Author: Jonathon

Better today. Did seven pages on JASON. Got past the scene I’d been struggling with. Figured out why I’d been having fits with it, but can’t tell you guys because it would be way over sharing.
We’re gearing up for the cons we’re going to. Conestoga next weekend in Tulsa, OK. Comicon the week after that, in San Diego, CA. We’re shipping merchandise to comicon, quite a bit of merch. Enough that Mary, Darla, Richard, Sherry, and even Trin have been packing things up for a few days now. Did I mention in the blog that we have catalogs? They’ll be unveiled at comicon. We’ve got two different covers. The regular and the one that if you buy over a certain amount you can get that one instead. There’s also a black and white version of THE FIRST DEATH, the Anita prequel comic, available at comicon. You can preorder it on e-bay already.
Oh, and we’ll be at Nasfic, which is the World Science Fiction convention for the United States when the official World con is out of the country. Conveniently, Nasfic is in St. Louis, or just across the river in Collinsville, Illinois.
It’s been a big week. We had the hardback of GUILTY PLEASURES with it’s new short story come out. And THE FIRST DEATH, is out in all it’s colored glory at the comic stores. The interior art is Wellington Alves, and the cover by Brett Booth. Jon’s been very cute. He’s been enjoying the fact that when he types his name at the Marvel sight both issues of FIRST DEATH come up under his name. (The short story in the back of the hardback was the first thing we collaborated on, but it isn’t listed for him.) Part of our partnership as a couple seems to be me helping Jon be more focused and goal attaining, and him helping me remember to enjoy the process.
We checked on the forum and someone asked about a Richard poster. We will be doing a poster, eventually, but let us get back from comicon, and the new stuff that’s coming out for that before we do something else new. The whole Richard poster is probably because I mentioned it in a blog because I got to see the art work. It’s great art work, but let us and the Dabel team survive all the stuff we’re already committed to before we add something new to do.
But yes, I am talking to Brett about doing pictures for us of the guys that don’t appear until later in the books. Richard, because, well, third book. But I gave Brett a list of guys to choose from in his copious spare time. (Brett has about as much spare time as I do, which is none. But strangely, we do things in that down time we don’t have. I write on new stuff to relax, and sometimes he draws different stuff to relax. Whatever works, right?) But anyway, would it drive you guys crazy to say that he sent me a pencil today of one of the guys that’s even further into the comic book future?

No work on JASON today. I was sick. Not with the same virus that Trinity and Jon had, but with something else. Sigh. I’m feeling better now, but we’ll see about tomorrow. Which means my day off this week was today, and I will work tomorrow. I want to work at least a few hours. I left the action in a precarious spot. I’d like to at least finish the scene.
Oh, and for those keeping track. THE HARLEQUIN was number eight on the NEW YORK TIMES list, and now is number eighteen. Three weeks in the top ten was very cool. Four would have been even cooler, true, but being four weeks in the top twenty is pretty damn cool, too. Frankly, I don’t always check the list religiously like some writers do. Why? Because it can play with your mind. It’s the same reason I don’t read most of the reviews. Good, or bad, on the wrong day it can disrupt my ability to write. It just messes with you. Since I am almost always in the middle of another book, or two, or a script, well, I can’t really afford to be thrown off center by my own publicity. You can’t believe that you are as wonderful as people say, or as bad as other’s say. Write, do the interviews that come your way, concentrate on business, and don’t let the winds of public opinion sway you too hard either way. All else is madness.

We have some new stuff to share! I will keep is short and sweet!
Here is a link to the ING interview.
http://comics.ign.com/articles/803/803762p1.html
Mayor Slay of St. Louis Poll
LOL! This was too fun!
http://www.mayorslay.com/polls/20070712Spirited.asp
The schedule of events for Conestoga and Comic Con are up! Please note they are subject to change and the con program booklet will be your best source.
https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/Laurell/LKHSightings.htm

The copy edits of A LICK OF FROST have gone out. Yea! Jon and I are both fried. I’m so tired that everything is funny or I keep getting weepy. The copy edits alone didn’t reduced me to this, but let’s just say it’s been an interesting week in that Chinese sort of way. You know the old saying, “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse, and a blessing, but mostly a curse. (How many people watch Mr. Monk?)
I could say this week has been a learning experience. That’s another way of saying that not everything went smoothly this week. I am praying that this weekend all of us are well. After two weeks in a row of one third of the family being poorly, it would be nice to all be well, or wellish. Jon still has a bit of cough, but the antibiotics have really helped. Let’s hear it for modern medicine.
I’m signing off now. We’re going to go to bed. A good night’s sleep will help. And what will really help is that the only priority for me tomorrow morning is the new Anita book, JASON. Yeah, letting that be the first thing my imagination rolls over in the morning, rather than copy edits will be a very good thing.

Meet Laurell K. Hamilton, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, at an intimate reception during Comic-Con International benefitting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! Ms. Hamilton will be appearing a gala benefit reception limited to 25 attendees on Friday, July 27 at a secret location in downtown San Diego.
“The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund works to defend the rights of readers everywhere to enjoy all kinds of comics, and we’re thrilled to bring Ms. Hamilton out to support their very important work,” says DBPro’s Sales/Project Development Manager Derek Ruiz.
All reception attendees will be able to meet Ms. Hamilton, and to get two items signed while enjoying an open bar and gourmet hors d’oeuvres. Attendees will also receive a commemorative signed print, limited to 26 lettered pieces and only available through this event, as well as a one-year membership in the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Tickets to this very special reception are $500, and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with Guilty Pleasures (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel/Dabel Brothers – the first sexy paranormal comic ever!), and continues with the recently released The Harlequin, number fifteen in the series, in which Anita’s complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton’s Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now five novels exceeding one million copies in print. Mistral’s Kiss, the fifth in the series debuted this past December. Ms. Hamilton is thrilled to be attending her first Comic-Con. She lives in St. Louis County, Missouri with her husband, daughter, two pug and two part pug dogs.
To reserve your space, please visit http://www.cbldf.safeshopper.com the CBLDF website. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. For additional information, donations, and other inquiries call 800-99-CBLDF or visit http://www.cbldf.org

Darla says that she gets asked a lot what are some of my favorite things to read, to watch, to listen to, etc . . . Well I thought we’d start with Jonathon’s and my favorite webcomics.
Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio (Gaslamp fantasy; what does that mean? It’s sort of steampunk but with more weird. This series has given me one of my new favorite phrases, “I’ll be your mad boy.”)
The Devil’s Panties by Jennie Breeden (Is not Satanic porn. It’s a semi-autobiographical strip about a webcommic artist. Whether going to a convention to promote her comic, or buying a house with her boyfriend, this series is just plain funny. Thanks to this comic I know to be on the look out for pirates bearing rum at Dragoncon.)
Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler ( I liked this one well enough that when he asked I did an introduction for his latest book. I thought I had blogged about that, but when I went back and looked, I had not. All you other artists and writers can thank Howard for this blog. I thought since I was catching up on Schlock I’d do the list.)
Irregular Webcomic by David Morgan-Mar (This is apparently his hobby, in his real life he is an astrophysicist. He does not draw. He uses Lego figurines and painted miniatures to do his strips. It gives hope to all of us who are drawing challenged.)
Sluggy Freelance by Pete Abrams (I actually met him once. He’s the only one on the list I can say that about, for now. Jon made me add that part. Sluggy was one of the first webcomics I ever read. Warning: if you go back to the beginning of the Sluggy archives be prepared to have it suck your life away for days. The Christmas episodes with Bun-Bun trying to do in Santa, who Bun-Bun calls, “the fat man,” are some of my favorites. Oh, who is Bun-Bun? Read the comic, I can’t do all the work for you.)
Brat-halla by Jeffery Stevenson & Seth Damoose(This is one of the newst ones we’ve found, newest to us. It is the gods of Norse Mythology going through the hell that is middle school. Come on Norse dieties trapped in Junior high, need I say more?)
Evil Inc. by Brad Guigar (Wonder where all the super villains have gone? They’re all working for Evil Inc. because when your evil pools it’s resources there’s more money to be had. You also have superheroes, of course. So call up, and have the receptionist, Lightning Lady say, “How may I harm you?”, or my other favorite, “How may I misdirect your call?” Haven’t any of us that have ever been stuck answering phones in corporate America fantasized about saying exactly that? I know, I did.)
Oh, I guess you guys didn’t know that I once worked in corporate America. In an editorial department at a major corporation. Editorial didn’t get much respect so we had no receptionist. Since I was the new girl, fresh out of college, I got phone duty. I didn’t like it much, since I still had to do my real job and answer the phones at the same time. I was so bad at it that my boss ‘talked’ to me about my voice not being professional. So I practiced my phone voice, and maybe got too carried away. Here’s what they told me to say, “Editorial department, this is Laurell, how may I help you.” Put a lot of sultry into that statement, roll the name off your tongue like you’re thinking dirty thoughts, and say, help, like you mean something entirely different. That’s about how I ended up saying it. Like I said, I didn’t enjoy doing it, but I did exactly what I was told to do. No one told me I couldn’t use a sexy phone voice. Not my fault they didn’t think of it. After a few days I got the voice down because men from other floors were finding excuses to come up to editorial and talk to us. After about the third or fourth man wandering about editorial for no reason my boss called me into her office. “Laurell, what are you saying to them?” I told her I was saying exactly what she told me to say. It would take her a day or so more to ask the right question. “Laurell, how are you saying it?” She finally asked me to demonstrate, then she told me, “Cut it out.” Strangely, though, I was off phone duty after that.
Also Jon Reads the following:
Penny Arcade Gaming, Pop Culture, and Expletives.
Starslip Crisis Far future Sci-Fi. In a Museum.
Turn Signals on a Landraider Warhammer 40,000 Humor. Mostly centered on Frep and Kren

ComicCon in San Diego California. July 26-29th.
For more info go to:http://www.comic-con.org/cci/
SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE SEE COMIC CON PROGRAM BOOKLET FOR LATEST. This is a preliminary schedule.
Thursday July 26th
2:00-3:00 Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance: Sub-Genres Readers Love?Where are the borders between urban fantasy and paranormal romance? How did paranormal romance grow from a subgenre of romance to its current popular cross-genre status, and what does the future hold? Writers Laurell K. Hamilton (best-selling author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series), Jeanne Stein (Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles), Laura Anne Gilman (The Retrievers series), Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Takes a Holiday), Marjorie Liu (Soul Song), and Samantha Sommersby (Forbidden: The Awakening) talk about love and monsters. Moderator: Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy. Room 5AB
3:00-4:00 Signing
Friday July 27th
1:00-2:00 Signing at Marvel Booth
4:00-5:00 Signing at Ballantine Books Booth
9:00-10:00 PM Comic Book League Defense Fund Dinner
Saturday July 28th
12:15-1:15 Spotlight on Laurell K Hamilton?With two incredibly popular book series going stronger than ever (Anita Blake, 15 books, over 6 million copies in print; Merry Gentry, 5 books, over 1 million copies in print), Comic-Con special guest Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the most popular fiction authors working today. Laurell tells us what?s next for Anita, Merry, and herself in this exclusive event. Room 6CDEF
1:15-2:15 Signing

With Laurell out for the weekend I thought I would take over the blog.
First, a quick note. The hardback Guilty Pleasures Volume 1 is in comic stores now. It will not be available at regular bookstores until the 18th. Not sure why, it is just that I was told that is how it is. Sorry! Had I known sooner I would have shared that info.
One of the things we get asked a lot is who do you read? Or who would you recommend? So I am going to offer suggestions! Please note they are in no specific order, just how they came in to my brain while I was typing. They are also folks I have actually read. There are a lot of authors I haven?t yet. Some are in my TBR pile.
I will skip folks like Stephen King, JK Rowling and Anne Rice, chiefly because I figure pretty much everyone knows who they are. So suggesting them is kind of redundant. But before I go on to the list, I will suggest if you find no one new to you on the list, try forum.laurellkhamilton.org. That is our message board. You do not have to belong to read. Go down to the Other Author section and you can see lists of who others suggest, some of the authors are kind enough to drop in and chat occasionally. If they claim they are the author on our forum, we are 99.99% sure that is really who it is.
If you?re not sure you want to part with your hard earned cash for an unknown, please talk to your local library. Many have discretionary funds for reader requests or can get it on loan from another library. You may have to ask for help locating some of them, as they seem to be spread out around the shelves.
We get asked a lot about stuff that is out of print or where you might be able to find a less expensive copy of a book, of course the biggies like Amazon.com and BN.com offer used books but if they don?t have what you want then I would suggest either of these: www.powells.com or www.abebooks.com. Both have a search feature that allows you to look for it, and if they don?t have it, put it on request. I have used both services and can give them a thumbs up!
Or try www.bookcrossing.com to see if one is free floating near you. It is a catch and release program for books. If that sounds strange it is not, really. It is an opportunity to offer up books you may not be reading to others to find. It is kind of a scavenger hunt for books. You might find one you like, or you can even release some books of your own. On to the suggestions!
Laurell (things Darla knows Laurell reads):
Robert B Parker (mysteries)
Nero Wolfe (mysteries)
Rett MacPherson (mysteries)
Sharon Shinn (fantasy)
Marella Sands (sci/fi fantasy)
Mark Tiedemann (sci/fi fantasy)
Mark Sumner (sci/fi fantasy)
Charolette?s Web – EB White
War for the Oaks ? Emma Bull
Darla:
Talia Gryphon (paranormal)
CT Adams and Cathy Clamp (paranormal)
Charlaine Harris (paranormal/mystery)
MaryJanice Davidson (paranormal/mystery)
Jim Butcher (urban fantasy)
Sherrilyn Kenyon (paranormal)
Christine Feehan (paranormal)
Jenna Black (paranormal)
LA Banks (paranormal)
Christopher Golden (fantasy)
Glen Cook (fantasy specifically the Garret PI series)
PN Elrod (paranormal)
JG Passarella (fantasy)
Angela Knight (paranormal)
Anne Elizabeth (paranormal)
Whilhemina Baird (urban fantasy)
Tom Dietz- Davy Sullivan series (fairies)
Diana Gabaldon (paranormal)
Terri Brooks (fantasy)
Terry Pratchett (fantasy)
Carrie Vaughn (paranormal)
Tanya Huff (fantasy)
Holly Lisle (fantasy)
Mercedes Lackey (fantasy)
Octavia Butler (fantasy)
CJ Cherryh (sci/fi-fantasy)
Andre Norton (sci/fi- fantasy)
I am sure I am missing some folks. These are the most likely I am to reread when I have nothing new that looks interesting. I know there are a lot of others out there I haven?t gotten to yet. I am trying to read as much as I can. But it can be hard to find the time.
So hopefully, this will give you a few new folks to check out.
If you have a suggestion for someone not on my list, feel free to share! Books are not toasters. If you have one, you really don?t need a second. There are never enough books out there as far as I am concerned. So if you know something I might like, please pass it on!
Darla

I can’t believe it is nearly 11:30 at night. The day has been incredibly busy. Good, but busy. I’ve had appointments and phone calls all day that have kept me from my desk until now.
Why am I writing this instead of following my husband up to bed and getting some well deserved sleep? Because today was the release of the Anita Blake hardback of the comics. At your local comic store and at your local bookstore the first six comic books of the Guilty Pleasures adaption is finally collected in one place at one time, and it’s on the shelves. The hardback contains not only the complete first six issues, but a bonus short story. A brand new Anita adventure which was the first thing Jon and I collaborated on. It’s probably the shortest Anita story I will ever write, and definitely the shortest mystery. I’d begun to wonder if I’d lost the knack of writing short. Every writer has a size that their muse likes best. I am thankful that my muse and I like novels, because it’s a whole lot easier to make a living at novel length than short stories. But comics seem to hit a different spot for me than short stories. I like the art form. I like the collaboration between words and art. I ken it, a good old Scottish term.
I couldn’t go up to bed without remarking this milestone of the first hardback from Marvel, DB Pro, and us. May it be the first of many.

Did thirteen pages on the new book, and I know that most of it will have to hit the cutting room floor. I don’t’ usually know that so quickly, but I fell down the rabbit hole today, and got distracted from the main plot. I guess I had to get it out of my system, but I know that I have to back up and get rid of it. It reads well, but it just isn’t needed, in fact it damages the plot, gives away too many surprises. Shit.
So, a day’s worth of work, but no progress. I hate that.
Happy fourth of July to everyone. We’re having a cook out with family and friends. This is Pip’s least favorite holiday. He’s phobic of thunder and fireworks. So we’ll spend the evening with our sixty pound puppy shivering in our laps. His phobia is severe enough that I’m not sure we could actually leave him alone on this night. I’m not sure what he might do to relieve the nervous tension without us here. But tonight, we won’t find out. We’ll be home.
Enjoy the celebration. Be safe.