JABRIL :: D.B. Reynolds.com

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

Posted by dbreynolds on September 11, 2011

Kind of a weird, sad weekend. Lots of TV and Internet coverage of 9/11, which made me very sad. Add to that the fires in Texas with all those homes destroyed — something I can relate to, living where I do in one of L.A.’s coastal canyons. We’ve been evacuated twice for fires in the many years we’ve lived here, and waited through a lot more fires than that. It’s a terrible thing. But then you think about 9/11, and all those lives lost, both on the day and in the wars that followed, and you realize the only thing that really matters is that everyone gets out safely. Most things can always be replaced, people can’t.

Okay, enough sad talk. Let’s talk about DUNCAN. I’ve been working with the artist this week and we’re very close to a cover. I’m excited to see the final product. I’m also working on the back cover blurb! Once my publisher okays it, I can put that up, too. None of it’s quite ready yet, but soon!

In the meantime, my vampires have received some very nice reviews this week! Joyfully Reviewed posted a review of JABRIL and then I discovered they’ve actually posted reviews of all my books, which was nice!

Soulswallo at Reading the Paranormal reviewed JABRIL, too. Another good review!

Overall, these reviews make for a very happy author. And that’s good, because I’m getting ready to start some serious writing! Although, I’m still obsessed with Buffy reruns! I’m up to Season 4 – Angel has gone off to L.A. (and his own show – LOL), Buffy’s in college (filmed at my alma mater UCLA – go Bruins!) and Wesley and Cordelia have exchanged the most awkward kiss in history! Cool. Riley (cute enough, but no Angel) has made his appearance and Faith’s in a coma. The good thing is that at about this point in the original airing of the series, I missed many of the episodes, so I’m hoping for a few I’ve never seen before!

I’ve updated my What I’m Reading Now with a couple of books, including the latest by Nalini Singh, Archangel’s Blade. Great book – the best in the series, so far, IMO. Dmitri is far sexier than Raphael (the archangel, not MY Raphael!)

Hmm, okay, they’re advertising the perfect meatloaf pan on TV – some pretty gross looking meatloaf.

Speaking of ads, there’s a button down and on the right for Night Owl Reviews’ Halloween Hunt. It’s a bit of a scavenger hunt (remember those?) with lots of cool prizes. You can get all the details HERE.

All right, that’s it for me this week. Hopefully by next week I’ll have something more definitive on DUNCAN’s cover and blurb. Sweet!

Have a great week and see you all then!

DBR

Categories Cover Art, DUNCAN, JABRIL, Recommended Books, Reviews, Uncategorized

VIGNETTE #2 AND A NEW REVIEW!

Posted by dbreynolds on August 8, 2011

For those who missed my post last night, look above and you’ll see Vampire Vignette #2 has begun its one week rerun. The Vignettes are written between the books and are designed to carry the overall story forward, which means they take place at times of the year which definitely don’t correspond to our present day reality. So, #1 is New Year’s Eve, Cyn and Raphael’s first New Year’s Eve, which is now more than a year in the past, likewise Vignette #2, which is their first Valentine’s Day.

Each of the Vignettes can be placed relative to the existing books. The new Vignette, which will appear on September 4 this year and be #6, will chronicle events which take place between the books SOPHIA and DUNCAN. Which reminds me, I should probably finish writing that!

In other news, The Romance Reviews published a wonderful review of JABRIL this past week, naming it a Top Pick! Check it out!

And in still other news, the early reports from those few who have read DUNCAN, i.e., my wonderful critique partners, are excellent! Which makes me very happy. I started working on the cover with the artist last week–a process I’m sure she’s dreading, since I KNOW I’m a pain the in butt. But I’m excited to see Duncan’s cover taking shape.

Having successfully delivered DUNCAN and having my darling husband well and back home again, I tackled my long neglected “to-do” list and actually got some things done around the house and yard! Amazing. Not to worry, though, there are still plenty of items on the list to keep my busy, and my brain is already turning over ideas for LUCAS. It won’t be long and I’ll be back in writer mode once more.

I’m going to go read a book now. Yep. I’m going to stay up late, reading a good book. Cool.

Have a great week, enjoy the story of Cyn and Raphael’s first Valentine’s Day, and I’ll see you all right back here next Sunday.

DBR

Categories DUNCAN, JABRIL, Reviews, Uncategorized, Vampire Vignettes

REVIEWS, AUCTIONS AND GIVEAWAYS!

Posted by dbreynolds on June 27, 2011

Well, I survived the family wedding weekend this past week, including up close and personal contact with lots of miniature plague carriers. They lure you in with those adorable faces and chubby arms, and then you’re doomed! So far, no symptoms, but we’ll see if I can make it through the week!

A brand new review for JABRIL this week at Bitten by Paranormal Romance! 5 Alpha Howls for Cyn, Raphael and the gang. And there are new reviews coming in all the time on Amazon, too. Most readers love the books, a few don’t … that’s life as a writer. I don’t love every book I read either. (Which would be why I haven’t updated my What I’m Reading Now lately, since I don’t review, I recommend. So, if I can’t recommend what I’ve just read … the list doesn’t get added to. I do have one to add this week, though–Shattered by Karen Robards.)

Moving on to Auctions, as I wrote last week, L. A. Banks, author of the Vampire Huntress series, is critically ill and uninsured (who says we need healthcare reform?) Several people at RT Book Reviews have gotten together an auction on EBay to help Leslie and her daughter offset the huge medical bills. There’s all sorts of cool stuff being auctioned, including the opportunity to name a character in my 6th book (LUCAS). The auction winner will be named in the acknowledgements section and receive an autographed copy of the print book upon release. You can check it out HERE. Bidding has started, although in my experience, the real bidding doesn’t take place until the last day of auctions.

And now for giveaways, the Paranormal Haven giveaway and character interview is still live, so you can still check that one out (until July 15th.) And I’ll be doing a few more after I send DUNCAN off to my publisher.

On a related noted, the wonderful Adrian Phoenix is doing a ton of giveaways for her upcoming Black Heart Loa, which is the second book of her Hoodoo series. The book releases this week and I’ve already preordered my Kindle copy. A great series from a great author, so I encourage you to drop by her website HERE’S THE LINK, and check out the many giveaways, which include books and these really cool book thongs. I already have the full set!

A reminder again that I’ll be writing a new Vampire Vignette after I turn in DUNCAN (and after I’ve slept for about a week!) And I’ll be rerunning the whole set at the end of summer, before posting the new Vignette.

I think that’s it for this week, although I did want to mention that I’ll be reformatting the blog in a few weeks (as with everything else, post-DUNCAN. That post-DUNCAN list is getting very long!) Mostly cosmetic and an address change, but it won’t affect anyone’s bookmarks.

See you all next week, by which time I expect to say … DUNCAN’s story is complete!

DBR

Categories Charitable Causes, DUNCAN, Guest Blogging, Interviews, JABRIL, Recommended Books, Reviews, Uncategorized, Vampire Vignettes

A REVIEW, AN INTERVIEW AND VERY SOON … SOPHIA!

Posted by dbreynolds on April 4, 2011

A brand new review again this week, this time for RAPHAEL! Scoring 5 out of 5, which makes it a Top Pick, Missyb from Night Owl says …

Ms. Reynolds did an excellent job of introducing two very strong characters. Cyn is a very confident and sharp as nails woman. Raphael is tall, dark and sexy! Together they are a great pair that make the story seem more real and not farfetched. The chemistry was extremely hot! With the sex scenes even hotter! If you are looking for a new author to follow, here is a great one! D.B Reynolds is going on my To Be Watched for Pile!!

Here’s the link to the whole review, if you’re interested.

Cool. I love good reviews!!

And speaking of good reviews, if y’all love my vamps and if you bought from Amazon, I would really appreciate it if you’d write a couple lines of review. Especially for my beautiful, blue-eyed Rajmund who sells books, but doesn’t always get the love he deserves!

This week, of course, is the big RT Booklovers Convention! I’ve wanted to attend one of these for the longest time, but they’ve always been far away. Finally, they’ve come to L.A. and I’ll be there! I’ll be signing at the Book Expo, giving away bookmarks and other goodies, and even better I’ll be picking up my RT Reviewers Choice Award for JABRIL! So exciting! I’ll be bringing my camera along, and I might even remember to use it!!

And leading up to RT, Literary Escapism has been profiling authors who will be attending the convention–and they are many and illustrious–but they included me in the listing, too. Here’s a link to that one, if you’re interested. It’s kind of a mini-interview, although the first paragraph sounds like I’m talking about myself in third person. Awkwaarrrrd!

And finally this week … SOPHIA is on her way! The book is edited and polished and at the printers and soon to be uploaded to BN.com, Amazon and Kindle, as well as Fictionwise and, of course, ImaJinnBooks.com. It will naturally show up on ImaJinn’s website first, in print and PDF download, but I’ve said before that if you’re ordering a print version, and especially if you have Amazon Prime, you’re probably better off waiting the extra few days and ordering from Amazon, because ImaJinn uses media mail for shipping. Although, ImaJinn is holding a contest this month and next, so if you DO order from them, you get a chance at a free Kindle.

I’ll be keeping a close eye out and I’ll post here and on Facebook as soon as SOPHIA becomes available from the various retailers. Amazon and BN.com usually come up at the same time, and Fictionwise is typically the last one up, because they have a very weird inventory update schedule.

Okay. I’m going to get some sleep tonight. What a novelty! And then I have to start getting ready for Wednesday and RT!! Yay!

See you … well, hopefully a lot sooner than next week, but we’ll see what happens!

DBR

Categories Awards, Books on Sale - Where?, JABRIL, Reviews, SOPHIA, Uncategorized

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT …

Posted by dbreynolds on February 28, 2011

Bitten by Books has just posted a review of JABRIL and given it 5 Tombstones!! I’ve been waiting a while for this one, but it was definitely worth the wait. FIVE TOMBSTONES!!

I’m gearing up for the release of SOPHIA, won’t be long now. The next month will be busy with last minute revisions and proofing and then the day will finally be HERE!

In case, you missed my middle of the week posting, you’ll see the lovely cover of SOPHIA off to the right. I love it. I sit at my computer and stare at it. The house is dusty? Too bad, look at my pretty, new cover! The husband is hungry? But honey, look at my pretty, new cover! (hee, hee)

And if you want to see the full size image of my pretty, new cover, Click here. Just float the cursor until you see the + sign and then click it for full size.

Hmm, what else have I been doing besides staring at my pretty, new cover? Well, dealing with my insurance company and filling out DMV forms and figuring out which body shop to take my poor, battered car to.

And I’ve been busy sending out contest books — a spate of prize winners, not just here (Congratulations, Vicki!), but some other on-line events. Which reminds me, I’ll be in full promo mode once SOPHIA releases. I’ll keep you informed about my various guest blogs and interviews, because there WILL BE giveaways, as always. And I’m planning something special towards the end of April, my first ever on-line release party!

And just to keep you all on the edge of your seats, I’ll be posting Chapter Two of SOPHIA next week — that means LATE, LATE Sunday night/early Monday morning. Remember, I’m a night owl. My brain doesn’t really start perking before 11:00 pm or so.

I think that’s all the news for this week. I’ll see you back here next week with SOPHIA, Chapter TWO!!

And in the meantime, Go check out my pretty, new cover again! LOLOLOLOL

DBR

Categories Cover Art, JABRIL, Reviews, SOPHIA, Uncategorized

JUST ANOTHER SUPER SUNDAY …

Posted by dbreynolds on February 7, 2011

So, my favorite commercial was the Volkswagen one with the little Darth Vader. Loved it. I laughed so hard. I have a male relative (who shall graciously remain nameless) who used to sing the entire Darth Vader theme. Duh duh duh duh duh-duh duh duh-duh. The whole thing! LOL He never got a car to start, though.

I wrote the epilogue to Duncan today. Not because I’ve finished the rest of the story, but because I’ve been mulling over how to introduce Book Six (SIX!! OMG!!!) and it suddenly hit me. I wrote it out so I wouldn’t forget. And I like it!

Now, of course, I have to get back to writing everything that comes BEFORE the epilogue. I’m loving DUNCAN, though, so no problems there.

Next week, I’ll be posting the first teaser chapter for SOPHIA. I’m so excited about this book! I wish April was here already!!

And the first three books are doing extremely well in Kindle sales! RAPHAEL, especially, since he’s priced at only $2.99, but all three books continue to sell really well. RAPHAEL goes up and down, but he pretty much stays somewhere in the top 100 Kindle sales for Romance/Vampire. JABRIL and RAJMUND flit in and out of the top 100. For a brief time today, RAPHAEL actually bumped into the top 100 Kindle/Fiction/Horror. I never thought of RAPHAEL as horror, but I guess if it’s Vampire, it’s horror!!

Don’t forget that the latest contest, which is asking for Duncan’s last name, continues. I’ve gotten quite a few entries, but I’ve also gotten a couple of e-mails asking if it’s a trick question. And the answer is NOPE. Duncan definitely has a last name and it’s definitely somewhere in the first three books. I’ll accept entries until midnight February 19th, PST, and I’ll be announcing the winner on February 20th. Entries should be e-mailed to dbreynoldswriter@live.com and be sure to put Contest in the subject line, so my SPAM filter doesn’t toss it.

And my good friend and wonderful writer, Adrian Phoenix, is giving away signed galleys and cover flats of her forthcoming Etched in Bone, which is the fourth book of her Maker’s Song series. THAT is one book I’ve already pre-ordered for my Kindle. Midnight on February 22, that book is MINE!!

And finally, a reminder that I’ll be wandering around the RT Booklovers Convention in L.A. in April, and signing at the Book Expo. Plus JABRIL has been nominated for an RT Reviewer’s Choice award, which will be announced at the convention. It would be nice to see some familiar faces, or at least put faces to familiar names!

Hmmm, okay, it’s back to writing for me. Duncan awaits!!

See you next week with the first taste of SOPHIA!

DBR

Categories Books on Sale - Where?, Contests, DUNCAN, JABRIL, RAJMUND, RAPHAEL, Recommended Books, SOPHIA, Uncategorized, Writing

MAJOR SQUEEEEE MOMENT THIS WEEK! (And, also, the schedule of re-runs for my Vampire Vignettes!)

Posted by dbreynolds on November 8, 2010

Yes, I had a major, jaw-dropping, heart thumping whoo hooing squeee moment this week. RT Book Reviews Magazine announced their 2010 nominees for the Reviewer’s Choice Book Awards and JABRIL was nominated. You can check it out here – RT Book Reviews 2010 Nominees.

I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t even KNOW about it until the fantastic reviewer from Fresh Fiction (Hi Heather!) e-mailed to congratulate me. Winners will be announced at the RT Convention in April, which is nice because the convention’s in L.A. this year and it’s the first time I’ve been able to go. Of course, it would be lovely if I won, but it’s an honor just to be nominated. (Yeah, right. Everyone says that, no one means it. I mean it’s great to be nominated and I’m totally thrilled … but I’d be even more thrilled to WIN!!! LOL)

Anyway, so that definitely put a nice spin on my week. I’m thoroughly entrenched in NaNo — my word count as of this writing is over 17,600, which is not at all bad for the first week. I always like to start strong, because you never know what might slow you down at the end.

And, as promised, I’m posting the re-run schedule for the Vampire Vignettes. Notice that the first two vignettes will get a bit more face time, because I think more people have missed those two. But all four will run for at least a week before I post a brand new vignette to celebrate the winter holidays.

Here’s the schedule:

November 15th — Vignette #1 — A Vampire New Year’s Eve
November 28th — Vignette #2 — A Vampire Valentine
December 12th — Vignette #3 — The Invitation
December 19th — Vignette #4 — The Party
December 25th — Vignette #5 — to be announced

So that means the re-runs begin next Sunday, and this will be the last re-run for at least six months since I’ll be doing the run-up to SOPHIA after the first of the year!! Whoo hooo!

Okay, I’m going to get some more words in on my NaNo project before it’s time for sleep.

See you next week!

DBR

Categories Awards, JABRIL, SOPHIA, Vampire Vignettes, Writing

GUEST BLOGGING TODAY and a #1 BESTSELLER AT FICTIONWISE!

Posted by dbreynolds on August 21, 2010

Be sure and drop by Blog Faery today and comment on my Guest Blog. I’m discussing one of my pet peeves, which is the celibate heroine. Why is it that the alpha male is expected to have a studly history, but the alpha female is supposed to sleep all alone in her little bed. Equal rights for alpha females! If the guys can do it, so can the women!!

And there’s a giveaway, an autographed book of your choice (as long as it’s one of MINE!)

So, come say “hi.” I’ll be around!

Also, fantastic news from Fictionwise.com. The #1 Bestselling Dark Fantasy AND the #3 Bestseller Overall e-title is my blue-eyed vamp, RAJMUND! He’s also the #2 Highest Rated (recent) and, if you look at the Dark Fantasy Bestsellers closely, you notice that RAPHAEL is #3 and JABRIL is #4! Three of the top five bestselling Dark Fantasy books are my Vampires in America! Woot!

Pretty cool, huh?

All right, it’s nearly 2:00 in the morning here, which is prime writing time for yours truly. So, I’m going back to SOPHIA. Some pretty tense things going on there.

Don’t forget to join me at Blog Faery’s and I’ll see you Sunday night!

DBR

Categories Books on Sale - Where?, Contests, Guest Blogging, JABRIL, RAJMUND, RAPHAEL, Uncategorized

VIGNETTE #2 and a NEW REVIEW!

Posted by dbreynolds on June 6, 2010

Something wonky is going on with WordPress. I’m pretty sure it’s them and not me. My HTML code is being ignored at random, screwing with the font size. And by random, I mean some days it works, some days it doesn’t. That’s why I think the problem is bigger than me! (Grammatically that should be “I” but I’m going with the colloquial.)

But on to bigger and better things … Vampire Vignette #2 has begun its two week return run, which means Vignette #1 has retired for now, and I can’t be sure when or if it will appear again. We’ll see.

A new review of JABRIL appeared this week! A very good review, too! You can check it out here (clicky, clicky.) Thank you to Kelly Oakes of the Demon Lovers Blog, who said such very nice things about my books.

I’m still living in revisionland, writing a couple of new scenes for my werewolf e-novella (more for everyone to enjoy, right?) I expect revisions on Rajmund any day now, so I want to complete the werewolves before I take up with my vampires again! Rajmund’s release is very near, I can HARDLY wait.

My treadmill broke down this week, which makes me (and my body) very unhappy. I’m a very faithful walker … as long as I can watch something on TV at the same time! LOL I’ve caught up on all the old TV shows and now I’m searching for something new to watch. I had Netflix send me Supernatural. I’ll give it a try. My problem now is getting the treadmill guy to FIX THE THING THIS WEEK! ::sigh::

Okay, let’s go out on a happy note! I read some great, great books the last couple of weeks. Check out my “What I’m reading now” up above for the whole list, but let me just say that Ilona Andrews latest Kate Daniel’s book, MAGIC BLEEDS, is fantastic! The best one yet. If you haven’t tried this series, you definitely should.

And now, I’m going to go back to revisionland so that MY books will get out on time!

DBR

Categories JABRIL, RAJMUND, Recommended Books, Reviews, Uncategorized, Vampire Vignettes, Werewolves, Writing

A NEW CONTEST … and help!!!!!!

Posted by dbreynolds on March 22, 2010

Okay, I’m going to do the help part first, because it all comes together in the contest part. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, my werewolf novella HEART OF THE WOLF will be e-published in July. I’m very excited about this, because I LOVE my werewolf characters and hope to write more with them. Anyway, the publisher wants me to come up with several questions/answers (essentially interviewing myself) to go along with my author listing on their web site, and they don’t want the same ol’, same ol’ questions.

Now, I’ve done a whole bunch of interviews over the last year while I was promoting RAPHAEL and JABRIL and there were some VERY good questions. I’ll be borrowing liberally (and shamelessly) from those interviews, too. But I thought maybe all of you might have a question or two that you always wanted someone to ask, but no one ever did. Remember, these questions are supposed to make a potential reader want to read my books. So, don’t ask me the name of my dog. First of all, I don’t HAVE a dog, but secondly … Well, you get the picture.

Which brings us to the contest part. Enter your questions in the comments part of this blog post. I might use your specific question, I might not, BUT, everyone who posts a question (and let’s TRY to be inventive, people) will get her/his name in the hat for a giveaway drawing. The winner will get his/her choice of an autographed copy of any one book … either RAPHAEL, JABRIL or RAJMUND. RAJMUND, of course, will be a promise for the future, the copy to be mailed after the book’s release later this summer.

This contest will only run through the end of March, but I’ll be starting a new contest in April. The prize will be the same, but the entry requirement will be different.

So, get those questions in now!

DBR

FACTS, VIDEOS and AMUSING LINKS: Tooling around the Internet, actually looking for photos of Northwestern Washington state, I happened across a website called Atlas Obscura, which describes itself as “A Compendium of the World’s Wonders, Curiosities and Esoterica — sort of the Internet version of a Renaissance era Wonder Cabinet. Here’s the Wiki listing for Wonder Cabinet for anyone who’s never heard of it. So … back to Atlas Obscura, there’s all sorts of cool stuff, but I LOVE these photos of a place called Kjeragbolten in Norway. It’s a GIANT bolder suspended over a 1000 meter abyss! Amazing. My favorite is the picture of the sheep — second row, second from right. I wonder if she jumped there on her own or if there was some human connivance involved?

There are lots more cool photos of this on Flickr, if you’re interested.

Categories Contests, Facts, Videos and Amusing Links, JABRIL, RAJMUND, RAPHAEL

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