Escapist Newsletter (Vol 3 Issue 7)

So sue me.  I got caught up in the new anthology Good Things Come in Threes featuring Anya Bast, Jan Springer and Shiloh Walker, that I didn’t get to working on this as soon as I wanted to.  Alright, let’s get this bad (naughty) boy going…

And to start off this month’s newsletter, I give you Jocelyn Drake’s cover for her third Dark Days novel, Dawnbreaker. Isn’t it gorgeous?  It comes out on September 29th and I so can’t wait for it.

Now, on to the new releases for July:

July 1st:
Into the Lair by Maya Banks (Falcon Mercenary Group #2)
Edge of Dawn by Patti O’Shea (Light Warriors #3)
Storm Warning by Sydney Somers (Shadow Destroyers)
Prey by Rachel Vincent (Werecat/Shifters #4)
My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

July 7th:
Where There’s a Witch There’s a Way by Madelyn Alt (Bewitching Mysteries #5)
Strange Brew an anthology featuring Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, and more
Atlantis Unmasked by Alyssa Day (Warriors of Poseidon #4)
Bloody Awful by Georgia Evans (Supernatural WW2 #2)
Best Wishes Always by Lucy Finn (Wishing #3)
Dragons Prefer Blondes by Candace Havens (Caruthers Sisters #2)
Breaking Midnight by Emma Holly (Midnight #2)
Skinwalker by Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock)
The Dark-Hunters, Vol. 1 by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark-Hunters Manga)
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Blue Moon by Allyson Noel (Immortal #2)
Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh (Psy-Changeling #6) – excerpt
Touched by Light by Catherine Spangler (Sentinel #3)

July 14th:
Good Things Come in Threes an anthology featuring Anya Bast, Jan Springer, Shiloh Walker

July 16th:
The Cold Kiss of Death by Suzanne McLeod (Spellcrackers #2)

July 21st:
Not That Innocent an anthology featuring Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kresley Cole, Gena Showalter, Sharie Kohler

July 27th:
The Eternal Kiss: 12 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire an anthology featuring Lilith Saintcrow, Karen Marie Moning, plus others

July 28th:
Dark Time by Dakota Banks (Mortal Path #1)
Speak of the Devil by Jenna Black (Morgan Kingsley #4)
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega #2)
Skin Deep by Mark del Franco (Laura Blackstone #1)
Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Night Huntress #4)
Succubus On the Town by Nina Harper (Georgina Kincaid #3)
Dark Hunger by Rita Herron (Demonborn)
Dark Lover by Brenda Joyce (Masters of Time #5)
Demon Inside by Stacia Kane (Megan Chase #2)
Good Ghouls Do by Julie Kenner
The Fire King by Marjorie Liu (Dirk & Steele #9)
Leader of the Pack by Karen MacInerney (Tales of an Urban Werewolf #3)
Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead (Dark Swan #2)
Dark Warrior Unbroken by Alexis Morgan (Black Talons #2)
Obsession Untamed by Pamela Palmer (Feral Warriors)
Redemption Alley by Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet #3)

July 29th:
Ender’s Shadow: Battle School by Mike Carey

July 31st:
A Fantasy Medley an anthology featuring Kelley Armstrong, Kate Elliott, Robin Hobb, C.E. Murphy

For more fantasy new releases, head over to SciFiGuy who has a great list.  Also, io9 has a pretty good list of SciFi releases for July.  If anything, the calendar is pretty to look at.

The prequel to Rachel Vincent’s new Soul Screamers series has been released as a free ebook.  It can be acquired via Books On Board or Harlequin Teen.  At least, according to Rachel it is suppose to be free.  There’s some issues with the price, but Rachel tweeted that she’s working on fixing this.  So if it doesn’t come up as free, keep checking.

Mark del Franco has announced the title to his fourth Connor novel. Unperfect Souls was just turned in to his editor, so there isn’t a release date as of yet, but we have a title.  Speaking of announcements, Yasmine Galenorn also announced that she has handed in Night Myst, the eighth Sisters of the Moon series, and gave us the title to the ninth novel, Harvest Hunting, which also happens to be Delilah’s story.

Have I mentioned that you should check out SciFiGuy’s Weekend Report?  He has a couple of author features with covers that look amazing. Don’t these look amazing?  The first one is for Deadtown by Nancy Holzner and the second one is And Falling, Fly by Skyler White.  SciFiGuy has more info on them, but I’m seriously tempted to check this out.

Kelley Armstrong is starting a new online novella, but she’s using Twitter to send it out.  Elena Michaels now has a Twitter account and she’ll be giving us “just the occasional peek into her daily life, then gear up into a mini-story later in the summer, before slowing down again in September as she Tweets on the events leading up to the beginning of Frostbitten“.  Armstrong says this is an experiment and we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.  The only downside I can see to this, how many people do you follow?  I am currently following 103 people and I know I miss a lot of tweets.  It’s going to be easy to miss parts of the story I think, but we’ll see how it ends up.

Kelley has also posted the short story that was released in Bantam’s SpectraPulse magazine.  At only 2000 words, Checkmate, isn’t all that long and since it was going to such a wide audience, it doesn’t add anything new to the series, but hey, it’s a Elena and Clay story – I’m still all over it.

The fifth Georgina Kincaid novel by Richelle Mead is going to be called Succubus Shadows and will be out sometime March 2010.  We’ll be getting two Vampire Academy novels from her in 2010, but no word on what their titles will be.  Now as far as Richelle Mead goes, I really need to pick one of her novels up and soon.  I was looking through her tour schedule and I found out she’s going to be in the Detroit area in August.  She will be at the Borders on Woodward in Birmingham on August 31st at 7pm.  I’ve been hearing a lot about her, but I just haven’t had time to pick up one of her novels.  Now I’m going to make the time, but which one do I pick up?  Which series should I start with: Georgina Kincaid, Vampire Academy or Dark Swan?  Any suggestions?  If you haven’t seen her tour schedule, make sure you do.  She may end up closer to you than you think.  She’s hitting a lot of places, including Australia and Canada.

According to Newsarama.com,  Ace Books announced that Alpha and Omega: Cry Wolf will be coming out in graphic novel form.  The first comic will be released sometime in August, with three subsequential comics following to roundout the volume.  The entire volume (comics 1-4) will be released together in November 2009 for those who want to read them all at once.

Blushing Mushrooms Studios has posted the first chapter to their latest release, Betrayals.  It’s kind of an interesting read, definitely worth a visit.

Beth Fish Reads is hosting a Sookie Stackhouse Challenge from July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010.  The idea is to read all the Sookie books that are published during the year.  In related Charlaine Harris news, I noticed on her website that the ninth Sookie Stackhouse novel will be out May 2010.  There’s not a title yet, but I’ll be keeping my eyes open.

There’s an excerpt up for Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre.  How have I not seen this?!  Well that needs to stay open so I can read it.  Have I mentioned the titles to book two and three of Ann’s Corine Soloman series?  I’m not sure if I have, so here they are.  Book two will be called Hell Fire, with an April 2010 release date, and book three is Shady Lady, with an April 2011 release date.  I don’t know how new it is, but there’s a new Free Read on her site as well.  Exile’s Lament is set in the Jax world and is told by Vel’s point of view.  This is the free read for the Jax universe, so if you have read Renegade (March’s POV), then you really should.

Have we seen the new Cin Craven cover for Jenna Maclaine?  Bound by Sin is the third novel, set in 1862, and will be out December 29,2009.

Here are this month’s reviews:

1. Witch Fury by A. Bast
2. Some Girls Bite by C. Neill
3. White Witch, Black Curse by K. Harrison
4. The Accidental Friends by D. Cassidy – The Accidental Werewolf, Accidentally Dead, and the Accidental Human
5. Skin Trade by LK Hamilton
6. Deadly Desire by K. Arthur
7. Lord of Misrule by R. Caine
8. Chains by S. Walker
9. Prey by R. Vincent – Spoiler Free
10. Destined for an Early Grave by J. Frost – Spoiler Free
11. Seduce the Darkness by G. Showalter
12. Curse the Dawn by K. Chance

Here’s a random book mention for you.  I just recently read Good Things Come in Threes and it includes one of my favorite shorts – Tempted by Two by Anya Bast.  Every time I read it, I kept feeling like there was a story for three of the supporting characters – Olivia, Mason & Will.  Surprisingly, I found out there is.  It’s called Seduced in Twilight and it’s available as an ebook through Ellora’s Cave.  If I had a kindle, I would so be buying this right now.  However, I think I’m going to wait until the elusive ereader lands on my doorstep, but if you like Anya Bast, I would check out this book.

I really need to stop reading articles on vampires and pop culture, because Twilight did not begin this phenomenon that everyone is saying.  I started reading the New York Times article, A Trend with Teeth, and was happy to see they were talking about Sookie and the Swedish film Let the Right One In.  Then they had to ruin it by saying: Sookie and Oskar are in the throes of vampire lust, a pop-culture contagion being spread via television, films and fiction. What began with the Twilight Saga, the luridly romantic young-adult series by Stephenie Meyer, followed by Twilight, the movie, has become a pandemic of unholy proportions.  Seriously people, do your research.  Twilight didn’t start the PNR explosion, it was already occurring, you were just blind to it since it included vampires.  PNR and UF have been on the screen (Buffy, Angel, Supernatural) and in print (Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, LK Hamilton, Keri Arthur) for awhile.  Meyer didn’t start the trend, she just exploited it.  That’s all.  I really need to stop reading these articles.

Lauren Dane has posted another excerpt for her upcoming novel, Laid Bare, which will be out August 4th.

Check out what I found over at Suburban Vampire.  It’s a trailer for a new movie coming out starring Ethan Hawke.  Daybreakers takes place in 2019 after a plague has transformed the majority of the population into vampires.  Kind of freaky….kind of interesting.

The 32nd edition of the Bookworms Carnival has been posted over at Worducopia.  This stops theme focuses on local authors (local to you) and Ali had quite a few submissions.  Hop on over to see if anyone from your area was spotlighted.

Bookalicious has a fabulous article on book bloggers and their contributions to advertising.  She makes a lot of valid points and she’s even given me a few ideas.  Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re looking for more info on book blogging.

Carrie Vaughn has some exciting news.  Carrie has introduced us to her first YA novel called, Voices of Dragons.  If you’ve heard her discussing the rock climbing jet fighters alternate history dragon book, then this is what she was talking about.  We’ll be able to get our hands on this gorgeous book March 2010.

I’ve heard there is going to be a fifth Cassie Palmer, but I haven’t found any evidence of that yet.  I know that the release date for Death’s Mistress was set back to January 5, 2010 instead of this fall, so there may be some delays going on.  My guess, we’ll get mention of it sometime later this fall and it’ll be out next summer at the earliest.

Kim Harrison now has a blog!  Well, she had a mySpace account, but I avoid that place like the plague.  But now, I can add her to my RSS feed. Sweetness!

Have I mentioned that I am really liking Marjorie Liu’s website?  I have to say, it’s probably one of my favorite designs of all the author’s websites.  It’s clean, pretty, not difficult to read and its easy to find things.  Very functional & practical yet eye catching.  I like that.

I’m over at Meljean Brook’s site and I just noticed that in her upcoming section, she has a new steampunk novel coming out next year.  There isn’t a title and its planned for Fall 2010, but it does have a series title – The Iron Seas.  I’m going to have to check out some steampunk, it seems to be getting popular.  She says there’s information coming soon, I guess I’ll have to wait for it.

Rachel Caine has a few excerpts up for Fade Out (November 2, 2009) and Cape Storm (August 4, 2009).

Richelle Mead announced the titles to her third Dark Swan and fifth Vampire Academy novels.  The next Dark Swan will be Iron Crowned and the new Vampire Academy will be Spirit Bound.  There isn’t a release date for Iron Crowned, but Richelle says that Spirit Bound will be out April 2010.

Rachel Vincent did a subtle announcement regarding the titles of books five and six of her Shifter series – “The last two books (SHIFT and ALPHA) won’t be out until 2010“.  Now that Prey is out, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about Shift in the coming months, so keep your eyes open.

Harlequin is celebrating their anniversary with a great art display.  The Heart of a Woman: Harlequin Cover Art 1949-2009 exhibit is currently taking place in New York City right now and showcases original artwork from 50 years worth of novels.  It sounds pretty amazing.  CNN did a great article on it called, Decades of Beefcakes, Bodices and Harlequin Romances.  By the way, love the title.

Katie MacAlister, Angie Fox, Marianne Mancusi and Lisa Cach are getting together for a new anthology to be released January 2010.  My Zombie Valentine will feature love stories involving a rare breed of supernatural creatures that have been popping up more lately.  Katie’s story is said to be about a zombie therapist; Marianne’s will be taking place on the set of a zombie movie; Angie’s story involves voodoo and finding Mr. Perfect; and I haven’t heard what Lisa’s story is going to be about.  But check out the cover these ladies will have.  Isn’t it awesome?

Sherrilyn Kenyon has said that her publisher has pushed back the release of The Dark-Hunters, Vol. 2 to sometime in March 2010.  This was due to the push back of The Dark-Hunters, Vol. 1 manga to July 7th

If you’re a reader of Ilona Andrews blog, you may have come across an online novella that she started writing during Magic Strikes.  If you haven’t (like me), then you really need to check out the Alpha Menz.  It’s an ongoing story that gets published when she feels like it, but it is fabulous.  It’s so emotional twisted that it’s hard not to read it.

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost is now available for preorder at Amazon!  This is the first novel in the Night Huntress series that will not focus on Cat and Bones, but will actually star their friend, Spade (aka Charles).  The release date is set for January 26, 2010.

SF Signal has cornered a few authors and gotten their take on world building.  Some of the authors you’ll find are Lilith Saintcrow, Kage Baker and Marie Brennan.

Some great news for those following Melissa Marr’s website.  She’s sold her adult fantasy novel, Graveminder, to Harper Collins, which means that it might show up on bookshelves prior to the January 2011 release date I have.  Also, Melissa has posted some deleted scenes from Fragile Eternity.

Ilona Andrews has posted the scene where Curran and Kate first meet in Magic Bites.  However, the long snippet is from Curran’s point of view instead of Kates.  Ilona has also posted a snippet of her upcoming novel, On the Edge.

I came across the cover for Bar None by Tim Lebbon over at io9 and it caught my attention. I’m not sure it would be one I would read (I’m not one for dark post-apocalyptic fantasy with a creepy numinous beauty and really good beer), but the cover is kind of awesome with the guy drowning in beer.

I’ve been hearing about this anthology called Inked for awhile, but I haven’t seen a lot of information on it yet.  However, over the weekend, Marjorie Liu revealed that she’ll be contributing a Hunters Kiss story for the anthology.  Inked is due to release sometime in January 2010.

Eos Books has the entire The Scent of Shadows, the first Sign of the Zodiac novel by Vicki Pettersson, available online.

Kim Harrison has sold three more Hollows novels.  I’m not sure if that includes whatever is coming next or if this means we have four more to look forward to, either way, I’m hoping we’ll get even more than that.

If you’ve ever wanted to read Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow, now you have the chance.  The Hachette Book Group has included Night Shift in their Open Book program, but I’m not sure how long it’ll stay up there.

Contest Alerts:
A Journey of Books has three separate giveaways going on right now.  Hop on over for a chance to win one of five copies of Bound To Please by Lilly Feisty (ends 7/06) or My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel (ends 7/13).

Kelley Armstrong has started a new contest strategy.  She’s going to be announcing them through Twitter and then you’ll have to go to her Twitter Contest page to enter. So if you have Twitter, I would make sure you’re following her.

Random House is giving away a trip to Dublin, Ireland in celebration of the upcoming release of Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning.  It’s not an easy contest to enter, but I think the prize would be worth it for some.  The contest ends on August 7th, so not a lot of time for what they want you to do.

Jenna Maclaine is having a SPREAD THE WORD contest and she’s giving away weekly prizes for the rest of the month with a major prize at the end.  It’s really easy to enter and she’s giving away two books a week, so go over there and get your name in!

Cover Roundup:
Trying something a little different this time around. I’ve spread some new covers throughout the newsletter, but those ones are either new or have additional information with them. For the rest of the new covers that have been posted previous, I have them all here in one snazzy section.

SciFiGuy has the cover for Christina Dodd’s Storm of Visions, which will be released August 4, 2009 as well as the cover for Susan Sizemore’s Demon in the Dark, which will be released October 27, 2009.

A duology featuring Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter Deep Kiss of Winter (October 13, 2009); Lauren Dane’s Laid Bare (August 4, 2009); Kelley Armstrong’s Tales of the Otherworld (TBD); and Larissa Ione’s Ecstasy Unveiled (February 2010).

Maria Lima’s Blood Kin (October 27, 2009); Lili St. Crow’s Betrayals (November 17, 2009); Mario Acevedo’s Werewolf Smackdown (March 9, 2010); and Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon movie tie-in (November 2009).

and last but by no means least, Anya Bast’s Wicked Enchantment (January 2010)

Interviews:

• New! Linda Robertson, author of Vicious Circle, by the League of Reluctant Adults
• New! Van Jenson, author of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer, by Comic Monsters
• New! Rachel Vincent, author of Prey, by A Journey of Books
• New! Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, by Scottish Memories
• New! Stephenie Meyer, author of The Host, at Readers Read
• New! Ashlyn Chase, author Heaving Bosoms, by Book-a-Week Challenge
• New! Toni Andrews, author of Cry Mercy, at Cheeky Reads
• NEw! Rachel Vincent, author of Prey, by Fang-tastic Reviews
• New! Gena Showalter, author of Seduce the Darkness, by Examiner.com (part 1)
• New! Gena Showalter, author of Seduce the Darkness, by Examiner.com(part 2)
• New! Catherine Jinks, author of the Reformed Vampire Support Group, by Wondrous Reads
• New! Rachel Vincent, author of Prey, by Amberkatze Reviews
• New! Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles in Buffy TVS, by Televisionaryblog.com
• New! Anne Rice, author of the Vampire Chronicles, by Examiner.com
• New! Lilith Saintcrow, author of Redemption Alley, by Drops of Crimson
• New! P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast, authors of The House of Night series, by Fresh Fiction
• New! Rachel Vincent, author of Prey, at SciFiGuy
• New! Gail Dayton, author of New Blood, by Fantasy, Future & Paranormal
• New! David Lawrence, artist behind the Mercy Thompson comics, by TFAW.com
• New! Paul Samuelson, a publicist for Sourcebooks, by Babbling About Books
• New! Heather Osborn, editor for TOR, by Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal
• Diana Rowland, author of Mark of a Demon, by Lurv a la Mode
• Carrie Vaughn, author of the Kitty Norville series, by Fangoria
• Tanya Huff, author of The Enchantment Emporium, by SciFiGuy
• Jack Winter from Caitlin Kittredge’s Street Magic by Bitten by Books
• Yasmine Galenorn, author of Demon Mistress, by Bitten by Books
• JK Coi, author of My Immortal, by Talk About My Favorite Authors
• Marjorie Liu, author of The Fire King, by Locus Online
• Aimee Friedman, author of Sea Change, by Fantastic Book Reviews
• Dawn Halliday, author of Highland Obsession, by TBQ’s Personal Book Palace
• Anya Bast, author of Witch Fury, by Bitten by Books
• Alan Tyduk, supreme actor extraordinaire, by Blast E3 Edition
• Ann Aguirre, author of Doubleblind, at Victoria Janssen
• Rachel Caine, author of the Morganville Vampires and Weather Warden series, by SF Signal
• Nancy Haddock, author of Last Vampire Standing, by Amberkatze Book Reviews
• Rachel Caine, author of the Morganville Vampires and Weather Warden series, at Darque Reviews
• Rick Taubold, author of Vampire, Inc., at Paranormality
• Chloe Neill, author of Some Girls Bite, at Sidhe Vicious Reviews
• Georgia Evans, author of Bloody Good, by Fantastic Book Reviews
• Richelle Mead, author of the Vampire Academy and Dark Swan series, by Richelle Mead (a Q&A session)
• K. Celeste Brian, author of Where the Rain is Made, by Vampire Wire
• Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill in True Blood, by Entertainment Weekly
• Danielle Joseph, author of Shrinking Violet, at Jeri Smith-Read
• Georgia Evans, author of Bloody Good, by Confuzzled Books
• Diana Rowland, author of Mark of the Demon, by Bitten by Books
• Brandon Sanderson, author of Warbreaker, at Borders Fantasy SciFi Blog
• Janet Mullany, author of The Rules of Gentility, at Austenprose
• Nancy Haddock, author of Last Vampire Standing, by Fang-tastic Books
• Maree Anderson, author of Even Demons Get the Blues, by Nalini Singh
• Richelle Mead, author of the Georgina Kincaid series, at Bitten by Books
• Jeri Smith-Ready, author of the WVMP Radio series, at Patricia’s Vampire Notes
• Craig Olejnik, who plays Toby Logan in The Listener, by USA Today
• Lilith Saintcrow, author of Strange Angels, at The Witchy Chicks
• Jackie Kessler, author of the Hell on Earth series, by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp
• Stephen Zimmer, author of The Exodus Gate, by Amberkatze Reviews
• Joss Whedon on the horror of a new “Buffy” movie by Kuzui Enterprises, by Screen Rant
• Lincoln Crisler, author of Magick and Misery, by Amberkatze Book Reviews
• Toni Andrews, author of Cry Mercy, by Urban Fantasy
• Rosemary Clement-Moore, author of the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series, by Besides the Norm
• Karen Chance, author of the Cassie Palmer series, by Patricia’s Vampire Notes
• Jacqueline Carey, author of Naamah’s Kiss, by SciFiGuy
• Alexander Skarsgard, who plays Eric Northman on True Blood, by the NY Post
• Lisa Mantchev, author of Eyes Like Stars, by The Tainted Poet
• Sarah Rees Brennan, author of The Demon Lexicon, by Bitten by Books
• Georgia Evans, author of Bloody Good, by PopinFresh
• Shane, from the WVMP series by Jeri Smith-Ready, by Jackie Kessler’s Cat and Muse
• Alethea Kontis, co-author of the Dark-Hunter Companion, by Fantasy Magazine
• Candace Havens, author of the Charmed series, by Examiner.com
• Sunny, author of the Monere series, by Amberkatze Book Reviews
• Deidre Knight, author of Red Kiss, by Vampire Wire
• Faith Hunter, author of Skinwalker, by Bitten by Books
• Marjorie Liu, author of Darkness Calls, by The Daily Planet
• Cyn Balog, author of Fairy Tale, by Fantastic Book Reviews
• Peter Facinelli, who plays Carlisle Cullen New Moon, by Reelz Channel
• Ann Aguirre, author of Blue Diablo and Wanderlust, by Patricia’s Vampire Notes
• LA Banks, author of Cursed to Death, by Bitten by Books
• Eva Gordon, author of the Wolf Maiden Chronicles, by Fang-tastic Books
• Jacqueline Carey, author of the Kushiel’s Legacy series and Santa Olivia, by The Book Smugglers
• Rachel Vincent, author of Prey, at Book Reviews by Jess
• Toni Andrews, author of Cry Mercy, by Bitten by Books