As the year draws to a close, we’re in the final round of The Hottest Heroine Cover contest. We all know Ursula is the hottest – and not because she has a big-ass sword. And she’s running second to a drowning girl. We can’t have that! You can vote and enter the giveaway or not, as you please.
I kept quiet-ish on this and waited until it healed to take a photo. But I got my first tattoo!
If you haven’t been keeping score at home, it’s the feather from THE MARK OF THE TALA cover. Having that book come out, and how wonderfully the whole series has been received has been a watershed for me.
So this is how I commemorated this year, apropos as it comes to a close.
Today is a concatenation of various blog appearances for both of my genre selves. Tis the Season?
I’m over celebrating Day 10 of the Smutketeers Twelve Days of Christmas. There’s a huge giveaway involved with tons of naughty authors, so it’s very fun. Along those lines, I’m giving away UNDER HIS TOUCH, which just received 4.5 stars from RT Book Reviews. *happy dancing*
Finally, I have to share that Regina Small of RT Book Reviews picked The Tears of the Rose as one of her Top Ten Books of 2014 – along with Amy Poehler’s book! Is there anything better than having a really smart reviewer say wonderful, insightful things about your book? YES! Having her make a comparison to Buffy the Vampire Slayer! This is what she says:
The Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy — It is a truth universally acknowledged that I’m a sucker for spoiled, sheltered heroines who lose it all, and then have to find their own way in the wilderness. (Think Cordelia Chase’s brilliant character arc in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.) At the beginning of The Tears of the Rose, beautiful pampered princess Amelia is in mourning over the loss of her husband. While this is undeniably a romance — spoilers: Ash is hot — Kennedy gives Ami something even more important than a partner: a purpose. And Ami’s transition into a woman with a richer inner life is so complex and well done; Ami never stops loving her fallen husband, Hugh, but she recognizes that her love for him belongs to a different, more innocent life. With Hugh, she was a child; with Ash, she is a woman.
The Smutketeers, particularly RG Alexander, invited me to be part of their annual Christmas video. This year it’s All About the Books. 🙂 Stick through to the end, for all the credits, too! 🙂
Yesterday we enjoyed a long, gentle, soaking rain. Which means this morning we awoke to our typically dry high-desert transformed by an ocean of fog. I felt as if I’d been transported to Inverness and was tempted to hike down to Loch Ness and see if I could spot the monsters.
A serendipitous shot as the setting sun sent rays of light across my desk and lit up the globe that Kensington gave me with the cover of THE MARK OF THE TALA inside. If I’d been thinking, I would have turned it around to show the flip side, with the cover of last week’s release and the sequel, THE TEARS OF THE ROSE. The glow lasted barely long enough for me to grab my phone and snap. Ah well, so goes serendipity.
One of my favorite bits of feedback lately on THE TEARS OF THE ROSE, was when my longtime friend, Kev, commented this on my release day post:
There was an absolutely gorgeous sunrise today. I looked West and the mountains were this perfectly lovely shade of pink against a slightly lighter pink sky. I felt strongly compelled to sketch some circles in the air, but my Lutheran upbringing wouldn’t quite allow it.
If you haven’t read the book yet, that’s a reference to the observances of the goddess Glorianna, which occur ritually at sunrise and sunset, when her circle is drawn in the air. And her color is pink.
There’s something wonderfully invigorating about hearing comments like this, knowing that something you wrote went into another person’s mind deeply enough to invoke this impulse. Even if it wasn’t enough to overcome that childhood programming, alas! Inventing this mythology of the three goddesses came about organically as part of writing the story. I hadn’t anticipated that would even be a factor of the world as I began writing Andi’s story in THE MARK OF THE TALA. While all three goddesses – Glorianna, Moranu and Danu – make an appearance in the first book, in the sequel, THE TEARS OF THE ROSE, part of Ami’s journey is finding her place as an avatar of Glorianna. So I ended up exploring the mysticism and influence of the goddesses much more. I even wrote an entire myth!
(As if you have nothing better to do with your life… but the option is there!)
At any rate, playing with this mythology was so fun that I even wrote an extra bit for Jen Twimom’s holiday Mistletoe Madness event on That’s What I’m Talking About. The post is here and is told from Ami’s point of view about their observation of the Feast of Moranu on the winter solstice. That was a kick to write also. I’m sure it contains many familiar elements that you all will recognize, but it still felt special to me.
As the year draws to a close, we’re in the final round of The Hottest Heroine Cover contest. We all know Ursula is the hottest – and not because she has a big-ass sword. And she’s running second to a drowning girl. We can’t have that! You can vote and enter the giveaway or not, as you please.
