DEFIANT — Here's the cover

Here it is — the final cover for Defiant.

I got it yesterday afternoon but was too busy to be able to post it. I guess I shouldn’t be doing it now, either, given that we’re on deadline with a big paper, one new staff member and one newsroom staffer on vacation. (I got to the office at 7:30 to try to get a jump on things.)

Even so, I couldn’t resist. I wanted to post it and share it with you!

I love the fact that my name is slowly getting larger than the title. I love that I’ll have enough books and reissues out by the time this book releases that they feel the need to put “Never Before Published” on the cover.

The details are pretty specific — the MacKinnon plaid, the wooden cross, the hunting knife (can’t call it a claymore because it isn’t.

Here’s a bit of trivia: I drew the tattoos myself and sent them to NY. There’s more to Connor’s “warrior marks” than the artists chose to put on the cover, probably because they felt it would make the image too busy. The one I miss the most is my drawing of a bear claw, which I thought was pretty cool. Oh, well. I agree with their decision, for what it’s worth.

I also like the font they chose for the title of the book. It has a nice frontier-ish feeling to it somehow.

So what do you all think?

Coming soon: We’re going to have a visit from the Dessert Diva. A columnist for my paper and a star of local TV, Danette specializes in making the yummiest desserts, pioneering recipes that make me really hungry each week when I’m editing our food section. Danette will be joining together with Natalie Benoit, the heroine from Breaking Point, to talk about baking pies — sharing pie-making tips, as well as recipes.

Danette is a lot of fun, so I know she and Natalie will make an entertaining duo.

If you’re wondering whether this is a response to those who disdain Natalie’s decision to stay home and bake pies for Zach, you’re absolutely right on. Why not have fun with it?

So many things to tell you!

I have so much to share with you all — some of it very exciting news — and to remember it all I’m going to divide it up into categories, starting with...

Breaking Point

I got home to find a box of bound galleys, also known as ARCs, or advance review copies, on my porch. They don’t have the sexy cover, but they do have the words. I won’t get my author copies until a few weeks before the book’s release. Some of these are for prizes, the rest go to reviewers.

The “Get Out of My TBR, Get Into My Bed” I-Team Reading Challenge seems to be moving along. Thanks to all of you who’ve signed up. I hope you’re having fun with it.

There are two other events of which you should be aware.



The first is a contest that’s running on Fresh Fiction. To introduce readers to the I-Team, I’m giving away Extreme Exposure and Hard Evidence in February, Unlawful Contact and Naked Edge in March and two copies of Breaking Point in April. To sign up, click here.

The second is the After the Epilogue Spoiler Chat. I held one of these after Naked Edge was released, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The event is only for people who’ve already read the story. It’s my way of saying thank you to anyone wild enough about the I-Team to run out, get the book and read it right away. The chat will be held on May 20 at 7 p.m. Mountain Time in a chatroom on Chatzy.com. I’ll post the URL immediately prior to the chat. It’s your chance to ask me about the plot and to discuss the story with others who’ve already read it. There will be prizes. So mark your calender!

And now some news about...

MacKinnon’s Rangers & Ride the Fire

Someone go get Kristie J, MelissaB and KarLynP...



First things first — The title of Connor’s story is going to be Defiant. My editor and I had a long telephone call yesterday evening about the title, the plot (which I changed entirely from what she’d read in the synopsis), and the re-releases of Surrender, Untamed, and Ride the Fire.

Secondly, I’ve seen the art from the photo shoot for the series — they shot a gazillion photos in a gazillion poses in order to do it while they had all the props in hand — and I’m thrilled. It was only raw art, but they took great pains to be historically accurate and to depict the heroes as Scotsmen who grew up among Indians. They even had the model holding a long rifle and wearing a powder horn.

When the books were first released, they had the exact covers I didn’t want with tipis and mountains that you don’t even find in Colorado. And what was with that plaid across the model's bare chest? Was that a chastity plaid or something?

The wonderful people at Penguin, most especially my terrific editor, seem genuinely driven to please me with the covers — and to get them right. So that’s exciting, too.

And, now for the news that Kristie J, MelissaB and KarLynP will want to read... Surrender, Untamed and Ride the Fire will be re-released with cut scenes restored. And — wait for it — Ride the Fire will absolutely, positively have its epilogue.

Balloons and cake for everyone!

The only downer is this: Connor’s book will be the last book in the series. I won’t be working on Lord William’s story for some time, and only if Defiant does really well and I can talk someone into letting me write it. That’s a bit hard for me, because I don’t want to say good-bye to the French & Indian War setting or to my Rangers. I really wanted to write Lord William’s book. We’ll have to see how things go.

I will probably have to plan an extended vacation for after I finish Defiant, because finishing Ride the Fire and having to say good-bye to the Kenleigh/Blakewell clan had me in tears — for six weeks. You think I’m exaggerating. Ha!

That’s a lot of news. I hope you got it all — and I hope it excites you almost as much as it excites me.

Now I have a million things to do!

Coming soon:
I-Team Trivia
Breaking Point trailer

P.S. The images above are all lovely creations of Jennifer Johnson. The Breaking Point cover (with an image of Natalie added to it) and the Ride the Fire image are available as downloadable wallpaper on my website under Fun Stuff & Extras, together with other images. Feel free to download and share!