Renee's Book Addiction

Mind Games release day, new pub date for JS-F, & an update

March 23, 2010 at 5:00 am 14 comments

First off, big congratulations to Carolyn Crane for today’s release of her first novel, Mind Games (The Disillusionists trilogy, book 1). I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I won it over at DIK, and it should be winging it’s way to me right now. I’m really excited to see Carolyn’s wit, writerly talent, and quirky sense of humor that is so fun to read at The Thrillionth Page, translated into this urban fantasy series.

Another book I’ve been eagerly awaiting is Julia Spencer-Fleming’s One Was a Soldier (Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ VanAlstyne series, book 7). Her site (which is out of date) has said for months that it would be released “fall ’09 or winter ’10″. However, neither cover nor release date has been forthcoming. Last week in her email newsletter, JS-F gave readers an update on when we can get more of Clare and Russ.

Here’s what she says:

First Amazon posted its publication date as “February 2012,” then  sent out a notice it was going to be on sale a month from now! I was deluged by readers wanting to know which was true, and what the story was?

Here’s the good news: One Was A Soldier will be coming out a lot sooner than 2012.
Here’s the less-good news: You won’t be able to read it this year. Publication is set for April, 2011.

The manuscript was so late, I missed my production slot–the date my publisher had reserved for the book to be sold-in, printed, bound, etc. There are a multitude of steps readers never see that go into the proper publication of a book.  And yes, with today’s technology a publisher can “crash” a book and skip a lot of correct practices but the folks at Minotaur don’t want my series to suffer.  They want to do it right — and so do I.  I promise you, it will be worth the wait.  I’m extremely excited about getting One Was A Soldier into your hands.

She goes on to say that she plans to do some “character sketches, vignettes, or short stories” for her mail list subscribers if she is able.

As disappointed as I am to have to wait another year for One Was a Soldier, I’m glad that the high quality of this series won’t be compromised.

On a personal front, things have settled down a bit. My little great-nephew is home now with my niece. It was wonderful to introduce him to my son, who is thrilled he finally has another boy cousin. (The last few were girls, and he’s been dying for another boy in the family.)

Here is a picture of him getting to know his new little cousin (with my help):

He was a little nervous to hold him or even touch him at first, but by the end of the afternoon, he didn’t want to let go of his cousin’s tiny hand.

The 3rd annual DABWAHA (Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors) Tournament (a romance oriented NCAA March Madness style tournament) has just concluded the 2nd round. I’m really excited to currently be in 5th place. I know the tides change quickly with each set of voting, so I may not be where I’m at once the next round concludes, but it’s been fun to check in after voting in each set, and see where I’m at.

On the book front, I’ve been really loving the audiobook of A Local Habitation (October Daye series, book 2). Rosemary and Rue (book 1 in the series) was one of my favorite UF series debuts last year, and Toby’s further adventures are just as enjoyable. It also is translating well into audio format and Mary Robinette Kowal is doing a great job with the narration.

I’m also reading Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton, which I have a feeling won’t be one of my favorites in the series. It’s one of her shorter books (158 pgs) leaving little time for plot, and the “flirting” theme isn’t really doing it for me. However, I will persevere for continuity sake and hope for better things with Bullet (a regular length novel) which will come out in June. I enjoyed the last Anita Blake novel, Skin Trade, more than any of the last 5 or 6 that I read and will continue to be optimistic about the future of this series.

This week I’m hoping to finally get to Linnea Sinclair’s Games of Command and Madeleine Brent’s Tregaron’s Daughter, my March Re-read Challenge book. I’ve been totally flaking out on my challenges this year, reading the books but not reviewing them. Ideally, I’ll be turning that around this month!

So, that’s what’s going on around here. What’s happening with you? Read any good books lately?

Entry filed under: Weekly Update. Tags: A Local Habitation, Anita Blake series, Carolyn Crane, Flirt, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Laurell Hamilton, Mind Games, October Daye series, One Was a Soldier, Rev Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne series, Seanan McGuire, The Disillusionists trilogy.