Succubi Like It Hot – Cover and Release Date!

Ignore the um, lack of Nano updates at the moment! I’m still doing it, just regrouping for a new attack plan.

BUT! I have cover art to share! Pretty, pretty cover art. Wanna see?

So sweaty under that jacket. So yummy.

For those of you playing along at home, the first book features Noah, my fallen angel. This book features Zane, my dark n’ sexy vampire. Love it. I can’t decide which one I like more!

And if you’re wanting to pick up book two, the release date has been moved up a week. Woot! So look for it on January 19th instead of January 26th. Exciting, isn’t it?

Look at me! I got reviewed in Publishers Weekly!

Woot! It’s a big deal for any author to be reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly, and they liked my book…mostly!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704403.html?industryid=47141

They said:

The cosmology of this battle between good and evil approaches Saturday morning cartoon levels of unsophistication; the mystery could be solved by Scooby-Doo; and the big-breasted bombshells and hunky men are cookie-cutter romance standard, but Myles’s debut somehow sustains an extraordinary, confectionery appeal. After suffering a vampire bite and enjoying passionate sex with a fallen angel, mousy museum curator Jackie Brighton is transformed into a gorgeous, sexually ravenous succubus. Guided by porn star succubus Remy Summore, Jackie is drawn into the search for a magical halo and a love triangle with fallen angel Noah and vampire bouncer Zane. Myles manages to be cleverly hilarious while making all her jokes work for the plot. These particular characters may not be deep enough to hold up through the planned sequel, but Myles’s sexy, wacky humor is definitely something to watch. (Jan.)

Emphasis is mine. I’m pretty darn thrilled.

Cover Art! And a sample chapter!

YAY! Finally I can show the cover for GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI:

I absolutely freaking love it. So sexy! What do you think?

Want a bit more?

Here’s Chapter 1.

More Books to Pocket

So this popped up on PM late yesterday:

 Author of GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI Jill Myles’s next book in the Succubus Diaries series, as well as the first book in a new paranormal romance series set at a paranormal dating agency, to Micki Nuding at Pocket, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (world).

 Pause. HOORAY!!!!!!! Pause.

I am so terribly excited to be doing two more books with Pocket! I love my publisher and my editor is fabulous, so I’ve been pretty much on cloud nine since RWA, when we discussed the new books.

What this deal contains:

Book 3 of the Succubus Diaries, which I am calling MY FAIR SUCCUBI. It picks up where book 2 left off, in the ongoing series of my characters that starred in both book 1 and book 2. Things will be wrapped up. Other things will be called into question. Sex will be had. It will be glorious. And fun.

(For those of you that have asked me if the books are a typical romance…yes and no. YES in that the relationships drive the entire story. NO in that it’s not all wrapped up in a bow and happily ever after at the end of Book 1. I’ve compared it to the Katie Macalister Aisling Grey series – which are totally hilarious, btw – multiple books about the same romantic couple. They’ll get their happily ever after, naturally, but we’re going to play with the relationship for a bit longer. In evil, evil ways. Fun ways, but mostly evil. I do have a definite end in mind, though.)

MY FAIR SUCCUBI (title subject to change) comes out in February 2011. Kind of a ways away – a full year out from book 2. But I’ll be posting short stories set in the same world and teasers to my website along the way, so hopefully it will not feel so long.  

The book deal ALSO includes a new book, which is tentatively called HEAT. This book *is* a more traditional romance. It’s a very loose series that will be based on different sets of characters that work for – or interact with – a dating agency that caters exclusively to paranormal clients. At the agency, clients don’t like to date vampires because they’re not into corpses. Werewolves don’t date outside their kind. Were-cougars and were-foxes might mix it up with a were-bear, but never a were-deer. And pretty much no one wants to date the harpy. Naturally, this makes matchmaking a little bit tricky.

The first book stars Bathsheba Ward, the office manager of Midnight Liaisons (the dating agency). Humans are forbidden to date members of the Paranormal Alliance, but she’s been blackmailed into going out with a male were-cougar who is in desperate need of a date (even a yucky human one).

I’m really excited about this one, because it was a ton of fun to write and I can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks about it. I’m noodling with a loose sequel, and I can’t wait to tell more stories in this setting. This one is scheduled for August 2011.

I’ll be updating my webpage with more info on the new series soon enough. But right now, I’m just super excited to have more books with Pocket Books.

Hooray!

Something you should read

Because I’m totally guilty of this too.

How many times have aspiring authors said to ourselves “I really want to publish 3 or 4 books a year because I can totally handle it!” and then get frustrated when this whole publishing thing takes a wee bit longer than we imagine?

*raises hand* Guilty as charged. Yes, I can write fast. Yes, I’ve said this before. Do I have the same perception of how much I can output a year as I did when I was querying?

As Whitney would say, HELL TO THE NO.

Anyhoo, go read. Agent Holly says some pretty awesome stuff. 

http://waxmanagency.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/letting-the-market-speak/

Galleys

Just heard from my editor’s assistant – galleys for book 2 (and the final stage for both books — at least on my end!) are heading my way for a Thursday delivery.

Hmmm.

Work on galleys or watch Supernatural…?
Work on galleys, or watch Sam and Dean?
Galleys? Winchesters?

Oh decisions, decisions.

Some great publishing links

Are you reading these? Here’s a sampling of what I’ve loved recently:

http://internspills.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-you-missed-at-this-mornings.html  << — The Intern talks about what was hot at their last editorial meeting. NUMBERS. Yes, everyone that was worried that vampires are in or out, worry no longer! 1001 Vampires are in (but not 365 vampires).

http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/07/publishometer-how-to-tell-whether.html <<– Editorial Anonymous’s Publishometer. Hilarious. And works scarily well.

http://heydeadguy.typepad.com/heydeadguy/2009/08/frogs-and-bears-and-chickens-and-things.html << — Barbara Poelle used to be a stand-up comedian. Now she’s a literary agent. All of her blog posts (which you can access by clicking on her name on the right-hand side) are utterly side-splitting. Look for the one about dreams. I wept. Seriously.

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/08/print-runs-for-serious-here.html <<–Moonrat brings the srs bizness when discussing print runs. Hint: They’re all made up.

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/08/be-true-to-you.html <<– Jessica Faust points out what I’ve tried (and probably failed) to mention a million times. Write what you love, and write what calls to you, not what you think will sell.

http://waxmanagency.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/one-thing-id-love-to-see/ << — My agent. Still looking for YA. She loves voice in a manuscript. And she’s awesome.

http://romanticreads.net/2009/07/27/looking-for-an-intern/ <<– Dorchester is looking for an intern. Sure, it doesn’t pay cash, but it pays in KNOWLEDGE, my friends. Knowledge.

And that’s all I got. I’ll hold the drawing for the Amazon gift certificate tomorrow! (and we all know ‘tomorrow’ means ‘whenever i get to it’ right? right.)

Overshooting the Box

I’m making an effort to blog a bit more, you guys! But I keep running out of stuff to talk about. It’s weird, because I used to love to yammer about stuff I’m working on, but now that things are contracted or heading out on submission, I get weird talking about them. Now I’m scrambling for stuff to talk about! And I doubt you want to hear about the latest cute things my cats did, or how many times I played Left 4 Dead this weekend, or how many times my husband beat me at Magic. Or the chores I did not do. So I’m going to try and keep this somewhat industry-related for a bit (and if you have something you want me to blog about, feel free to poke me in the comments).

 So let’s talk about your favorite subject, and mine. Paranormals.

 When I was at RWA, paranormals were brought up and discussed repeatedly. As one of the genres that’s ‘here to stay’, it’s getting as much face-time as historical or contemporary or anything else you can imagine. Not to mention that if you troll any editor or agent tweets (or blogs) online, paranormal remains a hot topic.

 And as you can imagine, everyone has horror stories of ‘paranormals that went too far’.

 Everyone jokes about vampires being out one moment, then being in. Big cat shifters are in. Werewolves (actually, I have no idea if werewolves are in or not). And then there was the discussion a few days ago here about if were-bears are sexy. Some say yes. Some say no. Steampunk and post-apocalyptic are the buzz words of the moment.  Man-harem romances are in (like the BDB), but are quickly getting glutted. Demons remain hot, angels are a case-by-case scenario, and no one seems to show much enthusiasm when you mention the words ‘time’ and ‘travel’ together.

 Here’s the thing though. Don’t be weird. Just because it’s paranormal does not give you the go-ahead to throw every wacky idea down on paper and call it a day. I’m guilty of this too! I know! I came up with an idea a few weeks ago and immediately emailed my crit girls and said “OHMYGOD I just had the best idea ever. It’s X meets Y! It’s like Z, but totally sexified up and (cue buzzword here)! What do you guys think?”

 Friend One: Um.

Friend Two: Uh…yay?

Obviously they were not feeling the vibe that I was. Now it’s true that a lot of stuff doesn’t sound so hot until you read it. I had a horrible time trying to tell everyone what my succubus books were about (“It’s a girl! Who is like… a sex vampire! But not!”). And the valkyrie book that I pitched long, long ago? Yeah. Didn’t happen.

But there’s a fine line between Batshit Crazy and F#cking Genius. Know the line. Be its friend.

F#cking Genius: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (did you see that? You take the familiar and give it a twist and suddenly everyone is amazed at how clever you are)

Batshit Crazy: P&P&Z…but you make Mr. Darcy the zombie. That’s just nasty.

 Or here’s another example.

Let’s say you want to write a book about shifters that run a summer camp just for shifter kids. But all the good shifter types are taken, right? (there’s a reason for that). You could go with were-cats (too overdone) or werewolves (yawn) but you’re really wanting something that will make the reader sit down and take notice. Stand out in a crowd!

So you come up with… were-armadillos.

See the box? You just punched a hole right through it.

Box GOOD:  Shifter summer camp!

Box BAD: Shifter summer camp…with WERE-FREAKING-ARMADILLOS.

Seriously guys. There are bad were-animals out there. If it’s a vegetarian were-animal, it’s a bad idea. If you’ve ever had it hit your bumper on a farm road and you had to scrape it off your front tire? It’s a bad were-animal.

The trick is to delicately be inside the box, but at the same time, offer a new twist. Don’t re-invent the wheel! Give the wheel some jazzy spoke-beads and a nice flashy decal.

Shifter summer camp is a good idea but doesn’t really have that zing, right? What if all the shifters…don’t know how to shift? And they’re learning at summer camp? Or what if there’s a West Side Story rivalry between the were-dogs and the were-cats?

That’s your story. That’s how you jazz up the box.

Reminder:

 In the Box: A man-harem of immortal men in search of their soulmates and saving the world from um, demons!

 Box GOOD: A man-harem of immortal men (let’s make them Greek Reapers) in search of their soulmates (let’s make them rival Norse Valkyries!) and fighting over recruits for their cause (let’s say they’re hunting down souls)!

Box BAD: A man-harem of immortal men (Let’s make them Greek Reapers with skeleton hands and skeleton, um, manly bits! That only come to life when the heroine touches the skeletal peen!) in search of their soulmates (virgin widows who suffer from vagina dentata!) and fighting over (does it even matter at this point?)

 Inside the box. Insiiiiiide. Box is your friend. Don’t punch holes in the box.

RWA Quickie Recap and More

Hi all!

I’m back from RWA safe and sound, though I still feel like I’m in recovery mode. I didn’t forget about the contest (never fear!) but I’m going to need the weekend to finish catching up and mentally processing everything.

RWA was awesome, as usual. I missed all of the PAN track, almost all of the panels, but I had some really great meetings, caught up with friends, and basically handed a bookmark to anyone that was even remotely interested. The consensus? My covers are smoking hot, and the hero on the second cover might or might not have a baseball in his pants. I’m just saying.

I actually got to fly home first class, too! That was a first for me. When I went to check in with the airline, a message popped up on the screen. “Would you like to upgrade to first class for $135?”  This is like asking, “Would you like a free cookie with your frappucino?” or “Would you like a two-book contract instead of just one?” Total no brainer. Naturally, I said yes! So I got into my fancy first-class seat and…what a difference! Leg room galore, a blanket to keep me warm, and a nice little table separating me from my seatmate. There were even earphones, a TV, and breakfast. Unfortunately, I missed all of that since I totally passed out and fell asleep before the plane had even left the dock.

As soon as I got home…copyedits on book two were waiting for me! So I finished those…and went back to work, where my boss said “Oh good! You’re back! Here’s three projects!”

Story of my life. J So I’ve been a bit swamped. But! I am trying to dig my way out. I’m planning on a few more zombie fairy tales within the next month, and as long as I have publisher permission, I’m going to serialize the dinosaurs-conquistadors-Bermuda-Triangle romance. I’m thinking one chapter a week until it’s done, but we’ll see how much editing it needs.

So that’s the not so exciting, tl;dr update of my life. I’ll be back on Monday or so with the contest. Trying to decide if I want to give away signed books that I snagged at RWA or an Amazon gift certificate. Thoughts?

I am at RWA this week!

I will be at RWA this week. I’m not taking a laptop, so I won’t be blogging, but I will be Twittering and occasionally posting pictures when I remember.

Also! I have these:

Rack cards!

Rack cards and bookmarks! So if you want to look at my cover art, be sure and check the Goody Room, or flag me down (I plan on carrying plenty.

Also, if you get a bookmark or rack card, SAVE IT. I’m going to hold a contest when I get back, and you will need to answer the following question: How many man-nipples are on the bookmark/rack card? Fabulous prizes await.

Have fun this week!