What a week it has been! Hell With the Lid Blown Off came out at the end of the first week of June, and I have been up to my elbows in promotion. My first pre-launch event was on June 13 at a Barnes & Noble in Gilbert, AZ, with Betty Webb and Dane McCaslin. My book was already out, but the B&N hadn’t gotten their copies yet. Still, the 13th was not an unlucky day since we had a nice crowd and I sold several earlier titles in the Alafair series.
Kate Carlisle (l.) and me
The official launch was at Poisoned Pen Bookstore on June 21, the Summer Solstice and my nephew Matt’s birthday, so an auspicious date. I appeared with Kate Carlisle and Eileen Brady, who also had new books, and Jenn McKinlay, who co-hosted with the store owner and my editor Barbara Peters. It was almost a standing-room only crowd, and, oh, we had fun. If you weren’t there, you missed a great afternoon. Rather than give you a blow-by-blow, check out Cathy Cole’s recap of the event at the Kittling Books blog.
Eileen Brady (l.), Barbara Peters, Yours Truly
Since then I’ve been a guest poster on many a great blog, including Reading the Past, where I wrote about how I try to create a world and invite readers in, and on the My Book, the Movie blog, upon which I dream-cast the movie that in some ideal world will be made of my book. Who do you think would be a good Alafair, I wonder?
l to r, Kate Carlisle, Eileen Brady, Jenn McKinlay, me
Just yesterday morning I was privileged to do an interview with Rich Fisher at KWGS, the Tulsa NPR radio station. He was a great interviewer, and I enjoyed talking about myself and my books. Who wouldn’t. It was really interesting for me to hear myself later when I listened to the podcast (which you can hear, too, Dear Deader, by clicking here). Apparently I’m something of a chuckler.
The best thing of all is that I’m getting fabulous reviews for Hell. Have a gander by going to the Reviews page for this book, link under the thumbnail to the right. Besides the starred review in Publishers Weekly, my favorite was the review from the New York Journal of Books on June 20, 2014. The reviewer said that the book was “suspenseful and gripping, with superb writing and unforgettable characters. If you can only read one book this year, Hell With the Lid Blown Off should be that one.”
The only problem is that I wonder how I’m going to live up to that with the next book? I can only try!
p.s. all photos were taken by my husband at the Poisoned Pen Book Launch on June 21.
June 28th, 2014
Donis ,Read the new book the best I can say is it is like having your very best friend over for a wonderful visit, to short a visit but a great time was had, now time for my mother to read it, born in 1928 she loves your books and can relate to a lot of the things you write about. Look forward to the next,
June 28th, 2014
Thank you so much, Janice. Give my regards to you mom!