So look what came in the mail! If you look closely, you’ll see my demon-red eyes beautifully match the color of the font in DARKNESS UNDONE.

Having the fourth book of the Marked Souls in hand is almost surreal. I wonder if New York Times bestselling multipublished authors ever get tired of popping open that box of new books? I bet not. Unless they are ebook authors, in which case the fun is popping open a new email with the fully-formatted pdf/mobi/epub/etc.

And speaking of electronic presents, look what a Twitter link brought me:

“…I fell in love. With the characters, with the series, with the very concept. It left me with a need to read.. and read.. and read some more. Of course I have the next two books, Forged in Shadows and Vowed in Shadows already on my kindle and I am ready to go!”

You can read the rest of Tea and Book’s spectacular review of SEDUCED BY SHADOWS, Marked Souls 1, here. It was kind of beautiful to have the new book in hand while the first book is out finding new readers.

This was a good day to be a writer!

Currently working on: Countdown to DARKNESS UNDONE!
Mood: 5… 4… 3…

Last week, I had a couple get-togethers, both of which ended up in apocalyptic predictions where I had to bite my tongue lest I end the friendships long before the end of the world.  Look, I appreciate a good apocalypse as much as the next paranormal romance reader, but I demand some common sense with my doomsdays.

Lately (and I blame you, Mayans) I’ve been running into more… I think I’ll call it porncalypse. Or maybe apocaporn. No, wait… Aporncalypse. Yes, that will do.

Not-Webster’s Made-Up Dictionary:
a•porn•ca•lypse   /əˈpôrnkəˌlips/ n. Gleeful wanking to end-of-the-world scenarios characterized by manufactured breathlessness and a complete lack of attention to anything resembling reality. Not to mention a really, uh, spectacular end.

There are so many ways we could actually be fated for extinction, it seems unnecessary to court conspiracy theories. (Although I love any theory where I say “Where’s your proof?” and the other person says “There’s no proof because of the CONSPIRACY!”) So I’m going to offer these reasonable replacements for my tin-hat friends.

1. Geomagnetic reversal is for wimps. Get those tectonic plates moving with a supervolcanos!

After one friend managed to conflate the natural and proven (and geologically slooooow) drift of the Earth’s magnetic field with an overnight relocation of the north and south poles — caused by a mysterious approaching planet, resulting in the planet being torn in two — and after I stopped beating my head against the table where my cream puff resided — I suggested that she lose sleep over supervolcanoes instead. Hulu is showing the Nature channel’s Naked Science program Supervolcano now, for free. Supervolcano shows the same CG’d multi-stage explosion over and over and over again. Lingering on graphics of megadestruction is the heart (or maybe another centrally located organ) of aporncalypse.

2. UFO droppings on Oregon beaches.

I was sort of excited about this one because it was relatively close to home. (In the same way that the above-mentioned supervolcano will be close to home when Yellowstone explodes into my Portland backyard.) “Mysterious” metal boxes — seamless and immovable — were showing up on Oregon beaches this winter. Which, like every Christmas present ever, totally got my imagination churning. Except… They have apparently already disappeared. Damn you, mysterious boxes! We needed more time to work up a foamy froth of conspiracy. Fine then, we will just have to settle for new discoveries about the (maybe) faster-than-light neutrinos and the Boson Higgs “God particle.”

3. Zombies!… Okay, this one the doomsayers can keep.

Last year, scientists found multiple species of a Brazilian fungus that invades ant brains and turns the insects into walking zombies. Presumably the shambling kind — not the super speedy kind, because, really, how fast can an ant go? — but still.

Yeah, there’s no way to not freak out about this. I check back on the story every so often to see how it’s progressing. I’m thinking this will be a lot like the killer bees, slowly drifting northward with rising global temperatures. (And yes, I realize that the killer bees don’t really seem to be so killer as they were expected to be/bee, BUT THAT’S BEECAUSE THE TRUTH IS BEEING COVERED UP!)

What I noticed recently is how closely zombie ants resemble another conspiracy theory favorite:

Yes… Who would’ve thought the jackalope was the first harbinger of aporncalypse.

Do you have a favorite conspiracy theory or doomsday scenario? Leave a comment any time this week at Silk & Shadows (comments have been disabled on this post) and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a signed copy of Jessica Andersen’s DEMON KEEPERS, a novel of the Final Prophecy.

We have a gorgeous website (courtesy of Erin’s husband) with excerpts and links at:

www.HotterOnTheEdge.com

For the time being, HOTTER ON THE EDGE is only 99¢!

Here’s what readers are saying about “Enslaved By Starlight”:

“Jessa packed more story into this novella than I’ve read in some full-length novels. Brava, Jessa, for taking this reader on a trip to a far off world wrought with danger, intrigue, and passion. I highly recommend this novella for anyone who has enjoyed science fiction romance in the past or would like to experience it for the first time now.”
– Unwrapping Romance

If you are interested in reviewing HOTTER ON THE EDGE, contact me.

Currently working on: The final push
Mood: Uphill

I don’t get very excited about Valentine’s Day.

I hope I don’t get my romance writing card revoked for saying that, but it’s true. For me, it’s hard to get excited about Valentine’s Day because:

1. Only the cheap chocolate is on sale.

2. The roses never have any scent.

3. Only the cheap chocolate is on sale.

I think I’m spoiled. Being a reader and writer of romance novels has ruined me for cheap sentiment, not to mention cheap chocolate. Those chalky candy hearts with half of a misspelled romantic saying stamped crookedly in pink just don’t rouse me.

I want impassioned shouts flung across a stormy sky in heart’s-blood crimson. Maybe with a lightning bolt. Out-of-breath whispers of longing are good too. But no halfway measures soaked in high fructose corn syrup.

Oh, I realize “real life” probably can’t sustain 24/7/365 of raging romance. Day jobs, laundry, and blog posts would no doubt suffer as we swooned and seduced our beloveds. But if we’re going to dedicate one day to love and romance and name it after various martyred Christian saints (even though the whole connection between the word “Valentine” and romantic love was apparently invented out of thin air and a goose quill by some hack author named Chaucer in the 14th century) seems to me that day should have MEANING.

Which is why I think, instead of trading those thin, little Valentine’s card like we did in grade school, we should swap our favorite romance novels. Way more pages in them, and way bigger love.

I already traded my Valentines love stories with a writer friend. I swapped her a Nalini Singh in exchange for a Kresley Cole. (We were both aghast that the other hadn’t read our respective favorites.) So, if you were going to share your love of romance with your Valentine, which story would it be?

Once upon a time (like, five whole years ago) aspiring authors talked about writing the books of their hearts. When the discussion arose, the writers debated the relative merits of BotH (books of the heart) versus commercial books. Writing to the market– or so the conversation went– presupposed a better chance of commercial acceptability, but a BotH would be more likely to achieve breakout success with its passion and originality.

With the rise of self-publishing, the debate has waned. BotHs that wouldn’t stand a chance in New York are finding life in the e world. The angst of spec writing has lessened now that writers have more options for “unwanted” stories. Instead, I think the conversation is about writing the CAREER of your heart…

Read more at Savvy Authors, which BTW is a great place to learn more about your writing career options.