DARLINGS!
I'm so very thrilled to present my 2017 DragonCon schedule! I'll have copies of PERILOUS PROPHECY, a Strangely Beautiful prequel, on hand at all times for sale & signing, I'll also have jewelry, Pandora's Pets, and the rest of my books! (ETERNA & OMEGA is now here in mass market!)
Please note the AMAZING events like the inimitable Sherrilyn Kenyon's launch and the ever-popular Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow! At my Sunday Reading Hour, I'll give you a teaser of THE ETERNA SOLUTION coming in November!
Don't hesitate to come say hi at panels, I'll always be happy to sign books for you whenever you catch me! Hope to see you there!!
-------------------
Title: InteNsity/Dragonsworn Launch Party!
Description: Celebrate #1 bestseller Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dragonsworn and the launch of InteNsity, the newest Chronicles of Nick novel! Come dressed to party with fellow fans and a few of Sherri’s favorite fantasy authors—costumes will be rewarded! Meet Sherri and get InteNsity before it even hits stores!
Time: Thu 07:00 pm Location: Regency VI-VII - Hyatt (Length: 4 Hours)
(Tentative Panelists: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, Mari Mancusi)
-------------------
Title: Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow
Description: Alethea Kontis and her misfit band of bestselling authors perform their hilarious annual variety show! Collectible gift bags for the first 40 attendees (sponsored by Sherrilyn Kenyon).
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, Gray Rinehart, Diana Peterfreund, Zoraida Cordova, Mari Mancusi)
-------------------
Title: The Foiled Fable: Adult Themes in Victorian Classics
Description: The fairy tales we fondly remember from youth were darker and scarier before they were "cleaned" for the sake of the children. Our panel of authors and experts will talk about the origins of those stories, and the adult themes that the censors want you to forget.
Time: Fri 10:00 pm Location: Augusta - Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Across the Veil: Ghosts, Spirits and Souls in UF
Description: Protagonists in urban fantasy deal with the gamut of supernatural beings, and not all of them have physical form, posing additional challenges.
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Chastain 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, E.J. Stevens, R.R. Virdi, Myke Cole, David B. Coe, Cherie Priest)
-------------------
Title: Author Roundtable: The Magic and Technology of Building Alternate Worlds
Description: Be it alchemical spells or industrial revolution, many alternate history and steampunk worlds feature magic, fantastic technological marvels, or even both. But each choice shapes the worlds these authors build. This roundtable discuss worldbuilding and the balance between fantasy and science.
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Augusta - Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)
Moderator / MC for panel
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Anthony Francis, A. J. Hartley, David B. Coe, Jack Campbell, S.M. Stirling)
-------------------
Title: Plotting or Plodding?
Description: Tired of the same, old plots? Discover creative ways to liven up your plotting.
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Jean Marie Ward, Debbie Viguié, Leanna Renee Hieber, David B. Coe, Jake Bible, Ed Masessa)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Leanna Renee Hieber
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Techwood - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Series or Single Title?
Description: Writers wrangle with this question all the time. How do you decide whether to write single titles or expand into a series. Okay...Series. So how many books in a series?
Time: Sun 04:00 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Kathryn Hinds, James Minz, James A. Moore, Gail Z. Martin)
-------------------
Title: Spiritualism and the Occult in Victorian Times
Description: While the Victorian era was a time of great technological advancement, many prominent citizens including Queen Victoria had a fascination with the occult. Come hear our panelists discuss spiritualism, seances, and the beginnings of serious scientific investigation into otherworldly phenomena.
Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: Athens - Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Gail Z. Martin)
Showing posts with label public appearances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public appearances. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Leanna's DragonCon schedule!
And now: DragonCon panels!
I'm doing a lot this year as usual, please note the Sideshow on Friday and my reading on Sunday are the best places to get books signed and buy new ones! I'll have copies of the new Strangely Beautiful, The Eterna Files, my new Eterna and Omega, some of my medals and jewelry and Pandora's Pets! See you there! Cheers!
Leanna Renee Hieber
-------------------
Title: Alternate History YA Author Roundtable
Description: Alternate History authors gather for a roundtable discussion on the challenges around writing Alternate History YA with regard to knowing your audience, world building, and the delicate balance of historic treatments of age, race, and gender, alongside good storytelling.
Time: Fri 11:30 am Location: 204 J - Mart2 (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Eric R. Asher, A. J. Hartley, Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Back in Time: Historical Urban Fantasy
Description: Our panelists explore supernatural beings and magic occurring in historical real-world settings.
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: Chastain DE - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Delilah S. Dawson, Clay and Susan Griffith, David B. Coe, Cherie Priest, Leanna Renee Hieber, James R. Tuck)
-------------------
Title: Penny Dreadful Fan Panel
Description: Penny Dreadful has ended its run after three seasons. So, what did we think of the series as a whole? Do we feel it was a successful finale?
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Michelle Belanger, James A. Moore, Cherie Priest, Catherine M. Scully, Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow
Description: Join this motley band of talented (and costumed) authors for an entertaining hour of readings, musical numbers, and more. Swag for the first 40!
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, E.C. Myers, Gray Rinehart, Mari Mancusi, S. J. Tucker)
-------------------
Title: Spiritualism and the Occult in Victorian Times
Description: While the Victorian era was a time of great technological advancement, many prominent citizens including Queen Victoria had a fascination with the occult. Come hear our panelists discuss spiritualism, seances, and the beginnings of serious scientific investigation into otherworldly phenomena.
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: 204 J - Mart2 (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Kathryn Hinds, Catherine M. Scully)
-------------------
Title: Writing for the Young Adult Market
Description: Since Harry Potter exploded on the young adult book scene, the market itself is on fire. How do writers take advantage of this challenging and lucrative market?
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Mari Mancusi, Catherine M. Scully, Lou Anders, Eric R. Asher, Lindsay Cummings)
-------------------
Title: Phantom of the Opera: Music, Masks, and Madness
Description: The legacy of Gaston Leroux’s immortal novel and its many adaptations.
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Location: Chastain I - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: L. Andrew Cooper, John L. Flynn, Leanna Renee Hieber, Corvis Nocturnum)
-------------------
Title: Living with the Dead: Ghosts, Spirits & Necromancers in UF
Description: Our panel explores ghosts, spirits and those who communicate with them.
Time: Sat 10:00 pm Location: Chastain DE - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Eric R. Asher, Leanna Renee Hieber, Myke Cole, Jonathan L Howard, David B. Coe, E.J. Stevens)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Leanna Renee Hieber
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Vinings - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Genre-Bending--Making it Work for You
Description: Great ideas sometimes splatter across genre divisions. How can it work to your benefit? How can you turn that great idea into a great novel?
Time: Sun 05:30 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Lee Martindale, Lois H. Gresh, Leanna Renee Hieber, Richard Kadrey)
-------------------
Title: Bride of Dreadpunk
Description: In 2015, some fans of Victorian Horror screwed around for an hour. One year later, we grapple with the question: what the hell is dreadpunk?
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Cherie Priest, Jonathan L Howard)
-------------------
Title: The Dark Side of Alternate History
Description: One of the enduring tropes of steampunk is its unflagging optimism. Yet many alternate histories and historical fantasies have darker views of events. Steampunk zombies, alternate apocalypses and intrigue abound, and this panel explores what happens when optimism gives way to a darker reality.
Time: Mon 11:30 am Location: 204 J - Mart2 (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Michael J. Martinez, Chandra Free, Leanna Renee Hieber, James R. Tuck)
I'm doing a lot this year as usual, please note the Sideshow on Friday and my reading on Sunday are the best places to get books signed and buy new ones! I'll have copies of the new Strangely Beautiful, The Eterna Files, my new Eterna and Omega, some of my medals and jewelry and Pandora's Pets! See you there! Cheers!
Leanna Renee Hieber
-------------------
Title: Alternate History YA Author Roundtable
Description: Alternate History authors gather for a roundtable discussion on the challenges around writing Alternate History YA with regard to knowing your audience, world building, and the delicate balance of historic treatments of age, race, and gender, alongside good storytelling.
Time: Fri 11:30 am Location: 204 J - Mart2 (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Eric R. Asher, A. J. Hartley, Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Back in Time: Historical Urban Fantasy
Description: Our panelists explore supernatural beings and magic occurring in historical real-world settings.
Time: Fri 02:30 pm Location: Chastain DE - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Delilah S. Dawson, Clay and Susan Griffith, David B. Coe, Cherie Priest, Leanna Renee Hieber, James R. Tuck)
-------------------
Title: Penny Dreadful Fan Panel
Description: Penny Dreadful has ended its run after three seasons. So, what did we think of the series as a whole? Do we feel it was a successful finale?
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Michelle Belanger, James A. Moore, Cherie Priest, Catherine M. Scully, Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow
Description: Join this motley band of talented (and costumed) authors for an entertaining hour of readings, musical numbers, and more. Swag for the first 40!
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, E.C. Myers, Gray Rinehart, Mari Mancusi, S. J. Tucker)
-------------------
Title: Spiritualism and the Occult in Victorian Times
Description: While the Victorian era was a time of great technological advancement, many prominent citizens including Queen Victoria had a fascination with the occult. Come hear our panelists discuss spiritualism, seances, and the beginnings of serious scientific investigation into otherworldly phenomena.
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: 204 J - Mart2 (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Kathryn Hinds, Catherine M. Scully)
-------------------
Title: Writing for the Young Adult Market
Description: Since Harry Potter exploded on the young adult book scene, the market itself is on fire. How do writers take advantage of this challenging and lucrative market?
Time: Sat 07:00 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Mari Mancusi, Catherine M. Scully, Lou Anders, Eric R. Asher, Lindsay Cummings)
-------------------
Title: Phantom of the Opera: Music, Masks, and Madness
Description: The legacy of Gaston Leroux’s immortal novel and its many adaptations.
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Location: Chastain I - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: L. Andrew Cooper, John L. Flynn, Leanna Renee Hieber, Corvis Nocturnum)
-------------------
Title: Living with the Dead: Ghosts, Spirits & Necromancers in UF
Description: Our panel explores ghosts, spirits and those who communicate with them.
Time: Sat 10:00 pm Location: Chastain DE - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Eric R. Asher, Leanna Renee Hieber, Myke Cole, Jonathan L Howard, David B. Coe, E.J. Stevens)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Leanna Renee Hieber
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Vinings - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Genre-Bending--Making it Work for You
Description: Great ideas sometimes splatter across genre divisions. How can it work to your benefit? How can you turn that great idea into a great novel?
Time: Sun 05:30 pm Location: Embassy CD - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Lee Martindale, Lois H. Gresh, Leanna Renee Hieber, Richard Kadrey)
-------------------
Title: Bride of Dreadpunk
Description: In 2015, some fans of Victorian Horror screwed around for an hour. One year later, we grapple with the question: what the hell is dreadpunk?
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Cherie Priest, Jonathan L Howard)
-------------------
Title: The Dark Side of Alternate History
Description: One of the enduring tropes of steampunk is its unflagging optimism. Yet many alternate histories and historical fantasies have darker views of events. Steampunk zombies, alternate apocalypses and intrigue abound, and this panel explores what happens when optimism gives way to a darker reality.
Time: Mon 11:30 am Location: 204 J - Mart2 (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Michael J. Martinez, Chandra Free, Leanna Renee Hieber, James R. Tuck)
Monday, October 5, 2015
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)
--
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!
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)
--
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!
Friday, August 21, 2015
DragonCon Schedule! Space Coast Comiccon! New Ventures!
Dear Readers,
I've been busy promoting Pre-Orders for the amazing STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL new edition! Formerly The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker and sequel, the two volumes are now one, freshly edited and spruced up in many new way. Now up at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and wherever books are sold. (Yes, please do go forth and pre-order this beautiful new edition with NEW SCENES and extra content! It's a whole new book done exactly as I've always wanted it! The Pre-Order price is at a handsome discount so please support these books of my heart, and their resurrection back into print after many years out of print, thank you!)
And I'm hard at work on the ETERNA FILES world as I get ready to edit book two, titled, ETERNA AND OMEGA, which will release next summer!
And yes, it's that crazy time of year when the preparations for the madness that is DragonCon is in full swing!
DRAGONCON:
Be sure to note Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow, you really don't want to miss this performance on Friday, I have something wonderful cooked up and the whole team has a Fairy Tale Rant lined up that will be legendary. Plus you get lots of FREE GOODIES! Come! And then after the Sideshow we're doing an impromptu signing! See times below. ALSO note my reading on Sunday, as there will be new exclusive content to readers' ears plus MORE GOODIES.
DRAGONCON 2015 SCHEDULE:
Title: Faces of the Tarot: Penny Dreadful's Monsters & Magick
Description: Fans discuss the Showtime series that updates classic horror's most enduring archetypes
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Corvis Nocturnum, Cherie Priest, Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow
Description: Readings, music, & more from a motley band of costumed authors, plus swag!
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, Gray Rinehart, Lisa Mantchev, Delilah S. Dawson, Zac Brewer, D.B. Jackson)
-------------------
Title: Blending History & the Fantastic
Description: Panelists discuss both the challenges and advantages of using historical settings and events in speculative fiction
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Chastain ED - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Delilah S. Dawson, Clay and Susan Griffith, Cherie Priest, D.B. Jackson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
-------------------
Title: Magepunk: Sorcery as Technology
Description: Alchemical rules or arcane industrial revolution? We focus on media depictions of magic as technology.
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Augusta 3 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Moderator / MC for panel
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, D.B. Jackson, Aristotle Christopher Pramagioulis, Cherie Priest)
-------------------
Title: The Demimonde and Dark Victoriana of Penny Dreadful
Description: Demimonde = fringe people; penny dreadfuls = cheap fiction. How this relates to the show.
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Location: Augusta 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Aristotle Christopher Pramagioulis, Ciara Knight, Nick Valentino, Elizabeth Valentino)
-------------------
Title: Historical Horror
Description: The usage of history in horror fiction
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Anya Martin, Leanna Renee Hieber, L. Andrew Cooper, Kenneth Mark Hoover)
-------------------
Title: The Source: Folklore & Mythology in UF
Description: Urban fantasy is rooted in age-old myth, legend, and folklore. Authors discuss influences.
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Chastain ED - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, Jean Marie Ward, Jonathan Maberry, Valerie Hampton, Samantha Sommersby)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Leanna Renee Hieber
Time: Sun 02:30 pm Location: Vinings - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Dreadpunk: The Gothic Horror Revival
Description: A discussion of the Gothic Horror Revival in contemporary pop culture
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Cherie Priest, Delilah S. Dawson, Clay and Susan Griffith, Aristotle Christopher Pramagioulis)
-------------------
Title: Realms of the Dead: Ghosts and Spirits in UF
Description: Panelists discuss the various types of ghosts and spirits found in the genre
Time: Mon 10:00 am Location: Chastain ED - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Jim Butcher, Leanna Renee Hieber, Gail Z. Martin, D.B. Jackson, Karen E. Taylor, Myke Cole)
--
WHEW! Busy! And the fall is only just getting started! MORE EVENTS:
Post DragonCon, Dear Florida, marks a return to the glories of the Eterna Files book tour!
I'm on to SpaceCoast ComicCon to be a special featured guest alongside my bestie and fey alter-ego Alethea Kontis Sept 11-13 - come see us on panels and at our tables for signed books and amazing handcrafted art!
--
MORE ART:
On the handcrafted art side of my world, as many of you know, I am a renaissance creature of many talents. I've very recently gone into Steampunk medal-making and brooch creation, as I've not seen anything like what I create out in the marketplace online or in person, so I've been welcomed to an Etsy shop run by fellow artisans where I am responsible for the Neo-Victorian, Steampunk, Gothic and Historical Inspired jewelry and accessories on the site, do take a look! Specially for you, Dear Readers: Enter the code BLOG10 for 10% off your purchase from now until Halloween!
Cheers and as always, HAPPY HAUNTING!
Leanna
I've been busy promoting Pre-Orders for the amazing STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL new edition! Formerly The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker and sequel, the two volumes are now one, freshly edited and spruced up in many new way. Now up at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and wherever books are sold. (Yes, please do go forth and pre-order this beautiful new edition with NEW SCENES and extra content! It's a whole new book done exactly as I've always wanted it! The Pre-Order price is at a handsome discount so please support these books of my heart, and their resurrection back into print after many years out of print, thank you!)
And I'm hard at work on the ETERNA FILES world as I get ready to edit book two, titled, ETERNA AND OMEGA, which will release next summer!
And yes, it's that crazy time of year when the preparations for the madness that is DragonCon is in full swing!
DRAGONCON:
Be sure to note Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow, you really don't want to miss this performance on Friday, I have something wonderful cooked up and the whole team has a Fairy Tale Rant lined up that will be legendary. Plus you get lots of FREE GOODIES! Come! And then after the Sideshow we're doing an impromptu signing! See times below. ALSO note my reading on Sunday, as there will be new exclusive content to readers' ears plus MORE GOODIES.
DRAGONCON 2015 SCHEDULE:
Title: Faces of the Tarot: Penny Dreadful's Monsters & Magick
Description: Fans discuss the Showtime series that updates classic horror's most enduring archetypes
Time: Fri 05:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Corvis Nocturnum, Cherie Priest, Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Princess Alethea's Traveling Sideshow
Description: Readings, music, & more from a motley band of costumed authors, plus swag!
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: A707 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, Gray Rinehart, Lisa Mantchev, Delilah S. Dawson, Zac Brewer, D.B. Jackson)
-------------------
Title: Blending History & the Fantastic
Description: Panelists discuss both the challenges and advantages of using historical settings and events in speculative fiction
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Chastain ED - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Delilah S. Dawson, Clay and Susan Griffith, Cherie Priest, D.B. Jackson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
-------------------
Title: Magepunk: Sorcery as Technology
Description: Alchemical rules or arcane industrial revolution? We focus on media depictions of magic as technology.
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Augusta 3 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Moderator / MC for panel
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, D.B. Jackson, Aristotle Christopher Pramagioulis, Cherie Priest)
-------------------
Title: The Demimonde and Dark Victoriana of Penny Dreadful
Description: Demimonde = fringe people; penny dreadfuls = cheap fiction. How this relates to the show.
Time: Sat 08:30 pm Location: Augusta 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Aristotle Christopher Pramagioulis, Ciara Knight, Nick Valentino, Elizabeth Valentino)
-------------------
Title: Historical Horror
Description: The usage of history in horror fiction
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Anya Martin, Leanna Renee Hieber, L. Andrew Cooper, Kenneth Mark Hoover)
-------------------
Title: The Source: Folklore & Mythology in UF
Description: Urban fantasy is rooted in age-old myth, legend, and folklore. Authors discuss influences.
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Chastain ED - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Alethea Kontis, Leanna Renee Hieber, Jean Marie Ward, Jonathan Maberry, Valerie Hampton, Samantha Sommersby)
-------------------
Title: Reading: Leanna Renee Hieber
Time: Sun 02:30 pm Location: Vinings - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber)
-------------------
Title: Dreadpunk: The Gothic Horror Revival
Description: A discussion of the Gothic Horror Revival in contemporary pop culture
Time: Sun 08:30 pm Location: Peachtree 1-2 - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Leanna Renee Hieber, Cherie Priest, Delilah S. Dawson, Clay and Susan Griffith, Aristotle Christopher Pramagioulis)
-------------------
Title: Realms of the Dead: Ghosts and Spirits in UF
Description: Panelists discuss the various types of ghosts and spirits found in the genre
Time: Mon 10:00 am Location: Chastain ED - Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Jim Butcher, Leanna Renee Hieber, Gail Z. Martin, D.B. Jackson, Karen E. Taylor, Myke Cole)
--
WHEW! Busy! And the fall is only just getting started! MORE EVENTS:
Post DragonCon, Dear Florida, marks a return to the glories of the Eterna Files book tour!
I'm on to SpaceCoast ComicCon to be a special featured guest alongside my bestie and fey alter-ego Alethea Kontis Sept 11-13 - come see us on panels and at our tables for signed books and amazing handcrafted art!
--
MORE ART:
On the handcrafted art side of my world, as many of you know, I am a renaissance creature of many talents. I've very recently gone into Steampunk medal-making and brooch creation, as I've not seen anything like what I create out in the marketplace online or in person, so I've been welcomed to an Etsy shop run by fellow artisans where I am responsible for the Neo-Victorian, Steampunk, Gothic and Historical Inspired jewelry and accessories on the site, do take a look! Specially for you, Dear Readers: Enter the code BLOG10 for 10% off your purchase from now until Halloween!
Cheers and as always, HAPPY HAUNTING!
Leanna
Thursday, May 14, 2015
FREE FICTION and Upcoming Appearances!
From Leanna:
Exlcusive Free Fiction! The fine folks over at The Pandora Society, where I am the Author in Residence, have premiered a never-before-seen piece of my fiction, "A Woman's Work", featuring a female Neo-Victorian assassin of a most distinct kind... Go on, have a read...
--
Announcing Leanna's upcoming appearances on the continued ETERNA FILES national tour:
Leanna and her team are very busy this month! Check out the updated APPEARANCES PAGE - listing her upcoming events: The Steampunk World's Fair, MistiCon, Phoenix Comic Con and Book Expo America (Hint, Leanna will only be at BEA one day only, so be sure to come find her at the Mystery Writer's of America booth 2657 where she'll be signing THE ETERNA FILES!)
--
MORE FREE FICTION! Can't get enough ETERNA FILES? How about a bit of a prequel teaser? Available via Leanna's Mailing List by clicking HERE.
--
Cheers, please keep enjoying THE ETERNA FILES, stay tuned for upcoming events and features, and as always, Happy Haunting!
Exlcusive Free Fiction! The fine folks over at The Pandora Society, where I am the Author in Residence, have premiered a never-before-seen piece of my fiction, "A Woman's Work", featuring a female Neo-Victorian assassin of a most distinct kind... Go on, have a read...
--
 |
| Leanna high-fives herself in this fairly meta picture at Atlanta's ANACHROCON, the picture highlighting her recent appearance as a Guest of Honor at the International Steam Symposium in Cincinnati, Ohio |
Leanna and her team are very busy this month! Check out the updated APPEARANCES PAGE - listing her upcoming events: The Steampunk World's Fair, MistiCon, Phoenix Comic Con and Book Expo America (Hint, Leanna will only be at BEA one day only, so be sure to come find her at the Mystery Writer's of America booth 2657 where she'll be signing THE ETERNA FILES!)
--
MORE FREE FICTION! Can't get enough ETERNA FILES? How about a bit of a prequel teaser? Available via Leanna's Mailing List by clicking HERE.
--
Cheers, please keep enjoying THE ETERNA FILES, stay tuned for upcoming events and features, and as always, Happy Haunting!
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Countdown to ETERNA: Excerpt 1!
Counting down unto The Eterna Files, my debut from Tor Books in a new Gaslamp Fantasy saga! In the coming days various excerpts will be forthcoming here and on the Tor sites. -
Read on and check out my still-in-progress Appearance schedule for book tour, launching first at WORD, Brooklyn on Feb 11 in NYC!
-
Pre-order a personalized, signed copy of The Eterna Files from the fabulous independent community bookstore WORD!
-
From The Eterna Files cover:
Their first mission: find the Eterna Compound, which grants immortality. Catastrophe destroyed the hidden laboratory in
Also searching for Eterna is an American, Clara Templeton, who helped start the project after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln nearly destroyed her nation. Haunted by the ghost of her beloved, she is determined that the Eterna Compound—and the immortality it will convey—will be controlled by the
-
ADVANCED PRAISE FOR THE ETERNA FILES:
“Hieber’s
formidable imagination is given free reign in this smart, boundlessly creative
Gaslamp fantasy. She blends historical fact and paranormal fiction with ease,
creating a world that is lush and fascinatingly strange, and reveals her
secrets sparingly, keeping fans on edge for more information about these
intriguingly powerful characters and the ties that bind them together. Patient
readers will be well rewarded for letting this haunting novel unfold around
them and savoring the expansive world and complex plot that Hieber has
constructed.” – Bridget Keown for RT Bookreviews Magazine
-
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS SERIES:-
The Eterna Files follows a parallel storyline in two cities following a complex cast of characters. If you like your stories very simple and small-cast, this is not the series for you. Hopefully you won’t mind a host of colorful, quirky characters in a darkly rich Victorian atmosphere. I write the worlds I want to spend an increasingly deep amount of time in. So come along on what has been called a fascinatingly strange journey with my whole madcap cast.
-
EXCERPT ONE: The Prologue! Why not start from the very beginning? They say that’s a very good place to start.
-
PROLOGUE
-
The White House, April 16, 1865
The sanity of a bloodied nation hung by a
precarious thread. Hundreds of thousands of bodies rotted in mass graves.
Mountains of arms and legs lay just beneath the earth in countless pits of
appendages. Thousands of young men had been torn into wingless birds, stunned,
harrowed, and half whole. No one had gone untouched by the war; everyone was
haunted. A gunshot in a theater tipped
the straining scales and the nation’s battered, broken heart faltered and
stopped.
This was the
world in which twelve-year-old Clara Templeton grieved. She wept for her land
with the kind of passion only a young, gifted sensitive could offer. When she
was called to the side of the first lady, she did not hesitate.
Clad in a black
taffeta mourning gown, Clara stood in a dimly candlelit hallway outside the first
lady’s rooms, awaiting admittance alongside her guardian, Congressman Rupert
Bishop, aged twenty-five—though his prematurely silver hair gave one pause as
to his age. He’d been silver-haired as long as she’d known him. When she’d
asked about it with a child’s tactlessness, he’d simply responded with a wink
and a smile: “It’s the fault of the ghosts.” Soon after, Bishop took her to her
first séance and Clara began to understand just how dangerous the thrall of
ghosts could be. . . .
A red-eyed maid opened the door and gestured
them in.
Inside the small
but well-appointed room, a low fire mitigated a cool draft and cast most of the
light in the room. Mary Todd Lincoln sat on a chair in the shadows, staring out
a small window, her bell-sleeved, black crepe dress spilling out in all
directions. Only the ticking of a fine clock on the mantel and the occasional
sniff from the weeping maid broke the silence. The congressman beckoned Clara
forward, into the firelight. Her step creaked upon the floorboards as her
petite body cast a long shadow behind her.
Finally the first
lady spoke in a quiet tremor. “Do you know why I called you here, Miss
Templeton?”
“I’ve a
supposition,” Clara replied quietly, nervously moving forward another step.
“But first, Mrs. Lincoln, my deepest sympathies—”
“When your
guardian here first brought you to visit the White House two years ago, you ran
up to me, a perfect stranger, and gave me an embrace from my William. My dead
William.”
“Yes, Mrs.
Lincoln,” Clara murmured, “I remember—”
“I need you now,
Miss Templeton,” the first lady began with a slightly wild look in her eyes,
“to give me an embrace from my dead husband.”
Alarmed, Clara
looked at Bishop, her eyes wide. The tall, elegantly handsome man lifted a
calming, gloved hand and Clara attempted to gather herself
“I . . . well,”
she stammered, “I’m unsure my gifts can work on command, Mrs.—”
“Try!” the
grieving widow wailed, turning to face the girl, her face drawn and hollowed.
Clara rushed over and fell to her knees beside the first lady, removing her kid
gloves to take Mary’s shaking, bare hands into hers.
“I know that he
is with you,” Clara murmured, tears falling from her bright green-gold eyes.
“The president is with all who mourn him—”
“Prove it,” Mary
Todd murmured. She snapped her head toward the door. “Rupert. You’re a spiritualist,
have you not trained Miss Templeton
since she became your ward?”
“Only charlatans
cue up the dead precisely when the grieving want them, Mary, you know that,”
Bishop said gently. “And this is far too vulnerable a time to try.” He shivered
suddenly. “Too many things want in.
We risk inviting malevolence, not comfort.”
“No one should ever have to suffer what I have—” the
first lady choked out.
“No, they
shouldn’t,” Clara replied. “Never.”
“The country can
bear no more,” Bishop added quietly, his fine black mourning coat making him
almost invisible in the shadows by the door. “We must guard against the basest
evils grasping for purchase—”
“What could be
more evil than what I have endured?” the first lady exclaimed.
The last two years had taught Clara that
Rupert Bishop coddled no one, even the grieving. She spoke before he could
offer another example of his oft-sobering perspective. “Such a powerful seat
needs protection,” Clara exclaimed, squeezing the widow’s shaking hands with
innocent, sure strength. “Such a man should never have fallen. He deserved to
have been made immortal!”
“Why
. . . yes, child!” Mary Lincoln exclaimed, a sudden light in her eyes. “Do we
not have resources, researchers, scientists, theorists? Should we not have
granted a man like the president eternal protection while he bore the nation on
his shoulders? My dear Congressman Bishop . . .”
The
small woman rose to her feet and began to pace the room, skirts swishing and
sweeping with renewed determination.
“I charge
you,” she said, bright gaze fastened on Bishop. “If you’ll not bring my husband
back to me in spirit or form, then you must do this. Take Clara’s idea. For
this bled-dry country. For the seat cloaked in immense power. Do this,
Congressman, so no other wife in this dreadful house might go through such agony
again. . . .”
“Do
what, Mary?” he pressed.
She
stared at him with steely ferocity. “Find a cure for death.”
***
Seventeen
Years Later, New
York City
“It was
born of good intentions,” Clara insisted in a choking murmur.
She
sat on a bench in Central Park on a mild June
day, beneath a willow tree, looking out over the southeastern pond. She could
not move. Her breath was shallow against the double stays of corset and
buttoned bodice; soft ivory lace and muslin ruffles trembled around her throat.
Tendrils of dark blond hair, blown free from braids beneath a fanciful straw
feathered hat, tickled around her streaming eyes. Her world was again cracking
open.
“Wake
up,” she heard a voice calling. “Wake up.” It was not a human voice but that of
some ancient, cosmic force.
She
had known there was something different about her since the age of nine, since
she’d awakened in the middle of the night to see a wild-haired woman in a cloak
sitting at the foot of her bed.
“You’re
special,” was all the woman said before vanishing.
The
next day, Clara’s father, a prominent doctor to Washington Greenwood
Cemetery mausoleum in their native Brooklyn . Clara was the marble sepulcher’s most frequent
haunt. The Templetons’ will ensured that Clara would be educated at fine
institutions and looked after by prominent figures.
Rupert
Bishop, then a talented young New
York
The
visitor returned the night Bishop brought Clara to the White House the first
time; Clara saw the creature watching her from the shadows. She had not seen
the strange herald since, not even after that fateful second encounter with the
first lady, a meeting that had set an unlikely destiny in motion.
Paperwork
left on the slain president’s desk established a “Secret Service” to
investigate counterfeit currency. A tiny cabal, headed by Bishop, supposed the service
might also, in some unnamed office, investigate immortality. Bishop assembled a
team of occultists, mystics, and chemists and set them to work in a secret
location.
Once
Clara completed finishing school, Bishop gave her a key to a nondescript office
on Pearl Street Manhattan
In 1880,
Eterna theorist Louis Dupris secretly told Clara that he’d made a breakthrough
in localized magic. The world had suddenly seemed full of possibility. But now
. . .
The
Eterna Compound had been born out of grief. At this moment Clara wondered if it
should never have been born at all, for now it bore grief of its own.
“Something’s
wrong,” Clara murmured, wanting to cry but feeling wholly paralyzed. “I can
feel it. . . .” All of Clara that had ever been could feel it; a love torn from
her like layers of skin.
Before
her eyes, in layers of concentric circles stretching out like mirrors
reflecting mirrors in dizzying multiplication, she saw lives. Her lives, those
she’d had before. She was twenty-nine years old . . . with a soul a thousand
years older.
Pried
open in a painful awakening, she knew her life was far more than the boundaries
and limitations of her current flesh, but at present she felt the pain of all
those centuries all at once, things done and undone. The sheer, heavy press of
it all was staggering.
A
mockingbird alighted on a branch above Clara’s head. It squawked and stared at
her, then made the sounds of a police whistle, a bicycle bell, and some
roaring, whooshing thing: the sound of something tearing.
And
then there was a woman next to her. The visitor.
Though
she couldn’t turn her head, in her peripheral vision Clara saw skirts, gloves,
and long hair that was scandalously unbound. The presence of the visitor
confirmed what she was feeling; something terrible was happening. Clara tried
to move again, to fight the gravity lashing her to the bench, wishing tears,
something, anything could be set free.
“What
is it this time?” Clara gasped.
“Hello,
Clara,” the visitor said quietly. One didn’t mistake an ordinary person for the
visitor, for it brought with it the weight of time itself. “It’s been awhile.”
The visitor smoothed the skirts of its long, plain, black, uniform-like dress,
something a boarding school girl might wear. “Have you been waiting?” the visitor
asked.
“I’m
not a girl who waits,” Clara replied.
“That’s
why I trust you,” the visitor said, pleasure in its voice. “I last saw you when
you impetuously gave the first lady an embrace from her dead son.”
The
mockingbird gave a raucous trill from the limb above them. The woman adjusted
what Clara thought was a hat—she still couldn’t get a good look. The mockingbird
had flown across the path and alighted on a limb at her eye line, trilling
accompaniment to their conversation.
“You
presage terrible things but I never know what,” Clara growled.
“You’ve
always been gifted,” the visitor replied. “Sensitive.”
“And we
see what good sensitivity has done
me.” Clara choked out her words. “I’m a freak of nature. My ‘fits’ render any
hope I might have had for a normal life or a place in society laughable. I
curse my gifts for all the misfortune they bring.” Embarrassing, traumatic
memories paraded through her mind, her past lives staring on in pity. Clara
hated pity. Perhaps it was best, then, that the visitor had none.
“Don’t be
ungrateful, child,” the visitor chided. “You’ve two friends in a world of loneliness,
you had a lover when many never know such pleasure, you’ve worked when hordes
seek pay, you’ve a guardian who dotes on you when countless orphans have no
one, and you’ve money and a fine house in a city that denies both to thousands
of its denizens.”
Clara
wanted to lash out at the creature. But it was right, which only sharpened her
pain.
“Something
terrible has happened, hasn’t it? To the Eterna team?” she whispered, her
throat raw as if from screaming even though she had loosed no such sound. “To
my Louis? My love is among them. . . .”
An amulet
of protection, tucked beneath her corset stays, was a knot against her shaking
breaths. The amulet had been given to her by Louis, an item charged and blessed
by his mother. Clara never felt she had the right to it, and now, he, who
needed protection, lacked it
“I
am very sorry for your loss,” the visitor said solemnly.
“I
must go,” Clara insisted, trying to fight free but failing. “Maybe I can help
the team—”
The
visitor held up a hand. “It’s no use. They’re gone.”
“Why
can’t you stop terrible things if you’re aware of them?” Clara demanded. “Why
can’t I?”
“Not
in our skill set,” the visitor replied. “You’ve taken too much ownership of something
that is not your responsibility, Templeton. What is your responsibility, is
to—”
“‘Wake up?’ Yes, I hear it, on the wind.
In my bones. What does it mean?”
The
woman gestured before her, to Clara’s iterations. “You see the lives, don’t
you?”
“Yes.”
Clara swallowed hard. “Do you?”
“Of
course I do,” the visitor replied. “I’m here to tell you that a great storm is
coming. It will break across two continents; two great cities, the hearts of empires.
Your team is gone and storms are coming. Weather them, find special souls and
shield them. Second-guess your enemy. Find the missing link between the lives
you see. Do this for yourself. And for your country.”
Clara
snorted bitterly. “Do I hear patriotism?”
The
visitor shook its head. “I owe allegiance to no land.”
“Then
what are you here for?” Clara begged.
The
visitor’s voice grew warm. “I care about certain people.”
“Why
me?”
“Show me why you, Templeton,” the visitor
proclaimed. “You’re at the center of the storm. Be worthy of the squall.”
The
mockingbird made the strange, roaring sound again and the woman was gone.
Clara’s
hands shook. The people she had been in her many lives turned and looked at
her, male, female, all with certain similar qualities that she recognized as
uniquely hers. Curiosity. Hunger. Restlessness. Intensity. Independence
She was awake. But Eterna had died, taking with
it the lover no one knew she had.
(End of Excerpt)
Next Tuesday we'll reveal excerpts from the first chapter!
Already hooked? You can Pre-Order THE ETERNA FILES now in hardcover or in digital wherever books are sold. Get a personalized, signed copy from WORD! - Barnes and Noble - IndieBound - Amazon
Want to get a book signed??!! Check out the TOUR APPEARANCES so far! We're starting in New York City on February 11th with several Barnes & Noble signings in Florida, hitting Anachrocon in Atlanta at the end of February, Ohio readers, stay tuned for Ohio dates, and stock signing locations around the country. See the current listings.
Join Leanna's no-spam mailing list for release day announcements! Visit her website and put your email address into the column on the right or via the Appearances / Contact page.
-
Cheers and happy haunting!
Join Leanna's no-spam mailing list for release day announcements! Visit her website and put your email address into the column on the right or via the Appearances / Contact page.
-
Cheers and happy haunting!
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Upcoming Appearances, Dark Tales from Elder Regions and Updates!
My Darling Readers,
I've been quiet here on the blog as I've been deep in drafting The Eterna Files Book 2, but as we're gearing up for The Eterna Files launch on Feb 3, 2015, the Tor Books team and I are so excited about the book and launch, please stay tuned for our book tour and launch events!
My 2015 Convention schedule includes Featured Guest Appearances at: TempleCon (RI), The Steampunk World's Fair (NJ), The International Steam Symposium (OH), MistiCon (NH), Authors After Dark (GA) and many more! I'll be touring Florida with my beloved Alethea Kontis in February for multiple signings!
I've exciting new work releasing this month, welcome to DARK TALES OF ELDER REGIONS from Myth Ink Books. My short story "Roebling's Monster" headlines this creepy anthology and I'll be doing my first reading of the story and a signing this Saturday, December 6th at 11am at WINTERCON at Resort World Casino in NYC! I'll have all my books available for sale and signing!
I've been quiet here on the blog as I've been deep in drafting The Eterna Files Book 2, but as we're gearing up for The Eterna Files launch on Feb 3, 2015, the Tor Books team and I are so excited about the book and launch, please stay tuned for our book tour and launch events!
My 2015 Convention schedule includes Featured Guest Appearances at: TempleCon (RI), The Steampunk World's Fair (NJ), The International Steam Symposium (OH), MistiCon (NH), Authors After Dark (GA) and many more! I'll be touring Florida with my beloved Alethea Kontis in February for multiple signings!
I've exciting new work releasing this month, welcome to DARK TALES OF ELDER REGIONS from Myth Ink Books. My short story "Roebling's Monster" headlines this creepy anthology and I'll be doing my first reading of the story and a signing this Saturday, December 6th at 11am at WINTERCON at Resort World Casino in NYC! I'll have all my books available for sale and signing!
***
In other news, I've teamed up with writer, illustrator, producer, Mason, DJ and all around Renaissance man Thom A. Truelove on several projects for fiction and for the screen, one of which is a novel focusing on "The Visitor" who appears in the Eterna books and her fascinating trajectory and unique way of living past, present and future at once. Please follow his blog to see what he's up to and get his perspective on what we've got in store in the coming years.
Stay tuned for more Eterna Files excitement! And if you weren't the chosen winner of this blog's ARC contest, enter to win a copy of THE ETERNA FILES by entering Tor.com's SWEEPSTAKES!
Cheers and as always, Happy Haunting!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Teaser Tuesday: Anthology Announcement! And Appearances Update!
I'm very happy to announce that my short story "Roebling's Monster" has been selected for inclusion in Myth Ink Books' horror anthology: DARK TALES OF ELDER REGIONS: NEW YORK
And as this is Teaser Tuesday, here's a draft of the first paragraph:
-
(End of selection)
Read the Myth Ink Books press release about the anthology and check out some of the other fabulous talents that are included!
Also, those of you close to my hometown of Cincinnati Ohio, I hope you'll join me for the Steampunk Empire Symposium, April 25-27, where I'll be reading from and signing The Double Life of Incorporate Things as well as previewing my upcoming Tor saga The Eterna Files!
And as this is Teaser Tuesday, here's a draft of the first paragraph:
Roebling’s
Monster
By
Leanna
Renee Hieber
Anything that is wants to be loved. In whatever way
they know how. Even monsters.
New York, I have
done so much for you. I will do so much for you still. I can hold you up and
keep you safe but you must forgive me first. I am a mass murderer and I am
asking the city’s clemency before it’s too late for me to be redeemed. You are,
each one of you, my judge and jury and I need you to know me. I can no longer
live so boldly in your sight if you remain blind to the truth of the whole of
me. You think you see me, every day, but I can’t go on like this, pretending to
be noble when you don’t know the whole story.
-
(End of selection)
Read the Myth Ink Books press release about the anthology and check out some of the other fabulous talents that are included!
Also, those of you close to my hometown of Cincinnati Ohio, I hope you'll join me for the Steampunk Empire Symposium, April 25-27, where I'll be reading from and signing The Double Life of Incorporate Things as well as previewing my upcoming Tor saga The Eterna Files!
Friday, January 3, 2014
My interview with Bookish and a shout-out from Delilah S. Dawson...
Interview:
In a Book Expo America interview with the fine folks at Bookish, I discuss why I loved writing Twisted Tragedy, the lure of the Gothic, and why I can't help but use theatricality in my work.Thanks, Jessi and Bookish, for the interview!
Shout-Out:
If you don't know how fabulous Delilah S. Dawson is, well, remedy that immediately. She did a wonderful post about her New Year's Resolution: BE WEIRDER. In which I am honoured to be mentioned. Yes. Because I am WEIRD. *Proud* Check it out.Cheers and happy haunting!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
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:
-------------------
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)
-------------------
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)
-------------------
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!
-------------------
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!
-------------------
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)
-------------------
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!
*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:
-------------------
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)
-------------------
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)
-------------------
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!
-------------------
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!
-------------------
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)
-------------------
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!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Events! The Calendar in Progress... 2011
Hello friends! As you know, I travel (a lot) to conventions, conferences, readings, etc, to talk about my books and also to support the genre that I love, to cheer on other writers, to commune with readers and also, you know, to play dress-up (the real reason for everything). Here's the shakedown of my 2011 events thus far. Events will likely add to this list, but these things are for sure thus far:
So it begins!
Feb. 4-6: Warwick/Providence Rhode Island: TempleCon! I return as a Guest Author to this lovely RetroFuturist Convention where I'll have a table with my books to sign, I'll be reading from Darkly Luminous and previewing Perilous Prophecy w/ a book giveaway: Saturday at 7pm! I'm teaching the Language of the Fan at High Tea and having a grand time!
Feb 10th: Columbus, OH - Free event! Guest at Romance Read aloud sponsored by Ohioana Library Association - Books will be available for signing.
March 25 - 27th: Nashua, New Hampshire - I'm The Literary Guest of Honor at the Steampunk Industrial Revolution! Panels, a live performance, and more! Books will be available for signing.
April 29 - May 1: New Hampshire - Aeternitas Harry Potter Convention Keynote speaker! "From Fandom to Fiction" - Books will be available for signing, as this event includes the Perilous Prophecy launch party!
May 3: Stamford, CT Connecticut Library Association Conference - guest speaker on Trends in Paranormal Fiction, books will be available for signing, including The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess.
Attn. Southern Ohio, my hometown launch party!
Thursday May 5th, 7:00 pm: Reading / Signing The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess at Streets of WestChester - Union Center Barnes & Noble in the Cincinnati Metro Area!
May 7th-8th: San Diego, CA - Guest author, Gaslight Gathering - (A Victoriana Convention!)
May 20-22: Guest author, Piscataway, NJ - Steampunk World's Fair
May 24th-26th: - NYC - Book Expo America - RWA booth and Sourcebooks booth
June 27th: - Lady Jane's Salon special RWA edition, I'll be reading from and signing The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess
August 11th-14th - Featured author, Authors After Dark
AROUND THE INTERWEBS:
So it begins!
Feb. 4-6: Warwick/Providence Rhode Island: TempleCon! I return as a Guest Author to this lovely RetroFuturist Convention where I'll have a table with my books to sign, I'll be reading from Darkly Luminous and previewing Perilous Prophecy w/ a book giveaway: Saturday at 7pm! I'm teaching the Language of the Fan at High Tea and having a grand time!
Feb 10th: Columbus, OH - Free event! Guest at Romance Read aloud sponsored by Ohioana Library Association - Books will be available for signing.
March 25 - 27th: Nashua, New Hampshire - I'm The Literary Guest of Honor at the Steampunk Industrial Revolution! Panels, a live performance, and more! Books will be available for signing.
April 29 - May 1: New Hampshire - Aeternitas Harry Potter Convention Keynote speaker! "From Fandom to Fiction" - Books will be available for signing, as this event includes the Perilous Prophecy launch party!
May 3: Stamford, CT Connecticut Library Association Conference - guest speaker on Trends in Paranormal Fiction, books will be available for signing, including The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess.
Attn. Southern Ohio, my hometown launch party!
Thursday May 5th, 7:00 pm: Reading / Signing The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess at Streets of WestChester - Union Center Barnes & Noble in the Cincinnati Metro Area!
May 7th-8th: San Diego, CA - Guest author, Gaslight Gathering - (A Victoriana Convention!)
May 20-22: Guest author, Piscataway, NJ - Steampunk World's Fair
May 24th-26th: - NYC - Book Expo America - RWA booth and Sourcebooks booth
June 3-5 - Cincinnati, Ohio - Lori Foster's Reader / Author Get Together
June 27th: - Lady Jane's Salon special RWA edition, I'll be reading from and signing The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess
August 11th-14th - Featured author, Authors After Dark
Sept 2-5- Atlanta - DragonCon - panelist on the "Dark Fantasy / Goth" track
Sept 18th - NYC! Brooklyn Book Festival (at booth, signing)
Sept 18th - NYC! Brooklyn Book Festival (at booth, signing)
October 28-30th - San Diego - World Fantasy Convention
AROUND THE INTERWEBS:
-
- Interview and Giveaway at I'm a Reader Not a Writer (Giveaway ends 2/14)
- Interview and Giveaway at I'm a Reader Not a Writer (Giveaway ends 2/14)
-
- Stay Tuned to WAITING FOR FAIRIES - I've written an exclusive short Valentine piece starring Elijah and Josephine, two Strangely Beautiful favourites! Follow her @Kiaras and at the site, she'll be hosting giveaways and fun goodies all February! The new short story goes up Valentine's Day!
- Stay Tuned to WAITING FOR FAIRIES - I've written an exclusive short Valentine piece starring Elijah and Josephine, two Strangely Beautiful favourites! Follow her @Kiaras and at the site, she'll be hosting giveaways and fun goodies all February! The new short story goes up Valentine's Day!
-
-KUDOS to UNHALLOWED METROPOLIS; "the gas-mask chic role playing game of Neo-
Victorian horror" for picking up new distributor at Atomic Overmind Press! I met this fabulous crew of visionaries, gamers and artists at TempleCon last year and I am VERY pleased to say I'll be involved with the Unhallowed crowd in the future, having written a short piece about a Neo-Victorian zombie assassin for their upcoming fiction installments. Very. Cool.
Victorian horror" for picking up new distributor at Atomic Overmind Press! I met this fabulous crew of visionaries, gamers and artists at TempleCon last year and I am VERY pleased to say I'll be involved with the Unhallowed crowd in the future, having written a short piece about a Neo-Victorian zombie assassin for their upcoming fiction installments. Very. Cool. -
I have joined THE APOCALYPSIES - a fabulous group of 2012 Debut YA authors and since MAGIC MOST FOUL releases November 2011 - they've kindly let me play in their End of the World Sandbox - that's so nice of them! They're the neatest group of authors with awesome books - please check out and follow the blog and their Twitter @Apocalypsies!
-
Cheers, friends! Hope your February is lovely thus far, I know I'm trying to stay warm and trying not to fall into snow banks here in NYC. My beloved bought me vinyl boots. He is nice.
Stay tuned for another Marketing Smackdown column this month!
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