San Diego Here I Come!

Okay, starting to get very excited about Comic Con.

Like, VERY excited.

Not just because of this Newsweek article.

Not just because the entire cast of True Blood, including creator Alan Ball (love him!), and author of the SOOKIE STACKHOUSE series (haven't read them yet, but am dying too!), Charlaine Harris, will be there.

But because I get to catch up with some writer friends that I don't get to see all that often, or that I only know via e-mail, and now I finally get a face to face!!

I hear it's been sold out since December, but if you happen to be a ticket holder, stop by and say Hi--the details are in the blog post below!!

Also, I did this really fun interview on Ever's fashion sense that can be found HERE. As a side note, I've heard from a lot of people who tell me they didn't envision Ever dressing and/or looking like that, so I just want to say that the photos are the interviewer's high fashion concept of Ever (and I think they're cute!), but they're not my depiction of Ever. I just provided the answers. Ever is pretty much a jeans & T-shirt kind of girl!

And last but not least: I'm thrilled to announce that BLUE MOON remains at the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestsellers list for Children's Paperbacks this week and #18 on the USA Today General list, while EVERMORE is at #4 on the NYT list, and # 53 on the USA Today list!!! Cyber hugs to every single one of you who supported them!!

Have a great day everyone!

Alyson

xoxo

Vampire Weekend

It was truly a blood sucker weekend! What with the Twilight Midnight Movie Going Madness to the season finale of True Blood--it seems like my entire weekend was hijacked by the undead!

And rather than posting a Twilight Movie Review, partly since I'm not so big on reviewing stuff, but mostly because you probably already saw it and have drawn your own conclusions by now, I thought I'd post a Twilight Movie Goer Review--as in the hundreds, maybe even thousands--who knows?--of teens (mostly girls, though there were a few smart young men there as well--I mean, hello? A theatre filled with cute young girls- it should be a no brainer, right?) who lined up hours ahead of time to watch the 12:01 am showing of Edward and Bella.

The theater I went to in Aliso Viejo showed it on five screens simultaneously, and since Ms. Brody was smart enough to purchase advance tickets online, I thought our 10:45 pm arrival would get us a decent place in line, along with pretty okay seats--wrong! 

We ended up standing in the alley, waaay behind the theatre, the very last ones in line until a really nice mom showed up behind us. And once inside it was third row center--great at a concert--not so much in a theatre!

And while the movie was entertaining (it has it's flaws, yes, but still it was fun), and Jessica was rewarded for her vast knowledge of all things Edward and Bella by winning a Twilight T-shirt for correctly answering that Bella ate mushroom ravioli on her first date with Edward, the very best part for me was chatting with the three girls who stood in line in front of us, and who ended up sitting in front of us in the theater as well, and the whole crowd in general. To see that many people get so excited over characters from a book (yes, I missed out on the entire Harry Potter mania never having read any of the books--gasp! And only seeing one of the movies, well past its release date), wearing their Team Edward and Team Jacob T-shirts, and squealing every time a new character came on screen was truly amazing!

And a $$$70.5 million dollar opening weekend fueled almost entirely by teen girls is a site to behold!!!

Never underestimate the power of girls!

Did you see the movie? If so, what did you squeal when Edward came on screen??

Cover Girl!

Ever wonder about the journey behind a book cover? How it goes from idea to picture, and just who's responsible for getting it to look that way anyway? And just how much input, (if any), the author had?

Well, wonder no more! The awesome Melissa Walker has been posting a weekly cover story on her blog, and today it's my turn as I tell all--giving you the story behind the story on the CRUEL SUMMER cover!

All you have to do to read all about it, just click HERE.




Oh, and how's this for the power of television! Straight from the New York Times mass-market paperback bestseller list:

1. NIGHTS IN RODANTHE, by Nicholas Sparks
2. THIRD DEGREE, by Greg Iles.
3. BOOK OF THE DEAD, by Patricia Cornwell
4. DEAD UNTIL DARK, by Charlaine Harris
5. STONE COLD, by David Baldacci
6. PLAYING FOR PIZZA, by John Grisham
7. COMPULSION, by Jonathan Kellerman
8. LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS, by Charlaine Harris
9. PROTECT AND DEFEND, by Vince Flynn
10. SANDPIPER WAY, by Debbie Macomber
11. CLUB DEAD, by Charlaine Harris
12. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED, by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
13. DEAD TO THE WORLD, by Charlaine Harris
14. SWEET REVENGE, by Diane Mott Davidson
15. SHOW NO MERCY, by Cindy Gerard
16. KEEPING FAITH, by Jodi Picoult
17. DEAD AS A DOORNAIL, by Charlaine Harris
18. TRUNK MUSIC, by Michael Connelly
19. DEFINITELY DEAD, by Charlaine Harris
20. ALL TOGETHER DEAD, by Charlaine Harris

Yup, that's Charlaine Harris occupying a ton of (count 'em--seven!!) spots for her Sookie Stackhouse series, which HBO's new show, TRUE BLOOD is based on! I don't even know Charlaine and I've never read the books (though I have watched the show), but I was so excited for her when I saw this--talk about an author's dream come true! Rock on, Charlaine!

And speaking of writing, literary agent Donald Maas is giving away free downloads of his book, The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success

All you have to do to download your copy is click HERE!

That's it for now--

Happy Monday Everyone!

Entourage is back!

Last night was a great night.

Not just because I got to stay home and get reacquainted with my couch after a weekend of running around including my BFF's community gala on Saturday night-- but also because it just so happened to mark one of my favorite things:

The season premiere of ENTOURAGE!!!!!!!!!

It also introduced me to one of my new fave things:

The premiere of True Blood.

For me, ENTOURAGE is a no brainer. Hollywood + Hi jinks + Hottie cast= 30 minutes of Hi-larious fun!

As for True Blood, other than a passing reference over a year ago by my hair stylist, I was completely unfamiliar with Charlaine Harris' vampire series. But when I learned that Alan Ball, genius writer of my all time fave movie, AMERICAN BEAUTY, and producer of one of my all time fave shows, SIX FEET UNDER, was once again, at the helm- I knew I had to watch--and I'm so glad I did. It's dark, campy, and fun, and I can't wait to see where they go with it!

Though I have to admit, the second Sookie started hearing everyone's thoughts but the vampire's, I looked at my husband, and he looked at me, and at the exact same time we said:

Oh my gawd! (okay, the OMG part was just me, but what follows was in unison, I swear)
That's just like Ever and Damen in EVERMORE!

Because just like Sookie, Ever (the EVERMORE protagonist), hears thoughts. But she also sees auras, gets life stories by touch, and talks to the dead. And speaking of EVERMORE, I just received a few ARCs the other day, and this is what the back cover copy says:

Since the horrible accident that claimed the lives of her family, sixteen-year old Ever can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's entire life story just by touch. Going out of her way to suppress her abilities has branded her a freak at her new high school--but everything changes when she meets Damen . . .

Damen Auguste is gorgeous, exotic, and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and the random energy in her head. The problem: She doesn't know who he really is--or what he is.

The awesome Kelly Parra is running a contest in October, to celebrate the release of her own paranormal tale, INVISIBLE TOUCH. So be sure to stop by her secret fates blog for your chance to win an advanced reading copy of EVERMORE among many other cool prizes!

So what about you? Which TV shows are you looking forward to?