Giving You: Prime Time

 Susan's Book Talk  17 Responses »
Jun 302009
 

Thanks to the generosity of my bud Hank Phillippi Ryan, I’ve got one autographed copy of Hank’s debut novel, Prime Time, to send to a friend in the US. (This is the re-release on Mira Books, with the sexy cover. Check it.)

Prime Time… let’s talk about it ’cause you do NOT want to miss its re-release. Why not, you ask?

WELL. Look at the accolades it won:

Winner of the prestigious AGATHA Award for Best First Novel
RITA Nominee Best First Novel and Best Romantic Suspense
DAPHNE Nominee Best Romantic Suspense
RT Reviewers Choice Award Winner and TOP PICK

Hello? You missed it???? I’ve got my copy sitting on the floor behind me (along with the follow-up, Face Time). I’m going to read it and then we’ll have more Hank goodness around here.

Here’s the cover blurb:

PRIME TIME introduces forty-something investigative reporter Charlotte (Charlie) McNally. Charlie’s smart, savvy and successful—but she’s worried her news director is about to replace her with a younger model. Now—she’s on the hunt for the story that will save her job.

Is it hiding in her email? Charlie begins to suspect some of that annoying Spam clogging her computer is more than cyber junk. She discovers it actually carries big-money secret messages to the big-shot insiders who know how to decode it. Problem is, the last outsider who deciphered the system now resides in the local morgue.

It’s either the biggest story of Charlie’s career—or the one that may end her life.

Charlie’s also facing another dilemma: what happens when a top-notch TV reporter is married to her job—but the camera doesn’t love her anymore? It’s an action-filled page-turner, with humor, romance and a scheme so timely and innovative you’ll wonder why someone hasn’t tried it. A twist of an ending will have readers going back to the beginning to check for all the clues they missed.

To enter, leave a comment. Yep, I’ll give extra entries for anyone who blogs about this or otherwise spreads the word (Twitter, Facebook, or if your friend enters and says you sent them).

You have until next Tuesday, July 7, and then I’ll contact the winner, so be sure to leave your e-mail address! No contact info, no entry. I’ve got books to read and, more importantly, books to WRITE.

 Posted by at 11:09 am

Trevor Fiction: Jackson Died (Post-Trevor’s Song Era)

 fiction, Trevor  8 Responses »
Jun 282009
 

The Sunday Scribblings prompt this week is toys. I was flummoxed by this prompt, as I’d had my heart set on posting this. And then I realized I could: Kerri and Trevor toy with each other. Is it a stretch? You tell me.

One more thing before we get to the fiction, and that’s the subtext here. There’s a lot being alluded to but not said. How much can you pick up on, including a reference to our latest friend, Soul Bendorff?

Rusty and Mitchell stood side by side, not touching. That fact alone was enough to make Trevor stop and stare at them. Then he noticed what was on the TV.

Jackson Alcott had died. He’d been fifty-four.

Trevor lit a cigarette and came to stand beside Mitchell. He nodded at the TV. “What’s up?”

“They’re saying massive heart attack. I can believe it.”

“Did he sniff too hard?”

Mitchell shrugged. “Mighta swallowed wrong.” He grabbed Trevor’s cigarette and tossed it on the floor. The sound of his stomp broke up the hypnotic chatter from the tube. It also broke the trance Rusty had fallen into.

“He was supposed to do some shows next month.”

Trevor groaned. Rusty couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d tried to be.

“We’re fine,” he said, hoping she wouldn’t say it.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“You think with Amy hovering over us like some fucking worried mother, we’re not okay? You’re fucking stupid if you think she’s not watching every last move we make.”

“She called me about ten minutes ago. As soon as we get home, she’s sending me to a cardiologist for a stress test,” Mitchell said. He snorted. “Like I need it. Onstage two hours a night. In the pool a couple days a week. I’m in good shape.”

“You smoke,” Trevor pointed out, holding his thumb and index finger to his mouth.

“Not as much as I used to,” Mitchell said. “I used to smoke a lot more than that.”

“Score one for me,” Kerri said.

Mitchell pulled her into his arms.

Trevor fought the need to gag. Of course these two could turn death into something sappy. Of fucking course.

“Oh, honey,” he said in his best fake-woman voice. “I couldn’t live without you.”

“But you won’t need to,” he said, switching over to a male voice. “Even if I die, I’ll be here. With you. Right here.” He put a hand over his heart and raised his head as if he was swooning.

To his surprise, Rusty broke away from Mitchell and kissed his cheek. “Whether or not you mean it, Trev, you will be there. I couldn’t get rid of you if I hired an exterminator.”

“Tried, huh?”

“Everything but,” she said.

He wandered off, not thinking about Jackson Alcott nearly as much as he was thinking about the fact that no matter what happened to him now, Rusty was stuck with him for life.

Alive or dead. He’d never leave her alone. There was something perfectly delicious about that.

 Posted by at 6:56 pm

Trevor’s Word of the Moment: Kindle

 Trevor  11 Responses »
Jun 262009
 

You’ll see why this is part of Only the Good Friday as you read on. Trust me. And yes, this time, you’ll want to trust Trevor, too.

kindle

Now here’s a good one for you. Kindle. Like kindle a fire. I get that. It’s not always the easiest thing on the face of the fucking planet to get a good fire started. Eric can do it. Eric likes to go camping and do all that outdoorsy shit. So when Eric tells yours truly that it takes some work to get a fire started, it takes a special kind of wood he calls kindling, that you have to nurse a fire and urge her along like some shy fan, I get that. I’ve had to nurse my fair share of girls. It’s not always worth the effort, believe me. Girls. They’re a crapshoot.

Eric says fires usually are worth it.

Fire’s some cool shit.

So why the fuck don’t we kindle cigarettes? Or candles?

And what’s with this kindle shit and books? That makes no fucking sense. It’s a stupid piece of plastic that shows the words in a book. No special firewood needed. Hell, no fucking fire involved. It doesn’t even look like a piece of kindling. Not that I really know the difference between kindling and any other stick in the fucking forest. Forests give me hives. No wonder Mitchell likes to hang out in ‘em. He knows I won’t follow him there. Wanker.

But I gotta talk up this stupid-assed thing called the Kindle ’cause you can now make my book zing through thin fucking air and read it on your thingie named after a stupid stick. That means Susan gets money, and she’s worth money. She lets me take this place over like I’m doing now. And she’s got a small enough ego to know I’m the one you all stop in to see.

And while we’re talking about the stupid stick, did you know you can make it show this blog? You bet your titties.

I still don’t get why a book’s named after a stick. I hear it’s all black-and-white and it doesn’t have the pretty colors a fire’s got. I’ve got a band to stir shit up for, you know? What the fuck do I care about books?

Except I star in one. So you gotta read it. You know you love me and need more of me.

 Posted by at 7:23 am

Thursday Thirteen: I have a Problem

 Thursday Thirteen  26 Responses »
Jun 242009
 

I have NO IDEAS what to write a Thirteen on this week. That’s SO not like me.

I keep opening windows and shutting them, ten words in.

NO IDEAS.

This, friends, is a problem.

1. Problem: 1 a: a question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution b: a proposition in mathematics or physics stating something to be done2 a: an intricate unsettled question b: a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation c: difficulty in understanding or accepting

2. In the grand scheme of life, is one difficult Thirteen so problematic? I mean, think about it.

3. Cats and dogs need homes and people to love them.

4. Hell, so do many children. Orphaned or not.

5. Have ya seen the economy? THAT is a problem.

6. Ever noticed there’s a scale to problems? There’s your problem, which is always the biggest and most Earth-shattering, and then there’s everyone else’s.

7. Including the problems of cats, dogs, and kids.

8. The problem isn’t that I have no idea for a Thirteen. It’s that something’s sapping my creativity.

9. I know what it is. It’s an addiction.

10. See? I told you it was a problem.

11. I’m trying to wean myself off this addiction.

12. You can help. Leave me lots of comments. I’ll return the visit.

13. And you can have more Trevor.

 Posted by at 10:16 pm

Susan’s Book Coveting!

 Coveting, Susan's Book Talk  5 Responses »
Jun 222009
 

Dewey used to do a Sunday Book Coveting post that I always loved to scroll through.

Now I’m doing one of my own.

I’ve come across two books that I am dying to read. They’re very different books, yet they’re both perfect Susan reads.

The first is Do the Devil’s Work For Him: How to Make it in the Music Industry (and stay in it!)

(Why do non-fiction books ALWAYS have these really long titles????)

Authors Amy Sciarretto and Rick Florino have teamed up and interviewed lots of music biz folk. It sounds like Amy joined the industry not long after I left it; heck, I could have been her. So of course I’ve GOT to read what she’s got to say.

And to switch gears to a nice paranormal romance, Number One Novels alerted me to this one. It’s called Salt and Silver, and it is the debut novel by a woman named Anna Katherine. I love the mental image of a guy sitting by a trap door all day long, waiting for demons to escape through it. Just… ooh. I love it. I’ve got to read this and see where it goes.

So… to the authors of these two books, I invite you to send me a review copy. While I don’t review books here on the site, I would be glad to hook up with my good friends at Front Street Reviews, or with any of my many book blogging friends and guest review over there.

 Posted by at 9:58 pm
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