Sunday, August 17, 2008

Review-Tastic!

You know, for being a newbie, I'm just thrilled with the fact that I'm getting some great exposure.


First, Barbara Vey at Publisher's Weekly, now RomanceNovel.TV!


DARK NEST is under RomanceNovel.tv's "Books We're Pimping" home-page column for this week! Here's what the lovely Maria has to say:

"Here's a fresh new voice on the scene. This romance fantasy novella hits all the right notes. Leanna has created a world that is so descriptive it will dance before your eyes. Set in the future, newly evolved psychically gifted humans are sent by the Homeworld to charter new territory. But as they discover betrayal, they also realize their true potential. I say pick this one up."


Awesome! Thanks Maria!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Six Q's and a Fire-drill

My dear buddy Maya Rodale, talented authoress, has been asking a bunch of authors the same six questions, and it's fascinating to see the variety of results.

Learn a bit about me you may not have known...

So there's this other thing I do sometimes. What I got my degree in. Theatre.

Now let's be clear; what I did yesterday at Silvercup Studios in Queens was not acting, it was just showing up and bringing a cute outfit to the set of Gossip Girls. OMFG! The food was really good.

It was indeed a lot of fun. There was a Screen Actors Guild waiver waiting for me, (one step closer to SAG, baby), a wide pan shot through our bunch-o'-actors-way-older-than-high-school-playing-seniors crowd, a bit of a screen shot with Blair - we'll see if it survives the editing process, don't get too excited but you might actually see me on screen, and a 9 hour day paycheck. (I got a scene in a new novella written in the down-time, see how studious?)

The funniest thing about the day? The random fire-drill at the studio. Yep. Just like High-School, only with more costumes. Lots of people lookin' pretty n' preppy filing down 4 floors and outside to gather across the street as a storm brews over Astoria. Dramatic, eh?

I can't wait 'til the next set.

Friday, August 15, 2008

My first review is up at Publisher's Weekly!

Wow, when it rains it pours I guess. :)

Hello friends!

My first ever review, for my futuristic fantasy novella DARK NEST is up here at Barbara Vey's Publishers Weekly blog!

It's even the headliner!

Hop on over, check it out, and while you're there, leave a comment about all the great blurbs!

Thanks and love!

*dance dance dance*




DARK NEST blurb:

Chief Counsel Ariadne Corinth has just found out her long-time lover, the powerfully gifted Chief Counsel Kristov Haydn, has died. Newly evolved psychically gifted humans have been sent by the Homeworld on a space mission aboard two distinct “Nests”. Relationships between the Light Nest and the Dark Nest have faltered and Ariadne is sure there’s something insidious behind it. In a matter of hours, Ariadne must find out what really happened to Kristov, unite her people to discover vast new powers the Homeworld denied them, or else submit to genocide.

DARK NEST available for download at Crescent Moon Press or order In Print!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Okay. Best. Day. Ever. For. Real.

Okay, so meeting the Muppets was like the best day ever.

What could be the more Best Day Ever?
Selling a book to a New York publishing house!

YES!!!

After more years of dogged determination than I care to mention, I've landed a two book contract with DORCHESTER PUBLISHING here in New York. And can I say, beside myself? Beside myself. Me. Then Self. Beside.

I'll be hitting the scene slated for a fall 2009 debut with the first of my historical fantasy romance series: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. (At least, for now, that's the title, my agent says long titles are in).

My book in two words? Victorian Ghostbusters.



















Yes, it's that cool.

So the moment I found out about this, I had to share it with a couple of friends on the inside loop before I could tell the world.
Liz Maverick and Marianne Mancusi, certainly no strangers to publishing, took pictures of me in my ridiculous bliss. This is what it looks like to have a dream come true. Yes, it's that rabid-joy look again that you'll recognize from the previous post. Now that I can officially shout this news to the rafters, there will be more celebratory pictures to come with many other wonderful friends.




So I want to thank the academy... my family, my boyfriend, God, my friends, etc.
No really.
I'm really, really thankful and blessed.
For those of you also wanting what I've wanted as long as I can remember, keep on keeping on.
Persist.
Because your dreams want to meet you.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Best. Day. Ever.

So in working part-time at an awesome TV studio and loving it, I had what will go down as one of the best days of my life.

Guess who I got to meet?



















Um, is that sheer, rabid joy on my face or what? I mean... Ohmigod.

Kermie and Piggy were in the studio to promote their new Disney Channel special and were hysterical. I had to bite my hand to keep from laughing into the microphones. All of us in the studio, even the TV Guide interviewer, freaked out over these guys, I mean, come on, they're superstars. Genius.

I have such an appreciation for Steve and Eric, (the voice of Kermit and Piggy, respectively). They are master puppetteers, vocal talents and improvisational virtuosos. Jane and Melissa, the puppet wranglers, were delightful and also damn good at their job. Everyone was so much fun. Everything you'd hope working with Muppets would be. It was like I tasted Utopia. And no, seeing Kermit and Piggy in puppet form in no way diminished the magic. They lived.

One of my favorite moments was when the voice of Kermit walked in and he introduced himself as Steve and I go, in my best star-struck, "You mean Steve Whitmire?" And he just grinned and said "You know my name? That never happens." To which I reply that the Muppet Christmas Carol (the first movie he did Kermit's voice for) is my favorite movie of all time. (I realize that this statement may incur heated debate with others who would lift up perhaps The Muppet Movie as the best, but I'm sorry, while The Muppet Movie is indeed genius, I adore Charles Dickens. Put Dickens with Muppets and it's an inch away from Heaven itself. It's a brilliant adaptation.)

So wow, what a great year, first I get to tell Ronan Harris he's an inspiration... Then I meet the Muppets... Next is Alan Rickman. Then how about a New York book contract? Then I might spontaneously combust.

My Souvenirs:




Of course I asked for autographs.

Best. Day. Ever.