Coming Soon to a City Near You (Maybe)

As we march toward the April 10 release of Royal Street (yay!), the schedule's starting to look a little crazy, but here are confirmed events for the year so far. I'll update as time gets closer and more dates are added:

Tuesday, April 10....Launch event at Garden District Books, New Orleans, LA, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Friday, April 13....Murder by the Book, Houston, TX, Time 6:30 p.m. Gotta do something special for Friday the 13th!

Monday, April 16...A Real Bookstore, Fairview, TX (Dallas area). Time TBA.

Friday, April 20....Barnes & Noble at the Summit, Birmingham, AL. 7 p.m.

Saturday, April 21...The Alabama Book Festival, Montgomery, AL. Old Town Montgomery. This is a great, free all-day event with multiple authors. Great chance to get multiple books signed!

Saturday, May 5...The Heart of Dixie Romance Writers' Annual Readers Luncheon, Huntsville, AL. I'm hosting a table, giving away fun stuff, and signing books. The keynote speaker is Lora Leigh--this will be fun!

August 8-12...Authors After Dark convention, New Orleans, LA. Five days of amazing authors. Jeaniene Frost, Nicole Peeler, Joey Hill, Diana Rowland....I'll be the biggest fangirl there! But I'll also be doing some panels, some events, giving stuff away--and taking folks on a tour of the New Orleans of Royal Street.

Stay tuned for more dates in April and May. Then I'm gonna need a LONG nap!

Spotted in Publisher's Weekly: Royal Street!

Today's issue of Publisher's Weekly hits the stands with the magazine's overview of Spring 2012 releases, including the staff's Top 10 picks in each genre.

Some happy dancing going on amidst the tornadoes in Alabama this morning to see Royal Street--which they called a "powerful first novel"--listed among PW's Top 10 SF/Fantasy/Horror books.

Well...yay!

Attention: Bloggers and Reviewers

PDF copies of ROYAL STREET are now available via NetGalley for reviewers!

Save the Date!

Royal Street is coming!

On Tuesday, April 10, I will be in New Orleans for a launch event at Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania Street. Time: 5:30 p.m. For more on the shop, which is located in the heart of Uptown New Orleans and only a few blocks from where I used to live, check out their website.

I'll add more dates as they get confirmed.

Lunch and Book-Signing, and Miscellaneous News

If you're going to be in the Huntsville, Ala., area on Saturday, May 5, I hope you'll pick up a ticket for the annual Reader's Luncheon hosted by the Heart of Dixie chapter of RWA. I'll be there with fresh-off-the-press copies of Royal Street, and hosting or co-hosting a table. These luncheons are always fun--and there are tons of free books and great prizes! Check HERE for details to come.

And a special thanks to Abigail at the awesome All Things Urban Fantasy for picking Royal Street as one of her Top 12 Picks for 2012!

There's still time to vote (through Dec. 29) for Royal Street for "Sneak Peak 2012 Cover" at All Things Urban Fantasy's Paranormal Cover Art Awards by clicking here and scrolling down. Vote for my awesome cover by artist Cliff Nielsen :-) Sure, I'm a little biased....

In other news....
I'm still waiting on a release date on book two in the Sentinels of New Orleans series, River Road, but it's on track for Fall 2012. Book three, tentatively titled Elysian Fields, is about two-thirds done.

Royal Street Cover--Vote for it!

The All Things Urban Fantasy blog is having its annual cover contest, and I just learned the awesome cover for Royal Street done by artist Cliff Nielsen is one of five nominated for "Best Sneak Peek for 2012." So...what are you waiting for? Head on over and vote!

http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/12/voting-is-now-open-3rd-annual.html#more

A Royal Street Photo Album: The Napoleon House

Today I'm continuing an ongoing series of photos from places that play an important role in my upcoming urban fantasy Royal Street. (Cue shameless self-promotion music.)

Today, let's visit the Napoleon House, which is one of my favorite spots in New Orleans. (And if you're going to be at Authors After Dark 2012 next August, I'm planning to take some readers over to the Napoleon House for a Pimm's Cup at least once.)

So, in Royal Street, a pivotal scene in the book takes place inside the Napoleon House, a French Quarter bar and restaurant at the corner of St. Louis and Chartres streets. Here's what it looks like during daylight hours (my scene takes place at night):

The Napoleon House was built around 1815 by New Orleans mayor Nicholas Girod as a private residence, and in 1821, Girod offered it to Napoleon Bonaparte when the emperor was exiled. Napoleon never lived there, but that's how it got its name. The Napoleon House has been in the same family since 1914. I chose the Napoleon House for a key setting because it was old enough to be familiar to the pirate Jean Lafitte, and I knew the interior layout. At the time my scene takes place, the restaurant and bar are still closed following Hurricane Katrina so my wizard DJ has it all to herself...well, almost :-)

Here's a shot of the interior of the front part of the bar. It has a decadent, old-world feel (dig the peeling plaster walls), and draws way more locals than most French Quarter establishments. It's low-key, and they play only classical music. They also serve what I think is the best muffaletta in town (a sandwich on Italian bread, with provolone and meats and olive salad). Since the restaurant was closed during my scene, DJ doesn't get to eat one.

Their signature drink is the Pimm's Cup--Pimm's liqueur, lemonade, 7-Up, and cucumber. C'est si bon!

In Royal Street, DJ slips into the Napoleon House at night and hides out in the courtyard for a while, trying to see what's going on in one of the upstairs banquet rooms. Here's the courtyard.

I've never been in the banquet room, so I had to do some imaginary embellishing and furniture rearranging with it (with apologies to the real Napoleon House), but here's a photo of it from the NH website.

People richer than me rent it out for events. I'd love to have my launch party here!

If you've been to NOLA, have you been to the Napoleon House?