HelenKay Dimon

Today is the day of my dear friend’s first YA (young adult) book release. Take a look:

Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—she is an Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx always looming, Jax knows he has to keep Sasha safe and win her over. But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?

You can order it at a whole bunch of places, including B&N or Amazon.

And…I’m giving a copy away. Leave a comment here about the book or YA or any related subject and you’ll be entered to win. I’ll send the prize from Amazon (or the Book Depository if you’re international), so as long as you can get books from either of those, you can enter. I’ll post the winner’s name on Sunday. Good luck!

Today’s topic is milestones. I actually had some trouble with this one. I wasn’t sure what to post. I decided to go with a scene from IMPULSIVE. Here, the heroine hasn’t quite learned to trust the hero and follows him to what turns out to be an important family event. The scene ends up being a turning point in the their relationship but maybe not the way you’d expect. Here’s the start of the scene:

Katie was so busy studying him, admiring the tranquility of the moment and the way his bright blue tie highlighted the rich tone of his skin, she almost missed the shiver that moved through him. It was a sense of awareness mirrored in the tilt of his head and roll of his shoulders. She wasn’t prepared for him to look up or for his gaze to search the room, but that’s what happened. Heat burned in her cheeks as his dark eyes centered on her.

Part of her wanted to run. She could turn around and get out of there and pretend this moment never happened. But her feet were rooted to the floor. Pinned by his gaze, she could not move.

After helping his mother into her seat, Eric kept walking. He stalked down the aisle, causing several heads to turn in his wake. He didn’t stop until he stood in font of her.
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My short story for this:

Tonight I start teaching Writing Popular Fiction at UCSD extension. It is the first time I’ve taught this class, so I’m a bit nervous. The first day is always a little bumpy as the members of the class get to know each other and me. Since this is a new course it could be extra bumpy. Then there’s the part where the class goes from 6:30p.m. to 9:30p.m., so people are half asleep by the end. But none of that matters. I love teaching writing classes and having a class filled people who enjoy reading and writing is kind of amazing.

Now I’m off to revise the syllabus for the last time. I have a feeling I’ll stray from it (often) during the semester, but it’s worth pretending I know where I’m going when we begin the class.

I’m at the RomCon blog today talking about how to keep all the characters straight in a miniseries. I’m also giving away a copy of THE BIG GUNS. COme over and say hi and you’ll be entered to win – RomCon.

While I am very excited (and a tiny bit crazed) about my new release – THE BIG GUNS – there are a few things I’m not excited about in television land, so I thought I’d share:

1. The Charlie’s Angels reboot. This might be brilliant but I’m kind of reboot-ed out. Enough with remaking things from my childhood – Karate Kid, Footloose, and anything else Hollywood is thinking of remaking. Honestly, Hollywood. Enough. Buy my books if you want to make something new.

2. The new show Revenge. Again, this could be Emmy gold, but have you see the commercials? There’s a pretty chick in a long dress walking on a beach and talking about getting revenge for her father’s death. That sounds like a book, maybe a Lifetime movie. I’m having a tough time seeing how there’s enough plot for more than two episodes. The hubby is convinced it will be cancelled by the third episode.

3. The Ringer. This one is just me being childish. I’m not ready to see Sarah Michelle Gellar as anyone but Buffy. I apologize but I’m still stamping my foot.

4. Another Torchwood. Okay, I am a sci-fi geek girl but I watched the Miracle Day miniseries and still am confused. What was with that ending? Not to spoil it for you, but the answer to What is The Blessing? is a crack in the Earth’s wall that looks like lady parts. I kind of felt like I was getting punk’d.

5. Criminal Minds. I used to love this show, which probably says some scary things about me, but when the show’s folks broke up the team last season I stopped watching. And don’t even get me started on the spinoff. This show, like Hawaii Five-0, is on HelenKay probation. If Five-0’s writing stops sucking and Criminal Minds stops messing up a good cast, I’m solidly back in. And while I’m at it, Glee is on probation too. It felt kind of Afterschool Special-ish to me last season (and if you don’t know what that means, you’re likely much younger than I am – damn you).

6. That new series on Showtime with Kelsey Grammer. I cleary read too much on TMZ about him dumping his wife and kids for a younger version because I see his face and want to kick him, and that makes me sad. Yeah, it’s not my business but I’m done. Dude, if you want to leave your wife that’s your business but there’s a way to do it without looking like an asshat.

7. Pan Am and anything with Playboy bunnies. The reviewers may be excited but I’m really not.

8. Anything with doctors or families of police officers. Yeah, I know this wipes out a lot of new shows, but there are so many. Actually, maybe there aren’t many but it feels that way. Guys in uniform – yes. Four generations of cops – no.

9. Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters. Are either of these still on? If so, I think we should reconsider. Grey’s Anatomy lost me years ago with that stupid episode about the ship hitting the pier and Meredith jumping into the water…see, just thinking about it made me angry. It was that dumb.

10. Anything with a circus. I don’t know if there is anything scheduled like this. Really doesn’t matter. My general rule is no circus-themed television shows.

I’m sure there’s more, but you get the idea.

Today is the official release date for THE BIG GUNS, the final book in my Mystery Men miniseries. And let me go ahead and answer the question I’ve gotten over and over in emails…yes, the “Rod issue” is resolved in this book. Even though I think you can read the books out of order, there is an overarching mystery element and the loose ends are tied up here. This really is the last book in the miniseries. That makes me sad because I loved writing about these guys, but I’m thrilled with this last book and hope you love it too.

Named a Recommended Read for September by Dear Author!

“The action and suspense begins on the very first page and doesn’t let up until the last chapter, with startling revelations and plenty of explosive action.” -Romantic Times

“This has been a fun, exciting series, and here’s hoping for lots more Intrigues from Dimon.” -Wendy, The Good, The Bad and the Unread

You can pick the book up at Target, Walmart, some grocery stores and here:
-Amazon
-Barnes and Noble
-Books-A-Million
-Harlequin

Thank you to all who bought the series and who give this one a try.

THE BIG GUNS, the final book in my Mystery Men miniseries from Intrigue, officially comes out next week but appears to be shipping from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Yay!!!

I think of this as a woman-in-peril story. Sometimes folks view the woman in this type of story as weak. I don’t. The heroine, Sela, is very pretty and a lot of people write her off as a hot, dumb blonde. Many think she’s sleeping with the boss, Trevor. She’s none of those things. I see her as a survivor. Here’s an example – after she’s kidnapped (that’s not a spoiler since it happens in Chapter 1) and Zach comes to the rescue, she doesn’t sit down and cry. She fights.

“Sela, don’t move!” The harsh whisper echoed around her.

Zach.

Short brown hair and a lean body that proved he had not gone soft since his days in the military. She couldn’t see him, but she sensed him. He found her. Just one more unfairness on the worse day of her life.

She tried to climb to her feet but he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up as if she weighed little more than a kitchen towel. She kicked out her legs and fought him anyway.

“Stop,” he ordered.

That was never going to happen. The fear pumping through her had her keyed up and ready for battle. She called him every name she could think of and none of them nice.
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How about a really early look at my first Intrigue of 2012, WHEN SHE WASN’T LOOKING?

The book is written. It’s on my mind because I had to fill out the Art Fact Sheet so the good folks at Harlequin can start working on a cover. One of the new things they ask is for us to provide links to folks who might look like our hero and heroine. Honestly, I never think in those terms. I create these people in my head and don’t do the “this hero looks like Clive Owen” thing. Still, I was able to get people I thought, in these specific photos, had the essence of what I had in my head.

Hero: Jonas Porter – (actor Keanu Reeves from an awesome Details cover)

Heroine: Courtney Allen – (actress Rose Byrne from a photo service)

And here’s the meet up from chapter one (unedited):
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Mu hubby and I have had one huge problem since we got married…figuring out the best way to arrange the den/office. We’ve lived in three houses and only now, after almost thirteen years of marriage, did we finally get it right. We bought the perfect desk – this from Pottery Barn:

Then we got new bookshelves. These are streamlined in that they aren’t very deep. The point being, much to my hubby’s happiness, I can’t just stack stuff everywhere. I actually have to put the books away. We have either standing bookselves or built-in bookshelves in four rooms of our house. This is the “keeper” romance collection:

I actually need one more shelf. The hubby thinks we’re done, so we’re negotiating the additional one right now.

And in case you’re wondering, the bookshelf breakdown goes like this:
-romance novels in the office
-nonfiction in the living room
-the classics collection in the guest bedroom
-mysteries, thrillers and general fiction in the master bedroom

I have no idea how we came up with that division, but it works with the space we have.