Wedding Planning!

So as if the re-release of the Blood Coven Vampire books and the upcoming Bad Blood wasn't enough - two weeks ago I actually GOT ENGAGED! Yes! To the love of my life, Jacob. I couldn't write a better happily ever after than that! We are best friends and like the same things - just perfect for one another.

Anyway - mush over. So now that I'm engaged I'm planning a wedding! We're getting married in April in Kingsland, Texas, where Jacob's parents have a beautiful house on the lake. It's an awesome spot and perfect for a wedding.

Now I just need a dress. And a cake! And, well, a billion other things but those are two fun things to find! First we'll look at cakes, then move on to the dress.

Now I know there are a billion traditional cakes out there, but they're all kind of boring. How cool would it be to have a gothed out cake instead?!

Check these amazing cakes out!!!













What do you think? Goth wedding cake or stick with something traditional? :)

Mari

New Boys that Bite!

I got my author copies!! They're sooo pretty!




On store shelves soon!!!
Mari

Blood Coven Video Blog Update

Sorry so wide - I forgot to turn off the HD setting on my camera!

Facebook - finally!

I finally created a Blood Coven fanspace on Facebook for those of you who don't like MySpace (or want to join both!) You can check it out and join here.

While I've had a personal Facebook page for a while, I'm not 100 percent familar with the whole fan page stuff. So I hope you guys will help me out and join and contribute to the page!!

:)
mari

Blood Coven re-boot ALMOST HERE!

So as many of you know, Berkley has "re-booted" my Blood Coven Vampire series and the release date for the first three re-packaged books is fast approaching. They say we'll start seeing them in stores in the next couple weeks, with the roll-out continuing through November. In addition to the beautiful new covers, they have new back cover copy and I've gone through and updated all the pop culture references and made a few other minor changes. For example Girls that Growl will now end with the cliffhanger ending it was originally supposed to have. I had taken it out originally because we weren't sure if the fourth book would ever be released.

Speaking of the fourth book...Bad Blood is out in January! Not too much longer!! In this book, we go back to Sunny's point of view. And it takes place in the city of sin - Las Vegas. After writing the book, I had a huge urge to go back and visit. Hope to do that in the next year or so. Unfortunately, for those of you who like to collect book editions, there will only be a "new cover" version of Bad Blood - so it won't match your other books if you have the square older editions. It's not a choice I get to make, so I apologize!

Anyway, for those of you who have not yet read the series, here are the new versions and their new back cover copy. You can go to my website for excerpts. Except for Bad Blood - gotta be my MySpace friend to get that excerpt. :)





Two sisters—as different as the sun and the rain. For one, getting into the Blood Coven is to die for. But for the other, getting out could be lethal…

When Sunny McDonald gets dragged to Club Fang by her twin sister Rayne, she doesn’t expect to find anything besides a bunch of Goth kids playing at being vampires. But when some guy mistakes Sunny for her dark-side-loving sister and bites her on the neck, she finds out that his fangs are real—and deadly.

Now, Sunny has less than a week to figure out how to reverse the bite, or else she’s going to end up as the perpetually undead. And not only will she be a vampire, she’ll also be bonded to Magnus—the bloodsucker who bit her—forever. And forever is a really long time…





Two sisters—as different as the sun and the rain. For one, getting into the Blood Cover is to die for, but it seems destiny has something else in mind…

Rayne McDonald had it all figured out. Get turned into a vampire, become the mate of the Blood Coven leader, and live the high-life for all eternity. Too bad the head vamp took a bite out of her twin sister by mistake. Now, not only is Rayne still not a vampire, but she learns she’s a slayer instead—destined to destroy vamps gone bad.

After being recruited by a secret organization, Rayne is given her first mission: infiltrate a seedy bar downtown and expose its vampire owner, Maverick, for purposely spreading a nasty blood virus. Luckily the Blood Coven sends some help—in the form of sexy vampire Jareth. Will vampire and slayer be able to settle their differences and work together to bring down the evil Maverick? Or will they find their own hearts on the line?





Rayne McDonald thought getting into the Blood Coven was the hard part. But now there’s a new breed of trouble in town…and the former slayer and her vampire boyfriend may be the only ones who can stop it.

Now that she’s an official vampire and full-fledged member of The Blood Coven, Rayne assumes her vampire slaying days are over. Sure, she doesn’t have any vampire powers, thanks to a mutated blood virus, but she and Jareth can go out in the sun, which is a pretty good trade-off.

But just when Rayne’s starting to enjoy her afterlife, she’s contacted by Slayer Inc once again. It seems that a member of her high school’s football team has disappeared—and the powers-that-be think the cheerleaders had something to do with it. Now Rayne has to infiltrate the squad before the cheerleaders have a chance to sink their teeth into someone else…





Sunny McDonald is in the ultimate forbidden relationship. Her boyfriend Magnus is a vampire, and the leader of the Blood Coven. Their differences have never been an issue, until now…

When the Blood Coven decides that Magnus needs a mate to be his co-ruler, Sunny’s humanity puts her out of the running. The Coven’s chosen candidate is Jane Johnson, a magna cum laude graduate of Oxford University who just happens to look like a vampiric celebutante.

Sunny is suspicious of a Rhodes Scholar who can’t answer the most basic poly-sci questions, but Magnus brushes it off as petty jealousy. Still, when the Blood Coven goes to Las Vegas for a vampire convention—where Magnus and Jane’s bonding ceremony will be the main event—Sunny and her sister Rayne secretly tag along. And Sunny’s not going home before she learns the truth about Jane. Because not everything stays in Vegas—especially bad blood…

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

For those of you who like Victorian gothic novels, I've got a recommendation for you. It's actually written by an author friend of mine - my goth dancing partner in crime, to be precise, named Leanna Renee Hieber.

Here she is in all her victorian glory at her book release party this past Monday. Isn't her costume totally amazing? She says in another life she was born a victorian lady and I so believe it!





The book is really cool. Very beautifully written - almost lyrical. Here's the back cover blurb.

What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death….

Anyway, you can find The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker at bookstores in the romance section. I highly recommend it! :)

Mari

Home from DragonCon

I'm home from Dragon*Con. Am tired, as would be expected, but it was worth it. Still, we crammed a lot into three days. I spoke on five panels, played Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Simi" in the parade, and changed in and out of a lot of costumes.

The panels at Dragon*Con were great- better, I think, than most of the romance industry conventions I've spoken at. The audiences were large and engaged and asked really good, on-topic questions. And I got to learn some stuff myself - from my highly esteemed co-panelists. Cherie Priest cracked me up the most on Vampires vs. Zombies. (She took the side of vampires. I was zombies. Definitely a worthy opponent.)

I also got to panel with (among others) Heather Brewer, Richelle Mead, Stacia Kane, Susan Sizemore, Carol Nelson Douglas, Caitlin Kittredge, Jackie Kessler and Mark Henry. The Urban Fantasy people are so much fun. Definitely my kind of writer peeps.

Here I am at the "Blood and Fur" panel with Richelle Mead and Heather Brewer. YA Vamp authors unite! :)





The panels were all really well attended, which I love!





So anyway - moving on to costumes. Day one I did a steampunk inspired outfit. Dress is from Lip Service, waist cincher handmade and bought off Etsy. I did the wristbands myself from leather and stuff I found at Michael's. Steampunk goggles are from Gothic Rennisance. The clockwork butterfly necklace is also from a vendor off Etsy. It was super cool. Oh and the Victorian lace-up boots were actually from Payless!





Leanna was a beautiful Victorian lady in honor of her new book, "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker", which was just released.





Costume #2 was me as "Simi" the demon from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. Sherrilyn asked Jacob and I to be in the parade as the official Simi and Acheron (her Dark Hunter hero) We got to ride in a Shelby Mustang in front of thousands of people. It was quite an experience!







Jacob dressed as Michael Jackon on day #1. The geeks at the con were slightly confused, but the people of Atlanta loved him!







That night, we met up with Liz, Cheri and Chris for a Time Traveller's ball.




Check out Liz's hair and top hat!




There were a lot of fabulous costumes at the Time Traveller's Ball. Some pretty, some disturbing.









One of my favorite panels at the Con was with Malcolm McDowell of Clockwork Orange fame. Actually just before the panel we found ourselves sitting one couch over from him! He was just hanging out. I wanted to go up and say hi but I felt too nervous and also didn't want to be intrusive. His panel was great though - learned a lot about the behind the scenes of one of my favorite Kubrick films.





Later - when I find someone with a good pic, I will upload the piece de resistance - my Zombie Bo Peep costume. It is a work of art, let me tell you. Very disturbing art! I got a lot of attention from it, which was fun!

:)
Marianne

Who's going to see the new covers first?!?

The new Blood Coven covers are ALMOST here! Argh. It's so hard to wait!! But I think you'll start seeing them sometime beginning in September. There's not like an official release date cause they're not new books - but supposedly they'll start showing up in stores any day now.

Sooo who's going to be first to find them? I think we should do a contest! First to find and take a photo of the book - either on the shelves or (preferably) in your hands wins!! I'll come up with a good prize, too. :)

And the countdown begins for Bad Blood as well - four more months til we get that in stores. Unlike the reprints, that book DOES have an official release date: January 5th. A great thing to spend your holiday money on, lol!

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Believe me, I hate waiting as much as you guys do!!

MARI