Shiloh's Ten

Ten Things That Happened When I Went to See Shiloh Walker

With zero prior warning I crashed the Coastal Magic Conference and they did not kick me out. On the contrary; Jennifer and her ladies were very welcoming, and helped me sneak up on Shiloh, and let me sit with her for their charity booksigning with no fuss whatsoever.

Before I shanghaied Shi I met up with wonderful steampunk jewelry-maker Leslie from Aunt Matilda's Jewelry Box to do some personal shopping. While I was depriving her of inventory I bought another of Kit's pendants to give away to one of my readers (this week ~ stayed tuned to the blog for details.)

I met and chatted with the lovely and charming USA Today bestselling author Carrie Ann Ryan, who can be described by many other words; the next that comes to my mind should be awesome as she gave me this gorgeous tote to hold all the books I bought. Her assistant Charity was so sweet and helpful, too, and I think somehow moved at the speed of light.

Author Gini Koch may have as many pseudonyms as me and was giving away e-book freebies, which was way cool (she is a rather amazing powerhouse when it comes to presentation, too; she should be teaching classes in how to promote your books in person.)

Author Sarah M. Ross was a delight to talk to and quite gorgeous in person; among other things she has that perfect hair I will never attain (sigh.)

Author James R. Tuck is a handsome devil with a wonderful voice and a neat sense of humor, too; I think every gal at the conference was falling in love with him.

I did not get around to all the tables, but I bought books from every one I visited, so it was probably good for the bank account that I didn't make it around the room.

Some people asked me and Shiloh to pose for pics and we did for two, I think; Tori from Smexy Books has one of them. Please note if you happen to see it that I am not dead, a man, or Stephen Leigh.

After the booksigning I dragged Shiloh out to dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, where I made a complete pig of myself over the delicious spicy fish and rice dish I ordered. We also talked shop, families, ordnance, explosives and plotted the overthrow of the online writing community. Kidding. We really didn't talk shop that much.

After many, many years of being cyber colleagues and blog pals I finally met Shiloh Walker, who is just as wonderful in person as she is online. Of all the people I've wanted to meet in the biz, she was the one I drove 500 miles (much of that in the pouring rain) to see, which should give you some idea of how much I care for her.

Discoveries Week: Shiloh Walker

As a writer I've been looking forward to March 2012 because of the release of Nightborn, which begins my new Darkyn trilogy. There's nothing quite like the delight of being able to write again in a universe you love. As a reader I couldn't wait for March to get here, either; I think this is going to be the best month of 2012 for great books by wonderfully talented series authors.

To celebrate both sides of March, help readers discover great series (new and established) and continue my 2012 theme of coloring outside the lines, I'm going to have a giveaway every day this week of my books along with books I love to read and some unusual discoveries.

Korvel, the male protagonist of Nightborn, is the kind of character a writer wrestles more than writes. Whenever he showed up in the original Darkyn series, he was a great secondary character: a man of strong convictions put in impossible situations; a warrior torn between unwavering honor and unrequited love; a veritable hub of conflict. He also tried to take over every story I had him in, so a lot of Korvel's scenes had to be ruthlessly trimmed back. Yet for all our power struggles I always appreciated Korvel for the drama he brought to my earlier stories. When I finally had the chance to focus on him and tell his story, I discovered he was also stubborn, reckless, fierce and occasionally pretty funny. I don't use the word valiant lightly, but in his story, Korvel earned it.

To discover other beautifully conflicted characters who are valiant in the most impossible situations, all you have to do is pick up a book by my pal Shiloh Walker. I recommend starting with her latest romantic suspense trilogy, the Ash novels, which are nonstop thrilling dramas that will keep you guessing until the end. As it happens her third and final book in the trilogy, If You Know Her debuts this week, and I've noted that the book stores are keeping her titles well-stocked, so you can usually find all three titles on the shelf.

Or you might get the trilogy from me, because today I'm giving away the whole set.



If you'd like to win, in comments to this post name a title being released in March that you're looking forward to reading (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST tonight, March 7, 2012. I will draw one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner unsigned copies of Shiloh Walker's If You Hear Her, If You See Her, and If You Know Her, signed copies of Night Lost, Evermore and Stay the Night (these are the three books from the original Darkyn series in which Korvel appeared) my quilting discovery Eureka tote, a very cool You want drama? mug from Author Outfitters and some other goodies. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.