So, the hub and I spent the last week in MI with my family, celebrating a couple of special bdays. As we were driving out there on Wednesday, somewhere around Buffalo NY late that afternoon, my cell phone started ringing–my editor calling from NYC.
“How would you feel about being on the New York Times list?” she asks, far too calmly.
Me: “Oh, God. I’m afraid to ask…” (I’ve hit the extended list before, and hoped by some miracle I *might* squeak onto the fringes again this time)
Then my editor said: “Number. Six.”
Me: “Uh, what?”
Her: “Number-fracking-six!”
This was, naturally, followed by much shrieking and laughing and, for me, a prolonged feeling of utter disbelief. Holy crap . . . I hit the NYT list!! It still feels weird to type that! My editor told me to go out and celebrate, but after a full day on the road, all my husband and I could muster was some lukewarm room service food and a shared can of soda at the Best Western we finally stopped at in Ontario. Oh, the glamour, right?! But I have to say, even the soggy sandwich and cold fries tasted great that night.
To each and every one of you who picked up a copy of Midnight Rising over these past couple of weeks, I thank you. Really, I can’t say that enough. I feel so fortunate to be doing something I absolutely love, and you guys are the ones making it possible! I hope you enjoy(ed) Rio and Dylan’s story, and I’m working hard to make sure Nikolai and Renata’s story delivers something special too.
Big hugs from one very grateful, humbled author…..
Tomorrow is March 25th, and you know what that means, right? It’s the official on-sale date for Midnight Rising!!
I’ve heard from a few people that it’s been showing up early in a handful of places over the holiday weekend–Walmart and a couple of bookstores. A big thanks to everyone who’s emailed me with shelf reports and sightings, and even bigger thanks to everyone who waited until this first sales week to pick it up! I hope you all enjoy Rio and Dylan’s story!
And look–I have a video trailer! Check it out! (If the embed code works….)
(Sidebar: Why is it that every time I post on here that I’m going to be scarce online, I end up blogging almost daily? Yeah, um, contrary much? Maybe it’s just my ADD talking . . . )
Anyway, today’s post is time-sensitive and it involves a free book! Not one of mine this time, and not exactly a feel-good read from what I gather, but I figure one cannot (and should not) live on sweets alone. Publishers Weekly describes the book thusly: “A wide-ranging portrait of an almost mythically depraved Las Vegas, this sweeping debut takes in everything from the bland misery of suburban Nevada to the exploitative Vegas sex industry.” Color me intrigued. Plus, come on–free book! I have to be completely uninterested to not be lured in by those two words alone. Â
The book is Beautiful Children by Charles Bock (I read his bio on his website and that pretty much sealed my interest in his book). Random House is offering this hardcover debut title as a free PDF download until midnight tomorrow. To get your copy, click here.
These poor, mistreated sirens. I mean, really! What is this country coming to when (self-described)Â pretty people can’t demand special treatment and expect to get it?
*lightbulb moment–I think I finally figured out how to add images to my blog!
As for me, I’m deep enough into Veil of Midnight that it’s time for me to head into my writing cave and go full steam on Nikolai’s story. So I’ll be a bit scarce (er, more scarce) online as I begin the heavy lifting of getting the draft down on paper. Wish me luck! In the meantime, I will have some fun stuff coming up as we near the March 25th release day for Midnight Rising. Stay tuned for special previews, a cool video trailer for the book and other things I’m forgetting at the moment. Details to follow soon. . . .
Roca Editorial, who is publishing Kiss of Midnight (El Beso de Medianoche) in Spain sometime this month, has just picked up the Spanish translation rights to Kiss of Crimson too!
No word on title or release date, but I’m very excited since this is the one language I can actually limp through and partially understand (un poco . . . si, muy poco). If you’d like to see the Spanish cover for Kiss of Midnight, visit the Translations page of my website.
FYI, I’m going to be chatting online tonight at CoffeeTimeRomance.com — and giving away some autographed copies of my books! If you’d like to stop by and say hello, ask me some questions, or just try to snag a free book (including an ARC of Midnight Rising, months ahead of release day!) please come and visit me. I’d love to see you there!
Note: If you received my newsletter yesterday, you may have noticed that the link I provided to the chat didn’t work (argh!). For some reason the Coffee Time URL is caps-sensitive, and I forgot to capitalize the “C” in Chat. The link above *should* work, but if not, just go to the CoffeeTimeRomance.com website and click the sidebar links to the chat room. Sorry for any confusion!
More specifically, I heart the Chicago Tribune for this wonderful review that appeared in the January 26*, 2008 Books section:
“Midnight Awakening is an adrenaline-fueled, sizzlingly sexy, darkly intense addition to Lara Adrian’s addictively readable paranormal [Midnight] Breed series.”
Yowza! I’ve never seen a more beautiful collection of adverbs and adjectives in my life! What a nice way to start the week.
*Is it some kind of cosmic coincidence that this incredible review would run on the 10th anniversary of getting The Call for my very first book sale? Hmm, I wonder….
As promised, the website has been updated with a bit o’new stuff.
First up is a dedicated page for Midnight Rising, which includes the back cover blurb and a brief excerpt from the book–hope you enjoy it! FYI, this is different from the preview that appears in the back of Midnight Awakening, however, if you’re a member of my readers group at Yahoo, you may have already seen this little peek inside the book.
Further site updates include new cover art on my Translations page. You really must see the gorgeous cover for the German translation of Midnight Awakening! Although the female model depicting Elise isn’t quite a match for her fair hair and features, she is practically a dead ringer for Nikolai’s heroine in the book I’m writing now. Really beautiful! I’ve loved all of my German covers, but this latest one is my absolute favorite. Thank you, Egmont Lyx!
Since the holidays, I’ve been working away on a new book in the Midnight Breed series and trying to catch up on lots of email and goody requests that got backlogged while I was on deadline for Midnight Rising (Rio’s book, which is coming out March 25th!). This weekend I’m going to be updating the website with an excerpt from Midnight Rising and some info on the one to follow, which is Nikolai’s book and which was christened just yesterday with a title. Seems no one at Bantam Dell liked my working title (admittedly, it was a bit blah), so we finally settled on a new one . . . Veil of Midnight. What do you think?
One other quick item. On February 5th, I’ve been invited to chat at CoffeeTimeRomance.com. The chat starts at 9pm EST, and I believe I will be giving away a free book or two during the hour I’ll be online. The link included here (and on my Calendar page) should take you directly to the chat login screen. Hope to see you there!
