Farm Lane Books Blog, Red April – Santiago Roncagliolo

All About Writing & Publishing

• That Author Ecopy Comes With A Hefty Price Tag on Pub Rants

Weekly Features

• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford’s This Week in Publishing & The Rejection Letter of the Future Will Be Silence (And Why This is a Good Thing)
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy
• This week’s Where Stories are Made: Thomas Emson over at Book Chick City
• On Book Lovers Inc., Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review
• On Overbury Ink, Number 38 – Part 6, by Ian Eliot LeWinter
• NEW On Dark Faerie Tales, Publishing News

Blogging Events

• September 13 – 17, Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Join the Hop

Are you highlighting writers and books in your blog for Writer Wednesday? Then add your blog to my new blog hop link group. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

Mickey Wade is a recently-unemployed journalist who lucked into a rent-free apartment—his sick grandfather’s place. The only problem: it’s in a lousy neighborhood—the one where Mickey grew up, in fact. The one he was so desperate to escape.

But now he’s back. Dead broke. And just when he thinks he’s reached rock bottom, Mickey wakes up in the past. Literally.

At first he thinks it’s a dream. All of the stores he remembered from his childhood, the cars, the rumble of the elevated train. But as he digs deeper into the past, searching for answers about the grandfather he hardly knows, Mickey meets the twelve-year-old kid who lives in the apartment below.  The kid who will grow up to someday murder Mickey’s father.

This book originally caught my attention in a review on Bookgasm.  When I read that the main character takes Tylenol from a bottle dated back in 1982 and slips back in time, I couldn’t resist.  I picked it up, read it in a few days and loved it.

I found this method of time travel unique and comical, which carried over into the personalities of the characters. In addition, Swierczynski creates real and honest characters that you love and hate. I also loved his writing style. It’s fast paced and almost like reading a much longer version of a graphic novel. There were times my heart raced while reading and that’s a gift. Can’t wait to read more by Swierczynski.

This blog post has been added to the Frightening Fiction Review, a month long blog hop hosted by Blood Reads eZine, for readers and writers who love the night. Join the hop and share reviews of our favorite dark fiction.

WHOO HOO!

20 Blog Hops

All About Writers

• On Biting Edge, Start Saving Your Pennies… mentions that James Bond’s car from Goldfinger is for sale and expected to sell for over $5 million.  There’s also some news on a future Bond book, as well as a link to a website with pictures of some really COOL bookshelves of the non human kind.
• Here’s an review of Jaws, by Peter Benchley.  It’s always fun to run across modern day reviews of older books.
• On Fangtastic Books, Welcome Guest Author Yolanda Sfetsos

Books I Want to Read

Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:

• On Bitten by Books, Ouroboros by Michael Kelly and Carol Weekes
• On Book Lovers, Inc., Review: Shades of Gray by Caitlin Kittredge & Jackie Kessler
• On Book Whisperer, Review: Blood Song by Cat Adams & Review: Blood Song by Cat Adams
• On The Cajun Book Lady, Review: The Second Coming by David H Burton

All About Writing & Publishing

• On 1st Turning Point, Pointless Networking ain’t so pointless when you make those accidental connections
• On the Wicked Writer’s blog, Long live the book… A view on the publishing industry
• On Jim C. Hines blog, Reading Reviews
• On The Journey is Everything,  The Five Stages Of Author Booksignings

Weekly Features

• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford’s This Week in Publishing
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy
• This week’s Where Stories Are Made: Jaime Rush over at Book Chick City
• On Book Lovers Inc., Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review
• NEW On Fantasy Literature, World Wide Wednesday by another reader, like me, scanning the blogsphere for great interesting reads.

Join the Hop

Are you highlighting writers and books in your blog for Writer Wednesday? Then add your blog to my new blog hop link group. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

All About Writers

• On Enchanted by Books, Guest Author Carolyn Crane & Giveaway! discusses the “Top 6 cool things about being a series author that I never expected”

Books I Want to Read

Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:

• On Bookgasm, Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000-Year-Old Computer — and the Century-Long Search to Discover Its Secrets AND I Am Not a Serial Killer AND Tooth and Claw
• NEW FAV On Book Lovers, Review: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane +Giveaway
• Looks like a pretty good list on Farm Lane’s Book Blog in The Best Literary Science Fiction Books?

All About Writing & Publishing

• Platform, Shmatform on A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing shows you don’t have to be an established author to be a top seller.
• NEW BLOG On Guide to Literary Agents, 7 Tips on Book Publicity. I also watch Livia Blackburne’s blog and she provides excellent advice. On her blog, How to Get (and Keep) People’s Attention was a great read this week
• On 1st Turning Point, Marketing Before Publication? How About Before It’s Written?
• On Biting Edge, Writers and Readers…what we owe each other
• Fear was a focus on Copyblogger in Is F.E.A.R. Holding You Back? AND 7 Quick-Start Techniques for Fighting the Fear to Write
• On Editorial Ass, How to Throw an Awesome Book Launch
• On Passion on Paper by Gina Leigh Maxwell, Terrible Twos-day: Word Count vs. Words That Count
• On Wordplay, 8 Ways Longhand Writing Frees Your Muse
• On Richard Dansky’s blog, Seven Things You Should Always Ask A Writer.  We used the question about which book you wished you’d written this week on Vamplit Writers
• On Leterary Agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog, Getting People to Read Your Book

Weekly Features

• Book Blogger Hop at Crazy for Books
• Follow Friday for blogs at Parajunkee’s View
• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford’s This Week in Publishing is a blog tour of sorts. I also enjoyed What Makes a Great Setting
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy
• This week’s Where Stories are Made: Keri Arthur over at Book Chick City
• NEW On Book Lovers Inc., Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review
• On Overbury Ink, Number 38, part 5 by Ian Eliot LeWinter

Join the Hop

Are you highlighting writers and books in your blog for Writer Wednesday? Then add your blog to my new blog hop link group. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

Read the other writer’s opinions:

• C. J. Ellison, Book Reviews: C.J.’s choice is Urban Fantasy
• Greg Marshall Smith, Greg’s review: Composition in Black & White
• Supriya Savkoor, A View from Norway
• And our guest this week:Harley D. Palmer & The Art of Reviewing

All About Writers & Books

• This week’s highlight was an interview with fellow Wicked Writer Gregory Marshall Smith over at Labotomy of a Writer. I finished reading They Call the Wild Muryah and Greg is quite the new talent in Sci Fi writing. The eBook is free on Smashwords and well worth the read!
• There’s an awesome new feature over at Book Chick City. A kinda Cribs for writers that features their writing space. This week, Where Stories Are Made: Tim Waggoner. Haven’t read his books, but they look pretty darn good, so Nekropolis also ended up in my reading queue.
• Over at Writing is About Putting Yourself to Words, How does an unknown author become a Kindle bestseller? Perseverance.
• I’m a new fan of Mark Henry, and he guest blogged over at Vampire Wire this week.
• And, I’ve got to support a Colorado writer in Guest Blog, Chat and Contest with Author Mario Acevedo over at Bitten by Books.
• Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:
  • Kalayna Price’s Once Bitten and Twice Dead sure have gotten some mixed reviews. Still, I think I might give ‘em a try.
  • I’ve got high hopes for the hero type I’ve been looking for in this review of Defeat the Darkness. But I’ll be starting with Dark Protector, the first in the Paladins of Darkness series.
  • Bible Black because, “Clearly, it’s not for the easily offended. Really, really not.”
  • Not new, but the Mageworlds series looks awfully good. I might have to move these one to the top of my read list.
  • Being a girl from “sweet home Chicago,” I had to put the first in the Chicagoland Vampire series in my queue base on the review of Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill over at Bitten by Books
  • And last but not least, Darkness on the Edge of Town.
• Don’t miss these every week:
  • Nicole Hadaway’s movie & book reviews over at her All Things Smart & Scary blog. Nicole guest blogged for us this week over at the Wicked Writer’s Blog. And, Nicole finished the first draft of Return, her sequel to Release and I’m so excited for her.
  • Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.

All About Writing & Publishing

• Whoa There, eBook Writer contains some excellent advice for writers and was probably my favorite post this week.
• Authors Who Don’t Read, doesn’t seem like a reality. What do you think about it?
• How are Multiple Book Deal Advances says it all in the title. Now I need to get one.
• Persistence, a little something I could use so far this year. You also might want to read What I Learned from My 3 Favorite Authors.
• Tips for Developing Character Voice from Dee Garretson over at Livia Blackburne blog reminds us writers each character not only has something different to say, they say it differently.
• Social Media Networking – Is It Working? from a writer’s perspective.

Other Blog Tours

• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford’s This Week in Publishing post is a blog tour of sorts. I still haven’t gotten to all the links and it was posted last Friday. And, don’t miss his post Don’t Believe eBook Skeptics.

And…this week I added the following blogs to my watch list: Fantasy Literature & Paranormal Haven. If you’d like me to check out your blog, add a comment below and include a link.

Cold/flu virus #4 of 2010 has invaded our home. So far I haven’t gotten sick, and am doing all the Voo Doo spells I can, short of signing a contract with Margery, to keep it out of my system.

Now on to my Monday morning whine… Last night I started reading yet another romance novel that depicts the male figure as a womanizing beast. Now I haven’t read many romance novels because they’ve never really been my cup of tea. But recently I had a few paranormal romance authors highly recommended to me. So what the heck, I ordered them up from the library and away I read. I got 100 pages into the one I read last night and threw it to the side, sickened by the set up of a relationship between the heroine and an archangel who was more like a fallen angel. This was another novel where I got to a point I had to ask, how was the author hurt by men and projecting her own experiences into the story.

I’ve had absolutely wonderful men in my life who would fight to the death for me. That’s the sort of guy I like reading about. Prince Charming, who will come and rescue me. Although we watched the Shrek movies over the weekend, and Prince Charming in those movies is even a bastard. Is the strong male figure in romance novels dead? Are we women alone in saving ourselves?

Read the other writer’s opinions:

• C. J. Ellison, Publish Your Passion
• Greg Marshall Smith, Where am I? On the Road to Hard Knocks
• Supriya Savkoor, Switching to My Editor Hat

All About Writers & Books

• I really enjoyed Fairy Tales Gone Naughty over at Book Junkie because I’ve dabbled in writing a few of my own. This week wrapped up with guest posts by Brenna Lyons and Natasha Moore
• If you’re looking for new releases, check out New Vampire Books for March 2010. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith looks really interesting and FUN!
• Fellow writers, read some good news over at C.J.’s Daily Grind to remind yourself that the path is not always a difficult one. CONGRATS on all your success, C.J.
• More from Ian LeWinter over at Overbury Ink in Why We Write, Part 4. And if you missed Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3.
• Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:
  • Wished I could have added Dark Legion by Isabella Jordan, reviewed on Bitten by Books, but it’s not on GoodReads.
  • This review of Blood Cross by Faith Hunter over at Book Lovers, Inc read good enough that I put the first in the series, Skinwalker, in my queue.
  • I’ve seen the book cover to Shift, by Rachel Vincent everywhere this past week. Does that mean I should read the Shifters series? Will I like it or hate it? So I decided to take a moment and read the interview with the author over at Fantasy Literature. Nothing really grabbed me hard about the series, but I did go ahead and put Stray in my to-read list. The reviews are all over the place though, so this one will get ordered up from the library.
  • Angelology, and if you hurry, you can enter to win a free copy.
• Don’t miss these every week:
  • Nicole Hadaway’s movie & book reviews over at her All Things Smart & Scary.
  • Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.

All About Writing & Publishing

• One of my favorite posts this week was Contests and My Tedious Ramblings About E-Piracy & Publishers’ Websites over at Vampire Wire. I suggest you read through the comments as well.
• I had to chuckle a little reading Seven Questions You Should Never Ask a Writer over at Storytellers Unplugged.
• A link to All About Sequels came to me from Supriya Savkoor, fellow Wicked Writer. I enjoyed his post as well as a few older ones, and sure hope I don’t have acute sequelitis. He sure opened my eyes to the publishing industries take on new writers publishing serial novels.
• This scares me: How Publishers Can Use Virtual Currency

Other Blog Tours

• Wasn’t sure I’d find one this week, but WOW came through. Bonnie Hearn Hill, YA author of Aries Rising, launches her blog tour! Doesn’t see look a little like Frasier’s agent, what was her name? Bebee?

And…this week I added the following blogs to my watch list: Bookgasm, Nathan Bransford-Literary Agent. If you’d like me to check out your blog, add a comment below and include a link.

Read the other writer’s opinions:

• C. J. Ellison, When Life is Like Seinfeld
• Greg Marshall Smith, did he just say “intercourse”?
• Supriya Savkoor, “This Story Needs Some dialogue,” She Gasped
• Steve Liskow, Make ‘em Talk the Talk