New blog: We’re #2 & #5!

Jun 15, 2014

A Shiver of Light is #2 on the New York Times List combined fiction & e-books list! Yay!

A Shiver of Light is #2 on the New York Times List on the e-book list! Yay!

Apparently my fans buy a lot of e-books! Thanks everyone!

A Shiver of Light is #5 on the New York Times List of adult hardback fiction! Yay! Not so Yay!?

A Shiver of Light is the #7 best selling book in the country on USAToday list! Very yay! Thats fiction, nonfiction, children’s, young adult, old, new – books out the door regardless of when published. Example the book ahead of me on the list when I last checked was, Dr. Suess’s “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” Apparently, there’s a preschool reading program that just started across the country featuring Dr. Suess’s wonderful books. It was fun for, A Shiver of Light, to be rubbing literary elbows with Dr. Suess. At the beginning of the school year you’ll have all the regular required reading books near the top of this list.

Am I upset that I didn’t get #1 on the Times List? Yes, I’m not even going to bother with all that, “It was an honor to be nominated crap . . .” Yes, it’s an honor to be duking it out at the top of the New York Times List, and I am happy to be on it and up so wonderfully high, but . . . if anyone on the List would really prefer not to be #1, I haven’t met them yet.

Congrats to Stephen King who is #1 this week! He maybe #1 on all the lists, but honestly I haven’t checked.

Is there a chance that I’ll rise higher next week?
Yes, but generally that’s not been my pattern.

How could I move up the list?

  • If enough people got super excited and went out and bought even more copies of, A Shiver of Light, maybe I’d go up the List.
  • If I could be involved in some juicy and major news worthy scandal in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, then maybe I’d hit higher on the List.
  • If I was part of some major tragedy, I might move up the list.

But I see no scandals on the horizon, I have no desire to be involved in a tragedy, and most of the people who are are likely to be really really excited about A Shiver of Light, have already purchased their copy and have read the novel. At least once. Some of you are waiting for pay day, hardbacks are expensive, or having some major life event that is keeping you busy. (I’ve been reassured by a number of you that you will get my new book as soon as your life is not at sixes & sevens. Good luck and Godspeed!)

I’d planned on doing this blog Sunday, today, and only realized as I started to type that it’s Father’s Day. The first Father’s Day since Merry had her babies, so in her fictional world it’s the first one for the men in her life. I know her timing in months isn’t the same as ours, but I like the idea of her planning that first Father’s Day for all the new dads’ of her triplets. By the way, I did my research and it is possible for a woman to have multiple babies with different father’s in one pregnancy. All you need is to have sex with more than one man in the same night, and the woman to have multiple eggs waiting to be fertilized. Its even possible to have different genetic parentage of the same baby, though even the scientists aren’t entirely sure how that works, but Google Chimerism. Make sure it’s the genetic variety, not the fictional entries, because I’m apparently not the only writer to be fascinated by this real life topic.

Happy Father’s Day to all you real life Dads!

Our daughter, Trinity, is off on her post graduation trip, so it’s just Jonathon and myself to celebrate. I never had a father so the holiday was never that important to me. Actually it, like Mother’s Day, was just a reminder that all the other kids had parents and I didn’t. My grandmother would eventually allow me to get her cards and presents for the second holiday, but when I was very young she was adamant that she wasn’t my mother.

And below are some of the wonderful interviews that I did while I was on tour. I found some of the questions made, even me, think hard before answering – Enjoy!

This one is from, Searching for Superwoman.

Here’s Barnes & Noble interview with Paul Goat Allen.

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24 thoughts on “New blog: We’re #2 & #5!”

  4. Just bought it! It’s the least I can do for the lady that wrote books that helped me through a really dark time in my life.

  5. I loved reading A Shiver of light I am getting ready to read it again. I purchased it on ebook for my iPad first because my grand daughters are small and like to look at my books. At some point I will have the hard back for my collection I have all of your books. I am looking forward to the next book.
    I do have to say I lost two family members with in a week of each other and was home for a funeral when I was reading it the first time. I cried off and on through the story. Your books always touch me thank you for putting so much into your writing.

  6. I absolutely love your books!!! I am almost finished with A Shiver of Light!!! But I do have two questions. How do you pronounce the two girls names?? Can you put another pronunciation guide in the book again? As always I cannot wait to see what will happen with my extended “families” with Merry and Anita!!!! I hope they speak to you soon to let you know what is going on in their lives!

    Thank you for your writing!
    Sue

  7. I bought “Shiver of Light” yesterday as a kind of gift to myself. This is the first book I’ve read cover to cover since my mom died in March. She loved your books as well and got me hooked! I’m so glad we discovered you!

  8. Hold on to hope… There have to be more fans like me out there re-reading the series before buying! I just got it yesterday (almost finished of course)! Great story

  9. Congratulations! I suspect “Oh the Places You Will Go” is not because of a preschool reading program, but because it is a gift very commonly given to graduating students. 🙂

  10. Loved the book just as I’ve loved all the others, your characters are always so realistic even with the outlandish features they have some of the strongest personalities and it makes them jump off the page. Looking forward to the next book in both series, but for now back to mundane reality lol

  11. Congratulations Laurell on your high chart numbers. I’m not surprised a bit. Maybe I can help! I am one of those people out there where life has definitely gotten in the way recently. However, I will be purchasing the hardback in the near future. I’m on pins and needles wanting to read A Shiver of Light. I can hardly wait.

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful gift of writing you have. Please don’t let it be so long until your next Merry book. Not that I don’t absolutely love Anita also……it was just a little too long between books in Merry’s world.

  12. Congratulations!

    I’m competative by nature so I can understand being happy with the number, but still wanting to be number one. 😉

  13. Wow!! I absolutely loved A Shiver of Light!! I’m really hoping that your muses talk to you again soon as it’s soo hard to wait for their stories. Just have to say that I cried when I read Merry’s story! (No spoilers) Great moments!!!

  14. Love the merry series….shiver of light was great..cried the first chapter..hav to see how the children grow up! hint hint! Lol. Love all your books and series..I always buy hardbacks so they last…I am one of those readers that can read a great story line over and over!

  15. Reading the Merry Gentry series for the first time. Have enjoyed Anita for a few years, even reading or listening to a few of them multiple times. Love the picture of the “book” cake. My daughter is becoming a very talented cake decorator at the age of 14. I love seeing other’s presentation of deserts.

  16. Hi, I enjoy your books for the most part. The stories are interesting, just one thing. I find the use of the words “spilled and slipped over used. and also the author tends to write as if shes getting paid a penny a sentence. there is a lot of repeating the same information just read in a previous chapter. And the constant description of people that you have already described to us. But don’t get me wrong i do like the books I am reading Shiver of light now and I do like the vampire hunter too…. but those are my only complaints

  17. I HAVE BEEN READING ALL THE ANITA BLAKE SERIES, BACK TO BACK TO BACK…..I AM ON THE LAST ONES KISS THE DEAD AND AFFLICTION ~~~~ NOW IM STARTING THE MERRY GENTRY SERIES. I LOVE YOUR WRITING AND IT HAS HELPED ME THROUGH ALOT IN THE LAST YEAR AND HALF AND ESCAPE TO ANOTHER WORLD. THANK YOU !

  18. Hi L K Hamilton, I read your Merry Gentry books this year, and now I’ve read your latest one too. I loved reading them. I liked thinking about the different ideas in them as I read them, to do with justice and faith and relationships and more. It was really fun and exciting to read about Merry’s powers, and all the different fey folk, and associations with western mystery tradition. As others have mentioned your books have given me something to look forward to doing during a dark time in my life when I have often felt I didn’t have much to look forward to at all and I’m grateful that I had them to read. I hope you will keep writing more and I will definitely buy them if you do. Best wishes to you for much happiness and good health.

  19. Love the Merry Gentry series. And loved this book, it ended way too soon. But don’t they all? I hope the books in this series continue. Fascinated on what the babies will become. =)

  20. I don’t normally leave comments, but your books have been such a Godsend to me. I started reading your books this last year beginning with your Anita Blake series. Your writing snagged me from the very first page. I loved your stories so much I had to see if your Merry Gentry series held the same impact and it definitely did! I am only 42 and am on permanent disability. Life to me can often be a daily struggle to get through. Your books never fail to give me a safe and often needed escape from the never ending trials that is my life. They help me remember love and happiness when I forget, at times, that those things are a very real part of life and not some distant memory. I have read each series three times each and I still look forward to reading them again as well as anxiously awaiting any books you (hopefully) will be writing in the future. I just wanted to let you know how truly thankful I am for the many hours you have given me of the worlds you have created that has given me countless smiles, laughter and (of course) tears, and the amazing, beautiful, and (at times) terrifying characters that bring it all to life. You are an incredible writer and I thank God you shared that gift with all of us fans. Thank you!!!

  21. I feel like I am not the norm from the looks of the readers on your page. I’m a Man in my mid-twenties. I work a lot of weird hours so my social life consist of Merry and Anita lol. You have this ability to transport me into a world of possibilities and I just had to take the time to say thanks. I bought two copies of this book both e book and hard copy ( Me and my mom read them together…weird I know lol) Anyways thank you just wanted you to know that your audience is growing if you didn’t know already.

  22. I live in BFI (idaho) and have been to like five stores. I think I’m gonna end up buying it online. Can’t wait to read it! I was introduced to your books about 12 years ago and have bought every hard cover you have put out since. 😉 and everything before that in soft back. Sometimes the perfect solution to a bad day is getting lost in Merry or Anita’s problems.

  23. PS. if i had to choose i think my favourite part in the whole series was when Merry leads the Hunt to avenge my favourite character!! i got so absorbed and angry in that part and i was cheering Merry on so hard! it was just awesome! i love the mistletoe crown. and i loved the bit when she is riding out and refuses to acknowledge the salute, and the radhe afterwards. regards!!!!!

  24. Laurell, I am a voracious reader of the Merry Gentry series. I would have tried Anita Blake but was tired of vampires after Anne Rice and the plethora of authors that write about them. The series about Merry and her men is refreshingly new and different for me. Please don’t take what I would like to share with you to heart, it is my opinion only.
    I found Shiver of Light very challenging to read. Not because of any difficult vocabulary or due to poor writing…it just felt like you weren’t inspired. It was repetitive and all of the reminders of everything that had already happened. The most exciting part was from the time Sholto was killed onward. The babies were woven to keep me interested and wondering about them and I loved that you included so many questions left unanswered. I understand why you had to remind readers or even first timers. It was just a slow, tough read. I still read it in a day though!! And I own all the hard copies of your books. I absolutely loved all of the other books in the Merry series and so appreciate you taking the time and putting in the effort to provide with a book that moves the story forward.

    Best wishes

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