Karen Marie Moning

ICED Book Launch Party

2012-01-24T21:29:00.007-05:00

Months ago, I began getting panicked emails from people who were worried that they wouldn’t be able to get one of the 225 tickets to FeverCon, and/or wouldn’t be able to afford the costs of flight and accommodations plus the conference fee. I knew these people. I like these people. Many of them were at my last FeverCon, others I met at booksignings and events over the years. I realized I was planning a party that was going to exclude a significant number of people that wanted to attend, and they were very upset about it.

Not only is FeverCon exclusive, it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, from planning to organization to execution. With three releases this year, and more appearances than I’ve ever done, 2012 is already shaping up to be an absurdly busy year. So I sat down with my team and we discussed possibilities. After lengthy deliberation, we decided that time and effort can be better used differently this year, while solving the limited budget/limited ticket problem that has so many people worried.

Rather than hosting FeverCon this year, which only 225 people can attend, at the price of $350.00 per person for the con fee alone, I’m throwing a free ICED release bash.

It won’t cost you anything but your travel and accommodations, and there is no limit on the number of attendees. Pack in cars, split your hotel costs, travel cheap and come party with me on Halloween.

WHEN? The ICED signing is on Monday, October 29th but we’ll be in town partying from the 26th through the 30th.

WHERE? Where else on Halloween? NEW ORLEANS! There are so many Halloween parties in the French Quarter that I can’t think of any other place I’d rather be.

HOST HOTEL where we’ll all be hanging out? Again—where else? The spectacular Le Pavillon Hotel.

They did such a wonderful job with the Shadowfever launch that I’m in no mood to mess with success. We’ve negotiated special room rates for you again but the block is limited.

You must book your rooms at Le Pavillon through the KMM ICED event or you won’t get the special rate. When you call, you have to clearly state you’re coming for the event. When the block runs out, the prices will go up, so if you plan to stay in the hotel where all the events will be happening, book it now. This is especially true since it's on Halloween weekend, and hotels fill up in NOLA for the parties. FYI, last year the block ran out within a matter of hours from the time of our announcement.

***Update*** The initial number of rooms blocked for Friday and Saturday night have been booked but you can still book rooms on those nights for a significantly lower price then the general public.

Here is the number to reserve by phone. You must use the code KMM ICED to get the discounted rates: 1 (800) 535-9095.

What’s on the agenda? I’m not sure yet. We’re still playing with ideas. There will definitely be festivities and discussions, informal and formal. Probably goodies, depending on the generosity of publishers. Certainly a few special guests.

Wow. It’s beginning to sound like all the best of FeverCon, without any of the cost or headaches, and no limit on attendees.

Looking forward to seeing you in New Orleans for an ICED Halloween!

$1,000 of ICE

2011-11-28T23:22:00.003-05:00

Upcoming Releases

2011-11-28T23:20:00.004-05:00

INTO THE DREAMING
April 24, 2012
Special Hardcover edition with bonus material (re-release of original novella plus more)

FEVER MOON: The Fear Dorcha
July 10, 2012
Full color, 150+ page graphic novel featuring Mac and Barrons in an original all-new FEVER story

ICED: A Dani O'Malley Novel
October 30, 2012
Book 1

BURNED: A Dani O'Malley Novel
To be announced
Book 2

FLAYED: A Dani O'Malley Novel
To be announced
Book 3

To read more about the upcoming Dani O'Malley and Fever series click here.

UK FEVER!

2011-09-06T14:18:00.002-04:00

To celebrate the on sale date of the UK version of Darkfever we are giving away one copy a day for five days!

Each day we'll start a new post titled UK Darkfever Giveaway on my Facebook page and all you need to do to be entered is comment under that post each day.

Here's the publication schedule:

Darkfever 8 September
Bloodfever 13 October
Faefever 10 November
Dreamfever 8 December
Shadowfever 12 January

And here's more info at my UK publisher Orion:

http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/authors/moning-karen-marie

They don't have the image posted yet but I really like how they changed the cover for Shadowfever. They took the stepback from the US paperback and put it on the cover, between the smokebox. So we finally get a matched complete set, in trade paperback size! Only the UK version offers this. Wish I could get it in a boxed set! :)

Am I writing a 6th FEVER book?

2011-08-26T14:16:00.001-04:00

Because I keep getting this question, I’ve realized I've obviously not answered it to your satisfaction:) I'm going to post here and ask that you all help me in spreading the word around.

I'm currently working on a trilogy that features Dani, Christian MacKeltar, Ryodan, and the mysterious 'Dancer,' set primarily in Fever-Dublin. Each installment in the trilogy is a stand-alone mystery, however there are larger plot arcs unfolding in the background. Where Mac was introspective and her story could feel somewhat esoteric, Dani is down and dirty in the streets. Lots of details, lots of action. There’s a different feel to the two series, totally different vantage points. I’m having a blast writing it.

For those of you who have been worrying—the trilogy is not YA. If I had to categorize it, I would say it straddles the line between YA and adult uneasily. I don’t pull any punches. It may be controversial in some ways. But whose teen years weren’t? LOL! Many of the questions I left unanswered in the FEVER series are addressed in this new series.

Exciting news: I’ve agreed to write two more books after that. Once the new trilogy is complete, I’m returning to the core story begun in the FEVER series, and will resume writing about Mac, Barrons, V’lane, Cruce, the Unseelie king, the concubine, the Song of Making.

All in all, there are five more books coming about the Fever World!

Because I know you guys, I know this is going to make some of you as nervous as it makes you excited. Trust me. I’m making no compromises with the characters or the story. It’s all unfolding exactly as it should, true to itself-which means, it’s a sometimes rocky road. Dark times ahead, guys. But I write it all with genuine love for the characters, the world, and you the reader.

As a final note, quit scaring Dreamworks with your demands for NC-17, LMAO. I don’t write NC-17. You have NC-17 imaginations! Sometimes I think you guys should be telling me stories!

About the FEVER series: author notes (contains spoilers)

2011-08-21T16:10:00.003-04:00

I've been getting hit with a ton of email over the weekend asking for more info on the series so I thought I'd post this one more time while I finish working on a cleaner version to add to the website. One of the questions people keep asking is where the idea for the series came from and I answered that just recently in the following...

(There are spoilers at the end of this, I'll give one more warning before you get there.)

___

A lot of people have asked me what the hardest thing about writing the Fever series was. Hands down, the most difficult thing was that it didn’t follow any of the rules by which I was used to writing. I had to abandon control issues and take a leap of faith.

The entire series came to me one night in a dream. I said that in a recent interview and the person interviewing me looked at me strangely and said, “Wow! That must have been a really long dream.”

It wasn’t. In the dream I wasn’t actually being told the story, or watching it unfold. I was reading a book, turning the pages faster and faster, being dragged along by the throat. The feeling was both exhilarating and uncomfortable. I was thrilled to be reading it. I didn’t like anything keeping me so compulsively riveted. It’s been a love-hate relationship from the beginning.

When I woke up from the dream, I exclaimed without thinking—or I would have realized I was being handed one of those contracts you have to sign in blood—yes, please, yes. I want to write a story like that!

The floodgate opened. The entire series shunted into my brain like a squirt on a Dan Simmon's fatline. Not piece by piece. Dumped. One minute I didn’t have it, the next I did. Complete with names of installments, characters, plot twists and turns, even how many books it had to be and where each installment had to end.

I resisted it for months. Sometimes I took it out for a test drive in idle moments just to marvel at how wrong it was for me to write. It wasn’t my kind of story at all. It was first person, not third. It had no neatly defined hero or heroine. It ended on cliffhangers, and was spread out over five books. Then there was the troubling fact that it didn’t have a traditional ‘romance’ which was precisely what readers loved about my books. There were only shades of gray, no black and white. Even worse—it made me think. I read to escape.

I'd made a successful career for myself writing stand-alone romances with happy, complete endings. Not only was there no reason for me to change genres suddenly, there was compelling reason for me not to.

Determined that the Fever series would have to find another storyteller, I sat down to write another stand-alone third-person romance novel. Safety net below me, pole in hand, I knew how to walk that wire.

Nothing came.

I sat there for three months staring at my computer. And nothing came.

I offered innovative bargains to various deities for a little inspiration (ignoring the massive inspiration that was constipating me). I wrote down all the reason I shouldn’t write the Fever series. I wrote down all the reasons I was not going to make a career change. I staunchly refused to write word 1 of the first book.

[As an aside, what I didn’t know at the time but would soon find out was that I had been bitten by a tick that carried Lyme disease and I was about to embark on a five year journey to hell and back while it invaded my CNS and crippled me. Like Mac, I was happy and carefree. I think the lessons we most need to learn are usually at our fingertips.]

I remember the day I sat down at my desk and stared at the computer screen for the ninety-fifth day in a row of blank pages and, in a trancelike state, picked up a black Sharpie and wrote on the wall the titles of the five installments: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever.

I sat back and stared at the wall, contemplating how difficult a career change would make my life.

Then I remembered finding Frank Herbert’s Dune when I was a teenager, going through some hard times. I remembered having to face something I was terrified of. I remembered discovering the Bene Gesserit mantra: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

I remembered the many times in my life I’d recalled that mantra, word for word and how much I’d needed it. I wondered where I’d have been if not for it. How I'd have gotten through.

Something shifted in my head and I got up and wrote below the titles: Hope strengthens. Fear kills.

I began writing Darkfever that day.

There were times I hated taking on this series. There were times I relished it. Days I felt cursed by it, other days I felt blessed by it. I haven’t always liked the characters, nor have I agreed with many of the things they’ve done. In the end all I can say is this:

The story came to me. I told it. And I’m glad I did.

Onto the nuts and bolts…

Though the story was complete with names, character, plot, etc., I still had to decide how to write it. Structure, theme, vantage point. These are some of my notes made during and after in no particular order. I think of them as the steel girders for the building.

• The Fever World is a dark one, pierced infrequently by light, literally and metaphorically. I kept in mind a famous quote by Kahlil Gibran as I was writing: “Your joy can fill you only as deeply as your sorrow has carved you.”

• I wanted to explore two completely different characters: an innocent who’d never known sorrow of any kind and the only rules she lived by came from The Bartender’s Guide for Mixing Perfect Party Drinks, and a borderline sociopath who’d constructed a frame of ethics for himself. I wanted to give them both something life-changing then sit back and watch them change. I wanted to capture the urban fantasy world as the pivotal transformation was initiated—not after the vampires had come out, or once the weres/witches/ zombies had legal rights. I wanted to chronicle the characters that were in the line of fire before the walls crashed, and see how they behaved as their world melted down.

• When every other novel I was picking up in the bookstore announced: Vampire/Werewolf/Demon hero on the cover, and was marketing it on the basis of that paranormal creature’s mythic resonance, I wanted to write a story with a male center-stage character that defied labels, and wouldn’t permit one. I wanted to make the reader choose to take him or leave him without the convenience of a pre-packaged tortured-hero caricature to slap over his outline, and no easy answers about whether he was good or bad. I wanted to write a paranormal creature and never tell the reader what he was, because I believed they would ultimately see him more clearly in his everyday behavior, than through the distorted lens of someone else’s legend.

• Barrons says, “Judge me by my actions” and makes the reader do the same. At the end of the series, I want the reader to answer the question: Who/what is Barrons? the same way Mac does: Who cares? He’s Barrons.

• In the vein of showing, not telling, I want my characters to love each other—but never tell each other that. I will show it in their actions, in the choices they make. Words are easy; lies as simple as parting your lips and breathing.

• Although Mac begins as an innocent, she doesn’t stay that way long. Her sister’s brutal murder takes her to Dublin on a quest for justice and revenge. With Alina dead, her everyday life rapidly transforms from sunshine and carefree dreams to a dark, frightening shadow-realm with monsters in every cobwebbed corner. It rains incessantly where Mac is, inside her head and out. Most of the crucial action takes place at night, in an urban decay setting. I want to achieve this feeling: When the sun manages to penetrate the storm clouds hanging over the Temple Bar District, or one of the dazzling Fae strolls across the page, the leavening effect must be jarring, breathtaking.

• I want the series to function as a Janus head on multiple levels, highlighting contrasts and creating a play of tension between opposites compressed in a volatile reality to illustrate the point that Jean Paul Sartre makes in Being and Nothingness when he explores the concept of anguish at the point of absolute freedom: The only thing that matters are the possibilities, what you choose, what you commit to. All potentials exist in every character, at every moment. It is their actions that define and separate them.

• When we first meet Mac in Darkfever, the only carving she’s ever experienced is cutting up limes to wedge into the neck of a frosty Corona while hanging out on the beach, playing volleyball. I like that about her. She’s going to be easy to break. I wonder how she’ll get back up. Her sister’s gruesome murder is only the beginning of her fall. Barrons, on the other hand, will be a tough one to rattle.

{SPOILERS begin}
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• By the time Mac encounters the Fear Dorcha in Shadowfever, the fifth and final book in the series, she will have been tortured, gang raped, turned Pri-ya, survived attempts on her life from multiple sources, had her parents kidnapped, found they weren’t even her parents anyway, and come to suspect—with good reason—that of all the monsters she’s had to face since her sister’s death, she’s quite possibly the worst. At that moment she must stand her tallest, shoulders back, spine straight, unflinching.

• Jericho Barrons says the only reality you can control is the one you’re willing to face—and who would want to live in a reality that was controlled by someone else? It’s a cage, no matter how gilded. Sartre’s faith of bad faith is the greatest hypocrisy and frank absurdity to him. Every lie a person tell oneself forges another link in the chains that bind. Barrons cares about only this: How much truth can you face? How free do you dare to be? If the choice is yours—and it is—wouldn’t you crave absolute freedom? The more clearly one sees that there’s nothing within, the more power one has to create whatever one wants without. Barrons understands this and because he does, he is truly free. For this same reason, he’s Unseelie king in the making.

• V’lane understands this, too, and is another shadow hero, a doer of great good or great evil depending on the standards by which he’s being judged. As the king will say at the end of Shadowfever, in another reality, V’lane would have become the king and Barrons Cruce, or Barrons would have become the king and imprisoned War, perhaps V’lane might have been Barrons…perhaps where Mac is concerned, he is…but this time he doesn’t get the girl. The three of them: Barrons, V’lane and the king are mere choices away from having been the other.

• Mac can’t even spell existential angst but is going to get a crash course in the day-to-day application of it, and along the way become fascinated by the two nearly omnipotent males that are so dangerous and attractive. A woman doesn’t get something like Barrons or V’lane without paying a high price. Mac 1.0 is like a peacock, one of the showy males strutting around showing off her fabulous plumage, trying to get the king of the jungle’s attention, but to survive in Barron’s bed she’ll have to lose her tail feathers and grow claws. Part peacock., part lion, Mac 5.0 won’t know what she is any more and won’t care because she knows this much: she’s unbreakable and she likes it.

• Mac, Barrons and V’lane are complicated, self-aware characters. Each is flawed. There will arguably be no heroes in the series. With a minor twist of the lens, those who are perceived as the villains might be viewed as the heroes, and the heroes might be villains. It all comes down to who’s writing the press releases. I may eventually have to tell it from someone else’s point of view.

Character notes:

• Jericho Z. Barrons: Barrons is hard, cold, brutally efficient killing machine, brilliant, cunning and utterly focused on what he wants at all times. He rarely smiles and if he does, it’s a brief softening, a faint uplifting of the corners of his mouth—never a full smile. Since he met Mac, he has smiled on several occasions. Once, he laughed out loud. JZB is not a man for expressions of happiness. At best he radiates self-satisfied calm, a big cat at rest. Harsh, forbidding, controlled, a man of intense discipline, he emotes anger, mockery, challenge, irony, raw sexuality, animalistic fury, but no tenderness. He’s a hard man. There are no cracks in his walls but the one Mac can slip through—and he hates that but he accepts it because it is the truth and to pretend otherwise would be an exercise in futility. Whether he likes it or not, she gets under his skin and makes his dick harder than any other woman ever has. He wastes no time examining the whys of it or resisting her effect on him. He focuses his energy like a laser, slicing and dicing, rearranging reality to suit what he wants the best way he can get it. Since the moment he met Mac and accepted that he wanted her, he has been ruthlessly altering her, making her ultimately suitable for him. The only question in his mind is: will she survive what he’s doing to her?

• MacKayla Lane: Mac is a woman on the verge of…everything: A complete psychotic episode, a life-changing epiphany, becoming something truly good or truly evil. She often feels bi-polar—because she is. A sweet, southern girl with refined taste and pretty manners, she’s a shining star with a great, sucking black-hole at the center. The evil she’s been hunting so assiduously, the mind-numbing, soul-crushing monster of twisted destructiveness she’s been tracking through the rain-slicked streets of Dublin—is her. Every dark spell, all the dangerous power, the vicious rage and hunger crouches inside her. It never intended to let her find it in the streets until she’d found it in herself.

• V’Lane: V ’lane had a lousy publicist. He’s the center-stage male character I gave a label: Seelie, shining death-by-sex Fae, erotic, brilliant, ballsy and no more sociopathic than Barrons. With V’lane, I can’t help but play the “what if” game: What if the night Mac rushed through the dark zone seeking sanctuary, Mac had found V’lane instead of Barrons Books & Baubles? What if he’d taken her to Faery and told her the truth, the full truth that very night? Would she have been swayed by his desire to save his trapped brothers? How different is he really from Barrons and his eight? V’lane may have rebelled against the Unseelie king’s wishes but he was only trying to set the rest of the Unseelie free. He was beautiful, powerful, he could have left the icy prison and abandoned them, and pursued his own pleasure. But he wanted all the Unseelie to have a chance in the sunshine and beauty of the world. He was a freedom fighter, a renegade, a determined, cunning, patient, valiant crusader. Doesn’t the world need War? Isn’t he the only reason tyrannies topple, empires fall and humans change? War is the catalyst, the means by which wrongs are righted, scales are balanced, and the world transformed. Isn’t V’lane the real hero?

I'm featured at Barnes & Noble!

2011-07-30T10:14:00.002-04:00

When Barnes & Noble asked me to compile a list of my favorite romances, I was thrilled. Before I changed career directions and began writing urban fantasy (or should I say before urban fantasy abducted my muse in the Dreaming and began torturing her if she didn’t write the Fever series) romance was my first love. The opportunity to return to my roots and compile a list of my all time favorites was just the excuse I needed to sit down and re-read a few of them.

Among the list which can be found here are some of the rock my world romance novel faves that helped shape the writer I would become.

I remember reading Linda Howard’s Son of the Morning when it first came out, and thinking, “wait a minute, she thumbed her nose with impunity at multiple romance novel conventions. How did she do it and get away with it so well?” I read it twice in a row for sheer enjoyment, then four more times to learn from one of the best. I LOVE the scene on the steps in the castle near the end! Nobody writes alpha heroes (or squirm in your seat sex scenes) like Linda Howard. Written in 1997, this time travel novel that involves the Knights Templar is a classic.

Then there’s Lisa Kleypas breaking more rules with Derek Craven’s story: Dreaming of You, the sequel to Then Came You, a book in which she created a secondary character so riveting that Derek simply had to have his own story, and in my opinion eclipsed Lily and Alex’s story (which is saying a lot because it’s one of my favorites, too). I recently gave Dreaming of You to my niece. It was originally published in 1994, and I was curious to see what someone in her early 20s would think, reading it seventeen years after it was first published. My niece was as crazy about it as I was, and embarked on a total Lisa Kleypas glom. Some romance novels are timeless.

Another “rule-breaker” is Connie Brockway, who set one of my all-time favorites—As You Desire—in the Egyptian desert, which simply wasn’t done in the romance novel writing world back in 1997 (or today for that matter, it’s still a tough sell to publishers, unless you’re the incomparable Connie Brockway.) Much to my delight, she has finally written the sequel: The Other Guy’s Bride, which is scheduled for release November 1.

Then there’s Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love writing together in Blood Trinity, Book 1 of the fantastic Belador Series (Book 2 comes out this fall, Alterant, Belador Code), a classic Julie Garwood that still makes me laugh out loud reading it today, and my favorites by J. R. Ward, Jude Devereux, Julia Quinn, and Kresley Cole, all wonderful reads, some of the best of the best.

Back at my first RWA, in Anaheim CA in 1998, I was invited to a Bantam Dell dinner. I’d sold my first manuscript but it hadn’t yet been published. I remember walking into the room and seeing 30 or so Bantam Dell authors (Joan Johnston, Connie, Christina Skye, Virginia Henley, to name a few and back then nobody was writing steamy stuff with quite the balls Virginia had, LOL) gathered around the table talking and laughing and the most extraordinary thing was that there was a seat for me at that table. I remember sitting down and someone asking me how I felt and I replied, “Like the guy who wanted to play pro football all his life and suddenly finds himself in the locker room, thinking, is this a joke? Am I really here?”

I used to go to Barnes & Noble every weekend and spend more money than I had any business spending because books were always more important to me than food. Now, seeing my selections at their website, and on their endcaps, well, I’ve got that locker room feeling again. ☺

I hope you enjoy my choices. Now tell me about some of your favorites!

A bit about my past...

2011-07-18T13:09:00.008-04:00

I’m frequently asked why I decided to become a writer, and what my childhood was like, as if it might de-mystify the process of becoming a successful author or clarify a ‘recipe’ of a personality type, so the person asking can decide whether they, or their friend or loved one has good odds of becoming one, too. Not only is there no such recipe for success, all the writers I know had remarkably different childhoods, and remarkably different reasons for wanting to be a writer.

I’ve always shied away from the question in the past. Dude, past is past, as Dani would say. But because of something that happened recently, I’ll shine a light down a dark alley.

At 12, I was a geeky nerd. A brain. I hated that word. People copied off my tests unless I put both arms around them and ducked my head over the paper, which I usually didn’t because it didn’t bother me that much that people copied. I found it flattering and interesting, especially if the guys copying were cute.

In ninth grade, we had to split off from the common middle school and go either to public high school or private all-girls Catholic school. You guessed it: I went sans boys, kicking and screaming all the way, on a scholarship. My sister had gone there before me, my little sister went there after me, and my sister’s daughter followed.

Three important happened to me in adolescence, the first of which I’ve already discussed elsewhere (Eros and Thanatos, romance novels and Harlan Ellison, aka Sex and Death.)

The second involved neither choice nor anything for which I bear responsibility: I had long, vibrantly red hair.

The third was all choice and all my fault: me and my best friend Esther (last name omitted so doesn’t hunt me down and kill me for telling this and I’ll soften it by pointing out that she was smarter than me (but a little geekier:) made a cognizant and intelligent-or-so-we-thought decision to change our image at the ripe old age of twelve and a half. We decided to start smoking Marlboro reds. Nobody thought the druggies were geeks. Therefore we would no longer be considered geeks.

We failed to consider that we would then be considered druggies. It wasn’t one of our finer plans.

But I blame the red hair for most of my problems. In a town as small as the one I grew up in, it made me ridiculously noticeable. I couldn’t get away with anything. Nothing. I can’t tell you how many times I heard over the high school loudspeaker “Would Karen Marie Moning please report to the principal’s office immediately!” after the smallest, slightest bending of the rules. Always only me. I would go dragging in and the principal would load me up with demerits for sneaking off campus at lunch to King’s Tavern--which, I might point out, yes, I did but with no less than 7 or 8 friends walking right beside me a fact that I groused long and loud about to the principal (not that I’m a snitch or anything) because it got old after a while to always be the only one getting in trouble, and her frosty reply was “we can’t recognize them from a distance. You can’t be missed. That hair! You should do something with it!” Think Rowena here.

After the third or fourth such incident, I did. I fixed her, or so I thought with appalling shortsightedness. I went home from school one day, perilously close to suspension from accumulated demerit points, and cut off all my hair to about an inch long. Back in those days I had no money unless it was corn detassling season, and hair dye wasn’t easy to come by. I still had red hair. All I’d achieved was it now looked stupid. If memory serves, class photos were a few days later. I burned that yearbook. . I acquired a collection of hats. It didn’t help. I became recognized because I was the only person in our small town that wore hats.

By sixteen, I’d been permanently expelled from private school. My graduating class (at the public high school) had something like 75 people in it. I was ecstatic to leave my small hometown behind and vanish into Purdue University with 45,000 students! I was finally, blessedly invisible. Anonymous. Nobody noticed me. I no longer stood out. I was in heaven.

Fast-forward seven years. I’d graduated from Purdue, and was working in insurance arbitration and litigation, sitting in a gray office with gray carpet, feeling myself getting grayer everyday. Still had vibrantly red hair. If I was late for work—and I frequently was—everyone noticed.

I decided to become a writer for three reasons.

1. I figured I wouldn’t have to work as hard at being a writer as I would at a real job. I deserve any hate mail I get from other writers for that comment.

2. I couldn’t stand driving in rush hour traffic anymore. I could hear the clock ticking the minutes of my life away. I teetered on the razor edge of road rage whenever I got behind someone doing the speed limit in the fast lane because everyone knows you can go a minimum of 7 miles over the speed limit most of the time and not get pulled over, and added up by miles, that was at least 9 minutes of my life they were wasting by driving too slow in the fast lane. It’s called the fast lane because people are supposed to speed in it, right?

3. I thought I would be invisible. A name on a book. No one would ever see or want to know me. They’d only want my books. I could be a complete isolationist, a lone wolf, give into my nature at heart. I’d learned young and well that visibility was directly proportionate to culpability.

By the time I was seventeen, two phrases had become inextricably linked in my mind:

Being noticed—Bad. For. Me.

The gratitude and relief with which I embraced life as a writer was immense. I would be anonymous, solitary, words on the spine of a book, a placeholder on a library shelf, unnoticed, uncared about unless the story wasn’t up to snuff.

By now you must be wondering what brought on this spiel.

I got a unexpected box in the mail today, filled with letters, cards, and gifts from all those people who weren’t going to notice me or look beyond the spine, who would read my books and never even think about me. Cards from people who’ve been concerned, with what I’ve gone through recently, people who wanted me to know I wasn’t alone, to offer words of strength and encouragement, to say “hi, I hope you’re feeling okay,” and to share their own struggles and triumphs. I’ve been sitting here for hours, stilled by the moment, searching for words to express how it makes me feel. Not only am I not invisible, I’ve got a connection with my readers that astonishes and humbles me. How many writers have so many fans that are also friends? I’m blessed.

For those of you who are still worrying about the cigarettes, don’t. I quit smoking many years ago. I was pissed off for an entire year but I survived it.

Today, as I absorb the outpouring of love from you, I realize I am completely over that other small childhood problem I had, as well.

These two phrases have become inextricably linked in my mind:

Being noticed—Lovely!

Much love,
Karen

(Yes, yes, I’m going back to my office now. I know it’s the only way I can really thank you. The Barrons scene is coming along nicely. Well, as nicely as anything Barrons ever does.)

(For those of you who are now going to postulate that Dani is my Mary-Sue (which no longer means quite what it used to years ago) give it up. She's no more my Mary Sue than every other character I've written.)

First 100 donations for Japan Aid received in record time!

2011-07-13T14:04:00.002-04:00

Thanks to all of you who've donated so far. I'm currently working on getting a very special gift for future contributors and will know more shortly and post soon. You guys are amazing! We've raised almost $5,000 at this point, in less than 24 hours. I'm stunned and awed by your generosity. Thank you!

Linkin Park, Japan Aid & Awesome Prizes!

2011-07-12T18:45:00.004-04:00

As some of you know, Linkin Park is one of my favorite bands. I listened to their music extensively while writing Shadowfever. The song “What I’ve Done” played in my head constantly while I was writing Dani’s character. “In the End” was one of Mac’s broody songs for a time. “In Pieces” is one of my personal favorites. Not only are the members of Linkin Park fantastic musicians, they’re active humanitarians as well. In 2005 they founded Music for Relief, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing aid to victims of natural disasters and the prevention of such disasters. Since its inception, Music for Relief has raised over $4 million for victims of multiple disasters across four continents! Linkin Park is currently championing a campaign to aid the children impacted by the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.

I think it’s wonderful when celebrities donate their time and money to help those in need and, in support of Linkin Park efforts, I’ve talked with my publishers and friends and rounded up some great things to give away to the first 100 people that donate via my page at Music for Relief. Those of you who know me know that I will never ask for something for nothing, so I’ve put together a thank-you for your support.

The first 100 people who donate $25.00 or more will receive an appreciation gift from me valued at $75.00 containing:

~An autographed copy of the new mass market Shadowfever, with the gorgeous new cover and stepback. You will receive it approximately 3 weeks in advance of the publication date! (Courtesy of Random House Publishing Group)

~A CD or MP3 audio recording of Shadowfever by Audie-award winning Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross (Courtesy of Brilliance Audio)

~JZB and Mac Tattoos

~BloodRush CD, Official Soundtrack to the Fever Series

~Shadowsong CD, Official Soundtrack for Shadowfever

In addition, there are other special prizes that can be won by anyone who donates via my page, and are not limited to the first 100 contributors:

~The top donator will receive two tickets to FeverCon 2012*(A $700.00 value!)

~One lucky person selected randomly will receive a phone call from Phil Gigante, who will read a scene from Shadowfever just for you!

~As a special thank you to fans who are aspiring writers, I’m doing something I’ve never done before:anyone who donates $50.00 or more will be entered into a drawing for a critique of the first 50 pages of your current work in progress by me. Important: After you make your donation, email manager@karenmoning.com to tell us that you have a current work in progress, and wish to be entered into this drawing. The name of the donator must match the name on the manuscript I critique.

We are working on securing additional special prizes that will be given away to anyone who donates, winners selected randomly.

If you’d like to donate, we’ve made it simple. Just visit my page http://www.give2gether.com/projects/music-for-relief.KMM/

(Be certain it’s my page you’re donating on to be counted in the first 100. Look for the KMM at the end of the address.)

Click the “donate” button and follow the instructions.

After you’ve made your donation, please email your mailing address to manager@karenmoning.com so we can prepare your package. Your name must match the name of the donator at my Music For Relief page. Your gift will go out the first week of August.

When you visit my page at Music for Relief you’ll see that if I reach the donation goal of $500.00, I get 2 tickets to see Linkin Park in concert. I made the first $500.00 donation myself. This is about the children of Japan, not me.

Special thanks to my wonderful publishers Random House and Brilliance Audio for their generous support and donations, and to fellow Linkin Park fan and friend Paris Cohen for drawing my attention to this worthy cause.

*Tickets to FeverCon 2012 do not include transportation or hotel accommodations.

Update: So far we have 85 donations but only 67 people have emailed us their address, which means there are 18 people who either don't want the gift, or have forgotten to email us their address.

PLEASE let us know either way (manager@karenmoning.com), so we can make sure you receive your gift, or give it to the next donor. We don't want anyone to miss out.

Thank you!

Getting out of the closet...and many thanks

2011-07-10T08:38:00.000-04:00

For the first time since April, I have an office again! It feels like such a luxury after these past few months. I missed my books, my computer, the many treasures you guys have given me at our various get togethers that decorate my walls and bookcases and inspire me. The MacHalo just got unpacked and is hanging on the wall. I get to go to work tomorrow morning somewhere besides a closet. For whatever reason the muse decrees, I do my best work in the dark, and the only dark place that's been available has been a very small closet. Could barely fit my chair in there. (Florida houses, huge windows, no shades, what's with that?) Between the blow up bed and the closet, all I was getting from Barrons was a cool stare and a 'you've got to be kidding me, Ms. Moning.' So Monday--dark office--back in the saddle--can't wait!

Thanks for being patient, and a huge thanks for all the support and love you've been sending via FB, MB, blog and emails. I hope you know how much it means to me! You'd think I'd eventually get past being astounded by the quality of people you Maniacs are, but I never do. I loved the quotes so many of you sent me, bits of wisdom acquired through your own trials and tribulations. At a time when I felt so alone, you reminded me that I wasn't. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Sad News

2011-06-20T10:52:00.001-04:00

I should have known better and really I did. Maniacs don’t miss a thing. I’ve been quiet lately, not online as much, moving back and forth between Georgia and Florida. Although you guys are the most incredibly thoughtful people I’ve ever known (I mean, really, over 2,000 copies of Shadowfever were leaked nearly a month before the release date, and not one of you ruined it for anyone else!) it was inevitable that someone would start asking questions, and someone would answer, and then someone would post wanting to know if it was true.

Last night someone posted, which we promptly removed. And I knew time had run out, I had to address it, even if it was painful and I didn’t want to talk about it, because someone else would and then you would all feel…well, I don’t know what you’ll feel but I hope you understand this is a difficult time for me, which is why I kept it private. I need to deal with my private life privately before I deal with it publicly. (It’s also why you haven’t gotten the promised scene yet. My life has been jarring and transient. Moonie and I are in an unfurnished house with a blow-up bed and JZB doesn’t do airbeds. He says they pop too easily.)

Ah, seeking refuge in humor, JZB would mock. Neil and I have gotten divorced. For those of you who saw us together at FEVERCON or some other function, and commented on how much we love each other, we do. But we needed to go different ways and there you are, and that’s all I have to say about it. Other than this: it’s sad, it’s painful, it’s hard. Be gentle.

I’m disorganized right now, but you’ll have your scene soon and more books coming soon, plus news about the graphic novel and some other wonderful things in the works.

Don’t be disheartened. We had wonderful years together. We’ll have wonderful years separately. Believe in love. I do.

SEX FROM BARRONS POV

2011-05-26T17:33:00.002-04:00

I tried to ignore her. I've spent all day refusing to listen to Mac.

But we all know how well me not listening to Mac works. NOT AT ALL. She’s stubborn, determined and relentless. She says if she’s in a good mood she’ll share a little something, and all it would take to put her in a good mood is letting the world know Barrons is hands-down THE ALPHA—no contest.

(Barrons has no idea about any of this and I’m desperate to keep him from finding out. I love Ilona Andrews’ books and would hate it if Barrons killed off Curran to eradicate all doubt about who was the Alpha (and the Omega). Then I wouldn’t get any more books about Curran. Wait—not that I read about Curran, there’s only JZB, I’m faithful, I swear!)

But back to Mac—she says if she’s in a really good mood, she’ll let me talk dirty with Barrons, as in get the low down between the sheets, the one place they never let me go, while inside BARRONS head (s?).

So here’s the deal: Barrons wins, you get a sex scene told intimately from JZB’s POV. It won’t be pretty but it will be…well, let me just say if I’m getting in there for a good look around when the action is happening, I’m taking notes on EVERYTHING.

However… Mac’s not talking about just this round. She’s in it for the long haul. When Barons is THE ultimate Alpha, I get the sex.

(Vote now, please. I want to know what that man thinks when he f$cks)

And so do you ☺

What a cat knows

2011-05-17T08:20:00.006-04:00

It's not about the house.
It's all about the view.
Moonshadow's happiness is directly proportionate to the world she gets to watch.

There's a pink bird living in our yard. I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet but I will.

This is the world I'm watching this morning. I don't think it gets better than this. I love Florida!

Graphic novels, comic strips and fan art

2011-05-16T07:53:00.008-04:00

There are days when I just love my job. Most days actually. But some days are better than others: like when I get to do nothing but write all day then read a little on the beach before going for a swim. (Yes, I'm back in Florida and loving it.) Or days when someone is inspired by something I've written and creates their own art, sends it to me, and inspires me all over again. Creativity feeds creativity. Keep it coming!

As many of you know, I'm doing a graphic novel (working title FEVER MOON: THE FEAR DORCHA) which, I'm pleased to say, is coming along beautifully. It's been a fascinating process. A graphic novel requires a very different tool belt than a book. In a book, I can describe the Sinsar Dubh at length. In a graphic novel I have to decide how to convey the nature of a living, sentient, evil manuscript in a single image that must be instantly impactful and identifiable as what it is. Don't expect exact replications. In FEVER MOON, some of the choices have been artistic. But enough for now about MY graphic novel. It isn't nearly done and I'm not going to talk about it much more until the release date is near.

In the meantime, a fan sent me HER version of a comic strip that brings to life a scene from my book Shadowfever. (I'm capitalizing words because I worry that since I mention the real, OFFICIAL graphic novel in the same blog entry about a FAN-CREATED comic strip, some of you will walk away thinking the strip I'm about to post is from MY graphic novel and it's NOT. :)

First, Mathia did a painting of the scene where the Seelie and Unseelie armies meet in a dark street in Dublin. Isn't it fecking fantastic? Because I run a PG-13 site, we had to censor the Unseelie Prince's full...uh, glory.

And here's her comic strip depicting the moment Mac chooses to walk away from temptation, with a little help:). I was blown away by how beautifully she illustrated the scene. I love it!

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T READ SHADOWFEVER--DO NOT READ THE COMIC STRIP.

I was fascinated by how neatly the dialogue lent itself to the visual version. She did an amazing job bringing it to life. Please respect the artist's copyright. To see more of her work, visit her page at deviant art. Isn't she wonderful?

Cover reveal!

2011-03-04T13:16:00.003-05:00

I just posted the cover for the mass market paperback of Shadowfever. I think it's stunning! Take a look and let me know what you think!

Free Valentine MP3 Download—one day ONLY!

2011-02-14T10:27:00.008-05:00

As those of you who’ve read Shadowfever know, Valentine’s Day at Chester’s underground nightclub is a walk on the dark, erotic, and wild side. For a price you get a shot at immortality.

When I began writing the scene where Mac goes to the club on the evening of her less-than-perfect Valentine’s Day and finds it filled with balloons stuffed with gruesome “prizes,” and sees all the Unseelie and Seelie gathered, watching, waiting for the next human that wants to play rough and dangerous, I knew I needed the perfect song for the moment. I couldn’t find one. So Neil and I decided to write it.

"Valentine" is the song playing at the moment Mac steps inside and looks around and—for one day only— it’s free to download from my website.

Warning: you MUST be 18 or older to download it. It contains explicit lyrics. It is explicit. Don’t download it unless you want to hear a graphic song. It’s the Fae talking to humans. Or maybe it’s a vampire's invitation. Or who knows…maybe it’s a group of men masquerading as humans giving all the warning they'll ever give. Whatever…this is NOT your mother’s Valentine’s Day song.

Come to Chester’s….where blood is the new chocolate…

Valentine's Day Contest!

2011-02-14T08:35:00.007-05:00

Prize:
A gorgeous pink Swarovski Crystal Heart Necklace!

To Enter:
Post a picture on my fan wall page of who you think best represents Jericho Barrons.

You can only post one picture and can't post a picture someone else has posted. (To be fair, Eric Eterbari can't be nominated, sorry guys, LOL!)

I will pick the 10 pictures I like best at midnight tonight, and create an album of those pictures to post on my wall.

Then everyone has to vote on which of the ten pictures they think is the best JZB.

The person whose picture gets the most votes by Friday, at noon Pacific Time wins the necklace.

(That means if your picture is selected as one of the ten finalists at the end of the day today, you have three and a half days to campaign and convince people to vote for your entry!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Now show me your best JZB!

Notes on the Fever Series--SPOILERS

2011-01-30T15:39:00.003-05:00

I’ve been getting a lot of questions via email, MB, FB, blogs so I thought I’d dust off some of my notes and do a long post.

I’ve already shared parts of this in a recent chat and told parts of it at recent events but people have been asking me to put it all in one place. I sometimes forget there’s a world beyond the readers that I feel like I’ve known forever, because we’ve been interacting so much at my MB forums for the past five years. I recently realized that readers who are new to the series don’t know how it came to be, or what I was doing before I wrote it, and with three-quarters of a million posts at the MB, specific information can be hard to find.

Lately, a lot of people have asked me what the hardest thing about writing the Fever series was. Hands down, the most difficult thing was that it didn’t follow any of the rules by which I was used to writing. I had to abandon control issues and take a leap of faith.

The entire series came to me one night in a dream. I said that in a recent interview and the person interviewing me looked at me strangely and said, “Wow! That must have been a really long dream.”

It wasn’t. In the dream I wasn’t actually being told the story, or watching it unfold. I was reading a book, turning the pages faster and faster, being dragged along by the throat. The feeling was both exhilarating and uncomfortable. I was thrilled to be reading it. I didn’t like anything keeping me so compulsively riveted. It’s been a love-hate relationship from the beginning.

When I woke up from the dream, I exclaimed without thinking—or I would have realized I was being handed one of those contracts you have to sign in blood—yes, please, yes. I want to write a story like that!

The floodgate opened. The entire series shunted into my brain like a squirt on a Dan Simmon's fatline. Not piece by piece. Dumped. One minute I didn’t have it, the next I did. Complete with names of installments, characters, plot twists and turns, even how many books it had to be and where each installment had to end.

I resisted it for months. Sometimes I took it out for a test drive in idle moments just to marvel at how wrong it was for me to write. It wasn’t my kind of story at all. It was first person, not third. It had no neatly defined hero or heroine. It ended on cliffhangers, and was spread out over five books. Then there was the troubling fact that it didn’t have a traditional ‘romance’ which was precisely what readers loved about my books. There were only shades of gray, no black and white. Even worse—it made me think. I read to escape.

I'd made a successful career for myself writing stand-alone romances with happy, complete endings. Not only was there no reason for me to change genres suddenly, there was compelling reason for me not to.

Determined that the Fever series would have to find another storyteller, I sat down to write another stand-alone third-person romance novel. Safety net below me, pole in hand, I knew how to walk that wire.

Nothing came.

I sat there for three months staring at my computer. And nothing came.

I offered innovative bargains to various deities for a little inspiration (ignoring the massive inspiration that was constipating me). I wrote down all the reason I shouldn’t write the Fever series. I wrote down all the reasons I was not going to make a career change. I staunchly refused to write word 1 of the first book.

[As an aside, what I didn’t know at the time but would soon find out was that I had been bitten by a tick that carried Lyme disease and I was about to embark on a five year journey to hell and back while it invaded my CNS and crippled me. Like Mac, I was happy and carefree. I think the lessons we most need to learn are usually at our fingertips.]

I remember the day I sat down at my desk and stared at the computer screen for the ninety-fifth day in a row of blank pages and, in a trancelike state, picked up a black Sharpie (my husband had to paint over it and has never let me forget it:) and wrote on the wall the titles of the five installments: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever.

I sat back and stared at the wall, contemplating how difficult a career change would make my life.

Then I remembered finding Frank Herbert’s Dune when I was a teenager, going through some hard times. I remembered having to face something I was terrified of. I remembered discovering the Bene Gesserit mantra: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

I remembered the many times in my life I’d recalled that mantra, word for word and how much I’d needed it. I wondered where I’d have been if not for it. How I'd have gotten through.

Something shifted in my head and I got up and wrote below the titles: Hope strengthens. Fear kills.

I began writing Darkfever that day.

There were times I hated taking on this series. There were times I relished it. Days I felt cursed by it, other days I felt blessed by it. I haven’t always liked the characters, nor have I agreed with many of the things they’ve done. In the end all I can say is this:

The story came to me. I told it. And I’m glad I did.

Onto the nuts and bolts…

Though the story was complete with names, character, plot, etc., I still had to decide how to write it. Structure, theme, vantage point. These are some of my notes made during and after in no particular order. I think of them as the steel girders for the building.

• The Fever World is a dark one, pierced infrequently by light, literally and metaphorically. I kept in mind a famous quote by Kahlil Gibran as I was writing: “Your joy can fill you only as deeply as your sorrow has carved you.”

• I wanted to explore two completely different characters: an innocent who’d never known sorrow of any kind and the only rules she lived by came from The Bartender’s Guide for Mixing Perfect Party Drinks, and a borderline sociopath who’d constructed a frame of ethics for himself. I wanted to give them both something life-changing then sit back and watch them change. I wanted to capture the urban fantasy world as the pivotal transformation was initiated—not after the vampires had come out, or once the weres/witches/ zombies had legal rights. I wanted to chronicle the characters that were in the line of fire before the walls crashed, and see how they behaved as their world melted down.

• When every other novel I was picking up in the bookstore announced: Vampire/Werewolf/Demon hero on the cover, and was marketing it on the basis of that paranormal creature’s mythic resonance, I wanted to write a story with a male center-stage character that defied labels, and wouldn’t permit one. I wanted to make the reader choose to take him or leave him without the convenience of a pre-packaged tortured-hero caricature to slap over his outline, and no easy answers about whether he was good or bad. I wanted to write a paranormal creature and never tell the reader what he was, because I believed they would ultimately see him more clearly in his everyday behavior, than through the distorted lens of someone else’s legend.

• Barrons says, “Judge me by my actions” and makes the reader do the same. At the end of the series, I want the reader to answer the question: Who/what is Barrons? the same way Mac does: Who cares? He’s Barrons.

• In the vein of showing, not telling, I want my characters to love each other—but never tell each other that. I will show it in their actions, in the choices they make. Words are easy; lies as simple as parting your lips and breathing.

• Although Mac begins as an innocent, she doesn’t stay that way long. Her sister’s brutal murder takes her to Dublin on a quest for justice and revenge. With Alina dead, her everyday life rapidly transforms from sunshine and carefree dreams to a dark, frightening shadow-realm with monsters in every cobwebbed corner. It rains incessantly where Mac is, inside her head and out. Most of the crucial action takes place at night, in an urban decay setting. I want to achieve this feeling: When the sun manages to penetrate the storm clouds hanging over the Temple Bar District, or one of the dazzling Fae strolls across the page, the leavening effect must be jarring, breathtaking.

• I want the series to function as a Janus head on multiple levels, highlighting contrasts and creating a play of tension between opposites compressed in a volatile reality to illustrate the point that Jean Paul Sartre makes in Being and Nothingness when he explores the concept of anguish at the point of absolute freedom: The only thing that matters are the possibilities, what you choose, what you commit to. All potentials exist in every character, at every moment. It is their actions that define and separate them.

• When we first meet Mac in Darkfever, the only carving she’s ever experienced is cutting up limes to wedge into the neck of a frosty Corona while hanging out on the beach, playing volleyball. I like that about her. She’s going to be easy to break. I wonder how she’ll get back up. Her sister’s gruesome murder is only the beginning of her fall. Barrons, on the other hand, will be a tough one to rattle.

• By the time Mac encounters the Fear Dorcha in Shadowfever, the fifth and final book in the series, she will have been tortured, gang raped, turned Pri-ya, survived attempts on her life from multiple sources, had her parents kidnapped, found they weren’t even her parents anyway, and come to suspect—with good reason—that of all the monsters she’s had to face since her sister’s death, she’s quite possibly the worst. At that moment she must stand her tallest, shoulders back, spine straight, unflinching.

• Jericho Barrons says the only reality you can control is the one you’re willing to face—and who would want to live in a reality that was controlled by someone else? It’s a cage, no matter how gilded. Sartre’s faith of bad faith is the greatest hypocrisy and frank absurdity to him. Every lie a person tell oneself forges another link in the chains that bind. Barrons cares about only this: How much truth can you face? How free do you dare to be? If the choice is yours—and it is—wouldn’t you crave absolute freedom? The more clearly one sees that there’s nothing within, the more power one has to create whatever one wants without. Barrons understands this and because he does, he is truly free. For this same reason, he’s Unseelie king in the making.

• V’lane understands this, too, and is another shadow hero, a doer of great good or great evil depending on the standards by which he’s being judged. As the king will say at the end of Shadowfever, in another reality, V’lane would have become the king and Barrons Cruce, or Barrons would have become the king and imprisoned War, perhaps V’lane might have been Barrons…perhaps where Mac is concerned, he is…but this time he doesn’t get the girl. The three of them: Barrons, V’lane and the king are mere choices away from having been the other.

• Mac can’t even spell existential angst but is going to get a crash course in the day-to-day application of it, and along the way become fascinated by the two nearly omnipotent males that are so dangerous and attractive. A woman doesn’t get something like Barrons or V’lane without paying a high price. Mac 1.0 is like a peacock, one of the showy males strutting around showing off her fabulous plumage, trying to get the king of the jungle’s attention, but to survive in Barron’s bed she’ll have to lose her tail feathers and grow claws. Part peacock., part lion, Mac 5.0 won’t know what she is any more and won’t care because she knows this much: she’s unbreakable and she likes it.

• Mac, Barrons and V’lane are complicated, self-aware characters. Each is flawed. There will arguably be no heroes in the series. With a minor twist of the lens, those who are perceived as the villains might be viewed as the heroes, and the heroes might be villains. It all comes down to who’s writing the press releases. I may eventually have to tell it from someone else’s point of view.

Character notes:

• Jericho Z. Barrons: Barrons is hard, cold, brutally efficient killing machine, brilliant, cunning and utterly focused on what he wants at all times. He rarely smiles and if he does, it’s a brief softening, a faint uplifting of the corners of his mouth—never a full smile. Since he met Mac, he has smiled on several occasions. Once, he laughed out loud. JZB is not a man for expressions of happiness. At best he radiates self-satisfied calm, a big cat at rest. Harsh, forbidding, controlled, a man of intense discipline, he emotes anger, mockery, challenge, irony, raw sexuality, animalistic fury, but no tenderness. He’s a hard man. There are no cracks in his walls but the one Mac can slip through—and he hates that but he accepts it because it is the truth and to pretend otherwise would be an exercise in futility. Whether he likes it or not, she gets under his skin and makes his dick harder than any other woman ever has. He wastes no time examining the whys of it or resisting her effect on him. He focuses his energy like a laser, slicing and dicing, rearranging reality to suit what he wants the best way he can get it. Since the moment he met Mac and accepted that he wanted her, he has been ruthlessly altering her, making her ultimately suitable for him. The only question in his mind is: will she survive what he’s doing to her?

• MacKayla Lane: Mac is a woman on the verge of…everything: A complete psychotic episode, a life-changing epiphany, becoming something truly good or truly evil. She often feels bi-polar—because she is. A sweet, southern girl with refined taste and pretty manners, she’s a shining star with a great, sucking black-hole at the center. The evil she’s been hunting so assiduously, the mind-numbing, soul-crushing monster of twisted destructiveness she’s been tracking through the rain-slicked streets of Dublin—is her. Every dark spell, all the dangerous power, the vicious rage and hunger crouches inside her. It never intended to let her find it in the streets until she’d found it in herself.

• V’Lane: V ’lane had a lousy publicist. He’s the center-stage male character I gave a label: Seelie, shining death-by-sex Fae, erotic, brilliant, ballsy and no more sociopathic than Barrons. With V’lane, I can’t help but play the “what if” game: What if the night Mac rushed through the dark zone seeking sanctuary, Mac had found V’lane instead of Barrons Books & Baubles? What if he’d taken her to Faery and told her the truth, the full truth that very night? Would she have been swayed by his desire to save his trapped brothers? How different is he really from Barrons and his eight? V’lane may have rebelled against the Unseelie king’s wishes but he was only trying to set the rest of the Unseelie free. He was beautiful, powerful, he could have left the icy prison and abandoned them, and pursued his own pleasure. But he wanted all the Unseelie to have a chance in the sunshine and beauty of the world. He was a freedom fighter, a renegade, a determined, cunning, patient, valiant crusader. Doesn’t the world need War? Isn’t he the only reason tyrannies topple, empires fall and humans change? War is the catalyst, the means by which wrongs are righted, scales are balanced, and the world transformed. Isn’t V’lane the real hero?

I hope this sheds a little light. Enough to stay to...

Check back for a more general Q & A coming soon…

Karen

You guys are a-fecking-mazing!

2011-01-26T17:07:00.002-05:00

The Moning Maniacs can move mountains. I just got word that Shadowfever debuted at #1 on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller list. Thank you for being such fabulous fans and friends! xoxoxooooo Karen

Booksigning in NOLA--an apology

2011-01-23T09:14:00.002-05:00

I've been wanting to blog about this since I got back from New Orleans Wednesday night but it was still too fresh and painful for me. After waiting five years to wrap up the series, the one night I was looking forward to the most was signing Shadowfever in NOLA on Monday. Dream come true kind of event. You know how when you anticipate something, you mentally project yourself into it and know just how it's going to go? I never once imagined the scenario that unfolded.

There we were in the beautiful Le Pavillon hotel with snacks and books and music and plenty of room to curl up and read. I planned to sign until midnight, hang out with you all, stroll around, try to pull an all nighter, then go right to the discussions.

Unfortunately on the flight down last Friday I sat with a group of people who were sick. They were throwing up and talking about having come back from some exotic country. I figured they had food poisoning and never gave it another thought. Until two hours before my signing Monday afternoon I began running a fever and started getting sick, too. I was flabbergasted. I was horrified. I sat on my bed and thought this can't be happening, I've been through a lot in the past few years but I just don't have the strength to get through eight hours of talking, signing and smiling while running out to throw up. I cried. Then I cleaned up and went to the signing and did my best.

It wasn't good enough. I only made it four hours. My wonderful team did everything they could to get me through it. I have very little memory of the event. I was running a fever and everything had the surreal quality of a dream.

But not dreamy enough that I don't remember the disappointment in your eyes. That's going to haunt me for a long time. After a few hours I knew I would barely be able to sign all the books so we had to get down to just a signature and no photos.

I have pictures in my mind of smiling faces that freeze, show a flash of total disappointment then quickly mask it.

You guys were amazing. You actually tried to make me feel better. And I was the one that let you down.

I was in bed by eighty-thirty Monday night, shivering, blankets over my head, sick as a dog. The next morning my doctor called in something to keep my stomach under control and I was able to do the discussions but not the way I'd hoped. I was supposed to fly back to Atlanta that night but had to delay my flight until I was well enough to travel.

I know how far many of you came to attend the event. I know how much time, effort and money you put into it. And I can’t believe I got sick! I can’t find a single gift in the lesson. Unless it’s this: I sat there, looking at you and I saw the disappointment in your eyes—then you turned back to your friends and were happy and laughing again—and it drove home for me what the Moning Maniac events are all about.

In the beginning we came together because of love of the books. But Monday night I realized that while we still get together around the books it’s not because of them, or me. It’s because of the magic you've made with your friendships and shared adventures. I had one of those moments where the universe goes still and you see your place in it, and it’s really very small, but a damn fine place to be.

I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to last for the whole signing. To those of you that didn’t get a full inscription and photos I can’t apologize enough. I feel terrible! I hope to make it up to you somehow in the future.

Karen

SHADOWFEVER first 2 chapters up at my website--SPOILERS

2011-01-13T09:42:00.007-05:00

***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!***

Late last night I received word that a major retailer had failed to honor the embargo and posted the first two chapters of Shadowfever online. (Some people are saying it's three. It's not. They only posted the first two.)

The first two chapters contain a MAJOR SPOILER and a lot of information.

I feel it is my duty to alert you to this because the spoiler may be appearing in a single sentence online at any moment--if it hasn't already--and you may get blindsided with it at Facebook or other online gathering places. I control the climate only at my own forums.

This isn’t how I wanted things to go. I had something special planned for you pre-release but the unauthorized posting blew it for us.

Since it has been leaked, I'm giving you the choice.

I've posted the PDF of the first two chapters at my website for those of you who want spoilers. IT WILL TELL YOU WHO THE BEAST WAS.

To say I'm disheartened by the leak is an understatement. But as I said earlier--I have the best fans in the world and I know you'll protect each other.

CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO READ THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS WITH MAJOR *SPOILERS*

I also posted a link at the bottom of the Shadowfever excerpt page.

xoxooooo
Karen

PS: The retailer that posted it didn't do it on purpose. As frustrated as it makes me, you should know it was an oversight.

Added Friday:

PSS: Guys, I'm not hiding a third chapter from you. When I saw it--for whatever reason--there were only two chapters up. Some people have written to tell me there were five at one point. Shelfari's feed may have re-loaded a different version by the time I saw it. I only have a two chapter PDF so I can't give you more right now. Hang in there! It's almost here (and I hear for a lot of you, it is :) Thanks for being so fabulous about protecting each other!

On spoilers and chatrooms and awesome fans...

2011-01-13T07:14:00.001-05:00

I hate to do a post at my blog without a picture and couldn't decide what to use, especially since so much of the art has minor spoilers. I love how the CD turned out. I've mentioned the butterfly motif before...this is the CD face as it is when it goes to the factory to be pressed. I can't wait till you see the booklet! The art is so cool. And hot, LOL! Especially the shot for Just One Time.

On a more serious note: Please understand the only reason we have put the MB on moderated and shut the chat room down is to protect readers from unwanted spoilers. The chat room is impossible to label “Spoilers”. The other night someone who had read the book (from what I was told they work at a bookstore and violated the embargo) was discussing spoilers in the chat room in detail when another person entered, stumbling smack into the middle of a major spoiler, therefore it will be closed until Shadowfever is released.

While some of you don’t mind spoilers—and even want them—many of you are adamant that you don’t want to know a thing prior to sitting down to read.

Those of you who don’t mind spoilers say “Stay off line if you don’t want to know. Avoid the internet for a few weeks.” (I’m not sure I know anyone anymore who can stay off it for a few hours, LOL!)

To which others reply, “Please label your threads clearly as spoilers so we don’t get ambushed.”

I hear the logic in both camps. But my goal is to provide a safe place at my own website for people to continue to share community while waiting. There are many other places on the Net that the people who want spoilers can discuss them to their heart’s content. I have asked that you not do it here at my website before the book’s release. This is safe haven.

Please guys, let’s share the excitement. It’s almost here. The wait is nearly over. I know not everyone is pleased with how I’ve chosen to do things at my MB, but you must remember that I am in the difficult position of trying to weigh the desires of everyone and make the best decision. No, it won’t make everyone happy. Nothing will.

On a more positive note, I’m amazed by those of you who have read Shadowfever already and kept so quiet. I’m honored by how respectful you’ve been. Very few spoilers have been leaked and each time I come across a post or get an email from someone who has read it, I’m proud of you guys. Of us. Of the world we’ve created together online. I’ve always believed a writer draws an audience that is the type of person they are deep down. And if that’s so—wow, I must be amazing, LOL! I love you guys! Stay to the lights—only four more days!

Thank you!

2011-01-04T12:00:00.005-05:00

With the release date of Shadowfever approaching and anticipation growing, I wanted to take a moment to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all of the fans of the Fever series.

It's been such a toss up for me: the decision whether or not to let my publisher send out advanced reading copies of the Fever books. The simple fact is it's better for me if I do, because advance publicity is critical to a writer's career. I've made many reviewers unhappy because we've gone the arc-less route and my career has suffered for it. Last year a famous magazine called to request an advance copy of Dreamfever. The publicity from them would have been incredible! You can't buy that kind of attention. But it would have ruined the one thing I've always considered more important than publicity: the reading experience for my fans. The series is full of mystery and cliffhanger suspense. Although occasionally a reader complains about being left hanging, more often than not I hear how much you enjoy the experience of coming together in a community and debating the plot twists and speculating about the ultimate outcome. Some of you have even written to tell me you aren’t sure you don’t enjoy your Fever friends/conversations more than the books themselves, LOL!

I've done everything in my power to protect my fans. I don't want anyone that has waited five years (or even five months or weeks) to have their experience spoiled by one badly placed review on line that gives it away—and believe me, in Shadowfever there's a lot to give away :)

As the release date approaches, I have no doubt some books will slip through the cracks. There is no perfect strict on sale date, or embargo. Mistakes happen. Copies of Dreamfever hit the stands early, and so did Faefever.

So why am I thanking you? Because in the complicated, mistake-laden world of publishing, the one thing I can count on are my readers. Last year when early copies came out you were so amazingly respectful of each other. If you shared spoilers, you did it far behind the scenes and in such a way that no innocent, hapless reader would stumble upon them. You astound me with your care and respect for each other’s reading experience.

It’s been a long journey with Mac and the crew. The last chapter is about to begin….Keep the faith, be good to each other and let me know what you think when you’ve finished. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on how it all ends!

Stay to the light.
Karen

Art by Mia! Doesn't it rock?

SHADOWSONG order page is up!

2010-12-31T13:08:00.003-05:00

The order page for the new CD is up with clips from the songs.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Shadowfever TV Commercial

2010-12-30T06:54:00.004-05:00

Check out the awesome trailer Random House did for Shadowfever!

Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge

2010-12-23T15:13:00.006-05:00

Just a quick thanks to all who bought signed foreign editions or signed sets of paperbacks. Winter is an especially difficult time for Wolf Run, keeping the hungry animals warm and fed is a challenge.

Thanks to all of you, we were able to make a donation of $1,000.00.

Wolf Run is located in Kentucky and is open to visitors. It began as a wildlife sanctuary for animals that couldn't be released back into the wild and now also takes in abused, unwanted, and abandoned animals. Click here if you'd like to read about my visit there earlier this year, and here if you'd like to lend a helping hand. They have some adorable residents!

Happy Holidays!

BloodRush CD art

2010-12-21T06:19:00.005-05:00

While Leiha, Neil, Mia, Victoria and I were putting together the book that goes with the new CD SHADOWSONG, we reviewed what we did for last year's BLOODRUSH CD and these were some of our favorite pages.

I can't wait till you see this year's book--it's even better....and hotter:)

SHADOWSONG

2010-12-19T08:19:00.006-05:00

It's finally done and in production! I can't wait for you to hear the new songs. We didn't put the songs on the CD in the order that events unfold as it wasn't the optimal experience for everyday listening but I'll tell you more about which songs go where once we get the order page up. I think the cover is gorgeous--thanks Mia!

More details coming soon....

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-16T07:07:00.004-05:00

Leiha knows how much I love Christmas and made this for me, LMAO! I just had to share. Wishing you all the merriest! (It's really much clearer than this. I'm not sure I uploaded it right.)

Christmas cheer!

2010-12-05T17:36:00.009-05:00

Leiha and I have had so many projects going on that I ended up decorating our tree in spare moments of much-needed stress release and it may have gotten a little...bodacious, LOL. I love it! I'm starting a thread at my message board where I'm hoping you'll show me your Christmas decorations and trees this year. Bring on the Christmas!

Rates at Le Pavillon--change

2010-12-01T07:22:00.004-05:00

So here's the scoop: when I reserved the block at the hotel, I had to financially put myself on the hook for the rooms I blocked. That meant if no one came, I would owe $40,000 odd dollars. Other hotels wanted a $70-80,000 commitment from me, and Le Pavillon was the hotel I really wanted to do this event at.

When we made arrangements with Le Pavillon, they were very clear that if other conferences came in, or the hype got out that the Saints might be in the divisional playoffs, the price would go up. Other hotels I spoke with said the same thing. Harrah's rooms go as high as $850.00 on the weekends. It's very unpredictable.

After much talking with management at Le Pavillon yesterday, they've made a wonderful concession for the Maniacs. The prices did raise for Friday, Saturday and Sunday to $199.00 but they agreed to continue offering the low price on the days of our event!

Monday night and Tuesday night will be extended at the special rate of $120.00. So if you plan to come Sunday, Monday and Tuesday your averaged night stay is $146.00 which is very competitive with other hotels in the area.

None of us were expecting such a quick response! There are more rooms available at the hotel, but if you want to reserve, remember it's a smallish hotel and the prices for the weekend may change again if you wait too long, depending on what else comes in town.

The good news is we have the great rate for the nights of the event!

In re room for people to attend the signing, we've got plenty. For the talks, I'm doing multiple to accomodate a larger number of people. It's going to be so much fun!

PS: I've been looking at the commments. Whatever you booked your rooms for, that price is confirmed. That confirmed price won't change. This post applies to rooms yet to be booked.

Update on Shadowfever Launch Party!

2010-11-30T14:50:00.002-05:00

You Maniacs continue to amaze me—the hotel block at Le Pavillon sold out within 4 hours!

The bad news is we are unable to extend the block.

The good news is that you don’t have to stay at the hotel in order to attend the book signing and talks.

While the $120.00 a night rate is no longer available, there are many other wonderful hotels in the area.

Can’t wait to see you in NOLA!

PS: For those who have already made reservations at the higher price, please be aware that Le Pavillon does not intend to adjust that rate downward. Whatever they are charging is what they are charging.

KMM Shadowfever Book Launch Party details!

2010-11-29T11:46:00.002-05:00

When I first began thinking about doing a book launch party for Shadowfever, I knew exactly what kind of atmosphere I wanted for it: Barrons Books & Baubles—Old World, timeless, classic. Also like Barrons Books & Baubles, I wanted it to be set in a city that was filled with craic: vibrant, exotic and exciting. Where else but New Orleans? A city I love!

I’m thrilled to invite you to join me at Le Pavillon (one of my all-time favorite hotels) in New Orleans on January 16, 17 and 18th for the Shadowfever book launch party! To see how gorgeous the hotel is check out the online brochure.

The festivities formally kick off on Sunday the 16th with a scavenger hunt in the heart of the French Quarter. I plan to arrive earlier to take a Big Easy advantage of the holiday weekend, as Monday is Martin Luther King Day. I’ll be staying at Le Pavillon as will Leiha and many other Moning Maniacs. We’re looking forward to all being in the same hotel together when Mac’s epic journey comes to an end.

The Shadowfever signing will begin at 4:00 PM on Monday the 17th at Le Pavillon hosted by Octavia Books* and continue until midnight. The following day, Tuesday the 18th, I will give several talks starting at 11:00 AM at Le Pavillon discussing the Fever Series from conception to end for the first time ever, and answering your questions—so read fast! All events (except for the scavenger hunt) will be taking place at the hotel.

We’ve negotiated a special rate at Le Pavillon for people attending the party. In order to get this rate, when you call you must say you are with the KMM SHADOWFEVER GROUP, otherwise normal rates will apply and they are significantly higher. The price we were able to obtain for attendees of the KMM SHADOWFEVER GROUP is $120.00 per night, so you want to be sure to get the discount.

As I can’t forecast how many people will attend, I’ve reserved only a small block of the hotel. It’s first come first served at the special rate. If we exceed our block quickly, I’ll bump it up, but the hotel can only guarantee the special rate for the number of rooms I’ve initially reserved (and if it’s not met, I’m on the hook for them, ergo the conservative estimate:) Additionally, Le Pavillon is a boutique hotel, unique, stunning and smallish, with only 200 or so rooms, so please make your reservation early to insure you get a room before they are all booked.

I’ll be posting updates about the launch here at my blog, so check it frequently. It’s going to be an incredible weekend filled with good food, great times, and fabulous people! And of course….what you’ve all been waiting for—answers.

*Octavia books will be taking pre-orders for Shadowfever. If you plan to attend you will need to pre-order a copy to be sure yours is on site at the hotel the night of the signing. I’ll be posting links to how to pre-order in the next few days.

My flight is booked, my room reserved, I can’t wait to see you guys in New Orleans!

Recording Shadowsong!

2010-11-08T06:25:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was one of those golden days. I laughed so much my face hurt. Spending time in the studio with Phil and Neil, listening to them make music and...er...other things...was a total blast.

We're hoping the new CD will be done and ready for pre-order by mid-December. We've got some very cool music and art that's going into Shadowsong. This time, I'll be including a list that tells you where in the book to listen to each song. Unlike the last CD that was about the entire series, Shadowsong is specific to Shadowfever.

Phil flew in to record a very special piece with us that I know you're going to love. After Neil finished writing it, we realized there was only one voice that could do it justice. I was fanning myself the entire time he recorded it. I kept asking him to redo a few lines just so I could hear him say them again. (Like: "I am your dirty dreams.")

I was trying to get a good shot of Neil and Phil together to share with you but they got into a pissing contest...or...something, LOL! Did I tell you laughed so much my face hurt?

All in all a great day. I'm so excited to share the music with you soon!

First look at Shadowfever!

2010-11-01T17:18:00.006-04:00

What a great birthday! Thanks for the cards and the posts, you guys are THE best and have made it such a special day for me! As if being blessed with such wonderful fans and friends isn't enough--look what came in the mail today!

Before you start plotting to raid my house,LOL, it's a dummy copy. The pages are blank. Isn't it beautiful? I've never seen a book like it. Which is fitting since the book the book is written about is one of a kind too.

Off for dinner and cake!

In my next life

2010-10-19T16:40:00.007-04:00

I want to be a cat.

They wander from place to place and sleep.

In between eating and playing.

A day in the life of Moonshadow, who uses a pillow whenever one is available.

So, why the ode to Moonie today?

Because you guys must have done something with your thoughts and prayers. I took her in for bloodwork, fully expecting it to be terrible news since she's in kidney failure and the numbers have been steadily climbing as her weight steadily decreases but I got the results back and she's not only gained some weight--she's back in the normal range! The vet was stunned and mystified, as am I. And grateful. Did I say grateful? Wherever this blessing came from, many thanks!

Shadowfever Launch Party Details!

2010-10-14T16:19:00.005-04:00

We've firmed up the city for the launch party—one of my all time favorites—New Orleans! What better place to escape the winter blues?

This is the plan: Shadowfever goes on sale Tuesday, January 18th. Serendipitously, Monday, the 17th is MLK day, a holiday for many of you, which makes it perfect for a long weekend getaway. Come in early and party through the weekend!

The launch party will be held at a local hotel on Monday evening, hosted by a local NOLA bookstore. We plan to stay in that hotel all weekend--hotel to be announced shortly.

The launch will kick off with a reading from Shadowfever, followed by a book signing, and here’s the fun part—the event won’t conclude until Tuesday afternoon—with a Q&A where I will address any niggling questions that remain.

There may also be a few special guests.

We need to get an idea how many people plan to attend in order to choose the right size venue. I prefer an intimate setting, but I don’t want to preclude anyone attending due to space limitations. We also need to make sure we have a large enough area to meet and talk.

The event will be free of charge with the purchase of Shadowfever through the hosting bookstore, and companion tickets will be available for a nominal fee.

So, who’s in for a long weekend in NOLA, a good book and a great party? Weigh in here, at FB or my message board!

Website re-design

2010-10-11T06:21:00.005-04:00

Okay, so this picture has nothing to do with my website but I love Mia's artistry. It's like an old-fashioned movie still.

And doesn't the camera just adore him?

Thanks to all of you who keep sending in your photos of the Con!

Now...onto business...

I spent the whole day yesterday proofing the galleys for Shadowfever. It's got some great design elements and is going to be a truly gorgeous book in print! I saw somewhere that we're in the 2 digit countdown! I'm in the planning stages of a small booktour...please pop in at my message board to weigh in with your thoughts on a midnight launch party.

To those of you that keep writing to tell me how badly out of date you feel my website is I HEAR YOU.

My David's have been working like crazy on a completely new site for months now, brainstorming with me, tweaking, refining, and we expect to launch it sometime before Thanksgiving. It's a monumental undertaking because every page is being re-designed, new technology is being added and the entire structure is being overhauled. It's a fabulous new look, but a website overhaul is a massive job if you like to stay involved in the creative process, and I do.

My niece and nephew are adorable and come up with some of the buzz phrases Neil and I use in everyday life. The following is one of our favorites whenever we get impatient with each other. It always makes us laugh. One day Cash was peeling a tangelo for his little sister and Lila just kept saying "Cash, mine. Cash, mine. Cash, miiiiine!" Over and over. Finally, poor Cash (who was three and a half) looked at her with utter exasperation and said, "I'm doing the best I can, Lila."

From the mouths of babes :) I'm about to take a long overdue vacation but never fear, there's tons of great stuff coming...

Goody Bag Giveaway!

2010-10-08T15:24:00.009-04:00

THE CONTEST IS OVER. CONGRATULATIONS TO KATHY LEE. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED:)

Let me preface by saying I'm sorry, but if you were at FeverCon, you can't enter. You've had too much fun already, LOL! Actually, you already got one, minus a few items, plus a few more.

Goody Bag contains:

1 fabulous bag that can be folded up into a tidy pouch and fits in purse

1 each of the new Darkfever, Bloodfever and Faefever

1 Into the Dreaming

1 Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole

1 Preview Tarot Card Deck

2 Romantic Times BookClub issues with articles about the Fever Series

1 Bloodrush CD

1 Treasure Keeper by Shana Abe

1 Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter

1 Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

1 FeverCon Program and Itinerary

2 each Mac and JZB Tattoos

1 Possess Me at Midnight by Shayla Black

1 When Blood Calls by J. K. Beck

1 Blood Trinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love

1 unpublished short story by Emma Holly

1 Girls Gone Pri-ya bracelet (not pictured, hot pink and very cute!)

All you have to do to enter is email manager@karenmoning.com and use FeverCon Goody Bag as the subject line. If you don't use that as the subject line, you won't be entered. You may enter once, multiple submissions will be disqualified. The contest is open until midnight Thursday the 14th, and the winner will be chosen randomly by a computer program.

Good luck!!!

I had SUCH an amazing time at FeverCon!

2010-10-08T15:08:00.005-04:00

Neil and I showing off our shoes. Mine are better, LOL.

My characters come to life--Barrons, Mac and Dead Alina

The stunning Dacia as a lovely Unseelie Princess

Phil trying to keep Eric (White Jericho) and Neil who proclaimed himself Black Jericho from having it out on the dance floor

The black Macs with JZB

These are just a few of my favorite pics! We're sorting through thousands, working on getting some albums together to post online. Thanks to all of you for coming--I'm already looking forward to next year!

Shadowfever Excerpt that Phil read at FeverCon

2010-10-06T15:42:00.002-04:00

I had such a hard time finding ANY excerpt for Phil to read that didn't give something away. Shadowfever is dense with information and spoilers. I was able to narrow it down to two scenes, and I wasn't crazy about either one. I think of my books as being comprised of what I call "power scenes" and transition scenes. As I'm writing, I rate each scene on a scale from 1 to 5, with a 1 being a descriptive passage and a 5 a HOLY CR#P scene. Shadowfever has a LOT of 5's, tons of 4's and oodles of 3's. There are darn few 1's or 2's. The following is a 1.5 on my scale, mostly descriptive, setting place and mood. It does, however, give you a peek inside Mac's head!

___

Few have ever seen the Seelie, save the rare mortal stolen away and kept at the Fae court, and, of course, Barrons who once spent a great deal of time there, sleeping with a princess, before killing her and pissing off V’lane for all eternity.

I’ve seen thousands of Unseelie but until now, even I—sidhe-seer extraordinaire—have seen only a single Seelie.

I’d begun to wonder why.

In the dark hours of the night, I’d wondered if maybe he was the only one left, if he was hiding something, if perhaps he wasn’t Seelie at all, despite evidence supporting his claim.

Seeing him as he is now, all my doubts evaporate.

Here are the Seelie.

They’ve finally gotten off their asses and started paying attention to the mess they’ve made of my world. I guess they couldn’t be bothered before now.

Even filled as I am with hatred for all Fae, I can’t deny that V’lane looks like an avenging angel, charging down from heaven to set my world back on its axis and clean this whole mess up. Radiant, golden and mesmerizing, he leads an army of angels.

Tall, gracefully muscled, they stand shoulder to shoulder with him, filling the street. Stunning, velvety-skinned, dusted with gold, they are so chillingly exquisite that I have a hard time looking at them—and I’m immune from having been Pri-ya, a Fae sex-addict. They are otherworldly, divine.

There are dozens of V’lane’s caste, male and female. They possess a terrifying eroticism that makes them deadly to humans. If a scientist managed to get his hands on one to study, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn their skin exudes a pheromone we crave.

The perpetual promise of a smile hovers on irresistible lips, below ancient, alien eyes. Despite all I’ve suffered at their hands, I want to rush forward and fall to my knees before them. I want to slide my palms over their flawless skin, discover if they taste as amazing as they smell. I want to be gathered into a Fae embrace, yield my memories, my mind, my will and be carried off to a Faery Court where I could stay forever young, cocooned by illusion.

Flanking V’lane’s caste—which I assume is the highest ranking by how the other castes seem to protect it—are the stuff of fairytales. There are rainbow-colored, delicate Fae that dart like hummingbirds on gossamer wings; silvery nymphs that dance on dainty feet; and others that I can’t even see, except for blinding trailers of light they leave behind as they move. They’re so brilliant and fiery, they could only be earthbound stars.

I scoff at the delicacy of his army. They’re ethereal, born to wisp about, seduce, and be served.

Mine is earthy, solid. Born to gorge, kill, and rule.

We stalk toward each other, down a snow-filled street.

Where Seelie feet touch the earth, the snow melts with a hiss. Steam rises and flowers push up through cracks, blooming brilliantly, anointing the air with the scents of jasmine and sandalwood. The Seelie end of the street is bathed in golden light.

Where my army’s hooves and scaled bellies pass over the stones—a crust of black ice forms. The night embraces us; stealthy shadows, we ooze forward from the blackness.

Only once before have Seelie and Unseelie met like this—and on that day the Seelie Queen died. This is the stuff of legends, never seen by humans, except perhaps in our dreams.

Deformed monsters and hideous demons stare with baleful, hate-filled eyes at their perfect, golden counterparts.

Angels glare with disdain at abominations that should never have been born, who blemish the perfection of the Fae race, tarnish their existence simply by being.

I wonder what Darroc was thinking bringing them together like this.

We stop a dozen paces apart.

Ice and heat slam together in the street.

My breath frosts the air then turns to steam as it passes an invisible demarcation. Eddies swirl on the pavement between us, gathering the indigestible rinds of people the Shades left behind, and tiny tornados begin to form.

Whoever began the fairytales that Fae don’t feel was selling pure bullshit. They feel the entire range of human emotion. They just handle it differently; with patience born of eternity. Schooled by courtly manners, they don masks of impassivity because they have forever to play out their games.

As we study each other through the rapidly growing tornados, I remember V’lane telling me that they destroyed their own world by fighting. It cracked from end to end. Was this why? Will the weather disturbance that’s being generated by the clash of these two mighty Courts continue to grow if they fight, and tear this world apart, too? Not that I’d particularly mind since I intend to re-create it with the Book, but I need the Book before this world is destroyed.

Which means this stormy posturing really needs to stop.

“Enough with the melodrama, V’lane,” I say coolly.

His eyes are those of a stranger. He regards me with the same expression he turns on the monsters at my back. I’m a little irritated to realize he doesn’t look at Darroc. His gaze slides over him as if he’s not even there. He’s the fallen-Fae, traitor to their race, the one responsible for tearing the walls down. I’m just a sidhe-seer trying to survive.

The gold-dusted Greek god standing on V’lane’s right sneers, “That…thing…is the human you said we need to protect? She consorts with abominations!”

The gilt-skinned goddess to his left hisses, “Destroy her now!”

Hundreds of Seelie, walking, dancing and flying, begin to clamor for my death.

Without taking my eyes off them, I snap at Darroc, “I could really use my spear right now.” I assume he still has it, that V’lane hasn’t somehow plucked it from him the same way he takes it from me.

As the tiny, dainty Fae begin proposing methods for my execution, each one slower and more painful than the last, the god and goddess bracketing V’lane hammer him.

“She is human and has chosen the dark ones! Look at her! She wears their colors!”

“You said she worshipped us!”

“And she would obey us in all things!”

“They have touched her! I smell it on her skin!” The god looks revolted….and aroused. Iridescent eyes glitter with gold sparks.

“They have used her!” the goddess snarls. “She is soiled. I will not suffer her at court!”

“Silence!” V’lane thunders. “I lead the True Race for our Queen. I speak for Aoibheal!”

“This is unacceptable!”

“Outrageous!”

“Beyond bearing, V’lane!”

“You will do as I say, Dree’lia! I decide her fate. And only I will carry it out.”

I hiss at Darroc, “You need to make a decision and fast.”

“They always over-react,” Darroc murmurs. “It is one of the many things I despised at court. A session in High Council could go on like this for several human years. Give them time. V’lane will bring them to heel.”

One of the tiny, winged Seelie breaks formation and darts straight for my head. I duck, but it whizzes around me.

I’m startled to hear myself burst out laughing.

Two more of them break rank and begin to zip tight circles around my head.

As they buzz past me, my laughter takes on a hysterical edge. There’s nothing funny about what’s happening—still I hoot and snort. I can’t help it. I’ve never been so amused in my entire life. I hold my sides and double over, chortling, guffawing, choking on sobs of forced gaiety, as they weave closer and closer around me. I’m appalled by the sounds coming out of my mouth. I’m horrified at the uncontrollable nature of it. I hate the Fae and their way of stripping away my will.

“Stop laughing,” Darroc growls.

Hilarity has me on the edge of hysterics and it hurts. I manage to raise my head from my knees just enough to shoot him a dirty look. I’d love to stop laughing. But I can’t.

I want to tell him to make the damned things go away except I can’t breathe, I can’t even close my lips long enough to grit consonants. Whatever these lovely little Seelie-monsters are, their specialty is death-by-laughter. What a hellish way to go. After only a few minutes, my sides ache from heaving, my gut burns, and I’m so breathless I’m light-headed. I wonder how long it takes to die of forced mirth. Hours? Days?

A fourth tiny Fae takes up the game, and I brace myself to dive inward, to find a weapon in my dark, lake-filled cave when suddenly a long tongue, dripping venom, whizzes past my ear and plucks the dainty Seelie straight from the air.

I hear crunching noises behind me.

I snicker helplessly.

“V’lane!” The golden goddess shrieks, “That thing, that awful thing, it ate M’ree!”

I hear another snap, followed by more crunching noises and a second one is gone. I cackle madly.

The remaining two retreat, shaking tiny fists and screaming in a language I don’t understand. Even angry, the sound they make is more beautiful than an aria.

My laughter loses its forced edge.

After a long moment, I’m able to relax, and I stop making crazed sounds of amusement. Peals fade to moans to silence. I release my sides and gulp cool, soothing air.

I stand, suddenly furious, and this emotion is all mine. I’m sick of being vulnerable. If I’d had my spear, those nasty little death-by-laughter fairies would never have dared approach me. I’d have skewered them mid-air and made Fae-ka-bobs out of them.

“Friends,” I hiss at Darroc, “trust each other.”

But he doesn’t. I see it in his face.

“You said you would give it to me so I could defend us.”

He smiles faintly and I know he’s remembering how Mallucé died; slowly, gruesomely, rotting from the inside out. The spear kills all things Fae and because Darroc has been eating so much Unseelie, he’s laced with veins of Fae. One tiny little prick of the tip of my spear would be a death sentence. “As yet, we are not under attack.”

“Who are you talking to, human?” the goddess demands.

I look at Darroc who shrugs. “I told you the first Seelie that saw me would try to kill me. Hence they do not see me. My princes keep me concealed from their vision.”

Now I understand why V’lane’s gaze slid over him like he wasn’t there. He’s not. “So it looks like I’m the only one standing here? They think I’m running your army!”

“Never fear, sidhe-seer,” V’lane says coldly, “I smell the foulness of what was once Fae and now cannibalizes our race. I know who leads this army. As for his being your friend, the one you so unwisely walk with has no friends. He has always served only his own purposes.”

I tilt my head. “Are you my friend, V’lane?”

“I would be. I have offered you my protection repeatedly.”

The goddess gasps. “You offered our protection and she refused? She chose those… things… over us?”

“Silence, Dree’lia!”

“The Tuatha de Danaan do not offer twice!” she fumes.

“I said ‘silence!’” V’lane snaps.

“Clearly you do not under—”

I gape. Dree’lia has no mouth. There is only smooth skin where her lips used to be. Delicate nostrils flare beneath ancient, hate-filled eyes.

The golden god moves to embrace her. She rests her head in the hollow of his neck and clutches him. “That was unnecessary,” he tells V’lane stiffly.

I’m struck by the absurdity of the moment. Here I stand, between opposing halves of the most powerful race imaginable. They are at war with one another. They despise each other and are vying for the same prize.

And the Seelie—who have enjoyed absolute freedom and power their entire existences—are squabbling among themselves over trivialities, while, the Unseelie—who’ve been imprisoned, starved and tortured for hundreds of thousands of years—patiently hold formation and wait for Darroc’s orders.

And I can’t help but see myself in them. The Seelie are who I was before my sister died. Pink, pretty, frivolous Mac. The Unseelie are who I’ve become, carved by loss and despair. Black, grungy, driven Mac.

The Unseelie are stronger, less breakable. I’m glad I’m like them.

____
2010, Copyrighted material, property of Karen Marie Moning, LLC, not to be reprinted or used in any manner without permission of the author.

FEVERCON

2010-09-26T09:24:00.001-04:00

I’m going to address this once.

I’ve been deluged by emails recently—much like the Facebook blowup earlier this year—from people who are going to be attending FeverCon that are upset about other people who are planning to attend FeverCon, asking me to make those other people behave. As if. Do I look like the ruler of the universe? I think that honor belongs to my cat, Moonshadow, LOL.

It appears there are a few people that are bitterly unhappy with everything about the conference, from the itinerary to the food to the goody bags. I’ve seen absurd posts and emails where some of these unhappy people propose I should be giving away free IPods in the Goody Bags, (the iPods we bought for prizes were nearly $200.00 with tax!) These few people are vociferous in their anger and making threats that they certainly intend to air their feelings at the Con, and people had better watch out.

I think many people don’t have any idea what costs are involved behind the scenes in putting on a conference of this scale. Nearly $40.00 a ticket from every ticket is lost off the top between the charges levied by the registration platform, an ecommerce gateway that also charges a per-transaction fee and a monthly fee for having it available, the amount I had to pay my web designers to build the database platform, the credit card companies that charge a per-transaction fee (Amex is insanely high for small merchants) and the bank charges on my account for having the ecommerce account, plus a per-transaction fee. It’s unreal. That money is gone the minute the ticket is sold. It’s the cost of doing business as a small business.

More behind the scenes: we pay for every single mic (there are fourteen on the stage at the concert) every day we use them, each cable, cord, mixer, monitor, amp, stand, speaker, subwoofer, snake cable, lights on the stage—we even have to pay the power bill to the hotel! We pay load in and load out of equipment and staffing for it. (The Con is on a weekend. Hotel staff is $75.00 an hour but weekends are time and a half. Do the math.) We hire the bartenders for both events to run the cash bar. We pay for the lights and decorations for the costume ball (which is going to be awesome!) including the centerpiece candles on the tables we ordered and had shipped to the hotel, to the masses of pink candy, balloons, helium tanks, etc. We pay for the printer and materials to print photos of the event. We hired photographers and audio and video specialists to record the Con for your future enjoyment. We pay for storage room at the hotel to hold the thousands of books and giveaways, the people to stuff the bags, and the rooms for the assistants and planners who are coming in days in advance to set things up.

That doesn’t even begin to touch it. We pay for an insurance policy for the event. The programs had to be designed and printed. The invitations and name badges had to be designed and printed. The goody bags had to be designed, printed and shipped. There are engagement fees, hotel room fees, flights for the speakers. And yes, there is the food and it was absurdly expensive. Will it be exquisite? I very much doubt it. Catered food at Cons rarely is. It’s expensive and adequate. However, I have high hopes. Will the menu please everyone? Of course not. No menu will.

There are so many more charges but I will not—here or anywhere—post a fiscal accounting of the Con. My accountant—who is also charging me for handling the business end of this—is the only one that will see it, as should be. But I assure you I am not making a profit on the Con. In fact, I will likely end up out of pocket on it. And I’m okay with that because I think the weekend is going to be amazing. If anyone creates problems at the Con, hotel security will remove them.

I don’t know how this negativity began festering, but it needs to stop now. If you are genuinely that unhappy about attending the Con, contact Leiha and we’ll figure something out to keep you from having to subject yourself to such a miserable time. Leiha has been a dynamo of planning and execution for the event. She may not be an “official” event planner, but no official planner could have done better.

In six days, we’ll be partying at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta. And although I can’t possibly guarantee that everyone will feel the event was worth the money, most of you will. From scene sketches Eric is going to be acting out with volunteer ‘Macs’ from the audience, to a snippet from Shadowfever read by the sexy-voiced Phil Gigante after breakfast Sunday, to lots of time with me just dancing and hanging out and talking all weekend—not to mention all the surprises we have planned—it’s going to be fabulous!

I’d like to believe people are just nervous and excited and that tends to bring out the best and worst in all of us. I can’t make anyone behave. I’m not the boss of everyone and I don’t want to be. Chill until you get there and see what you think, all right?

Following are the menus. Do NOT write to me to complain. I’ll have cans of tuna for Moonie. She’ll share if anyone’s that miserable.

DINNER Friday
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Custom Dinner Buffet

Baby Lettuce Salad with Crisp Vegetables and House Vinaigrette
Grilled Asparagus with Citrus Vinaigrette and Orange Zest
***
Low and Slow BBQ Rubbed Tenderloin of Beef with Bourbon Sauce
Buttermilk Marinated Baked Chicken Breast with Wild Mushrooms, Roasted Shallots, and Red Wine
Sauce
Portobello Mushroom Strudel with Smoked Tomato Coulis
***
Seasonal Fresh Vegetables With Lemon Zest and Herb Butter
Yukon Gold Potato and Caramelized Shallot Gratin
***
Warm Farm Bread, Roasted Garlic Loaf, Tomato Jam and Butter
***
Crème Brule Shooters
Assorted Cakes and Cheesecakes, Torts, and Truffles
***
Iced Tea, Regular, Decaffeinated Coffee & Tazo Teas

LUNCH Saturday
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Deli Lunch Buffet
Chef's Soup Du Jour
Romaine Caesar Salad with Garlic Crostini
Penne Pasta Salad with Shrimp Lemon Dressing
Brown Mustard Potato Salad
***
Tuna Salad, Garlic Seared Roast Beef, Glazed Smoked Ham, Roasted Turkey Breast
Swiss, Cheddar, and Provolone Cheeses
Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle Spears
Mustard & Mayo
Georgia Specialty Breads
***
Homemade Potato Chips
***
New York Black & White Cookies
Carrot Cake Served with Caramelized Walnuts
***
Freshly Brewed Seattle's Best Coffee, Decaf, & Tazo Tea Selection

BREAKFAST Sunday
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
The All American Plated Breakfast
Freshly Scrambled Eggs
***
Smoked Bacon
***
Served with Hyatt Signature Breakfast Potatoes and Roasted Tomato
***
Breakfast Bakeries
Sweet Butter, Jam and Preserves
***
Chilled Juice
Seattle's Best Coffee, Tazo Tea Selection and Soy Milk

COSTUME BALL ATTIRE

2010-09-26T09:15:00.000-04:00

I have also been getting emails from people who are concerned about what others are wearing—or rather not wearing—to the costume ball.

Please remember that the event, like the message board, is PG-13. Many are bringing daughters and husbands. Please dress appropriately. We don’t want to have to turn anyone away at the door but this is not just a bunch of women getting together. It’s also women with their families.

I’m so excited to see all your costumes. Don’t make them The Emperor’s New Clothes, LOL!

FEVERCON Ticket Contest!

2010-09-01T07:12:00.002-04:00

Moning Maniac Janet was planning on coming to FeverCon in the middle of a move from Dubai--now that's a Fever Fan! Unfortunately, she won't be able to make it because her move date was changed. She has graciously offered her FeverCon ticket to be used as a giveaway to another Fever Fan.

To enter the giveaway, email a video or photo to manager@karenmoning.com with the words Ultimate Fever Fan in the subject line, and show us why you are the ultimate Fever Fan and should attend FeverCon.

As the Con is just around the corner (Oct. 1-3) this contest is open until Sunday, Sept 12th at midnight. We will announce a winner Monday the 13th.

NOTE: The ticket does not cover hotel or transportation costs. Please only enter if you are able to attend FeverCon if you win. This ticket is non-transferrable so you will not be allowed to give the ticket away. One entry per person. If you enter more than once you will be disqualified.

The more creative you are, the better your chances are. Good luck and hopefully we'll be seeing you in Atlanta!

FEVERCON Itinerary!

2010-08-28T16:48:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged. It's been a crazy few months. I'm wrapping up final copyedits on Shadowfever , completing my treatment for the Fever graphic novel (which is really only the beginning of the fun work!) and finalizing details for FEVERCON.

I'm delighted to announce that in additon to Gena Showalter, Kresley Cole, Eric Etebari, Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross, two more special guests will be joining us for the signings: Dianna Love and Stacia Kane! Dianna will be joining us on Friday and Stacia will be with us on Sunday. Both of their publishers have donated books for the goody bags!

And now, the itinerary. Keep in mind, last minute adjustments may need to be made, but I expect this to be fairly accurate. Saturday is packed full, so be ready to play hard and party late!

FEVERCON 2010 ITINERARY

Name badges will be given out at Registration. Please make sure you wear it to every event.

Friday

12:00pm - 6:00pm: Hospitality Suite Open

1:00pm – 5:00pm: Registration

4:00pm-6:00pm: Booksigning with KMM and guests

6:30pm – 8:00pm: Dinner with KMM and guests

8:00pm – whenever: Neil Dover/BloodRush Concert

Saturday

9:00am - 11:00am: Hospitality Suite Open

9:00am – 10:00am: Writers Workshop with Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter

10:15am – 11:15am: Discussion with Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross

11:30pm – 1:00pm: Lunch with KMM and guests

1:30pm – 2:30pm: Shauna Summers/Random House discusses the publishing industry

2:45pm - 3:45pm: Playtime with Eric Etebari

3:45pm - 6:00pm: Hospitality Suite Open

8:00pm – whenever: Pink and Black Mac Ball

Sunday

8:30am – 9:30: Breakfast

9:30am – 10:30am: Q & A with KMM (yeah, right, try, just try, LOL)

11:00am - 1:00pm: Booksigning with KMM and guests

More details:

The goody bags are loaded with fabulous books so keep that in mind while you're packing. Hyatt provides a shipping service if you don't want to carry your books home.

There is FEVERCON merchandise in the Online Store now. Please remember that the shirts tend to run small. All designs are available for men and women. We also have FEVERCON bags and mugs available. If you'd like to see the design on a different product, email Leiha and she'll make it available.

Many of you are planning on bringing spouses to FEVERCON and have expressed desire to bring them to special events. We have made arrangements to allow registrants who are participating in FEVERCON to bring their spouse to the Neil Dover/BloodRush Concert or the Pink and Black Mac Ball, or both. You will need to buy a spouse ticket, $25.00 per event. Tickets can be purchased at registration (cash only please) and ID must be presented to verify that they are your spouse.

Have you booked your hotel room yet? If you want to book your room for the discounted FEVERCON price of $135 for a double room the deadline to book is Sept 8th. Here is the link to the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta.

If you're driving in, there is a discounted parking rate of $17 a day (normally $27). Let the attendant know when you arrive that you are there for FEVERCON.

For those of you flying in, the Atlanta Marta transit system has a direct line from the airport to the Hyatt Regency.

Take the Red or Gold line north and exit at Peachtree Center Station. This will be a $2 ride and about 19 minutes. You won't have to make any transfers and there's a map at the Airport station as well as on the trains. Peachtree Center is connected to the Hyatt.

Peachtree Center is full of restaurants and a food court if you don't want to eat at the hotel.

Do you know about the FEVERCON group on my message board? There is a lot of planning going on among the attendees there, including costume ideas, roommate searches and what to do in the limited free time. If you would like to join the group please email Leiha with your message board name and she will send you an invite.

You can also find us on Facebook:

That's all for now! I'll keep you posted if things change. Can't wait to see you in October!

SHADOWFEVER cover and synopsis

2010-05-25T18:01:00.002-04:00

We’ve spent the past four years journeying together to the end of Mac’s story. I have no doubt it’s been easier on me than you because I’ve known the ending since the beginning. I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel, and it made me ruthless when it came to walking with Mac into the shadows.

I’m in love with books. I love the way they look, feel, smell, occupy space, and best of all, can be read, LOL. I wanted the final installment in the FEVER series to be spectacular, a book you wanted to touch, hold, treasure. Few books have that effect on me. One is Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story with its printed case and gorgeous cover (and the mastery of its author!). Another is Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast have lusciously tactile covers on their House of Night series, and I adore the imagery on Lauren Kate’s Fallen series.

When it came to brainstorming the cover for Shadowfever, I tossed phrases like “seductive menace” “deceptive nature of evil” “sexy, edgy, lush” at my publisher. We all agreed we wanted the final book to be The Book, but in what incarnation? Literally or metaphorically? What they came back with blew me away.

Shadowfever has a gorgeously designed acetate dust jacket, that is printed at the top and bottom but the clear box behind my name and title gives you a glimpse of what’s printed on the hardcover beneath it. The book itself is printed, too, like Lisey’s Story. It’s a thing publishers don’t do very often, because of the expense. The jpegs don’t do it justice. To see it go to Shadowfever.com. I hope you love it as much as I do!

UNHOLY GHOSTS by Stacia Kane

2010-05-19T10:03:00.007-04:00

About six months ago, I got an ARC of the first in a new Urban Fantasy series by Stacia Kane called Unholy Ghosts. I think Charlaine Harris and I were reading it at the same time and both of us gave quotes. I was lucky enough to read all three, which are being released back to back, beginning with Unholy Ghosts on May 25, Unholy Magic on July 6, and City of Ghosts on July 27.

I loved the series! I rarely read something that surprises me and this did.

I lifted this blurb from Kane's website:

THE AFTERLIFE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling Debunker and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing the human liars or banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a murderous drug lord named Bump a lot of money. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust with a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

Head's up: It's not a comfort read. It's dark, edgy, sexy, and pushes the envelope. Don't expect paranormal romance, it's not. It's Urban Fantasy at it's finest, featuring a tortured heroine with her fair share of strengths and weaknesses, spiced with a wonderfully poignant romance. It's a fascinating read and I highly recommend it.

Blood Lily revisted, Moonie and ShadowFever Cover...

2010-05-17T16:53:00.006-04:00

I love flowers but I never seem to get enough time, so the extent of my gardening consists of someone thrusting bulbs or twigs in my hands and telling me to plant them. I usually get around to it by the time the twig looks completely dead or the bulb appears rotten, so I’m astonished each Spring when new life explodes around me.

I have no idea where these red lilies came from but I adore them. They’re ambitious about their beauty. Each year they strive to outdo the previous years’ blooms and this year they rocked. The center bunch is nearly five feet tall. For frame of reference, that’s a standard height bird bath to the right of them.

As you can see by my photo of Moonie, I’m late putting it up. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the Superbowl from the lush comfort of her pink heart bed with her pink heart pillow, LOL.

I got my first look at the initial mockup of the cover for SHADOWFEVER last week, and can’t wait to share it with you! I adore eBooks—you can’t beat the ease of transport—but there’s a part of me that craves the tactile experience, loves to touch the cover, smell the ink and paper, and see books lined up on my shelves. It makes me feel rich, to have all those stories and possibilities staring back at me. I can’t begin to describe the stunning package Delacorte developed for the conclusion of the FEVER series. I expect to have the final version this week and hope to unveil it next weekend. Yes, it deserves an unveiling! It’s stunning!

Speaking of Shadowfever, it’s coming along. And along and along. Yes, it's long....I'm loving it, and hope you guys do, too!

FEVERCON

2010-04-22T15:32:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post because I'm crazy busy writing the never-ending SHADOWFEVER....but I wanted to let you know about some of the confirmed guests for FeverCon 2010, Oct. 1- Oct. 3.

Two of my favorite authors and friends Gena Showalter and Kresley Cole are coming to hang out and have fun, sign books and do a workshop or two! Audio book narrator extraordinaire, Phil Gigante will be there and so will my divine inspiration for JZB—actor, Eric Etebari--and they've both agreed to rock out with the BloodRush band!

Stay tuned for more details soon…

Update on the kittens

2010-04-19T18:35:00.003-04:00

Me and the kittens again—looking for a loving home. The kittens, not me, LOL.

So the kitten situation is a little different. Originally we had three Toms that we were keeping safe from the storm, but we made the mistake of letting them out and the big Tom took one of them off and returned several days later with a little girl, then disappeared again.

We arranged a home for the brother and sister, but after I got them all their shots and certificates, had them spayed and neutered, the woman who was going to take them was diagnosed with a severe illness and cannot give them a home. They’ve been kenneled at a vet north of Atlanta for the past two months and are dying to get out and play—as you can see by the video!

I’m hoping someone has a Daisy & Jellico sized-hole in their heart. These guys are adorable! The vet says Daisy looks like the runt of the litter and will always be tiny and delicate. Jellico has a tail the size of a fox. They adore each other, and Jellico is always watching out for his little sister. The vet believes they are 5-6 months old. They are in excellent health, have all their shots, are house-trained and have delightful personalities.

Because of Moonshadow and her health issues, we simply can’t keep them. Can anyone offer these kittens a home? If so, email Karen@karenmoning.com.

Tarot Cards

2010-04-15T16:55:00.022-04:00

When I announced the December release of Shadowfever (which has been moved to December 7th) I told you that we had a lot of cool stuff planned this year. I wanted to give you a quick peek at one of those things.

Last year, the uber-talented Mia showed me a few tarot cards inspired by the Fever series that she was working on for a wallpaper. When I saw the designs, I was blown away by the beauty of her art, the lushness of the images and the emotions that they evoked. Her Fever-inspired drawings inspired me.

I asked Mia if, instead of doing a wallpaper would she design an entire deck because I needed it for something. She rose to the challenge and created a tarot deck that exceeded all my hopes and expectations. She's been uncannily prescient, as if she and I were trolling the collective unconsciousness in tandem, selecting the same artistic tools, themes and motifs. It's been an exhilarating collaboration, the end result is stunning.

We wil be producing the tarot card deck. I'm not yet certain how we're going to make them available but we will be giving some away. Aren't they gorgeous?

(No, she doesn't know any Shadowfever spoilers, LOL!)

(Hate to have to add this, but after the last debacle, these cards are copyrighted to KMM, LLC, and are the sole and original creation of M. Suarez Amin)

FaceBook: Official Statement

2010-03-01T11:58:00.002-05:00

For those of you that have no idea any of this has been going on, skip this blog post. We make a concentrated effort to keep the drama offline but sometimes I have to come out and make a statement about recent events.

My relationship with my readers is a sacred trust, based on open communication, integrity and a whole lot of love and appreciation. I take what you say seriously and I try hard to make you happy. That being said, I accepted a long time ago that my stories will never make everyone happy—what thrills one person will be exactly what annoys another—that’s the nature of the profession.

But when it comes to other matters, when you guys tell me you’re unhappy, I listen. I try to incorporate your desires into the online world we’ve built together. The fan artwork, tributes, and siggys delight me. The fun you have interacting with each other is a joy to see.

So…when I start getting slammed with emails from fans, begging me to stop the infighting and problems between my characters at Facebook, I’m confused, concerned, and feel compelled to do something. Confused because there’s not enough time in my day to poke around Facebook and see what’s going on, concerned because I don’t understand why my characters are fighting with each other. I’ve never had time to explore the role-playing community.

The compelled-to-do-something part becomes problematic. I’ve gotten buried in emails lately (some short novellas!) that went into explicit detail about which of my characters said what about which of my other characters, and who said this or that, and what the other characters said back, and why they should or shouldn’t be allowed to say it, and would I please make it stop, and ask these Facebook users to take their unofficial pages down?

The characters that were fighting began emailing me.

The fans visiting those pages that were distressed by it began emailing me.

Everyone with an opinion began emailing me.

Before I knew it, I was in the middle of a bizarre situation in which I couldn’t possibly make everyone happy: A soap opera involving role-players (that I never even knew existed) who were portraying my characters, with everyone insisting I sort out their problems, like I was Ruler of the Facebook Universe and could resolve all these unofficial, unsanctioned and heretofore utterly unknown to me interactions and squabbles.

Guys, I’m just a writer.

Feelings are strong, tensions are high. I’ve gotten demands for official rules to control these pages (which I don’t have. In the future, I’ll try to have something legal drawn up but right now I don’t have the time.) I’ve gotten demands to shut these pages down (which I can’t do, and shouldn’t be asked to.) I’ve gotten demands to stop the ugliness (which I can’t do and shouldn’t be asked to.) It’s difficult for me to pull my head out of Shadowfever and look at this.

Still, when droves of my readers come to me, begging me to fix a problem, I try to fix it. It’s my nature and I love you guys. I brainstormed with my assistants what to do.

We decided to set up Official Character Pages, to defuse the tension. It took weeks of work, and the efforts of many to choose the images, buy them (I had to purchase the rights to them) alter them in unique ways to make them true to character, and design the pages. Leiha directed the project with her usual incredible enthusiasm and energy—there were many nights when I talked to her at 3 o’clock in the morning, when we were both still working—and I’m delighted with the end product. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I can’t thank everyone enough for helping these pages come together.

For those of you who wrote to tell me that my “unofficial” characters were being unkind to each other in ways that disturbed you, and that these unofficial Facebook pages—rather than making you interested in the books, were making you actively dislike the series and my characters—you now have a safe place to visit. I promise that if you stay on the official pages, the characters will be true to who and what they are in my books.

That’s the best I can do.

Many of you have written asking for my official statement. Here it is:

There are now OFFICIAL Facebook Pages for many of my characters. These are the only ones at Facebook run by KMM, LLC, with input from me, and with my approval. This does not mean I am always the one posting on those pages. I’m not. My various assistants handle them. As time permits, and I have something to say as that character, I will post it. Occasionally I may post excerpts of my copyrighted material at those pages.

Anyone that wants to run an UNOFFICIAL Facebook page or fan site for my characters is welcome to do so. This is what I ask of you:

• Make it clear that it is not run or sanctioned by KMM.

• Be true to the Fever world and characters.

• Do not post any of my copyrighted material, without my permission, unless it’s quotes of a few lines. I was told that one of the unofficial pages recently posted the Interview with JZB in its entirety. If you haven’t removed it, please do so. It’s exclusive copyrighted material that I don’t even have posted at my own website. Bantam Dell tightly controls my excerpt rights.

• Be considerate of others!

I cherish your enthusiasm, creativity and talent. I love you guys for sharing the love. I couldn’t ask for better fans! But do not fight with each other as my characters then come to me to sort it out. Dudes—police yourselves!

As you can probably tell by my last comment, I’m writing Dani’s POV this morning. Or rather I was until I made the mistake of looking at my personal email account and saw dozens more forwarded emails from my other account, with the dreaded title FACEBOOK PROBLEMS. I need to finish Shadowfever without getting dragged into a world where my characters aren’t my characters yet people are writing to complain to me about how unhappy they are with them. I’m loving writing Shadowfever, I’m lost in it, I’m pouring all I’ve got into it—heart and soul. I’m living there, and that’s where I need to be. I’ve waited four years to get here and I know you have, too, and this last book in the series means everything to me.

I know I’ve been gone a while and that’s hard on us all—I miss interacting with you!—but I must be able to turn things over to my assistants under Leiha’s direction, and trust that all is well until I return.

I know you can sort these Facebook/RPG problems out yourselves.

Stay to the lights!

Much love,
Karen

Icestorms and kittens...

2010-02-01T08:07:00.007-05:00

So we left Cincinnati for Georgia to escape the ice and snow. As you can see, that worked out real well. Above is my back yard yesterday.

In the midst of the storm, we got a special delivery, on iced kitten paws. I think they read my newsletter yesterday, saw the Wolf Run post and got the addresses mixed up, LOL.

I have a dilemna: I have the Goddess Empress, she-who-permits-no-others :) and I can't keep them. They are an extraordinary family of three toms. I think it's a dad and his two kittens. What's so extraordinary about them is how much a family they are. The dads dotes on and adores his kittens! He brought them to our back door, politely waited until we finally offered food, nudged his babies to it, waited until they ate, then walked over to me and licked and thanked me, and finally ate himself. He sees to them first, constantly. He's smart, well-behaved, well-groomed and gorgeous. The pictures don't do any of them justice.

We kept them inside last night because it was so cold. All three of them bedded down in our laundry area, used the litter box, ate and slept good and warm for the first time in who knows how long.

I'm two hours from Atlanta. I'll get them their shots, I'll get them spayed. They need a home, and they need to stay together. If you see the three of them interacting, you'll understand why. The dad licks, cuddles and grooms them like no male I've ever seen. He's been protecting them and keeping them alive for some time. I think the kittens are between 3-4 months. They're fluffy and beautiful. They were obviously house-cats that got turned out for some reason.

Can anyone offer these aristocats a home? Please email me at karen@karenmoning.com.

Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge

2010-01-31T14:42:00.003-05:00

Thanks to you wonderful Maniacs, I got to make a wish come true this past weekend.

We adopted a lion. By ‘we,’ I mean each of you who bought one of my signed books recently. Thank you!

A few months ago, my bookshelves were crammed with comp copies (those are free or discounted copies from my publisher) of my own books and I had no idea what to do with them. Leiha and I discussed giving them away but couldn’t come up with a way to do it that afforded everyone fair opportunity to acquire a signed copy if they wanted one.

So we listed them for sale for a reasonable price plus shipping, and when the money came in, after expenses, we’d made quite a bit. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

Meet Serandi—the Moning Maniacs’ lion! Isn’t he magnificent?

Serandi lives with his friend Singa at the Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge. He’s a five year old African male lion. At the Wolf Run website, they say he likes to “talk” to his visitors. That’s an understatement! Every woman that visited got a show, full of head-tossing, stalking and roaring. He’s a major flirt! He’s also hungry and needs a lot of things, so with the proceeds from my book sale, we’re sponsoring him.

If you’d like to learn more about Serandi and Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge, see some of the pictures I took (and an embarrassing clip of me getting spooked by some gorgeous wolves before I work up the courage to kiss them) visit my Wolf Run page.

New Covers for the Fever Series!

2010-01-30T08:07:00.009-05:00

I was going to wait until I had the final versions of them all, but I just saw the new Darkfever online so decided to debut them now, here.

Darkfever and Dreamfever are in their final incarnations. Bloodfever and Faefever are still being refined, but are essentially as they are. I love them!!! After much debate: person or no person? Scene or element? Big with wide appeal and no real genre definition or genre with a touch of noir? we came up with a look that we felt spoke well for the series, is eye-catching, tactile, atmospheric. The black at the top and bottom will be matte, the shot in the middle between the smoky lines will be gloss, and the name and title embossed. We chose to go for a less flashy, no foil, no fancy embossing look. It was a tough decision because my publisher was willing to go all out, no worries about cost, but in a sea of increasingly bling-y covers, it was this look that really stood out.

It was critical to me that it be a well-matched set. I like my sets to match in my own library. I also felt it important that a reader be comfortable reading the books anywhere: a doctor's office, in front of the kids, on a plane, wherever. I wanted them to appropriately represent the story within, and be lushly visual, while a little stark, hence the monochromatic scenes. I was also adamant that the say Book 1,2,3,4 of the Fever Series, so a new reader wouldn't be rudely surprised to realize they'd begun in the middle.

Darkfever is the beginning of an eerie journey, (I love the cobbled stone she's standing on, inside the circle) Bloodfever is heading toward the cracked-earth Burren and the vampire Malluce, Faefever is the terrifying event in the church (I liked the white shift as a final loss of innocence) and Dreamfever is the madly skewed Hall of All Days, elusive and hard to manipulate.

Thanks to all of you for your input at the message board over the last few months! I appreciated the time you took to post your thoughts. I hope you love them as much as we do!

xoxoxoxooo
(and now back to work on Shadowfever...:)
Karen

I think the pictures say it all...

2010-01-07T17:05:00.004-05:00

The bottom picture is where I was last year, matching outfits entirely inadvertent. The top two are where we are this year. Grrr. Just grrr.

What's the weather like where you are?

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T16:21:00.007-05:00

I’m about to ramble. There’s no thread of cohesion in this. No unity of theme or metaphor. You’ve been warned, LOL. When I was younger, every New Year’s Eve, I would think “this is going to be the party to rock all parties. This is going to be the one I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

It never was. I’ve never been to that New Year’s eve party I always saw in the movies. As I got older, I quit trying, and began to spend New Year’s alone. It was my time to reflect on how I got to where I was, what I wished I had and hadn’t done that year, and what I was going to do better next year. I make one-year, three-year and five-year lists every New Year’s eve, setting forth detailed personal and professional goals and analyzing them relative to the prior year. Thrilling, huh? While it’s great in terms of helping me accomplish goals, it gives me a dangerous tendency to say things like “when I achieve this, I’ll be happy” or “when I meet this deadline or goal, I’ll take a break.” When you’re always living in the future, happy and breaks tend to get fewer and farther between. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ungrateful. This is a melancholy moment. Sometimes I let myself wallow in minor melancholy moments to stave off a major one farther down the road.

I’ve lived most of my life assessing what I’m doing in these stark terms: In the moment when I lay dying, what will I look back on and decide made my life worthwhile?

Last night, I culled my memory for my happiest moments, beginning in my teens and moving up to the present. It was a lot of fun. I had an all-over warm glow by the time I was done. But I also had a startling realization. Not one of my happiest moments revolved around my career. Not that my career doesn’t make me happy—it does. I’m the luckiest woman in the world to be able to do something I love so much for a living, and be connected to so many of you through it.

But those truly stellar moments, those perfect ones that light up your soul and make you feel on fire—every single one of them revolved around three primary elements: the people I love, animals, nature.

Not once did I think “Oh, and there was that day I hit the New York Times bestseller list for the first time!” or “And the time I won the Rita award at the Saenger theatre!” (Although that was an awesome night, in part because I was in New Orleans and any night in New Orleans is magic. I love the town like I love Key West. There was also the thrill of walking through the dark city streets in a great evening gown with my friends, carrying a gold statue. But what I recall most about that night is that my baby sister, who’d flown in with me to attend the event, had to leave due to a medical emergency back home. I missed her! We would have had one of those parties I always kept trying to find on New Year’s, LOL.)

But I digress. Let me get back on track, sort of. I’ve decided that today I’m only going to write down the one-year list. And instead of tallying the things I plan to accomplish, I’m only going to write about the many stellar, take-your-breath away moments I want to have this year. I’m not thinking about writing or professional goals. I’m thinking about the personal stuff, and trusting the rest of it will find its way, if I work hard and love what I do.

I want to spend a lot of hours walking on the beach this year. I want to go zip-lining in Costa Rica with people I love. I want the best Pina Colada in a pineapple Cancun has to offer. I want to take one of those Fantasy Car Tours and test drive Barrons’ cars. I want to meet a ton of you at the events we have planned this year, and talk about life, not work. I want to read a lot of great books and take naps in the sun.

I’m finishing up Shadowfever in 2010 and you’ll have it in your hands sometime this year. I’m excited (and sad!) that Mac’s story is coming to a conclusion, but even more excited about what’s coming next!

Here’s my quote as the year draws to a close: Life’s not measured by the number the breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away.

So tell me two things:

What is your favorite, most meaningful quote? And what is your #1 New Year’s resolution?

PHOTO NOTES: Above pictures are a couple of my happy moments. 1. In Key West beneath a giant bougainvillea, on my way to a used book store, run by one of the most cantankerous men I've ever encountered who had a selection of hard-to-find books that could make me weep with envy. 2. Crawling around, chasing one of Hemmingway's six-toed cats while touring his Key West estate.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T08:42:00.002-05:00

Moonie's presents were a hit (as you can see by her new buddies to snooze by the fire with:) and I hope all of yours were, too! I had the clan in for Christmas yesterday and didn't get a chance to turn on my computer. I hope your day was fabulous, and the joy of the season continues throughout the New Year! xoxoxoxo Karen

Free KMM iPhone App available!

2009-12-23T14:58:00.003-05:00

Check out this article at Publisher's Weekly or Mashable. Random House is the first publisher to launch the program, in conjunction with Mobile Roadie.

We're working on getting a bunch of cool things set up on it. It's going to be one more way that you'll be able to stay on top of all things FEVER-related in 2010!

You can download it at iTunes or AppstoreHQ. (I'm sure there are other places, too. I'm not aware of them all.)

Stay tuned for lots of news and freebies in the coming months via the application...

I love Christmas!

2009-12-23T09:43:00.005-05:00

Always have. Every year when it's time to put up lights and decorations, I have a slight tendency to go just the tiniest bit overboard. But now I've managed to snag photos of a house that I can pull out every year as hands-down proof that I'm moderate, LOL! I LOVE this house. It makes me feel like a kid. The photos don't do it justice. Music plays, and the other night snow was falling and I just wanted to go live in their yard. Isn't it amazing?

Happy Christmas Eve eve!

Mac's tattoo!

2009-12-21T15:59:00.002-05:00

And here's what JZB tattooed on Mac!

Re-Introducing JZB's Tattoo!

2009-12-21T15:47:00.003-05:00

When we debuted the first version of JZB's tattoo, we encountered a complication. As generous as Mia is with her talent, she posted her original sketches for the dragons she incorporated into JZB's tattoo at her blog in 2004. After we unveiled the official tattoo, a person contacted us, claiming to have drawn those dragons in 2008, four years after Mia had posted it.

Absurdities aside, and despite proof that she is the artist, Mia asked that I retire her original tattoo and let her design one that doesn't use the contested element, copyright and watermark it, and walk away from the ugliness. Life is short. Creativity is abundant. I agreed with her philosophy and was delighted to find that I love the new tattoo even better than the first!!! Isn't it gorgeous?

This is priceless!

2009-12-21T08:28:00.007-05:00

You guys send me the BEST emails. I'm still laughing and what an adorable dog! (With such fine reading taste, too, LOL!)

Here's a bit from Emmy's mom, Becky:

The first time I read through a paperback copy of Darkfever, I left it on my lower booksehelf. My dog, Emmy, grabbed the book off the shelf and carried it to her bed to fall asleep with. I thought it was so cute that I grabbed my camera, an old pair of reading glasses, and took a picture of her. Since then, it has become a joke with my friends and family that whatever book I am reading, my dog also is reading. We call it the "Emmy reads" photo series.

Thanks so much for sharing, Becky! Merry Christmas to you and Emmy!

Fan art...

2009-12-05T13:53:00.006-05:00

Sometimes a reader sends me something divine, like this by Anne-Claire, a French reader and artist. Isn't it beautiful? While her vision of the characters differs from mine, I adore her interpretation of Mac and Jericho. What talent!

PS: if you share this with others, please don't remove the copyright or alter it in any way.

(Edited to add high resolution version, thanks Anne-Claire!)

The book that never got written...

2009-11-19T10:09:00.002-05:00

I've said before in interviews that I didn't want to write the Fever series, and that I had no intention of cooperating when the story idea began stalking me and wouldn't go away.

I had another Keltar novel planned. Don't get me wrong, I always intended to spin another series off my Highlanders, which is why I layered in all the complex background, but I had no idea the next series would be such a departure from what I had been writing until it was nearly done. By then it was too late to re-design and sell in a new cover.

Now you know where Darkfever's cover came from.

JZB Tattoo!

2009-10-29T16:48:00.006-04:00

Courtesy of the incredibly talented Mia, here is one of the...er, man's many crimson and black protection tattoos. This is no simple tattoo, be careful where you put it and what you do with it!

Vote for your favorite paranormal author!

2009-10-29T15:10:00.003-04:00

I recently got an email from Bitten by Books that I was one of eight authors nominated for 2009 Favorite Paranormal Author of the Year. I'm thrilled to be in such fabulous company--thanks to all of you. Be sure to drop by and vote for your fave! Voting ends October 31st at midnight.

JZB Protection Tattoo

2009-10-27T11:07:00.003-04:00

I almost forgot, I promised Leiha I would tease...we'll be unveiling one of JZB's tattoos very soon. It's...well, to-die-for, LOL. Seriously, it's wicked killer cool! More soon...

SPOILER ALERT!!!! Dreamfever Excerpt

2009-08-15T16:03:00.008-04:00

As promised in my newsletter, here is a nearly 15 minute (6 page) excerpt from Dreamfever. Due to the length of the excerpt it will take some time to load. It's worth it.

Do NOT listen if you don't want spoilers.

Enjoy!

DreamfeverDreamfever clip Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante

http://www.karenmoning.com/audio/kite.mp3

DREAMFEVER Audio Clip by Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross

2009-08-14T12:26:00.003-04:00

We have another teaser for you!

This is an audio outtake from the actual book, with Mac/JZB interaction (get your minds out of that gutter! LOL! The gutter doesn't come until tomorrow...oh! Did I say that?) Do not listen if you don't want to know anything about the book before you read it. Though it doesn't exactly contain what I would call spoilers, it is part of the book.

I was at Joseph Beth yesterday signing pre-orders and saw so many familiar names (Jo, crazy Jo, Stapes, Esther Marie, and many more) on the books! It was a total blast. I felt almost as if you were all sitting around me (with duct-tape over your mouths of course, because I wasn't being bombarded with questions). I can't wait to meet those of you coming in for the signing, and see familiar faces. I can't thank you enough for your support of Dreamfever and for helping independent bookstores like JB hold their place in the publishing world.

I hate to move from a happy note to an unpleasant topic but I have to say it, at least once.

Lately I've been hearing from authors and publishers that internet piracy of books has become such a significant problem that it’s destroying careers. Midlist authors are losing contracts because so many people are stealing the book instead of paying for it. Great new voices are being lost before they even really get to begin. I may be a hopeless idealist, but I believe most people don't think "Gee, I'm stealing a book." Rather they think, "Well, if it was illegal, surely someone would stop me, so it must be okay."

Unfortunately the Internet defies anyone's efforts to stop it. For every ten illegal copies pulled down, a hundred more go up. Passing a book to a friend is one thing. We all do it. But uploading it so thousands, and in some case tens of thousands can copy it? What are these people thinking? Do they want the authors to lose their jobs? Do they think authors shouldn't get paid for their work? I don't get the mind-set. But then I've spent most of my life working two jobs.

I think people don’t realize the crippling impact of what they’re doing when they download an illegal copy of a book, so I’m going to share a bit of personal information.

At a single illegal download site last month, over 70,000 copies of three of my books had been downloaded. 70,000 at one site! Does it hurt me financially? Yes. Will I survive it? Maybe. It depends on how much worse it gets. (Then there's the whole emotional component: creating springs from joy; to watch what you've created get stolen nihilates that joy. It's a tough tangle of emotions to balance.) Will less-successful authors survive it? No, many of them won’t. Many of them will lose their contracts, or quit writing because they can’t afford it anymore, and some will give up the ghost simply because they can't bear to see their hard work stolen. It is theft.

I love libraries. I love used book stores. But uploading books illegally so hundreds of thousands of others can download them illegally is wrong. It’s a violation of copyright, it’s illegal and it must stop. Illegal downloads end up driving prices higher for the actual book, and consign wonderful new voices to oblivion before they even get a chance to perfect their craft. I don’t know which bothers me more: the idea that I could lose my job, or the thought that there are fabulous storytellers out there I may never get to read because their contracts get cancelled due to poor sales. I love you guys and know you aren’t the ones doing it.

What I’m asking is that you raise the awareness of someone you know that is doing it. Save the midlist writers that may be the next Stephanie Meyer or Stephen King, and give anonymous theft a kick in the petunia!

If you come across a site offering illegal downloads of my books, please let us know at manager@karenmoning.com.

I'm hopping off my soapbox now.

I hope you love this clip! Stay tuned for a newsletter tomorrow or Sunday with something scorching!

Happy listening!

Karen

Dreamfever clip Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante

http://www.karenmoning.com/audio/drmclip2.mp3

2nd Audio Outtake

2009-08-12T17:39:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone, Leiha here. Karen promised you more clips from the Dreamfever audiobook but has been incredibly busy this week preparing for the release of Dreamfever and the simultaneous release of BloodRush so she sent me here in her stead to post the clip.

Outtakes are fun because they are the audio versions of deleted scenes and I know as a fan I want to hear and see as much as I can, even if it is a blooper. In fact, it's more fun because it is a blooper.

Enjoy!

Dreamfever out take by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante

And for those who can't see the player:

http://www.karenmoning.com/audio/philout.mp3

In lieu of a DREAMFEVER excerpt:

2009-08-09T12:27:00.006-04:00

Times have changed. I get that, no point in dragging my feet. I have two iPods: A hot pink one for Mac and a black one for me—although recently Mac, the wench, took mine. She thinks she’s a real badass. We’ll see…LOL.

But I digress. Although I enjoy the benefits of technology, I rue the loss of simple pleasures. Like Barrons, I love hot cars, the latest electronics and the greatest toys, but there’s a part of me that craves the tactile experience of old books and albums: the feel of a hefty hardcover in my hands, the smell of ink, the crackle of a page, even the annoying popping sound on a scratched album. Twenty years later, I still can’t sing Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut with skipping on one of the lines because my album did, LOL. It was a different world then.

I grew up in a time when the release of a new album by one of my favorite bands was an all-consuming experience. On those sweet but rare occasions that I got a new record as a teen, I’d close my bedroom door, start the music, sit down and study the artwork and lyrics, and totally immerse myself in that world. I miss that!

I recently read that it took the human race nearly 1500 years to double our collective knowledge, but that now—with the internet—we double our collective knowledge every 12-18 months. What it took us from 1 AD to 1500 AD to accomplish, we now accomplish in less than two years. It was a fascinating article that discussed how impossible it is for us to keep up with our own growth, and the stresses of trying to do so result in all kinds of problems from adrenal fatigue to serious illness.

Good fiction carves a bubble out of that fast-paced, frenetic world and takes you to a still place where what’s happening in the story erases the stresses and strains of daily life, and in that fictional world you can safely indulge in a wonderful escape. You can live dangerously, vibrantly, passionately, without fear.

That’s the experience we tried to create with the CD, BloodRush. We wanted to recapture the days-gone-by feel of sitting down and immersing in an album, of reading the lyrics that flesh out Mac’s story, and hearing her heart in the words. We wanted the visual imagery to complement the fictional world as perfectly as the lyrics did. We wanted the paper to be thick, glossy, the pictures beautiful, the type stylish yet readable, and the overall experience to be deliciously tactile. Erotic. Sleek. Sexy. Fun.

I hope it accomplishes what we’ve aimed for—takes you away to a simpler place: a world where everyone’s mission is clear, the stakes are defined, and the battle between good and evil can be safely enjoyed from the sidelines, and perhaps even shed some light on our own battles.

Here’s one of the pages from the booklet, the lyrics and a snippet of the song.

Enjoy!

Woman Child by Neil Dover

And the direct link for those who can't access the player:
http://www.karenmoning.com/audio/WomanChild.mp3

Audio Outtake--early!!!

2009-08-07T14:41:00.007-04:00

Okay, tensions are high, and if I could I would step into the board, in the flesh, and hang out with all of you in person, waiting for the release of Dreamfever.

I honestly can't tell you how much you guys mean to me. Some of you I've met, others I feel I know as well as my close friends, from reading your posts and watching you interact with each another.

I'm so proud of the MB community we've got. Sometimes when things are bothering me, all I have to do is think about the amazing slice of space we've created here together and my troubles melt away.

We all make mistakes. We all have strong feeling and opinions. Yet we all manage to stay bonded in a way that supercedes momentary difficulties or conflicts. That's magic, and you should be so proud of yourselves for what we've built together. I applaud all of you for blending into such an amazing group!

I don't know about you, but I need a good laugh! And I've got one for you. Here's Outtake 1, a few days early. Enjoy!

Dreamfever out take by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante

Direct link in case you don't see the player:
http://www.karenmoning.com/audio/natalieout.mp3

Audiobook Clips

2009-08-06T16:23:00.002-04:00

OMG, I just heard outtakes and clips from Dreamfever and I'm still reeling from the experience! It's amazing, sensational, divine! I adore Natalie's Mac, she's exactly what I had in mind and Phil as JZB (which is the only male voice I've heard so far) is swoon-worthy steel in a velvet glove. He purrs, he taunts, he melts me...LOL. You guys are SO going to love it!!! I can't wait for you to hear it!

Here's the rough timeline: we'd hoped to have the website changes and BloodRush ordering page up by now but there have been some kinks in the ecommerce page we're working out. We expect (keeping our fingers crossed) it will all go live sometime tomorrow, and if so, that's when the newsletter will go out, same time as the launch. The new pages contain all the information about the CD and will answer the questions you've been asking, including song titles, price, payment and shipping options, etc. If you pre-order (in the States) by August 12 by noon, it will ship out the morning of the 13th, priority mail which should get it to you by the release date. We've got some great stuff in the newsletter, including the alternative to the excerpt I promised (which is not one of the audio clips or outtakes:).

Stay tuned next week for some delicious audio treats from the Eargasmic Phil & Natalie as we build up to the release of Dreamfever on August 18th!

KAREN MARIE MONINGS’ DREAMFEVER—THE AUDIOBOOK SESSIONS

2009-07-25T17:46:00.015-04:00

A brief account of the studio recording of Ms. Monings’ incredible new Fever Series novel.

By Phil Gigante

I wanted to share some thoughts and feelings about having the chance to record Karens’ fantastic new book, Dreamfever.

Holy S***!!! Okay…that’s not very informative. Let me start at the top.

I became a fan of the Fever series while narrating the Highlander saga. I love the style, the grit and the arc of Fever. You do as well, or you wouldn’t be here reading this, so I won’t go into detail about the series or Dreamfever. (That’s right…NO SPOILERS!! Sorry!) I was incredibly pumped when I was asked to do the male voices in Dreamfever (thank you Karen—and thank you Moning Maniacs!), but I was also faced with a daunting challenge. I mean, voicing Barrons, V’lane, Darroc, Christian and…ahem…others…!!! Oh, man. I mean, we all know what they sound like, right? Right? In our heads?? And that’s the problem…ten different readers will have ten different interpretations of the beloved characters. Where to start? For me, at the top.

Enter Karen. That’s right, the Grand Mistress of the MacHalo herself, Ms. Moning was kind enough to take time with Natalie Ross (the AMAZING Mac, Dani, et. al.) and myself for a conference call to explore the characters and flow of Dreamfever. She discussed what she heard in the character’s voices. She also helped us with a bit of background info on these folks, as well as some “future insights” to help color our performances. (Again…NO SPOILERS…but I can’t wait until this book is out so I can discuss it!!)

Karen was bloody fantastic!! She gave us depth, insight and a strong emotional base for the characters and made our job much easier and more comfortable with her support. It was also a great surprise to learn we have so much in common, from Buffy to music to Star Trek-TNG (“I’m not gay—but, oh, Capt. Picard!??”). It is always a plus to discover someone you admire and respect is every bit as warm, kind and generous as you believed. Same page. Same bloody word. Thank you Karen!

So, we hit the studio on day one with an attitude, determined to do the best possible job we could with bringing the book to audio-life. We needed the desire to kick some serious ass—and we had it. Aiding the ass-kicking greatly was Kris K., our phenomenal engineer, who also engineered Kiss of the Highlander and the Audie winning Dark Highlander, and is the man who invented the “Voice” effect used in those books! We were in good hands.

I realize now that I can’t really give many details on the process without plot points. But I can say it was an amazing roller coaster ride through Macs’ ongoing saga. ”Static or Change” is how the Fae see the world…and Dreamfever is by no means Static! Natalie as Mac will make you laugh, cry, bite your nails and scream in frustration at the events she goes through. The arc of Macs’ journey takes you through her deepest despair and incredible triumphs. Her Dani will make you want to BE Dani…I did! LOL. I did everything I could to make sure the ongoing love/hate affair with Barrons is immediate and heartfelt. And that his voice will vibrate your…ahem…eardrums. There are great lines and moments from other characters, old and new(!) as well. Some sublime…some monsterous! The back and forth scenes between Natalie and myself were electric and some of the most fun I’ve ever had in the studio.

Wish I could say more…and perhaps after the book is released I can elaborate. (And share some outtakes! “Hey Mac, they’re interlopers…not antelopes!”) I know…I’m a big tease, sorry…but great foreplay always leads to a greater…well, you know! :)

Oh! And you have to get the BLOODRUSH soundtrack! (Yes, I’ve heard it!) There is an amazing mix of music there, from soft and tender, to fun and vibrant, to rip-off-your-clothes-now mosh pit goth! Neil is an incredible musician/songwriter whose work captures the feel of the Fever series to a “T”. Neil—I CANNOT get Taking Back the Night out of my head!

Enjoy the pics. Anticipate the book! It will be all you expect…and much more!

Natalie and I getting into character.No spoilers!I'm not going to tell you who I am right now. Kris cracking the whip. Natalie and I ready for anything!

BloodRush CD

2009-07-23T14:29:00.004-04:00

Press proofs are in!
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I honestly had no idea what went into producing a CD. And a 24-page booklet? Sheesh! With original material? (Including KMM interviews JZB!) Then we had to figure out how to make it available, and now here I sit with a 32-page application for an ecommerce page.
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Well worth it!
.
I couldn't be more thrilled with the end result. The above is the cover of the CD, also the cover of the booklet inside. The contents are sexy, edgy, intense. I keep my site PG-13, but my books aren't, nor is the CD, so caveat emptor: Parental Advisory.
.

I just heard that Brilliance is including Taking Back the Night--the sidhe-seers anthem--on the audio book of Dreamfever! Those of you that came and sang with us--you're going to be on an audiobook!--isn't that the coolest? Phil and Natalie are recording this week, and I believe he might pop over here to share a bit of the narrating experience with us.

Because we were working so hard on the CD, to get it done in time for pre-orders so it would ship conciding with Dreamfever's release date, the website updates are still in progress. I anticipate the updates will go live August 1, and we'll also have the BloodRush pre-order form up by then, too.
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I think you guys are going to love it!!!

Another BLOODRUSH picture and an overlooked thanks

2009-07-02T12:29:00.004-04:00

Here's a great shot from the studio!

Also, thanks Barb and Whitney for the chocolates you brought all the way from Germany! They were fabulous! Unfortunately I only got one because Neil ate them all, LOL.

BLOODRUSH, a belated thanks and the June newsletter...

2009-06-30T14:11:00.004-04:00

Yes, the newsletter IS going out today, but we've had a few last minute glitches. Thanks for your patience, I think you'll love it.

Here are a few pics from the BLOODRUSH event. Neil and I had a total blast! I just listened to the mastered version of Taking Back the Night and it gives me chills, you guys were so awesome!

It was wonderful seeing new faces, greeting familiar ones and making magic happen together. I can't wait to share the CD with you all.

Sue, thank you so much for the gorgeous necklace. You are so thoughtful and I need all the strength I can get. Angela, the bath products are to die for! I love sea salts! (And Daegus was beautiful!) Bonnie, you are so talented but I'm having to fight Jessi for the earrings and necklace, LOL. She adores you (as do we all!) Krissy, I love, love, love the hot pink photo album of our last get together at Basil's! Debbie, the N'Awlins gifts are wonderful. You know I have a special place in my heart for the city. I lost the peach pie to Neil, but I got the chips. And of course The Hat. (Yes, it deserves the capitals, LOL)

I can't thank you all enough for coming together for the event. I felt so much unity and support and love in the gathering, it humbles me. What a wonderful bunch of people!

You guys rock!

I just got a sneak peek at the August RT Book Reviews cover and

2009-06-17T08:28:00.006-04:00

wow! As I sit here with my coffee, no makeup and my short hair sticking up funny, I feel pretty good!

They did a great article and there's an excerpt in the August issue that you won't find anywhere else. From a POV you haven't seen yet :)

You can subscribe to RT Book Reviews here, or find out where to buy it here.

It goes on sale July 27th, but RT said that many of the big chains and Bookstores That Care will have it on the shelves earlier.

Oh, and stay tuned for two exciting new surprises coming, hopefully by the end of the month! I think you'll love them both!

The FINAL final Dreamfever cover...

2009-06-09T06:47:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post to let you know Bantam Dell tweaked the cover a bit more and here's the final art. I think it's gorgeous!

This is an entirely personal post and for those of you who

2009-05-11T07:05:00.013-04:00

aren't nature enthusiasts, you'll be bored. :) I love Spring and in the northern hills of GA, it's incredible, especially since our house backs up to a national forest preserve and we've got five acres covered with wild azaleas and mountain laurel. This year, I've become obsessed with my garden of red lillies. My camera isn't nailing the true blood-red of the blossom. They're almost too red, like heart-blood and if waxy, sweet and virginal magnolias were Mac 1.0's love, these bloody blossoms are definitely what Mac 4.0 would have worn to prom. With a sexy little black number and blood red heels. Before she blew up the high school, LOL.

That's Moonie--thanks to all of you for asking about her! She was a rescue that the Vet told me wouldn't survive a year when I found her--fifteen years ago, happy 15th to my girl! She has a few problems (CRF, heart issues) but she's in her stalky element up here, chasing foxes, snakes and bears, or just sunning on a warm stone. The two on the bench were taken in early April, before everything bloomed. The other is in front of a splash of mountain laurel.

Stay tuned for the May newsletter in just a few days! We've got some rocking news about an upcoming event in June and an excerpt in a fun new format that I think you all will love!

Also, another chapter from The Lady Lies is on the way...

We have a winner!

2009-04-29T15:37:00.000-04:00

You guys are amazing!

Congrats, Robin Wright, you won the Juicy ring! Good work! Please email your address to karen@karenmoning.com.

I said, Your mission: Find and decipher it. Tell me what I hid, and what it means.

Cait, aka tuskino_aiko came close, first, but didn't get it right. She recognized the runes but read them backwards.

A few minutes later, S. Fitzmaurice translated the runes right, but didn't know what it meant.

A few minutes after that, Robin Wright said: "Ogham letter. Ogham being the ancient Irish alphabet, but mostly translated using the similar alphabet of Basque, making a lot of the old Irish translations confusing. Anyway, it translates to the word Zigor, which in Basque means "Punisher".

Then, about thirty minutes after Cait's first try, she emailed again and said, "I got it. It's JZB's middle name. I was reading it backwards before. ZIGOR, Gender masculine, Usage: Basque, means "punishment." JZB is Basque and Pict!

Cait and Shawn, nice work! Choose from a signed copy of HC Faefever or Bloodfever and email me your address to send it to.

There's actually some debate over whether Zigor means "punisher" or "punished" in Basque.

Zigor is JZB's middle name.

Thanks for playing!

APRIL NEWSLETTER CONTEST—Prize

2009-04-29T12:46:00.004-04:00

Isn’t it fabulous? It’s a key ring. Really, a ring for keys. And it’s stupendously large. The picture doesn’t do it justice. The stone is brilliantly pink, accented by fifty glittering (fake) diamonds. Talk about major bling: one Juicy Couture key ring designed to stun. And I mean that literally. Be careful. The rock’s darn near a weapon!

Read on to the next entry below to find out what you have to do to win it.

APRIL NEWSLETTER CONTEST—Puzzle

2009-04-29T12:39:00.013-04:00

I’m always fascinated by the progression from sketch to final cover, and I thought you might be, too. The seventh jpeg is the finished art, printed and ready to be wrapped around the book.

This time, I asked Bantam Dell to let me conceal a clue on the cover, and the art department did a fantastic job accommodating my request. On the normal-size cover, in the bookstore, it’s not so easy to spot. I’m making it a little easier by giving you a high res shot of it.

Your mission: Find and decipher it. Tell me what I hid, and what it means.

The first person to figure it out and email Karen@karenmoning.com wins the Juicy key ring.

You MUST put the words “JUICY CONTEST” in the subject line so we can separate entries from other email.

Good luck!

Happy Valentine's Day/Giveaway!!!

2009-02-14T06:50:00.002-05:00

Read the rules and post your entry here at my message Board. Good luck!

Occasionally Mac scribbles something in her journal that makes me smile...

2008-12-09T07:08:00.002-05:00

One of my college Psych professors claimed that every choice we make in life revolves around our desire to acquire a single thing: sex.

He argued that it was a primitive, unalterable biological imperative (thereby excusing the human race our frequent idiocy?) He said that, from the clothing a person selected in the morning, to the food they shopped for, to the entertainment they sought, at the very root of it all, was our single-minded goal of attracting a mate and getting laid.

I thought he was a jackass, raised a manicured hand and told him so with lofty disdain. He challenged me to rebut. Mac 1.0 couldn’t.

But Mac 4.0 can.

Sure, a lot of life is about sex. But you have to pull up high, and look down on the human race with a bird’s-eye view to see the big picture, a thing I couldn’t do when I was nineteen and pretty in pink and pearls. Shudder. Just what kind of mate was I trying to attract back then? (Don’t expect me to analyze Mac 4.0’s predilection for black and blood. I get it, and I’m perfectly fine with it.)

So, what’s the big picture about our lust for sex?

We‘re not trying to acquire something. We want to feel something: Alive. Electrically, intensely, blazingly alive. Good. Bad. Pleasure. Pain. Bring it on--all of it.

For people who live small, I guess enough of that can found in sex.

But for those of us who live large, the most alive we ever feel is when we’re punching air with a fist, uncurling our middle finger with a cool smile, and flipping Death the big old bird.

~Mac’s journal

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas Annual Giveaway!

2008-12-08T18:00:00.008-05:00

It's time for our annual I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas giveaway!

Just like last year, we'll be kicking off twelve days of superfantabulous pinkness, beginning Sunday, December 14th. And just like last year, Mac went shopping and here's what she came back with:

1 pink duffle bag for toting the MacHalo

1 pink tea kettle for serving those scrumptious special teas to unsuspecting Inspectors

1 pink Pottery Barn picture frame for that oh-so-sexy shot of V'lane, strategically positioned behind the cash register just to irritate Barrons

1 pink electric personal trimmer for that down-south grooming a girl just can't do without

1 set of my three favorite pink OPI nail colors, plus files for those manicures I'm going to start doing when I finally get to have nails again

1 pink flat-iron for those cowl-licks that kick up from this eternal rain and on that dismal, drizzly subject…

1 perfectly pink umbrella to dream about using again when I've kicked all the Unseelie petunia off my streets

1 set of pink Victoria's Secret body wash, lotion and glitter in Pure Seduction and I hope he smells it in his dreams

1 pink flashlight for Shade-fighting

1 pink purse for stashing baby food jars of Unseelie inside

1 pink photo album for all the pictures of friends I'm going to have again when I finally GET OUT OF THIS RAINY CITY

Yes, that's only eleven. I always save the best for last. :)

This is the way it works: Sunday, Leiha will begin a thread called the I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas/Day One (Day Two, Day Three and so on) and everyone who posts a reply in that thread is eligible for that day's gift. I'll select the winner randomly at midnight (actually early the next morning when I get up to write, but only replies posted prior to midnight will be in the drawing.) Leiha will announce the winner when she posts the new thread for the subsequent giveaway day, and so on, until we reach the big day.

The prizes are already boxed and ready to ship, so you won't know which gift you've won until you get it in the mail.

However…the grand prize winner on Christmas Day will know what she's getting:

A pink gift certificate to one of Mac's favorite stores, Victoria's Secret for $100.00!

Happy Holidays!!! I love you guys and hope your Christmas season is filled with magic and joy!

Christmas ornaments!

2008-12-08T14:45:00.013-05:00

You guys are AMAZING!

Notice Barbie is carrying a copy of Darkfever in one arm and a flashlight in the other! I couldn't get a clear picture of Victoria's but on the back it says

"With love
Victoria and V'lane!
I know, I know, he's yours, yours, yours, siiiigh!"

Betty Boop has long been one of my faves! Oh, and I didn't get a picture of the one made from cups and lights that's hanging from my mantle--but it is gorgeous. Some came from TN, AL, FL, others came all the way from Germany and Africa!

These are just a few of the wonderful, funny, fabulous ornaments you guys sent that are decorating my tree and I treasure each one. I'm sorry I couldn't take pictures of all, but I'm tight on time right now (writing!) and I selfishly spent most of my time reading your cards and letters, laughing and exclaiming over the gifts, and ran short on time to take pics and post. What a huge box of presents! I was stunned when I opened it. You guys are so talented. I can't believe how many of you can make such beautiful things. I love that so many have your board names on them. Every time I look at the tree, it feels positively magic to me, plugged into the Fever world we share, and reminds me of what Christmas is all about. Connecting, giving, reaching out, coloring part of the world beautiful with the spirit of love.

You made my corner of the world extraordinary this year. Thank you!

In the face of such generosity, how could I refuse?

2008-11-15T08:58:00.005-05:00

Presenting the MacHalo, LOL!

Leiha and I are working out the packing/shipping details. More soon...

A belated birthday thanks...

2008-11-15T08:41:00.004-05:00

Much as Mac used to think “I’m pretty and my parents love me” and that was enough to get her through anything, I used to think “I’m smart and I’m strong” and I can survive no matter how bad things get. I placed my priorities on productivity, evolution and success. I had to be constantly learning, doing, working. My sense of self was predicated upon what I managed to accomplish each day. I come from a family of overachievers.

Then something came along that shifted my reality, and destroyed my paradigm. Illness, at it’s central nervous system worst, made me not only physically weak but severely impaired my cognitive function. At the bottom of the abyss, when everything you’ve based your sense of self on is stripped away, what’s left? How do you value yourself? How do you go on?

My mom says the universe never gives you more than you can handle and every trial has a greater gift if you hold still long enough to learn it. There aren’t many pictures of me before Lyme. I didn’t hold still much. There are thousands after Lyme.

What’s the point of this absurdly personal meandering?

Some of you, dear, amazing, remarkable readers, did something that was a punch to my heart in the very best of ways: a group of you made a donation to the Lyme Disease Foundation in my name for my birthday this year!

I no longer think I’m smart and I’m strong, and that’s enough. I think “I’m alive, I’m loved and I love.” I had to be kicked flat on my back, forced to hold still, to learn that lesson.

What a birthday gift! To give of your hard-earned money (especially in this economy!) to the illness that leveled me, for me. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you were inspired to give to others. There's a line in an upcoming song we plan to release (it's his best so far yet, btw) that says "I can't save all of you, but I'll take your hand, if you take your neighbors" and I feel like that's what you did for me. I’m honored and awed and love you guys!

This troubles me so I'm blogging about it to set the record straight.

2008-09-29T07:25:00.006-04:00

I recently received this in an email from a reader:

I love books. Especially paranormal ones, but I never condone rape in any form. I'm sorry to say I will not be reading the rest of this series and I will be telling my reading buddies to do the same.

The reason this bothers me is obvious. It implies that I do. No, no and no. This was my reply:

Dear ----,

I don't condone rape in any form, either, ever. Having been attacked twice in my life, I fully understand the many emotions and ramifications. (There's a thread at my message board about this very topic that sheds more insight.) The scene was not written gratituously or for sexual titilation. It was what it was: the Lord Master making good on his threat to take what Mac "prized most" which was her free will, by trying to turn her Pri-ya. In no way does the scene condone rape or forced intercourse, and in fact, in Mac's inner dialogue she recognizes the horror of what's happening: that she is being made to want something she so desperately doesn't want.

I have no idea where you got the idea that I "condoned" rape because I wrote a scene that contained it. Many authors write about serial killers and describe graphic torture, but I highly doubt they condone either. Because I have strong feelings about rape, because of what the scene signified and was intended to illustrate in the overall arc of the five-book series, I wrote the scene without naming body parts. I didn't make it erotic. I chose my words carefully.

It's sad. I agree. Mac's in a tough place right now. But I'll reiterate what I've been saying since the first book in this series came out: it's not a romance novel, or even a romance series. It's urban fantasy, with a dark edge, with mystery, suspense and eroticism. I've also said that there will be romance in it. It hasn't happened yet. It will happen when it's time. That time is approaching. I've also repeatedly assured my fans that I believe in happy endings. I do.

I attached the letter I wrote to Borders, to clarify more about Mac's journey, in case she hadn't seen it. (See prior blog entry.)

It makes me sad that this reader won't be around to see Mac get her HEA because she seems to have gotten the idea that because I write about a topic, I must condone it.

Sheesh, will somebody go lock up all those writers out there writing far creepier stuff than me?

---
Oh, and here's a funny one that made me LMAO. It was a one line email:

I love your books, but will you please get to the point or the end of this series.

Letter to Readers/Trivia Questions

2008-09-07T14:41:00.003-04:00

These were recently published in Borders' newsletter about the upcoming release of Faefever. I especially enjoyed writing the trivia questions, LOL.

Dear Reader:

When MacKayla Lane first sashayed into my head, pretty in pink, perfectly accessorized right down to her flawless manicure and pedicure, and began speaking to me in a sweet southern drawl, I rolled my eyes and started shopping around for another protagonist. No blushing southern belles for me, thank you. I prefer my heroines strong, smart and self-possessed.

For a while, MacKayla lurked at the edges of my mind, waving a dainty, embroidered handkerchief that looked like a family heirloom, trying to get my attention. I wouldn't have liked her if I'd met her on the street. I certainly didn't want her in my head for a few years while I told her five-book story, so I ignored her, and heaved a huge sigh of relief when she finally went away.

Unfortunately, she didn't stay away. She came back, obsessed with vengeance, and she'd changed so much that I didn't recognize her. Gone was the gorgeous, long blond hair, hacked short and dyed black, and her fashionable wardrobe had been replaced by urban grunge. Armed to the teeth, she was covered with blood—and the look in her eyes was pure murder.

This time, when she began talking, I listened. Her sister had been killed, she told me in tight, clipped tones, and her parents were too grief-stricken to push the case when the Garda closed it, so she'd gone to Dublin to track down the murderer herself.

But when she got there, she discovered she'd been living a life of lies for the past twenty-two years: that she and her sister were adopted; that they were descended from an ancient, Celtic bloodline of sidhe-seers—people who can see the Fae—and that a war to end all wars was coming, and supposedly she was the only one who could stop it. Little bit of pressure there, she snarled, waving a blood-tipped spear at me, for a sheltered Georgia peach whose greatest accomplishment to date was the launch of a letter-writing campaign against OPI that had gotten them to un-retire her favorite shade of pink polish.

I laughed and opened my laptop. I haven't stopped being riveted by her story since.

Like everything else about the Fever series, Mac is study in contrasts. She's soft and pretty and feminine but if you push her she hisses and spits and turns into steel. She loves sunshine, but spends most of her time lately in the rain and dark. She hates small places, and keeps getting trapped in them. She has no desire to be heroic, doesn't think she has it in her, but can't figure out how to abdicate responsibility for the mess the world's in when no one else will take it over for her. (She doesn't get that sometimes, that's all heroism really boils down to—refusing to quit.)

She's a fighter, she's a dreamer, she's a romantic. She wants her happily ever after, and I desperately want her to have it—which made writing Faefever one of the hardest things I've ever done. I knew where this installment was taking Mac, and it nearly killed us both.

I wrote Faefever fully aware that Mac was barreling toward her darkest hour, squirming with every page I completed. I've never been so invested, so emotionally connected to a character before—and how ironic, considering Mac began as my antithesis, a woman who'd never suffered any adversity or had to struggle for anything. As some of you may know, a little over four years ago, I was bit by a tick carrying Lyme Disease, but wasn't diagnosed for two and half years, by which time the disease had invaded my central nervous system, affecting my cognitive functions, and nearly crippling me. I went from being a strong, active woman who worked out every day and had boundless energy to sometimes having no more than two or three hours a day that I was able to be productive. Like Mac, my world became something completely different than anything I'd ever known. Like Mac, I had to find new pleasures, learn how to live with new constraints, in new ways.

And like Mac, I've learned that that which doesn't kill us really does makes us stronger and that, although the darkest hour is before dawn, dawn always comes and when it does, it's sweeter and more beautiful than any dawn preceding it, because life, too, is a study in contrasts, and without the bitter, sweet is just another bland taste on your tongue.

So, when you read Faefever, dear reader, rest assured that Mac's dawn is just around the corner. I'm a fighter and a dreamer and a romantic myself, and a big believer in happy endings. But the story in the Fever series must be told exactly as it is, precisely as it came to me, and when you get to the end of the series, you'll see that all of it had a purpose and a reason, and that, like all of our lives, Mac's story is stamped at the heart by the grand design of something divine.

Enjoy!—Karen

Trivia Questions About Faefever

1. Mac's most valuable talent is:
a. painting her fingernails fabulous shades of pink
b. choosing just the right accessories for any outfit
c. being able to sense Fae objects of power, especially the deadly Sinsar Dubh
d. pissing off Jericho Barrons

2. Jericho Barrons is
a. bossy, pushy and overbearing
b. drop dead sexy
c. brilliant, rich and preternaturally strong
d. torn most of the time between wanting to kill Mac or save her
e. all of the above

3. Which of the following is NOT a Seelie Hallow?
a. the Cauldron of Dagda
b. the Sword of Nuada
c. the Stone of Fal
d. the Corset of Brunhilde

4. Which of the following is NOT an Unseelie Hallow?
a. the Sinsar Dubh
b. the Chastity Belt of Aoibheal
c. the Sifting Silvers
d. the Amulet

5. V'lane is
a. a very nice fairy that wants nothing more than to help Mac find the Sinsar Dubh
b. a good friend of Jericho Barrons—they're often found hanging out together in Temple Bar, sharing a pint
c. an erotically-charged, lethal death-by-sex Fae that keeps trying to seduce Mac
d. an Irish mobster obsessed with religious icons

6. To temporarily steal Fae strength and invincibility, one must:
a. eat the immortal flesh of a Fae
b. drink from the Cauldron of Dagda
c. have sex with a Fae
d. tattoo oneself with black and crimson runes

7. A Pri-ya is:
a. a page from the Sinsar Dubh
b. a human that has been turned into a mindless sexual slave by a death-by-sex Fae
c. another book Mac needs to find
d. a poisonous flower that grows on the Isle of Morar in Faery

8. In Faefever, Mac:
a. dyes her hair blonde again
b. has sex
c. runs home to Ashford where she cowers like a helpless southern belle and refuses to participate in books four and five of the Fever series, leaving the author high and dry
d. kisses V'lane a lot
e. both a and b
f. both b and d

(Answers: C, E, D, B, C, A, B, F)

Faefever Chapter 2

2008-09-02T17:30:00.003-04:00

is up finally. Here's the link.

Enjoy!

Faefever Chapter 1

2008-08-26T10:54:00.004-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that we pulled a thread down on the Message Board earlier today. One of you enterprising wiz’s beat us to announcing something that we'd been asked not to post the link to until something else went live. That “something else” is still not live, but another something else is going live, so we’ve been told we can now post the link to the ISSUU chapter excerpt. It is a longer excerpt than you’ve previously been given at my website.

We intended to send out a newsletter today, but due to the un-live state of the link that was supposed to be live, expect your newsletter sometime tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is the ISSUU link for Chapter One. Pass it on!

Oh, and I think the coolest way to view this excerpt is to go to the top of the page and click on the fullscreen option (fourth button over.) You may wish to bookmark the link. You never know if more might appear, LOL....

Faefever peek

2008-04-22T07:38:00.005-04:00

I've been looking at some of the artwork they've been doing for Faefever and really like it! Here's a page from the proofs (it's a jpeg so it's not as crisp as the adobe format but I couldn't figure out how to post the adobe file, which is probably a good thing because it had a lot more pages attached :)

Sorry I've been awol. I hope to be making several more posts this week, including more about Rafe and the good (doomed) Marquis.

Saint Patty's Day, a long lost manuscript and first book advances

2008-03-17T09:56:00.004-04:00

The Goddess Empress Moonshadow approves of the move, and is busy discovering intriguing new places to artfully arrange her goddessy feline limbs.

It’s good to be in Florida. It’s supposed to be 85 and sunny today and I plan to soak up the rays. I’ve suffered a bit of a relapse, the move kicked my butt, and I had to cancel my April appearance at a conference and booksigning at my Doctor’s orders but Leiha and I are working on putting something together for the release of Faefever, a sort of FeverCon 2008, where I hope to meet with many of you.

The move unearthed an interesting find. I burn everything I write that I don’t like (which infuriates my mother, who has half an early manuscript, is dying to know how it ends, and I no longer remember. I don’t know how she managed to get her hands on that half. I thought I’d burned it all.)

Turns out, over the years, my older sister was pilfering things to save. Last year while I was very sick with Lyme she gave me a box, which I never got around to opening, then forgot about. I rediscovered it in the move and lost a day sorting through it, appalled and fascinated. The box contained work from my high school and college days. Angsty but interesting now that I’m far removed. I was obsessed with the triad of sex, time and death even then—what healthy teen isn’t? The box also contained two early manuscripts, one of which was pretty good. I owe her for saving the stuff. It was a trip down memory lane I would have regretted not taking. A word of advice: don’t burn your work. You’ll enjoy every awful word of it some day.

The Lady Lies was the working title of the somewhat decent ms. (which has since been used by someone else.) It was the third novel I attempted to write (BTHM being the fifth, and the first to get published) and is a straight historical set during the Regency. I wrote it fourteen years ago, submitted it to a couple of agents, got a request for the whole manuscript but life interfered and I never sent it.

It’s not on par with what I write now. Yet it has… something. I considered polishing it up and publishing it, but it’s no longer good enough by my standards, regardless of whether or not it would make money. I write, I get better, I move on. Never look back. Still, at the same time, I love to read early stuff by my favorite authors. So, I’ve decided to post it here, online—an early Moning romance for those of you that wish I’d return to my roots. Just remember, it’s one of my first novels and I’m not rewriting it. It is what it is—a romance I wrote fourteen years ago. If there’s interest, I’ll continue posting more as time permits. It may be a week or so before I get the first chapter up.

I’ve been getting questions about ARC’s for Faefever. There will be a limited quantity of numbered editions printed. Very few are being made and sent out. I ask that if you receive one, please do not post spoilers at the board prior to release of the book. There are big developments in Faefever. Don’t spoil it for other readers.

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day which is always a day of celebration for me. Ten years ago, on March 17th, 1998 at 2:23 in the afternoon—no, you never forget--I was working at Great American Insurance when I got the call: Maggie Crawford with Bantam Dell had finished reading Beyond the Highland Mist and wanted to offer me a two-book contract.

Life distilled to a moment of perfect happiness. I walked around in a bubble of imperturbable joy for weeks. After I got off the phone, I read and re-read the salient points of the deal that I’d scribbled (on a lunch-stained paper towel because I’d been so shaky and nervous that I’d not been able to find a single sheet of paper on my paper-covered desk) trying to convince myself that it had really happened. I’d sold a manuscript to a major publishing house; the eight-hundred pound gorilla, no less! Little did they know, I was so hungry to be a writer, I would have paid them to publish me.

For the curious: I got a $5,000.00 advance for BTHM. We don’t get into this business for the money up front. If we’re very lucky, we make some on the other end.

When I first began writing I taped a quote to the top of my computer screen so I’d see it every time I wrote.

When you chase a dream the Universe conspires to help you get it.

I believe this. Chase hard. And have a blessed and happy Saint Patty’s Day.

MAC vs. the SHADES is here!

2008-02-18T08:37:00.005-05:00

For those of you who’ve enjoyed reading about MacKayla Lane kicking Fae petunia, driving the deadly, life-sucking Shades from Barrons Books & Baubles, it’s time to take a shot at it yourself. Grab your flashlight, come on in, and see if you can survive a bookstore full of Unseelie.

Go to http://www.sidhe-seersinc.com/ and look for the new hidden link.

Goal: stay alive and kill as many Shades as possible. Come on over to my message board and brag about your high score in the new section titled Barrons Books & Baubles.

Have fun!

Karen

Currently playing on my iPod: Marilyn Manson - If I was Your Vampire

2008-02-09T09:52:00.000-05:00

While I had Chronic Lyme Disease, I couldn’t work out, and I used to be a workout junkie, hopelessly addicted to endorphins. If I got depressed about something, I’d work out till I flooded my brain with too many endorphins to continue brooding. Cheap trick but it worked. Watching my body cripple up from Lyme arthritis was…well, I don’t want to think about that any more.

I can work out again! I’ve been doing an hour of cardio every other day for over a month, yoga and light weights. It's heaven.

So, what does all this have to do with Marilyn Manson and vampires? The song makes me kick elliptical petunia! It's moody, intense, passionate, and very weird, but then it is Marilyn Manson. I'm also listening to Shout 2000 by Disturbed and, since a lot of you write to ask what I read, it’s currently Stephen King’s Duma Key which I’m loving, (his comments about art and creating are pearls of wisdom from a Master) and I just finished Gena Sowalter’s latest ARC, The Darkest Kiss from her Lords of the Underworld series, also fabulous! (Television rights to her book Red Handed were just sold, so we may see another fascinating paranormal TV series in the near future.) The Darkest Pleasure is next. (I linked to the cover because I think it's sexy.)

Mac vs. the Shades is almost here! We’re finishing two more screens and beta-testing, and it really will be ready to launch this week. My web designers have outdone themselves with this one. I can’t wait till you see it.

My workout playlist is almost all Manson, Disturbed, Rob Zombie and NIN. I need some new tunes. What do you listen to when you work out? Please help me build a new playlist.

Audie Awards

2008-02-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

I just learned that Beyond the Highland Mist, narrated by Phil Gigante has been nominated for an Audie Award this year, Darkfever was nominated for two last year, but didn't win. Maybe this year will be different. I get such a kick out of hearing my stories brought to life, and it's wonderful to know others thoroughly enjoyed Gigante's narration. The complete list of Audie Nominees is here.

Still waiting on the update to sidhe-seersinc.com. I expect it will be a few more days.

Karen Marie Moning

ICED Book Launch Party

$1,000 of ICE

Upcoming Releases

UK FEVER!

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About the FEVER series: author notes (contains spoilers)

I'm featured at Barnes & Noble!

A bit about my past...

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Sad News

SEX FROM BARRONS POV

What a cat knows

Graphic novels, comic strips and fan art

Cover reveal!

Free Valentine MP3 Download—one day ONLY!

Valentine's Day Contest!

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You guys are a-fecking-mazing!

Booksigning in NOLA--an apology

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On spoilers and chatrooms and awesome fans...

Thank you!

SHADOWSONG order page is up!

Shadowfever TV Commercial

Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge

BloodRush CD art

SHADOWSONG

Happy Holidays!

Christmas cheer!

Rates at Le Pavillon--change

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KMM Shadowfever Book Launch Party details!

Recording Shadowsong!

First look at Shadowfever!

In my next life

Shadowfever Launch Party Details!

Website re-design

Goody Bag Giveaway!

I had SUCH an amazing time at FeverCon!

Shadowfever Excerpt that Phil read at FeverCon

FEVERCON

COSTUME BALL ATTIRE

FEVERCON Ticket Contest!

FEVERCON Itinerary!

SHADOWFEVER cover and synopsis

UNHOLY GHOSTS by Stacia Kane

Blood Lily revisted, Moonie and ShadowFever Cover...

FEVERCON

Update on the kittens

Tarot Cards

FaceBook: Official Statement

Icestorms and kittens...

Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge

New Covers for the Fever Series!

I think the pictures say it all...

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Free KMM iPhone App available!

I love Christmas!

Mac's tattoo!

Re-Introducing JZB's Tattoo!

This is priceless!

Fan art...

The book that never got written...

JZB Tattoo!

Vote for your favorite paranormal author!

JZB Protection Tattoo

SPOILER ALERT!!!! Dreamfever Excerpt

DREAMFEVER Audio Clip by Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross

2nd Audio Outtake

In lieu of a DREAMFEVER excerpt:

Audio Outtake--early!!!

Audiobook Clips

KAREN MARIE MONINGS’ DREAMFEVER—THE AUDIOBOOK SESSIONS

BloodRush CD

Another BLOODRUSH picture and an overlooked thanks

BLOODRUSH, a belated thanks and the June newsletter...

Notes on the Fever Series--SPOILERS

SHADOWFEVER first 2 chapters up at my website--SPOILERS