Just Dance!

Not to be all quoting Lady Gaga, but guys, when you go to a concert, don't just stand there like a lump. The band wants you to get into it. To dance! One of the greatest joys in life is to go dancing! It gives you this amazing euphoric feeling that can't be duplicated.

I went to see goth band VNV Nation last night. (If you've never heard them, you need to check them out. They're teh awesome.) They put on an amazing show. But half the audience just stood there, staring at the stage, doing NOTHING. Sooo boring! Some of the people - I don't even know why they were there! And don't tell me it's all goth to stand there and look mopey - the most dedicated goths I know love to get on the dance floor and get their dance on. It's a chance to express yourself and really feel the music work through your body. It's a beautiful, heavenly experience like no other.

Ronan, the lead singer, was begging people to get into the music and really working it, but it was an uphill battle, let me tell you.

In any case, my boyfriend Jacob and I found a corner and danced all night. I was so sweaty afterwards! But it was worth it!!

Anyway, rant over. Just dance. Rayne and Jareth (and even Sunny for that matter!) will be proud! :)

Mari

Boys that Bite - Reader Trailer!

This was sent to me by one of my readers, Angelina Marie. She did an awesome book trailer of Boys that Bite for her senior class project. Check it out - it rocks!! :) I especially love Lucifent. Wonder if that's her little brother?

I love when people make me videos based on my books! (HINT HINT!) In fact the new website I'm developing will have a whole section of reader artwork and films.





:)
MARI

More Artwork!

Computer generated artwork today! Found on Deviant Art. I believe they're both made with SIMS. Funny cause I recently got SIMS 3 and made Sunny and Rayne Sims too! Sunny now has 5 kids and Rayne is a rock star! haha.

First - Sunny and Rayne, dressed as they would.


Rayne and Sunny McDonald by ~Chuckyfan4lyf on deviantART


And whoah - scandal! Mangus and Rayne!!! Where's Sunny?!?



Scene for Stake That by ~Chuckyfan4lyf on deviantART

Nine Author NYC Book Signing!

Now here's the event you've been waiting for! Nine authors (including me!!) will be at Books of Wonder in New York City on Saturday, July 25th, from 2pm to 4pm. Stop by and buy a book or nine and say hello!

Participating Authors:

Lauren Barnholdt, author of Two-Way Street, The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney, Four Truths and Lie, and others
Sarah Cross, author of Dull Boy
Erin Dionne, author of Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies
Heather Duffy-Stone, author of This is What I Want to Tell you
Mandy Hubbard, author of Prada and Prejudice
Julie Linker, author of Crowned, Disenchanted Princess
Sarah MacLean, author of The Season
Mari Mancusi, author of Boys that Bite, Girls that Growl, Stake That!, Gamer Girl and others
Michelle Zink, author of Prophecy of the Sisters

New Video: Ally Carter!

As most of you guys know, in addition to writing I'm also a TV producer. And one of the most fun parts of my job is interviewing other YA authors. Like the fabulous Ally Carter who writes the Gallagher Girls series. (About a spy school for girls - so awesome!) She and I share the same agent actually and so when I met up with her at the Book Expo of America last month I had to interview her about her amazing series.

Here's the finished product - take a look!





:)
MARI

Beiß, Jane, beiß!

Beiß, Jane, beiß! - the German version of BAD BLOOD will be out MONDAY!! Yay for Germany!!! Hope all you German readers will pick it up and let me know what you think! I'm excited!

In the US - it's not out until January. Booooo. But I swear it'll be worth the wait!!!

:)
MARI

Bad Blood Available for Pre-Order

It doesn't come out til January, but you can reserve your copy of BAD BLOOD now on Amazon. It's really happening!!! Yay!

MARI

More Fan Art!

This is from Keira!! As you might recognize, it's a scene from Gamer Girl where Maddy's grandma is flipping out about her unicorn figurines -- aka her "babies!"



.::Thats MY Baby::. by ~Keira-the-Wolf on deviantART


MARI

Blood Coven Author Quotes!

I think I've told you guys before how much I adore Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampire series. (You all are reading it, right? If not - get going - it ROCKS!!) It's so different than the other vampire series out there and is completely addictive!!

Anyway, for the re-release of the Blood Coven books, my editor wanted me to get what's called an "author blurb" - which is basically a compliment about your book by a bestselling author. Of course I immediately thought of Rachel. And guess what? She was nice enough to write one! So now here's the quote that's going to appear on the book covers:

"If you haven't sunk your teeth into Marianne Mancusi's fabulous books, why haven't you? Delightful, surprising, and engaging -- you'll get bitten, and love it."

-- Rachel Caine

Pretty awesome, huh? And if that's not enough, I also got a wonderful blurb from New York Times Bestseller Ellen Hopkins who does those AMAZING poetry books like Crank and Identical and the soon-to-be-release Tricks. (Everyone loves these books - just the other day I read Miley Cyrus gushing about Identical!)

"Boys That Bite is a vampire book so worth reading, with dark humor, distinctive voice, and a protagonist clever enough to get herself out of trouble. Thank you, Mari Mancusi, for a great ride."

-- Ellen Hopkins

Isn't that awesome! I mean, not to be all "look at me" but when big-time authors praise your book, it makes you feel like you're doing something right!! :)

Long live the Blood Coven!!

MARI

Lauren Conrad

And here it is - the interview I did with Lauren Conrad of the Hills, talking about her new teen book - LA Candy! No matter what you think of the show, I will tell you, Lauren herself was such a sweetheart to interview!!





Mari

Japanese Blood Coven Covers

Since we've been talking about different covers - here are the Japanese covers of BOYS THAT BITE, STAKE THAT and GIRLS THAT GROWL. As you can see - also very different than the American ones. But I really like the manga treatment! The books also have tons of interior manga artwork which, if I ever get a new camera, I will take photos of and post! :)













Japan hasn't decided yet whether they will buy and publish BAD BLOOD. I hope they do though - just because I love the artwork so much!

:)
MARI

Bad Blood in German - ALMOST HERE!

For you German readers - BAD BLOOD (otherwise known as Beiß, Jane, beiß!) will be out in July!! (July 12th I think to be exact.) YAY! I hope you guys like it!!





As you can see, the covers in Germany are a lot different than those in America! I think the bats are too cute!!

Please remember don't post any spoilers in English. We want the American audience to be surprised when Bad Blood comes out here (in January.)

hugs!
MARI

Lauren Conrad and me

Today I got to go interview Lauren Conrad of The Hills. Well, formerly of The Hills, I guess, seeing as this was her last season.





She's just written a teen book called LA Candy which is a fictionalized account of life on a reality TV series. It's the first of three books.





Now I know some authors are annoyed that a famous reality star like Lauren can get a big book deal when they're still struggling to get noticed, but here's my take. If her book can get people who might not normally read to pick up a book, then they might discover they like reading. And then they'll pick up more books - by other authors! So everyone wins!! So this is a good thing, I promise. And honestly, if you write a good book - a really good book - you don't have to be famous to get noticed. I mean, who heard of Stephanie Meyer before Twilight? JK Rowling before Harry Potter?

Plus Lauren was super sweet and nice. Totally down to Earth and not pretentious at all. I really liked chatting with her. She definitely goes in the "celebs who don't suck" category. :)

Mari

Boys that Bite read in German!

Ever wonder what Boys that Bite sounds like in German? Now you can hear for yourself! A reader reads the first chapter of the book!!

Night School - Blood Coven #5 - GERMANY

For you German readers, I have great news! I just sold Book #5 of The Blood Coven Vampire series to my German publisher for a summer 2010 release!! So not only do you get Book #4 first, but you will also definitely get more books! Yay!

As for America, we're working with them to push #5 as we speak. But they have until January to decide. Basically they may wait to see how the re-releases of the first three do as well as Bad Blood. The more popular they are, the more chance we'll have of them wanting to do Book #5. So be sure to keep up the good work spreading the word about the series to friends!!

Book #5's title is NIGHT SCHOOL and it deals with Sunny and Rayne hiding out in an exclusive European vampire boarding school. Can't tell you why - but when you read Book #4 you'll understand!! :) Yes, it ends with a cliffhanger!

:)
MARI

Guest Blogger and Book Giveaway! Serena Robar

Hi guys! Today we have a good author friend of mine, Serena Robar, guest blogging about games, guys and her new book - "Giving up the V" - out now from Simon Pulse! You may know Serena from her fabulously funny vampire series "Braced2Bite."

In addition to blogging - Serena's doing a HUGE book giveaway! COMMENT HERE on my blog to win a copy of GIVING UP THE V. And then head over to her site for a chance to win MY book - GAMER GIRL.

~~

So you think you’ve got game?


Hello! My name is Serena Robar and Mari has graciously let me take over her blog today so I can pimp the release of my new book Giving Up the V and talk about one of our favorite subjects. Games. More specifically, what it’s like to be married to a man who makes games for a living. If you think about it, an author and a game designer living under the same roof is a pretty unique combination. I think half our party invitations are for that reason alone. Friends with normal jobs trot us out like show dogs, introducing us as the couple “we were telling you about”. Personally, my stories how I can’t seem to shower when I’m under deadline and wear pajamas half the day aren’t nearly as entertaining as you’d think so thank goodness I have Jason. He is the entertainment part of our dynamic duo. Odds are he created a fun game just for the party we are going to so everyone-gamer and non-gamer alike-have a great time.

Every other week a new box of games arrive at the front door. Most are probably in German (all the best board games are from Germany) and we play them right away. Two years of high school German twenty years later and he can still explain how the game is played (you can usually find the translated rules online, but apparently that’s cheating if you don’t try to figure them out on your own first).

Our kids are gamers as well. They don’t watch television. At all. No, we aren’t those strict, television-is-bad kind of parents. They would rather play games and watch games cut scenes via YouTube than watch television. Our daughter is all about World of Warcraft (gee, who else on this blog is a WoW fan? Hmmm, Mari?) and we all have characters on the same server. When it comes to Rock Bank and Guitar Hero, we are The Robarios. And we tour nightly. At this moment, my husband and son are playing Plants VS. Zombies and my daughter is rereading Mari’s book, Gamer Girl.

I put our love of games in all my books as well. In Giving Up the V, the Crew of friends meet up every weekend for Halo and Guitar Hero. I didn’t grow up in a gaming household so where did I pick it up? Easy, I fell in love with a Gamer Boy and the rest, as they say, is history. Or Round Eleven as our eleven year anniversary is next month. Oh yeah, and because I love random chance games, I am running a huge contest on my site where I am giving away a book a day, every day in June and today you can win Mari’s Gamer Girl. Do head on over and sign up. Don’t forget to comment here as well for you chance to win a copy of Giving Up the V.

More Fan Art!!

Gamer Girl fan art!! Maddy and Allora! Sooo cool. ^_^

Guest Blogging Today!

I'm blogging today over at the fabulous Lucienne Diver's blog. (She's the author of the new book VAMPED which you guys should so check out!!) I'm also giving away an autographed copy of BOYS THAT BITE to a commenter!!

So go forth, read and comment and WIN!


MARI

Melissa Marr

You guys like Melissa Marr, right? She's an amazing author of dark, fairy YA books. Love! Anyway, I got to interview her about her new book, Fragile Eternity, for my show on Better. Here's the final clip!





The book's awesome by the way. Actually the whole series is. You should check it out!

hugs!
MARI

Blood Coven Spread the Word Contest!

Okay guys - here's the deal. Barnes and Noble has graciously stocked all the Blood Coven books (Boys that Bite, Stake That, Girls that Growl) in their stores on special vampire themed walls. Which is amazingly awesome cause now brand new people can try out the series and hopefully end up loving it as much as you guys do! :)

I want to make the most of this opportunity, of course. And that's where you come in. I need you guys to be my street team - to spread the word about the Blood Coven Books. And I'm giving away free stuff to those who do!

What does spreading the word mean? Actually just how it sounds - get friends to read the books, write about them in your blog or myspace page, post reviews on review websites, post the book covers on your myspace, tell your local bookstore and library you like the series. Make flyers. Draw pics and upload them to DeviantArt. Make a video and put it on YouTube. The possibilities are endless. You could even throw a Blood Coven party! (Let me know if you decide to do this and I'll send you some party favors!)

Then come back here and report what you did. I'll be giving out prizes to those who do the most and also those who came up with the most creative ways to promote the series. Including a $50 gift certificate to Hot Topic. Yeah! :) I also have glitter makeup to giveaway, autographed books, and even a copy of Stake That or Girls that Growl in Japanese!! (Complete with manga pics of the characters)

AND AS A MAJOR BONUS: Everyone who participates gets an EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK OF BAD BLOOD!!!! The first time anyone will read any of it! (Besides my editor!)

So are you ready to get started? This will be fun!! And remember - every little effort counts!!! After all, if it weren't for your continued support we never would have gotten that fourth book, right? :) And I know you all want a fifth...

hugs!
MARI