13 Things about Fey Cats

Yeah, yeah, this post is totally promotional. I have this new book coming out from Samhain on 2/8/11, see? It's the sequel to my older book, Survival of the Fairest, and it's called One Thousand Kisses. The cover is A-mazing! See?

Anyway, Survival of the Fairest mentioned Fey cats -- cats in the Fey Realm who are "more" than the standard cats in humanspace. It mentioned them but it didn't feature any cats as main characters. Meankitty, my boss, was not pleased by this, so believe me, I was very careful to make sure cats were featured more prominently in One Thousand Kisses. So here are thirteen things about fey cats from my upcoming novel.

1. Cats do not like gnomes. One could argue cats and gnomes are the fairy version of yin and yang. And besides, gnomes eat cats, while gnomes, cats have discovered, don't taste good at all. Not even roasted.

2. Cats in the Fey Realm come and go as they please, despite magical shielding, stone walls and the like.

3. Some Fey cats communicate with fairies. Some don't.

4. Cats can appear all over the Realm without warning, from cities to deserts.

5. They also travel to humanspace, possibly through things Princess Talista from SOTF calls gnome holes and possibly by means of their own devising.

6. When Master Fey--the primary cat in One Thousand Kisses--first appears in the book, it's not when he actually appears in the book. Tricky, huh?

7. Master Fey is, to quote Anisette, "glossy black with tuxedo markings—white chin, chest, belly and paws. He was neither small nor large, longhaired nor short, striking nor drab."

8. Whenever cats appears in a dwelling in the Fey Realm, the inhabitants are considered lucky, blessed by the spirits.

9. As such it is tradition to pamper cats if ever given the opportunity.

10. Cats rarely come to Court, except sometimes to Court sessions, to the dismay of the Elders, who resent the fact they cannot bar the cats from entrance.

11. In conversation, cats are perfectly capable of being concrete. So when they are not, they are choosing not to be.

12. For all their twistiness, cats are not liars.

13. Even Fey cats like to watch birds.

Sincerely,

Jody Wallace & Meankitty
http://www.jodywallace.com/ * http://www.meankitty.com/

New Contract!

I rarely get the opportunity to make posts like this, where I get to announce that I've signed a contract for a new book. Partly because I write so slow and partly because it's a tough market out there. Especially when you write so slow :). But last week I did sign a contract for a new book with Samhain that has been a long time in the making.

My second novel with Samhain was Survival of the Fairest, a fairies-in-Vegas romp featuring an AWOL fairy princess, a human stage magician who didn't believe in magic, a vengeful waitress, and flesh eating gnomes. The sequel to Survival of the Fairest will be titled One Thousand Kisses. Here's the current blurb, which is sure to be improved after it runs through the Samhain Magical Blurb Machine:

Embor Fiertag, Primary of the fairy Realm, has three goals. Get reelected, capture the rogue agents who tried to murder him, and improve his love life. His foretold bondmate is Anisette Serendipity, a Court trainee, but he hasn't precisely shared the prophesy with her. How do you inform someone she belongs with you when she's not only dating your chief political rival but doesn't seem to like you at all?

In fact, Anisette has always been intimidated by the stern, serious Primary. He has good reason to disapprove of her--her sister almost got him killed--yet he always seems to be monitoring her progress. Not that she's making progress. Long-standing Realm customs have destroyed her upward mobility and trapped her in a deceptive relationship. If she drops out of Court, would that make her an official failure or just a failure her own mind?

When an unsavory political strategy gone all too right turns most of Court against Embor, the two of them, plus a pesky magical feline, are forced to flee to humanspace. There they'll have to find the courage to share their vulnerabilities and their hearts if they're to have any hope of saving the entire fairy Realm.

I'm so glad this novel will eventually be seeing the light of day! And I'm so glad I finally got to make another "sale" announcement.

Jody W.
www.jodywallace.com

Book Videos Redux

In our endless drive to promote books and incorporate the "new media", one of the most unusual yet logical things to come out of the scramble would be book videos. As do so many things, they began as a small press sensation before they trickled up to the big NY houses. Now, books like Sherri Kenyon's Acheron, upon its recent release, are getting trailers that look like they're for real movies. There are awards for book videos, chats about book videos, sites for book videos, classes for book videos, people you can hire to create book videos, you name it. You can pay thousands upon thousands for a book video and you can do them yourself for pocket change.

(The current advice, of course, being you shouldn't homegrow your video or you look like a rank amateur, same as for websites, promo photos, marketing materials, publicity campaigns, and so many other things most authors can't afford to pay somebody else to do.)

(But it's an investment! It takes money to make money.)

(Can't get blood out of a turnip. First the kids eat, then we pay for gas, then mortgage and electricity, and then I have five bucks left over to buy...I don't know, probably some ibuprofin. Generic.)

(You're obviously not serious about your career if you aren't willing to invest the money into putting a professional foot forward.)

(And YOU obviously.... Wait a minute. Who am I talking to?)

(I am not sure, but I'll quit now. This is kind of psychotic.)

Book videos also tend to be -- not always, but sometimes -- on the dark and dramatic side since the medium lends itself to that. But what if you don't WRITE dark and dramatic? What do you do if you want a book video then?

Something like this, I guess. Dark and dramatic, I am not. Plump in the pocket to pay someone else to do it, I am not.



Show the gnomes some love, man! What are your favorite non-dark and non-dramatic book videos? Do you homegrow or farm it out?

Jody Wallace
http://www.jodywallace.com/