TIME IMMEMORIAL Release Day! A New psychic timeslip series begins via Scrib'd / Bryant Street Publishing!

It's RELEASE DAY for a whole new series in digital and audio! Leanna narrates the 3-part installment of an exciting and original new novellas! 

TIME IMMEMORIAL: A Dark Nest Adventure, follows Captain Liz Marlowe, a woman living her past lives all at once and in each life, someone is trying to kill her... 

This series continues my Dark Nest Chronicles in a whole new way. One doesn't have to have read the Dark Nest psychic space opera novellas to jump into TIME IMMEMORIAL, come on board right now! If you don't already have a Scrib'd membership, you can try Scrib'd for 30 days for free! 

Check out today's release-day feature with the fine folks at Fantasy Café, where there's cover reveals for the entire series and a special focus on amazing concept photos taken by Sebastian Crane of Captain Liz in several of her timelines. 

Time Immemorial, Time Inescapable and Time Indivisible are timeslip novellas that follow the lives of Elizabeth Marlowe through Iron Age Britain, 1882, World War II and the 24^th Century. An insidious force is working to take down not only her, but everyone she’s ever cared about through time.

The concept of Captain Liz Marlowe, co-created by my business partner Thom Truelove, began as a character sketch for a TV pilot, the character intended to be played by yours truly. Most folks know me as a novelist but I trained in theatre and my artistic career began and spanned many years on the professional stage. The original project Liz was created for fell through but the character was too good not to keep and run with. Some of Liz’s iterations had already begun popping up in my novels; Lizzie Marlowe “The Visitor” shapes Clara Templeton’s life in my Eterna Files trilogy. Marlowe’s starship captain self understandably would tie into my existing Dark Nest Chronicles of psychic space opera.

My editor, Julia O'Connell of The Gothic Library, was a critical help in making sure Captain Liz and her fragmented lives didn't leave the reader reeling. She was such a great partner in this venture. We've created something really special with this series.

Narrating these novellas has been a special joy for this performer, that's for certain! I adore this character and how she interacts with other parts of my existing universe and I can't wait for you to meet her! 

About Time Immemorial: A Dark Nest Adventure (via Scrib’d):

"A masterful tale of multiple timelines; one woman, split between four lives...

Elizabeth Marlowe has always known she was different—even from others with psychic abilities. She doesn’t merely glimpse past or future lives, she lives multiple lives concurrently. She is L’Bet, a druid priestess holding out against the Roman invasion. She is Lizzie, a headstrong Victorian plumbing the depths of both science and Spiritualism. She is Beth, a Women’s Royal Air Force pilot fighting in World War II. And she is Captain Liz, a starship commander forging a path through the stars. 

But being different comes with danger. Liz is determined to make it on her own, hiding her unusual ability from all but one trusted companion in each life. Yet, she is haunted by an ominous warning from her old mentor, Saire: Someday they’ll fear you. People fear what they cannot understand, and it is only a matter of time before those with psychic powers are targeted for their difference. When that happens, Liz will have to choose between her life of independence and saving the community she rejected long ago.

Return to the Prism Award-winning world of Leanna Renee Hieber’s Dark Nest trilogy with the start of a new series that spans eras and galaxies!”

We hope you’ll take us up on that invitation to join Liz and live in the moment, across time and space, taking life one critical choice at a time.

Check out the Fantasy Café feature with cover reveals of the whole series and amazing photographs of Captain Liz in three of her timelines! 

Start reading TIME IMMEMORIAL via Scrib'd right now in digital or in audio book! 

Cheers and happy reading!

Leanna Renee Hieber

http://leannareneehieber.com

http://twitter.com/leannarenee

http://instagram.com/leannareneehieber

Leanna's 2017 Round Up! New Books, Announcements, TV Appearance and more!

2017 was a difficult year in so many ways, it was a trying time for me, my loved ones and many artists and figures I admire, but I don’t want to shortchange accomplishments of the year and provide an in-case-you-missed-it round up of my publications, features, essays and acclaim that provided many bright spots and affirmations of creativity, hope and spirit. All posts and books I mention are linked in blue for further reading and engagement.

1. I turned in the draft of MISS VIOLET AND THE GREAT WAR (Strangely Beautiful # 4) to my editor at Tor Books in February, its publication date isn’t yet set, but drawing Strangely Beautiful to a close was a heartbreaking and soulful process. I simply cannot wait to share this spirit-filled family legacy with you.

2. As many of you know, the publication journey of the Strangely Beautiful saga has been long and fraught, so the return of The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess, reissued this spring by Tor Books as PERILOUS PROPHECY was pure joy. To have it again available in print is such a blessing. This book, a prequel to the also freshly revised and reissued Strangely Beautiful, delves deeper into the myth, the magic, the tragedy and the passionate, redemptive love that I want to wrap my readers up in; bundling them with lyrical, lush prose.   

3. One of the most wonderful reviews of my work I’ve yet received, written by Shana DuBois for Barnes and Noble’s Blog, really captures what I hope readers will take from this book, penned with every ounce of my heart and soul. "There is something truly magical about Leanna Renee Hieber’s writing. Every page of Perilous Prophecy is infused with it, and it will seep into you, changing you as you read."

4. The wonderful Fantasy Café, after graciously hosting my Penny Dreadful rant last year in which I excoriated the show for its character failings and for its senselessly regressive endings, had me back for their Women in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Feature to discuss The Gothic as a sort of Canary in Fear’s Coal Mine; a discussion of psychological aspects that make the genre so important.

5. Tor.Com had me on to discuss the one book that, if I were to pick one, most changed my life. The Collected works of Edgar Allan Poe. A writer and historical figure that most profoundly made me who I am today, Poe remains an inspiration that has always helped me navigate my own rough waters…

6. In July I guest starred on The Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum! I was in what was called the "Kennedy Wedding Disaster" episode (I speak about the Eddy Brothers and 19th Century Spiritualism, one of my favorite subjects). The episode is available via YouTube or on Hulu. This was so exciting! It was such a treat to speak, for a TV audience, on a subject I know and love so well!

7. In celebration of my ETERNA FILES finale, I stopped by Terrible Minds, Chuck Wendig’s fabulous site, to talk about the Five things I learned (and relearned) writing THE ETERNA SOLUTION.

8. I stopped by the inimitable and generous John Scalzi's domain. For his WHATEVER blog I talked about The Big Idea behind the Eterna Files series as a whole.

9. This November saw the close of my Eterna Files series with THE ETERNA SOLUTION, an exciting conclusion to this Gaslamp Fantasy trilogy, showcasing the importance of localized magic and personal power to fight the last stand of a horrific, violent cabal.

I had wonderful launch parties for this book, just like I did for PERILOUS PROPHECY at Barnes and Noble West Chester, OH and the incredible Morris-Jumel Mansion in New York. Writing this book my inclusive cast of quirky characters endeared themselves to me so deeply, I was sorry to see them draw this part of their narrative to its close but I know I will see many of these fine folks again in future novels, as many of the cast will appear in upcoming books, my extant series all dovetailing in parallel worlds.

Meghan Harker wrote the loveliest review of THE ETERNA SOLUTION for Criminal Element and she put into sharp focus why I do what I do, helping fill my well to continue. "The sheer joy of reading Hieber’s work reminded me of what I strive for as an artist and the power that love and friendship have in fighting against the darkness—which, incidentally, is the culmination of her Eterna Files series."

10. I signed on for a new trilogy with Kensington Books! THE SPECTRAL CITY will release late 2018 from the new Rebel Base imprint. THE SPECTRAL CITY is a bit like if the show Medium were to meet The Alienist. The year is 1899. Eve Whitby, a talented nineteen year old Medium, daughter of Lord Denbury and Natalie Stewart of my Magic Most Foul saga, leads The Ghost Precinct; a small team of Mediums and Ghosts who help solve crimes and in some cases prevent them as Gilded Age New York City, and all its dark undercurrents, are about to tumble into a new century. Spiritualists, Escape Artists, Charlatans, Spectres and High Society all mix in heady, deadly brew. The Ghost Precinct loses its most vital spectral assets and the hunt is on for what in the world could have killed the already dead...   

As always I do many conventions and events throughout the year, check in with my Appearances page on my website and follow my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for regular updates! Feel free to ask any questions on any of my platforms and I'll try to respond as soon as I can to any reasonable query.

Please Note: signed books, jewelry and art can all be procured on my Etsy shop, Torch and Arrow, so feel free to pick up anything you’d like personalized! I make my living entirely as a freelance writer and artist so your direct support helps keep me afloat! Thank you!

Cheers, Happy Haunting and Happy New Year! May the spirits guide you beautifully into 2018!

A moving review of THE ETERNA SOLUTION

Deepest thanks to Meghan Harker at Criminal Element for this moving review of THE ETERNA SOLUTION, out now from Tor Books.

"The sheer joy of reading Hieber’s work reminded me of what I strive for as an artist and the power that love and friendship have in fighting against the darkness..."

Life-affirming, it is words like these that keep me going and resolute on my mission. I hope you'll join us on the journey. Blessings.
Full review:
https://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2017/11/review-the-eterna-solution-by-leanna-renee-Hieber

Order from IndieBound
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Order a Signed, Personalized Copy (as well as jewelry and other unique items!) from Leanna's Etsy store
Order from Amazon

PERILOUS PROPHECY is here! And so is ETERNA AND OMEGA in paperback!

Perilous Prophecy is here! So is Eterna and Omega in paperback and reduced price digital!

 

Overview: Winner of the Prism Award for Best Fantasy Novel

“Tells a love story with exquisite detail.”—TrueBlood.net

Cairo in the 1860s is a bustling metropolis where people from all walks of life mix and mingle, mostly in complex harmony. When evil ghosts and unquiet spirits stalk the city’s streets, the Guard are summoned—six young men and women of different cultures, backgrounds, and faiths, gifted by their Goddess with great powers.  While others of the Guard embrace their duties, their leader, British-born Beatrice, is gripped by doubt. What right has she, a bookish, sheltered, eighteen-year-old, to lead others into battle? Why isn’t dark-eyed, compelling Ibrahim, who is stronger of will than Beatrice, the one in charge? Ghosts maraud through Cairo’s streets, heralding a terrible darkness. Beatrice and her Guard have little time to master their powers; a great battle looms as an ancient prophecy roars toward its final, deadly conclusion.
This enchanting prequel to Leanna Renee Hieber's gaslamp fantasy, Strangely Beautiful, returns to print after many years, edited and revised for Tor's publication

--

If you enjoyed Strangely Beautiful, be sure not to miss this prequel, filled with love and tenderness, amidst difficulties and darkness. This book is my father's favorite of mine (and he's a distinct critic so this means something), and it has a special place in my heart as something lyrical and transcendent. I hope you'll find it moving. It gives a sense of why and how to the origin of the series. This edition was barely out in print before its original publisher closed, so please take a moment and order a copy, digital or in paperback, and please help support it as while it was critically acclaimed, it never was able to gain any audience traction or sales when first released. Order a signed copy from WORD in Brooklyn (put personalization requests in the notes of the order), Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, Amazon, or wherever books are sold. If your local library doesn't have it, request that they buy a copy for their collection! If you can post a review on Amazon or any retailer sites, it helps a lot!

ALSO out this week is the mass-market paperback edition of ETERNA AND OMEGA! The digital price is lowered to match the mass-market so be sure not to miss this thrilling sequel to the Eterna Files, where love trumps hate in a battle between epic, dark forces and localized magic on the haunted streets of New York and London in 1882. Order from Barnes and Noble or your favorite book outlet!

While you're at it, you can PRE-ORDER the finale in the ETERNA series, THE ETERNA SOLUTION, coming November 14th from Tor Books!

Thanks, feel free to share with others, and as always, happy haunting!

 

Upon the Occasion of my Joining the Historical Novel Society: The Musings of a Reincarnate Victorian

Photo by C. Johnstone

Hello, dear reader,

If you know me and my work, some of this musing will be familiar to you and I invite you to pull up your usual chair. If you are new to my work, I welcome you into my parlor and please do avail yourself to a cup of hot tea.  As we count down to the Historical Novel Society conference in Portland, OR this June, I’m pleased to take part in an event celebrating HNS, and discussing why I joined.

Sometimes a writer finds a genre and sometimes it finds you. For me, writing historical fiction was a habit since the age of 12, when I began my first novel, set in 1888 and I never looked forward... While that particular labor of love thankfully never saw the light of day, as childhood manuscripts give way to higher education and better craft, my love of the 1800s only burrowed deeper in my soul. My inexplicable draw to the Victorian era could only be likened to the inescapable pull of a past life. Nothing else quite makes sense.

I did not romanticize the era, though I thought of it as a distant home. Devouring countless novels written by 19^th century authors, I understood the difficult plight of women as second-class citizens, how it was impossible for nearly any marginalized group to have their voices heard or needs met. Through a sense of pain and stalwart determination, I felt I knew the era deeply, its dress, its spirit, its language and the ways of its sooty cities, even though I grew up in rural Ohio. The complex, maddening, gritty, grand, unjust, innovative, brutal, beautiful, awe-inspiring, devastating 19^th century sounded in me like an old familiar tune, and what can one hope to do but put that haunting melody onto paper?

I could not begin my stories, however, without one key element. The paranormal. What was my dear Victoriana without a good ghost story or freakish twist? In my mind those elements had always been entwined. With my sense of the 19^th century came the surety that it was unrepentantly haunted. Credit Dickens, Henry James, Poe, the Brontes and Mary Shelley, as well as my own understanding of the era’s preoccupations.

The 19^th century was a time of great loss. Death was all too common by countless diseases that medicine tried and failed to cure. While the industrial revolution changed everything at a breakneck pace, medicine was trying desperately to keep up. An expansive, holistic death culture and obsession with contacting the deceased was a part of everyday life. With a finger on a Victorian pulse, their obsessions became mine and I entwined elements of the paranormal and the fantastical with all my tales. I write in a realistic 19^th century world in which paranormal things happen. History is at the core, and is the precedent and the foundation.

I went to school for theatre with a focus study in the Victorian era, received a scholarship to travel to London for research, trained and performed extensively in classical theatre around the country, publishing small pieces, all while researching, developing and revising what would become my debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. My debut at its sequel is now reissued as Strangely Beautiful from Tor Books, with its prequel releasing this June, Perilous Prophecy, right during the HNS conference!

When first drafting, I didn’t consider that I’d crossed-genres, I wasn’t aware that when published one could ascribe any number of genre tags to the bulk of my work; Historical, Fantasy, Romance, Young/New Adult, Suspense/Thriller and most of all Gothic. I wasn’t aware that in jumping shelves for my next series, to YA and then to SciFi/Fantasy, that it would mean starting over a bit each time, even though my trajectory as a Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy author has remained the same. While it may be hard for audiences to keep finding me, I am blessed when they do. I have some of the most earnest, interesting and creative readers any author could ask for. It is places like HNS that help audiences find their authors, and I’m so very, very grateful that they include those of us who don’t write strict Historical-only work in their ranks. HNS has created a safe space for all the ways in which writers encompass a love of history. History is the core, all else follows.

I join writers’ organizations to commune with other like minds.  I’d long meant to join the Historical Novel Society, and when my dear friend Elizabeth K. Mahon (Author of ScandalousWomen and HNS Board member) reminded me that not only had my novels been reviewed favorably by the HNS magazine, but that the organization is filled with my kind of people, I couldn’t delay further. Portland will be my first HNS conference and I dearly look forward to seeing old friends and new there.

I know my sense of ‘belonging’ to a specific era will be shared by countless other writers, who belong to any number of other eras; a club of old souls making their way in a modern world. It is a strange and straining sense, to belong to more than one century. It is a wistfulness that at times can be almost painful. Other writers drawn to be a cipher of a distinct time in history will understand that old, beautiful ache. I look forward to reminiscing with you, through the power of our old souls writing modern fiction. We need community to build broader audiences, through each other and what we’ve felt called to write. I'm grateful HNS is one.

For those attending, I hope I see you at my panels on Friday and also, look for me at a table filled with shiny, pretty, neo-Victorian things like you'll see on my Etsy! One of my other passions and jobs is as a creator and curator of Gothic, Steampunk and Victorian-styled jewelry, as well as author-themed brooches, pins and necklaces. Stop by and procure a one of a kind treasure! I also hope I'll see you all at the book signing to celebrate our love of books. I can't wait to connect with kindred spirits.

Keep channeling your centuries, friends, and I hope you'll enjoy mine.

Leanna Renee

Latest novel: Eterna & Omega
(Think X-files meets Penny Dreadful)
Second in the Eterna Files series of Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy with Tor Books.

Upcoming novel: Perilous Prophecy.
A mythic, Gothic Gaslamp Fantasy set in 1860s Cairo and London, featuring an inter-faith cast of young mortals drawn into an immortal's plot of love and war between the living and dead. A Strangely Beautiful prequel. Signed pre-orders via WORD Brooklyn.

Most known for: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, (think Harry Potter meets Jane Eyre) an eerie, sweeping, ghostly, Gothic romance set in 1888 London at the time of Jack the Ripper, featuring a group of unlikely heroes, outcasts and orphans, who must band together to save the mortal world from the onslaught of the spirit world. Originally published in 2009 as separate novels, this new 2016 revised, author preferred edition contains the first two books in the Strangely Beautiful saga.

Leanna's free reads!
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In which Leanna discusses ETERNA AND OMEGA and her reincarnate Victorian spirit!

In which Leanna discusses ETERNA AND OMEGA, the exciting sequel to THE ETERNA FILES, and the ways in which she considers herself a reincarnate Victorian, clothes and all. Enjoy and share with friends and anyone interested in Historical Fantasy!

"The Spark" a FREE prequel novella in the ETERNA FILES universe is live via Tor Books today!

My Darling readers! The fine folks at Tor present "The Spark" a FREE full length Eterna Files prequel novella via the Tor/Forge blog! I wrote this novella to give you some background and insight to the life of paranormal researcher Louis Dupris and his secret love Clara Templeton and his spiritual journey before the events of The Eterna Files, book one, and beautifully timed just before the August 9^th release of ETERNA & OMEGA which picks up exactly where book one leaves off.

Please read, enjoy, please share, and please support this series! Your support means I can do more for you, my wonderful readership. Please support the ETERNA series by leaving reviews, by pre-ordering ETERNA& OMEGA (for signed, personalized copies please support the amazing local NYC independent bookstore WORD and leave personalization requests in the notes/comment sections), by talking up the series. If you’re new to the series, this free prequel novella is a great place to start!

All my worlds are parallel worlds so in the Eterna Files series, you’ll see cameo appearances of characters from my other books, so please come join in the Gothic, supernatural fun! These books mean the world to me. I was put on this earth to write these stories and I’m grateful you’re on this sacred journey with me.

Please luxuriate in some free fiction today, lose yourself in Gothic Victorian Fantasy, enjoy "The Spark"! Please take a moment to help me get the word out about "The Spark" on Twitter today (I’m @LeannaRenee and on FB: http://facebook.com/lrhieber ) and as always, I appreciate each and every one of you so much! Cheers and happy haunting! 

ETERNA AND OMEGA excerpt, pre-orders and more!

Hello Darling Readers,

I've been oh-so-very busy writing you wonderful new stories, like the third Eterna Files novel, working title: THE ETERNA SOLUTION‎ and much more, dreaming up new stories with familiar faces as all my worlds and stories continue to be parallel storylines.

I am very much enjoying exploring new territory of the supernatural and spiritual, and I'm so excited to share the next books with you.

Stay tuned this month as the Tor/Forge blog will be bringing you a FREE novella in the ETERNA FILES world, you'll learn more about ghostly Louis Dupris, his relationship with his brother, with Clara Templeton and their unfolding love, and the mysteries that surround them. Think of it as a prequel to book 1.

Speaking of book 1, for those of you who were so very upset by THE ETERNA FILES cliffhanger, worry not, I'd never do that to you without promise of a sequel, and ETERNA AND OMEGA is almost here! August 9th! You can get a signed, personalized pre-order copy from WORD bookstore, a fabulous independent company in Brooklyn that is very involved with their community and so good to local authors. Pre-orders help authors so much as it shows the publisher there is interest in the book and series and helps that series continue. Please place any personalization requests in the comments/notes section of the order so WORD can share with me how/to whom you'd like it signed/dedicated.

YOU CAN READ CHAPTER ONE of the new ETERNA AND OMEGA right now! The fine folks at Tor.com have posted the first part of the novel! Go forth, read, enjoy (Magic Most Foul fans you'll notice Evelyn Northe-Stewart is a familiar co-star in this section!), and please share the post and spread the word about this series! I'm really trying to build back momentum with Tor, it's always so important to foster word-of-mouth with a new series and your support is priceless!

Also, I know Miss Percy and STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL has a LOT of loving fans. Can you take a moment to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads for STRANGELY and ETERNA FILES? The more reviews, the more visible Amazon makes the product to customers. That word-of-mouth thing in action. Thank you!

Cincinnati, OH! I'll be joining you for an incredible LAUNCH DAY party for ETERNA AND OMEGA on August 9th, 7pm at Barnes and Noble in the Streets of Westchester shops off Union Center Blvd exit.

Stay tuned for more appearances, there will be an NYC reprisal of our amazing Morris-Jumel Mansion event, waiting to lock down the date, but get ready to return to Manhattan's oldest (and most haunted) house to enjoy its renovation and celebrate ETERNA AND OMEGA's release as well as the launch of Wormwood and Gall's new ETERNA line of creepy, gothic accessories!

Cheers, happy reading, and as always, Happy Haunting!

Leanna

Eterna Character Insights and Signed Book Giveaways!

Hello Dear Readers!

We’ve a month to go until the mass-market edition of THE ETERNA FILES, book 1 in my current Gaslamp Fantasy trilogy with Tor Books, releases into the wild, seen here, replete with new parasol and spiffy review quote:

I am an extremely character-driven storyteller and none so much as in THE ETERNA FILES, a large cast novel that posits two “X-Files-ish” departments in London and New York in 1882 on a perilous crash-course while each office seeks immortality on behalf of their respective governments. What these departments get instead is a ghostly, ghastly window into hell while demons stalk their cities.

Because my work is so character-driven, I wanted to further invest in my characters in this series by allowing you, dear readers, to have some questions answered. I’ve collected a few questions via my online platforms and my ETERNA characters will be answering them all month, here and on various guest posts as my characters haunt the net. AND you see I’ll be hosting several giveaways for signed copies of this new- and very affordable I might add-mass-market edition. I hope that those who are already fans of THE ETERNA FILES will re-engage with my characters and those who are new to my series will find themselves intrigued and we’ll all be eagerly on board for book two, ETERNA AND OMEGA, when it releases this August!

We’re starting off these character insights with a question from one of my most thoughtful and considered readers, Gemma L, who asks this stunning question of my character Louis:

“In death, or at least the ghost state you are in, do you find there is the same propulsion toward purpose and growth that one feels in life?”

Louis Dupris is a young man who came to The Eterna Commission in 1880, up from New Orleans, with a vision of mixing scientific discovery with what he finds sacred in his Vodoun belief system. THE ETERNA FILES opens its first chapters with a great tragedy, and Louis finds himself addressing his work from the other side of the veil… He answers the question thusly:

Louis:

“I appreciate the gravity and weight of this important query. I was always driven in life, I find myself no different in death, however much like laws of physics, I find myself unable to gain as much traction. I mean this both literally and figuratively, as my ghostly feet do not touch the earth anymore, I float along like a feather in swirling wind. I do not have the same ability to keep a razor-sharp focus as I once did. But I yearn for the truth, to find out what happened to me, why our work brought out demonic presences who seemed threatened by what our commission created in that dim, isolated lab.

The thirst for answers is as vital to me as my love my darling Clara Templeton, muse of my work, the mind behind The Eterna Commision, fraught as it may have been. I love her perhaps more keenly in death. Ghosts who remain tethered to their work, to earth, to life, to love, I suppose by nature are pining beings. I am certainly hungry. Empty. Starving for details, action and resolution. And yet because of this quest I am not a husk, I am not without life, it’s just that life has changed so much.

I am growing accustomed to a thought taking longer to complete, death causing a prolonged state of pensive meditation. I have to force myself to appear to my brother, to Clara, to any colleague I might have spiritual access to, with the full awareness that their clock is in minutes and hours while my presence here in this grey between could be eternal. Time here is different. Temperature, weight and all physical properties are different. But my heart is unchanged and if there is one thing to celebrate about this change of state and status, is that I have access to a new knowledge, there are things I can discern in this space between life and death I could not see, nor hear nor grasp in corporeal life. This is what will keep my feet as close to the ground as possible as I run towards my destiny.”

Thank you, my dear Louis, thank you Gemma for the question, and thank you, dear readers, for coming to play with us. Have more questions for my characters, Louis or any of my 19^th century characters? All my worlds are parallel worlds, so characters from my Strangely Beautiful as well as Magic Most Foul novels appear in THE ETERNA FILES series!  If you’ve a question, please leave a comment below and my characters will get back to you!

Want to keep posted on my books right from the source? Tor Books has created an email list for my readers, it just takes one second to sign up so please do, you'll get first look at new content, first access to announcements, first chance at sales on my books and more!

This month I'll also be answering questions for:

Scandalous Women
The Gothic Library
Historical Non-Fiction Author Michelle L. Hamilton
So stay tuned for those links!

And now... Giveaways! Via Rafflecopter below, win one of three signed copies of the mass-market edition of THE ETERNA FILES and a signed book plate for the upcoming sequel ETERNA & OMEGA! US only please, thanks!


 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Updates, Asimov's Magazine Review, Appearances, Dreadpunk and more!

Darlings!

The whirlwind paces continue! DragonCon and Space Coast Comic Con were really wonderful across the board, amazing panels and audiences! I signed tons of books and sold a great deal of art! The rest of the month has seen me busy restocking and working on a few short stories, with Eterna Files book 2 edits up ahead.

This month, as you all should know, it is Halloween Awareness Month! And I'm all over New York City and the surrounding environs in really amazing capacities, whether giving ghost talks at local libraries (Hoboken, East Meadow) or signing books and selling art at amazing festivals in incredible historic, haunted locations (Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Morris Jumel Mansion) check out the upcoming APPEARANCES here on the website and come get a signed book and some one of a kind jewelry and art!

In spectacular Industry review news: I'm honoured that in the September issue of Asimov's Magazine I was given this truly incredible review for Eterna Files, I'm so humbled and in awe of the beautiful things said:

Eterna Moonshine of the Spotted Mind

The alert book-shopper will find an advance-publication quote from me adorning the front cover of Leanna Renee Hieber’s novel The Eterna Files (Tor, hardcover, $24.99, 320 pages, ISBN 978-
0-7653-5674-5). Without much real acquaintance with the author, I was motivated to provide a quote based sheerly on the high quality of the book. So I thought I would use a small amount of this column to explicate my admiration further.

The novel falls squarely into the steampunk genre, but exhibits a richer helping of metaphysics than is common in that game, and a bit more gravitas. Hieber’s MacGuffin is the quest for immortality,
surely a subject that can bear the symbolic weight. In the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, a small group of eccentric talents are given the assignment of learning how to defeat death. Chief among these is our heroine, Clara Templeton, a psychic. We pick up her tale when the project is at a crisis point after many years. Several of the researchers have been brutally murdered, including Clara’s lover. Is the project doomed, or so close to success that it has aroused great powers?

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the British government has learned of the Eterna project and decided to steal or preempt it. They have assigned London detective Harold Spire to the case, and given him the assistance of the redoubtable Rose Everhart. Needless to say, presented with such a formidable array of allies and antagonists, many sparks, supernatural and otherwise, are going to fly. Hieber’s approach to the “science” of anti-death protocols is fascinating. (She even gets in a nod to Clarke’s Third Law: “All sciences, at their zenith, create what is tantamount to sorcery.”) Blending a kind of alchemy with unique “patriotic magic,” the pursuit assumes epistemological magnitude.

Says Louis, Clara’s lover (who continues to play a role as a ghost), “The key of Eterna, ma cherie, is to determine the boundaries of meaning. Nothing that may have meaning in terms of life can be overlooked.” This is a wide remit, and eventually Clara comes to wonder if they have bitten off more than they can chew. “Eterna was full of the restless living and the restless dead. It needed to die once and for all.”

Rich in conceits as anything from Alan Moore, Hieber’s novel mixes action and the emotional lives of its characters into a fascinating stew. Anyone who enjoyed Paul Cornell’s London Falling and The
Severed Streets will certainly cozy up to Hieber’s parallel depiction of questioning savants and heroes versus the forces of anarchy and despair." Asimov’s Magazine - September 2015 - Paul Di Filippo

(More about The Eterna Files here)

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In GENRE news: I was also really psyched to be a part of the first ever DREADPUNK panel at DragonCon, "Dreadpunk" being a new word to talk about some of the great things happening in the Gothic Genre today, and to talk about those trends in new ways. Considering I exist under similar parasols as Steampunk and other retro-futurist genres, "Dreadpunk" helps me express the Gothic Horror underpinnings of a lot of my work and inspiration, without being beholden to the traditional feminine issues represented it traditional Gothics. The Daily Dot did an incredible article about the Dreadpunk panel and I was fortunate enough to be very featured. Check it out here.

Book Stuffs: THE DARK NEST CHRONICLES are now out across the boards; digitally, each as separate novellas 1-3, Dark Nest, Dark Nest: Reckoning and Dark Nest: Song of Saire or in the compilation The Dark Nest Chronicles, AND they have all been collected in a paperback edition available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so if you haven't taken a turn to this lesser-known Space Opera series of mine, go forth! These are action-packed quick reads with inspiring psychic characters you'll fall in love with and root for as they try to save their people from genocide.

O Ye Lovecraftian Devotees! I'm also quite pleased to have been asked to contribute a chilling and very strange (even for me, so that's saying something) piece for THE BOOK OF STARRY WISDOM, an amazing new high-end and very artistic Lovecraft volume currently funding HERE. The book features newly edited editions of the main cult of Cthulhu stories as well as original fiction from a slew of talents. I'm really thrilled to be in amazing company of artists and authors here, it's going to be a must-have volume for any Lovecraft fan. If you get a copy, everyone wins as the stretch goals will also be amazing!

Lots of new things up on the Etsy store! Tons of new Poe pieces honouring my favourite author and foremost inspiration (my best selling items!). Everything is one of a kind and original, never are two pieces alike so if you see something you like, pick it up before it's gone and never made again! (Commissions are welcome). BLOG10 is a coupon code for you fine folks, so don't forget to use it!

October will see the re-issue of my short story "Sea-Found" in Fantasy Scroll magazine, there will be an audio edition starring yours truly that will accompany the reissue as well!

As always, there's a lot going on in the Hieberverse so I shall try to keep you all updated here as best I can, thanks for being a part of these worlds! Happy Haunting!

Interviews, Features, and Germany!

Greetings, Dear Readers!

While on ETERNA FILES book tour, the amazing folks at FANGIRLISH caught up with me for an exclusive interview! I talk books, inspiration, a new life at Tor and more:


And in print news, I was thrilled that my first installment in the ETERNA FILES saga got a wonderful write-up in this month's Locus Magazine, such a delight to see my work examined in thoughtful comprehension. Stay tuned for further upcoming interviews as well.
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And I am SO EXCITED by my upcoming German translation of THE ETERNA FILES, Book 1, the edition will release this October via Feder & Schwert. In German, the title is DAS OMEGA KORPS, DIE AETERNA-ACTEN, 1. It sounds so fierce, I'm psyched. Here's the kick-ass cover:

 

If you read German, here's the order link, let me know what you think! This is a particular thrill to me due to my German heritage, I've always wanted to be published there. Hopefully I'll have my Turkish editions of DARKER STILL to show you soon as well!

 

Cheers and Happy Haunting!  

The Eterna Files: Blog Tour round-up round one!

Dear Readers:

I've been promoting THE ETERNA FILES far and wide, with some wide ranging guest posts as well, I hope you'll peruse what I've been up to and gain insights into parts of my writing process:

For Nick Kaufmann's "The Scariest Part" I talk about what was the most terrifying part of writing the Eterna Files: Clara's countdown to unconsciousness.

For the Tor/Forge Newsletter: "It's Not a Costume its My Day Job" about dressing up, writing and the art of character.

Book Tour updates! Are you in NYC, Florida, Atlanta or Cincinnati, Ohio? Check out my latest book tour appearances. Barnes & Noble West Chester Ohio, 3/3 at 7pm has just been added!

If you'd like a signed, personalized book, get your orders in before book tour begins! Order now from WORD Bookstores, please put personalization requests in the "comments" section of the order.

Stay tuned for more fabulous guest posting and further reports from the paranormal front lines!

Cheers and happy haunting!

Out of the Deadline Cave and Into the Taco Church...

Greetings, Dear Reader! Those of you who follow my goings on know that I've been a bit under a rock on  major major book deadline(s). I've come out briefly for things like one day at the Steampunk World's Fair and one day at Book Expo America, but the most important thing of late has been getting THE ETERNA FILES ready for your delectable consumption come this fall with a teaser novella and early 2015 with book one's magical release, as I shift my writerly career into the hands of Tor Books, a transition I am very excited to make.

I've also been working background on the HBO show Boardwalk Empire lately, I'm so proud I've worked every season of the show. ANOTHER TREAT was the thrill of seeing myself featured in the James Gray film The Immigrant, a 1920s period drama that's a really amazing film. I'm sitting next to Marion Cotillard (Ewa) as she watches Jeremy Renner (Orlando the magician) wow the Ellis Island audience with his performance. My hair is in a bun, I'm in glasses, and you see me several times in those shots and I'm really thrilled, as working that particular Ellis Island scene as well as working several days on the whole production, was a really wonderful experience, especially as a historical novelist, their eye to detail and care for us as a group was great.  

I'll ALSO be featured in the upcoming episode of the Urban Fantasy web-series full of kick-ass fights and general genre fabulousness, SKYE OF THE DAMNED, episode 5, in which I play Danae, Queen of the Unseelie FAE. I know, ME? Queen of the dark fae? No. That so doesn't suit me at all. *grin* So stay tuned for that episode launching next week!

If you haven't caught up with my books and want some insight into THE ETERNA FILES, as I'll be taking some of the darkest plot threads of the Magic Most Foul saga and making it all A WHOLE LOT CREEPIER (I know, it's hard to do, because it's damn creepy already, but in my coming works, the creepy expands on a far grander scale), please check out the Magic Most Foul series and in book 3, The Double Life of Incorporate Things, I introduce some of my Eterna Files stars.

ETERNA will launch a teaser novella with Tor this fall and we'll have an early 2015 debut, so STAY TUNED! (And catch up on Magic Most Foul. It certainly isn't a prerequisite, however if you like Gothic Victorian Paranormal Fantasy, well, then, you're in the right place as that's entirely what I do.)

IN THE MEANTIME - THE HOLY TACO CHURCH and PHOENIX COMICON!

The amazing Kevin Hearne, who might be one of the most utterly delightful gentleman on the planet, as fabulous an author as he is a human, has organized an amazing author group that I'm very tickled to be a part of. Follow our religious love of food (particularly Tacos and Margaritas) alongside the goings on of our books. I'm holding down the Vegetarian quotient of the Holy Taco Church as Our Lady Pico de Gallo and will be offering up some of the ways I taco it up without dead carcass. My first post goes up June 12th, but please check out the site and our fabulous authors and sign up for our mailing list.

If any of you are in the Phoenix Comicon area, a great deal of "The Church" will be in attendance so come see us! I'll have all three Magic Most Foul saga books available via the wonderful Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore to sign over in our Author Alley, if you have stock of any Strangely Beautiful editions that are now out of print (But not for long as everything begins it's new and shiny re-issue next year thanks to Tor!) feel free to bring them along and I'll love to sign those too! Cheers!

Here are my favourite BEA pictures taken by the lovely Alexis Daria! The first is of me side by side with my beloved Alethea Kontis, we celebrated 5 years of being Kindred Spirits this BEA, and Alexis got the next picture of me during my signing at the Science Fiction / Fantasy Writers of America booth. Cheers and happy haunting! 

Announcing A New Book Deal: New Gaslamp Fantasy Saga with TOR!

Ladies and Gents it is that exciting time when I am now officially allowed to announce a whole new series!

I am beside-myself-thrilled to announce a new 3 book deal with a publisher I have always wanted to work with, Tor Books, Fantasy imprint of Macmillan.

Introducing the ETERNA FILES (working series title): A quirky, character-driven Gaslamp Fantasy saga set in 1882 New York and London, following two eccentric, unclassified governmental agencies during a paranormal arms race for immortality between the US and England.

Yes, I am blessed to remain in my very favourite time period and in my very favourite setting: a Victorian paranormal adventure driven by a madcap cast of characters. My three series are parallel worlds, so stay tuned for ways in which my other worlds may pass subtly through the Eterna Files, and prepare yourself for a big new cast of zany, gifted, odd and indomitable agents from New York and across the pond, positing two secret bureaus in the early days of America and England's national security service agencies. I'm having such fun with them already.

I'm not sure about release date for Eterna's Book 1, but you can experience an upcoming character in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: A Collection of Gaslamp Fantasy (March 2013 from Tor) with Eterna likely launching sometime fall 2013.

Huge thanks to my readers and supporters, without you I wouldn't be able to make such an announcement! I do hope you'll stay tuned for future updates, also, within the next month or so I hope to have the first Strangely Beautiful book up for re-release. So a lot of exciting things are coming down the pike as I prepare for the release of The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart in November!

Cheers and blessings!