Amazing press for THE SPECTRAL CITY!

Hello dear readers! It's been a great week for THE SPECTRAL CITY, my new Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy / Supernatural Suspense series! I'm SO thrilled that THE SPECTRAL CITY has been resonating with my steadfast readers familiar with my work as well as new kindred spirits; welcome!

Some lovely SPECTRAL CITY praise so far:

THE SPECTRAL CITY was named an editors pick in Supernatural Suspense by the site BookBub! BookBub joins the sites i09 and Smart Bitches in naming THE SPECTRAL CITY as a book not to miss this season!

Read The Gothic Library's full, rave review: "A New Generation of Gothic Heroines"

"The Big Apple loves its haunts, and Hieber’s work is both haunted and haunting, her spectral characters as developed as those of flesh and ink." - Jaden Terrell for International Thriller Writers

"Personable cast, snappy prose and intriguing premise.” —Publishers Weekly"The product of Leanna Renee Hieber's fascination with the spiritual world and the nooks and crannies of the city that never sleeps, The Spectral City is The Alienist with Ghost Detectives. You get 1890s New York rendered in fine detail, from the sconces around the lamps to the one and only Teddy Roosevelt, but the book also features a smart heroine working with a team of tragic, believable ghosts. There is texture on every page and it's a delight to read." —Jason Henderson, author of the Alex Van Helsing series

"You can tell that Hieber has written a number of paranormal books because her world building was excellent. I loved the amount of historical research and facts she added into this story." - The Lit Bitch

Over at Unbound Worlds I'm really proud of this essay I wrote about how my theatre training informs my fiction. I write about how throwing yourself off balance can create a visceral and incredible character arc, realized and put in practice from my classical and avant-garde theatre training, read my craft insight and advice here!

Interviews:

I had an incredible media tour speaking with radio outlets around the country about the new series, inspiration, my hopes for this series and also sharing some writing advice. One of my favorite interviews was with Travis on Boston's WPKZ radio, you can listen to the interview here.

I'm featured on this month's cover of International Thriller Writers' magazine! What an honor to be next to these industry titans like David Baldacci! In this interview, I discuss craft, inspiration, 19th century issues and more! Read it here.

You can see launch party photos, my favorite quotes from the book and more over on my Instagram.

Tantor Audio has THE SPECTRAL CITY, narrated by the acclaimed, award-winning narrator Tavia Gilbert, available for a wonderful download price of only $6.99! The eBook across platforms is only $3.99!

Cheers and Happy Haunting!

Support The Spectral City via

Barnes and Noble
Audio book via Tantor Audio
Amazon
IndieBound
Kobo

THE SPECTRAL CITY Cover & Good News!

Hello dear readers!

Recently the fantastic BOOK SMUGGLERS hosted the COVER REVEAL for my next novel, THE SPECTRAL CITY, launching 11/27 from Kensington!

Please hop over and visit the Book Smugglers to read about my inspirations, hopes and dreams for this series.

Isn't the cover GORGEOUS?!

If you enjoyed Natalie Stewart, Lord Denbury and Evelyn Northe-Stewart from my Magic Most Foul and Eterna Files books, you'll LOVE the Spectral City as it picks up years in the future when Lord and Lady Denbury's daughter Eve begins a new adventure; leading The Ghost Precinct of mediums and ghosts helping the NYPD solve weird cases in 1899 NYC!

And other good news! 

One of the most frequent questions I get is: Do you have audio books? Well, yes, I shall!
The audio rights for THE SPECTRAL CITY series have sold to Tantor and will be available simultaneously in several formats. (No, I will not be doing the narration. Not for lack of wanting to, but because the company uses in-house talent. I hope to be doing a few of my shorter works in the future, stay tuned!)

You can pre-order the eBook, print paperback and the Audio CD from any of your favorite retailers! Amazon, Barnes and Noble.

Check out Kensington's exciting pre-order campaign where if you show a proof of purchase, you can get cool swag! 

http://kensingtonbooks.com/hieber

Cheers and Happy Haunting!

It's December already? How about some contests?

I cannot believe it is December already. I was told by other writer friends that a debut year would fly by. They weren't kidding. The fact that I haven't really slept much since, oh... I dunno, 2008, that might be part of it too. :) But I love this time of year, Halloween-into-Christmas tends to be a giddy time that always flys by too quickly, but it's also when I tend to get a lot of writing done, inspired by Autumn and sustained by the deep, spiritual meaning of the Holiday Season.

In the realm of books, fluffy animals, the undead and such, here goes the latest:

As always, a wonderful time was had at Lady Jane's Salon, where my fellow co-founder Hope Tarr beautifully led us in a celebration of Harlequin Enterprises' 60th Birthday and read from her charming Twelve Nights. Stacey Agdern shared her Hannukah novel Rededication with us, and Madame X was, as always, a gracious hostess of a venue! Check out Kwana Writes for a lovely rundown, thanks Kwana!

CONTEST NEWS:
I've contest news galore!
Firstly:
1.
Congratulations to Sharla who won the Dark Nest goody box via my website's Dark Nest contest! (Pictured here: Leanna's random selection process via fluffy animal named Persebunny. After winner has been selected, Leanna rushes to read name before consumption - very scientific randomization method)

2. And now, I've got a NEW CONTEST!

In celebration of the very wonderful news that my bestselling debut, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is now in audio format, I'm giving away a copy, it's an 8 CD set! Along with some Mt. Meru Coffee, this is a great holiday gift for yourself or others. :) It's easy to enter, just tell me your favourite holiday song via the Contact Form of my website and you're entered to win! Winner drawn December 20th. Visit the Contest page and check it out!

3. I'm thrilled to be a part of The SFR Holiday Blitz! My 2009 Prism Award winning novella Dark Nest (a futuristic fantasy novella) is only one of the many Sci-Fi-Romance books you can win by participating! You can enter to win a copy of Dark Nest, given to Take it to the Stars to run the giveaway - You have until December 11th - and visit The Galaxy Express (this is definately a blog to follow) to get the rundown on the many blogs and authors participating in this great SFR event!!

4. I'm close to 500 followers on Twitter, once I hit that magic 500, I'll be giving away 2 signed copies of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker to two of my loyal tweeps. So join me there to participate. If you already have a signed Miss Percy, well, here's your chance to win one for a gift and help spread Strangely Beautiful cheer!

-- While we're in the holiday spirit, take a Facebook moment and see if your favourite Not For Profits are in the Chase Community Giving program. You can vote for 20 organizations, for several chances to win funds, might I suggest you vote for my beloved friend Danny's exciting new theatre company in Chicago, The New Colony? It's a new and up-and-coming theatre devoted to new work and new talent! (Listed as New Colony nfp when you type it into the search bar).
IN STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL NEWS:

1. I turned in the revisions to the Strangely Beautiful sequel, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, (April 27, 2010). I'm really, really excited about it. I can't wait to share it with all of you. Now I'm hard at work on a novella which continues the Strangely Beautiful series, to be published in a Fantasy Christmas anthology headlined by one of my idols, NYT Bestseller C. L. Wilson! (October 2010) Fans of Headmistress Thompson and Vicar Carroll will be pleased.

2. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker made Waiting For Fairies' Holiday Gift Guide! Thanks Melissa, and Waiting For Fairies!

Do stay tuned, The Darkly Luminous Fight For Persephone Parker will have its book trailer going live in January, along with some first peek excerpts!

Be sure to enter the contest and have a BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, BLESSED DECEMBER with your family, friends and loved ones! I'll be back to announce the winner of the contest and to wish everyone happy holidays.

Blessings!

Midwestern fun, Top Ten honours, and Audio Books!

Greetings from the great Midwest! I'm enjoying my trip to Milwaukee WI to visit my dearest's family.

I had an awesome time speaking to the Wisconsin RWA (Milwaukee Branch) - where the kind and talented Edie Ramer has been such a gracious contact, peer and friend of the Strangely Beautiful series - I gave my workshop about merging theatre techniques into writing novels, a subject I'm very passionate about. I believe it resonated with this wonderful group, I had an incredible time.

Here are a few respective rundowns! Edie wrote a gorgeous post about it at one of my favourite blogs, Magical Musings. The fabulous Liz Kreger (one of my new inspirations) wrote about the meeting (I was so grateful to have found her- as you read in her post, I was wandering), as did Elle J Rossi, and Casey Clifford, ladies I was very pleased to meet. The group was full of great ideas, energy, and talent from every corner of the room, it was lovely to be counted in their number for a morning. I'm thrilled that my workshop seems to have made an impact!

And then I was off to a booksigning with Casey Clifford at the Greendale Waldenbooks. I do dearly love booksignings and the chance to connect with other authors and readers. I was so thrilled to be there with Casey and have the company during the lulls. Lots of books were sold and we both had wonderful support from family, new writer friends and shoppers who thought our books looked interesting. And, well... they are. I can't wait to dive into Casey's Black Ribbon Affair!

Today I had the honour of speaking to the Creative Writing department of the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, my sweetheart's alma mater. What a wonderful group of talented teens. I think arts education is vitally important, and I love the opportunity to tell talented writers to never give up on their dreams, no matter what.

News!
Recent news has me quite thrilled. The inimitable Barbara Vey of Publishers Weekly held a Readers Poll at her popular Beyond Her Book blog of the Best Books of 2009. And The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker made the Top Ten list! Thanks friends and fans who have truly loved this book and have gone the extra mile to spread the word and to so vocally support it! I owe you such gratitude for such an awesome honour to be listed here among some really talented authors. Very exciting!

No More Grumpy Bookseller has listed Miss Percy Parker as a favourite of 2009! Thanks Becky!

AND...
THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER has gone AUDIO!!! I'm so excited, I can't wait to hear it! I'm surprised at the average industry price of audio books, but it's available in two formats (Audio CD / MP3 CD) with two different price structures, so I hope you'll check it out!

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I hope everyone has a beautiful Thanksgiving! I'll be rocking the Tofurkey! :) I'm feeling very thankful for all the blessings in my life, and I hope the season brings everyone a warm and thourough joy and a ceaceless multitude of blessings- the least of which being some freaking awesome pumpkin pie...

Blessings from Brew City, Milwaukee, and I hope you'll share with me some of your blessings!