Blogging and Books

I know, I know, I missed blogging all last week.  Apparently, it is possible to shut me up. It just takes a horrible sinus infection and a bout with pink eye to do the trick.  After a week of antibiotics and ointment, it’s now possible for me to climb stairs without dizziness, breath out of both sides of my nose and even see straight.  Wow, the things you take for granted on a day to day basis.

Anyway, that means I’m behind reporting on the California Dreamin’ Conference in beautiful sun-shiny Brea, California.  The conference had some wonderful guests, including me, Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary, Erika Tsang from Avon, Sue Grimshaw from Random House/Loveswept,Courtney Miller-Callihan from Greenburger Associates, Brenda Chin from ImaJinn/Belle Books, Jennifer Miller from Samhain Publishing, Liz Pelletier from Entangled and Jill Limber from Boroughs Publishing. Author guests included Vicky Dreiling, Debra Mullins, Chris Marie Green, Sylvia Day, Crystal Jordan, Lisa Kessler, Tessa Dare, Susan Squires, Beth Yarnall and many others.  I hear that April Kihlstrom did a great Book in a Week workshop and there were other wonderful presentations on marketing, the state of the industry, editing, conflict, writing sex scenes and just about anything you might want to learn.  Unfortunately, I missed the big signing on Sunday, but all for a good cause – the christening of my new niece River, who is the cutest, sweetest, most wonderful baby in the world.  (Note: I may be slightly biased.)

Well, I’ve dealt with the past.  Now on to the present – new releases!  As many of you might know already, Faith Hunter’s latest Jane Yellowrock novel, DARK HEIR, is out today.  Not to oversell it, but it is amazing and you must all run out and get your copy.  Yes, that’s an order.  I’m bossy that way.  And if you haven’t already picked up Ramez Naam’s award-winning NEXUS and CRUX, now’s your chance.  NEXUS was reissued last month in mass market and the new mm edition of CRUX comes out today…both just in time for the explosive climax of the series, APEX, coming May 5th in trade paperback and electronic form.  And we’ve just heard about another new award nomination, so congratulations to Mez on finaling in the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire for the French edition of NEXUS!

DARK HEIR by Faith Hunter

Shapeshifting skinwalker Jane Yellowrock is the best in the business when it comes to slaying vampires. But her latest fanged foe may be above her pay grade…

For centuries, the extremely powerful and ruthless vampire witches of the European Council have wandered the Earth, controlling governments, fostering war, creating political conflict, and often leaving absolute destruction in their wake. One of the strongest of them is set to create some havoc in the city of New Orleans, and it’s definitely personal.

Jane is tasked with tracking him down. With the help of a tech wiz and an ex-Army ranger, her partners in Yellowrock Securities, she’ll have to put everything on the line, and hope it’s enough. Things are about to get real hard in the Big Easy.

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Faith Hunter is the New York Times bestselling author of the Jane Yellowrock series, the Rogue Mage novels, and the upcoming Soulwood trilogy. She lives near Charlotte, NC.

CRUX by Ramez Naam

Six months have passed since the release of Nexus 5.  The world is a different, more dangerous place.

In the United States, the terrorists – or freedom fighters – of the Post-Human Liberation Front use Nexus to turn men and women into human time bombs aimed at the President and his allies. In Washington DC, a government scientist, secretly addicted to Nexus, uncovers more than he wants to know about the forces behind the assassinations, and finds himself in a maze with no way out.

In Thailand, Samantha Cataranes has found peace and contentment with a group of children born with Nexus in their brains. But when forces threaten to tear her new family apart, Sam will stop at absolutely nothing to protect the ones she holds dear.

In Vietnam, Kade and Feng are on the run from bounty hunters seeking the price on Kade’s head, from the CIA, and from forces that want to use the back door Kade has built into Nexus 5.  Kade knows he must stop the terrorists misusing Nexus before they ignite a global war between human and posthuman. But to do so, he’ll need to stay alive and ahead of his pursuers.

And in Shanghai, a posthuman child named Ling Shu will go to dangerous and explosive lengths to free her uploaded mother from the grip of Chinese authorities.

The first blows in the war between human and posthuman have been struck.  The world will never be the same.

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Ramez Naam has won the Endeavor Award for his novel NEXUS (along with Ken Scholes for REQUIEM) and the Prometheus Award (tying with Cory Doctorow for HOMELAND). He’s been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clark, Kitschies Golden Tentacle Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.