On my way out of town

Posted on | 1 year, 3 months ago, in the early morning | No Comments

I realize it’s something like 6:00 a.m. West Coast time, but I’m awake and I figured “to hell with it,” so I’m up for a shower and packing and other assorted day-startings. I’m headed for the airport in a couple of hours anyway, and I guess it’s nice to have a little breathing room on that front. So often, I set the alarm for fifteen minutes before I have to hit the road, fling myself out of bed, throw my clothes on in no particular order or arrangement, and dash out the door before I am fully lucid.

But that’s how it goes when flights are so often scheduled for Ridiculous Early and one lives a half hour from the airport … not that it isn’t worth it, when it comes to events like the one that went down last night.

The Fountain bookstore is a warm, eclectic joint in a very cool part of town, owned and staffed by fantastic people (one of whom was the fellow who lured me out there in the first place). The crowd was amazing – standing room only and highly enthusiastic – and the shop itself is an awesome old cubby with hardwoods everywhere and shelves up to the ceiling. I can’t recommend it enough; I love indie stores as a general rule, and this one has character out the wazoo. Marvelous place, marvelous people, marvelous hot dogs right next door. Two thumbs and a couple of big toes up!

(For what it’s worth, I signed lots of stock there last night – so if you want signed copies of … well … pretty much anything of mine, swing in to shop or keep an eye on their website.)

As always, I send out my undying thanks to everyone who came out to see me, and to the bookstore folks who went to the trouble of putting on the show. These things aren’t easy, and they only come together with the help of many hands.

* * *

In unrelated but also cool news … I have officially received my first starred Kirkus review for my upcoming Urban Fantasy Bloodshot – due out at the end of January. I am, of course, delighted!

(And a little stunned, considering that this will be my tenth novel … and to date, Kirkus hasn’t cared overly much for any of the rest. Kirkus thought Boneshaker was okay. But that’s about as high as the praise ever got.)

The review’s most quotable bit reads as follows: “A refreshing and addictive lure for readers uninterested in fangs, bats, capes and hissing.” But I shall post the rest of it below – under a cut for those of you who are scrolling down my blog and/or LiveJournal … and merely a few lines down for anyone who has clicked directly into this post. The full review is rather in-depth, and though it doesn’t really spoil anything, it does give plenty away up front.

Consider yourselves warned!
And happy scrolling/clicking.

BLOODSHOT
[ Starred Review ]
Author: Priest, Cherie

Review Date: December 1, 2010
Publisher:Spectra/Bantam
Pages: 384
Price ( Paperback ): $15.00
Publication Date: January 25, 2011
ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-0-345-52060-9
Category: Fiction
Classification: Science Fiction/Fantasy

A 100-year-old vampire thief runs afoul of secret biological experimenters—first of an urban fantasy series from the versatile author of Boneshaker (2009).

Sassy vampire Raylene Pendle makes a good living by stealing things to order; luckily, the numerous law-enforcement agencies in pursuit think she’s a man. Very much a loner, she lives in Seattle in a vast abandoned warehouse stuffed with valuable objects acquired as insurance—premises she shares with a pair of street-urchin intruders who, over the months, have gradually morphed into lodgers. When charming blind vampire Ian Stott asks for her help, money no object, Raylene pays close attention. Ian needs her to retrieve top secret government files—documents detailing the horrid black-op Army experiments, performed on vampires and other unorthodox persons, that left Ian blind. After an interloper invades her warehouse—Raylene kills him without compunction—she doesn’t immediately make the connection. Then, in Atlanta, she gets a lead on another victim of the experiments via the victim’s brother Adrian, a huge, ex–Navy SEAL drag queen. Unfortunately, there are immediate complications: ruthless Men in Black masquerading as CIA; and evidence that Project Bloodshot, supposedly shut down years ago, is once more roaring ahead thanks to a mysterious, mega-rich private financier. Brutally unsentimental narrator Raylene—she suffers from early-morning panic attacks and can’t help wondering where Adrian tucks his male equipment while he’s queening—makes a quirky and charming if bloodthirsty host.

A refreshing and addictive lure for readers uninterested in fangs, bats, capes and hissing.

Category: misc

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