Posted by Jeaniene | 9 Comments

Pics and contest winners

Okay, so this post is a week late, but as soon as I got back into town I had copyedits to tackle, an inbox bulging with unanswered mail, and a husband who kinda wanted to hang out after I’d been gone for 16 out of the past 31 days. Plus, you know, that pesky sleep to catch up on. However, I’m glad to say that in the past week I’ve gotten my inbox caught up, copyedits *almost* done, and my husband doesn’t feel single anymore, lol.

But enough of my rambling, let’s get to the pictures!

At the Romance Writers of America literacy signing

The day before I left for RWA, my friend and fan site moderator, Tee, sent me these amazing chocolate-covered strawberries to celebrate the release of Eternal Kiss of Darkness!

At the RWA "Paranormal" panel. From left, Juliana Stone, Terri Garey, Colleen Gleason, me, Kelley Armstrong, and Cheryl Wilson. We had such a great audience for this panel. It was so much fun!

 My niece, Lauren, and my nephew, Patrick, at RWA signing.

The tub from my Savanna hotel room. Trust me, it was bigger than it looks in this pic. It's now my goal in life to get one of these for my own home.

On the phone with a reader who couldn't make the Savanna signing, but her friends called her for me .

The lovely display WaldenBooks had set up for me in Charleston

My friend Vampy surprised me in Charleston after driving for four hours to get there!

As you can see, Raleigh readers were out in force for my stop there.

With the lovely Rumesha at Raleigh

In Raleigh, reading the first scene from my story in the Death's Excellent Vacation anthology.

With Supernatural Underground's "biggest fan" Sharon in Charlotte. Love the banner!

Signing in Charlotte. Look at the yummy dessert tray Borders put out for everyone - and I was dieting! *cries*

And look what was waiting for me when I got home: a gift from Wont, new fan site moderator, who apparently thinks innocent people need to be warned of my presence .

Thanks so much to everyone who came out for the signings, and who took pictures and then tagged me with them on FaceBook! That’s where I got the majority of these. I had a blast and I’m so glad to have met all of you.

And now, like I promised (though also a week late), here’s the grand prize winner for the Supernatural Underground contest that closed on Saturday the 7th. Randomizer was consulted and for the grand prize winner, it chose Stephanie G, who said, “What I love most about reading is the escape from my daily like and issues. I get to take a mini vacation each time I open a book. I also love getting involved with the characters to the point where it feels like I know them personally. ”

I couldn’t agree more. Congrats, Stephanie! I’ve sent you a winning email notice for your signed HARDCOVER copy of Eternal Kiss of Darkness. 

And according to Randomizer, the two second prize winners who will receive a paperback edition of Eternal Kiss of Darkness are: Bethany C, who said, “I love being able to submerse myself in new creative worlds. It doesn’t help that I have wanderlust and have never been able to travel.”  and Violet who said, “I love immersing myself in books about phenomenal adventures, inspiring heroines, and delicious heroes because having a great book on hand is like having a mini-vacation awaiting you in the middle of a hectic day. Love it! ”

Congrats, ladies! Violet, I have sent you a winning notification by email, but Bethany C, I don’t have your email address. Please email me at frostlight1 AT yahoo DOT com with your shipping information.

And speaking of contests, I’ll be holding one very soon for an Arc of THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE. Why have a contest so soon when the book isn’t even out for 6 months? I’ll explain the contest notice. Check back here for details, it’s coming up shortly!

Posted by Jeaniene | 23 Comments

End of the road at Charlotte

Thursday was the final day on my tour for Eternal Kiss of Darkness. My signing was set up for 7pm at the Borders store on Northlake Mall Drive in Charlotte. Around 5pm, the skies seemed to open up with torrential rain. New stations warned of frequent lighting strikes and storms lasting all evening. Since I live in Florida, this was Situation Normal for me, but my sister reminded me that this meant my signing would probably be sparsely attended. Made sense; no one likes to go out in nasty weather if they can avoid it (unless you also live in FL, and then it’s go out in nasty weather, or don’t leave your home 5 out of the 12 months in a year ). So I went to the store expecting to spend most of the evening in the company of me, myself, and I.

Therefore, I was very pleasantly surprised to find several people already waiting in the section Borders had set up for me.  I’d arrived a little early and by the time 7pm rolled around, a few more people had shown up, too. Never let it be said that rain and lightning can keep determined readers down! Everyone was in a good mood, too, despite the miserable weather. The store staff was awesome for passing around sample drinks that looked like mini chilled lattes and setting up a dessert platter on my table for anyone who wanted to get their sweet tooth on.  I opened the signing by reading the first scene of Eternal Kiss of Darkness, and then followed that with the first scene from One For the Money, my short story in the Death’s Excellent Vacation anthology.

After that, I had a great time chatting with everyone about Eternal, plus what’s next for Cat and Bones, and what other characters I want to give their own books to (cough, Vlad, cough). During this, the rain and wind gusts got so strong that they blew over a few items set up by the automatic doors of the store entrance, so the doors had to be sealed. Nothing like having a captive audience! (lest anyone be concerned about me teaming up with Mother Nature to keep readers there, don’t fret; there was another entrance/exit into the store – darn it *wink*).

Then the next half hour consisted of taking pictures, signing copies of new books, books people had brought from home, a few e-reader covers, too. One of the readers even had on a pair of faux fangs. Awesome! After signing everyone’s books, I chatted with a group of hardy souls who hung around despite it getting late, and the topic turned to another of my favorite things aside from books: horror movies. Everyone ante’d up on what movie scared/disturbed them the most (that would be Paranormal Activity for me), exchanged recommendations, and vented about horror movie remakes that they wished were never made (that would be Halloween for me). It was a wonderful way to finish up a great night.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out on all the tour stops! You made my first “on the road” experience a really lovely one. Thanks also to everyone who stopped by to see my at the RWA convention. That was a lot of fun, too. I’ll be compiling a blog post in the next day or so with several pics from the convention and the tour stops, so stay tuned. If you’ve commented on my blog or sent me an email recently, sorry for the delay replying.  Just got back home last night. Being out of town over 10 days has been hell on my inbox, lol.

Posted by Jeaniene | 19 Comments

Raleigh recap, last tour stop tonight in Charlotte

Yesterday I was in Raleigh, NC for a signing at the Borders book store on Six Forks Road. Right before I left to go to the store, my editor called with excellent news about Eternal Kiss of Darkness. It debuted at # 7 on the New York Times and # 29 on the USA Today bestseller lists. I was beyond thrilled, of course, so I already had a big smile on my face even before I saw the crowd of people waiting for me. What a great turnout! The store kindly set up chairs in rows so that most everyone had a seat. I started the signing off with a reading from the first scene of my short story in the Death’s Excellent Vacation anthology, as a show of hands revealed that most everyone had already read Eternal Kiss of Darkness, much to my delight. After the reading, there was a fun question-and-answer session about various characters and events in the Night Huntress series and the Night Huntress World novels. I love that a recurring question I keep getting asked at signings is, “When are you going to write a Vlad book?” If I have my way, readers, the answer is Soon. But Cat and Bones fans shouldn’t worry. Their fifth book, This Side of the Grave, comes out in February. I’m writing the sixth novel in their series now, plus there’s at least one more full length novel and an anthology with them scheduled after that. 2011 will see three releases of Cat and Bones stories, so readers will probably be ready for a switch to different characters after that .

After the Q&A, I started signing books and having pictures taken. Jokes were made about readers who crease the spines of their paperbacks and those who don’t (I admit to being in the do-not-crease category with my own book collection, but I will dog-ear pages no matter how many book marks I have nearby).  The signing probably went a little slower than was efficient because I was having such a nice time chatting with everyone. Some people I know from online were there as well (waves to ShirleyJo, her very patient husband, Candace, and Teresa, to name a few). I was still chatting with a few readers when the lights in the store briefly blinked out – a sign that the store wasn’t kidding when they said it was closing time, lol. The staff was really nice, though, and let me sign the remaining stock of my books and then wait inside for my cab even though it was past nine.

All in all, a wonderful night! If you want to see some pictures from the Raleigh signing, please go to my Facebook “wall” page where a few readers have posted links to them: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000241097422&v=photos

 Thanks so much to everyone who came out! I’m looking forward to continuing my time in NC with a signing at the Borders books store on 6801 Northlake Mall Drive in Charlotte tonight at 7pm. If you’re in the area, hope to see you there!

Posted by Jeaniene | 6 Comments

Charleston recap, what’s new, and what’s next

Yesterday, I was at the WaldenBooks store in Charleston, SC. The store is located in a mall called the Shoppes at Charleston Place. It was such a neat area, with horse and buggy tour rides going up and down the streets, tons of shops, and enough pamphlets for ghost tours of reportedly haunted locales that it was all I could do not to take a late one after the signing. But, I knew I had an early train to catch, so I was a Good Little Author and went back to my hotel room instead of prowling the Charleston streets in an evening tour group.

When I arrived at the book store, the employees were so friendly, and they had set up a beautiful display of my books in their store window. Can I confess that it still feels surreal to see my books in a store window, after all the years of hoping I’d get published one day, but not *really* thinking it would happen? It was great to chat with the readers who stopped by – and the woman who brought her dog, not knowing that I am unable to keep from petting any animal in my immediate vicinity – but probably the best part of last night was being surprised by an online friend that lived so far away, I didn’t think he was coming. Thanks so much for making the four-hour drive, Vampy! It was awesome to chat with you and you are even funnier in person than you are online.

I also received some wonderful news about Eternal Kiss of Darkness. It debuted at number 2 on Borders Romance bestseller list and number 7 on Barnes and Noble’s overall mass market list. What a nice thing to wake up to today! Another nice thing about today is that it’s the release of Death’s Excellent Vacation, an anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner. My story in it is One For the Money, where Cat and Bones find their vacation interrupted when they have to protect a spoiled heiress with a price on her head and an undead hitman on her trail. Hope you enjoy it!

And back by popular demand are the downloadable wallpapers of my book covers and stepbacks. Go here to browse through and pick which ones you’d like to keep for yourself: http://jeanienefrost.com/wallpapers/

Next stop on my tour schedule is Borders store on 404-101 East Six Forks Road, on Wednesday the 4^th at 7pm in Raleigh, NC. If you’re in the area, please come out and say hello! It’s always so much fun to meet everyone .

Posted by Jeaniene | 2 Comments

Savanna signing recap, Charleston up next!

Yesterday was my first trip to Savanna. I didn’t have time to sight-see, but I caught enough glimpses out of the back of cabs that I hope to return soon. My hotel was in the historic district, and the parks, picturesque churches, old-styled homes, and Spanish moss decorating every tree was enough to enthrall me. It’s a good thing I didn’t even attempt to visit the famous Bonaventure cemetery, or I might have spent the majority of last night taking pictures instead of sleeping!   In addition to the wonderful sights I glimpsed of the city, the people were also lovely. My signing yesterday at the Books-A-Million store was so much fun. For starters, the staff couldn’t have been nicer, and when I arrived at the store, even though I was a little early, there were already some readers waiting for me. Let me tell you, that was a heart-warming sight for me!  Two of them had driven all the way from Atlanta, which was quite humbling. It was great meeting everyone, and really nice to get the chance to chat at length with a few people who hung around after the first wave of signings. Note to all readers: please consider yourselves invited to stay and chat after I sign your books! I’m at each store for around two hours and I’d love to talk to you.   I left Savanna this morning and I’m now in Charleston, gearing up for the signing at Borders on 120 Market Street at 7pm tonight (Aug 2nd). If you’re in the area, I hope you come out. Looking forward to meeting you!