Welcome to Smugglivus – Day 30!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Today we bring you our interview with Nancy Holzner, author of new Urban Fantasy novel Deadtown (reviewed yesterday by Thea HERE).

Please give a warm welcome to Nancy!

The Book Smugglers: First and foremost, thanks for taking the time to “chat” with us! Your new novel Deadtown is a gritty urban fantasy, set in an alternate version of Boston. Can you tell us a bit about your book, and why you chose Boston for your paranormal setting?

Nancy: Thanks so much for inviting me! I’m excited to be here, and I’d love to say a few things about my novel. Deadtown is Boston’s paranormal-only district, home to vampires, werewolves, two thousand zombies—and Vicky Vaughn, Boston’s only active shapeshifter. Vicky is one of the Cerddorion, a race of Welsh shapeshifters who trace their origins back to the goddess Ceridwen. Vicky exterminates people’s personal demons for a living; she spends her time dealing with demon-haunted clients, putting up with a pain-in-the-neck teenage zombie apprentice, fending off a research scientist who’s a little too interested in what makes her tick, and trying to squeeze in an occasional date with her kinda-sorta boyfriend, workaholic werewolf lawyer Alexander Kane. When one of her clients is murdered by a Hellion, Vicky must face the demons of her own past—before that Hellion destroys the city and everyone in it.

I chose Boston because I lived there for several years and know the city pretty well. I also liked playing with the idea of how a relatively compact city like Boston, one that has a reputation for being intellectual, liberal, and full of history, would deal with a plague that sweeps through the downtown and creates a couple thousand insta-zombies.

The Book Smugglers: Urban Fantasy is a genre that has been experiencing crazy growth over the past few years – every month it seems there’s another badass heroine with a flaming sword (or gun, or lasso, etc.) taking the paranormal world by storm. Why did you decide to write an Urban Fantasy novel (series)? Are there any UF authors in particular that you admire?

Nancy: I’d been reading urban fantasy for a few years, ever since a friend recommended Kim Harrison’s Hollows series and I quickly started hunting for similar books. I loved the genre’s inventiveness and sheer imagination; it’s so much fun to read. It wasn’t long before I was coming up with ideas for my own urban fantasy world. There are a lot of authors I admire: Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Devon Monk, Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, Jon Levitt. Those are the ones who come to mind immediately.

The Book Smugglers: Your heroine, Vicky, is a demi-human shapeshifter and demon slayer with n intriguing mythological background. You have a PhD in English and according to your biography you began your career as a medievalist. How much of a role did your educational background play in writing Deadtown? Did you do any additional mythological research for your universe?

Nancy: Well, you can take a scholar out of academia, but you can never entirely take academia out of the scholar; that’s why I call myself a “recovering academic.” I spent a lot of years studying and analyzing and teaching literature, and that remains a big part of who I am and the way I approach a project. I enjoy research, for example, and can get sucked into that phase of writing a novel for months if I let myself. For Deadtown, I reread the Mabinogi, the collection of medieval Welsh legends that inspired the background mythology for the novel, but I didn’t let myself go overboard. I didn’t, for example, spend time reading scholarly articles about that text, because I wasn’t trying to understand it in light of its historical context or contemporary literary theory—I just wanted to use it as a springboard for my novel. It’s possible to overdo it with research, with the result that you either straitjacket your own story or end up trying to cram in way too much of the cool stuff you discovered.

The Book Smugglers: Speaking of your heroine, her full name is Victory “Vicky” Vaughn – which has a lovely pulp-noir-ish ring to it. You also happen to be an author of traditional mystery…coincidence? Or fiendish plot? C’mon and spill – are you a Raymond Chandler fan?

Nancy: Most things I do are part of a fiendish plot, but I can’t really talk about that in public. I do like reading mysteries—I have ever since a grad-school friend got me hooked on Victorian detective fiction and Agatha Christie. Now, I’m a huge Donald E. Westlake fan, and the novels he wrote as Richard Stark have a strong noir feel to them. I’m also a fan of Victor Gischler, whose Gun Monkeys is brilliant neo-noir pulp, (and I’m excited because I just found out he wrote a vampire novel—I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my TBR pile.) If you’ve read either of those authors, you’ll know I like a little humor mixed in with my grit.

The Book Smugglers: The concept of “Deadtown” – a cordoned off area of Boston following a freak airborne viral mutation that instantly killed all humans in the area – is pretty cool and original (kind of like an inner city enforced ghetto for supernatural creatures). What inspired this idea? Do you think the supernatural community of shapeshifters, vamps, werewolves, zombies, assortment of demons, etc would have come out of the closet (coffin, whatever) had it not been for that plague?

Nancy: In the case of a plague like that—immediately deadly and unlike any known pathogen—the first thing the city would do would be to set up and enforce a quarantine zone. And then when events got even stranger, when the previously dead (or seemingly dead) victims started to rise, there’s no way that those victims would be allowed to leave that quarantine zone. No one knew whether they were still contagious. No one knew, exactly, what they’d become. Instead of working to integrate them back into society, the impulse would be to keep them contained.

Before the plague hit, Kane had been encouraging the supernatural community to come forward. He was recruiting paranormals to an activist group that was supposed to show the humans that the “monsters” were friendly to them and could be trusted, that they could live side by side. But on one hand, many paranormals weren’t interested, and on the other, a lot of humans thought that Kane and his group were crackpots. When the plague hit, paranormals (who were immune to the virus) helped to manage the quarantine zone. Not only were the humans forced to acknowledge that paranormals were real, they also reacted with the same fear they felt toward the zombies. All residents of Boston were genetically tested; anyone not human had to live in Deadtown. Some cooperated; others left the state or went into hiding. But human society had to recognize paranormals officially—whether either side wanted that or not.

The Book Smugglers: One of the main characters in your book, werewolf lawyer Alexander Kane, is a passionate fighter for civil rights. In your estimation as their creator, do the undead/non-human inhabitants of your world (or, as Kane would say, “Paranormal Americans”) deserve the same rights afforded to humans?

Nancy: That’s a tricky issue, because many of the PAs (those Paranormal Americans) represent a real danger to humans. They’ve been operating under the radar for centuries and many of them chafe at the restrictions humans place on them now. Humans are right to fear them; some of these creatures mean them harm. Kane’s strategy is to try to put PAs and humans on an equal footing legally, but he’s a true believer in concepts of justice and fair play that many PAs don’t share. Although the zombies want and deserve equal rights, some other types of paranormals would rather be invisible predators living outside of human rule. The humans would be smart to treat the paranormals as a powerful but not-entirely-friendly nation rather than trying to control them.

The Book Smugglers: In Deadtown, bad dreams are often demon infestations, and we love the breakdown of different types of demons you cover in the book. Similarly, your take on zombies is refreshingly different too. What inspired your spin on these classic horror monster icons? Do you have any favorite zombie or demon movies and/or books?

Nancy: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was the original zombie novel, and it’s still my favorite. Victor Frankenstein’s monster is an intelligent creature who’s trying to understand his place in the world and is angry with the creator who brought him into being and then rejected him. Although my zombies are plague victims, not the result of an overreaching scientist playing God, there are some parallels. They want to be accepted and allowed to get on with their existence, but their unnaturalness provokes fear and a desire to control. They raise questions about what’s “human.” For example, Tina (Vicky’s apprentice) is in many ways a typical teenager. But she’s also a zombie. Her character calls into question both what’s normal and what’s monstrous.

As for the demons, they represent those things that bedevil us. Where do they come from? In thinking about that question, I decided that there are two main kinds of demons: those that have no independent existence and come into being through strong human emotion—fear, guilt, anger, hatred—and those that do exist independently and operate on a larger scale. The first type of demon torments individuals, and these are the personal demons that Vicky fights for her clients. The second type is destructive on a much larger scale, hostile to humans in general, not just a particular individual. They represent Evil-with-a-capital-E.

The Book Smugglers: What writing projects do you have on the horizon? And when can we expect the sequel to Deadtown?

Nancy: Deadtown’s sequel is currently with my editor and will be out in about a year. I’m working on proposals for more books in the series. I also have an idea I’m playing with for a contemporary fantasy set in the Catskill Mountains. It’s a wonderful setting for a fantasy, an eerie land that’s home of Rip van Winkle, the Headless Horseman, Native American legends, stories about witches and gnomes . . . I’m having fun playing with the possibilities.

The Book Smugglers: In the spirit of Smugglivus, can you share with us your favorite books of 2009? Are there any books you are looking forward to reading in 2010?

Nancy: Some of my 2009 urban fantasy favorites:

Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

Skinwalker by Faith Hunter

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

Magic in the Shadows by Devon Monk

Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding

In 2010, I’m looking forward to the next books in the Kate Daniels and Allie Beckstrom series. I’m also looking forward to Sean Cummings’ Shade Fright, which I was lucky enough to read early. It’s got a heroine who likes opera and still kicks ass—that’s my kind of book.

The Book Smugglers: ARGH! Human blood’s been spilled and the ravenous, unstoppable zombie horde is coming! You can save ONE book, ONE movie, and ONE TV show – QUICK! What are they?

Nancy: Oh, no! Years ago I gave up watching TV to find time to write, so can I sacrifice a TV show and save two books instead? Okay, I’ll play by the rules. My husband wisely advised me to save The Zombie Survival Guide, but before I could act on that the medievalist in me rushed forward to grab the book and the movie.

Book: The Riverside Chaucer, which is the complete works of Chaucer in one volume. Chaucer’s got everything—sex, humor, piety, science, allegory, romance, philosophy, war. His writings are endlessly fun, except maybe for the “Treatise on the Astrolabe,” but that might come in handy if I had to lead a band of survivors away from the zombie infestation (and assuming I, um, had an astrolabe). It’s also a massive book that could double as a weapon in a pinch.

Movie: Ingmar Bergman’s 1960 film The Virgin Spring, which is based on a 13th-century Swedish ballad. The first time I saw this film, I was blown away by its unsentimental depiction of the contradictions of life in the Middle Ages: beauty and harshness, love and despair, brutal violence and deep faith—faith that persists in the face of evidence that suggests an absent or hostile God.

TV show: Hmm . . . are you sure I can’t swap this one for another book? Well, I’m a crazed opera fanatic, so for myself I’d save the PBS series Great Performances at the Met. But my daughter has some favorite shows, so for her sake I might save 30 Rock or Mad Men.

The Book Smugglers: We Book Smugglers are faced with constant threats and criticisms from our significant others concerning the sheer volume of books we purchase and read – hence, we have resorted to ’smuggling books’ home to escape scrutinizing eyes. Have you ever had to smuggle books?

Nancy: Not into my house. My husband buys at least as many books as I do. We’ve got overflowing bookcases in almost every room of our house, and even so we still have books stacked up in piles everywhere. We live in constant danger of getting buried under a “bookalanche.” We’re probably good candidates for ebook readers at some point in the future, but we both really like physical books. (Although now that I think of it, when the zombies attack I could grab my ebook reader and save my entire library! For some reason, that’s suddenly become a major temptation.)

The Book Smugglers: Thanks again for your time, Nancy, and we wish you all the best with your release of Deadtown!

Nancy: Thank you! I enjoy your site and look forward to reading your reviews, conversations, and posts in the coming year.

Nancy Holzner grew up in western Massachusetts with her nose stuck in a book. This meant that she tended to walk into things, wore glasses before she was out of elementary school, and forced her parents to institute a “no reading at the dinner table” rule. It was probably inevitable that she majored in English in college and then, because there were still a lot of books she wanted to read, continued her studies long enough to earn a masters degree and a PhD.

Nancy lives in upstate New York with her husband Steve, where they both work from home without getting on each other’s nerves. She enjoys visiting local wineries and listening obsessively to opera. There are still a lot of books she wants to read.

You can read more about Nancy online at her website HERE.

Giveaway Details:

We are giving away one copy of Deadtown, courtesy of the publisher! The contest is open to entrants in the US only, and will run until Saturday January 2, 2010 at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here letting us know what YOUR favorite first book in an Urban Fantasy series is. Good luck!

Welcome to Smugglivus – Day 23!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Today we give you Adrian Phoenix, author of dark Urban Fantasy series The Maker’s Song books (A Rush of Wings, In the Blood – both reviewed HERE – and the upcoming Beneath the Skin).

Today is a little different – Ms. Phoenix hasn’t prepared a Smugglivus Author Post like the other authors that have been on The Book Smugglers, but instead is offering an interactive Question and Answer session with readers in the comments of this post! And it gets even better – courtesy of Simon & Schuster and Adrian, we’ve got TWO autographed sets of The Maker’s Song books up for grabs. Entry is easy and simple – just leave a comment here asking Adrian a question (about her UF series, her writing process, her favorite authors or films, etc). The contest is open to all, and will run until December 31st at 11:59PM (PST). Good luck, and let the questions begin!

First, here’s a brief intro from Adrian Phoenix herself…

Adrian: Hi all, thanks so much for having me. I’m thrilled to be here, ready and able to answer any questions you might have whether it’s knowing why I wrote The Maker’s Song series, getting to know more about the characters (some of which I’m sure could be persuaded to answer a few questions as well), Behind the scenes questions about Black Dust Mambo (out July 2010), what I do in my spare time, my plans for the holidays (I totally plan to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie – can’t wait!), my fav movies or books, or writing questions. Fire away!

And we leave you with one more goody – a sneak peek of Adrian’s upcoming novel:

Beneath the Skin by Adrian Phoenix

CHAOS CONTROLS HIS FUTURE. ONE MORTAL WOMAN COULD BE HIS SALVATION. THE COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION WILL BEGIN WITH DANTE’S CHOICE….

THE FATE OF THREE WORLDS…

The dark pieces of vampire rock star Dante Baptiste’s past are violently emerging, and it is only a matter of time before the Fallen discover he is the creawdwr they have sought for thousands of years. The destruction he left behind in Oregon threatens to reveal his identity as Fallen Maker and True Blood, exposing the young nightkind to shadowy predators — mortal and supernatural — who will do whatever it takes to win his favor…or destroy him.

RESTS IN DANTE’S HANDS.

When beautiful FBI special agent Heather Wallace went AWOL on assignment, she chose irresistible Dante over the shady government forces that now stalk them both. Heather has her own secrets of the past to uncover, but she is also the only one who can hold her nightkind lover together when his dangerous quest for the truth threatens to send him over the edge. And as she and Dante fi ght for their survival, she realizes they must work together to protect their future — before his mysterious destiny tears them apart….

You can read an extended excerpt online HERE.

Good luck, and let the questions begin!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 20!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest #1: Susan Holloway Scott, author of historical fiction with several books from the perspective of the different mistresses of King Charles II. In 2008 she released The King’s Favorite, told from the perspective of Nell Gwyn (reviewed here).

Recent Work: The French Mistress, written from the point of view of Louise de Keroualle, the Duchess of Portsmouth, reviewed here by Thea. For Susan’s Inspirations and Influences post about her latest novel, please go here.

Please give a warm welcome to Susan!

First of all, I want to wish the smuggliest of Smugglivuses to you all, and to Thea and Ana in particular –– and many thanks, too, for making the Booksmugglers such a fabu place for both writers and readers. You’re the best!

It’s almost impossible to pick my favorite books of 2009 –– how to choose from so many? –– but I’ll try. Here are my top three, in no particular order.

The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan.

An achingly beautiful novel of the three writing Bronte sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne) that brings to life not only the creators of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but the very real challenges facing creative women in the 19th century. An excellent antidote to Jane-Austen-clone-overload.

Don’t Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

OK, so Loretta is one of my best buds. That doesn’t mean I can’t be totally honest and proclaim this to be the most entertaining historical romance of 2009. Fun and funny, and surprisingly touching, too, the way Loretta’s books always are.

Johnny One-Eye by Jerome Charyn

A bawdy, breathless retelling of the American Revolution by the rascally double-agent of the title, and Johnny’s version is loads more enjoyable than the version you had in middle school.

Now what do I personally have in store for 2010?

September will mark the release of my next historical novel set in the 17th century English Court, THE COUNTESS & THE KING: A Novel of Countess of Dorchester & King James II. Katherine Sedley was clever rather than beautiful, an outspoken heiress who shuns a respectable marriage for the notoriety of becoming royal mistress. But what begins as a passionate impulse soon leads Katherine into a tangle of political intrigue, religious dissent, and ever-shifting alliances, where a wrong step can mean treason, exile or death at the executioner’s block. As the risks rise, Katherine is forced to make the most perilous of choices: to remain loyal to the King, or to England.

Unfortunately I still don’t have the cover for THE COUNTESS & THE KING, but I’ll post it on my website as soon as I do, plus a teaser. There’s also lots of other cool stuff there about my other books: Unfortunately I still don’t have the cover for THE COUNTESS & THE KING, but I’ll post it on my website as soon as I do, plus a teaser. There’s also lots of other cool stuff there about my other books: www.susanhollowayscott.com

I also hope you’ll stop the blog I write with Loretta Chase: Two Nerdy History Girls. Sure, we ARE the nerdy history girls, but as Loretta explained here last week, we’re not too serious about it. Think of it as history filtered through People magazine. Which is why one day you’ll find Queen Victoria’s knickers and on the next , historical examples of Men Behaving Badly, with Johnny Depp thrown in there,too. Come on over!

Thanks, Susan!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 19!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Sam Sykes, fantasy author who debuted this year with a short story in the anthology The Dragon Book.

Recent work: Humane Killer, in The Dragon Book (a story written with Diana Gabaldon!). This was one of Ana’s favourite shorts in the anthology, reviewed here. Sam’s first novel, Tome of the Undergates, is going to be published in 2010, and we cannot wait!

Please give it up for Sam with his top reads of 2009, what he is looking forward to in 2010 and an exclusive except of his book!

Bonjour, Smugglets! After the long and gruesome “Decade of Broken Dreams” (as dubbed by Time magazine), a New Year is finally upon us. Personally, I found it to be a pretty good year for me, but damn if I’m going to pass up the chance to be a part of a length of time that feeds on shattered hope and possibly the tears of orphaned kittens.

As to what’s been new and exciting this year, specifically, I can’t comment entirely. After being accepted to Gollancz Books, I began voraciously devouring their authors, in lieu of their tender hearts and sweet brain meats, to gain their knowledge and courage. To that end, though, I’d certainly like to share what I found to be some fairly substantial moments of good tidings this year.

Chief among my favorites was Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (that is the last time I’ll mention his name, since he is summoned if anyone speaks his name thrice and attempts to steer the blog toward discussions of himself). I’m an immense fan of that guy’s style and violently consumed The First Law trilogy.

His decision to produce standalone novels, I feel, is an excellent way to experiment with a variety of other styles and I would wholeheartedly urge anyone at all interested in stabbings, garrotes, poisons, murder, love unrequited and love obscene, as well as a fine aroma of suggested incest to get in on the ground floor with this book.

You probably shouldn’t tell him I said any of that, though. You can tell him that I’m going to knock his ass flat with fists made of hate, though.

It may be the penultimate sin in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but before The Steel Remains, I hadn’t even heard of Richard Morgan.

Suffice to say, I was pretty pleased to find out what I’ve been missing with this book. Having several friends in the military, the concept of what happens to heroes when there are no more dragons to slay or armies to turn back interests me greatly. If said heroes are frequently involved in various acts of sodomy, steel or combinations of both, well, so much the better, no? It’s also worth noting that the phrase “whorl of his anus” ranks among one of the most memorable combinations of words I’ve ever read in a book.

The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick (the V.S. stands for Versus Sea monster, I’m told) was also pretty pleasant to discover.

For something that the genre was built on and named for, we rarely get to see elements of pure imagination and instances of the fantastic in fantasy novels these days. Any author that thinks up floating cities, luminescent fish-people and loquacious rats can probably safely consider himself one of the more imaginative ones.

Now, 2010 promises to be a pretty cool year, and not just for the fact that it’s when my own piece comes out!

A lot of people have compared my style to that of Scott Lynch, author of the supremely fantastic The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies. A lot more have asked me if I’ve ever considered eating his brains to steal his ideas. These latter people, whom I will call “the police,” may have good cause to worry if his third book, Republic of Thieves comes out in 2010, as predicted. To say I’m frothing at the mouth to find out what happens (and more importantly, what happened) is horrifying…but accurate, in this case.

Like all people possessed of good morals and time on their hands, I’m looking forward to Wise Man’s Fear, the next work by Patrick Rothfuss, and I daresay it’ll probably shape a lot of opinions about the series as a whole.

Alex Bell, the most talented young lady to ever have refused me the request to hurl her like a javelin, has her new Lex Trent Versus the Gods coming out, too, I believe! She’s got style, humor and flair to spare, as well as a dog the size of a goddamn BUICK! How could you not like her?

I’ve heard tell that the one dude’s next book, The Heroes, might be out in 2010. If so, I’ll probably do my best to get my hands on it without having to pay for it, since that guy doesn’t need my money. If not, I suppose I’ll send him an envelope full of farts, because he seems like he might like that.

I suppose there might be one or two people wondering what they can expect from me in this upcoming year, though. I suppose, therefore, that I should probably tell you to expect Tome of the Undergates in April of 2010. But what exactly should you expect, beyond a cover possessed of exceedingly badass water?

Tome of the Undergates, more than anything, is a book about exploration and discovery. It’s a story about discovering friends, the kind of friends who are there for you…or not…or maybe they stab you in the back, or perhaps kill you to fulfill their cultural mandate, or possibly hide something that could kill you all.

It’s a story about discovering faith, and of always being possessed of the wonder if they’re there and listening to you, or if you should listen to the giant fish-demon telling you they aren’t as he strangles the life out of you.

It’s a story about discovering love, the kind of love that makes your creed of genocide suddenly in question, that makes you wonder if the screaming will ever stop, that makes you want to punch rocks, cut throats open and feel people up in the night.

None of that is hypothetical, by the way. It’s all in the book. But probably the best way to prove that I’m not a tremendous liar is to show you a brief excerpt…

“So,” Denaos spoke loudly to be heard over the sound of hammering, “why the sudden interest in the fairer sex?”

Lenk paused and looked up from his duty of nailing wood over their wrecked boat’s wound, casting his companion a curious stare.

“Sudden?” he asked.

“Oh, apologies,” the rogue laughed, holding up a hand. “I didn’t mean to suggest you liked raisins in your curry, if you catch my meaning.”

“I…really don’t.”

“Well, I just meant you happened to be all duty and grimness and agonizing about bloodshed up until this point.” Denaos took a swig from a waterskin as he leaned on the vessel’s railing. “You know, like Gariath.”

“Does…Gariath like raisins in his curry?”

“I have no idea if he even eats curry.” Denaos scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I suppose he’d probably like it hot, though.”

“Yeah, probably.” Lenk furrowed his brow. “Wait, what does that mean?”

“Let’s forget it. Anyway, I’m thrilled to advise you on the subject, but why choose now, in the prime of your imminent death, to start worrying about women?”

“Not ‘women,’ exactly, but ‘woman.’”

“A noble endeavor,” Denaos replied, taking another swig.

“Kataria.”

There was a choked sputter as Denaos dropped the skin and put his hands on his knees, hacking out the droplets of water. Lenk frowned, picking up another half-log and placing it upon the companion vessel’s hole.

“Is it that shocking?” the young man asked, plucking up a nail.

“Shocking? It’s immoral, man.” The rogue gestured wildly off to some direction the aforementioned female might be. “She’s a shict! A bloodthirsty, leather-clad savage! She views humanity,” he paused to nudge Lenk, “of which you are a part, I should add, as a disease! You know she threatened to kill me back in Irontide?”

“Yeah, she told me.” Lenk began to pound the nail.

“And?”

“And what?” He glanced up and shrugged. “She didn’t actually kill you, so what’s the harm?”

“Point taken,” the rogue said, nodding glumly. “Still, that’s the sort of thing you’re lusting after here, my friend. Say the Gods get riotously drunk and favor your union, say you’re wed. What happens when you leave the jam out overnight or don’t wear the pants she’s laid out for you? Do you really want to risk her making a necklace out of your sack and stones every time she’s in a mood?”

“Kat doesn’t seem like the type to lay out pants,” Lenk said, looking thoughtful. “I think that might be why I…” He scratched his chin.

“Approve of her.”

“Well, listen to you and your ballads, you romantic devil.” The rogue sighed, resting his head on folded arms. “Still, I might have known this would happen.”

“How’s that?”

“Well, you’ve both got so much common,” he continued. “You, a grim-faced runt with hair the color of a man thrice your age. And her…” Denaos shuddered. “Her, a woman with a lack of bosom so severe it should be considered a crime, a woman who thinks it’s perfectly fine to smear herself with various fluids and break wind wherever she pleases.” His shudder became an unrestrained, horrified cringe. “And that laugh of hers…”

“She has her good points,” Lenk replied. “She’s independent, she’s stubborn when she needs to be, doesn’t bother me too much…I’ll concede the laugh, though.”

“You just described a mule,” Denaos pointed out. “Though, you grew up on a farm, didn’t you? I suppose that explains a lot. Still, I suppose this particular match was meant to be.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you’re both vile, bloodthirsty, completely uncivilized and callous people and you both have the physiques of prepubescent thirteen-year-old boys.” The rogue shrugged. “The sole difference between you is that you choose to expel your reeking foulness from your mouth and she from the other end.”

“Glad to have your blessing, then,” Lenk muttered, hefting up another log. “So, what do you think I should do?”

“Well, a shict is barely a step above a beast, so you might as well just rut her and get it over with before she tries to assert her dominance over you.”

“Uh…all right.” Lenk looked up, frowning. “How do I do that?”

“How’d you do it the first time you did it?”

“What, with Kat?”

“No, with whatever milkmaid or dung-shovelstress you happened to roll with when you first discovered you were a man, imbecile.”

Lenk turned back to the boat, blinking. He stared at the half-patched wound for a moment, though his eyes were vacant and distant.

“I…can’t remember.”

“Ah, one of those encounters, eh?” Denaos laughed, plucking up the waterskin from the sand. “No worries, then. You might as well be starting fresh, aye?” He brushed the dirt from its lip and took a swig.

“Really, there’s not much to it. Just choose a maneuver and go through with it.”

“What, there’s maneuvers?”

“Granted, the technique might be lost on her…and you, but if you’ve any hope of pleasing a woman, you’ll have to learn a few of the famous arts.” A lewd grin crossed his face. “Like the Six-Fingered Suldana.”

“And…” Lenk’s expression seemed to suggest a severe moral dilemma in continuing. “How does that go?”

“It’s not too hard.” The rogue set down the waterskin, then folded the third finger of each hand under it, knotting the two appendages over themselves. “First, you take your fingers like this. Then, you drop a gold piece on the ground and ask the woman if she wants to see a magic trick, then you—“ He paused, regarding Lenk’s horrified expression, and smiled. “Oh, almost got me to say it, didn’t you? No, no…that one’s a secret, and for good reason. If you tried it, you’d probably rupture something.”

“Maybe all this is for nothing,” the young man said, turning back to the boat. “I mean, it’s not usual to…do this sort of thing right after confessing your feelings, is it?”

“Love has nothing to do with feelings, you twit. Or at least, love-making doesn’t. It’s an art, created to establish prowess and technique.”

“I’m…I’m really not sure I want to do that, then.”

“Fine,” the rogue sighed dramatically. “I was trying to spare you some embarrassment, since I severely doubt your capabilities of conveying anything remotely eloquent to her. Then again, she is a barbarian, so perhaps just grunting and snorting will do.”

“I was planning on something like that,” Lenk said, grinning. “But, out of curiosity, if Khetashe does smile upon me…what maneuver do I use?”

“Something simple,” Denaos said, shrugging. “Like the Sleeping Toad.”

“The Sleeping Toad?”

“A beginner’s technique, but no less efficient. You simply request that your lady wait until you’re asleep, then have her do her business with such delicate sensual eroticism that you barely even stir.”

“Huh…have you ever tried it?”

“Once,” the rogue said, nodding.

“Did it work?”

Denaos looked out over the sea thoughtfully, took a long sip from the waterskin. “You know, I really have no Gods damned idea.”

So, how about that? Pretty intense, huh? I bet the guy who wrote that is a total stud and probably solves mysteries with a sentient motorcycle and a chimpanzee sidekick.

Watch for the rest of it in April! And Happy Smugglivus!

And a happy Smugglivus to you too, Sam!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 18!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Sarah Rees Brennan, YA author who debuted this year (and knocked Ana’s socks off with her writing). To read Sarah’s article about her Inspirations and Influences, go here.

Recent Work: The Demon’s Lexicon (set to make Ana’s top 10 of 2009). Ana reviewed the book here and Thea reviewed it here.

Please welcome Sarah and her list of favourite things of 2009 (plus a giveaway):

My Favourite Things of 2009

So here’s a thing people don’t talk about a lot: reading books by people you know.The first book you read by someone you know is simultaneously really exciting (because you’re happy their book is out! You love this person! You’re dying to read it!) and absolutely terrifying (If you don’t like it, perhaps you can move to Siberia and never ever check your email?).

The thing I never expected is that reading a book by someone you know is really reassuring. You know you’re going to get their humour: you know you find the same kind of things interesting. You’re absolutely certain that there is never going to be that Horrible Lurching Moment of Dismay when you realise the author’s value system is totally different from your own and now all the characters you love are tainted and you can never talk about the books again without going off on a weird rant that makes you look like you’ve been through a bad break-up.

‘I always knew the books were flawed (Oh we were never that serious), I still sometimes pick up their books in the shop (I drunk-dialled him last week), That character was really always the weak point in the series (I always knew that vile girl from the copy shop/his suspiciously clingy best friend Mitch would steal him away from me!), I guess I feel like other people should know how the series turns out before they waste their time (I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights).’ Book break-ups are hard to do!

But when you know someone’s mind and find out you love their writing (and that one’s a gamble…) then you can have a lot of fun. I made a lot of friends among fellow debut authors in 2009, and thus I had a lot of opportunities to find authors I trusted and books I love. (Some of them, of course, were written by total strangers. Who I will now be stalking incessantly in an attempt to get to their laptops – uh, I mean, enjoy their company.)

2009 BOOKS WHAT I LOVED

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

I have been reading a lot of romance this year, looking at what works in romance for me, enjoying rolling around with books that seem to really like the ladies (hating on the ladies, something I am very very tired of in books), and I’ve observed that some of the most recent historical fiction has an increased focus on the heroines. Which I love – how d’you invest in a romance without loving both of the main players? And Goddess of the Hunt has one of my very favourite heroines of the year – Lucy, who gets all dolled up in the morningtime to woo a suitor and looks ridiculous, who is self-confident and occasionally embarrasses herself and then picks herself up and goes again, Lucy who eats a crazy amount to keep up her levels of energy for new adventures. I loooove Lucy. The writing and the hero, also excellent, but Lucy made the book one of my favourites.

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

I loved the first book and when I found the sequel in a bookshop early, I performed a little spinny dance that caused one of the bookshop ladies to come and bond with me over the brilliance of this series. Derek and Chloe, I looooove them. I am also fond of Derek’s half-Asian sweet and good-lookin’ foster brother, though if he gets in the way of the romance, there will be consequences. Dark, snarly and hideous genius werewolf Derek! Tiny, blond and relentlessly sensible movie buff Chloe! If I had dolls of them, I would make them kiss all the time. (Quit looking at me like that.)

Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell

Definitely one of my favourite books of the year – reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird. I have a deep weakness for the South, possibly due to imprinting on Gone with the Wind young, and I also have a deep love for sensible heroines, mysteries, dark secrets in the past, and everybody being to blame and yet not being unlikable.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margi Stohl

In a world of lots and lots of YA featuring withdrawn ladies who fall in love with magnificently beautiful supernatural dudes – not that I don’t love several examples of that YA, but a change is nice – a sweet, normal boy narrator, a deep South background that was exotic (to me at least) and beautifully realised, and a romance that is goofy and adorable and obviously deeply-felt.

Knife by R.J. Anderson (known as Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter in the US)

Knife is the most badass YA heroine I came across this year, and she’s only about five inches tall. She wields a letter opener with deadly accuracy, though! And she spies on the strange and terrible humans who live near her – including Paul, who is newly wheelchair-bound, blond, sensitive, and – ahem! – kind of a hotass. Two very different people coming together in a gorgeously written mystery.

2009 MOVIES WHAT I LOVED

Star Trek

Went in having slept through every Star Trek episode I’d ever been shown, only because I’d heard awesome things, still very wary about space and action. Five minutes in, I looooved it: I loved the cool, reticent Vulcan dude, I loved the rebel with the cause that was daddy issues, and I loved the girl who was cool, confident and very brilliant at something that wasn’t kicking ass but was cerebral – I wish to see more of that. And the subtle, tropes-inverting romance was wonderful. I can’t wait to see the next one.

Let The Right One In

Vampire movie of the year! I love creepy child vampires, I love romances where the girl is the supernatural one, I love supernatural stuff that’s edgy and not romanticised. I loved the cold horror and the analysis of how morals would degrade in the face of the necessity of killing – and how children have very different morality, anyway.

Sherlock Holmes

Um, I haven’t seen it. But I really want to, and Robert Downey Jnr plus hilarity plus a new and strange take on the Sherlock Holmes mythos – I expect to love it!

2010 BOOKS I CAN’T WAIT FOR

(These include books I haven’t read and am dying to read, books I have read and am dying to talk about, and so on!)

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Dude, how awesome was Forest of Hands and Teeth? Plus, everyone who has read it says it’s even better than the first book. I mean, I don’t know, personally. Because I haven’t read it. I guess Carrie Ryan hates me or something. But Carrie ‘Doesn’t Love Me’ Ryan is still pretty magnificent. I’m dying to read it. By the time March rolls around perhaps I will be a zombie already. Not that Carrie ‘Heartless Withholder’ Ryan cares.

Proof by Seduction by Courtney Milan

As I said earlier, I have been observing a trend I call the New Wave of Historical Romance, which I LOVE, and I think ‘Proof by Seduction‘ is one of the best examples I’ve read so far. The heroine is a scheming fortune teller, and we start out thinking oh well, she’ll repent of her ways, the handsome hero will teach her to love again, and then you realise that in fact Jenny is like a psychiatrist for her clients – she didn’t know that’s what they needed, and they didn’t either, and yet they all needed help – and that truth can be found in lying, cheating and gambling: and the proof is in the book.

The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

This is one of those I have read: I love Cassie’s other books, and how they’re funny, dramatic and romantic all at once, and I was excited and nervous to read her historical demonhunters. I think this is her best book yet – I expected to love the uber-gentleman super-zen Jem, but I did not expect how much I would love Will, who is tall, dark and Totally Insane, and I really did not expect that the Love of the Book for me would be Tessa, the heroine who loves books in a way that I think we can all identify with – passionate, consuming, relating real life to books and books to real life, and being all the better for it. Plus – demons and period clothes and a secret London and lots of delicious humour, what’s not to love?

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

My rule of trilogies is as follows ‘Book One: set up, Book Two: make out, Book Three: defeat evil.’ The first book was a symphony in punking the steam, dressing the cross and buckling the swash, and it set up (I hope) a romance that is my favourite of Scott’s books so far. Therefore I am extremely eager for the Make-Out Book. Also, I have received thrilling spoilers for this one. I know some stuff that happens. And you will be electrified! (Also, I am willing to sell these spoilers to the highest bidder. Okay, not really.)

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

I would kill to read this book. Seriously – no, seriously. All Kelley would have to do is send me an email, with a name in it. And I would understand her. I would go and commit murder, while Kelley constructed a perfect alibi for herself. Perhaps she could be doing a reading? And then later, I would receive my book. It would be completely worth it! I must know what happens next with the surly, shockingly not-hot werewolf Derek and the damsel-in-distress-who-occasionally-stabs-a-bitch Chloe. My suggestion is – making out! (To be fair… that’s usually my suggestion.)

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

I am expecting gorgeous writing, a genius mystery and a use of point of view that makes me really think. The King of Attolia is one of my favourite books ever, ever, and really… I don’t know what would happen if Megan Whalen Turner decided to get in on my murder offer for Kelley Armstrong and I opened the letter and it had the name of a loved one in it. Well I’m not saying I would do it. BUT IT WOULD BE A VERY HARD DECISION.

The White Cat by Holly Black

A world where magic was outlawed at the same time as Prohibition, and now magic is the province of crime and seven magical, criminal families. Cassel is the youngest son of a family of magical conmen: he has no magic, has a hard time not thinking like a criminal (though he tries) and he has far too many secrets. A family of attractive and potentially evil brothers and a very unusual romance, and a YA fantasy written like a noir detective novel. It’s so funny, so different, and I so can’t wait for other people to read it.

And, er, well, in 2010 my second book The Demon’s Covenant comes out, and I thought I might share an excerpt with y’all.

“It’s not some kind of tragically stupid love triangle. I’m not going to choose one guy out of two and settle down. It doesn’t have to be either of them for me, or have to be me for either of them. The world’s full of people, if you hadn’t noticed. I could ask any of a dozen guys out, and any of them could ask me out.” Mae took a deep breath. “I didn’t ask for your advice on my love life,” she said. “And it’s not necessary.”

“Glad to hear it,” Nick told her. “One last thing before I go.”

He leaned in closer, his hand held up to screen their faces as if he didn’t want anyone watching to even read his lips. His fingers were curled about half an inch from her cheek.

“I’m sure you’re right,” he said, his voice a whisper that seemed to curl in the air like smoke, to find a way in to her stomach and twist there, low. “I’m sure there are a dozen guys who will ask you out if McFarlane loses his chance. I just want you to know something.”

“What?” Mae asked, whispering because he was whispering, tilting up her face because he was leaning down, and for no other reason.

Nick looked down at her, his face obscuring the rest of the world, narrowing down her focus and stripping everything else away until she was left with cold black eyes instead of a summer sky.

“I never will,” he said.

2009 was a very special year for me in a lot of ways – chiefly that it was the year my first book was published. I’ll never be a debut author again! It was nervewracking, exciting, and humbling. I’ve loved the responses for my book – I hope more people will start reading with the release of the paperback and The Demon’s Covenant in 2010 – I carry gratitude, terror, happiness and a whole lot of booklove from 2009 to the next year, and the next!

To celebrate Smugglivus and the Year of My Debut, pray comment to win one of two Irish silver quillon dagger charms – my hero Nick’s favourite kind of knife. And happy Smugglivus to you all!

Sarah

And a Happy Smugglivus to you Sarah!

The Giveaway:

Leave a comment to enter to win one of two Irish silver quillon dagger charms! The contest is open to everyone and will run till Saturday 26th 11:59pm (PST). Good luck!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 17!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Brandon Sanderson, fantasy author. Brandon is the author of Elantris, The Mistborn trilogy (a series both Ana and Thea read this year and LOVED) amongst others. He is also the writer selected to complete the epic Wheel of Time fantasy series by the late Robert Jordan.

Recent Work: Warbreaker (which we have both read and loved as well) and The Gathering Storm, the first of the final three volumes in the Wheel of Time series.

Brandon was kind enough to emerge from the depths of the Deadline Cave to briefly write about his top reads of 2009 and what to expect from him in 2010!

The year 2009 was an exciting one for me, between Warbreaker and The Gathering Storm, but I did manage to get some reading done! (during plane rides on a four-week author tour)

The books I read and liked in 2009 weren’t all released in 2009. But here’s my list..

Storm Front: Dresden Files Book One.

I find that most who try to do a hardboiled style fantasy novel either lay the dialect on way too thick or end up having a grossly unsympathetic protagonist. Not so here; Jim Butcher’s debut is exactly what I wanted. A fast-moving film-noir style fantasy with an excellent voice and character.

The Tipping Point:

I like peeking into the world of marketing since what I do is, at the distant end, a retail business. This was a fun book, with interesting concepts, that (like many of its kind) tried a little too hard to state its points without mentioning any potential problems. Well worth a read, though.

Watchmen:

I read this because of the hype around the movie. Everyone had been telling me it was a great story. I couldn’t have imagined how much of an understatement that was. Pure genius. Wow.

The Uglies:

I liked it. It’s hard to find a new take on the dystopian novel that feels fresh, and this seemed to get the blend of familiar and original down. Nice job, Scott.

Servant of a Dark God:

An epic fantasy from Tor that I read in manuscript form and enjoyed. Not your average take on the mythology. It starts off looking cliché, and you think it’s yet another generic epic fantasy, then about chapter six or seven it punches you in the face and runs away cackling, and you realize you’ve been reading a dark, GRRM-style heroic epic instead.

For me, 2010 promises to be just as jam-packed with Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time Book 13)! But also, The Way of Kings, the first volume of a new ten-volume epic fantasy series that involves a huge cast of characters, an unusual take on a magic system and, of course, several other twists as well. This is a project close to my heart and many years in the making, so I’m looking forward to introducing readers to it!

Thanks, Brandon!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 16!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest #2: Diana Petefreund author of The Secret Society Girl series (the first book, Secret Society Girl was reviewed by Thea here) and a brand new YA series about Killer Unicorns. For an article about Diana’s Inspirations and Influences for the new series, please go here.

Recent Work: Diana made her first foray into YA this year with Rampant (can we say again: Killer!Unicorns!), which we loved and reviewed here . She also published the last book in the Secret Society Girl series, Tap & Gown.

A big warm welcome to Diana and her favourite things about 2009:

2009 was a long and busy year for me. It was the first year I’ve ever had two books out, and I wrapped up one series while launching another in an entirely new genre. What fell by the wayside, unfortunately, was reading. I bought dozens of books this year, but I read only a handful, and most of what I did read falls into the category of YA (a strange situation for me since usually I read widely across all genres). I definitely have to make “read more” a New Year’s resolution.

Two of my favorite books of the year were actually ones I read in 2008: The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan and Liar by Justine Larbalestier. The former is an eerie post-apocalyptic vision; zombies as they might be envisioned by Margaret Atwood. The latter is a mind-bending thriller with an unreliable protagonist and more twists than a unicorn horn.

Another was published in 2008: My Life as a Rhombus, by Varian Johnson. This is not my usual read, but I loved it. The clever, mathematician heroine, the unlikely friendships, the revenge fantasy triumph of an ending – delicious! If you are looking for a fun, moving, relatable story about high school girls, this is the one you need to read. Oh, and the chapter headings that look like mathematical formulas totally get my vote for favorite interior design of the year.

Also in the realm of realism, we’ve got The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison. It’s a hypnotic, dreamlike drama about a teenage girl and her obsessive friendship with a larger than life classmate. Also, shoplifting sprees. Madison’s voice is an unique and welcome presence in the YA field.

I gobbled up Catching Fire, the sequel to one of last year’s favorites, The Hunger Games, in the course of a single fevered night, and I’m totally obsessed with Peeta, the marvelously complex (Forthright! Manipulative! Strong! Gentle!) hero of the piece. What a great character. Another favorite romance of the year: Jennifer Echols latest, Going Too Far. Echols slays me with her depictions of teen romance. She really captures the emotion.

I also loved Sarah Cross’s debut, the effervescent Dull Boy, about a group of teenagers who discover they have superpowers, and try to create a comic book style league to combat evil with sometimes disastrous but always hilarious results. Another contender for “best interior design,” Dull Boy features awesome comic book stylings and hero dossiers and origin stories throughout. If you like superheroes, comic books, action/adventure, humor, or all of the above, this is the book for you.

Though I didn’t do a lot of reading this year, I discovered some of my favorite-ever television shows — though they are all “old.” Slings & Arrows, a Canadian program about a Shakespearean theater festival run by a corrupt nebbish, a neurotic diva, and an insane (literally) artistic director was recommended to me by one of my readers, and my husband and I loved its mix of modern humor and Shakespearean references.

Middle Man (canceled too soon) was a brilliant and quirky send up of both superheroes and conspiracy buffs (imagine the X-Files episode “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space,” but even funnier and with warmer, more functional main characters). I loved that show – how could it have been canceled?

Skins is a compelling and occasionally surreal British drama about hard-partying 17-18 year olds in Bristol. Gorgeous, intricate relationships and great acting (my favorite is the friendship between aspiring dancer and openly gay Maxxie and conflicted Muslim Anwar, who is played by Slumdog Millionaire and The Last Airbender’s Dev Patel). Speaking of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I discovered that show this year, too, and it is now one of my all-time favorite fantasies. Avatar (not to be confused with the Cameron movie) has it all: amazing worldbuilding, epic battles, deep and abiding friendships, cool magic, cuddly animals, family conflict, political conspiracies, heart and soul and the fate of the world at stake – don’t dismiss it because it’s a cartoon or “for kids” – it’s phenomenal. (You might want to skip the whitewashed upcoming live action version, though. Twilight’s Jasper as Inuit warrior Sokka? Please.)

Unfortunately for my stated resolution, 2010 is shaping up to be a busy year as well. Ascendant, the sequel to this year’s Rampant, will be out in September. It picks up where Rampant left off, and follows Astrid, now a fully-trained unicorn hunter, on a new mission where she encounters the fifth type of unicorn, the einhorn.

I’ve also got two short stories; both stand alone and are set in the killer unicorn world. One is out in the spring but we’re still finalizing the title. The other is called “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” and will be published in the Holly Black and Justine Larblestier-edited collection, Zombies vs. Unicorns. Not only am I absolutely ravenous for this anthology as a reader (half a book of unicorn stories, another half of zombie ones! My dream is alive!), but I’m also very proud of my story, which is the first one I ever wrote for professional publication. I also have another project coming out next year, but unfortunately, its identity is still a secret.

But that’s not going to stop me from reading in the new year! Not only do I have to catch up on all the books I am behind on this year, but I’m dying to read some of next year’s releases: I’ve already read Carrie Ryan’s The Dead-Tossed Waves – you’re going to love it. I can’t wait for the conclusion to Robin Wasserman’s Skinned series, or the last Hunger Games book, and I’m finally, finally going to read the Megan Whalen Turner Attolia series.

What book did I miss this year that I absolutely must read?

Thank you, Diana!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 16!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Carrie Ryan, YA author who debuted in 2009 and is already one of Thea’s favorite writers (The Forest of Hands and Teeth blends a post-apocalyptic world and ZOMBIES). You can read our interview with the author here.

Recent Work: The Forest of Hands and Teeth, set to make Thea’s Top 10 Books of 2009. You can read her review here.

Ladies and gents, Carrie Ryan:

Smugglivus

Ever since October 2007 when I sold my debut novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and found out it would be coming out in Spring 2009, I’ve been focused on this year. I’ve spent so much time and energy looking forward to 2009 and living through this year that it’s hard to believe it’s almost over.

One of my biggest joys this year, aside from that whole debut thing, was having the chance to meet and become fast friends with other debut young adult authors and I set out early to read as many of their books as possible. The best part of doing so was that I got to expand my horizons and read such a wide variety of books! Like Sarah Rees Brennan’s The Demon’s Lexicon, Aprilynne Pike’s Wings,

Michelle Zink’s Prophecy of the Sisters, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s Beautiful Creatures: these books spanned the globe, spanned time, and spanned creatures

I got to live so many lives and worlds and also share the experience of being a debut author all in one!

The first of these books I read was Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell and I feel in love with her voice – I still go back and read passages just for the beauty of her words.

Another book that I stayed up late into the night was Sarah Cross’s Dull Boy — what I loved about Dull Boy is that I wasn’t sure how I’d like it since I didn’t know much about superheros and yet I was captivated (and awed by her wit and humor – LOVE her characters).

And of course I also loved reading books by more established YA authors: Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan (which had be shouting “barking spiders!” for weeks afterward) and Justine Larbalestier’s Liar which is so amazingly twistedly wonderful. Laurie Halse Anderson’s book Wintergirls also has amazing language — just beautifully written.

Another YA favorite from 2009 was The Season by Sarah MacLean. Now, I’ve spent a whole lot of time reading Regency romances but for some reason I hadn’t read any for a few years. Sarah MacLean reminded me of my deep abiding love for romance novels. I stayed up late re-reading all the glances across the ballroom, all the double entrendres and flirting and then I begged her to give me a reading list so I could dive back into that world.

I was lucky enough to read Sarah MacLean’s first foray into adult romance for Avon, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake and WOW. I think this might be the book I’m most excited about for 2010. I loved this book so much that when I was running errands with my mother I left early so I could sit in the store parking lot with my computer to read the last chapter.

Another joy of 2009 has been sharing it with my critique partner, Diana Peterfreund, and her YA debut, Rampant. She was writing Rampant when I started writing my debut, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and we shared chapters and cheered each other on. I loved Rampant (two words: killer unicorns!) and I’ve read the next in the series, Ascendant, and I couldn’t put it down!

It may not sound like it, but I did read some books other than YA (but not many!). My favorite of these was Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster. My sister emailed me lines from this book saying “I think there might be something wrong with me because I’m laughing so much with this book!” which made me grab it right then. Nothing wrong with her – I laughed so hard reading this I think I got an ab workout (and I’m working my way through her other books now – she’s hilarious).

I’m super excited about 2010 not only for my next book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, but also for some other books I’ve already had the chance to read: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and of course lots of second books from all my debut friends (and one that got bumped: Sea by Heidi Kling) .

I can’t believe 2009 is almost over! Hopefully 2010 will be just as much fun!

Thank you, Carrie!

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 15!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Ilona Andrews (actually a team of two people, Ilona and her husband Gordon) bestselling UF writer, author of the Kate Daniels and The Edge series. The Kate Daniels series is going strong with three books published (the first two, Magic Bites and Magic Burns have been reviewed here) and is one of Thea’s favourite series.

Recent Work: The third book in the Kate Daniels series, Magic Strikes (reviewed here) and the first in The Edge series, On The Edge (reviewed here) .

Please give it up for Ilona and her top reads of the year:

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My favorite reads for this year:

ELEGY BEACH by Steven Boyett.

It’s a magic book, the kind of book that makes you want to be in it, to live in the world and have its characters as your friends. Set in California, post-magic- Apocalypse, it’s a story of murder and magic, nostalgia for what was lost and excitement for what is yet to become. A completely unique urban fantasy.

DEADTOWN by Nancy Holzner

This book doesn’t technically come out until 12/29 but I got to read it early and it kind of blew me away. Nancy’s characterization is stunning. I’m very attracted to books that feature a magical setting but have realistic human protagonists, and this one delivered for me.

DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER by Jeff Lindsay

Okay so technically this one was published some time ago but I got a 2009 reprint of it. The prose is so sharp. Just on the technical level alone, the level of craftsmanship in the book is amazing. And the subject matter – a serial killer vigilante – is extremely interesting.

NORTHLANDERS Vol 1: Sven the Returned by Brian Wood and David Gianfelice

This graphic novel is gory, bloody,awesome, and does Vikings right. It’s rare, especially in comic format, to get a viking hero that goes beyond “Rawr, Odin, muscles, wimmens, plunder!” mindset, but Wood’s characters have depth. It’s a grim story showcased by subtle art reminiscent of Fables.

TEMPT ME AT TWILIGHT by Lisa Kleypas

I picked this up on a whim and thought it was adorable.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2010

We have the fourth Kate Daniels coming out, titled MAGIC BLEEDS. It should be available end of May. The second volume in EDGE series, titled BAYOU MOON, is tentatively scheduled for October.

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Thanks, Ilona!

Next on Smugglivus: Carrie Ryan and Diana Peterfreund

Welcome to Smugglivus 2009 – Day 14!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: Kate Noble, writer of Historical Romance and one of Ana’s favourite discoveries in 2009. Her debut novel, Compromised has been reviewed here and you can read our interview with the author here.

Recent Work: Revealed, which by the way, is on Ana’s top 10 reads of 2009. Reviewed here.

Please, welcome Kate Noble with her amusing list of all the cool stuff from 2009!

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Smugglivus

Hello Ana and Thea, and thank you so much for including me in your year-end round up! I’m terribly flattered. Let’s get down to business, shall we? I give you Kate Noble’s list of all the cool stuff from 2009!

Now, I don’t really have any idea of how many New Authors or releases I read this year. I am a bit behind in most everything: perpetually 15 minutes late, never have the latest cell phone, a day late and a dollar short, blah, blah, blah. But I can tell you what I read this year that I loved.

Favorite things I read this year:

(Note: not necessarily published this year. Or this century. Or last century. I’m just saying, I got a little behind in my reading.)

(Also, not necessarily books, in a traditional sense.)

1. Irredeemable, by Mark Waid, artwork by Peter Krause

I have slowly been getting into comic books/graphic novels. (Sloooooooooowly…) But this series has me hooked and stalking the local comic store on Wednesdays. What would a superhero be like if he wasn’t raised by a kindly couple with solid middle America morals (ala the Kents?) If instead, he’d been kicked around in foster care and didn’t have anyone to help him understand his own strength? He wouldn’t have the emotional makeup necessary to handle the true weight of superherodom. Mark Waid takes the traditional tights-and-capes genre and asks it the hard questions — and I can’t get enough.

2. Fables by Bill Willingham

On the long journey to being a full-fledged comic book geek, my comic book geek mentor (every good padawan has one) pointed me towards these books as being up my alley. Turns out, they’re so up my alley, they’re in my living room, sitting on my couch and eating my pistachios. Fairy tale characters live in modern day Manhattan and deal with humans and their own community’s tricky politics. The best part for me though, is that they answer some fun questions – such as how could both snow White and Cinderella marry Prince Charming? Answer: he’s the same guy – divorced Snow to marry Cinderella. And what happened to the three little pigs? The pigs crash on the wolf’s couch since he blew their houses down. There are about a zillion books in this series and its spin-offs, so it’s going to keep me busy for a while.

3. The Rogue and the Rival by Maya Rodale

This came out in late 2008, and it may be the closest I get to a 2009 release on this list. This is the follow up to The Heir and the Spare, in which the author plays with one of romance’s favorite conventions, the good and bad twins. What could be pat is transformed by the writing – its obvious Maya Rodale is having a lot of fun as she’s spinning her story in ways you won’t expect. The Rogue and The Rival is the Bad Twin’s book – and who doesn’t love the Bad Twin?

4. Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer

A very funny, very thought provoking story about an overweight 20something (although how overweight, she cunningly never tells) dealing with her newly-thin best friend’s wedding, and her own stalled life.

5. Arcadia and The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard

(I may have read these late 2008. Sue me.)
I’m lumping these two plays together because I read them back-to-back. Arcadia is a must read (or see) for anyone who love’s the regency genre. On the first page, Stoppard makes a joke about onanism – and had me hooked. The Invention of Love is much different in tone, far more somber, but too, too beautiful. A quiet Victorian poet’s love for his best friend is his lifelong secret, and in some ways, his savior. The ending had me in tears as I was reading on the subway — and I didn’t even care.

6. Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

(I totally forgot that Tessa Dare is new! Yes! I am up on the times!)

I am ridiculously blown away by Tessa Dare’s writing pace – she had an entire trilogy come out in 2009, and is set to have another trilogy come out in 2010. Meanwhile, I bear the deep, deep shame that is associated with being a “slow writer.” (I told you, I’m behind in everything.) But I was even more blown away by the fact that I really, really dug her writing. She creates smart, strong characters that have the ability to surprise the reader, and make you enjoy the ride.

I’m MUCH more up on what’s on TV or at the movies. I think its good marketing on their part (“you must watch this now! It will be gone from the theaters and/or deleted from your DVR at random – we will not wait for you!”) Whereas books are more leisurely in their haste.

Favorite things I watched this year:

1. The Single Ladies performance on Glee, episode “Preggers”

Can we just agree that Glee is all things awesome? And the moment when Kurt gets the football team to distract their opponents by doing Beyonce’s Single Ladies dance is the moment all the awesome in the world collided, creating an awesome big bang of awesomeness.

2. Star Trek

Yeah, not a trekkie. I’ve seen most of the original series, most of the movies, some of the Next Generation, but my life would not be any better or worse had I never been exposed to the trekverse. So, to have the JJ Abrams reboot absolutely rivet me was a bit of a surprise. They played with the story arc very smartly, making it so the new movie(s) and new stories they create are completely plausible within the series canon.

3. Mad Men Mad Men Mad Men.

Two Words: Lawn. Mower. And foot. And the superb Joan. And hot Duck action.

4. The Hurt Locker

An incredibly tense film that gave us the adrenaline junkie’s war story. I don’t think I blinked the entire time.

5. (500) Days of Summer

At one point in the film, after a particularly, er, lucky evening, Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks at his reflection in a window and Han Solo winks back at him. This moment explained men to me in a way that no one has ever been able to before.

6. Tammy and Julie Taylor’s post-sex conversation on Friday Night Lights, episode “The Giving Tree.”

Not having Direct TV, I have to wait until the spring for my Dillon Panthers football. But first, a caveat: I love my mom. She’s a good mom. But, can’t Tammy Taylor be my mom too?

Books I WILL get around to reading in 2010:

1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Graeme-Smith

2. The next Lisa Kleypas Hathaway series book. She ended Tempt me at Twilight with such a cliffhanger! I cannot wait for this one.

3. Incorruptible – the flipside of Mark Waid’s Irredeemable coin. Because… yeah.

4. I think it unfair for me to commit to anything else, until I find out what Ana and Thea are going to recommend, thus making my reading choices for me. ?

And now, because it’s Smugglivus, and you’ve all been so good to read down this far, here’s a small treat – an excerpt of my next book (different from the excerpt on my website, so this is an exclusive!), The Summer of You, due out in April 2010.

“The Cottage? Minnie, are you sure?”
Victoria Wilton paused at the bank of the Broadmill River, one hand hiking up her skirts from getting wet, the other looped around the base of a particularly stubborn sprig of mint. It grew wild on the riverbank that cut through the small park of the Wiltons’ residence, and she needed the whole thing for the mint jelly she and Mother were intent on setting up for preserves this afternoon. But suddenly all her attention was given to the Wiltons’ stout housekeeper, Minnie.
“Yes, miss,” the housekeeper replied, her hands fluttering over her thick muslin apron in excitement. “The butcher had it directly from the Cottage’s housekeeper—she said she was roused in the middle of last night by a rider with the missive. The rider told her he had been paid at double his normal rate to get here quick.” Minnie raised her eyebrows at this lavish display of coin.
But it was not the money spent that made Victoria’s heart move as a hummingbird’s wing. “Goodness, that must mean they intend to be here soon.” Victoria dropped her skirts and ran her hand over her blonde locks. She had just started to wear her hair up last year, and in the warmth of the sun found no small comfort in having it off her neck—but somehow she found herself yearning to twist her curls around her fingers like she did as a child when nervous.
Instead, she concentrated on her next inquiry, and keeping very, very still.
“Perhaps the Duke has decided to rent the Cottage out for the summer?”
But Minnie shook her head. “Nay, Miss Victoria. The housekeeper said the missive came straight from Lady Jane’s hand! It is the family that comes for the summer at last!”
Lady Jane! Oh, Victoria had not seen Lady Jane in ages—not since she was almost thirteen and Lady Jane fifteen. She had been utterly refined then, but surely Lady Jane was the most elegant creature now, what with her impeccable schooling and fine Town fashions and London soirees—goodness, Victoria herself had never even been as far away as Manchester, and . . . oh, what would she think of Victoria’s hair? Surely its simple country style was not at all the thing . . .
“The Duke and his daughter, come to rusticate at the Cottage,” Victoria breathed. Finally, something worth talking about in Reston!
“Nay, miss.” Minnie began, causing Victoria’s mouth to fall open in confusion.
“But you just said—”
“Yes, miss, but I meant to say—the family is coming. The whole family.”
But . . . but that meant . . .Jason.
The mint was forgotten—thrown ruthlessly to the ground as Victoria picked up her now-soaking skirts—far above the ankle, terribly unladylike, Minnie thought—and began to run toward the house.
“Michael, Joshua!” Victoria cried out to her two younger brothers, playing cups and bowls beneath the large apple tree by the house, “Go and fetch Mother back from the rector’s! Now!”
The boys (used to being scolded by their elder sister but rarely with such panic) were shocked out of their game and into action. They sprinted toward the gate to the road, but Michael’s dirty hand had barely touched the latch before the gate was swung open from the outside.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Berridge,” the boys said, clambering to a halt and giving the most cursory of bows before scrambling past him and through the gate toward the village.
“What on earth . . .” Dr. Andrew Berridge said to the retreating forms of the boys and turned back to the Wiltons’ garden, only to see Miss Victoria Wilton sprinting toward him as if her skirts were on fire.
“Oh, Dr. Berridge!” Victoria came to a halt, curtsied with the same ingrained good manners that her brothers displayed, and then smiled up at him. Dr. Berridge—Andrew, as he had told her once to call him but she never had the nerve to do so—had only come to Reston within the past year to join Dr. Lawford’s practice, but in that short time he had become quite a good friend to her father. Initially, Sir Wilton had been suspicious of having two doctors in their village, thinking that this was a sign the town would grow out of proportion to its unique quaintness. But upon being assured by Dr. Lawford that he intended to retire and merely wished to introduce his replacement into Reston life as kindly as possible, Sir Wilton took to the new Dr. Berridge like a long-lost brother. The young doctor was twenty years Sir Wilton’s junior, but they had both studied at the same university, and Father enjoyed talking about his years at school so much, Dr. Berridge found himself invited to dinner almost thrice weekly. And since Victoria often found herself seated next to him, they, too, had struck up an enjoyable friendship.
“Miss Victoria, whatever is the matter?” Dr. Berridge said, concern overflowing his voice. “Is someone injured? Let me fetch my bag—”
“Oh, no, nothing like that—the boys are off to bring back Mother from the church,” she said breathlessly, her face warmly flushed with exertion. Behind her, Minnie had caught up to her young mistress, breathing even heavier.
“Minnie, you too?” Dr. Berridge inquired, his eyebrow reaching new heights of suspicion. “What has the Wilton household running like lunatics?”
“Minnie, we need to find my pin money—I’m so sorry, Doctor, I expect you’ve come to accompany my father on his daily walk,” Victoria apologized.
“Never mind that—would someone please tell me what is wrong? Why are the boys to fetch Lady Wilton?”
Dr. Berridge—Andrew—grasped her hand with his, concern emanating from his frame. Suddenly Victoria realized that her breathless countenance had shocked the always calm and good-natured doctor into intense worry. She laughed then and squeezed his hand reassuringly.
“The most wonderful news! Jason has come back to Reston, and I desperately need a new gown!” And with that, her eyes alight with pleasure, Victoria half skipped, half ran back to the house, leaving a stunned Dr. Berridge, and a still-breathless Minnie in her wake.
Dr. Berridge looked down at the small bunch of wildflowers he carried in his hand. “Minnie,” he said, startling the poor housekeeper to attention, “would you please be so good as to tell me who this Jason is?”

I am happy to give away one copy of my 2009 release Revealed (the precursor to The Summer of You) to a lucky reader. Just leave a comment below and the Smugglers will use their magical computer choosing thingie to pick a winner at random.

And that’s all she wrote. It’s been one helluva 2009. Ana, Thea, thank you so much for having me — Happy Smugglivus all, and to all a good smuggling!

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And a Happy Smugglivus to you , Kate!

Giveaway Details: Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. Contest runs till Saturday 19th 11:59pm (Pacific) and is open to US, Canada and UK. Good luck!