30 Days of Demons, Day 19: Why Leanna is Awesome! Back to Blog
Update: Thanks for all the great comments! The winner of THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER (ARC) is…Edie! Congrats, Edie!! And if you didn’t win, well, Leanna still has a prize for you. Send Leanna your mailing address (email her at leannareneehieber@yahoo.com) and she will send you an excerpt booklet–the first 3 chapters of THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER. Now that’s a great deal!
Today, I’m jealous. Yes, I’ll just come right out and admit it–I’m jealous b/c I want the prize that my guest author is offering. Who is my author today? The lovely and talented Leanna Renee Hieber. And guess what she’s giving to one very lucky commenter? An autographed ARC of her upcoming Dorchester release, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. I cannot wait to read this particular book!!! When August 25th gets here, I’ll be at the front of the bookstore line, this book clutched in my greedy hands. 😉
Welcome, Leanna!
I’m sure you’re as excited about Midnight’s Master as I am and so I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be here! Thanks Cynthia!
What I love about demons is the ambiguity; the endless possibilities of them.
What exactly can a demon do? What is it bound by? Really, it’s limited only by the rules the author lays down. They can be anything and everything, and honestly I find them the most unpredictable and intriguing of characters, mysterious and powerful. I’ve yet to write a nice or redeemable one. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but a good one hasn’t yet crossed my path.
Demons don’t seem to have the same sets of cultural baggage/established expectations you find with familiar creatures like Vampires and Werewolves. With a demon, you’re never sure what you’re going to get, and that’s dangerous and exciting. They are an elevated form of spooky, a higher category of powerful, whether the author chooses to use them for good or for evil. Either way, they’ve always captivated me.
That’s why when writing The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, a Gothic Victorian fantasy full of ghosts, fierce camaraderie and an epic love, I decided to make my sinister characters demon-esque. They needed to be set apart from all the ghosts, a different breed. These creatures are informed by mythological roots. While I don’t say out and out who/what they are, my heroes make demon inferences as they try to comprehend what they’re dealing with. To my heroes, the Guard- essentially Ghostbusters in Victorian England- any supernatural thing other than their usual ghostly suspects is a new problem. They are equipped to fight spectres. Not demons. When Jack the Ripper starts spreading its terror, it is a new breed of horror they’ve never before encountered.
Here’s the scene from The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker in which I first introduce my demon-informed characters:
From the eternally dim shadows of the Whisper-world a voice resonated like a deep, angry bell tolling three o’clock: “Where. Is. She?”
“I’ve no idea, dear,” replied a softer, feminine voice. “Was I supposed to do something about her? I thought you’ve been looking all this time. While you’ve only just noticed, it’s been eighteen of their years. She could be anywhere. She’s not my responsibility, you know.”
The deep voice grunted. “Do. Something.”
The woman sighed, her fair skin glowing in the moonlight. Placing her hands to her coiled tresses atop her head, she found something sharp. With a hiss, she brought her thumbs back into view; their pricked pads sprouted thick, dark jewels, garnets that began to overflow and weep.
Lifting up her hands, she watched in fascination as the crimson trail spread from her thumbs onto her palms. She turned her hands one direction, then the other. “Hmm,” she said after a long moment.
“Well?” pressed the voice in the shadows.
“London,” she replied.
“Something wicked, then?” the voice gurgled.
The woman turned and smiled, nonchalant. “By all means, let the dog loose.”
There was a grinding of stone. A ferocious growl erupted from the deep, before a barking, snarling, ugly cloud leaped into the sky. It vanished into the shimmering portal opposite the shadows where the woman’s master stood brooding, a portal where now rose the Tower of London. The voice tolled again from the shadows. “There will be hell to pay.”
***
Come visit me at www.leannareneehieber.com, connect via any of the social networking platforms of your preference, and I hope you’ll pick up a copy of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, releasing on 8/25! (Preorder: www.tinyurl.com/strangelybeautifulbn) In August I’ll be launching my Strangely Beautiful Haunted London Blog Tour and Cynthia has graciously allowed this lovely blog of hers to be a stop on the tour where I’ll describe real, documented London haunts I use in the book! Happy Demon Hunting – or Loving!
Leanna Renee Hieber
www.leannareneehieber.com
Bestseller at Crescent Moon Press and 2009 Prism Finalist:
DARK NEST – futuristic fantasy novella with a psychic punch
Upcoming from Leisure Books / Dorchester Publishing:
THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER – the ghostly, Gothic, Victorian fantasy begins 8/25/09!
Hi Leanna,
Your new release sounds so exciting after reading the excerpt…can’t wait for the book to come out. Thank you for the posting today and congratulations on your new book, ‘The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker…definitely enter me in your drawing.
Hi Leanna,
Congrats on the new book coming out. After reading the excerpt I am ready to get my hands on a copy. I might even beat out Cynthia. Will this become a series or a stand-alone? Have a great weekend. 🙂
Sounds very interesting. I will be at the bookstore waiting on it after reading the excerpt. Can’t wait.
Thanks so much, ladies! This book is the “book of my heart” so I am SO excited.
Ann Marie, I’m so glad you asked! Strangely Beautiful series has 4 books total. The sequel is slated for March 2010.
If anyone is interested in receiving one of my Excerpt booklets of the first three chapters, (unless you’re the ARC winner!) email me at leannareneehieber@yahoo.com with your mailing address and I’ll drop one in the mail to you as an additional teaser! 🙂
Thanks for letting me be here, Cynthia! I’m a huge fan of yours and it’s a thrill to be a part of your release party here!
Loved the excerpt and think the cover is beautifully dreamy.
Ohhhh, I like the excerpt and your cover is gorgeous!
ooooohhhhhh
I love the premise! *scribbling down title and release date*
Hi Leanna. Your book sounds great. Loved the excerpt.
I can’t remember the last time I was as excited about a new book release as I am about this one. The more I read and hear…the more I like! Stunning excerpt. But then I’m not at all surprised! 🙂
Oh, this is delightfully spooky! Reading blood trails on her hands — marvelous! And the dog, and hell to pay (whatever horror that may mean in this context)!! I already knew I wanted to read this story, but now I’m unbearably hooked.
wow. That sounds freaky. I love it. 🙂 Now I am going to have take a look at this book. I really like the cover looks like it goes with the story. 🙂
Oh yeah — sign me up!! love the blood trails
My TBB list just keeps getting longer…
Congrats on the upcoming release. I love gothic stories.
Hi,
from a Londoner!!! Hehe!!
I am really interested in this book for sure, looks yummy, deliciously exciting!!!
I love gothic stories. Hope it sells really well for you. I’ll be picking up a copy….unless I win one…haha!!
Valerie
Great excerpt!
This does sound interesting. I love that gothic period, and I read a lot of it. I’ll be watching for it, unless I get lucky and win it, of course!
This sounds wonderful
Love, love, love!
Omigosh, I’ll have to keep an eye out for this! Odd. Amazon.ca lists the release date as Aug.4 and Chapters Indigo lists it as Sept. 16. 🙁
Great cover and excerpt. Definitely something I’ll have to read.
i cant wait to read the book and i have a question what i s arc just wondering adela
Oh, the book cover is so pretty and I loved the excerpt. Excited for your new release, congratulations!
Leanna, so great to meet you. Your photo is beautiful as well as that cover! It tells me, ‘read me now’! Gosh that was so great to read that scene too! Thanks for sharing all this. I’m so excited on this release and reading yours!
I love the title of this one, and the excerpt was great! Thank you for sharing it!
sounds very interesting. Will have to definitley check this one out.
This would be a new author for me, sounds good!
Leanna, beautiful writing! It gave me chills.
This sounds fascinating, I can’t wait to read it.
that was an awesome excerpt!! i think i’m gonna like this book!
LOVE to read it!! pretty cover
This book looks great! Congrats!
also do you do promo bookmarks and oodies?
Congrats on the upcoming release of your new book Leanna! THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER sounds like my kinda of read, loved the excerpt!
Oooh, that excerpt just kept me anticipating more. I’ll have to follow suit and jot the title down. Gonna email you about the excerpt booklet
what a wonderful title and so glad to hear that it is the start of a series.
This book sounds fantastic! I loved the excerpt. I will put it on my TBB list.
Liane!
You are so good to me! Everyone check out the fabulous blog Liane is a part of, http://www.writersgonewild.blogspot.com – congrats on YOUR July 1st releases! Can’t wait!
Valerie!
Yay London! When I first visited there on scholarship, I knew I’d come home. They had to push me on to the plane. This book is my love letter to the world, and to London, my soul’s home.
Jacqueline,
Hmm, I wish I knew why that was…
Adela,
ARC is Advanced Reading Copy. It’s become such a familiar word to me now after being in the industry, but I forgot to spell it out, but my family and friends keep asking me the same thing 🙂
I’m glad the cover is going over well too, the cover is exactly the sort of atmosphere that’s inside the book, they nailed it and I am SO thrilled. We authors get very little say about the title and look of our books so when publishers get it right it is SUCH a good feeling!
Tasha,
Yes, I’d be happy to give away bookmarks and pins, just email me at leannareneehieber@yahoo.com and if it’s for a bookstore let me know how many and the mailng address or just your personal address and I’ll drop a few in the mail!
Thanks to those of you who have already emailed me with a mailing address to send an excerpt booklet, if you’re not the ARC winner I’ll get those in the mail to you within the week.
Everyone thank you so much for your kind words, it makes my day! This book has been a labour of love for nearly 10 years and so this is really a dream come true for me to share it with all of you, it makes me giddy. 🙂
oh wow this book sounds awesome would love to read it ty for stopping by
Victorian and Gothic are two types of novels I really enjoy, so putting them together definitely has me ready to read your book, Leanna. The little excerpt you posted helped as well because now I’m completely intrigued. I look forward to reading it.
Wow that Sound like a tripy book but good I would love to read your book some day when i can get it.
sasluvbooks@yahoo.com
Went to check out your book video on on your web. So mysterious and pretty cool. I liked the piano music in the background.
Great excerpt. I think it sounds like its going to be a really good book.
Oooh, I can’t wait for the blog fest…very cool sharing all the a haunted tales from London.
I love this stuff…and I love that Demons know no bounds!!
Victorian gothic fantasy is definitely for me. Congrats on the upcoming release, Leanna, I’ll be watching for it.
Congrats on your upcoming release, Leanna. The excerpt sounds good. I need to hop on to your website to check it out.
Sounds like a wonderful book and the start of a great new series. Congratulations on your upcomng new release!
Victorian England sparked my interest 🙂
Congrats on the release. The book does sound good
Congratulations on the release. Great excerpt and cover. Can’t wait
Congratulations, Edie!