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Sunday, December 31, 2006

Ringing In the New Year

Happy 2007, everyone! Here's wishing you all the best for this new year.

And for you writers out there, here's to obscene success.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

HB Sneaking Onto the Shelves...

Look!!! The amazing Shannon McKelden sent me this terrific photo of HELL'S BELLES in a Borders store just south of Seattle. SQUEE! Cover out! Huzzah!!!

THANKS, SHANNON!

(By the way, Shannon's novel, Venus Envy, is now available -- I know I'm buying my copy today, when I go bookstore roaming...)

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

How Rank!

HB's official launch is January 2! One week away...

So here it is--the Day Amazon begins shipping out HELL'S BELLES. As of a few minutes ago, HB was ranked #4,229. ((faints))

Does *anyone* understand how the hell Amazon ranks these things?

May of Milady Insanity interviewed me! (Gulp, and she reviewed HB!) And Jane of Dear Author said "Overall, this story features a strong female lead whose unabashed joy in her own skin made for a fun read." (Yes, I skipped right to the end of her review. :-) If you want to read the whole thing, including the parts she took issue with, click over to her site.) Many thanks to May and Jane for taking the time to read HB and for their reviews!

Anyway...

I'm working on HOTTER THAN HELL, which is Daun's story. Nothing like getting into the mind of a horny incubus who's completely Evil and yet somehow still a sympathetic character to take my mind off of all things HB. HOT is getting there. The pace is off, and some of the descriptions are killing me. But this is First Draft Country -- it's allowed to be ugly. I just want to get the story down. Out and down, you know? (Of course, if I stopped checking my stupid HB Amazon ranking every five minutes, maybe I'd get more work done...)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season -- here's to big things in 2007!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Happy Hannukah!

Eight days of guilt -- er, gelt -- begin tonight!

Here's a spiffy holiday link.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Razzin' Frazzin' Holidays...

I love the holidays. Really. Peace on Earth, good will, yadda yadda. It's all goodness. It's all lurvly. (And, if you go to certain nameless uber-huge big box megastores, it's all Christmas -- nary a dreidle in sight. Whatev, as the kids say today.)

And it's also a huge pain in the toochas.

Take cards, for example. Now, I'm all about scaring up addresses and doing the card thing (yes, dead-tree cards instead of environmentally friendly e-cards) and spreading good cheer and damn the paper cuts and the looooooooong freaking lines at the post office. But will someone please tell me

what the hell is up with all the effing GLITTER? It's like someone chopped up this model's dress and purse, added tons more sparkly crap, sneezed, added even more sparkly crap, and then puked the silver stuff all over the damn cards. The worst part, of course, is that sparkly crap is all over the envelopes, the table, my hands, my Precious Little Tax Deduction's lunch for tomorrow...everything. Gah. Whoever invented the sparkly crap for holiday cards must be the same evil pervert who invented toys that make noise. Or fruitcake.

Speaking of toys, that's another joy of the season. Yes, toys are marvelous. Me love toys. But WHO THE HELL decided they should be impossible to remove from the packaging without a blowtorch, pliers, and some heartfelt curses? Come on, are the toy manufacturers really that worried that Someone With No Scruples is going to really swipe Barbie's ultravoguealicious hubcaps off her dream machine whatchamahoozitzmobile? Me, I think the manufacturers all bought stock in the company that makes those twisty tie thingies. It has to be a conspiracy. (Has to, I tell you.)

Let's not even get into the whole Wrapping The Gifts nightmare. I must be the only person who somehow can take a square package and wrap it enough so that it looks round. (You should see how I load the dishwasher. I give Loving Husband a case of the nerves.) Thank God for those spiffy gift bag things.

I do love the season. I swear.

But next year, I think I'll need a Cabin Boy to do all the carding, shopping and wrapping.

Oh, Loving Husband...?

Monday, December 11, 2006

It's Starting To Look Hellish...

I know. Bad Blogger Jackie. No cookie.

It's been crazy busy (read: I've been seriously stressing out), but now I've got a moment to breathe (read: I'm done stressing for the moment). Thus, a new blog post!

The big stuff, of course, is HELL'S BELLES is almost on the shelves (heh, unless you ordered a copy from BAMM or B&N.com; see below), and reviews are coming in. And so far...they rock.

Romantic Times rated HELL'S BELLES as 4.5 stars (scorcher). Squee! I don't subscribe, so I don't have the review link. But here's the text of the review (available in the January 2007 issue of RT):

"Kessler's debut novel will captivate fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and Laurell K. Hamilton from the very first page. Adding interesting new characters to the dark fantasy genre, this first novel in the Hell on Earth series is sure to have readers salivating over the release of the next book. The novel is steamy, humorous and fast-paced, with tons of imagery and symbols that take it to a deeper level, similar to that of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Kessler's writing alludes to Dante's Divine Comedy and other elements, demonstrating that this novel was researched well and written even better. Two giant thumbs up for this exciting new author."

((faints))

((revives))

Neil is my god of writing, so the comparison really blew me away. Eeeeee!

And Romance Reader at Heart rated HELL'S BELLES a "top pick"; the reviewer says, among other amazing things, that "I've no doubt that Jackie Kessler is an author whose originality, style, and flair for creating such wonderfully devious and intriguingly devilish characters is sure to propel her to the top."

Novelspot gave Hell's Belles a 10 out of 10. The reviewer said that "Kessler writes with an assurance and verve that belies her novice novelist status."

Other reviews will be coming in soon. Eek!

And...my editor JUST accepted THE ROAD TO HELL. Wooooooooooooot!

Party time at Casa Kessler!

Edited to Add...

So it looks like some places have decided to begin filling orders for Hell's Belles. No, really. Who knew that the "January 2007" date was optional? Hey, I'm thrilled. Depending on where you pre-ordered, you could get HB in time for the holidays!

Amazon US still says it's waiting until December 26, 2006 before it ships out orders.

Amazon UK says it will "dispatch it" when it's available.

Powells.com says it will ship in January.

Barnes and Noble.com, however, says it ships within 2 - 3 days.

And BAMM says it's available and ships in 3 - 4 days.

Any other HB Shipping Now sitings?

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Speaking of Demons...

Man, I'm loving the perks of being an author -- especially the WOW I CAN GET SOME ARCs perks. :-)

I recently finished reading Jaci Burton's sexy (STEAMY sexy) Surviving Demon Island. WOW. If you like a fast pace, sex, guns, sex, snappy dialogue, sex, Good versus Evil, sex, a kick-ass heroine and uber-hot hero who have (yes, you guessed it) sex (and WOW, can Jaci write a nookie scene!), you're going to burn through this book and chomp on the bit for the next in the DEMON HUNTER series.

And I LOVE this blurb:

She's all curves and combat boots. He's six feet of lean, dangerous male.
Join them in a game of survival that's as real--and hot--as it gets.

((fans self))

Surviving Demon Island hits the shelves on December 26, coming at you from Dell. Available now for pre-order via Amazon.

Coming soon: the demon Jezebel interviews the demon hunter Gina. It should prove...interesting. Heh, heh, heh...

Sunday, December 03, 2006

A Sunday of Succubi

The perfectly amazing May of Milday Insanity has done what no one else has done before: blogged about the the differences between HELL'S BELLES and SUCCUBUS BLUES.

It's a terrific post. Richelle and I both think May nailed the big differences between the two books -- and more than just the fact that HB has a red cover and SB has a blue cover. :-)

She'll also be reviewing the books, but closer to the actual launch dates -- HB toward the end of the month, and SB closer to March.

Thanks, May!

Friday, December 01, 2006

I Love Zinnias!

The lovely, talented and amazing Zinnia Hope reviewed Hell's Belles on her website. Five zinnias!

Thank you, Z!