COVER REVEAL: THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART

Hi friends! Book Expo America was amazing. I got to meet a bunch of my fellow Apocalypsies, I was interviewed by Justine Magazine and Bookish, spoke on panels, had a lovely signing at the RWA booth, attended book and blogger parties and had an amazing time talking about books with all kinds of lovely book-loving people. AND, another perk of BEA is that Sourcebooks got a chance to say that my beautiful cover is officially revealed. Here she is, sequel to my Indie Next pick and Scholastic "highly recommended" title DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul... May I present THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART...

Swoon!

It releases the beginning of November at a bookstore near you!

From the back cover:

"I'm coming for you."

The whispers haunt her dreams and fill her waking hours with dread. Something odd is happening. Something unnatural.

Possession of the living. Resurrection of the dead.

And Natalie Stewart is caught right in the middle. Jonathon, the one person she thought she could trust, has become a double-agent for the dark side. But he plays the part so well, Natalie has to wonder how much he's really acting. She can't even see what it is she's fighting. But the cost of losing is her heart, her sanity, her soul.

I can't wait to share more of Natalie and Jonathon's adventures with you! I'm very proud of this book, it's action-packed, romantic, and guaranteed to give you goosebumps-- maybe a nightmare or two... 

Official Book Trailer for DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul

From the back cover of DARKER STILL:

“I was obsessed. It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I’d ever seen. Everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable-- utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide.

He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I’ve crossed over into his world within the painting and I’ve seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked- bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. And unless I can free him soon, things will only get darker still..."

Read the first 30 Pages of Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul

Cover Reveal! DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul

11/11 from Sourcebooks Fire...



















DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul -- 11/11 from Sourcebooks Fire

(GOTHIC HISTORICAL YA: 1880 New York City)
From the back cover:

“A lush Gothic tale that begs for reading… I couldn’t put it down.” – New York Times Bestselling Author Sarah Maclean

“The brightest new star in literature.” - True-Blood.Net

“I was obsessed.

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I’d ever seen. Everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable. So lifelike.

There’s a reason for that. Because despite what everyone says, Denbury never did commit suicide. He’s alive. Trapped.

I’ve crossed over into his world within the painting and I’ve seen what dark dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked. And whatever demons may be out on the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan, we have no choice but to face them together…”

Pre-Order DARKER STILL
Join the Magic Most Foul FB Page

BOOK REVIEWERS AND ENTHUSIASTS! If you're going to Book Expo America:

DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul was listed as a "Big Children's/YA Book of Book Expo America" by Publishers Weekly!

I'll be with the SOURCEBOOKS team handing out ARC copies of DARKER STILL at Book Expo America - Tuesday 2:30pm at the SOURCEBOOKS booth, booth # 4356!

Cheers!

All hail the Windy City...

Whew! What a week! 2 days in Ohio, a day and a half in Milwaukee, a stint in Chicago, and now I'm back. May it be noted that all three of those locations were bloody cold. NYC is no tropical paradise either. *sips 5th cup of clove tea in the last few hours*
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The trip, while one big mad rush, was lovely. It began with a brief time with my family in Ohio, where Marcos and I saw a flock of wild turkeys. Among other things. Um, awesome. Don't get me wrong, we had great meals, great company and exchanged lovely gifts, but the turkeys were definitely a highlight. You just don't see things like this in NYC. We did, however, find a Marc Anthony "Live From New York City" CD at the Walgreens in Hamilton. (An album that Marcos had never seen in NYC. Irony.)

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I employed the use of a motor-vehicle to make a bit of a midwestern-snow-filled road trip. At one point a truck stop supplied us with the necessary Red Bull and The Best of Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash albums. (At one point my music mix went from Ministry's "Every Day is Halloween" to "My Tennessee Mountain Home" and I rocked out equally, this is how it is with me.) We trekked out to Wisconsin so that I could have a moment with the "in laws" in the Brew City before moving onwards towards business in Chicago.

What business, you ask? Why, touching down in the home offices of my new publisher, of course! Sourcebooks has a New York branch, but the home offices are just outside Chicago. I've been very excited about all the initiatives Sourcebooks has been doing these past few years, and even more excited to be on their upcoming roster. Kelly and Paul treated me to a day of showing me around, talking shop, and being generally wonderful. It helps that Sourcebooks' founder and CEO Dominique Raccah is one of the warmest, most engaging and dynamic people; she's a visionary in the field and I feel blessed to now be a part of what she's built and keeps strongly building.
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I was called upon to present two brief selections from the draft of -working title- Magic Most Foul. (Releasing November 1st, 2011). Considering my theatrical background, doing readings is always my favourite part of the process, and I was graced by the whole team as an audience. The atrium centre of the Sourcebooks home office is exceedingly pleasant, replete with foliage and fountain, and it was there where I was seated next to the book-bedecked and quote-adorned cow of literacy. (Many cities have had variations on this sort of themed sculpture parade, with various companies sponsoring the resulting works, Sourcebooks urban legend says they outbid Oprah for said bovine...) I had such a lovely time with the whole, lovely team. And a big shout-out to Sean Murray for winning Barnes & Noble's sales rep award! I'm very thrilled to have such talent on board. Check them out on Twitter and follow all their goings on!

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I also had the great joy of meeting with Liz of True-Blood.Net, the original Fansite for HBO's True Blood. If you've spent any time on their amazing forum or here on my blog, you'll know that they've been one of the most ardent supporters of the Strangely Beautiful series. Liz and I talked for hours (and could have talked more if I didn't have to meet up with the friend housing me) about life, writing, their exciting initiatives regarding all their Fansite knowledge, and we agreed that True-Blood.Net will be where the exclusive cover reveal for Book 3, The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess , will land! So stay tuned! The Strangely Beautiful series will continue before we know it (May!) and there's lots to update! Thanks tons also to Liz at True-Blood.Net for including Strangely Beautiful in the True Blood Holiday Gift Guide! I'm so thrilled to be up there with such big names in the field! Thank you Mel and Liz!
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After a day at Sourcebooks, fellow author of goddess-themed books and friend from the FF&P RWA Chapter, Pamala Knight, kindly agreed to bring me in for my Direct Your Book workshop for the Chicago North RWA Chapter! I was thrilled to have a moment with the talented and lovely Blythe Gifford and hear about her upcoming trilogy (yay!) and the equally talented and lovely Beverly Long and hear about her next Time Travel (another yay!). These ladies are just two of many- the wealth of talent this RWA Chapter has is very impressive. I met a slew of awesome and enthusiastic fellow writers on every part of the often difficult publishing journey, which ever reminds me how much I enjoy the company of artists.

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My beloved, extremely talented friend Danny Taylor was kind enough to house me in the Windy City, and it's always so lovely to see him, he was in the founding "Young Company" of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company with me way back in the day - truly endless days of touring and performing Shakespeare that proved very formative for me. We looked through old photos and he made me snort wine out my nose with laughter. Good times.

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And now I'm back in NYC and slammed on deadline for the Strangely Beautiful musical script, and revisions on two novels and a novella. Whee!

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A MIDWINTER FANTASY is featured on Borders' True Romance blog! Please come by and say hello! (And you'll be entered to win goodies from Sue Grimshaw's stash!)

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Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my household and kisses from Persebunny the fluffy white bunny.

Strangely Beautiful the Musical. In the Beginning...

How does one make a show? A show on a trajectory to a Broadway musical? Very carefully. And with talented people. Step by step, a show comes together.

I hope you'll recall this spring when I excitedly announced that the option rights had been sold for my debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker to be adapted into a musical theatre production. As an actress / playwright / author who never expected all her talents to come crashing together into one enormous dream, there's nothing really more thrilling, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that its happening. Now to be clear, it's a long road to Broadway, with stops in other cities prior to the big move, but making a show begins small; in the minds and hearts of a core group of people, and for me, on index cards. I promised I'd offer an inside view onto the process, so here goes.

My role as script writer (in theatrical terms: "the book" of the musical) is to create the structure into which the composer and lyricist's beautiful (and I mean beautiful- they've done incredible work so far) songs will be placed, and make sure the connective tissue from one theme to the next is full of simple but effective storytelling.

To do this, I had to think of my book in skeletal form; to storyboard it out. To wrap my head around this, I picked up a stack of blank index cards. I've been working on the Strangely Beautiful storyline for a decade at this point so I pretty much know the story blindfolded, in my sleep, by rote, etc. Rather than picking up the book, I simply thought about the bare bones of my story. On the top card I wrote: "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker As Told By Index Cards" (see photographic evidence). When adapting a work of fiction that is ostensibly longer than the work you are adapting it into, the main plot points are what needs representation, not all the details.

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I then took what were the obvious bullet-points and typed up a document with headers and subcategories, the main events and the smaller moments, called "beats" in theatre. I also included in the document some quotes from the novel encapsulating the 'feel' and most important theme of that particular chapter. From this the composer and lyricist hopefully get a sense of things to take away into their own work, which is to write the big numbers, while I create the structure and weave in appropriate dialogue, which will either be spoken or sung, depending on what the creative team decides. I have to be a storyteller on a grand and bold scale, making sure the bare bones of what Strangely Beautiful is all about remains structurally clear, the musical numbers filling in and fleshing out all the information, conflict and emotion I've hopefully set into place.

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Last week I sat in on a session sharing some of the themes, music and lyrics already composed for the show. All I can say is wow. I think the music is inspired, lovely and well-suited, atmospheric, beautiful when beauty is called for and spooky when called for. The team had a great discussion, we made some choices and got on the same page, I cut some characters (a necessary evil, it must be done!) in hard and fast decisions.

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And I had a moment, sitting at the table, my book in front of me, music inspired from my book caressing my ears, and all my years of theatre training and playwrighting and fiction writing had led me to that moment where I felt a God-like voice murmur: You were meant for this.

And so it is; we're making a show. I'll keep you posted along this magical journey as it continues to unfold.

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Newsy Bits:

We have a release date for A Midwinter Fantasy including "A Christmas Carroll" (Strangely Beautiful 2.5): November 23. (digital / eBook only). Join the Midwinter Page for access to more details.

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I joined my new publisher's Teen Fire forum, where we'll be actively discussing YA Fiction and Magic Most Foul. Join in the fun! I just set up a group for Magic Most Foul, so come join me!

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I just turned the sequel to Dark Nest, titled Dark Nest: Reckoning, to my editor and that should release from Crescent Moon Press within the next couple of months. Look at CMP's pretty new site! It's definately a change of pace to return to the Dark Nest world, a futuristic paranormal, but I hope all those who have been asking "what is going on on that ship next!" will be pleased. :)

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If you still have not joined my new Facebook Page, please do, I'll be running a lot of contests from there in the months to come and a lot of information will flow through that portal in regards to Magic Most Foul, Dark Nest, and also, the future of the Strangely Beautiful series.

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Cheers and blessings!

Announcing MAGIC MOST FOUL... a new series!

(Photo by Barbara Vey - Thanks Barbara!) Monday night was quite an exciting night. It being the first Monday of the month, it was Lady Jane's Salon and we had an incredible lineup of bestselling authors; from L to R, Sabrina Jeffries (who recently hit #8 on the NYT with her latest!), innovator, author and activist Donna Hill, the charming and hilarious Janet Mullany, and myself in my Victorian regalia, de rigeur whenever I'm reading. We also had the pleasure of Publishers Weekly's Barbara Vey being our guest Emcee for the evening, thanks to Barbara for this picture and for mentioning us on her Beyond Her Book PW blog! Getting to step from Lady Jane's co-founder into the spotlight to read is always one of my favourite events, since I don't have time to be on stage in productions anymore, reading at Lady Jane's certainly scratches that itch. I read from "A Christmas Carroll" featured in A MIDWINTER FANTASY, and since there's been a delay in the release, Dorchester has put up a special MIDWINTER Page where you can join the mailing list and receive coupons too! Check it out!

The crowd was filled with industry professionals, authors and readers. It was here, as I took the stage, that I got to make the announcement of my really good news; a new book deal!

Come November, 2011, I'll begin my new Victorian Paranormal Young Adult series: MAGIC MOST FOUL...


Set in 1882 New York City, the story is told via the diary of eighteen-year old Natalie Stewart, a spirited and intelligent young woman who, despite innate talents, suffers from Selective Mutism due to a childhood trauma. When her father, who works for the new Metropolitan Museum of Art, gets wrapped up in a supposedly haunted painting, Natalie's world is turned upside down. A sensitive young woman who has always wondered about the supernatural, she has no idea how profoundly her curiosity is only the tip of a terrifying iceberg of dark magic. The portrait of young Lord Jonathon Denbury is no ordinary painting. Inside that canvass is a trapped soul, while a body possessed is terrorizing New York's infamous Five Points. Its up to Natalie and her newfound guide, the wealthy and compelling caretaker of the painting, Mrs. Evelyn Northe, to solve the mystery of the curse and up to Natalie alone to reverse it. All while on a ticking clock; the soul of Lord Denbury is fading. The harrowing mystery must be solved before more murders take place, and Natalie must find the courage to not only stare a demon in the face, but to use her most hidden of all gifts; her own voice.

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With ties to my favourite 19th century novels, this series will create common ground for those who love the classics and those who love YA/Teen paranormal fiction. I get to maintain my background in and my profound love of Victorian-era stories, continue with my theme of unusual, unique, underdog heroines; as Natalie is a strong and vibrant character despite her disability, and weave in the sort of dark, lyrical, fantastical paranormal reality that I love most in storytelling. For those of you who have loved the Strangely Beautiful saga, I promise you this will appeal to you as well. While entirely new; it will feel familiar; a different dress out of a similar fabric, creating a fresh design from my favourite materials.
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The series will release in Trade Paperback format, as well as in digital, from Sourcebooks and their Teen Fire line. I'm very, very excited. My editor, Leah Hultenschmidt, is fabulous, and the Sourcebooks team is a thrilling cast of individuals passionate about the book arts. Follow Sourcebooks on Twitter, Paul their Fire publicist, and Danielle their Romance publicist, they've got a lot of exciting things going on. Those of you who love YA fiction check out the Teen Fire forum.

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Blessings and thanks for your support along the way! I couldn't do it without my committed readers, friends and fans. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to continue writing the fantastical stories that keep me up at night for the love of them.