Dante's Delinquents
The Newsletter for Fantasy Author Karen Chance
Volume 3, Issue 2
March 20, 2008
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Cassie's Back! Our big news is the publication of Embrace the Night, the third Cassie Palmer novel, on April 1! In case you haven't checked out the web page recently, we've added a bunch of fun new items to celebrate: To read two sample chapters, please click here. To view the new, live action trailer, click here. To read the graphic novel version of chapter one, click here. We've also just received some early reviews: Cassie--in her struggles between her passionate need for independence, her burgeoning feelings for Mircea and her conflicts with her new role as Pythia--is a well-rounded character, and the intensity and complexity of the plot puts her through her paces physically, emotionally and psychically. --Publishers Weekly MonstersandCritics.com also had nice things to say: Sprinkled with some scintillating encounters with Mircea, Cassie begins to grow into her new title as she discovers it’s not simply the geis that draws them together. Quick pacing and imaginative use of some old mythologies blend into a captivating read that will leave readers clamoring for more. --MonstersandCritics.com |
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New Series This year also sees the start of a brand-new series for us, with a very unusual protagonist. Dorina Basarab is a dhampir, with a human mother and a vampire father. She’s also stark staring mad. It’s the result of a human body combined with the vampire killing instinct, and while she isn’t insane all the time, she does have frequent psychotic episodes. She doesn’t normally remember what took place during these, but the body count that she finds on waking usually gives her a clue. Dory’s unusual psychology made her both fun and a challenge to write. How does a crazy person think, anyway? (The rumors that we’d know all about that personally are, of course, vicious lies). Exploring her father issues was another interesting aspect—dysfunctional doesn’t start to cover it when one part of the family is naturally designed to prey on another. And just to make it a little more crazy, how would Dory handle being forced to take on a dangerous assignment with a master vampire for a partner? Especially if said vampire was dug up by her estranged father and was one to whom she felt a very unwilling attraction? Ah, fun times. |
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"The Day of the Dead" Short Story "The Day of the Dead" features Tomas, a character from the Cassandra Palmer novels, who was last seen cooling his heels in Faerie. He’ll show up again in the series, but what about in the meantime? What does a powerful, four-hundred-year-old vampire with a serious grudge against his old mass murdering master to do when he suddenly finds himself with too much time on his hands? Hang around Faerie, where there’s nothing to eat (Fey blood=nasty) just because our intrepid heroine parked him there? Uh, no. Not so much. Because Tomas is obsessed, and has been for pretty much his whole existence, with one thing: taking out Alejandro, the aforementioned murdering bastard. In “The Day of the Dead,” he slips back into our world to confront his nemesis, only to find unexpected help in the form of a band of magical mercenaries. Think the A-Team with spells and potions instead of (well, actually in addition to) guns and knives and things that go boom. It makes for a lot of mayhem down Mexico way. Look for "The Day of the Dead" in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance from UK publisher Constable and Robinson (July 2008)! |
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Other News "Rogue Elements" short story: Someone is kidnapping werewolves, and not just any wolves at that: every one is the daughter of an important clan leader. Desperate to find his daughter, Sebastian Arnou does the unthinkable: he goes to the Silver Circle of light magic users for aid. Their version of a police force is known as the War Mage Corps, and although they agree to help, few have much experience with Weres. The exception is disgraced, on-the-edge-of-being-canned war mage Lia de Croissets, whose mother happened to be a high ranking member of the important Were clan Lobizon. Someone with a werewolf mother isn’t much trusted by the Corps, and a mage with a human father is equally suspect as far as the clans are concerned. But her knowledge of Were customs and her background in human magic make Lia unmistakably the best person for the job. Whether they will be enough to keep her alive is another matter. Look for "Rogue Elements" in the Wolfesbane and Mistletoe Christmas Anthology from Berkeley in October 2008! Two anthologies for 2009: We also just found out that we'll have a novella in Inked, a great new Berkeley anthology for 2009. It's all about magical tattoos, so should be a lot of fun! And we'll have a short story in Strange Brew, a dark magic anthology. More on these later. |
Contest Stuff
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Contest Winners We have a LOT of contest news this time around. First, we hadn't planned to do this until April 1, but the books came in early so why make you wait? The answer to the trivia question was, as most of you guessed, bad boys Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. Identifying either correctly won you an entry into the drawing. The winners of our contests for signed copies of Embrace the Night are as follows:
Name that Book contest (for gift certificates to Barnes and Noble):
Winner of $50.00 gift certificate: Melinda Palmer Winner of $25.00 gift certificate: Frankie McKenna Congrats to you all! Please send us the snail mail address to which you'd like your prizes sent. For verification, please use the email address with which you entered the contest. Any prizes unclaimed by 5/1/08 will be reawarded in a random drawing. Don't let someone else get your stuff! Contact us today! |
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New Contests Web Site contest:
A new contest has been posted to the Mailing List page for five signed copies of Midnight's Daughter.
Delinquent's Only contest:
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