WARNING and a Contest

WARNING: I am going to be in Denver from Thursday night until Monday. DENVERITES BEWARE. Also, because of this, I will have only sporadic access to a computer. (The new laptop has not been delivered yet. Barring a miracle c/o UPS I will be at the mercy of the libraries and my own erratic schedule.) SO I will post a "Thursday morning just before I leave" serial instead of on Saturday. Hope that works for y'all.

I just gave Cathy the manuscript for the first book of an as-yet-unnamed urban fantasy series. That means OPPORTUNITY for our fans! See, we have no idea what to name the SERIES. Book titles we can handle (well, we're not really GOOD at them, but we usually muddle through) but we need to come up with something that "brands" the series and makes it so people know what's inside.But in order to do that, you have to KNOW what's inside, so...

Celia Graves has always been an underdog. A resilient woman, she came through a difficult childhood with both physical and mental scars, but has carved out a fairly happy life for herself. She is 28 years old and single with a black sense of humor. She has always believed herself to be “vanilla human” in a supernatural world, with no psychic or metaphysical talents as she failed all of the standard tests administered in school miserably. While many would consider this a handicap, she definitely doesn’t as she saw the difficulties her sister had with an out-of-control gift and has seen first-hand the dark side of what people will do to try to force someone to use their magical or psychic talents for financial gain.

She is self-employed as a bodyguard in Southern California and thus gets to rub elbows with all nature of people including the rich and famous. She particularly specializes in protection from monsters and metaphysical threats. Her method of protecting her clients involves specialized weapons, methodical planning, and her knowledge of the paranormal. She's an admitted "gadget geek" and tends to buy expensive metaphysical toys to scout out danger.Celia is attractive, with silver-blonde hair and storm gray eyes. She considers herself to be “doing all right” in the looks department but “not having won the genetic lottery.” Since she spends a great deal of her time in the company of actors and “stars” she truly isn’t exceptional looking. She has never bothered with charms to enhance her looks.

She is well above normal intelligence and most of her friendships are relationships that were forged in college. So were the loves of her life. She has two VERY different men who are on-again/off-again. Randy is a werewolf, very fair, yet secretive and distant. Bruno is an Italian stud, but is lighthearted and a very powerful mage. Celia was once engaged to Bruno, but rumor has it she's Randy's "chosen", the other half of his shapeshifter power---and hence, his greatest weakness.

But Celia isn't as "vanilla" as she seems. Her Grandfather was from a race of sirens, residents of the ocean and possessing unique abilities. When Celia is bitten by a vampire, who attempted to bring her over, it didn't kill her. Instead she's changed . . . different, unlike anything the world has seen. What will that mean for her? She doesn't know. All she knows is that humans, vampires and sirens alike consider her an "abomination" who should be put down before she makes others like her.

Unfortunately, she has a job to do and not even fangs or the pull of the ocean are going to stop her from protecting her clients . . . and herself, from all danger.

So, what'cha think? What should we call the series? The first books, starting with NIGHT SONGS will be out as a back-to-back trilogy next summer from Tor.We'll take all suggestions, even silly ones. The winner will (obviously) get the series named what they suggested, will receive an autographed ARC of the first book and . . . if they're so inclined, will become a character in the SECOND book (which we're writing right now!) So, get your fuzzy little brains stewing and come up with something AWESOME!

Submit suggestions to catadamsfans@gmail.com. Note, as always, entering a contest gets you signed up for the newsletter (you can always unsubscribe). Of course if you're already signed up (and thank you) it's not an issue.