At long last a LiveJournal by Jeri Smith-Ready

Kerri N. braved the hostile bouncers friendly sales associates at Target to bring us this photo of Wicked Game in the very special (to me, anyway) wilds of a non-bookstore venue. Right under Charlaine Harris, which is pretty cool, considering a quote from the review by the lovely Ms. Harris is right on Wicked Game's cover. It's like subliminal or something.

For her efforts, Kerri won an Advance Review Copy of Bad to the Bone. Congrats!

I've also gotten a report of the book appearing in at least one Walmart. Many Borders and Waldens are carrying it. Plus, you can still get the trade paperback at most Barnes & Noble stores, if you want to create a matching set with the upcoming Bad to the Bone.

(Just got word that Bad to the Bone will be reprinted in mass market paperback in March 2010. But that's a long time to wait, right? Absolutely.)

If you spy the book in a grocery store, drugstore, airport book stand, or another place, I'd love to know (no pictures necessary--I swear I'll believe you). It's fun to see where it lands when it leaves the safety of the warehouse.

I am almost out of Bad to the Bone ARCs (my cat is happy to have the empty boxes to play in). The last one will be given out on Monday, and of course I shall post here when the guest blog is up.

There are a few giveaways still open. Here's a continuously updated list of all current contests.

Have a good weekend!

In November 2006, I wrote a twenty-part serial short story for my publisher's Daily Reads feature. That story, "The Wild's Call," is a distant prequel to the Aspect of Crow trilogy.

And it's now available for Kindle, absolutely free! Which means they gave it some bitchin' cover art. I'm pretty sure this is the first urban fantasy to feature a fox on its cover.

If you're like me and you don't have a Kindle, you can still read it online.

Also new for the Kindle this week is an "enhanced" version of the final Aspect of Crow novel, The Reawakened. It features several deleted scenes, with accompanying director's author commentary. It sells for the same price as the regular version.

Warning: deleted scenes contain major spoilers, so read the novel first.

All Aspect of Crow novels are available in e-book, in the three major non-Kindle formats. You can find them at Mysterious Galaxy, or pretty much any other place e-books are sold. Same goes for Requiem for the Devil (<<direct Kindle link there). Sorry, my WVMP Radio books (Wicked Game and the upcoming sequel Bad to the Bone) are only available in good old-fashioned paperback at this point.

Happy Kindling!

This just arrived at my inbox, from my Amazon Associates Program (yes, I serve the Dark Lord, for he hath pulled my sales numbers out of the murky pits).

Subject line:


Wow!  I thought that was illegal.  But...what the hey?  Free markets should be free, right?

Um...let's see, do you have anything in a green-eyed blonde, about twenty inches long and 8 pounds, 2 ounces?  Oh, and I'll take a Cancer, please (I don't have the energy to keep up with a Leo).  Non-colicky, if possible. *crosses fingers*

On second thought, if you have an advanced model, say...for instance...a med-school student specializing in plastic surgery or geriatrics, that'd be perfect. 

Yeah, you'd better express ship it. 

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Now playing: Sunshine Highway - Dropkick Murphys
via FoxyTunes   

The winner of the signed Sarah Beth Durst hardcover giveaway is...Jess (from my Blogger blog). Congrats! Jess, just send your mailing address and your choice of book (Into the Wild or the sequel Out of the Wild) to me at jeri AT jerismithready DOT com, and I'll pass it on to our lovely guest.

Our next guest interview/giveaway will be Stephanie Kuehnert, author of the phenomenal debut I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone. She'll be joining us on July 7, the day before the novel is officially released.

And now, the geekery:

The first comes from my friend Jason, who introduced me to a comic called Sheldon, by Dave Kellett. In this series of strips (start there and read through the following Saturday), the characters prepare to reenact the pivotal battle in Return of the King, then decide they need to understand the backstory and motivation of the mindless evil creatures they portray.

The next two are courtesy of my husband Chris. First, the Kennedy Space Center built out of 750,000 Legos. The launch pad alone is mind-boggling.

Say what you will about the reliability of Amazon customer reviews, but they are the source of some of the most brilliant satire on the internet. I've devoted more than an hour to reading riffs on Cthulu and existentialism in Family Circus collections (sadly, Amazon tends to remove these "inauthentic" reviews and leave only the fawning, misspelled ramblings of true Bil Keane fans. A conspiracy? You decide.).

Anyway, Denon is offering an Ethernet cable for $499.99 (regular price $500.99--your savings: a dollar!), about one hundred times the going rate. Reviewers have responded, not only with reviews, but with tags. A brief sample of reviews ( under the cut )

Enjoy.

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Now playing: Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping Up to Boston
via FoxyTunes

Yesterday's event at Constellation Books went amazingly well. I'm always astonished when people I don't know show up at these things. Some of them had read the article in the Westminster Eagle and discovered the book takes place in a fictional version of our little town.

The store sold out of copies of Wicked Game and Eyes of Crow, so I had to send my Knight in Polo Shirt home to fetch some more books, which the store bought from me on commission and then resold to the folks who wanted one.

Bizarre coincidence: the owner of Constellation Books, Lauretta, used to work with my husband at the Space Telescope Science Institute. As my friend Jason says, "Maryland: Two Degrees of Separation."

Anyway, it's a fantastic store, and I'm definitely going back next year for Bad to the Bone. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them from our friends (I remembered my camera but forgot the batteries were dead).

Note to Maryland vampire fans: Constellation Books is having a Breaking Dawn party to celebrate the release of Stephenie Meyer's next novel. So pre-order your copy today!

In other news, I discovered we aren't actually supposed to pick up Baron until next Saturday. It was right there in the e-mail from the shelter, but I missed it, just assuming that the first day I could take the dog (today) would be the day he would come, so I only looked at the time and place, not the date. Oops.

So today I'm going to:

a) work on Monroe's story (the first line of which I wrote yesterday)
b) dive into my e-mail inbox and try not to drown
c) start a new online class that will help me rewrite Bad to the Bone and write the proposal for my new Young Adult series

I'm still working on the slowing-down-for-the-summer thing.


***Don't forget, you have until 5PM Monday to enter to win a signed copy of Sarah Beth Durst's Into the Wild or Out of the Wild.***

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Now playing: Muddy Waters - I Want to be Loved
via FoxyTunes

Saturday I'll be at one of the local indie bookstores, Constellation Books, for a Tea with the Author event from 3-5 PM.  I'll do a reading and basically hang out and chat and eat cookies.

Constellation is located at 303 Main Street in Reisterstown, MD.  Hope to see you there!

A few updates:

After nearly a year of crushing deadlines (me), a pinched nerve (Meadow), and madcap traveling (me), we're getting another foster dog next week! Her name is Annie (web page TBA), and if things go well, she'll be joined shortly by her "sister" Beanie. Yes, we are making up for lost time.

I have a deadline next Monday morning for Bad to the Bone, the sequel to Wicked Game. I'm putting in all-dayers between now and then, so this might be my last blog post for a week, though I do have half of one I might be able to post tomorrow if I get a few minutes tonight. Also, don't get mad if I don't return e-mails right away. Do you want another vampire book or not? (Don't answer that.)

Also, the winner of a signed copy of Nancy Haddock's La Vida Vampire is...Diana Cosby! Yay! Diana, just send your mailing address to me at jeri AT jerismithready DOT com, and I'll pass it on to Nancy. Thanks to everyone who commented and made Nancy feel at home, and also thanks for all those great ideas for vampire hobbies (taking notes).

And now my last bit of news, which was originally going to be Friday's update....

Wicked Game was #4 on Mysterious Galaxy's paperback bestseller list for the month of May!

Thanks a million to all of you who pre-ordered the book to have me sign, or came to the Birthday Bash on May 10, or who have ordered it since. I appreciate the support for the book, but even more I appreciate your support for this phenomenal independent bookseller. These people work very hard (and have a lot of fun) promoting the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. They know their stuff and deserve all the success they get.

They should still have some signed First Editions of Wicked Game at the store, so if you'd like one (or more), go order today!

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Now playing: Fast As You Can - FIONA APPLE
via FoxyTunes

Wednesday afternoon I got two bits of great news, which I was going to mention today and Monday (when I'm on deadline, I like to dole out the blog topics one at a time, purposely stringing them out so I don't have a huge gap of silence, during which people wonder if I've died).

But Thursday night my editor gave me the two words an author most loves to hear:

SECOND

and

PRINTING

In that order.

Less than a month after its release (23 days, to be exact), Wicked Game has gone back for a second printing! I'm told this is pretty fast.

What does it mean? First of all, it doesn't mean every copy has been sold. That would suck, because then people who want it couldn't buy it, and then people who have bought it would be knifed and punched in the street for their copies, and the last thing I want is for violence to break out because of Wicked Game.

(Okay, maybe it's not the last thing I want. I've got a wee bit of rock 'n' roll ego, after all.)

Anyway, there are still plenty of copies* in stores and in warehouses, but not enough to meet future demand. There are a few possible reasons behind this situation:

( Click for wild-ass explanations of the enigmas of publishing. )

See you Monday for Second Best. News. Ever. (Yes, I'm evil, and I'm okay with that.)

*of what is now officially the First Edition--get yours today before they're gone! I hear it's a bad year for termites.