I was really not dressed for breaking into a graveyard.

I shivered in my borrowed coat and gazed up at the fence that Carson expected me to climb–brick and iron and about nine feet tall. The moon was still bright enough to see the points on top of the bars. Were people in Minnesota that desperate to call on their dearly departed outside of visiting hours?

Remember–four more days to find Spirit and Dust in the wild (in your house, in a bookstore, on a plane, train or automobile) and TWEET it for a chance to win a signed copy of TEXAS GOTHIC, the first Goodnight book. Remember to use #spiritanddust in your tweets!

TODAY’S S&D excerpt!

I turned to Mr. Carson… but paused when I got my first good look at him.

My first impression didn’t lie. Young. Twenty-one-ish. Younger than Agent Taylor, and almost as tasty. And tall. I’m five foot ten, and I had to tilt my head to look at him. HIs hair was brown, still wet, and standing up all over. His eyes were a dusky green–no, hazel–and I’d last seen them in the Minnesota cold, just before everything went dark.

“You!” I exclaimed, with all the melodrama his offenses deserved. “You’re the one who whammied me behind the police station.”

 

I woke face down in a drool soaked pillow.

There were worse puddles to wake up in, I suppose, but I didn’t want to think about that. I just wanted to lie there, absolutely still, until I was certain that nothing was going to kill me. Not my migraine, not Agent Gerard, not whoever had snatched me off the curb.

When I cracked an eyelid to take a peek, I glimpsed a nicely decorated room, with a reassuring absence of white slavers and crack whores. A quick inventory under the covers revealed no amateur sutures, so I didn’t seem to be missing a kidney. Just my clothes.

Don’t forget!  You have until next Wednesday to Tweet your picture of Spirit and Dust in the wild to be entered to win a signed copy of Texas Gothic!  Remember to use the hashtag #spiritanddust so I’ll see the post.

For the next week (until May 23) if you TWEET a picture of Spirit and Dust in the wild (in a store, in your house, in your shopping bag, on a bus/train/plane) then you will go into a drawing to win a signed copy of the first Goodnight adventure, Texas Gothic.  Here’s the deal, though. You MUST used the hashtag #SpiritandDust to be entered. (Because otherwise I won’t see your post.)

Not on Twitter? There will be other chances to win stuff coming soon.

I was rounding third on a Grand Slam breakfast and sliding home into a second helping of pancakes I’d requested instead of bacon. Carson eyed the rapidly disappearing stack with what I decided to interpret as awestruck wonder. 

“You’re obviously feeling better.”

“My amazing powers require a lot of sustenance,” I said being bites. “I figure I’d better top off the tank for whatever comes next. Which, by the way, we should probably discuss. You can start with why you turned off your phone instead of calling for a pickup, or getaway car, or agent extraction, or whatever term you people prefer.” 

“‘You people’?”

“Don’t make me say ‘mobsters’ in the middle of a Denny’s.” 

SPIRIT AND DUST comes out TOMORROW!  Yay!!!!

In other news, I will be leaving for England on Wednesday. If you want to follow the pictures and updates from my trip, you should follow my Tumblr, because that’s where I post the more random of my ramblings. And you’re already following on Twitter, right? 

The moment we touched, I felt the weight of the remnants that clung to him. Shreds of lives he’d ruined or taken. Frayed tatters of crimson rage and purple grief and black mourning. They hung from him like the chains on Marley’s Ghost, except Maguire didn’t seem to regret his, or even acknowledge their existence. I felt them, though, like a stone on my chest. 

 

S&D comes out on Tuesday in the US and in June in the UK.  

Speaking of the UK, that’s where I’m going next week (leaving on Wednesday). Blog hijinx will continue, don’t worry. (In fact, expect lots of pictures.) I’m really REALLY looking forward to the trip. 

I’m not doing any official appearances or signings. This is fun and research and also fun. But I will be attending the fabulous Rachel Caine’s talk and signing at the Waterstones in Nottingham on Friday, May 17th. Unless I get lost in a cave or something. 

          Calling open the Veil wasn’t difficult. A whisper from me and it shivered into my view, ready to put things in their proper place. Our world was for the living. The dead belonged…somewhere else. 

         The threshold between here and eternity was only a waver in the air, like a curtain of liquid mercury. But [the ghost] shrank away from it. “What is that?”

          “Whatever’s next,” I told him. That was as much as I knew. I could see the Veil, but not what was beyond it….

          “I don’t want to go.” He swung around, pulling his gun from its holster and pointing it at me. “You can’t make me go.” 

          Probably not, but whatever lay beyond was happy to reach out and pull him in. I could see that, either, but Bruiser could, and his screams raked my bones.

SPIRIT AND DUST comes out on Tuesday, May 14th!  Check back tomorrow for more.

The local cops kept staring at me. I couldn’t decide if it was the plaid miniskirt in subarctic temperatures, or the fact that they’d never seen anyone talk to the dead before.

Here’s something weird about me. I almost always start writing with the first line of the book. 

I know, I know. It doesn’t sound that weird. Where else would you start other than the beginning?

Only it’s not that simple. You have to know where the story ACTUALLY starts. Backstory and characterization are good things for the author to know, but we don’t need to put it in up front. We want to start as close to The Thing That Sets Stuff In Motion as possible.  (Imagine if you had to sit through ten minutes of Luke Skywalker fixing moisture vaporators and whining to his aunt and uncle before the droids showed up. No. Just, no. Instead we start his part of the story with the droids arriving, shorthand in a few lines of characterization, and then, boom, we’ve got a Princess in Peril and off we go.)

I’m not talking about that part. I’m saying that I LITERALLY write the first line of my book first. In my head. Sometimes before I even know what the plot of the book is going to be. Prom Dates From Hell was like that.  And so was Spirit and Dust.  I knew from the moment I finished writing Texas Gothic (where Daisy is a minor character) what would be the opening line of her book. I didn’t know if or when I would get to write it, but I knew how it would start.

(By the way, you do NOT have to read Texas Gothic or Spirit and Dust in any order. The only thing that connects them is the characters come from the same family. Their stories are independent and don’t have spoilers for each other.)

Anyway. That’s the first line of Spirit and Dust. More teasers to come.

Peter and Me, Christmas 2010

Peter and I would also play Star Wars action figures. We never stuck to the movie stories. Our Star Wars aliens landed on Earth, where they could interact with our Adventure People (who were conveniently all the same size).  Sometimes they fought, sometimes they joined forces. I always wanted a romance. Peter always had to have car/spaceship chases.

I am a writer because of my Dad, my Mom, and my brother.  I am the person I am, good or bad, because of my brother. I accidentally broke his arm and he never ratted me out. (I confessed on my own; I’ve never handled guilt very well.)  He was the R2D2 to my C3Po, the Eomer to my Eowyn, and the Pinky to my Brain. (Only much smarter.)

Today we gathered, friends and family, to celebrate Peter’s life, and mourn that he left us too soon. Peter was a wonderful father, husband and son. He was my brother, maybe a better one than I deserved, but the type of guy who didn’t measure people that way.

He was part of my story, and you are my friends and readers and I want to let you know about this latest plot twist. The story goes on, and so do we.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. — 2 Corinthians 4:18

1) My family and friends. I know this is cliche, but it’s true. Read the dedication of Spirit and Dust (you HAVE pre-ordered your copy, right?) and you’ll know how I feel. Family is a thread that runs through my books for a reason. I have a good one, and that includes the family I’ve chosen for myself in my friends.

2) Young readers.  Okay, yeah, I wouldn’t have a job without them. But the enthusiasm of young readers is unrivaled. Look at this bunch from TLA last week:

Brimstone has these readers absolutely captivated!

3) Knitting.  I got bit by the knitting bug big time. How lucky am I that it’s trendy right now?  I’m going to do this Spring Knit-Along if anyone wants to join me. On top of all the other projects I’ve got going. (And, you know, writing and stuff.)

4) Travel. I’m going to England in three weeks. I haven’t been talking about it, because it’s like I’ve won the  lottery. (I’ve definitely won the friend lottery.) More on that to come. First…

5) I get to do what I love, and what I’m best at, and I get to do it as my job.  Talk about winning the lottery!

I just got a big box of Spirit and Dust! Tell me in the comments what makes YOU happy, and on Friday I will draw one commenter to win a copy!