It seems that good books – books I’m extremely excited about – are being released every week. Last week I wrote about Richard Kadrey’s latest Sandman Slim novel, ALOHA FROM HELL, and this week sees another longtime favorite author hitting the shelves.

This release, too, is truly swoon-worthy.

I was a fan of Kim Harrison’s Hollows series before I was published, and even before anyone really knew what Urban Fantasy was. Once it did take off, the mash-up of worlds and creatures and locales exploded like a roman candle, but this author is truly an original. I’d advise you to start with DEAD WITCH WALKING if I didn’t already know my audience, and wasn’t sure you already had. Today is an extra-exciting, however, because Harper is releasing Harrison’s world book, THE HOLLOWS INSIDER.

Have you ever read a world book before? The first world book I ever read was Diana Gabaldon’s OUTLANDISH COMPANION, also written and conceived of entirely by the author, and a good world book fills in all the questions you have about the world, and answers some you didn’t even think to ask. I saw a sneak preview of THE HOLLOWS INSIDER in New York this summer – just page proofs, mind you – and once again I was utterly blown away by Harrison’s imagination. The damned cover of the first editions even glows (Can you say collector’s item?) which is cool all on its own.

For more info you can visit Kim Harrison’s site at www.kimharrison.net or get a sneak peak here.

Again, buy this book in the all-important first week of its release, and you’re letting the author know you love their work and want to see more. Believe me, it makes a difference!

I’m off to get my day’s work done so I, too, can go visit with Rachel Morgan. Hope to see you in the Hollows!

What are you reading?

I do hope the answer is nothing.

Because I have a suggestion for you.

I rarely do this, mostly because I have a quite a few author friends and I’d be remiss in mentioning some and not others. Honestly I’d love to say, “Go out and buy them all! Spend all your money on books, books, books!” And so I will. Go buy all the books you want, by whomever you want, in whatever format you want, forever and ever, amen.

But a book came out this week that is a part of a series that has become one of my autobuys. And not just any old autobuy, but keeper-shelf, forever-favorite, I’ll-read-this-again-and-again, damn-but-I-wish-I-wrote-that kind of autobuy. I can’t encourage you strongly enough to go out and buy this one, not only because I think you’ll love it, but because as an author I know how important it is to garner that velocity in the first week of sales. Buy the book this week, and that helps ensure he can keep writing said books.

In this case, said author is Richard Kadrey. He’s writes the outstanding Sandman Slim series, featuring a pissed-off magician exacting revenge on the people who sent him to hell a decade earlier. There are better descriptions than that, but my point is this: this series floored me. This man’s imagination rivals Rowlings if she smoked more, slept less, and had really decided to give Voldamort a good What-For. The latest book – and one I stole time from my deadline this summer to read – is ALOHA FROM HELL. It’s dark, dirty, perverse … and all the more heartening for it. Ultimately, the series is an eyes-wide-open look at humanity, and there’s not a page that doesn’t delight. Go read it. Here’s the ebook link. Here’s another. (Didn’t I make that easy for you?)

Oh, and Kadrey is generous, straight-up, cool, and a kind guy. Just don’t tell him I said so.

This post really got me thinking about writers who do it for me, so I’ll be back within the next day or so to give you my Must Have literary loves. I hope you’ll share a few with me as well.

Edited to add: I just heard via twitter that ALOHA FROM HELL is #1 in the Kindle store, so clearly I’m not the only one who loves this series. What are you waiting for?

Many of my readers have known about this for some time, but I wanted to direct you to the announcement that just came out in yesterday’s Publishers Weekly about my new Celestial Blues series.

Briefs

Vicki Pettersson, Sign of the Zodiac series author and one-time showgirl, sold a new series to Diana Gill at Harper Voyager/Morrow. Miriam Kriss at Irene Goodman negotiated the three-book, world rights deal for the supernatural noir mysteries; the first book, The Taken, is scheduled as a paperback original for June 2012.

It’s interesting because I’m currently finishing up copyedits for that first book, THE TAKEN, and I’m hypersensitive to using as few words as possible to convey the utmost meaning. The above paragraph is a good example of that – and what follows will certainly be its polar opposite – but I thought I’d deconstruct a few things included in that short paragraph, given that I haven’t yet said very much about this series.

I’ll start with the most obvious. I sold Celestial Blues to the editor I worked with on Signs of the Zodiac. I like her very much personally and professionally, mostly because I’m a better person and writer for knowing her. (Isn’t that selfish?) I also like the idea of having a long time editor at a long time house, and though I know things don’t always work out that way, I’d love to work toward that with Harper. That’s why, though given the chance, I chose not to take this series to any other house. Diana and I had a great rapport while working on Zodiac, so I trusted her with Celestial Blues. It’s easy to take swipes at the big houses in these heady, early days of e-publishing and commerce, but remember that ‘they’ are actually comprised of us – good people doing work they love to the best of their ability. At least that’s my experience to date with Harper.

So. What else?

Did you note the series description? Supernatural noir mysteries mean this is not an urban fantasy series – at least not as we’ve come to know it. I’ve actually been holding on to the Celestial Blues idea for years – even before THE SCENT OF SHADOWS saw print. (I write rather slowly, and only pursue those ideas that get their teeth in to me and refuse to let go.) That aside, I still knew I didn’t want to write another book with a mouthy, relatively angry, supernaturally-powered female protagonist wearing lots of leather. At this point it’s been done to death (no pun intended) and, really, where the hell was I supposed to go after Joanna Archer? Darker? Angrier? More powerful?

Not possible … at least, not for me.

Fortunately, as I said, I’d been sitting on the idea of a male/female investigative team, and wanted desperately to try my hand at the genre I read most: mysteries and thriller. I melded that love with my penchant for the supernatural, let it evolve for the years I was too busy writing Zodiac to give the new idea full attention, and finally ended up with Celestial Blues: featuring an old fashioned P.I and a modern-day rockabilly reporter forced to team up to solve crimes involving both the mortal and celestial realms. (More on that soon!)

Finally the words paperback original are a bit ambiguous. Harper has decided to move me out of mass market, so this is a heads-up that the Celestial Blues trilogy will be published in trade paperback. It’s a bigger, more mainstream book, and the bigger format shows that Harper is still supporting and growing me. I couldn’t be any more excited about that. This will give me a chance to get into more stores, libraries, and book clubs, as well as cross-over to people in the mystery audience, many of whom don’t know that paranormal fiction contains elements they would love. I really believe THE TAKEN has the potential to connect with a lot of different readers while giving my readers the world and originality they loved with Zodiac. Harper, thankfully, agrees.

Of course, my first worry concerned the price difference between the two series, but given the number of kindle covers I signed and e-preorders I received on my last book, that difference has already been minimized for many. And for those who still have keeper shelves, what can I say? You’ll be getting a bigger book in a more attractive format. So I do hope you’ll journey with me to the next level.

There will be more on THE TAKEN itself soon – I’ve seen sketches of the artwork, the manuscript itself has begun making its way out into the publishing world, and the last of the major changes will be on my editor’s desk this week – but let it suffice to say that I’m excited about the direction my career is heading, as well as my traveling companions.

As always, that includes all of you.