“I think Mount Everest is gorgeous, too, but that doesn’t mean I have any intention of trying to climb it.”

“Do you always do other people’s thinking for them, or is this something you’ve reserved just for me?”

“You watched me the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Bath toys are reserved only for the oldest, more lethal vampires.”

“A glance confirmed….. That wasn’t the wall brushing against….anymore. It was the ceiling.”

“Put ‘em back without smashing them and I think you’ve got it.”

“He laughed…No. I’m warning you that I will show you no mercy.”

“If anyone other than you had me fly halfway around the world just to keep me waiting while you were obviously lingering in bed, I’d have my driver run them over. Twice.”

“Good for you. With all those memories, sounds like you should direct a porno titled Gods Gone Wild.”

“You follow me now? How empty your days must be.”

“Just like when she’d dangled from that rope outside the house, Kira told herself not to look down.”

“….slid through the water toward her, drawn by the same inexorable complusion that led moths to dance with flames.”

“Or for the gorgeously bare vampire to give her a sensual massage while feeding her peeled grapes.”

“If you’d told me I was about to meet such a…I would have grabbed the nicer silk drapery to wear instead.”

“Not to be rude, but what is that smell? It’s like you bathed in dead bodies or something.”

“You’ve got a ghost sitting in your lap.”

“Now, my lovely captive, with you trapped beneath me, what’s to stop me from having my vile way with you?” “Nothing, I hope.”

“If you tell him wolves are the children of the night next, I might hurt myself laughing.”

“There was an appropriate modern word for his actions: “stalking.”"

“If it weren’t life or death, believe me, I wouldn’t interrupt, but you need to see this. Now.”

“If you want me, here I am.”

“Sweet, luscious warmth seemed to spread slowly from….neck, down….shoulders, and lower, until it felt like……was submerged in heated chocolate.”

“You feel like mine. Whoever you were, whoever you are…You’re mine.”

“I suddenly find that I’m thirsty … This human will do”

“We will do it here.”

“The smallest ripple can change everything.”

“You were worse at his age. I remember; I was there.”

“Yes, I’m sure *censored* deeply regrets not seeing me.”

“Is that a yes?”

“He went to the foot of the bed, slowly crawling back on while sliding his body…from her feet up to her chest.”

“She sent zombies after you?”

“His mouth teased her skin while more tingling ripples traveled over her body.”

“After last night,…knew that his tongue felt like a…set to the speed of Oh Hell Yeah.”

“Water sloshed from the tub as…..”

“Game on.”

“I don’t believe it, you’re not dead.”

“Who knew you were underexaggerating?”

“If you expected me not to look, Mencheres, you underestimate yourself.”

“Not going to decide to stop halfway through again, are you?”

“Hard arms seized her in the next instant, swinging her up into an embrace that crackled with familiar power.”

ETERNAL KISS also recently got a good review from Smexy Books. I laughed when I saw that one of the above quotes was referenced in Mandi’s recap of the book.

As regular blog readers know, I’ve found a way around not being allowed to show the cover or stepback from THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE yet. I’ve been posting snippets that some readers *cough, wink, cough* may have pasted together to get a glimpse at what it looks like. So for those intrepid souls, here’s the next snippet of the stepback image:

For those of you who’ve sent me emails saying “February is too long to wait for more Cat and Bones!” well, you don’t have to wait that long. The entire first chapter of THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE is at the end of ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS. And, in addition to that, Cat and Bones are in a short story titled One For the Money in the DEATH’S EXCELLENT VACATION anthology, releasing August 3^rd. The one and only Charlaine Harris has a new Sookie story in this anthology, and other participating authors in the lineup are also stellar.

Finally, a reminder that I’ll be at the RWA convention next week followed by a train tour for the release of ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS (Didn’t hear about that? Check out my schedule here to see if I’ll be in your area!) I’ll try to post a recap after every tour stop, depending on the reliability of the WiFi in the area. In addition to that, you can find me from now through August 2^nd on BabelClash, chatting with author Jocelynn Drake about various aspects of supernatural fiction. We’ve already posted about building our vampire worlds and alternate subspecies; tune in to see what topic we’ll be tackling next. On July 29th, I’ll be at SciFiGuy ‘s blog, chatting about ETERNAL and doing a giveaway, too.  No rest for the wicked!

Wednesday, July 28th, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Walt Disney World® Dolphin Resort
Pacific Exhibit Hall
Orlando, Florida (note: this event is the 2010 “Readers for Life” literacy autographing hosted by Romance Writers of America. Full list of authors participating here: http://www.rwanational.org/cs/literacy_autographing )

Sunday, August 1st, 2 pm
Books-a-Million
8108 Abercorn St
Savannah, GA 31406

Monday, August 2nd, 7 pm
Borders
120 Market Street, Sp #C-116
Charleston, SC 29401

Wednesday, August 4th, 7 pm
Borders
404-101 East Six Forks Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27609

Thursday, Aug 5th,  7 pm
Borders
6801 Northlake Mall Drive
Charlotte, NC 28216

And if you are attending the Romance Writers of America convention (RWA) in Orlando, FL., in addition to the Literacy signing, you can also find me at these places:

Thurs, July 29^th 4:30 – 5:30 

Panel: Paranormals – Crossing markets and genres with books that go bump in the night.

Join New York Times bestselling authors Kelley Armstrong, Jeaniene Frost, and Cheryl Wilson, plus paranormal authors Terri Garey, Colleen Gleason, and Juliana Stone as they discuss the nuts and bolts of writing paranormals and their enduring crossover appeal in romance, urban fantasy, and the young adult market.

Friday, July 29^th, 9:45 – 11:15 am

Avon Open House

Free book giveaway and signing with me and many other Avon/HarperCollins authors!

What I liked best about RomCon was the interaction with readers. It’s definitely more of a reader-friendly convention than many others I’ve been to, second to perhaps the Romantic Times convention. This is great because not only did I get to chat with readers about my books during the panels I was on, I also got to chat with them about other authors’ books, too. My “To Be Read” pile just increased by a lot, lol. Several bloggers were there, some I’ve met before, some new, and it was fun chatting with them about favorite books, the paranormal genre, multi-cultural heroines, and what we’re looking forward to reading.

In addition to chatting with readers, bloggers, catching up with friends I only get to see once or twice a year, it was a blast to finally meet several people I’ve only spoken to online before (waves to Kimberly, Kelly, Meljean, and  Nalini, to name a few). Also, my lovely editor Erika Tsang was there, and as I seldom see her in person, it was great to spend time with her. Author Terri Garey was my con date for most of the weekend, bless her, and I also got to meet several other authors I’ve admired, like Christine Feehan, Lori Foster, and Brenda Novak, among others.

I also got confirmation of some news I’ve been waiting for – I’ll be going on a small tour for the release of ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS! In deference to my aversion to flying, my publisher is putting me on a train to four cities during the first week of August. Look for another post shortly containing all those details. If you didn’t already see my Tweet and Facebook update yesterday, I’m happy to say that the first 20% of ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS is now available to read here: http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061783166 . Since I’m a big fan of “try before you buy”, I love that my publisher always has a big chunk of my novels online for free so readers can sample them in advance.

And here are some books that I read while on the train. Why wasn’t I working as planned, you ask? Well, Smart Jeaniene remembered to bring her laptop, true, but Stupid Jeaniene forgot to bring the power cord. Ahem. Laptops don’t work nearly as well without power, as it turns out . On the plus side, I did get to read more books in the trip to and from Denver than I had in the month before it. Read two duds that I’m not going to name, but here are the ones I really enjoyed:

THE DARKEST WHISPER, by Gena Showalter

NIGHT MYST, by Yasmine Galenorn (first in a new series!)

RELENTLESS, by Dean Koontz

BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND DESIRE, by Lorraine Heath

ANGEL’S BLOOD, by Nalini Singh (been meaning to read this series for a while & now I’m kicking myself for waiting!)

I know I’m forgetting so many things about RomCon, but that’s usually the sign of a good time for me. When I’m having fun, things tend to blur into one big happy haze J. Because pictures are worth a thousand words, here are some shots from RomCon:

At breakfast on day one. From left, Stacy, me, Louise, Katie

Me and Terri Garey, who was so much fun to hang out with.

Me and Anna Campbell, who is one hilarious lady!

From left, me, my editor Erika Tsang, and Terri Garey

From left, Kelly, me, and Kimberly. You may know Kelly and Kimberly as KellsBells and Engarde on Frostfans!

Kimberly baked me some "Lucifer's Bouncing Balls" treats! *grin* They were the most delicious balls you'd ever want to eat (oh, come on, I had to say it! )

Me and Christine Feehan, who was such a sweetie.

Me and Lori Foster, who gave an awesome keynote speech Friday night.

Look at this tee shirt! I cracked up when I saw her wearing it.

One of my favorite pics from the con! Terri Garey is the proud mama, and recognize baby's face?? Lol.

You know what? That sounds like fun to me! I can’t post them every week because it’ll show too much – and I’ll be out of town next week at RomCon – but I’ll post enough of them that the “puzzle” idea will work, yet not so many that my editor will shoot me (I can just picture her swilling Aspirin as she reads this, heh).

So, without further ado, here’s Puzzle Piece #2 from the stepback of THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE:

And because I’m having so much fun with snippets today, here’s another peek into ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS. For those of you keeping count, this would be snippet #5 (Haven’t seen one through four yet? You can check them out here, here, here and here ).

***

Kira sat in one of the private booths that were sectioned off from the rest of the room. After several minutes, the dark curtains parted and Jennifer appeared, smiling seductively as she approached.

“Hi, beautiful,” Jennifer crooned, running her hands up Kira’s legs as she began to twist her hips. “I was hoping you’d be the one waiting for me –”

“Jennifer,” Kira said quietly. “Jennifer Jackson.”

The girl paused, her eyes darting around. Then she began snake-hipping again, leaning forward to brush her breasts against Kira’s legs.

“How do you know my name?” she whispered.

This was an awkward way to carry on a conversation. Jennifer was naked except for an extremely small g-string and she kept rubbing and swaying her body against Kira. Kira assumed the curtained booths were being monitored if Jennifer kept up the lap-dancing even though she now guessed Kira wasn’t just here for a thrill. Jennifer didn’t seem to be afraid to verbally acknowledge her real name, though, so maybe the monitoring was only visual. Kira tried to fix an appreciative look on her face and ignore the softer parts Jennifer pressed on her as she spoke.

“I’m an investigator your parents hired,” Kira whispered back.

Jennifer’s face twisted even though her frozen smile still remained. “They can’t help me. Neither can you. Get out before you’re discovered, or you might end up like me.”

Poor girl clearly sounded like she was here against her will. Kira’s resolve strengthened. Someone had forced Jennifer to disappear from her family’s life at seventeen to become a stripper. What if Kira’s little sister had been the one kidnapped so young, and someone who could have helped Tina didn’t try because it might be too dangerous? Kira had wanted to become a cop to protect the people who needed it. Well, here was someone who really needed it, and she might be the only one who knew enough about what held Jennifer to help her get away.

“Did Flare make people forget they’d even seen you when you tried to get away before?” Kira asked, taking the plunge.

Jennifer stopped in the act of straddling her. “Who are you? How do you know that?”

“Keep dancing,” Kira hissed. Jennifer began her sultry squirming again, even though her practiced smile had slipped.

“I’m someone who knows what kind of creature can make people forget things they’ve seen with just a look,” Kira said, her confidence growing as Jennifer’s expression changed from suspicious to hopeful.

“And I’m someone with a gun containing silver bullets right here in my purse,” she went on. “If you come with me, Jennifer, I’ll try to get you away from this. I-I know someone who might be able to help.”

From how hopeless Jennifer had sounded before, she probably hadn’t tried to escape in years. With luck, Flare wasn’t here tonight, and any others who were supposed to keep an eye on Jennifer had grown lax. If she and Jennifer quietly snuck out a back entrance, they could be away before any of the bouncers or staff noticed…

The curtains snapped open and a stocky male appeared. Both Kira and Jennifer jumped. A sinking feeling coursed through Kira as the young man’s eyes changed from whatever color they had been to glowing, bright green.

“Why hello there,” the vampire said. “And who just might you be?”

***

Eternal Kiss of Darkness

July 27th, 2010

An immortal war has been brewing in the darkness…and now one woman has stumbled into the shadows.

Chicago private investigator Kira Graceling should have just kept on walking.  But her sense of duty refused to let her ignore the moans of pain coming from inside a warehouse just before dawn.  Suddenly she finds herself in a world she’s only imagined in her worst nightmares.

At the center is Mencheres, a breathtaking Master Vampire who thought he’d seen it all.  Then Kira appears—this fearless, beautiful…human who braved death to rescue him.  Though he burns for her, keeping Kira in his world means risking her life, yet sending her away is unthinkable.

But with danger closing in, Mencheres must choose between the woman he craves, or embracing the darkest magic to defeat an enemy bent on his eternal destruction.

Learn more here.

Speaking of the revision process…I’ve seen a rumor flying around the interwebs that I want to put to rest. Rumor: because I mentioned months ago that I’d like to do more spinoff books, but haven’t announced a new contract  yet, then my publisher must be waiting to see how sales of ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS are before they agree to buy more Night Huntress World novels.

Fact: Publishing contracts are structured in very specific ways. I haven’t gone into details with readers before about this because it’s pretty boring, but here’s how my contract is laid out. I am disallowed from formally submitting new book proposals to my publisher until after they accept THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE. ”Accept” means all revisions on the book must be completed and approved. Since I just received my first revision letter Wednesday, obviously I’m not done with those revisions, so there’s no way my editor can accept the book yet. It’ll take weeks for me to revise it, and then usually a couple weeks for my editor to comb through the book again and see if all issues were fixed. Sometimes, there’s a second round of revisions, as I mentioned above. If there isn’t a second round, then the book goes to copyedits, which means it’s formally “accepted”. At that time, I can then contractually submit new book proposals to my publisher – and contractually, they have sixty days after I submit those proposals to decide to buy them or not. If this sounds like a slow process to you, well, welcome to publishing! It’s taught me patience against my will, lol. 

And speaking of ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS, I’m very happy to report that Romantic Times rated it a Top Pick for August and had this to say about it: ”In the second spin-off from the bestselling Night Huntress series, Frost produces a tale that is wildly romantic as well as action packed. If Frost keeps this up, fans will need to build more keeper shelves!” For anyone who isn’t a member (or lurker) on Frostfans, a few readers who received early copies of the book have been posting quotes from it. You can find those here: http://forums.frostfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1022 

Plus, Tynga’s Reviews has an interview and giveaway up for EKOD here: http://tyngasreviews.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-giveaway-with-jeaniene-frost.html 

And although I’m not allowed to show the cover for THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE, I love it so much that I posted a tiny excerpt of the stepback here: http://forums.frostfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1032 . Hey, my publisher said I couldn’t show all of it. They didn’t say I couldn’t show any of it *wink*.

Happy Friday, everyone! Hopefully I’ll have a book trailer post up for you shortly

ETA: At last, the book trailer for Eternal Kiss of Darkness!

A couple months ago, my husband started saying how great it would be to get a Playstation 3 for the house. I don’t play games, but he does (World of Warcraft, mostly, with some Conan thing thrown in as well). Neither of those games require a PS3 so I didn’t think we needed one. He kept on it, and his sales pitch was that we could get instant Netflix movies from it so it wouldn’t be just for gaming. I was skeptical, but right before I left for Romantic Times, we got the PS3. Up until a little over a week ago, I hadn’t even had a chance to use it because after I got back from RT, it was all write, write, write.

Well, guess what? Now I loves it, precious. Through the PS3 we can get a lot of Netflix movies instantly, and for free, since a Netflix membership came with our PS3.  I’ve been happy as a clam watching several B-level horror flicks over the past ten days or so.  Still haven’t used the Playstation for games – nor do I see that happening – but it’s worth it just for the movies. Watched Altered (liked it!), Wild Country (decent story but awful special effects), The Last Winter (good story, oblique ending), Tamara (good, campy fun), and Vampiro (save yourself and avoid it). 

Now that I’ve gotten caught up on my inbox and business issues that had been lagging, plus got a little R&R via Netflix, I’m ready to start Cat and Bones #6. The proposal has been approved by my editor and all systems are go. Chapter One, here I come!

That’s right, Cat and Bones 5 is now officially in my editor’s hands. It was a rollercoaster to write and I can’t wait to get my editor’s feedback on it (and my critt partner’s as well).  As every writer knows, “the end” really just means “take one.” I’ll still having revising and polishing to do on it.

Also, there’s a tentative title for book five: THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE. Why only a tentative title? Because the marketing department at my publishing house may decide on something else. I’m hoping this title sticks, though. Cross your fingers for me . As I mentioned before, book five will release on February 22, 2011. For everyone jonesing for a Cat and Bones fix before then, fear not; I have a short story featuring them called One For the Money in the DEATH’S EXCELLENT VACATION anthology out in August of this year. And of course, you’ll see Cat and Bones as side characters in ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS, coming out the end of July. I’m in the process of having a book trailer made for ETERNAL and I can’t wait to show everyone. Look for that the later part of this month.

In other news, I’m happy to report that my wonderful agent Nancy Yost sold three more of my books to Blackstone Audio, so now it’s official – the first four books in the Night Huntress series plus First Drop of Crimson (Night Huntress World, book one) will all have audio editions. Halfway to the Grave is already out in audio, with One Foot in the Grave due out in November, I believe. I’m so pleased to have these audio versions upcoming. I know many of you have been waiting for them.

And now, I’m going to take a day or so to catch up on my sleep – heh – and then try to tackle the inbox. It’s gotten rather scary in the past couple weeks while I back-burnered most everything else to finish the book. Next week, I turn in the proposal for C&B #6 and then start writing that. No rest for the wicked!

Hope everyone has a great week.

I’m not saying I know all there is to know about publishing. Far from it. Writers should not treat this post as one-stop-shopping for publishing information, so by all means, scour the internet and book stores to find as much additional information as you can. That way, you won’t make some of the same mistakes I did starting out. But hopefully, some of my trial and error will turn out to be useful for you, which is my goal behind this post. 

With that in mind…

On writing advice: My writing advice is simple – write. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. Read a lot. Be prepared to revise your novel, because revising is part of the process. Then, once you’ve polished a novel, gotten a second (or third) constructive critical opinion on it, revised, and polished again, start agent hunting. But until you’ve finished a novel and really gone over it several times, don’t look for an agent. Write first. Make sure you love it. Then jump into the publishing world

On how I got published: http://frost-light.livejournal.com/16905.html

Timeline of exactly how long it took: http://frost-light.livejournal.com/107613.html

My process when I write a book: http://frost-light.livejournal.com/109987.html

A writer’s Q&A on scams to avoid, literary agents, and querying: http://jeanienefrost.com/2010/01/qa-for-writers/

More on scams and why writers should always, always remember Yog’s law: Money flows TOWARD the writer: http://frost-light.livejournal.com/93699.html

More on why I think getting an agent is important: http://frost-light.livejournal.com/113254.html

What do authors get paid?: http://jeanienefrost.com/2010/01/publishing-money-myths/

Examples of successful query letters that landed the authors of Fangs, Fur, and Fey their former/current agents here (scroll all the way down to see them all): http://community.livejournal.com/fangs_fur_fey/tag/queries

Examples of queries critiqued by agent Janet Reid: http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

Absolute Write, a great place where writers share information / warn against scam agencies & publishers: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php

On me reading your manuscript / query letter: I’m sorry, but due to time, legal, and ethical constraints, I cannot read your query letter or partial/full manuscript. Before you get mad at me for saying no, please read this: http://jeanienefrost.com/2010/04/the-tao-of-no/

All right, if you’ve read through all the above and you’ve still not found anything helpful, try Author Cassandra Clare’s comprehensive Q&A for aspiring authors on her website. There are several more helpful links inside the post, too: http://cassandraclare.com/cms/writing

And finally, a book for writers I’d recommend is ON WRITING, by Stephen King.

Best of luck to you, writers!

P.S. If you ask me more writing questions in the comments, please be aware that I won’t be able to answer them until I am done with this book (June). Sorry, but the book is due soon, and my editor is small but scary .

Jeaniene