So Many Covers

I'm excited because I finally have final covers of the UK and German editions of The Shifter and Blue Fire. They look fabulous, and all are so different from each other. I also thinks is hysterical that all three book ones have different titles, but all book twos are the same.

The US Hardcover of The Shifter

The UK Hardcover of The Pain Merchants

The UK Paperback of The Pain Merchants

The German Cover of The Healer

The US Hardcover of Blue Fire

The UK Hardcover of Blue Fire

The German Cover of The Blue Fire

Aren't they awesome? Granted, maybe I'm biased here but I love every one of them.

Vipers Hiss!

On Wednesday, I got to spend the day over at Vickery Creek Middle School. I had a great time and even got to meet someone who has the same name as my husband. There were quite a few budding authors in the group, and those folks are always extra fun to meet. Not only are writers just plain awesome (though admittedly, I might be biased here) but they always ask the best questions.

One gal even came up with a great idea as to why Nya can't shift pain into animals! (Something I've never had her do since I can't bear the thought of hurting animals). Fur! Nya needs skin to skin contact and animals have fur to block it. Isn't that cool?

Since the school year is coming to a close, I won't be visiting any more school until the fall. I suspect it'll be pretty quiet for me until Blue Fire comes out, so you probably won't see my doing any more appearances until then. But if I do, I'll be sure to let y'all know!

Go Go Grizzlies

I spent all day yesterday over at Piney Grove Middle, and let me tell you, I had a great time. School visits are one of my favorite things to do as a writer, and I always enjoy talking with students and answering questions.

I think the most popular questions were about my eel, Eelbert, so I'm going to have to get some photos of him for the website. (My husband thinks I should do a live web cam and have EelTV, but I think that's a lot of ask of the little guy)

There's was some excitement as well. A fire drill got us all up and out the door the first session, but we hung around outside and chatted. I met a fellow World of Warcraft player (even if he was Horde) and met some gals who would make good Nyas one day. (I have your notes!)

All in all, it was a terrific day, and a big thanks to media director Kim and the Grizzly Gang at Piney Middle for inviting me over!

The Results Are In

Well, I see from A) the selections on the poll and B) the small number of responders, that keeping this blog news and events only isn't going to disappoint anyone.

For those who were looking for writing stories, I talk about writing and the publishing biz on my other blog, The Other Side of the Story. That will be my main blog for now on.

In the next few weeks, I'll be rearranging things here so news is easier to find, and update the things I've been meaning to update for so long. Adding all the reviews, interviews, guest posts and whatnot, creating an easy spot for visitors to leave messages and so forth.

Let Me Ask You...

I'm going to be overhauling the blogs and website in the next few weeks, and I'm unsure what to do with this blog. It's not a blog I post to daily, because honestly, I just don't know what to write about. My writing blog I post to almost daily, as I can talk about writing forever. But here? I'm at a loss. Do you guys really care about my day to day life? Pictures of the cats? Stuff that strikes me as funny? I've never been a journal keeper, so I'm not sure what to say even if I did post daily.

I don't want to abandon the blog completely, because I like having a venue to chat with readers and let them know what's going on with me and the books. But I also don't want to bore you guys to tears with stuff no one really cares about. Since I don't think everyone who comes here wants to hear in-depth stuff about writing, it doesn't make sense to just combine the two blogs. But if this one becomes a simpler "news and the occasional event" blog, I'm okay with that. Folks can always leave comments and I read all of those, so I can still keep in touch with everyone.

So, I've put up a poll for the next two weeks to see what visitors want to hear about. You can choose as many as you want, but if you can pick the top two, that would be great, as I'd know the most important things. Feel free to expand in the comments section, or offer suggestions if I don't have it on the poll.

And hey, if you guys have ideas about stuff you'd love to see on the website, let me know. It's been up about a year now, and I've learned a lot about what I need and what readers like.

Anything I can do to make the site or blog better?

I'm all ears.

A Couple of Fun Interviews

I was interviewed over at the Debut Authors Blog recently, so pop on by and peek around.

You can also hear me share my geek side at the gaming blog Grinding to Valhalla.

And I'll have the next book challenge post up today. Just been one of those weeks where I haven't had much time to post!

2010 Book Challenge #7 & 8

This week started a long run of Kate Brian's "Private" series books. I'm a big fan of these, so seeing them all lined up on the shelf makes me very, very happy. And better still, when I went to get the cover images for the blog, I found out that book #11 Scandal, comes out tomorrow! (squee!).

Inner Circle
By Kate Brian
Ages: 14+

The Private series is a fun suspense/drama mix that centers around Reed, a blue-collar gal who gets a scholarship to Easton, one of the top boarding schools on the East Coast. She's way out of her league here since almost every student is super rich or famous, or both. The dorm to be in is Billings House, and the "Billings Girls" are the creme de la creme of the already fabulous. Reed will do anything to get into Billings, and let me tell you, these girls really make her work for it. I don't want to go too much into what this particular book is about so as not to ruin the series for anyone picking it up, but there's always a juicy mystery or two going on (frequently involving a murder), and Reed gets herself into some crazy situations. This series is definitely a PG-13 one though.

Legacy
By Kate Brian
Ages: 14+

If I wasn't already a huge fan I might have been put off by this one. I've always liked Reed, even though she doesn't always make the choices I think she should, but in this one, she really turns into an unlikable girl. (The stuff she does to her boyfriend, Josh! Ack! How could she?) I strongly suspect that was Brian's plan, though, and now that Reed has learned that absolute power corrupts absolutely, she'll start her hard road back to being the likable her and correcting the mistakes she made this book. Although ow she's going to get out the mess she lands in at the end of Legacy is beyond me.

This week's books:
Ambition, Kate Brian
Revelation, Kate Brian

I also have a book to read for someone in my crit group, so there's a good chance I won't get either of these read this week. But I'm still reading, only something that won't be published until next year or so. (It's the second book to a series a friend of mine just published this past January, (Servant of the Underworld) Aztec noir. Very cool stuff.

And I heard about another cool book this morning that I threw on my wish list, called The Line, that sounds like it's right up my alley.

Future books:
Paradise Lost, Kate Brian
Privilege, Kate Brian
Black Angels, Linda Beatrice Brown
Jhegaala, Steven Brust
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
Princess in the Spotlight, Meg Cabot
Princess in Love, Meg Cabot
Heist Society, Ally Carter
Empire, Orson Scott Card
A War of Gifts, Orson Scott Card
Deep Dark and Dangerous, Mary Downing Hahn
Deadtown, Nancy Holzner
Crank, Ellen Hopkins
Mainspring, Jay Lake
How to Ditch Your Fairy, Justine Larbalestier
Tomorrow, When the War Began, John Marsden
Gods of Manhattan, Scott Mebus
Hellgate London - Exodus, Mel Odom
The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson
The Scent of Shadows, Vicki Pettersson
How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff
Holes, Louis Sachar
Wicked, Sara Shepherd
Games of Command, Linnea Sinclair
The Harrowing, Alexandra Sokoloff
It's Kind of a Funny Story, Ned Vizzini
Uglies, Scott Westerfield
Spin, Robert Charles Wilson