It’s great to pimp out your friends.  It feels good and we authors need that, I guess.  Makes us feel like we’re useful, beyond simply entertaining.  Today, I’d like to do something a little different.  I’d like to talk about three ladies–who it just so happens have books out today, but that’s beside the point.

I have this idea in my head that if I meet an author, I’ll buy their book, just as a professional courtesy, particularly midlist authors.  It’s my thing.  I try to read them all, but because my reading interests are predominantly outside of my genre, it’s taking me a while.

So how do I pick?

It’s the voice. I’m not talking about the literary one.  I’ve learned to match up what I’ll enjoy based on the personality of the author.  If I click with them and they can banter and riff on the caustic dark stuff, I know I’ll at least have fun with their books.

Three of those authors have books coming out today and if I weren’t such a selfish only child, I’d even call them my sisters.  ‘Cause if I were going to have sibs, these would be the three.  No foolin’.

First up, Jaye Wells.  I met Jaye online where she began stalking the League, like a cougar on the set of High School Musical 3.  She was moderately amusing in that restrained puritanical way of hers, so I didn’t hold out much hope for us.  But when we met in Tulsa at Conestoga Con, it was like a perfect storm of vulgarity.  Jaye’s wit is like a rusty razorblade, sharp, dangerous and likely to give you tetanus.  I don’t remember much about that weekend because she insisted I stay drunk and roam the halls late at night, searching for mysteries.  I was scared

So Ms. Jaye’s first book, Red Headed Stepchild hits the shelves TODAY and I know she’s wetting herself (my suggestion is trash bags on the office chair, they’re cheap and practical).  I’ve read the book, and it proves my point that if I like you, then your book is awesome–which Jaye’s is, and it’s about vampires and mages and demons who love home shopping and Judge Judy, so you know you can relate.

If I don’t, well…

Of course, this theory doesn’t take into account those people I haven’t met, but I’ll get to them, at some point.  Also, it may not work for you, but I gotta weed through these 300 books in my TBR pile somehow.

Which brings me to Michelle Rowen, who, for those of you who don’t know, is a golden coiffured goddess who shines down her rays on all those lucky enough to bask in her warmth.  It was last year at RT, when I first looked into the sun, and that sun, I’m here to tell you, was fucking funny.  Michelle’s got a new one today, Stakes and Stilettos which is probably about vampires–I’m just sayin’–but is no doubt funny and full of romanticalness…and vampires.

The last of my, um, sisters, is Lauren Dane, who’s Taking Care of Business, with her figurative (and shapely) other half, Megan Hart.  I met Lauren on a plane coming back from RT last year, we chatted the entire length of the flight, much to the irritation of our co-passengers and the flight attendant who was trying to take a quiet dump for the last 30 minutes of the flight.  Lauren’s a firecracker and naughty, that’s a combination I can get behind.

You now have this week’s reading list.  Get to it!

Oh, wait!

In 25 minutes, at 10:00 PST, I’ll be chattering on about writing with Jocelyn Drake and Jaye Wells at the…

Oh crap, here’s the info…

Blog Talk Radio and Fangs, Fur, and Fey present: “Writers on Writing” (Part 2), a live podcast on March 31^th at 1 PM  EST.

Join Fangs, Fur, and Fey authors Jocelynn Drake, author of the Dark Days series, Mark Henry , author of Happy Hour of the Damned and the just-released Road Trip of the Damned, and Jaye Wells, author of the brand-spanking new Red-Headed Stepchild, as they discuss the craft of writing. Characters, plotting, narrative point of view, writers block, the writing biz…you name it, they’re talking about it.

LINK TO SHOW:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/AuthorsOnAir/TheBeyond/2009/03/31/Writers-on-Writing-II

If you go there now, you can set a reminder so you’ll get an email just before the show starts. This is also the link you can go to on Friday, in order to listen to the show live from you computer and chat during the show in the online chat room.

CALL IN NUMBER: (347) 826-9684

You can call this number to listen from your phone and/or have your questions asked live during the show.

Again, the podcast airs on   MARCH 31ST, AT 1 PM EST.