I’m over at Word Whores, sharing a video of my acceptance speech for Best Fantasy Romance of 2015 for THE TALON OF THE HAWK.
Words and Pictures to Inspire
//Tag: The Talon of the Hawk
//Are Pay-to-Play Published Book Contests Unethical?
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To celebrate that THE TALON OF THE HAWK won Best Fantasy Romance of 2015 from RT Book Reviews, I got this amazing tattoo of Ursula’s sword. I’m thrilled with how it turned out. (Freshly finished and a little red here – it looks even better now!)
If you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter, one went out today with an exclusive, never-seen-elsewhere, juicy deleted scene from TALON. If you sign up today, you can still see it. Yes, I’m totally luring you. Is it working?
You’ll see this in the newsletter (hint, hint) – Kensington is sponsoring a Goodreads Giveaway of 25 copies of THE PAGES OF THE MIND. Hie thee hence to enter!
Finally, I’m over at Word Whores this morning, setting forth the question of whether published books contests that require an entry fee, such as RWA’s RITA Awards, have less integrity than those where books must be nominated, such as SFWA’s Nebula Award.
Jeffe on the Road!
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This is a photo from the Tucson Festival of Books panel on Kickass Heroines in Fantasy. With me (from left to right) were Yvonne Navarro, Beth Cato and Judith Tarr. Gini Koch (not pictured) moderated and a fantastic time was had by all!
But wait, there’s more! There’s awesomeness in the future as well.
For those of you in the Denver area, I’ll be at the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference on Thursday, April 7, at the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th Street, signing at the RWA booth #1542 at 3:00pm. I’ll be signing my Award Winning (!!) third Twelve Kingdoms book, THE TALON OF THE HAWK. In fact, I have two cases to give away! So, come on by and snag you a copy.
Then on Saturday, April 9, I’ll be at another, much smaller PLA gathering in Gallup, New Mexico, at the Gallup Author’s Festival. The event is at the Octavia Fellin Public Library, 115 West Hill Avenue. (There’s a link here, but it takes some serious drill down. There’s another, shorter blurb here.) I’ll be on the 2:30 – 3:30 pm Books and Culture Panel Discussion in the Main Library Meeting Room and I’ll have many books to give away there, too! So if you’re in the neighborhood, come on by!
That night, Saturday, April 9, the hubs and I will spend the night in Flagstaff, Arizona. Would love to meet up with folks if you’re in that area!
Finally, on Sunday we’ll be moving on to Las Vegas, Nevada, and the RT Booklovers Convention! I’ll be there all week, on various and multiple panels, signings, parties, what have you. If you’re going, you’ll have access to all the agendas. On Friday night, April 15, I get my shiny shiny trophy for THE TALON OF THE HAWK as Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. If you’re NOT registered, you can still come see me at the Giant Book Fair on Saturday, April 16, 10:30 am – 2:00 pm.
Should be big fun! I’ll try to post pics, etc., to Facebook and Twitter, but I’ll likely be scarce here. Have a great week everyone!
Special Sneak Peek of Harlan!
//The publisher of my Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms books is hosting their annual Ultimate Hero Showdown. Harlan, the hunky and infinitely patient hero of THE TALON OF THE HAWK, has made it through two rounds so far.
(Mostly thank s to passionate fans who stayed up clicking away until midnight!)
Voting in round three starts at midnight, March 31 and goes until midnight – all U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. You can click as often as you like! (Hence the aforementioned Harlan fans clicking away.)
Harlan also appears in THE PAGES OF THE MIND, out May 31 (finally!). So, to give you a little extra Harlan love, here’s an excerpt from PAGES, which is in Dafne’s point of view. Here he’s helping Ursula teach Dafne self-defense.
On Further Serendipitous Hijinks
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We had fierce dust storms in New Mexico yesterday, which at least makes for amazing sky colors. Here’s the nearly full moon setting at sunrise – still one of my favorite sights.
So, yesterday I had an interesting moment. Kind of a continuation of this run of serendipity despite sad events. It’s really been a strange few weeks, with many highs and lows.
At this point we’re packing up to make the long road trip for R’s funeral. He was David’s brother, who died much too young from cancer. We’re hoping to drill through a few windows in the winter storms twixt here and there to gather with our extended family on David’s side. One of those people is our daughter, whose birthday was on Monday. A happy note is that we’ll be able to give her birthday presents in person, a rare event these days.
Yesterday, David and I went into town to shop for her gifts. We found the Perfect Thing after several stops. Once we had that, I made an impulsive excursion to buy a vital accessory. I went to my favorite place to buy that accessory – can’t tell you where in case a certain birthday girl reads this – which, like Saturday’s excursion, involved hijinks through different parking lots.
I was standing at the counter, buying my stuff, when out of the sitting area came… guess who? Yeah – Neil Gaiman. He smiled at the counter gal helping me, nodded at us both, saying thank you and good evening.
I managed not to have a fangirl meltdown. But it was close.
And no, I didn’t introduce myself. I chickened out. And besides, that would be *really* stretching my Meet Your Heroes luck!
Still, can you all believe it? My timing is just… I don’t know what to make of it.
Never mind that the counter gal friend of mine tipped me that Neil comes in most days. I may have found my new favorite hangout.
Oh, and Harlan is again up for your voting pleasure in the Ultimate Hero smackdown. You can vote all day, as many times as you feel moved to do so, today – March 23, 2016 – until midnight US Eastern Daylight Time. 
Cheers, everyone!
Best Fantasy Romance of 2015!
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So much happening all at once!
~dances around in the downpour~
First of all, yesterday I *FINALLY* got to share that THE TALON OF THE HAWK won Best Fantasy Romance of 2015 in the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards!!! I’ve known for about seven weeks, but was allowed to share the great good news only with family and friends. One of the first people I told was sister nominee Grace Draven, whose amazing book RADIANCE I thought was sure to win. I have to tell you – I think she was more excited than I was! With competition like C.S. Pacat, Sharon Shinn and Robin Owens, the odds were scary! I’m really just beyond thrilled. The outpouring of love and congratulations has floored me.
Which leads to the next thing: In a serendipitous coincidence, the hero of TALON, everyone’s favorite mercenary Harlan is in Kensington’s Ultimate Hero Showdown today. You can vote here as often as you like, until 11:59 PM (EDT).
Also, SF Signal did a really terrific interview with me – excellent questions – and you can read that here.
Finally, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, I’ve been participating in a Lucky in Love giveaway with four of my sister writers in the Land of Enchantment Romance Authors (LERA) chapter here in New Mexico. Today you can enter to win a digital copy of the highly anticipated upcoming erotic anthology, THE DEVIL’S DOORBELL.
Be one of the first to read it! Enter here to win one of three copies and to enter the grand prize giveaway of a brand new, loaded Kindle Voyager!
A woman’s pleasure is a dangerous thing. A primal appetite that, once awakened, can never be sated. A secret that gives power to those who know it. A magic that, once unleashed, can never be contained.
Some say the clitoris is the devil’s doorbell, set to summon him forth at the merest touch…
It’s time to ring the bell.
Here are seven tales of sexual empowerment and erotic defiance, featuring the hottest storytellers of erotic fiction.
Anne Calhoun
Christine d’Abo
Delphine Dryden
Megan Hart
Jeffe Kennedy
Megan Mulry
M. O’Keefe
Whew! That’s a lot of dancing!
A Chance to Vote!
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This is our bobcat visitor from yesterday. Gorgeous animal. Wish I’d gotten a clearer one of her face, but the best are of her prowling about. 
In other news, THE TALON OF THE HAWK is showing up on a bunch of Best of 2015 lists, like at RT Book Reviews, and Happy Tails and Trails (Best Cover, Blogger’s Choice and Top 10). At Grave Tells, the book is up for Best Fantasy Romance of 2015, so if you have that clicky-finger feeling, you can vote here.
Hope the holiday season is treating you all well!
Worldbuilders 2015 Fundraiser
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You can win a manuscript critique from me! Yes, I’m participating in Patrick Rothfuss’ Worldbuilders Fundraiser. I’m offering a First Chapter & Synopsis read and critique, along with a genre analysis. This will be particularly useful for those of you with romance or romantic elements in your SFF works. Lots of other authors, agents and editors are participating, too, so check out all the possibilities!
Also, in case you live under a rock and haven’t heard my non-stop shouting about it – THE TALON OF THE HAWK has been nominated for Best Fantasy Romance of 2015 in the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice Awards! I’m really savoring this nomination because, as I told a writing friend, it’s such an honor to be listed with these other *amazing* authors, all of whom are much more likely to win. My friend asked, “why- who else is nominated?” I told her – Grace Draven, Sharon Shinn, CS Pacat and Robin Owens – and she said, “whoa, you’re running with the big dogs!”
Right??
Just so happy to be in the running. And, as Grace points out, she and I will be at the 2016 RT Booklovers Convention together in Las Vegas next April. If she wins, we’ll drink! If I win, we’ll drink! If we both lose, we’ll drink!
WIN.
Why Carry a Big Sword?
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One reason I love the cover of THE TALON OF THE HAWK – and what readers always say, too – is that you can’t go wrong with a big, mother-effing sword. Thus, I’m over at Word Whores today, talking about arming your characters – how do you choose, from what do you choose, and why?
Why Fighting is Sexy
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I’m participating in the very fun STOMP VS. ROMP party! Stop by The Book Nympho’s terrific blog for my argument for #TeamStomp. Yes, it features Ursula from THE TALON OF THE HAWK. And there’s a giveaway of this lovely necklace molded from a real hawk’s talon. I liked it so much, I bought one for myself, too!