Escapist Newsletter (Vol 6 Issue 3)

News from LE

February is the month of fabulous opulence in the Big Easy and to celebrate the Mardi Gras season, as well as the fact that the Authors After Dark convention will be there in August, LE invited a ton of the AAD authors to show us around New Orleans. If you haven’t had a chance to check out all the fabulous posts yet, make sure you do.  Yoy may find a new author to read or better yet, if you’re going to New Orleans in August, you might find a couple of tourist stops to hit up.  Winners for the various contests will be announced later this week.

Now that February is over, it’s March and if you’re a long-time reader of that site, you know that means is RT Booklovers time!  The RT Booklovers Convention will happening in 5 weeks in Chicago and I am totally going to be there.  And for the third year running, I was curious who was going to be there.  The Look Who’s Going to RT feature has already started and we’ve already heard from Jeanne Stein, Shona Husk and Laura Bickle; but make sure you stick around because we have  lot more fabulous authors stopping by.

I feel like there’s something else I wanted to share, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. Oh well, it’ll come to me at some point.

Oh!  The reading challenges.  I should put out an update. How is everyone doing with the Outlander Reading Challenge? The January discussion of Outlander has already been posted and we are definitely still talking about it.  So c’mon by and share your thoughts.  I’ll be posting the discussion for Dragonfly in Amber this week, so if you’ve already finished the second novel, make sure you swing by and join the discussion.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood Read-a-long is in full swing and the sixth discussion for Lover Enshrined has been posted. The discussion for Lover Avenged will be posted next week, on the 9th, over at Dark Faerie Tales. Is everyone getting excited for Lover Reborn the release of on March 27th?  It’s getting really close.

And finally, the New Author Challenge. I know I said we would be doing mini-challenges this year and Casey was so on board to help me put out updates, but yeah, I sort of overbooked myself this winter.  Have you noticed?  *grin*  Regardless, the challenge seems to be going fabulous with 151 participants.  Wow!  Remember, you can join at any time if you haven’t already.  You set your own limits, so finding new-to-you authors is totally easy.  If you need any ideas of who to try, check out the Challenge page – there’s currently 315 reviews to check out.

Now I think that’s everything. Let’s get on with the good stuff. *grin*

Cover Extravaganza

During February, 89 different covers were revealed. I’m only going to show off a few that I haven’t seen get as much time on the blogs, but you can find all of them, in their original sizes, on the Facebook page. There were a ton of great sources: Wicked Scribes, All Things Urban Fantasy, Michelle’s Book Blog, Escape Between the Pages, Dark Faerie Tales and Tez Says.

New Releases

March 1st:
Swift by RJ Anderson (Faery Rebels #4)
Darkness Bound by Stella Cameron
Soulless: The Manga, Vol. by Gail Carriger
Assassins in Love by Kris DeLake
Perception by Kim Harrington
Exogene by TC McCarthy (Subterrene War #2)
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton
Inside: Inside Out\Outside In by Maria Snyder
A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing by Terry Spear

March 5th: Emperor Mollusk versus The Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez

March 6th:
Illuminate by Aimee Agresti (Gilded Wings #1)
Brave New Love: 13 Dystopian Tales of Desire an anthology
Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful an anthology featuring Neil Gaiman, Mercedes Lackey, Kelly Link, Andre Norton
The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity an anthology featuring Jim C. Hines
Wicked Edge by Nina Bangs
Now or Never by Michele Bardsley (Wizards of Nevermore #2)
Bridge of Dreams by Anne Bishop (Ephemera #3)
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs (Alpha Omega #4)
Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton (Play by Play #3)
Dying Wish by Shannon Butcher (Sentinel Wars)
Waltz This Way by Dakota Cassidy (Ex-Trophy Wives #3)
Everlasting by Elizabeth Chandler (Kissed by an Angel #5)
The Royal Pain by MaryJanice Davidson
Geared for Pleasure by Rachel Grace (Elemental Steam #1)
Afterlife by Claudia Gray (Evernight)
Balthazar by Claudia Gray
Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison (Elder Races #4)
Eventide by Elle Jasper (Dark Ink Chronicles #3)
The Drowning Girl by Caitlin Kiernan
And Blue Skies From Pain by Stina Leicht
Soul Bound by Mari Mancusi (Blood Coven #7)
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire (InCryptid #1)
Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #7)
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Dead Is a Battlefield by Marlene Perez
Hunter’s Prey by Moira Rogers (Bloodhound #2)
Darkness Undone by Jessa Slade (Marked #4)
Wrong Side of Hell by Juliana Stone
Doubletake by Rob Thurman (Cal Leandros #7)
Dire Needs by Stephanie Tyler (Eternal Wolf Clan)
Nightborn by Lynn Viehl (Lords of the Darkyn #1)
Vampire’s Kiss by Veronica Wolff (The Watchers #2)

March 8th: Katana by Cole Gibsen

March 13th:
The Isis Collar by Cat Adams (Blood Singer #1)
Howl For Me by Dana Marie Bell
The Savage Grace by Bree Despain (A Dark Divine #3)
Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins (Hex Hall #3)
Bound by Desire by Jaymie Holland
Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Chronicles of Nick #3)
A Dream of Stone & Shadow by Marjorie Liu
Chrysanthe by Yves Myenard
The Darkness Within by Jaime Rush
The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan
Where the Summer Ends by Karl Edward Wagner (Best of #1)
Walk on the Wild Side by Karl Edward Wagner (Best of #2)

March 15:
The Shifting Price of Prey by Suzanne McLeod (Spellcrackers #4)
The Brothers Wroth by Kresley Cole

March 17th: Darkness Falls by Jessica Sorenson (Darkness Falls #1)

March 20th:
Afterglow by Cherry Adair
Traitor’s Son by Hilari Bell (Raven Duet #2)
Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockman
Deadly Is the Kiss by Rhyannon Byrd
Croak by Gina Damico (Croak #1)
Darkest Knight by Karen Duvall
The Werewolf’s Wife by Michele Hauf
Loss by Jackie Morse Kessler
Enraptured by Elisabeth Naughton (Eternal Guardians #4)
Warrior Rising by Pamela Palmer
Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz
A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

March 26th: The Outcast Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Assassini #2)

March 27th:
Temptation Rising by AC Arthur
Deliverance by Dakota Banks (Mortal Path #3)
Back from the Undead by DD Barant (Bloodhound Files #5)
Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter (Goddess Test #2)
Wicked as They Come by Delilah Dawsom
Breathless by Cole Gibsen
Eternity’s Mark by Maeve Greyson
Evil Dark by Justin Gustainis (Occult Crimes Unit #2)
Slide by Jill Hathaway
Blood on the Bayou by Stacey Jay
Sacrificial Magic by Stacia Kane (Downside Ghosts #4)
Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer (Elemental #1)
Bear Meets Girl by Shelly Laurenston (Pride)
Stygian’s Honor by Lora Leigh (Breeds #26)
The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe (Wall of Night #2)
Joe Golem and the Drowning City by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Night Star by Alyson Noël (Immortals)
Forgiven by Jana Oliver (Demon Trappers Daughter #3)
On Midnight Wings by Adrian Phoenix (Maker’s Song #5)
Sins of the Son by Linda Poitevin (Gregori Legacy #2)
Caught in the Act by Jill Sorenson
Wanted: Undead or Alive by Kerrelyn Sparks (Love at Stake #12)
The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens (Graveyard Queen #2)
Shadow’s Fall by Dianne Sylvan (Shadow World #3)
Lover Reborn by JR Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10)

March 28th: Spirited an anthology featuring Maria Snyder, Candace Havens, Shannon Delany

March 29th: Fury by Rebecca Lim

Here are a few other places with their own September releases: Tez Says, The Romance Dish, Vampire Book Club, Tor.com, The Book Pushers

New Release Dates:

I’ve finally gotten the New Releases page updated. A printable version of the New Releases page was requested on facebook awhile back and that is now available. For a listing of all the novels that were added, click here. So yeah, between the posting of the last news and this newsletter, I ended up adding 50 new covers to the FB album, which means I have at least that many new release dates.  I was going to post a few of them here, but I think it’ll just be easier (and shorter) if I wait to post them in the next day or two.

Book News

If you’re not a subscriber to Nalini Singh’s newsletter, then you’ve totally missed out on seeing this yummy piece of news.  Archangel’s Storm has a cover and a cover blurb, which I’ll be posting tomorrow.

Melissa Marr has also released the cover copy for her next novel, Carnival of Souls.

In a city of daimons, the Carnival of Souls hosts a deadly competition. Once in a generation, every citizen can fight to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures—if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

In our own world, Mallory knows that her father—and every other witch—fled the daimons’ city long ago. She trains to be lethal because it’s only a matter of time until the daimons catch up with them.

While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans there for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence that is the Carnival of Souls.

Patricia Briggs announced the title for the seventh Mercy Thompson novel. We still won’t get it until 2013, but something tells me Mercy is going up against some snow giants (or something) in Frost Burned.

Richelle Mead has posted the cover copy for her second Bloodlines novel, The Golden Lily.

Cynthia Eden is giving us a quick update which also includes the announcement that she’s signed a new contract with Kensington Brava for four new paranormal romances.  She’s currently working on the first title, tentatively titled Burn For Me, which could be out as early as 2013.

Wicked Scribes has info on Kresley Cole’s new YA series, titled The Arcana Chronicles. The first book, Poison Princess, should be out this October.

Jennifer Estep has fabulous news.  She has sold three more books in her Elemental Assassin series to Pocket Books, which means there will be a total of 10 books in the series.

New Excerpts or Reading for Free

Jeri Smith-Ready has posted a naked (??) river scene featuring Zachery from her novel, Shift.

Lauren Dane has posted an excerpt from her novel, Revelation.  There is also a snippet from her upcoming novel, Captivated.

Dakota Banks has posted the first chapter of her novel, Deliverance, over at Supernatural Underground.

Shiloh Walker has posted a snippet from her new novel, If You Know Her.

Allison Pang has posted an excerpt of Chapter One from her second novel, A Sliver of Shadow, which is due to release on the 28th.

Jackie Morse Kessler has posted a snippet of her upcoming Riders novel, Loss, which releases March 20th.

Rinda Elliot has posted a snippet from her upcoming novel,  Replicant (written by Dani Worth).

Yasmine Galenorn has a new Moon Daughter’s Comic up.

Chloe Neill has posted a deleted scene called Counting Bodies, with the premise being: What if Merit’s father had paid Ethan to make her a vampire? What if he’d accepted the money? What if she hadn’t been sad, but very, very angry?

Kerrelyn Sparks has posted an excerpt for her next Love at Stakes novel, Wanted: Undead or Alive, which will be released March 27th.

Yasmine Galenorn has posted the fourth snippet from chapter two of her upcoming Otherworld novel, Shaded Vision, which will be released last week.  Here are the a first, second and third snippets.

Rachel Vincent has posted the first chapter of her next Unbound novel, Shadow Bound, which will hit shelves in May.

Harper Collins has posted the fourth chapter of Kim Harrison’s A Perfect Blood, which will be released February 21st. For those who haven’t seen the previous four chapters, here they are: One, Two and Three.

Jenna Black has posted a snippet from her new novel, Prince of Air and Darkness, which is now available.

Jeaniene Frost has posted an apology snippet from her first Night Prince novel, Once Burned, which will hit the shelves in June.

Ilona Andrews has posted a snippet from their next Edge novel, and I have no clue when it will be released.  They have also posted the first part to Chapter One of Gunmetal Magic, which will be released July 31st.

Shiloh Walker has posted a snippet and another snippet from her novel, If You Know Her, which releases next week.

Featured Book: Mortal Ties by Eileen Wilks

FBI agent Lily Yu is living at Nokolai Clanhome with her fiancé, lupi Rule Turner, when an intruder penetrates their territory, stealing the prototpye of a magical device the clan hopes will be worth a fortune–if a few bugs can be worked out . . .

But the protoytpe can be dangerously erratic, discharging a bizarre form of mind magic—and it looks like the thief wants it for that very side effect. Worse, whoever stole the device didn’t learn about it by accident. There’s a Nokolai traitor in their midst.

Lily and Rule have to find the traitor, the thief, and the prototype. One job proves easy when the thief calls them–and his identity rocks Rule’s world.

As they race to recover their missing property, they find Robert Friar’s sticky footprints all over the place. Robert Friar?killer, madman, and acolyte of the Old One the lupi are at war with?an Old One whose power is almost as vast as her ambition to rock the entire world . . .

This Month’s Reviews

A Sliver of Shadow by Allison Pang
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Black Howl by Christina Henry
Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck
Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter
Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe
Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh
Lover Enshrined by JR Ward
Lord of the Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen
The Prince of Air and Darkness by Jenna Black
Bedeviled by Sable Grace
The Shattered Sylph by L. J. McDonald

From the Reader

Are you already planning your trip to New Orleans for this years Authors After Dark convention?  If you weren’t able to make it this year (the con has completely sold out for this year), next year’s location, as well as the Mistress of Ceremonies, has been officially announced. In 2013, Savannah, Georgia will be flooded with romance readers as everyone gathers to see MaryJanice Davidson head up the 2013 Authors After Dark.  Some of the other authors who have already confirmed are: Amanda Bonilla, Erin Quinn, Yasmine Galenorn, Nancy Holzner, Leanna Renee Heiber, Lia Habel, Jennifer Estep, Amanda Carlson, Melissa Schroeder, Eliza Gayle, Cat Johnson, Diana Castilleja, PJ Schnyder and Kris Cook.  You’ll also see some of us from Literary Escapism in Savannah as well. I have family in the area, so I will definitely be there. *grin*

The Galaxy Express has a fabulous roundup of science fiction news and links.

Parajunkee has more fabulous tips about blogging with her Bloggering 101 segment.  She actually has two and both are good topics.  The first is kind of focuses on giving that rejection letter for review requests and the second one talks about getting comments on your posts.  An interesting fact, Parajunkee has found out that only about 1% of ones readers actually comment.  She suggests the reason for this could be a lack of interesting content and she gives some tips to make each post more interactive.  However, I have to wonder if there’s not a bigger reason –  namely the RSS feed.  How many of you read your blogs via Google Reader or another type of reader? If you do, do you take the time to go to the blog and comment? I admit, I’m a lurker.  I have about 200+ blogs in my reader and there’s now way I can comment on them all.  What about you?

Stumbling Over Chaos has another fascinating Misadventures in Stock Photography and she’s welcoming back Can’t Tie His Tie By Himself Or With Help Guy (CTHTBHOWHG).

Dark Faerie Tales has announced a new reading challenge for 2012.   This one will focus on Dystopian literature with a goal of 24 novels in 2012.

DC Comics has announced that they will be publishing seven separate miniseries that will expand the Watchmen universe, with a final issue titled Watchmen: Epilogue, which will wrap up all seven in one tidy bundle.

Author Appearances

For the full listing of this month’s interviews, click here.

• Allison Pang, author of A Sliver of Shadow – Bitten by Books
• Anne Rice, author of The Wolf Gift – Suvudu
• Cathy Clamp, author of The Isis Collar – League of Reluctant Adults
• Christina Henry, author of Black Howl – Sara’s Urban Fantasy Blog
• Gail Carriger, author of Timeless – Tynga’s Reviews
• Gini Koch, author of Alien Diplomacy – Ethan Jones’ Blog
• James Hutchings, author of The New Death and others – Vampire Wire
• Jennifer Estep, author of Thread of Death – SOS Aloha, Ex Libris, Supernatural Snark, Heroes and Heartbreakers, Dark Faerie Tales,
• Julia Talbot, author of Acting Out – Wicked Little Pixie
• Katie Reus, author of Alpha Instinct – Smexy Books, Book Chick City
• Kerrelyn Sparks, author of Wanted: Undead or Alive – EBook Obsessed
• Kim Harrison, author of A Perfect Blood – LitStack
• Lynn Viehl, author of Nightborn – Shiloh Walker’s blog
• Nalini Singh, author of Angels’ Flight – The Book Pushers
• Shiloh Walker, author of If You Know Her – Wicked Little Pixie
• Tes Hilaire, author of Deliver Me from Darkness – Dark Faerie Tales
• TJ Michaels, author of On the Prowl – Wicked Little Pixie
• Tobias Buckell, author of Arctic Rising – Book Smugglers

Contests

Karen Mahoney is giving away a copy of Faith Erin Hicks’ Friends with Boys – ends March 7th.