Not to be out done by gun-totin’ Chris Goff, Linda Anderson took these pics of Mario and I at Left Coast Crime. Do we look dangerous or what? Note Mario's Superman pose. Thanks, Linda--










In case you’ve been wondering, the winner was announced in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award contest: Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm. If you follow the link you can read what the judge’s said about it.



Yippee!! James Marsters is coming to DragonCon. I chased him all over last year. Maybe this year with GA pal Carol Malcolm, we’ll catch him! This pic was taken by my friend Kris Bochum at Paleyfest. See *note* below.



Don’t even remember where I saw this, but it’s from a book by Timothy B. Benford. Does this 1680 coin have a flying saucer on it or what?

Every week there’s a new flap. By now you’ve probably all heard about a new Harper Collins publishing group that will offer authors profit-sharing instead of cash advances and eliminate returns. Friends in the movie business talk about the creative way companies can cook the books to show no profit made from popular and even block busting movies. Can the publishing business be far behind? That’s not to mention how most writers live on their advances since royalty statements are few and far between.

Is it a coincidence that right after Mario left South Carolina they voted out their blue laws? I think not. Probably figured out how much money they lost by denying him booze on Sunday.

Colorado lawmakers showed some intelligence by killing a bill that would ban the sale to minors of works that might be “harmful” to them because of sexual content. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression played a critical role in defeating S.B. 125—good job. Must have been something in the air because they also voted to repeal our blue laws. If Ritter signs that bill, it goes into effect July 1.

Organizations, including the Authors Guild, are lining up to consider action against Amazon’s recent move to restrict POD publishers to their own in house publisher, Booksurge. Antitrust issues might be at stake.

On a personal note, still on target to complete the fifth Anna Strong adventure, Retribution, by deadline.

Next week, I leave for Romantic Times. If any of you are planning to attend, look for me at the following panels:

WEDNESDAY 12 -1
A Bite With a Twist - Infusing new blood in the vampire genre: A discussion about transfusing blood from other genres to keep vampires flourishing. Examine the cross-genre vampire novels of today with some of the genre's top authors. LA Banks, Rosemary Laurey,
Kim Harrison, Caridad Pineiro, Moderator: Jeanne Stein

Friday 11 -12
URBAN FANTASY 101
Everyone says it's the new 'it' genre, but what is urban fantasy anyway? How does it differ from paranormal romance? Are there rules about 'tough girl' protagonists and the amount of allowable sex? Richelle Mead, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Jeri Smith-Ready, Jeanne Stein, and Rosemary Clement Moore discuss reader expectations and where an author draws those blurry genre lines.


Friday 4-5 PM
The Color of Blood: Tired of the same old brooding immortal? Find out how today's authors are borrowing blood suckers and heroes from other cultures in order to bring new blood to the vampire genre. Jacqueline Frank, Rene Lyons, Mandy M. Roth, Jeanne Stein, Moderator: Angela Night

And of course at the big book signing on Saturday.


**PS For all you Whedon/Buffy fanes—on Friday, I’ll post my pal Kris Bochum’s first hand report on Paleyfest. It must have been a blast! Pics included.  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 6:03 AM