Otherwise known as, what happened in Pittsburgh stays in Pittsburgh, LOL! Wow… talk about a wild ride–I was there from April 16th through 20th, a week of total immersion.

How can one describe what can only be called a booklover’s Mardi Gras? For the uninitiated, that’s what the Romantic Times Booklover’s Convention is all about—fun! Pittsburgh may never be the same after the event which lasted roughly a week… I got there on Wednesday, 4/16 and hit the ground running doing panels, parties, and laughing every few feet as I walked down the hotel hallways. It was truly like a huge high school reunion… but without any mean girls (BIG SMILE!) Only the nicest folks show up to RT, and as an author, you get so much love there’s just simply no way to repay it all… the best one can and should do is to simply “pay it forward.”

Of course the usual suspects were there, making my face hurt from laughter! I sat on a paranormal writing panel with authors Cheyenne McCray, Kelley Armstrong, Dakota Cassidy, Mary Janice Davidson, and Monique Patterson (St. Martin’s Press, Senior Editor), and by the time Mary Janice and Dakota got finished, I almost needed to be wearing Depends! We laughed so hard, the entire panel was out of control! Had a ball on the vampire writers panel with Jeanne Stein, Caridad Pineiro, Rosemary Laurey, and Kim Harrison, too. (All VERY funny ladies… but Mary Janice is out of her mind, LOL! Her one-liners are worthy of Hollywood stand-up.) But being on panels wasn’t the only place the usual suspects turned up—like bumping into Cindy Cruiger in the hallway, (queen of hilarious snark), which will have you walking away wiping your eyes from laughing and needing an inhaler.

But I confess to really losing control on the Multicultural panel—it’s all Kimberly Kaye Terry’s fault for putting me on there with crazy Camille Anthony, and Caridad… feeling like I should apologize to Anne Christopher and Marjorie Liu—who are such sweet souls! (So should Kimberly and Camille, LOL!) Here’s some pics…

Leslie, Caridad, Kimberly, Marjorie, and Anne–misbehaving

Then here’s me with Caridad Piniero, Marjorie Liu, Ann Christopher, and Camille Anthony

BIG CONGRATS to Anne and Marjorie, by the way, who won awards, yaaaay! And here I was on the panel with these esteemed authors and we just CUT UP… the whole thing devolved, but we got help from the audience, LOL!

However, things took a true turn for the worst, alas, the de-evolution of decorum on the erotica panels THAT LASTED TWO HOURS. There is a very dirty metaphor I could use here, but I will behave. Lemme see… whom shall I incriminate? Uh, huh… Renee Bernard was “supposed” to be moderating us, but I’ll go easy on her because with this crew, that was impossible… check this line up… me, Eric Jerome Dickey, Jade Lee (too crazy and another award winner—yaaay! CONGRATS!), Stephanie Burke—need I say more (?)… Ahem… plus Madeleine Oh (wild woman with a FANTASTIC Brit accent that makes everything she says sound wonderful), J.C. Wilder (who can also do stand up comedy from her one-liners), Adrienne Kama, and Robin Schone.

This panel was first thing in the morning. No one had had coffee. The night prior was the costume Fairy Ball. It got Coyote Ugly real fast. The audience aided and abetted us… asking questions like, “Do you write what you know?” Without a coffee filter, true confessions came out… the only man on the panel said it so plain that we didn’t need coffee–eyes popped open and laughter rang out. It was baaad. The discussion took a wild turn that got into the detailed intricacies of cultural differences in nomenclature used for certain body parts. (Did I say that politically correct enough? BIG SMILE) That’s all I can tell ya. Yeah… sooo… What happened in Pittsburgh stays in Pittsburgh—otherwise known as, if I tell ya, I gotta kill ya, LOL!

Then there were fabulous folks who I genuflected before when I saw them… the grand dames who were, and remain, completely generous as “sister authors” and/or publishing industry notables, namely, Christine Feehan, a true gem (we stole some laughs by the elevator—finding out that some people had just gotten stuck on the fourth floor between floors on the very one she was about to take to her suite!), Brenda Jackson, a doll… who shared the Book Expo “black out” with me when the ballroom lights literally went out, Pat Simmons and her media cohort, Lisa Watson—who kept after all of us and got us to the television station on time (and set up radio interviews like madwomen), plus Circle of Seven Production folks, Sheila English and Victoria Fraasa–living dolls… as well as Nicole Ferweda, RT Blogger and sweetheart, Anne Elizabeth (fantastically positive), and my local VFRW gang of cool fun ladies, Liddy Midnight—Faery Court organizer, Judi Fennell, and my sweet pea, Adele DuBois (Hey ladies!)

Here’s my VFRW cronies below: Judi, Adele,and moi (but Liddy was running around getting the Faery Ball ship shape for it’s “Under the Sea” theme, hence AWOL, but we still love her.) By the way, the ball was soooo pretty-decorated to the nines all glittery and blue/green jewel tones, gorgeous. We hung out at dinner…

But there were still lots and lots more folks that I had a great time with, too…

Not to mention my Book Expo table mates, Maya Banks and Michelle Bardsley (yo!) But who can forget the inimitable Lady of Barrow—Kathryn Falk, who did the Friday morning Pittsburgh Live TV show with cover models, costumed revelers, and a bunch of zany authors (’yours truly’ included)… as well as conference anchors (the ladies who hold everything down and keep it all together), namely Kathe Robins, JoCarol Jones, and Carol Stacy (who, ARE RT)—along with some very FINE cover models? Can you say “eye candy”? (Shssssh… don’t tell, it just walks by you in the hall–gawd I love that conference, LOL!)

Truly, I shouldn’t have even started naming names of who was there, because everybody was there, seriously! We had a dinner with St. Martin’s Press, where I got to meet more of my fellow SMP sister authors and laugh till my face hurt. Editors, agents, folks from the industry, book-sellers, et al, turned out in force. We’re talking bare chest cover model contests, Texas Hold ‘Em poker in an after party suite, receptions galore… a dizzying experience to be sure.

I know I’m forgetting folks, though, but would never do that in a second—blame it on being overwhelmed with the vastness of it all… bookseller buddies were there from overseas, too — wonderful Rosemary, who comes in an annual trek from Australia with a sweetheart of a gal, who has now moved to the UK, but Rosemary still came bearing Tim Tam chocolate cookies, oh, bless you both!… and my girl Ollie… and Annette Batista from BetweenYourSheets.com–who besides being a doll even taught me Cuban swear words for the Scarface book–yep… she did! It was research, hey, LOL! BIG THANK YOU–who knew? Dang a LOT of folks were there! Just everybody. You learn all sorts of things at RT, what can I say? But it’s all good… including…

Fantastic readers—I had dinner with a group of the most wonderful ladies at the Vampire Ball, (Tricia, Linda, Megan, Nancy — there were 10 at the table, so forgive me for leaving out names), who now own blackmail pictures of me in vamp drag, LOL—NO, I won’t post them, ha ha ha! I’m leaving them on their sites, as the shots in question involved fangs and necks. Megan has a cool blog, pics are here of the vampire scene: Vampire Ball

(BIG THANK YOU Linda for the lovely bookmark and Craisins to keep me going during the expo, and the pics!)

I also sat with a great crew during the Faery Ball and a wonderful group of Librarians from across the country at the Thursday luncheon… and laughed my hiney off with crazy Stephanie Burke, Wendy D’Armor, and Sarah (who promises to teach me bad words/slang in British Cockney), and a table full of fun folks at the awards luncheon… and then there’s all the spot sightings of great people (like I said before) in the hallways, at the dinner theater events, and of course, at the bar (BIG CHEESY GRIN.)

If you haven’t treated yourself to an RT extravaganza, and you’re a die hard reader… please make sure you go to just one. It is an experience that defies description. You’ll have a blast, will meet your fav authors—up close and personal… and Mona (from “Frozen Light”) will make you lose your natural mind at her jewelry counter with her handcrafted silver pieces that are one of a kind. Just be sure to allow yourself a day or two of post-RT recovery… you will not sleep, you will be exhausted… but always in a very good way—BIG SMILE!

Lots of Luv, Leslie

PS: I guessed the right number to win a Wolf Native American Medicine Wheel at the Southwest luncheon… guess what the number was? SEVEN! (7) Yeah! I had been joking at the table that since Bad Blood just came out, how cool it would be if I had that hanging in my office with a “Shadow Wolf” on it (for those who’ve read the book, you know why I said that.) Then this young woman comes to the table and tells us all to pick a number. We aren’t sure why at first and we look around a bit confused, but eventually we settle down and oblige her. As soon as I said “seven,” she smiled brightly and said, “That’s the number for this table–the centerpiece is yours.” Ahhh… don’t ya just love it when it works like that–BIG GRIN!

PSS: I KNEW I WOULD FORGET SOMEONE DEAR… Jaynie! I fall on my sword.
Here’s her blog and pic–a doll! Janie’s Blog of RT

As always… dang!

Once again, the NY Street Team out-did themselves in creating more than a book-signing event at Hueman Bookstore (Harlem, NYC) on 3/22/08 – they created what we have now come to know as, “The Hueman Experience.” A full house, laughs, serious Q&A, and as always a raffle – an OFF DA HOOK raffle — that gave out gift bags filled with custom made coffee cups, mouse pads, t-shirts, all sorts of “Neteru Memorabilia,” followed by busting a ridiculous grub at Dinosaur Burgers, which made it an absolutely fantastic event. For those who have read that far in the series, you know there’s a scene where the VHL squad goes to a place in Harlem called Monsta Burgers in the book—where they have the Big Ass Pork Platter… yeah… that would be one in the same, LOL! We ate like dawgs, I cannot lie!

Plus I got to meet the winner of the Ayana Bear Contest, Chantel, who was also honored there (and who brought her own fine-azz Carlos with her—you go, gurl! The brother is awesome good people)… Of course Marva Allen, Hueman’s “first lady,” was there and gave out an advanced copy of Bad Blood, and was also awarded a scrumptious fruit basket arranged in a floral spray of pineapple hearts and fat, delicious strawberries—we love you, Marva! The Street Team then turned their wondrous affection on yours truly, giving me a beautiful walnut wall plaque of appreciation that I will forever cherish, plus a floral spray of lilies and greens in a gigantic martini glass along with so much love that it was positively overwhelming. We took group pics, held up a dragon for Sandra in Scotland, aka, Dragon Rider, who can’t make it due to distance—the dragon is for you, lady! Adrienne got me all spiritually armored up with some deep Gospel… I was getting my praise on today, y’all, LOL! Everyone had a ball… and one cannot forget Miss Kristi—who dropped the most decadent homemade brownies on a sistah.… so buttery good there ought to be a law!

But it’s the people… oh, the people, who always come out and support and add to the mix of love and fun and pure delight—y’all are what makes it all worthwhile. THANK YOU! (And, yes, I’ma get up with Three Feathers Light about Atlantis mysticism, yep, BIG SMILE!) Look for pics in a day or so on The VHL Forum (check the www.vampire-huntress.com website.) Brother Glenn always puts up the shots from the events there on Photobucket… a talented gem that most folks know on-line as Phat G.

Uh-huh, we acted out, got stoopid with the laughter and conspiracy theories, ancient world religions, mad-crazy science, all of that, in discussing the possible end books that are capturing “the end of days.” However, we’re about to get real stooopid in the Bahamas in October. Check it out, below.

(Click on the image to enlarge it–also this rate is for the full four days, not per night! Say whaaa… yeah! I said the same thing.)

My sister author hooked up a trip that has the price you can’t beat with a stick… so when she asked me if I wanted to get down with her Come Out and Play event at The Atlantis, how could I say no? That’s my girl any ole way, so I was gonna move heaven and earth to try to make it to show her some love, too. Will be in her neck of the woods, Chi-town, otherwise known as Chicago, in July this year when The Shadows (book 11 of the VHL) drops, and she’s planning on a whirlwind tour of the windy city… I know that Come Out and Play party is gonna be ridiculous! It’ll be some time around July 11th timeframe, she said. As soon as everything is a lock, we’ll post it.

I’m still adding tour dates and the calendar will be blowing up in the next coupla months. Stay tuned for West Coast dates… yeah, I’m heading to San Diego for ComicCon this year in July, too—that Friday and Saturday during the convention, signing at The Devil’s Candy Store booth. Will be in Mississippi on April 11th & 12th… will be at the Romantic Times Booklover’s Convention in Pittsburgh April 16th thru the 20th… maaan, it’s getting wild again, LOL!

All that notwithstanding, after stuffing myself on Saturday with the NYC Street Team, then having the nerve, gall, and audacity to do that again with a big Easter dinner today, this girl best go for a looong ride on the stationary bike that doubles as a dust collector and then get back to work on her book, ha ha ha! I did run out a little bit today, trying to waddle some of the excess calories off… playing with my dog, “Girlfriend,” (don’t blame me, the kids named her, LOL! Story for another day, smile.)

Well… time to get back on task… Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, whatever you celebrate—it’s all good… Much Love, Leslie!

Hey folks… happy holiday! This is a time for renewal—spring is in the air and it’s all good. Wanted to pass on some additional good news, even though I’m supposed to be in “writer’s hiding” finishing up book 12 of the VHL series (I know—misty-eyed and procrastinating, experiencing separation anxiety—BIG TIME!) LOL

But just in… I received a letter from The State of Pennsylvania that they named me one of the state’s Best 50 Women in Business… I was like, whoa! Very cool stuff. This award comes out of The Department of Community & Economic Development, which really makes me feel good because the award recognizes women who have done things to help others in their community—winning that one is very humbling, believe me.

More good news… The Street Team has launched a crazy crossword puzzle competition, see rules & regs below. That’s the March contest this month—don’t e-mail me, LOL… this awesome contest is their baby. In fact, I looked at the crossword puzzles and was like… dang, I can’t answer half of these questions, LOL! This one ain’t no joke. This is for serious aficionados.

Well… that’s it for now… going back into the writer’s lair—BIG GRIN. But I promise to have pics and stories from “The Hueman Experience.” That’s right, we’re gonna be in NYC in Harlem on Saturday, 3/22 from 4-6pm for another rowdy, fun, wild book-signing and discussion!

Again, everyone have a wonderful holiday… Easter, Passover… may you and your families be blessed!

BIG PHILLY HUG, Leslie

CONTEST:

“Guardians….The Armageddon is near!”

It’s still not too late for you to help save the world. So, the first challenger who completes “The Darkness” crossword correctly wins the

Street Team Warrior Survival Kit!

The Crossword is in the file section at the L.A. Banks Fan Club board, in the file section, under Contests.

To request a copy via email, contact me at

shonshon1b@yahoo.com

For and immediate response, please put Street Team Contest in the subject line.

Challengers will submit their answers via email to

vhl_crossword@yahoo.com

by Monday, March 24, 2008.

Entries are to include

Full name

Address

Phone Number

Entries will be viewed in the order they are received. The survivor of this battle will be announced on

Monday, March 31, 2008.

“Will you rise to the challenge?”

“Be Valiant, Be Victorious”

- Valkyrie

“Stay in the LIGHT!”

Contest Rules
This contest is not sponsored by or affiliated with St. Martin’s Press or L.A. Banks. If you win any prize in this contest, the president of the L.A. Banks Fan Club has the right to publish your name, recognizing you as the winner of this contest, and the winning entry on all L.A. Banks related forums, blogs, and MySpace pages.

If you click on the pic of Shabazz, it will enlarge I just learned how to do that on the blog, LOL! Hot dang, I’m on a roll, LOL!

Hey, folks… hope you’re having a great weekend Wanted to share something that got brought to my attention. One of the readers on the VHL Forum, aka Lost_Soul, took one of the character graphics off the website and colorized it… and it is HOT TO DEATH! I LOVE IT! They hooked up Shabazz’s image with full color and it’s simply awesome! This, of course, spurred a whole discussion amongst the Street Team about getting more like this to post… sounds like the rumblings of a contest to me–BIG SMILE… awwwww, sookie, sookie, now! Stay tuned, ya never know !

Let us know what you think… BIG PHILLY HUG, Leslie!

I admit it—I’m still chair dancing (yeah, still late in the day), LOL! It was soooo cool to see The Darkness picked as a book on The Today Show this morning–I think it was 10:36 AM to be exact, LOL, and Marva (from Hueman Bookstore in Harlem, NYC) was just as fly as she wanted to be… hair and make-up were “beat,” as we say around the way… she was gorgeous!

If you missed it, MSNBC put up a link – and if you scroll down, there’s video of the book segment where you can see Marva give an account of her choices. It’s ALL good!

Well, I’ve played hooky long enough… it’s back to the grind—BIG SMILE

MSNBC LINK:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23376251/?pg=3#TDY_C2C_Main

PS: We have a VHL Lovers chat coming up very soon to discuss The Darkness, March 13th at 9 PM – Eastern Standard Time. Just go to the website and click on chat. But you have to be logged into the forum for the chat facility to work… we did some updating so test drive it before the time to be sure you can get in. But be forewarned, we do spoilers on there and it gets wild with the information at night… so if you aren’t that far along in the series and are sensitive about hearing what’s gonna happen next, you might wanna sit this one out. I have absolutely NO control over the questions and comments that zing past me during our very lively forum chats–what can ya do? LOL

Also, we had a short server outage yesterday because of bandwidth issues. Never before has this happened like this—but the webmaster said we hit such traffic volume that we exceeded allotted limits and got knocked off the air, so to speak (my non-technical version of his much more sensible explanation.) That’s a good thing and a bad thing, I guess… so he updated us with more space because folks are flocking to the site—yaaay!

Hey folks… I just got word about this from my publisher, St. Martin’s Press, late yesterday… I think the announcement will be in the last hour in the book segment. If you can tune in, check it out!

THE TODAY SHOW will be recommending THE DARKNESS
on Thursday, February 28, 2008. The Today Show is launching a new monthly segment featuring booksellers recommending their favorite titles. The first segment will air THIS THURSDAY. THE DARKNESS by LA BANKS will be recommended by Hue-Man bookseller Marva Allen. THE DARKNESS will also be featured prominently on the MSNBC website.
Three books will be recommended as representatives from three different categories. THE DARKNESS will be their “ON THE GO” pick. The other two categories are: BY THE BED and WITH FRIENDS.

The outpouring of love is staggering… wow… THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH! It feels so good to have a family… a true community of great people who have your back–those people who laugh with you, cry with you, fuss with you (when your covers or characters ain’t right–not because they’re mad atcha, but because they love ya, LOL), and who get up and do “the wave” & chair dance and holler when they hear some good news about you. THAT’S FAMILY THANK YOU for being my family… and the beautiful thing is, we’ve been together for what feels like a loooong time. This was all years in the making–and like any other family, we get new additions every day. How cool is that? BIG SMILE. Just know that I don’t take one second of it for granted. Nope. Not one little bit.

BIG PHILLY HUG & MUCH LOVE… Leslie

PS: Here’s that You Tube video I promised you. Ya might have to cut and paste it into your browser–I’m still learning how to make some of the blog features do what it do but I’m trying Have a fabulous weekend everybody!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEM1HPaHEIc
This is “home video gone digital” with my baby hollering, “Go Mommy” in the background, LOL!

We did it!!! YOU DID IT! Together we won The Essence Magazine “Storyteller of the Year” Award! THANK YOU! Bless you folks! This was the magazine’s debut literary event that they hope to turn into an annual function that may grow to the size of The Essence Music Awards one day… and you guys/gals put me on the map—HOT DANG! LOL!

No, I’m serious. I wasn’t even on the initial ballot until VHL readers hit Essence with all the energy they had, in fact, I wasn’t even aware that there was such a contest until you all kicked up a LOT of dust, ha ha ha! Then you raised Cain, literally, when the voting on-line didn’t go according to Hoyle for the first couple of days, and then you pummeled the voting tallies until a sister got her foot in the door. And check it out… of ALL the categories of nominations, “Storyteller of the Year” was the only one not decided upon by Essence judges. That was a Peoples’ Choice type of award, whereby votes were counted. You all weighed in, showed your muscle at the ballot box, and made it do what it do—BIG SMILE. For that I am deeply honored and humbled… it means so much more that this was done the old fashioned way, by reader selection and not politics. You all are simply amazing! BIG PHILLY HUG!

For the gala, I took my daughter. At 17, she was sooo excited! The publisher put us up at The Warwick a couple of blocks away from Le Parker Meridian in Manhattan where the event was held, and as you can see my boo has us playing around and mugging for the camera, LOL!
It was an awesome evening with authors, editors, publishers, marketing & PR types, media… the virtual who’s who in the literary community. Bishop T. D. Jakes received the President’s Award for his stellar work on “Repositioning Yourself” and one’s life—I’m gonna go get that book this weekend, believe me! Terri McMillan received the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was given special honors for her marvelous article on Jill Scott (a Philly sister whom I admire and adore!)

Actress Lynn Whitfield added some Hollywood panache to the opening of the envelopes, as did that fine hunk from the hot TV show The Wire, Jamie Hector (yeah, my kid got her photos on, LOL!) Appeals went out to save our community libraries and minority-owned bookstores amid the festivities to be sure that the opportunity to give back to one’s roots in reading were not overlooked. News anchor Hoda Kobt worked with Dr. Ian Smith (from The 50M Pound Challenge) to MC a fabulous event, with Essence’s own Patrick Henry Bass as head honcho

What can I say… I felt like Cinderella at the ball. Open bar, chi-chi hors d’oeuvres, the glitterati… and somehow, through some very dedicated reader fairy godmothers & godfathers, I wound up on “The A List.” Wow. How cool was that… albeit with a size 11 shoe, it would’ve taken some doing to find this chic a glass slipper—but the powers that be improvised and gave me a crystal award, LOL! Mo’ betta in the long run. Any ole way, it was fun, I mean that in all sincerity—thank you soooo much! Me and my agent, Manie Barron, his partner at the firm, Claudia Menza, and my daughter were sitting in the back of the room. I was just glad to get nominated, had no expectation that I might actually win. He and I were buzzing and chatting between clapping (about to get thrown out like bad little children—you know when the teacher breaks up a pair, ha ha ha), and they called my name. For two seconds I didn’t move. I was like, “Huh? Me? For REAL? OMG!”

The St. Martin’s row went up, my back row went up, and we CUT UP, just acted like we had no sense… ah… you would have been proud (or terribly ashamed at us hooting, ha ha ha!) But my daughter was the “technical digital one” who filmed it and showed me how to get it up on You Tube – BIG GRIN. [I promise I’ll have it up there by tomorrow, once that 18MB sucker uploads–laughing] She got the pics of me & Manie & Claudia & Monique Patterson (my editor) and some cool celeb pics and then blew my cell phone up and hers with the fast as lightening text messages to my sister, all my play daughters and family, who in turn blew up my cell (I don’t wanna see next month’s bill, but it was worth it, chuckle!)

SO THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, AN AWARDS TO CHERISH… and most of all… FOR ALL THE LOVE!!! What a NIGHT!

BIG PHILLY HUG, Leslie!

Hi folks… it has just come to my attention that a fellow author who has just come out with her debut novel, Liar’s Diary, was also just diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer… therefore, Patry Francis just doesn’t have the energy right now while undergoing treatment to do all the barnstorming, road promotion, etc., required to launch her book. So her publisher asked other authors to blog on the topic to lend a hand and to get the word out about her new novel… y’all know I had to jump on it, right. It is such an easy thing to pass along good vibes and to lend a helping hand to someone–we’d all want it done for us, especially in a field like writing where you don’t have the wonderful safety net of an employer to catch you when you’re sick. That’s a tiny thing we each can do to make this world a little kinder and gentler…. so while you’re looking for reads, consider hers. Below is the link to her story that you can cut & paste to read more. BIG HUG, Leslie!

Patry’s website is http://www.patryfrancis.com/ and the amazon link for her book is:

http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Diary-Patry-Francis/dp/0452289157/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201389693&sr=1-1

Also, Penguin is offering an online discount:
In support of Patry Francis and this remarkable blog initiative, Penguin Group USA would like to offer 15% off the paperback edition of The Liar’s Diary when purchased online from us.penguingroup.com until 2/15/2008.
On the shopping cart page, enter PATRY in the ‘coupon code’ field and click ‘update cart’ to activate it.

http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780452289154,00.html

Lastly: There’s a nice article about the blogging effort at Red Room. http://www.redroom.com/articles/authors-who-blog-come-together-help-one-their-own