I had my first When Maidens Mourn booksigning at Garden District Bookshop on Saturday. I have a wonderful group of friends from SOLA, our local chapter of RWA, who loyally turn out for my booksignings every year. But this year I actually didn't know over half the people there, which made me feel pretty good until the bookstore staff started telling me about a bestselling vampire writer who'd just done a signing there. She's on a multi-state bus tour with her male cover model (complete with red contact lenses), a small army of staff, and a promotional budget that included a case of champagne and a giveaway in which the grand prize was an iPad (one per signing). Sigh.
Still, I had a great time, and I hope everyone else did, too. Thanks so much for coming!
30 comments:
Arrrrggghhh! That is so annoying - If we could just introduce all this young ladies languishing over vampires to Sebastian, I am sure they would make the switch!!! Hmmmmm... who could we get to travel on your tour as Sebastian???
"These" young ladies.
I am sure that now that hey have had a chance to read about a certain yellow eyed and very much alive protagonist, whose also a bit tormented, they will come to their senses in terms of reading choices.
(Red eyes indeed! I mean, who'd want that in a man?)
I would have been there if I lived nearby. Can't wait to read When Maidens Mourn.
I have now read "When Maidens Mourn". Very good, I liked it a lot. I also got nowhere close to guessing who done it, fwiw.
Beth
About a year ago I read a review of WSD by a paranormal romance aficionado who, apparently struck by his yellow eyes, opined...wait for it...Sebastian will be revealed to be a werewolf! The only connection there is to a wolf is that the comment made me HOWL with laughter.
You've written art, not pop pap, so be not downcast!
Another loud Aarrghhh from here too- I personally find all this pining over vampires and paranormal beings very tiresome. I am a scifi and fantasy fan, but not of the paranormal romance genre. But variety makes the world go round, so more power to 'em . Love Jan's comment - werewolf indeed- NOT!
I wish I had been in NO since I would have brought all the members of my book club with me. Maybe one day!
Elaine, a bunch of us at the signing were having the same conversation!
Paz, I've personally never understood the whole vampire attraction. I get the ultimate badboy angle, but I guess I'm too literal. I mean, these guys are cold ALL OVER. I always want to say, Think that through, ladies!
A.M. Swan, I hope you enjoy it!
Beth, I'm so glad to hear you liked it. And I promise, Kat plays a big role in What Darkness Brings.
Jan, that is so funny! Have I ever mentioned that my father had yellow eyes? As far as I know, he wasn't a werewolf....
Essex, I try to be supportive of anything that encourages people to read, but I so agree it is getting a tad tiresome.
How cool to see pictures of my daughter getting my book signed!! She was in New Orleans for spring break (we are from Michigan) and purchased the book for my birthday. Will start reading today!!
lol. Red contact lenses. I'm rolling my eyes. I'm sorry I missed the signing. I thought about it sometime late on Saturday. I'd forgotten it was coming up so soon. I will definitely be buying the book, though. I'm a big fan of Sebastian's, yellow contacts or not.
Wish I could have been there! (One of the disadvantages of living in Switzerland...)
Your father had yellow eyes. How intriguing. Is that where bithil syndrome and Sebastian's eyes came from? Would love to hear more about how any of your father's traits made it into Sebastian. Love the idea of an away book in Wales. BTW, I just downloaded my audio version of WMM, but am saving it for an airplane trip I have coming up in April. I can't wait. I love the narrator's crip English accent. Sabena
would you ever write a short story or post about Kat and Sebastian's first meeting and story (when they first fell in love)? I think that would make a great read... :)
JoAnn, how neat! Your daughter is lovely. I hope you enjoy the books.
Charles, it was too pretty of a day to spend driving down to the city and back.
K, Switzerland is a ways! But lucky you. I haven't been to Switzerland in forever.
Sabina, yes it is how I learned about the syndrome, in that my daughter read an article on it while doing genealogical research on the Price/Ruth family in Tennessee. The yellow eyes/hearing caught her attention. When she volunteered to have a DNA test done for extra credit in an intro biology class at university, we discovered she has it--in fact, she has two markers for it (my dad's family, from the hills of Tennessee, was, ahem, slightly inbred!), what the geneticists described as "the purest expression of the syndrome yet found in north america." My dad was an expert marksman, but his hearing was damaged in WWII, so I don't know what he was like before that. My daughter's hearing and eyesight are phenomenal to the point of generating jokes that she must be an alien; it was nice having a biological explanation for it! I know a lot of people think I made it up; I didn't, but it is so rare it's hard to find anything on it.
Anon at 11:45, hmm, never thought of that. Do you know, I've never written a short story in my life? (Unless you count the stories I wrote as a child/teenager.) It would probably work better as a novella, and unfortunately it would need to have an unhappy ending since Kat would have decide to drive him away in the end.
hmmm...you are right (about it being a sad story in the end) - but I would like to read how Sebastian and Kat met, and how he convinced her to see him...
~Anon @ 11:45
Hi Candie,
I just love all your books and I wish I could delve deeper into the characters and the wonderful world you have created with this series. Would you consider doing a character sketch (or writing a little paragraph) about Kat, Sebastian, Hero, and Gibson for a blogpost? Something about their personalities/personality traits... like is Kat normally quiet or vivacious? What made Gibson want to be a doctor? What is Sebastian like when he isn't solving mysteries (is he more of a loner with a few solid friendships, or does he enjoy company)? Is he a bit of a jokester when relaxed? Is Hero always so intense? Just a description of each character would be a great blogpost! I hope you will write this! It would be so much fun to read!
Thanks!!
Hello Candy,
This is a message from a huge fan of Sebastian's series from Spain. I have just finished reading "When Maidens Mourn"(needless to say that I loved it, how couldn't I?) and thus decided to open your blog for some info about the next installment ...
And indeed, I have found,after reading an older post, that you are maybe planning to give Gibson's character a story of his own? I do hope so! I really like him and I am always waiting to see a little bit more of him in the books.
I hope next Sebastian's adventure comes out .. sooner! than expected Alicia
Anon @ 11:45, I always envisioned it as an intense attraction-at-first-sight type of thing, although if I were to write it I would obviously need to insert conflict.
Alison, I can easily answer some of those questions: Sebastian's wry, irreverent sense of humor in essentially the same whether he's solving a murder or not; yes, Hero is very intense, although life with Sebastian is mellowing her (just as she is good for him, he is good for her); Gibson's reasons for becoming a doctor will come out more in the ninth book (untitled so far) that I'm just starting. I wish I could show more of their personal lives, but the need for an intense forward drive in a mystery does rather preclude that.
Alicia, Where in Spain do you live? The ninth book I'm writing now is still a Sebastian book, but Gibson will indeed play a larger role in it. The eighth book is scheduled for March 2013, and I think number nine will probably be scheduled for March 2014, although we're still in negotiations.
Hey Candie,
Thanks for answering my other questions, but What about Kat? What is she like? All I can tell about her is that she is a fabulous actress, and thinks about her answers before she speaks...so is she more quiet? Is she vivacious? What attracted Sebastian to her?
I can't remember what I was originally going to say-- the comments on Bithils Syndrome were too fascinating! :)
Also, I am on A LOT of codeine right now. :p
Hello Candy,
I am from a small town in Northern Spain, in the Basque Country. Quite a nice place! Maybe you have visited the area when you were living here?
Alicia
Your author's note about paroled French officers and the Admiralty controlling their letters home re-triggered a question about communication between private citizens of Britain and France during the long war. I did some unsuccessful research when I first became curious about this (when we learned Sebastain's mother was in France). Did one have to rely on smugglers to correspond?
Hi, I just bought WMM on my kindle yesterday and read it at once. It was awesome. I can't wait till next March, or when the books come in czech (we have only the first three). Why can't be more books like the Sebastian series? Thank you so much for writing it. I hope there will be more books to come :-)
Steve, hope you're doing all right now!
Alicia, yes, I've traveled through that area many times, starting when I was a little girl. It's so beautiful.
Jan, one of the conditions a paroled officer had to meet was to only received letters from France through his agent, so that would suggest that there was some regular source of correspondence, but I honestly don't know the particulars.
Sara, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you!
Hey Candie,
Thanks for answering my other questions, but What about Kat? What is she like? All I can tell about her is that she is a fabulous actress, and thinks about her answers before she speaks...so is she more quiet? Is she vivacious? What attracted Sebastian to her?
WMM was an excellent read! First of all, because I was so hungry for another Sebastian fix. Secondly, because I had the luxury of reading it on my new Nook Tablet. It was my first ebook purchase! You are developing this series beautifully and I'm loving every page.
Alison, Kat was severely traumatized by the rape and murder of her mother, and by what she suffered at the hands of her aunt's husband followed by her life on the streets. Those experience left her with both strengths and weaknesses. She is intensely loyal, both to the land of her birth (Ireland) and those she loves (such as Sebastian), but she doesn't allow many people to get close to her. She's starting to open up more to Yates and Hendon. Does that help? More of this will come out in the future.
Lainey, thank you!
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