Posts Tagged ‘African American’

Happy Holidays 2010!

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Happy Holidays, everybody! Wow… what a CRAZY Year, huh?

SHADOW WALKER IS HERE!(Book 1 in the YA Trilogy)

Well, despite the madness, I decided to venture out into the world of self-publishing and epublishing. I wanted my “babies,” the children of the famed Neterus in The Vampire Huntress Legend series… and all the kids of the Guardians, to be set in a universe that I had envisioned. Seemed like nobody was gonna let that happen but me – yeah… they ‘took me there’ this year! :)

Therefore, with great trepidation, I stuck my toe in the water and ya know what…? WOW! Not only wasn’t it as hard as I expected, it wasn’t as scary. What a way to celebrate my birthday (12/11) I was up into the wee hours and got the file out on 12/12… it felt like giving birth, LOL!

So armed with Joe Konrath’s able crew (Rob, Cheryl, and Carl), we set out and pulled together a cover, interior layout, and got the files converted… then uploaded and Voila! But I can’t forget the savvy editors, Leslie Wainger and Chandra Sparks Taylor – plus Lissa Woodson’s hand-holding and expert graphics for marketing materials.

Now we’re ready to go – just in time for the holidays! Here’s the links to get it on Kindle, PDF, TEXT, Sony Reader, and iPad.

Here’s the link to get it on Nook at BN.Com.

But I DIDN’T FORGET ABOUT PRINT FOLKS, nooosiree!

In about a week you should see it on Amazon.

The Vampire Huntress Legends series is alive… yep… it lives on in many modes. We’ve also got the comics out… issues #1 & #2 are out now, issue #3 will be out in late January, issue #4 in late March, and the graphic novel/trade will be out in April 2011.

So, we have the parent’s entire saga (12 books), now the next generation (appropriate for Young Adults) – Shadow Walker, in both ebook and print (soon)… plus the comics!

If Vampires are getting old for you, though… look for Surrender the Dark (April 2011) and Conquer the Dark (October 2011) — a brand new angels vs demons series from Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster – Yaaay! These are definitely angels with dirty wings though, LOL! (muy caliente, these angels are Hawt) :)

Then, of course, if you just want hot-action… Sizzle & Burn (July 2011, St. Martin’s Press — writing as Alexis Grant); this is Men of Delta Force non-stop action. What can I say… doesn’t the cover say it all about this series, LOL?! (OMG!)

May your Holidays be HAPPY!
Much Love and Stay in the Light!

Here’s the Back Cover Blurb from Shadow Walker:
Sarah Rivera has a lot going on in her life. It’s bad enough that she’s being shipped off to Temt Tchaas Academy also known as Neteru Academy, a high school for future Guardians of the Light who have special powers, but she has to go there with her cocky twin brother and the rest of her compound brothers and sisters. To make matters worse, everyone has ridiculous expectations of her all because her parents are like supernatural rock stars for saving the planet sixteen years ago. But what nobody—not even her best girlfriend Tami—seems to be getting is the fact that Sarah doesn’t think she’s special, doesn’t want to be a demon-hunting hero and is even afraid of the dark!

So what that her mother was a Warrior Angel and her dad used to be a Hell Council-level Vampire? Opposites attract. Go figure. As far as Sarah is concerned, all she got from the combination was a pair of fangs that lengthen at inappropriate times to embarrass her in front of her secret crush; whereas her brother, Alejandro, got the good looks and cool wings. However, what her parents’ status has created is drama in her life by ensuring that the mean girls at school will make her life a living nightmare. Sarah knows her family’s renowned slayer reputation will also ensure that everyone at school will assume she had it easy and should be able to do everything her famous rebel parents can do, when the heartbreaking truth is, she can’t. Not by a long shot.

Once at the hidden boarding school in the Appalachian Mountains, things go from bad to worse as Sarah tries to fit in. Her nightmares increase, and it isn’t just anxiety; her second sight is suddenly developing at a record pace. Layers of secrets are held in the building, held by her parents, and nothing is as it seems. There is something really bad going on at the school, worse than bad—deadly. Only, faculty and administrators don’t know where to begin to look for the cause as students start to disappear. Sarah must then make a choice to stand on the sidelines or to help use her gifts to save someone dear. But to do that means facing all of her greatest fears—along with a demon or two.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

CHANGE!!!!

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

Last night I screamed myself silly and wept tears of joy until this morning I sound like a raspy old wino. No matter. Because every tear was for my mother and father—who didn’t make it to see this world event… the election of a man who was finally judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. It said something so profoundly wonderful about this America… because not one group made this happen.

Seas of people, black, white, brown, young, old, straight, gay, rich, poor, educated, less educated, employed, unemployed—the gamut of the human Diaspora in a wonderful rainbow of hues and complex ideologies stood up together and said loud and clear and with authority—“Yes we can!”

I took that chant with me into the voting booth, a mantra in my mind… yes, we can be a better nation; yes, we can treat people better; yes, we can be better global citizens; yes, we can be our brother’s and sister’s keepers; yes, we can care about and feed the hungry; yes, we can do the unimaginable; yes, we can live up to our ideals; yes, we can fix this economy and put some justice back into the distribution of wealth; yes, we can believe that an African American man can truly love a woman honorably… and raise his children right, and call that classy, sexy woman, “First Lady,” without affairs and drama and madness and mess… yes, we can believe in a better future. So I wept.

I screamed and cried and did the happy dance in the middle of my floor. I blew up cell phones and landlines, talking on two phones at once. I wept and screamed and stomped like we’d won the World Series—because we as a nation have. I could feel the respect returning through the airwaves from other countries to soak into my skin—when I travel I no longer have to hang my head in shame as an “ugly American.” We have behaved badly abroad for way too long.

When I recently went to the Bahamas on book tour, the local folks repeatedly pulled me aside, anxious, and asking the question, “Do you think he will win? We are all so hopeful worldwide; we will come to Florida to help America celebrate.” This is what foreigners said about us here in the United States. They told me this in Customs. They told me this in cabs. They told me this in restaurants. They told me this in hotels. Everywhere we went, and my family can testify, since they too were there—people stopped us once they found out we were Americans and said how they wished they could vote with us to help the change come. I told them that I believed in this nation; that a chance was gonna come, as old folks say… could feel it in me bones, chile. So last night I cried while laughing and simply shaking my head. I felt so many emotions at once, it’s still hard to catalogue them, I’m still processing my own inner change and how I feel.

But most of all, I could feel the sudden sweep of joy-filled peace, that sort of supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding when I finally closed my eyes and laid my head on my pillow knowing in my soul… yes we can!

Much love, One Love, World Peace!
Stay in the Light… Hugs from Philadelphia, PA — A TRUE BLUE STATE!
***Leslie

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

PS: The NEW eBook is out…!

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

Oh, one last thing before I get back to writing, I forgot to mention–the new Red Rose Publishing eBook I did, “Finders Keepers,” is out now. It went live October 9th. Check it out :)

Also, I know a LOT of folks have been asking for one last BTB for the VHL. Right now I’m working on a YA, the first book in the new young adult series. So, if you guys let me get past my newly revised (from Nov. 1 to Nov 15th deadline), I’ll see if I can get one done in December. But here’s the problem, while working on the YA stuff, I cannot allow Carlos and Damali or any of those hot couples from the Neteru Guardian Team to enter into my mind, LOL–muy caliente! Nope. It takes my brain somewhere else, then it’s too hard to get back into a teenage mindset. Crazy, but the one deep thing is, I really found my genre-hopping limit. I’ve learned that I can do werewolves and vampires, crime, and romance all at the same time, but YA… wow, I just can’t think on that plane and then do the sizzling scenes needed for my darker paranormal work and vice versa. (Maybe that means I’m not as crazy as I thought, smile! That’s a good thing I can’t mentally blend youth with the other stuff, I think.) How much it all lived inside my head while writing it, that was truly a personal revelation. I mean, as writers we know that we have to noodle things in our brains for a while, but just how much you take your head into a world isn’t apparent until you can’t do it… ok, I’ve been up way too early this morning and therefore babbling — but you know what I mean.

Soooo, I just ask y’all to be patient with me as I explore some new mental territory, BIG SMILE!

Last thing… while the tickets for the Neteru Tour are sold out–there are still tickets for the Saturday night event… so you don’t have to feel left out. I’ll be writing a special epilogue to the epilogue (smile) for book #12, The Thirteenth, for the event program book, too. That night will be FUN and you’ll get to meet a lot of the folks you probably interact with in the forum and on the yahoogroup… so we’d love to have you if you can make it.

OK, that’s my two cents for the day… back to teen adventures, LOL! Hugs and much love to all, and THANK YOU for always having my back!

Stay in The Light… Leslie!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Bad Behavior has blocked 89 access attempts in the last 7 days.