What does it mean when a book that seems to be almost universally dismissed as drivel by many in the publishing industry is probably the greatest driving force in the hottest genre on the market today?

I’m no expert, but I’m guessing it means that, somewhere, all those smart industry people are kicking themselves.

If you’re not sure which book I’m referring to (I know—there’s so many that could fall into this description, no?), than I’ll give you some hints:

• It’s about vampires.
• It’s set in a high school in the Pacific Northwest.
• If you have a teenage daughter, granddaughter, or niece, chances are they expect you to get them to the movie theater on November 20th—with gaggles of their giggling friends.
• If you have a middle-aged wife, girlfriend, or sister—ditto.
• If you’re a twenty-something young professional woman—ditto.

If you haven’t guessed by now, then I suggest you lift your hands high up over your head, as that’s the best way to get out from under the rock you’re living beneath.

Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!

HARDCOVER BOOKS

• Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong
• Batman: A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo

• Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers
• On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
• Two to the Fifth by Piers Anthony
• Cursed to Death by L. A. Banks
• A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
• Child of Fire by Harry Connolly
• Reading the Wind by Brenda Cooper
• Grand Junction by Maurice G Dantec
• When Duty Calls by William C. Dietz
• Elom by William H. Drinkard
• The Wyrmling Horde by David Farland
• Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover
• Conan The Defender by Robert Jordan
• Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Blood Bargain by Maria Lima
• Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead by Steve Perry and Craig Howell
• Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
• BioHell by Andy Remic
• An Old Friend of the Family by Fred Saberhagen
• Rolling Thunder by John Varley
• Spectre by Phaedra Weldon
• Big Bad Wolf by Christine Warren

• The Dark Crystal [Blu-ray]
• Monsters vs. Aliens
• Labyrinth [Blu-ray]
• The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Edition)

• The Invention of Lying
• Toy Story/Toy Story 2
• Zombieland

This is a very short story written as an extra for Frostbitten. It takes place before the book begins, and launched the investigation that eventually led Elena and Clay to Alaska.  You can read a PDF of this instead here: Recruit short story.pdf

Recruit

Have you ever been part of a very small and exclusive club that enriched your life in so many ways?  That made you wish you could throw open the doors so others could benefit?  Then, one day, you can . . . only to discover that no one else is really all that interested in joining?

After five years of trying to recruit new Pack members, I was getting a little discouraged.

“It’s the recruiting part that’s the problem,” Clay said as he turned off the highway, heading into Buffalo.  “Doesn’t matter how discreet we are.  If mutts know we need members, do you really think we’re going to get the five percent of  werewolves who aren’t man-eaters, murderers or general scumbags?  No.  We’re going to get the mutts who need our help.  Guys in trouble with the law, the mob, their bookie …”

“Red—!” I said waving at the red light.

He sped through the intersection.  After fifteen years together, you’d think I’d know better than to even try.

“No offense,” Clay continued.  “But you and Jeremy are going about this all wrong.  The Pack has always let mutts come to us.  That takes balls and serious intent, and that’s how we get the kind of guys we need.”

After another block, he glanced over at me.  “You’re not arguing.”

“You may have a point.”

“Great.  So we can skip this meeting, head back to the hotel—”

“Drive.”

We were in Buffalo to meet our latest potential recruit.  Paul Forbes.  He’d lived most of his life in Mexico, so I didn’t have a dossier on him.  I’d done some digging before this meeting, but found nothing remarkable in his favor or against it.

He’d gotten in touch a roundabout way, making contact with Lucas Cortez, who called me saying Forbes wanted an audience with the Alpha.

Of course he wouldn’t get that audience.  No one did.  It was just a formality.  If they ask for Jeremy, they’ll get me.  And if they get me, they’ll get Clay.  That’s the part they really don’t like—understandably, given Clay’s reputation.  They’ll bully and bluff, trying to wrangle a private audience with me, but it’s a rare mutt who honestly believes he’ll get it.

Forbes hadn’t even tried.  Which either meant he was very smart or very stupid.

“My money is on stupid,” Clay said as he pulled over in front of the park. 

“It always is.”

“At least I’m consistent.  Usually right, too.”

I shook my head and got out. 

Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!

HARDCOVER BOOKS

• Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs
• Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• The Sword of the Lady by S. M. Stirling

• Bitter Angels by C. L. Anderson
• Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
• Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
• Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
• Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
• City at the End of Time by Greg Bear
• Ariel by Steven R. Boyett
• Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
• Patriots by David Drake
• Quofum by Alan Dean Foster
• Matters of the Blood by Maria Lima
• In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix
• Exile—and Glory by Jerry Pournelle
• Stalking the Dragon by Mike Resnick
• The Last Centurion by John Ringo
• Wolfbreed by S. A. Swann
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed by Sean Williams

• Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season

• The Final Destination
• Halloween II

1500 Followers—take that, Branch Davidians.

I mean…hooray for us!

And, more importantly: hooray for you. Because, as promised, @bantamspectra is giving away books.

The rules are pretty simple:

1) Follow us on Twitter
2) Be a U.S. citizen (We’re so sorry—we love all of our foreign followers, but they kind of get antsy here when we have to send stuff international, which for some reason includes Canada. Yes, we realize Canada is a separate country, but, well…come on. It’s right there. Alas, our friends to the north, I can’t bend on this).
3) Send a tweet with “@bantamspectra” saying you want free books (or simply make sure it has “@bantamspectra” and “#15kbk”)
4) Do this (once) until 11:59 PM EST, Sunday, August 23, 2009.
5) Wait for us to put the entries into a random number generator (the order you respond is your number), and then pick the winners.
6) Win free books!
7) We will announce the winners by Wednesday, August 26, 2009 (but probably sooner), and ask that they DM us with their address.
8) Receive free books!

And which books, exactly, can you win? Let me tell you:

So I’m supposed to be working throughout the day—and (if my bosses are reading) I am! But part of my job is to run our @bantamspectra Twitter account. Which I do—with perhaps too great a frequency.

The problem is, I get into some fascinating conversations with my followers (the fact that I consider them my followers is irrelevant for this discussion), and yesterday was a great example of starting with a small topic, and it exploding into something quite fascinating.

It all started with the rather (or so I thought) innocuous query:

Do you know and/or care about the difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance?

The response was, while perhaps not overwhelming, surely whelming.

Two camps seemed to set up: those that did know the difference and didn’t care, and those who did know the difference and did.

As @Tupholos said: “Don’t care. I suppose people with strong pos or neg feelings for one or the other might care. I like ‘em both.”

@LynnAAR added: “I read both PR and UF, so no. However, I do like to know what genre I’m buying.” When I asked her if it was so she knew what she was getting into, she replied: “Exactly. If a book is well-written, I’ll like it regardless, but I still like to know what I’m picking up.”

So even those who don’t care actually do care to a degree, in that their immediate selections (what they decided to read) were made fully cognizant that they were holding either paranormal romance or urban fantasy.

For my followers, then, the difference was important, if only so that they were geared up (in the right frame of mind) for the book they were about to read.

(Getting into the meat of things, after the jump—including books that readers of both UF and PR should enjoy)

If you don’t know, the last Tuesday of every month is traditionally when new books are released (as opposed to the first Tuesday of the month for DVDs and CDs). Why Tuesday is anyone’s guess. I like to think it has something to do with the idea that books disclose the thoughts of the author, and since, when they are published, their “Voices Carry,” the day is appropriate.

(And you thought we couldn’t get a ‘Til Tuesday reference on Suvudu!)

Well, this past Tuesday was a big one for Spectra, as we had a number of authors with new releases, including some veterans to the game and some wonderful debuts.

Here is a list of other book, DVD and theater new releases for this week!

BOOKS

• Flight into Darkness by Sarah Ash
• Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong
• Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell

• Hulk Vs. Thor
• Hulk Vs. Wolverine
• Open Season 2
• Groundhog Day [Blu-ray]

• Taken
• The Uninvited

Kelley Armstrong, author of No Humans Involved and Personal Demon, just concluded an in-booth signing at the Bantam Spectra booth at San Diego ComicCon. Loyal readers lined up to meet Kelley including one rabid fan who got all 13 of her books signed by the author.