Welcome to Biting-Edge, a blog shared by authors and vampire experts, Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein. We’ll cover urban fantasy, vampires, pop culture, and all things Joss Whedon. Unlike other fantasy blogs, we don’t insist on body cavity searches (unless you ask politely). Snarkiness is most welcome...though we won't promise not to bite back!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009
 
I know there must be all sorts of interesting things that have gone on in the last week, but honestly, they’ve gone on without me. I’m deep in the rewriting phase of book five. I’m supposed to have the manuscript to my editor the end of the week and I do believe I’ll make it. The credit in large part goes to the weekend I just spent in Fairplay. Three or four times a year, a bunch of us take over the Hand Hotel and get treated like the kings and queens we are. The manager, Michael, cooks fabulous meals for us, pours us wine, and lets us pad around in our jimmies and slippers if we want. No TV, no telephones in the room. We do have wireless now, though, and it does make it easier to keep in touch. I swear, if I lived there, I could write ten books a year.

I’ll speak more about the weekend at a later time. I will mention, though, one of the highpoints was visiting with Lynde Iozo and students at South Park High. Their enthusiasm, the thought they’d put into questions, the warmth of their welcome is something I’ll remember for a long time.

Thank you Lynde and kids!

The few newsworthy items I’ve managed to pick up along the way are:

Golden Globes—Didn’t watch but checked on winners. Slumdog Millionaire won best pic, director, screenplay and score! Excellent. Anna Paquin won for True Blood (yay) and of course, Heath Ledger for Batman (for once, a posthumous award that was well deserved). Any thoughts?

Book store news: Murder One in London is closing. Visited that shop once years ago. It’s been around 21 years so it’s a loss. The owner, planning to retire, evidently couldn’t find a buyer.

Locally, Tattered Cover, our most famous Denver Indy is not closing, but was forced to lay off 10 employees. Owner says she hopes to be able to rehire some of them eventually.

Good blog post here: Ten Stupid Things cops do in books by Robin Purcell from the Kill Zone site. I should probably have a contest to see if anyone out there caught the HUGE glaring gun mistake I made in The Watcher. In fact, I will. A $25.00 Amazon gift card to the person who first replies with the mistake and sites the page number. You have until next Wednesday to find it.

I will end with something fun: A cartoon. Anne Rice’s Vampires Read Twilight. Click on the link or on the cartoon itself to be able to make this big enough to actually read.



I'm adding a PS-- Happy Birthday, Jay!!!
 
Comments:
Well for me it starts at page 100 ((and follows through most of chapter 18) when Anna starts off after the girl who has been kidnapped. not only does she go by herslef wihtout backup but she knowingly allows a civilian to join the mix as well. Granted she does directs a biker to tell the local polica about the pat tthey are taking and warns about the hostage situation but she doesn't wait for them to arrive, or even wait to see if they will be coming at all. After it's all said and done she does get chastised bt Williams, but not for her oversight for backup. She gets chasitzed for almost blowing her cover. I know that Anna isn't a cop exactly but she has enough training that even at her most desperate she should have probably known better.

It was still a pretty awesome scene though :D
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
Ok if I had to cite a *specific page* to accompany above I suppose I cite page 92 when she agrees to do that job, not even hesitating over the fact that she won't have backup. She does try to make a call, but largely just to lt people know she's ok, not to ask for help.
______________________________
Jeanne, I really liked that comic. there have been a number of good Twilight commentary web comics that I've seen, but that is probably one of my favorites. If I can find the others I'll post links.

As for bookstores I'm alsways saddened when I hear of places like that being forced to close their doors (either because of the economy or they just can't find a seller). The used/new store near me seems to be manage alright and I haven't noticed any slackign in buisness. However, they are the only bookstore worth mentioning (the library has a used bookstore but it is hit or miss at best) for a good 30 to 40 miles in any direction.
 
Jeanne, for me, the most awesome part was when Anna comes home, tired, lonely, and says to herself, I need a shot of Felix.

Everybody: shop your local indie.
 
Leia-- almost, but not quite. It's a
gun error!

Keep looking!

Mario== get a life! Or better yet, get Felix a girlfriend!!

J.
 
J - if it's a gun error than I'm probably in all kinds of trouble lol. I'll keep looking though.
 
The frustrating thing is I remember when I was reading The Watcher that at one point I thought -- oh, that one's a slip.

I just don't remember anything specific about it yet. I have a niggly thought but I need to look back and see if I find it.
 
Well clearly it wasn't as glaring a mistake as your think Jeanne, or I could just be very unobservant. I'm giving up after this last suggestion. I noticed on page 112 that Williams gets all over Anna for not going in prepared like a human and the first thing he accuses her of is going in without a gun. However, we know she went in with a gun, because she dropped it during the fight and then it was taken into custody (I assume, since it sort of disappears after law enforcement arrives and it is mentioned that guns were collected) by the local police. So by the time she ran into Williams he should have known that stupid as she might have been, she still did have a gun - after all, he can read her mind.
 
PS - I'm glad that you had a successful writing weekend at Fairplay. It is always a good feeling when you can meet deadlines.
 
I have to confess something.

Well first let me confess I've been feeling crabby all week, which I think is related to me having been so blasted ill last week. So far 2009 has been a smashing success for those pesky resolutions since I managed to lose almost 10 lbs the first week of the year, though I don't recommend the Stomach Flu Virus Diet to anyone.

The other thing I have to confess is I don't have the Tattered Cover love anymore. I can't pinpoint exactly when I lost it -- I used to love the Cherry Creek store and was MIGHTY disgruntled when they closed it to reopen on Colfax, where I refuse to go, which is much more inconvenient a location in my mind. But even before that the Cherry Creek store had lost a lot of its charm.

The Lodo TC never had the same charm to me, and for the past few years whenever I go in there I get disgruntled bc the stock isn't as good as it used to be, it seems untidy, they've closed a floor and the staff isn't as friendly as the old Cherry Creek staff seemed.

OK -- I've vented now. I don't know that it helped me feel any more gruntled.

I feel sorry for the 10 displaced employees but not any more motivated to shop there, though I know they've been good to groups like Lighthouse.

I love the downtown B&N. OK, I'm a corporate shill.
 
Nothing wrong with being a corporate shill Gina - especially when you live in a large town or a city. It's on the small towns that I think small buisnesses are most important b/c they help preserve the local culture and bring more money back into the local economy than large buisnesses do. I think it's 75% invested back into the local community for an indie store vs. 45% for a large corp.
 
Hi Leia and Gina-- I've been out of touch again, but I just hit the send button that sent my rewritten book five to the editor so I'm back among the living.

Don't feel bad about supposrting B & N-- they have been very good to me including featuring me on their online book clubs. And the B&N on Arapahoe is one of the most supportive. Always carry my books, always make me feel like a star. Frankly I think we have apace for both indies and the big boxes in our book buying habits.

J.
 
When I worked down that way I shopped at the Arapahoe B&N (the one just west of I-25??) and it was a nice bookstore.

Congrats on book 5!
 
I will try like the devil to support my local indy stores all the while working for B&N's! lol Yikes!
Let ya'll know I've been pushin your books like a mad vampire these dayz!
Love the comic you posted :)
 
Jeanne - congrats on sending the re-written manuscript to the editor! I must say I was wondering how you were doing on that when I was at the bookstore today and saw Watcher and legacy sitting on the shelf.

As for bookstores I must say that love my local store as I do, I have a secret love for B&N. When I was in elem. I declared that one day I would work there (tried three times and even with previous library work I got turned down!). So that never reached fruition, but before I moved down south I lived about three blocks from B&N and spent a good portion of my free time there reading.

You know, speaking of the whole local vs national bookstores - I wonder what kind of effect used bookstores have? I willingly admit to being a used store junkie but I've always wondered how stores like that affect the authors and publishing companies themselves (if at all) since the money from books sold there don't get returned in any way to them? I know the publisher profits on some portion of the initial sale from the new product, but then that one book could be resold ten times or a hundred times again and the author/publisher won't see any of it because it is a used product. Though, like in my case with Jeanne's books, it exposed me to someone I had never read before, resulting in my purchasing all the other books in the series new.
 
Leia said: I wonder what kind of effect used bookstores have? I willingly admit to being a used store junkie but I've always wondered how stores like that affect the authors and publishing companies themselves (if at all) since the money from books sold there don't get returned in any way to them?

You know, this is always one of the hot button topics for authors. Here's my take: I don't really care HOW my books get into a reader's hands, I just want them to get there. That's the same reason I give away a lot of books--my reasoning is if a reader likes it, she (or he) will tell her friends. So far, from feedback I've been given, the philosophy seem to work. In this economy, especially, I would never blame people for trying to stretch their book dollar. I think what aggravates me more is the ARC copies I see on Ebay. Maybe it shouldn't, maybe I should apply the same principle. That's the way my brain works!!!

J.
 
Hey vamprowler! thanks for pushing my books! I still fill a little strange when I check out a store and see my books and kind of rearrange things so I can turn them out!!! How do booksellers feel about that? Even my daughter does it in Chicago but she's not even subtle about it--she goes right up to the manager and tells them I'm her mom and they should feature my books-- you know, sometimes they actually move them to the front!!!

:-) J.

J.
 
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