Escapist Newsletter (Vol. 3 Issue 5)

May 1st has arrived and I’m totally late with this month’s edition of the Escapist Newsletter.  I’ve been trying to start this out with something new and exciting (or heartbreaking as last month’s was), so this time I have the cover for the second Demon Princess Chronicles novel by Sunny – Lucinda, Dangerously, which comes out October 6, 2009. I’m not sure how long it’s been out, but there seems to be a lot of text this time around.  I am digging the colors though.  There is even an excerpt posted over on Sunny’s site, if you’re interested.

Now, let’s check out this months releases:

May 1st:
Anthology – Jodi Copeland, Lauren Dane, Anya Bast, Kit Tunstall – What Happens In Vegas…After Dark
Byrd, Rhyannon – Edge of Danger (Primal Instinct #2)
Castle, Kendra Leigh – Wild Highland Magic (Guardians of the Lia Fail #3)
Diver, Lucienne – Vamped
Durgin, Doranna – Jaguar Night
Gilman, Laura Anne – Blood from Stone (Retrievers #6)
Jones, Lisa Renee – Captive of the Beast
Laurenston, Shelly – Here Kitty, Kitty (Magnus Pack #3)
Shayne, Maggie – Bloodline

May 4th:

Lori, Rae – Within the Shadows of Mortals (Ashen Twilight #2)

May 5th:
Anderson, Kevin – Enemies & Allies
Asaro, Catherine – Diamond Star
Bardsley, Michele – Over My Dead Body (Broken Heart, Oklahoma #5) – excerpt
Butcher, Shannon – Burning Alive (The Sentinel Wars) – excerpt
Dane, Lauren – Relentless (Federation #2) – excerpt
Davis, Jo – Under Fire
Francis, Diana Pharaoh – The Turning Tide (Crosspointe)
Greenberg, Martin – Terribly Twisted Tales
Greenwood, Ed – The Sword Never Sleeps (Knights of Myth Drannor #3)
Haddock, Nancy – Last Vampire Standing
Hallaway, Tate – Dead If I Do
Harris, Charlaine – Dead and Gone (Southern Vampire #9) – excerpt
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki – Fall of Light
Kantra, Virginia – Sea Lord (Children of the Sea) – excerpt
Kerr, Katharine – The Shadow Isle (Silver Wyrm #3)
Knight, Angela – Guardian: the Time Hunters
Lenox, Kim – So Still the Night (Shadow Guard)
MacAlister, Katie – Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang (Dark Ones)
Marco, John – Starfinder (Skylords #1)
McCarthy, Erin – Hard and Fast
Monk, Devon – Magic In the Blood (Allie Beckstrom #2)
Peters, SM – Ghost Ocean
Rose, Esri – Stolen Magic
Walker, Shiloh – Chains

May 11th:
Martinez, A. Lee – Monster

May 12th:
Esslemont, Ian – Night of Knives (Malazan Empire)
Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love – Whispered Lies

May 14th:
Saintcrow, Lilith – Strange Angels

May 15th:
Lori, Rae – Nocturnal Awakening (Awakening #1)

May 16th:
Smith-Ready, Jeri – Bad to the Bone (WVMP Radio #2) – excerpt

May 19th:
Adrian, Lara – Ashes of Midnight (the Breeds #6)
Scheckley, Alisa – Moonburn (Northside Werewolves #2)
Schreiber, Ellen – Royal Blood (Vampire Kisses #6)
Van Eekhout, Greg – Norse Code

May 25th:
Aronica, Lou – by Tamarisk

May 26th:
Anthology – The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection
Anthology feat. Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Claudia Gray, Maureen Johnson – Vacations from Hell
Battis, Jes – A Flash of Hex
Devoti, Lori – Amazon Ink
Friesner, Esther – Witch Way to the Mall
Harrison, Kim – Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1)
Jewel, Carolyn – My Forbidden Desire
Mead, Richelle – Succubus Heat (Georgina Kincaid #4)
Mieville, China – The City & The City
Tabke, Karin – Master of Craving (Blood Sword Legacy #3)

May 27th:
Hamilton, Laurell K – Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: The Laughing Corpse Vol 1

May 29th:
Carey, Jacqueline – Santa Olivia

There are a couple of great contests going on at Literary Escapism right now. The Hachette Book Group has given me another great opportunity to weigh down a few more bookshelves.  We’re celebrating Mother’s Day, the Latino Book Month and the Asian Heritage Month with the chance for 5 lucky readers to win a set of 5 great novels at each of those links.  That’s 75 books I’m giving away right there.  The contests go from May 1st through May 31st and the winners will be selected by the Research Randomizer

If you haven’t noticed, we’ve had quite a few authors stopping by lately and that’s not going to end for a couple of weeks yet. Check out who will be stopping by over the next month or so (and there will be contests for each one as well):

If you’re interested to see who has stopped by recently, check out our Interviews & Guest Authors page.

I’m thinking the newsletter needs a little revamping, so I messing with the formating a little and wondering what else I can change.  With that in mind, I’ve added a little incentive for help from my readers within the newsletter.  I’ve buried it, so people who actually have been reading this feature should come across it.

And we begin the first round of new covers that came out in April: Kelly Meding’s Three Days to Dead (October 27, 2009); Diana Pharaoh Francis’s Bitter Night (October 27, 2009); and Shayla Black’s Seduce Me in Shadow (September 29, 2009) and Possess Me at Midnight (October 27, 2009).

Jennifer Armintrout has a release schedule for her soon to be released Lightworld/Darkworld trilogy – Queene of Light (October 2009), Child of Darkness (November 2009) and Veil of Shadows (December 2009).

CONTEST ALERT – Check out the massive contest Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’ Book Reviews is having this month.  She’s giving away 38 different books and it’s pretty easy to enter.  The contest runs until May 15th, so head over and pick your favorite 5.

Sherrilyn Kenyon has officially released the new Santuary Website.  It looks to be quite interesting and there are a ton of new stuff as well.  If you’re interested in a free Were-Hunter story or playing the Dark-Hunter game, head on over.

Ilona Andrews has posted the first chapter to the fourth Kate.  The title and release date are still unknown, but at least we get a little taste of what is to come.

Subterranean Press has commissioned a novella (to publish as a trade hardcover) and a chapbook (to accompany the limited edition) from Caitlin Kittredge, which will be based in her Black London world.

Janet Evanovich has posted Part One of Chapter Two of Finger Lickin’ Fifteen up at her website.  CONTEST ALERT – She has also officially started her Name Book Sixteen Contest.  The contest runs from May 1st through August 31st and the winner will get a signed advanced copy, plus an acknowledgment in the book itself.  Evanovich is also running a contest for a signed hardcover of Finger Lickin’ Fifteen.  That contest will end on May 31st.

The Dark-Hunters, Vol. 1 manga that was suppose to be released April 28th, was pushed back.  It now has a new release date of June 4, 2009.

Some great news for Diana Gabaldon’s Aussie and New Zealander fans.  She’ll be arriving in Auckland on November 1st for a week of appearances/signings in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.  hten she’ll be heading over to Australia for 2 weeks on November 7th with visits in Perth, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.

Round 2: Jordan Summer’s Crimson (November 1, 2009); JR Ward’s Covet (September 29, 2009); Ilona Andrews’ Silent Blade (June 2, 2009); and Annette McCleave’s Drawn Into Darkness (September 1, 2009).

There are 2 different threads of storyline that were deleted from New Moon that Meyer is sharing with us. The first one regards the scholarship thread that is sprinkled throughout the book and the second one tells us how Rosalie told Edward that Bella was dead, which gives a little insight into Edward’s psyche after he left Bella in Forks. Both of these are PDFs, so be warned, but they are good reads regardless.

Earlier, I had said that Zap2It was saying that David Slade was confirmed to direct the third Twilight movie, Eclipse.  Now I would say this rumor is pretty much correct considering the BBC, E! Online, The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly and MTV are all saying the same thing.

The writers of Harlequin’s Nocturne have a new group blog.  Vivi Anna is welcoming everyone to the new site, so make sure you check it out.

Profiles in History in Calabasas is having a massive auction of sci-fi and horror memorabilia and some of the items included are from Sci-Fi enthusiast Forrest J. Ackerman’s (who passed away in December) personal collection.  The LA Daily News is reporting that the robe from The Raven worn by Bela Lugosi, the original artwork for Vampirella (which Ackerman created), the top hat from London After Midnight worn by Lon Chaney Sr. and the first edition of Dracula, inscribed by Bram Stoker, are just a few of the items up for bid.  If you’re a Sci-Fi fan and have money burning a hole in your pocket, I would check it out.

Round 3: Linda Wisdom’s Hex in High Heels (October 2009); Greg Egan’s Crystal Nights and Other Stories (September 30, 2009); Charlaine Harris’s A Touch of Dead (October , 2009); and Caitlin Kittredge’s Demon Bound (December 2009).

Kim Harrison has posted an excerpt for Once Dead, Twice Shy, which will be released on May 28th.

For those eagerly awaiting Ann Aguirre’s new paranormal romance, which she is writing under the name of Ava Gray, you’ll be happy to hear that its release date has changed.  Skin Game will now be out  November 3, 2009, which is a full month sooner.  (ETA: My bad, the release date is 11/3/09 NOT 11/24/09.  No idea where I got that date.  Although, is it a good thing or a bad thing that Ann was the one who caught that?)  Yea!  Aguirre also has the new titles and release dates for the second and third novels in her new Corinne Soloman series.  Hell Fire will be out April 2010 and Shady Lady will be out April 2011.

There’s a blurb for Destined for an Early Grave, which comes out July 28th.  I managed to get my hands on one of these elusive ARCs and I have to say that it is fabulous.  I’ll be writing a review soon, but suffice it so say you won’t want to miss this.  Check this out…

Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they’ve fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it’s time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She’s having visions of a vampire named Gregor who’s more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn’t know about.

Gregor believes Cat is his and he won’t stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor’s hold over her. She’ll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she’s ever faced . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave.

Diana Pharaoh Francis is sharing the first two chapters of her upcoming release, The Turning Tide.  The third novel in her Crosspointe series, it will be available May 5, 2009.

Devon Monk has added an exclusive excerpt for Magic in the Blood over at the Deadline Dames.

The Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research has officially started.  There are some great items to bid on, which could be as simple as chocolate to those coveted ARCs and everythingthing else imaginable – and everything goes to a great cause.  If you do head over, be careful.  I think I just spent the last 30 minutes drooling and bidding on books that I probably won’t get.  They have ARCs of Nalini Singh’s Branded by Fire, Cheyenne McCray’s Demons Not Included, Jenna Black’s Speak of the Devil and Shiloh Walker’s Hunter’s Need.

Round 4: the anthology The Eternal Kiss: 12 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire (July 27, 2009) and Seanan McGuire’s Rosemary and Rue (September 1, 2009), A Local Habitation (March 2010) and An Artificial Night (September 2010).

CONTEST ALERT – Would you like a complete set of JR Ward’s Brotherhood of the Black Dagger novels, all personalized to you?  Well, here’s your chance.  Ward is giving away a complete set of BDB novels and all you have to do is translate the passage that is on the first page of Lover Avenged.  Now if you don’t have the book, you can also see it here.  The contest is closes May 17th, and I don’t think this is going to be an easy one, so you might want to start now.

CONTEST ALERT – Bitten by Books is having a massive contest during the month of May to celebrate their first birthday.  They are planning on giving away a lot of stuff, so head on over and check it out.

Karen Chance is assuring us that there will be a fifth Cassie Palmer novel, but it’s still in the works with no publication date or title.  So while we can look forward to more Cassie, we’ll have a bit of a wait.  However, we do have Death’s Mistress coming out this fall to look forward to.

Here are this month’s reviews:.

  1. Relentless by L. Dane
  2. Keeper of Light and Dust by N. Mostert (pt. 1)
  3. Real Vampires Get Lucky by G. Barlett
  4. Wild Highland Magic by KL Castle
  5. What Would Jane Austen Do? by L. Brown
  6. Too Hot To Handle by R. Kaye
  7. Dayhunter by J. Drake
  8. Zel by DJ Napoli
  9. Stolen Magic by E. Rose
  10. Ghostland by J. Strong

And the last new cover to round us out is Jory Strong’s Spider Touched (August 4, 2009).

So here’s that little extra that I was telling everyone about for my revamping project.  Now I buried this within the newsletter because I’m curious to see who is reading it.  For every commentator who helps me by answer the following three questions, I’ll enter them into a drawing for a $15 gift certificate from Amazon.  So here’s the questions where I could use your help:

  1. What aspects of the newsletter do you like and would like to see more of?
  2. What aspects of the newsletter do you dislike and would like to see less of?
  3. Currently, I keep my eyes on about 25 author websites, but I’m also a reader of their blogs (if they have one), so looking through them all really doesn’t take me as long as it used to.  So, which authors would you like to see added to my monthly checklist?

Your answers all have to be posted within the same comment and you have to answer all three to enter. I’m looking for some good constructive feedback (so I won’t be offended if you completely dislike this entire feature), so I’m looking for more than just nice site, nice content.  I’ll leave this chance open until May 24th, that way it’ll give me some time to implement the changes in June’s newsletter.  To see past editions, click here.

I’m going to change something up this month.  Instead of putting April’s interviews in the middle of the newsletter, I’m going to start putting them at the end since there tends to be a lot.  So here are this month’s interviews:

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

15 Comments

  1. 1. I love the newsletter! I’m not sure I can pick a favorite part – I enjoy going through all of it.

    2. See #1. I don’t dislike any of it. The only thing I would think about changing is maybe doing it on the 1st and the 15th. I can tell it’s a lot of work, so maybe you don’t want to go there. But since you have so much material, maybe it would help make things more manageable.

    3. Hmm. Other authors that you might want to follow: Laura Anne Gilman, Mark del Franco (his Connor Grey series is great!), Meljean Brook, Larissa Ione…

    Thanks for doing this every month! Like I said, I look forward to it. :)

  2. 1. I really like “this month’s releases” – I use that to update my TBR list all the time.

    2. Not really a “new cover” fan- I don’t dislike it, but I usually skim over those.

    3. Not sure who all you follow – but I like Lynda Hilburn, Christine Feehan, Amanda Ashley.

  3. What aspects of the newsletter do you like and would like to see more of? I really enjoy “this month’s releases”. I spend a good hour at least going through each one to see if a) I’ve heard of the book b) If it sounds interesting and then if it does I’ll add it to my TBR list.
    I also LOVE the different covers you post of upcoming books. I’m a real cover junkie and a lot of the ones you post grab my attention and introduce me to new authors and stories.
    And of course, I really enjoy your contest alerts.

    What aspects of the newsletter do you dislike and would like to see less of?
    I honestly don’t want to see less of anything, however I do really like the fact that you moved the interviews down towards the bottom of the newsletter. I do like Chris’ suggestion above ^^. If you’re having trouble with the content I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing the newsletter split up into two segments but that might actually make more work for you (so that may not be such a great idea).

    Currently, I keep my eyes on about 25 author websites, but I’m also a reader of their blogs (if they have one), so looking through them all really doesn’t take me as long as it used to. So, which authors would you like to see added to my monthly checklist?

    If you follow these authors just ignore me but let’s see: Marjorie M. Liu, Anya Bast, Kelley Armstrong (I’m sure you have her on your list but just in case =D )

    And just wanted to say I absolutely love the newsletters and admire your dedication to them!!

  4. 1. I especially like the reviews, the list of upcoming releases and contest listings.
    2. I don’t have any problems with the newsletter, but I agree with Nicola, twice a month could totally work.
    3. A couple more that I check out: Ann Aguirre, I Do Not Want To Wait, I Want the Book Now, Midnight Moon Cafe, Shapeshifter Romance, Trivial Pursuits and Larissa Ione’s blog.

  5. Oh I didnt realize there was a contest. I just looked through the list and was letting you know how much I liked it! Ok lemme answer the questions!

    What aspects of the newsletter do you like and would like to see more of?
    I love the upcoming books list. I especially like the lists with books coming out months away.

    What aspects of the newsletter do you dislike and would like to see less of?
    I dont dislike anything about it.

    Currently, I keep my eyes on about 25 author websites, but I’m also a reader of their blogs (if they have one), so looking through them all really doesn’t take me as long as it used to. So, which authors would you like to see added to my monthly checklist?
    Tori Carrington, Richelle Mead, Jackie Kessler, Lisa Jackson, Harlan Coben, Vivi Anna (sorry if theyre already there)

  6. In all honestly, these don’t take that long to do. I still do the daily news posts and if there is anything major announced, I usually add it to the newsletter then. Plus, all of the authors I check, I’m also a subscriber to their blogs, so there really isn’t a lot of new stuff for these. At least not with them (I mainly check for excerpts and new cover/release dates, so it takes less than a minute since I know where to look).

    Another reason why doing this in the middle of the month probably won’t happen is because a lot of authors only update their “news” sections on their websites once a month and they generally have it done by the end so they can include the stuff in their newsletters.

    I do hit the heavy hitters – LKH, Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, JR Ward, etc. If the author website is in my blogroll, than I check them.

    I’m really glad people like my newsletters. I used to do this just for myself when I first started getting into the paranormals (I wanted to know what I had to look forward to) and then once LE started really going, I figured others would like to know as well. So I’m glad I was right. :) It’s amazing to realize that the first newsletter only had 5 paragraphs with 4 new releases compared to the 30 paragraphs and howevermany releases in this one.

  7. I love the newsletter. You always have the uptodate news on all my favorite authors. I especially love the cover lineups. Great stuff! Keep up the amazing work!

  8. Now why did I think November 24 for Skin Game? Even Amazon has it for November 3rd. That’s what I get for not checking Amazon. :P

  9. Contest aside, Jackie, I *love* the upcoming releases. Now if I can just get you to cover historical and contemporary romance….

  10. It’s definitely grown Jackie =D and I totally didn’t think of those reasons for not doing the newsletter mid-month as well. I see your point now. I am glad though that the newlsetter itself isn’t that time consuming as I thought. But I know you still put a lot of work into it. Excellent work!!

  11. Late reply … I can’t think of anything to change, I love your blog! I can barely keep up with all the links and info as it is, but it’s fun trying ;-)

    Ladiibbug

Comments are closed.