This one is just odd.

I stumbled via Google Alert upon a website that annouced the release of ReVamped in a very.. um "interesting" way. They've used some kind of program to reword the release info.

Here a sample:

This: "And Eric will need all the help he can get, because it looks like someone is after his soul, too. Blood will flow, fangs will be bared, and the claws will come out, because revenge is never pretty...and Eric has plenty to pass around."

Became:

"Eric will take all the assist he can get, because it looks like soul is out for his psyche, excessively. Blood will flux, Fang will be bared, and the claws will come out, because retaliation is ne'er middling... and Eric holds plenteousness to pass about."

I haven't been this amused since part way through The Heroic Legend of Arslan anime, they changed the names (and in at least one case, the voice actor) of many of the characters.

As the DVD explains:

"Once Giev. Now... Guibu"

Heh.

So... if I had to cast someone....

Lately I've gotten a few emails asking who I'd cast if there was a Void City movie. Putting aside the whole idea that I likely wouldn't have any input at all and going with the conceit that in the reality of the question being asked, I actually have some say-so...

If it were me, I'd be tempted to cast two actors.

Scenes which were from Eric's POV would have Denis Leary

Scenes from Tabitha's POV would use Josh Holloway:

I don't get many questions about who would play Tabitha or Rachel, but every who has asked about Eric has also asked about Ebon Winter. If I could get ahold of a time machine, I'd say a Labrynth-era David Bowie, but seeing as how I don't have access to one... maybe... Adam Lambert from this season of American Idol?

What do you think? Who would you cast?

Apparently I'm Luminous

You may or may not know that ReVamped is one of the featured titles for April's discussion over at the B&N Paranormal Forums. You can find them: here. And I'd meant to mention it earlier, but in a way, I'm glad I waited. Paul Goat Allen serves as the moderator for a couple of forums over at B&N. He's also a writer and reviewer in his own right.

Paul had a lot of nice things to say about Staked and ReVamped (which can be read here), but the blurbs he provided for the series left me grinning like one of the Joker's victims.

Blurb #1 (About the series):

"J.F. Lewis' Void City saga is like literary methamphetamine. The best thing to hit paranormal fantasy in years."

Blurb #2 (About me):

"In a genre full of up-and-coming luminaries, J.F. Lewis may be the brightest of them all."

Yeah. I'm gonna need treatment for sprained facial muscles if Batman doesn't show up with some anti-venom treatment soon. I just know it.

Welcome Back to the Void!

It's that time again.

Release day. I can't describe how it feels to be here again on the release of a second book. Part of me feels like it isn't happening. Part of me fears it will be the last time. And a much larger section of the J-brain wonders whether people will like it or not. In a way, the shipdate for a new novel is like sending your kid off for the first day at school. As an author, I've done all that I can for little ReVamped. There are always little sections I feel like I might have gotten just right if I'd had a few more revisions, tiny tweaks which have gone unmade because if I don't stop tweaking then the book will never be done and out for people to read.

True, I can do my best to make sure people know how fun little ReVamped is and shout about it in interviews, podcasts, or blogs. I can go to conventions and show off ReVamped and its older sibling, Staked. But in many ways the magic has been worked and now ReVamped's future is in the hands of the buyers, sellers, reviewers, and fans.

The funniest thing of all, is that ReVamped has actually been on the shelves for several days at this point. Some of the people that pre-ordered copies of ReVamped got the book as early as February 27th. It began showing up on the shelves of bookstores around Birmingham last week. But the "official release day" still feels special and today is the first day the novel is available for folks who use the Kindle (Hi, Jerry) or other eBook readers.

With the book release comes the temptation to ego surf for reactions to ReVamped, but I'll try to hold off and let my Google Alerts bring those to me. After all, I'm still working on book three and I need to get it all nice and shiny if I'm to expect anyone to purchase it... so that I can start the rollercoaster all over again.

Here's hoping you enjoy your second trip to Void City and many more to come. Feel free to drop by (via comment or email) and let me know how you're enjoying the book. If you're reading Staked for the first time I'd be glad to hear from you as well.

Best,

Jeremy

Forums and a ReVamped Preview

I may have mentioned it already, but with the relaunch of the new League Site, we actually have forums. :) You can check them out: here. I've even posted a preview of ReVamped over in my little corner of the Bat Pack. Here's a link.

Enjoy!

Feel free to hang out, chat, ask questions (obnoxious or otherwise)... and generally have fun.

Guess Who's Coming to Birmingham?

So last year we had a con in Birmingham, AL. It was a first year con with around three thousand attendees (which is pretty much unheard of for a first year con). This year, Birmingham has a new con (ImagiCon) and it's been put together by a bunch of great folks who want to make sure Birmingham has its own convention... which... since I *live* in Birmingham, I am all about, too. :)

They almost skipped a year and launched the con in 2010, but even with the short turnaround, they have some cool people coming:

On the Lit Track: Sherrilyn Kenyon will be back (WOOT!), as will Christina Barber, Alan Gilbreath, M.B. Weston, The Wandering Men (I still need to blog about those guys) and yours truly. Debut authors Jeannie Holmes and Stephanie Osborn will also be there along with short story writer (and aspiring novelist) Shelly Li.

There are other guests on the list and you can find them here or you can just go to http://imagicon.org and check out all the guests and events these guys have planned.

So if you're in Birmingham March 27-29, 2009. Come on by and see us. There will be copies of ReVamped in the dealer's rooom and I might be convinced to read a short story or... even an excerpt from the current draft of book 3.

Who knows?

Forums and Free Books and Mario... Oh my!

We have a new look over at the League of Reluctant Adults. The new look comes with new Leaguers, too... like Mario Acevedo, Michele Bardsley, Dakota Cassidy, Molly Harper, Kelly Meding, Richelle Mead, Nicole Peeler, Cherie Priest, Jennifer Rardin, Michelle Rowen, and Jeanne Stein.

As if that wasn't enough, all your favorite Leaguers from way back in last week are still there: Mark Henry, Stacia Kane, Jackie Kessler, Caitlin Kittredge, J. F. Lewis (Hey, that's me!), Anton Strout, and Jaye Wells.

But I said contests didn't I? I'm giving away a signed ARC of ReVamped (or a can of SpaghettiOs... depending on preference). You can comment here to participate.

And there are other contests, too. Like oh... an ARC of Red-headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells.

And did I mention we have forums now? Come on over and check out the new site!

ReVamped Gets PW review

/happy dance

That's not the review, just my reaction to it.

In fact, please pardon me while I bury the lead.

Let me take you back to early 2008 when a soon-to-be-published author, yours truly, was frantic for reviews. I still am. I don't know if that ever goes away, but we're not talking about me now, we're talking about me then, the author who hadn't figured out how Google alerts worked, the author who is waiting for someone, anyone, to say something (again... ANYTHING) about his book.

Picture him, if you can. He wakes up each morning and does a Google search for variations of his own name, the title of his book, and the word "review." Then, in case the search hasn't picked them up, he goes to various review sites that he hopes will review his book and searches and pours and frets. He does the same thing at lunch and when he returns home from works and in the middle of the night...

Lets leave him there fretting. He looks amusing hunched over his laptop at Krystal fighting with their free wireless network, brow furrowed, as he squints through the glare. He's nowhere near as fun to watch once the Library Journal review comes out. He's still obsessive, but the frantic nature of his OCD has lessened.

One of those places I checked every week (if not every day) was Publishers Weekly. So imagine my surprise when this time around, I get this... before I'd even thought to look for it:

"ReVamped J.F. Lewis. Pocket, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-4391-0228-2

Vampire fans who like their blood and gore leavened with humor should enjoy the campy sequel to 2008's Staked. Eric Courtney, strip club owner and operator in Void City, is coming to terms with existence as a ghost vampire after dying in an explosion that totaled his place of business. His former fiancée, Marilyn, tells Eric that his best friend betrayed him, but the demon J'iliol'lth collects her soul before she can explain further. Worse yet, Eric's beloved Mustang somehow gets turned into a vampire. Eric accepts a commission from J'iliol'lth to find the Stone of Aeternem, which enables its holder to raise the dead, in exchange for immortality and the return of Marilyn's soul. The jokes are far from subtle, but Lewis's creativity elevates this above similar outings. (Mar.)"

I'm not sure what the pull quote would be, but I'm tickled pink to have the book favorably reviewed. :)

Cover Art for ReVamped

Well, as some of you may have notice (Hi, Jerry) Amazon has some cover art up for ReVamped. Currently, that version has the wrong quote, but this one doesn't:

The cover artist is Gene Mollica this time around and I think he did a great job! :)

I Can Haz Blurb?!?

As further proof that she's just plain nice, Sherrilyn Kenyon took time out of her busy (and I do mean busy) schedule to read ReVamped (Book 2 in my Void City Series) and provide the following blurb:

"J.F. Lewis has delivered an explosively written vampire tale!"

- Sherrilyn Kenyon #1 New York Times best selling author of the Dark-Hunter series.

How cool is that?!?

Thank you, Sherrilyn! :)

Superhero Haikus & Halloween Goodness

You can find a cool post over at James Maxey's The Prophet & The Dragon blog featuring superhero haikus. If you haven't read anything by James, he's the author of a really cool series of novels involving an age of dragon dominance over humans. The first book is Bitterwood and it absolutely rocks! Think of it as Planet of the Dragons instead of Planet of the Apes. He followed that up with Dragonforge (which I've purchased, but haven't read yet) and will conclude the trilogy with Dragonseed, which is slated for release in July 2009.

He's also written a superhero novel called Nobody Gets the Girl, which is how we get back around the haikus. You can find the post here, and if you look closely, you just might find a haiku by someone you recognize. (Hint: He wrote Staked and its forthcoming sequel - ReVamped.)

Also, if you haven't been checking out the League of Reluctant Adults blog, this would be the week to start. We've got tons of guests and giveaways. Check it out here.

Cleaning Tips From Talbot

Heh.

I'm interviewed today over at the Reality Bypass Blog, but the interesting part is this: so are Eric and Talbot. :)

Here's a link.

Fresh from the "How Cool is That Department"

I'm in My Hometown Newspaper!

The article is available online, too. Here's a link.

And Now... We Wait

In case you were wondering, that nervous "I hope this is as good as I think it is" feeling you get (or *I* get anyway) when submitting the revised novel manuscript to your editor is exactly the same the second time around. The novel grew by about 18,000 words (lots of which were new Talbot scenes) and it's a better novel for having undergone the process.

My favorite addition to the revised manuscript for ReVamped? Getting to show Talbot in full "supernatural combat mode" a book earlier than I had originally intended... though the Eric and Talbot buddy scene near the end was fun to write, too.

The weirdest thing about this set of revisions? They were much harder. I was stuck for several weeks on how to accomplish a requested change and I'm not exactly certain why. I was much busier this time around - running to cons and such - which may account for part of it... and I did have to make a substantial change to the way I did edits for STAKED, but when it clicked, I had the exact same "I'm an idiot! All I need to do is roll these four fixes together, insert these six scenes, revise these three scenes, and it fixes X,Y, AND Z while paralleling Q!"

In any case, the revised manuscript was sent out in a timely fashion... slightly before the deadline. Yay, team!

Countdown to ReVamped

This looks like a good sign to me:

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=633864&er=9781439102282

Simon & Schuster just added information about ReVamped (the sequel to Staked) to their website. They list the pub date as March 10, 2009.

J

STAKED Sequels

So… Let’s recap. My book comes out soon (March 11th). I’ve got an author debut party coming up on the release date, OmegaCon the weekend after the release, and then the beginning of book signings. I even have cool new business cards.

I’ve been going through the "final" draft of the proposed sequel one last time before sending it to my agent. I’m also prewriting on a third Eric book a bit while mostly concentrating on two other urban fantasy novels that are also set in Void City, but with different characters. One of them involves a member of the Mage Guild and the other… well, let’s just say that it involves Lucifer, Satan, and Beelzebub. Boy is that misleading. ;)

The Epic Fantasy Project is on hold for the time being. I’m still working on it, but I want to finish all three books of the trilogy before I lock myself in on a final version of the map. I’m also thinking that it needs a stronger opening and less exposition. At least a few of the “holy crap” moments that make it really different need to come out earlier in the first book. Also, I understand that the epic fantasy market is on the decline.

Still… onward!

STAKED will be here soon and before the release date… AUTHOR COPIES!!!

J