The Deputy's First Screenshots!

Auror's Tale: Last week I finally got to play in the castle and I had an amazing time filming in an amazing setting. Here are my character's first screenshots! I'm so thrilled. To follow my character Deputy Kellion more closely, here's my Tumblr for her. Those of you going to DragonCon, check out my schedule so you can come get Auror's Tale swag during my autogrpahing session on Saturday afternoon (1-2pm M301 - M304 - Marriott) my novels will be available at Larry Smith Booksellers on the vendor floor and I will be more than happy to sign them. Episode 1 should be up within the next couple of weeks! Have you, like all of us who work as a labor of love on this project, wondered what Wizarding in NYC might be like? Follow us to find out.


Deputy Kellion (Leanna Renee Hieber) and Chief Munro (Lawrence Crimlis) --- New York City Department of Magical Law Enforcement

The Chief and Deputy address new Auror recruits.

The Senior Aurors, administering Auror training

Authors After Dark NOLA

The Authors After Dark convention was a great deal of fun, in one of my most beloved cities, New Orleans. I am slammed on deadline, so here's my quick and dirty wrap-up. It is really hard to wrap my brain around all the events, visits, panels and sights, so forgive me if I miss a detail or two. I have my head in two different fictional worlds right now, as well as filming, so I'm a bit scatterbrained.

I feel so very at home in New Orleans, it is a city of great power for me. You may recall the last time I was in NOLA, this past February, and my amusing incident as a "Legit Vampire". I am pleased to report that my Vampire Legitimacy continued this trip. As I went into the Boutique du Vampir, the woman behind the counter looked up at me and asked "are you a local? You seem like a local."

I take that as a compliment. I got a chance to meet a whole bunch of new friends, spend time with fabulous folks like con organizer Stella Price and my steampunk peeps A. L. Davroe, PJ Schnyder, the hysterical Tee and Pip Morris (stay tuned, I'll eventually have some upcoming business with those two fabulous hooligans) and Lia Habel. One of the delights of the convention was the Steampunk Tea where my fellow authors and attendees really got into some gorgeous costuming. Well done, friends.  I finally got some quality time with the utterly magical Theresa Meyers who is kind, lovely and so very talented. She taught us numerology and that was just plain awesome. Fellow Apocalypsie Danny Marks delighted me (as usual) and I was very pleased that there was a growing space for Young Adult Lit at the convention.



Leanna Renee Hieber, Lia Habel and Pj Schnyder at the Masquerade


I hung with my beloved Jennifer Armintrout and Bronwyn Green and laughed until my sides hurt (in a corset. It really hurt. But it was so worth it). I met new readers, bloggers, industry professionals and helped lead a parade of beautiful masquerade-clad ladies and gents after I'd danced to Depeche Mode alongside the fabulous Jessa Slade. Jade Lee and I exchanged our usual love-fest upon seeing one another and I was delighted by the surprise arrival of Barbara Vey of PW's Beyond her book. Some of my fave bloggers got a chance to snag the last physical ARC copies of The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart and I was able to introduce Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul to a new host of readers and enthusiasts. I so dearly appreciated readers and bloggers bringing me copies of my Strangely Beautiful novels, I almost cried to see them, I can't tell you how much that support means to me considering they are currently out of print and authors are receiving no royalties from the now defunct Dorchester Publishing. I am VERY excited to say that we should have some exciting new news on the further life and resurrection of that series, so stay tuned!

And did I mention I love dressing up? It is my very favourite of activities. :) It's become something I'm fairly known for at conventions and events at this point, and I embrace it with all the love and fun with which it's meant. As a professional actress as well as author, I just can't say no to theatrical dress. It really isn't a costume at this point, folks. These are my clothes. It's the way I love greeting the world and it serves as a way, a bridge that brings my own Gothic fiction into the real world in a way that is tactile and inhabited. I hope people have as much fun with it as I do. Rule # 1 is never take yourself too seriously.


Goth in Hot Weather. St. Louis Cemetery 1 

A whole wonderful crew of us went to St. Louis Cemetery #1 and I had a lovely time (if withered by the heat). Goths in hot weather. Oy. Thanks Bronwyn for the photos! Please see Jess Haines' fabulous wrap up of the convention, replete with some of our very fun adventures together as I spearheaded a trip to visit the ghosts at Lafitte's Blacksmith shop and my introduction of Absinthe to the uninitiated. And then there was tht thing where her phone went in a crypt. (!).
While taking a few moments alone to gather the sacred energy of that amazing city I love so much, I felt the history moving in me. Alive in me. I chose the New Orleans home of my Dupris brothers, characters in my upcoming Eterna Files saga with Tor/Macmillan, on my favourite street, Rue Royale, right next to the gorgeous 19th century Court of the Two Sisters. I love it when historical research and fun go so naturally together!

I miss you so much, NOLA, I'll try and return to you soon! Much love. Back to deadline!

DRAGONCON Schedule!

Per annual tradition, DRAGON*CON!
*crowd roars*
It's right around the corner! The end of this month! I've just received my schedule from the programming committee and it's jam-packed with awesome! I particularly hope you'll come to my autographing session and my reading, because not only will I have book swag for you fabulous folk, I'll also have Auror's Tale swag for attendees at my autographing and/or reading sessions on Saturday!

My schedule:
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Title: Frightening Folklore
Description: A look at the ways folklore is used in dark fantasy fiction
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: Embassy C - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

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Title: Victorian Gothic Literature: The Brontës, Dickens, Stoker, and Others
Description: What separates Gothic Literature from modern? We look at subtle differences in tone, subject, pace and how it is reflected in our 21st Century eyes.
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: International A - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

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Title: Autograph Session
Time: Sat 01:00 pm Location: M301 - M304 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
Bring your copies of Leanna's books, Larry Smith Booksellers will have DARKER STILL available, and come get some book-related swag and some Auror's Tale swag!

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Title: Reading: Leanna Renee Hieber
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Roswell - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Leanna will take audience requests! Either she will read her upcoming Tor.com story "Too Fond", her upcoming Tor anthology story "Charged" in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells or a work-in-progress piece of the upcoming ETERNA FILES... you be the judge! Book giveaways, swag and Auror's Tale goodies shall be present!

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Title: Princess Alethea's Traveling Side Show
Description: Fabulous authors doing fabulous things. With goodies and lavish entertainment.
Time: Sun 2:30pm Location: Edgewood, Hyatt (1 Hour)

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Title: Victorian Mysticism and the Occult
Description: Mysticism, mesmerism, and the love of picnics in the graveyard, Victorians dug their dead.
Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: International BC - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

Princess Alethea's Traveling Side-Show will again occur, stay tuned to Alethea and me for time and place!

Cheers, blessings and happy haunting!

Another Prism Award And USA Today Interview!

What an incredible week! My new 3 book deal for a Gaslamp Fantasy series with Tor / Macmillan was announced, I found out that The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess won the 2012 Prism Award for Best Fantasy Romance (my fourth Prism) and a video interview I did in April at the RT Convention with USA Today is now posted on USA Today's Happily Ever After! I talk DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul, what you can expect in THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART and why I write Gothic Victoriana!

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!

Abraham BLEEPING Lincoln



I cannot source this image other than my author friend
Barb Ferrer who posted it on Twitter.
While this scene is NOT in the film, it makes me LOL a lot.

FILM REVIEW: Okay, so don't go see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter if you want to actually learn anything about the Civil War. However, do go see it if you want to have a ridiculously good time.

My take on the film is up today over at CRIMINAL ELEMENT, please go check it out.

Nashville Event Next Friday: Signing Darker Still & Promoting Auror's Tale!

I'm so thrilled that MUGGLE-NET has announced our first Auror's Tale public appearance next week at UTOPYA Con for Young Adult Paranormal and Fantasy literature in Nashville, TN, July 6 & 7th, where I'll be speaking on panels and signing DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul at the Auror's Tale booth, talking up my latest books and promoting Auror's Tale along with our co-creators and cast members!

Calling all Young Adult literature and Harry Potter enthusiasts! Come see us! Click the links above for details!