Pinterest Memes

Hello, and welcome to the darkside...

Until next time, this is Jennifer Harlow signing out from the darkside...

Song of the Week: Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton
I'm reading: The Passage by Justin Cronin  ****

Verity Hart Blog Tour

Hello, and welcome to the darkside...

I am so so sorry for not posting for awhile. I've been editing two books, writing two books, getting together stuff for a blog tour (more on that below), getting the Verity Omnibus ready for publication, and doing preliminary publication work on the 4th FREAKS. Not to mention my cat had to be put down, my dog has been acting nuts since that happened, and just general life shite. Anyway, the good news is that for those of you who haven't gotten around to reading VERITY HART VS THE VAMPYRES, now I present you with another chance. I have compiled all five parts into an Omnibus. It will be released July 1st, and there is a blog tour along with it, with a giveaway to enter.

Like the cover? My Photoshop skills have improved leaps and bounds, no? Below are the dates and locations for the tour. Hopefully Verity and her shenanigans will tide you over until mid-September when HIGH MOON: A F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad Investigation #4 comes out. If my Betas are any indication, this is the best one yet.  

Until next time, this is Jennifer Harlow signing out from the Darkside...

Song of the Week: Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde

I'm reading: The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams ***

June 30 Spotlight

Anya Breton Blog

http://blog.anyabreton.com 

June 30 Spotlight

Corazones Literarios

http://corazones-literarios.blogspot.com

July 1 Guest Blog

Jill Archer

www.jillarcher.com

July 1 Spotlight

3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy Too!

http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.com

July 2 Guest Blog

Freda's Voice

http://fredasvoice.com

July 2 Review

Sabrina Ford

http://sabrinasparanormalpalace.blogspot.com

July 2 Spotlight

So Bookishly

http://sobookishly.net

July 3 Guest Blog

Cloey's Book Reviews and Other Stuff

www.cloeyk.blogspot.com

July 3 Spotlight

The Indigo Quill

http://theindigoquill.blogspot.com

July 3 Review

Bard Taub

http://barbtaub.com

July 4 Spotlight

Deal Sharing Aunt

www.dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com

July 4 Review

Nicky Peacock Author

http://nickypeacockauthor.wordpress.com/

July 7 Guest Blog

Fang-tastic Books

www.fangtasticbooks.blogspot.com

July 7 Spotlight

Books Tales

http://booksandtales.blogspot.co.uk/

Excuse Me, You've Got Some Steam in my Punk

Hello, and welcome to the darkside...

Romance. Fantasy. Sci-Fi. Mystery. Literary. We love to put things, including books, into hard defined categories. It makes sense, we’ve been bombarded by so much information, even before the internet era, it just makes life easier. But thank goodness for the rebels, the mutations,. If everything remained in its pre-set category we never would have grown as a species. There would be no internet, no antibiotics, no Firefly (the last would be a crime against nature.) As the saying goes, art often imitates life. In recent decades, we have seen a great surge in the blending of genres in all art forms, especially the book world. Vampires, once only confined to the annals of horror, now find themselves the lead in many romance novels. Mysteries, once centered around an asexual sleuth with the crime in the forefront, are now taking place in space or the crime takes a backseat to the sleuth’s love life. And in the case of Steampunk, the Victorian Era now finds itself awash in amazing technology and sometimes modern sensibilities like the rights of women. We are living to see the rise of the mutants.

            My love of amalgam of genres is what drew me to the world of Steampunk, even making me wish to contribute to this growing sub-genre. I personally cannot get through something that doesn’t contain elements of various genres anymore, let alone spend a year writing one. Variety is the spice of life, and I like my food like my books, on fire. It combines so many things that I love: England, technology, pure adventure, and I even threw in some werewolves and romance to boot. There’s something in it for everyone. Which is why I think this has become such a popular sub-genre. I cannot be the only one who likes unpredictability and the new. Like the Victorian Era, this the age of advancement.

            Steampunk is the perfect example of this innovation trend because it centers around a time of great growth and change, the Industrial Evolution. Trains made it possible to travel great distances in a short time. Machines made it possible to produce mass quantities of goods for the growing population. But what if we had just stopped there? What if plastic was never invented? What if there was no rise of steel? What if women never ventured out of the home? It may have been a simpler time but was it better? As a woman, heck no, but I like most people am sometimes overwhelmed with all the information and choices now available to me. Steampunk wipes that away, at least for 300 pages. And no matter what else books do, no matter how much they evolve, their purpose will always remain the same: as an escape.  Why not travel to a complex world where we aren’t cramped on planes but travel by dirigible? Or where clockwork gears and rivets are a fashion norm? (I’ve attended cons, the steampunk outfits are always the most impressive.) And that’s where it all begins. Asking, “Why not?”

            There are only three types of story: man against man, man against nature, man against self. Every story stems from one of those conflicts. But like in people, there are many shades of gray, billions in fact. We all have a unique view on this life, one that often draws from multiple sources, a collection of experiences and thoughts. We are not simple and that’s what makes a person interesting. What we create in art to reflect that fact should not be simple either. We  should always be moving forward, trying new things, taking elements of what we enjoy and combining them with other things we like. That’s how we evolve. That’s how we move from the caves to traveling to the moon. How penicillin was invented. And how the best of the Victorian era was transported into the future for your reading enjoyment. Mutant and proud. Why not?

Until next time, this is Jennifer Harlow signing out from the darkside...

Song of the Week: Happy by Pharell

I'm Reading: The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Woverton  ***

Verity Hart Part Five

Hello, and welcome to the darkside...

The final part of VERITY HART VS THE VAMPYRES is out on Tuesday! Here's the cover:

Will Verity save her brother from the evil vampyres? Will Jamie finally admit his feelings to our intrepid heroine? What new inventions will the Lady Hart create now? Tune in and find out!

Until next time, this is Jennifer Harlow signing out from the darkside...

Song of the Week: Poison by Alice Cooper

I'm Reading: Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason  ***

Hello, and Welcome (back) to the Darkside

New blog host!

Since GoDaddy has gotten rid of their blog hosting software, I've had to transfer over to Blogger. Nothing else has changed. I can still blog! Yipee! And for the inaugural post, here only (for right now) is the new cover for the third Midnight Magic Mystery book, WITCH UPON A STAR!

I hope y'all will follow me here