New Covers!

NEW COVERS!

Sometimes, an independent author just feels the urge to shake things up. So I got my first three books, Dracula's Secret, Dracula's Desires, and Dracula Unleashed, new covers and pretty formatting. 

Amazon.com

 

Curse of the Spider Woman Cover!

Cover artist, Leah Suttle

Hooray! Today, I reveal not only my cover (and isn't it a beauty?), but also my release date for Curse of the Spider Woman.

You can purchase your James Bond meets Greek Mythology story (with consensual sex) on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23rd!!

Here's the back cover blurb.

Due to die….

Former anti-terrorist agent Rachel Havelock has two weeks to live. She intends to spend that time reveling in sex, sin, and excess. But the world still needs the giant spider shifter.

But the Gods intervene…

.

Her ex-boyfriend, Jordan Tasos, is in hot pursuit of the terrorists who are exploiting the Greek financial crisis for profit. Only Rachel and her spider powers – silk, venom, and eight legs- can help him stop the Heirs of Socrates from destroying Greece.

Can they beat the clock and save the world’s oldest democracy? Or will Rachel fall victim to the Curse of the Spider Woman?

If you want to contact my genius cover artist, go to www.LeahSuttle.com.

Interview with Lou Malcangi

Please welcome Lou Malcangi to my blog! Lou is the brilliant Art Director for Kensington Books and the designer of my own humble covers. I was so impressed with my artwork, I asked Lou if he would be willing to be interviewed.

Much to my delight, he agreed. :)

1. What is your job title?

Art Director, Cover Design Dept. I've been designing book covers since 1993.

2. Walk me through the design process for a book's cover. How do you choose the color palette, poses, models, fonts, where to place the title, blurb, and author's name?

Wow, that's a pretty intense question there! You're asking me to distill my professional existence into a few sentences, but here we go!
 
First of all each category of books seems to have its "look" political thrillers look like political thrillers and romance novels look like romance novels. We are not in the business of being vague or confusing the consumer. A book's cover is VERY important, especially to a new or unknown author. 

I have about 3 seconds of the consumers time to convince them to pick my cover up and give it a closer look. The real trick in book packaging is to look familiar but always try to incorporate some new, different, and exciting elements while designing. I like to work the entire design around my art/photo/illustration. I get especially excited when I feel that the the type I design doesn't just sit on top of the art but incorporates itself into the art work. 

There are more people than just myself who help direct the final look of a books cover, I usually work along with the books editor, and our sales dept management. 

Designing a cover is very much a cooperative effort. I am always on the look out for interesting compositions that that I can pick up and use in my books covers. I go to many sources for ideas, classical fine art, movie posters, comic books, ad on the side of a bus. I use all these influences as a starting point to help me achieve my goal, which is a great book cover.

3. Name a few of your current projects.

I usually work on the "butch" book covers :) Lots of thrillers, westerns and some cute mysteries as well.

 
4. What was your educational background? What prepared you for this career?

I just loved to draw, paint and create from the time I was a little kid buying comics and magazines in my local candy store in Queens NY.

I spent my childhood drawing superheroes, monsters, and TV personalities. As I got older, I started copying paintings from album covers to the backs of denim jackets. I thought that really taught me a lot about painting and composition. 

Then I really learned what it took to be an artist when I headed off to study painting at city university and the Art Students League here in NY. 

Somewhere in the midst of all my drawing, painting and sculpture classes I discovered graphic design. I had always been more of a fan of pop culture art than fine art, so commercial design came naturally. I always prefer a comic book or movie poster to the highbrow art that fill NYC art galleries. I fell in love with, and became obsessed with graphic design. Plus, being a geek who loved gadgets...I took to designing with a computer in a heartbeat.

 5. On those inevitable days when you feel like your brain is completely tapped out, what or who inspires you?

The mortgage bill...seriously I juggle so many projects at one time that if one is problematic or just stumps me, I can put it down and move to another book and come back later. Often to a good results and great relief to me. 

 6. How many people are in your department?

5 people design all the covers produced by Kensington, we're a busy bunch.

 7. Do you have any advice for someone interested in publishing as a career?

If you love books, and are interested in publishing, GO FOR IT! Get an internship, do anything to get your foot in the door.

 Do it when you're young and flexible career-wise. I loved reading as a kid and young adult and I really loved looking at those amazing book and album covers! I consider myself lucky to be doing what I do. If you love it, get involved with the business any way you can, internships, networking, groveling, whatever it takes. Life is so much easier when you have a career and not just a job.  

 

Thank you so very much, Lou! These are fantastic covers and now I want to read every one of them. :)

Dracula's Secret, Blood Wings #1
Dracula's Desires, Blood Wings #2
Dracula Unleashed, Blood Wings #3, to be released March 21, 2013

Dracula Unleashed!

Check it out! The third book in the Blood Wings series is now available for pre-order.

The release date is March 21, 2013.

After centuries as the Dracula of Legend, disguised as a male, Valerie Tate's current incarnation is the last thing she expected: mother of a precocious half-angel, half-vampire, and wife to two men. But Valerie is more familiar with battlefields than domesticity. . .
 
Some overwhelmed mothers relax with a glass of wine. Valerie soothes her immortal soul with a refreshing blood and coke. How else can she deal with her toddler Minerva's psychic powers--not to mention her determination to throw knives. Thank goodness for Valerie's two loves, John Jante, guide to Fallen Angels, and Lance Soleil, Angel of the Lost. Without them, the trauma of her dark past and her primal, Dracul urge for violence and power would overtake her. Yet in a world where humans and paranormals uncomfortably co-exist, Valerie's peace will be short-lived. . .

 Tensions have erupted with bombings and the emergence of creatures heralding the apocalypse itself. And Valerie's vampire brother and nemesis, Radu, is at the center of the conflict. Now Valerie finds herself at the forefront of an epic battle between good and evil--and facing a choice no woman in any realm should have to make. . .


Available at Amazon here.

Dracula's Desires comes out in two days!

Book Two of the Blood Wings series is on the cusp of being released!

Click here to pre-order.

Blood Wings Logo!

My Dracula books have a series title - Blood Wings!

And I have a logo now, too. :)

Isn't it AWESOME?? The Kensington Art department is full of geniuses. :)

YES!

Dracula's Secret, the first book in the Blood Wings series, is available for pre-order again!

It will be released July 19th, 2012.

I guess it wasn't delayed all that long!

I can't stop dancing!

OH. MY. GOD!

This is my gorgeous cover art for Dracula's Secret! I love how sexy and mysterious my heroine looks, and how strong and determined my hero is. YUM yum yum!

In additional news, Dracula's Secret will be available for pre-order within the week. It will have a mid-July release.

And to top it off, here is my back cover blurb.

In a new world where paranormals and humans share an uneasy coexistence, the most dangerous and sensual legend of the night lives once more—and one of the greatest secrets of all time is about to come out….

SHE HUNGERS FOR HIS LIGHT

She calls herself Valerie Tate. One of the few vampires left on earth, as beautiful as she is powerful, Valerie has resisted her craving for human blood for years, just as she once hid her true gender. But the night she lays eyes on the most enticing man she’s ever seen, it’s game over. He radiates goodness and light—and searing sexual energy.  Valerie must have him. Taste him. Consume him. For he is temptation—and he is her destiny…

HE BURNS FOR HER DARKNESS

Lance Soleil is a rugged war veteran who runs a homeless shelter in Portland. At first gaze, he knows what Valerie is—and wants her even more. But when he welcomes a pack of werewolves into his shelter, he attracts the attention of Valerie’s oldest rival—her bloodthirsty brother, Radu, who hopes to become the first vampire President of the United States. Valerie knows Radu has a hidden agenda, and with Lance’s help she is determined to stop his unholy rise to power. But first, she must risk their growing love by fully revealing herself—as the one and only Dracula…

Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com