It’s finally February 4th, and DO OR DIE, the first book in my new “Reluctant Heroes” series is available.

In fact, it downloaded into your e-reader last night, and, being a speed-reader, you’re already on your second time through.  Right?  Right?  Some of you are nodding now and saying, “Yes, that’s right.”

But far more likely, you’re reading this on February 8th or 9th or 10th or 20th, after you’ve finished all 558 pages of this giant murder-weapon of a book.

If you’ve stumbled onto this page WITHOUT having read DO OR DIE, this is your second and final warning.  There are spoilers here. Click on this page and scroll down to the comments section at your own risk!

This discussion page is for you to post questions and discuss DO OR DIE both with me and with other readers.  FYI, I’m heading out on the road for a book tour for most of the month of February, but I’ll try to drop in from time to time, to answer your questions cryptically and torment you by not telling you very much at all about the upcoming sequels.  Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and speculate wildly.  And please keep in mind that this website is my virtual living room.

Oh, and one last thing?  Bookmark this page so you can find it easily.  I’m going to be posting many other new pages with info about my upcoming book tour events, and this discussion page won’t sit at the top of my blog for very long.  Here’s the URL: https://suzannebrockmann.com/dod-reader-discussion/  (Added:  But oh! Look! I managed to put a link to this “Reader Discussion Page” on the “Upcoming” menu over to the left.  See it?  Yay! Go, me!)

Hugs,
Suz

We’re counting down the hours and minutes now!

Lotta fun interviews and links to click and share today!

An  audio interview (Part I) over at AudioGals with DO OR DIE’s audiobook narrators, Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank and me!  AudioGals are also giving away ten downloads of the audiobook of DO OR DIE, courtesy of Blackstone Audio and Downpour.com, but you have to enter AudioGals’s contest before midnight CST tonight, 2/3/2014!

Contest instructions are here.  Part II of the interview airs 2/4 (Tuesday), and Patrick, Melanie, and I will all be dropping by throughout the day on 2/5 (Wednesday) at www.AudioGals.net to answer questions and say hi!  http://www.audiogals.net/2014/02/a-recorded-talk-with-suz-brockmann-melanie-ewbank-and-patrick-lawlor/#.Uu-8o6U2FBU

A fun interview (and review of DoD) over at the USA Today HEA blog with Michelle Monkou at http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2014/02/03/suzanne-brockmann-interview-reviews-benson-smith/5176429/

Another cool piece about DO OR DIE from Victoria Janssen at the Heroes & Heartbreakers blog at http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2014/02/first-look-suzanne-brockmann-do-or-die-february-4-2014

A rockin’ review of DO OR DIE from the Book Gourmet at http://thebookgourmet.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-do-or-die.html

And another lovely review of the book from Book Date at http://bookdate.blogspot.com/2014/02/do-or-die-suzanne-brockmann.html 

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It’s DO OR DIE eve, and I slept in a little this morning, like the mom who has wrapped all of the presents and even successfully built the bicycle without too much agony and blood loss.  🙂

Virtual signing hardcover copies of DO OR DIE and  TPW DVDs signed and shipped.  CHECK.

Boxes and other VS rubble (mostly) cleaned up from the living room.  CHECK.

Raffle/door-prizes (including backlist audiobooks, international and/or manga editions, ARCs — some with marks and notes, copies of Ed’s books, copies of my favorite romance of 2013: GLITTERLAND, audio download codes for DO OR DIE…) for my first six book tour events gathered, packed, and ready to travel as I head north from Florida to Boston.  CHECK.

Roll of raffle tickets for book tour event prizes dug out of the closet.  CHECK.

Packing list started (note to self, it’s going to be cold!  Leave flip-flops home).  CHECK.

Pre-trip house cleaning…

Um…

That’ll top tomorrow’s to-do list, before I head out to the Barnes & Noble in Sarasota, for DO OR DIE’s release day celebration that starts at 7:00 p.m.  It’s actually a good, earth-grounding policy to clean the house on the day of a book’s release.

(Here’re the deets of that first event, in case right now you’re saying to yourself, “Hey, I’m in Sarasota, too…”:
Tuesday, February 4, 2014:  Sarasota, FL
7:00 p.m.
Q&A and signing, DO OR DIE release party!
Barnes & Noble
4010 S. Tamiami Tr
Sarasota, FL 34231
Store phone: 941-923-9907)

Write the final countdown page for my DO OR DIE Countdown blog. CHECK.

Thank you to all who’ve joined me for the countdown!

My work here is done.  Now it’s time for DO OR DIE’s magnificent cover to do its job so that the book leaps off the bookstore shelves and computer screens, and into readers’ hands.  🙂

And it’s time for former Navy SEAL Ian Dunn to get to work, too.  I hope you love him as much as Phoebe and I do.

Even though the countdown is over, come on back here to my blog to discuss DO OR DIE with other readers.  Tomorrow I’m going to create a special page with a big SPOILER-alert sign, so that those of you who read really fast will have a place to book-talk, right there in the comments section.  I’ll be out on the road very soon, but I’ll drop in as often as I can!

Love,
Suz

Today’s feature: Ten (10) audiobook downloads of DO OR DIE are being given away at AudioGals, courtesy of Blackstone Audio and Downpour.com!

Only eighty-six hours (as I write this!) until DO OR DIE drops into my east coast readers’ Kindles, Nooks, and other e-reading devices, and is available for download in audiobook format at websites like Audible and Blackstone’s own Downpour.com!

That’s only three and a half days, probably fewer by the time you see this post!

Remember last autumn, when I told you that February 4th was bearing down upon us with lightning speed?  (Was I right or was I really right?)

And a quick reminder before we get to the juicy bits about the audiobook download give away and the super-cool four-day event over at AudioGals: If you want to get a signed hardcover copy of DO OR DIE, and don’t live within driving range of my DO OR DIE East Coast Book Tour-a-palooza…

• Events in Sarasota and Jacksonville, FL!
• In Florence, SC where there is a gorgeously moving and inspiring, road-trip worthy Veterans Park!
• In Raleigh, NC where I’ll be joined by the amazing author Virginia Kantra!
• In Glen Allen, VA — a ‘burb of Richmond!
• In my current-northern-home-town of Framingham, and in a variety of other cool Massachusetts venues, including the Tewsksbury Public Library!
• In East Brunswick,  NJ, and Wilmington, DE!

…you only have until Saturday, February 1st to order a personalized, signed book via my DO OR DIE Virtual Signing.

And if you’re looking to get a signed copy of my Troubleshooters paperback anthology, HEADED FOR TROUBLE, (or any other of my paperback backlist!) you have until February 18th to order a virtually signed copy through my bookseller friend, Merry Cutler, of Annie’s Book Stop in Sharon, MA.  (But do it sooner rather than later — she might run out of copies!) Find out more at DO OR DIE Countdown Day Eight or on my appearances page.

But okay.  Here we go.  Today’s Countdown feature!

Head over to AudioGals to:

1. enter to win one of ten (10) free audiobook downloads of DO OR DIE, courtesy of Blackstone Audio!
2. hear a sample of DO OR DIE, read by both Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank
3. find out about AudioGals’ four day on-line event (Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday!), which includes two days of fun audio interviews with Patrick, Melanie, and me (all of us, on tape, together!) — and a Q&A day where all three of us will drop in and respond to questions and comments!

http://www.audiogals.net/2014/01/our-four-day-suzanne-brockmann-event-starts-today-giveaway-of-do-or-die/

www.audiogals.com

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Okay, that’s the countdown for today.  See you on Monday, aka DO-OR-DIE Eve.

Read DO OR DIE’s cover blurb at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/

Get a signed hardcover copy (before Feb. 1st!) via my DO OR DIE Virtual signing at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/dod-virtual-signing/

I wear glasses.

I remember getting them — it was way back when I was in first grade.  I was six years old and I walked out of the optometrist’s with a pair of blue plastic cat-eye frames, and I remember looking around with astonishment and being stunned that I COULD SEE INDIVIDUAL LEAVES ON THE TREES!  It was beyond cool.  And yeah, there was a period where I wore contact lenses, but in recent years, I’ve gone back to glasses.

They’re more than just a way for me to see the world around me.  They’re a useful life prop.  I like the way I look in them.  And I can take them off to blur the world around me, or to give myself a moment to gather my thoughts as I wipe the lenses on the bottom of my shirt, a la Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In DO OR DIE, I decided that the heroine, Phoebe Kruger, also wore glasses.  She’s a lawyer, and as a woman in a still predominantly man’s world, she also uses her glasses as a prop in a variety of ways.  But when I sat down to write this book, I wanted to make sure that her journey didn’t include any kind of “make-over,” where she lets down her hair and loses her glasses in that somewhat typical “librarian to sex kitten” conversion.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with that romance trope. I just didn’t want to go there with this book.)  So I made sure that Phoebe started the book very confident in both her physical appearance and her intellect.  She is a smart, mostly-savvy, quick-to-learn, real-sized woman who likes herself.  And wears glasses.

But it was funny when I started writing the book just how quickly I forgot that this character wore glasses.  I had to write a note to myself, and put it on my computer, so Phoebe’s glasses didn’t mysteriously disappear, twenty pages into the book. Funnier still is the fact that, as a glasses wearer, I am one hundred percent aware, one hundred percent of the time EXACTLY where my glasses are.  If I take them off and put them down, I take a moment to stop and pay attention so that I never forget where I’ve put them.  (If I forget, I will never find them, because I won’t be able to see them!!!)  I have established places throughout the house for my sunglasses case, and for the glasses that I wear for long-distance view, like when I watch TV or go to the movies or a show.

It didn’t take me that long to get used to keeping track of Phoebe’s glasses, too — but I kept the note to double-check my figurative math.

With that in mind, here’s an excerpt from DO OR DIE, from Phoebe’s point of view, from relatively early in the book:

He’d pushed her in.

Ian Dunn had pushed her into the swimming pool.

Phoebe sputtered and coughed as she flailed her way up to the surface. Her wet clothes were heavy and she only managed to get a quick bit of air before the water closed over her head again.

She was in the deep end, and it was pretty freaking deep, and she struggled to get the strap of her bag up and over her head, because it was helping to weigh her down. She wasn’t a particularly strong swimmer to start with, and the cut of her jacket made it hard to move her arms, so she kicked her feet, which did little more than dislodge her shoes. Still she somehow again broke surface, and she tried to see which way she needed to swim to get to the shallow end, but she ended up gulping water instead of air, which was not good.

“Oh, for the love of God,” she heard Dunn say before she went under again.

There was no way that she was going to drown in someone’s backyard swimming pool, but now she was gagging and choking, her lungs burning, and the urge to inhale was strong even though she was underwater, and she had to get back to the surface, but she couldn’t.

And the consternation and annoyance she was feeling took a solid turn into a flash of full panic—holy God, was she really going to drown in someone’s backyard swimming pool?—when she suddenly felt Dunn join her in the pool with a rush of force and bubbles.

She felt his arms go around her and he unceremoniously hauled her up out of the water so she could breathe. Air, air, real air! She flailed as she coughed and spat and choked, and the terror wasn’t gone because she still couldn’t stand and there wasn’t much of Dunn to grab onto because he had her from behind in a rough version of a lifeguard hold. She felt him pull her through the water, and even though she couldn’t see much of anything through eyes that were both stinging from chlorine and tearing from the coughing that still wracked her, she tried not to fight because she knew he had to be taking her to the side of the pool. And sure enough, he kept one arm around her, looped just under her arms, as he grabbed for the edge to keep them from both going under again.

And still, Phoebe could do little more than cough and wheeze and hack as her lungs burned and she replaced water with air, thank God. She felt Dunn maneuver his leg beneath her, attempting to support her butt with his rather massive thigh, as if she weighed little more than a child.

It served to boost her up a bit more out of the water, which was good, except when he tried to loosen his hold on her, which made her turn toward him in alarm and grab him more tightly.

Before jumping in to rescue her, he’d taken off his shirt and his jeans and probably his boots as well, and her hands slipped against the wet smoothness of his shoulders and back. He was a large man, and there was a lot of smooth skin beneath her fingers, covering a vast expanse of very firm muscles.

“I got you,” Dunn said into her ear. “You’re good.” His voice changed then, and Phoebe knew that he was talking to the man who’d come over the back wall—the one that Dunn had drawn her Glock on before he’d tossed her into the pool. Why on earth had he tossed her into the pool? “Who the hell lives in Florida but doesn’t learn to swim?”

“I know how to swim. I just don’t do it particularly well,” she tried to protest, but her voice was weak and the man who was outside the pool spoke over her.

“Who the hell buys a house in Florida—in cash,” he said, with a ton of snark in his tone, “but then doesn’t live in it for more than a few days before vanishing off the face of the earth?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Dunn said. “How are you?” He didn’t wait for the other man to respond. “Help me get her out of here.” He spoke into her ear again. “Come on, honey. Loosen your death grip on me, and use those hands of steel to grab onto my brother, Aaron.”

His brother?

Phoebe looked up, way up, at the man standing at the edge of the pool. Up closer like this, even without her glasses, which were now at the bottom of the pool, she could see that he was younger than Dunn by quite a few years. His hair was shorter and lighter, and his eyes were more green than blue. And even though he was tall, he wasn’t quite as super-sized. He was more sculpted, more . . . elegant. More slender and beautiful and less raw-boned. Less Stone Age and more Bronze Age—but still the kind of man who enjoyed living in a cave. He was completely, obviously, absolutely Ian Dunn’s brother.

“Aaron, Phoebe.” Dunn kept the introductions cursory. “Phoebe, Aaron.”

With a great deal of unhidden disgust, Aaron held out his hands and Phoebe let go of Dunn and reached for him. He took her by the wrists, and she did the same, and with Dunn pushing from the pool, she was up and out of the water and plopped inelegantly down onto the pink brick pavers, still working to spit the last of the chlorinated water out of her raw and burning lungs as her hair dripped into what was surely her makeup-streaked face.

Former SEAL that he was, Dunn wasn’t going to need any assistance getting out of the pool, and Aaron didn’t try to help, instead stepping back so as not to get splashed. But Dunn first dove to the bottom to collect her glasses, and then her bag and shoes, which he set beside her—as if they weren’t completely ruined and useless. Her phone, her wallet, the files she’d taken for one of the other cases she was supposed to be simultaneously working on . . .

“You pushed me in,” Phoebe accused him in a voice that was raspy and raw as she put her glasses on with shaking hands, while he used the edge of the pool to thrust himself up and out, water sheeting off of him.

She expected him to deny or at least make excuses: It was an accident; I tripped; I didn’t mean to . . . But instead he said, “Yup. Sorry. It had to be done,” as he used his hands to squeegee off his face and push back his unruly hair.

From her vantage point, looking up at him through the water- spotted and slightly blurry lenses of her glasses, he was quite literally larger than life. Right at that moment, with his hands up on his head, his muscular chest bare, and his boxer shorts clinging to him in a most revealing way, water matting the hair on his chest and his legs and his eyelashes, he was ridiculously attractive. Even with his more conventionally handsome younger brother standing next to him.

Of course the fact that Aaron was looking down at her with unconcealed dislike in his pretty hazel eyes might’ve had some- thing to do with it, as if she weren’t a person but instead a pile of excrement left on his pool deck by a wart-covered troll with an intestinal ailment.

“Phoebe who?” Aaron was asking Dunn. “Who the hell is she?”

“Phoebe Kruger.” Dunn glanced down at her. “She says she’s my lawyer.”

“I am your lawyer,” she said, still in that raspy voice, taking the opportunity granted by the eye contact to ask, “It had to be done?”

But Aaron was even more incredulous than she was. “Your lawyer works for Davio Dellarosa?”

“No,” Dunn said, but then corrected himself. “Well, she might. But it’s more likely that she works for Manny. We just met this morning, so . . .”

“I don’t,” Phoebe said. “Work for Manny. Or Davio. Or any other random Dellarosa.” With her ability to breathe mostly back, she started to peel her wet jacket from her shoulders—until she realized that the water had made her white blouse transparent. Neither man noticed, since Aaron had gotten way up in his brother’s face.

“What the hell, Eee?” he asked. It was then that Phoebe saw that he was holding her Glock. Dunn must’ve put it down when he’d shucked off his jeans and boots and shirt, and Aaron had it now. He held it like he knew how to use it, which wasn’t comforting at all. “You think she works for the Dellarosas, so you bring her here . . . ?”

“It really doesn’t matter who she is or who she works for,” Dunn said, wringing out his shorts as best he could.

“Damn straight, it doesn’t matter,” Aaron retorted. “She could be motherfucking Mother Teresa, and you still shouldn’t’ve brought her here. The more people who know where we are, the more likely one of them will tell someone who’ll tell someone else, who’ll pass along the info to that motherfucking maniac who—”

“Probably already knows exactly where you and Shelly live,” Dunn calmly finished for him. “Aaron, it doesn’t matter who Phoebe is or who owns her. It doesn’t matter if she does legal work for Manny Dellarosa or washes his dishes or even sucks his dick. Or does all three simultaneously. Because Manny knows. He knows, because I made a deal with him to keep you safe. He’s been keeping Davio in line.”

Aaron was silent at that, just staring at Dunn.

Phoebe raised her hand, her need to set the facts straight winning out over her desire not to upset the man who held her handgun. “For the record,” she said, “I’ve never so much as met Manny or Davio Dellarosa, let alone—”

“Since when?” Aaron interrupted her to ask his brother. The expression on his face was terrible, and Phoebe closed her mouth, focusing instead on becoming as small and invisible as possible. Just as she’d had no desire to drown in someone’s backyard swimming pool, she hated the bitter irony of being shot and killed with her own deadly weapon. “This deal you made . . . ?”

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Read DO OR DIE’s cover blurb at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/

Get a signed hardcover copy via my DO OR DIE Virtual signing at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/dod-virtual-signing/  (Note: Virtual Signing books must be ordered by this Friday, AHEM, that would be this SATURDAY, Feb. 1st!)

Six days…

Me, getting ready to march in Boston’s Pride parade. Photo taken by Chris Mason.

Ten years!

That’s how long the people of Massachusetts have been allowed to marry the person they love.

Yes, that’s right.

This year, 2014, we’re celebrating ten years of equal marriage in Massachusetts.

(This December, Jules and Robin will be celebrating their seventh anniversary!  We must do something then, too, to celebrate…)

But this month, MassEquality, the group that I worked with — the organization to which I gave all of my earnings from ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, the story of Jules and Robin’s Boston wedding — is having a big celebration, on February 27, 2014, in Boston, and I’m gonna be there.

Ed and Jason and me

Date: Thursday, February 27, 2014

Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: Fairmont Copley Plaza, 138 Dartmouth St, Boston, MA, 02116

For more information visit MassEquality’s website at http://www.massequality.org/events/icons-2014

For tickets: https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/event.aspx?Y=FrZ0S4jyDpVRH4ofKBGDvF4BpDPHdhayiIy5mlTGzevdgzIkPWF1Eg%3d%3d

If you’re in the Boston area, and planning to attend, drop me an email at SuzanneBrockmann @ aol.com  so I’ll know to find you in the crowd and say hello!

Ed and I are part of a rather large group of activists who are being honored at this event as “Marriage Champions.” It’s going to be fun to see and catch up with the many people that we worked with (the years we were most involved date from around 2005 through 2008), who’ve gone on to continuing the fight for equality in other parts of the country, with organizations like Freedom to Marry and the Human Rights Campaign.

In 2008, Ed and I moved down to Florida, where we became members of Equality Florida.  At first, it was like stepping back into the 1970s.  We’d just won equal marriage rights in Massachusetts, but at the first EQFL meeting we went to, the group was celebrating hard-won community ordinances that kept LGBTQ citizens from being evicted or losing their jobs because of their sexual orientation.

Since 2008, Equality Florida has come a long way.  In fact, Florida is approaching a tipping point in terms of shaking free from archaic, hateful and exclusionary “values” and beliefs about what a “typical” American family should be or look like.

ICYMI, (in case you missed it) I’ve been blogging for Huffington Posts Gay Voices, in part about my experience of living in Florida, as the mother of a gay son, and about my parents’ appropriate response to the harsh, but sadly true news that their (now former!) church was anti-gay.

Here’re links to my blog at Huffington Post’s Gay Voices (most recent posts at the top):

• The Perfect Wedding: Coming to a church near you
• Silent Night, Homophobic Night . . .
• Dedicated to the One I Love
• Three Beautiful Little Words
• Really Good Sh*t My Mom Says (About Her Gay Grandson)

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Read DO OR DIE’s cover blurb at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/

Get a signed hardcover copy via my DO OR DIE Virtual signing at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/dod-virtual-signing/  (Note: Virtual Signing books must be ordered by this Friday, Feb. 1st!)

It’s Tuesday — there’s only one more week until DO OR DIE hits the stores and/or uploads to your e-reader!  Today’s countdown page is for those of you who are writers — or those readers who are interested in the writing process!

I’m going to be doing a number of writing workshops this year.
Here’s my upcoming schedule:

Saturday, February 8, 2014: Jacksonville, Florida
10:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
First Coast Romance Writers monthly meeting (visitors are welcome!)
Morning workshop: Deep Point of View
New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann discusses the differences between objective and deep subjective point of view, and her methods and techniques for using this important writing tool.
Afternoon workshop: Collaboration and Other Creative Risks
New York Times bestselling author and twenty-year romance veteran Suzanne Brockmann and her husband, Edgar Award finalist and award-winning screenwriter Ed Gaffney discuss the art of control-freak-friendly collaboration as they share the lessons they learned about writing genre fiction from co-writing and co-producing a romantic comedy movie.
Meetings held at:
Jacksonville West Regional Library
1425 Chaffee Road
Please contact First Coast Romance Writers if you wish to attend this workshop!
Note: Books will not be sold at this workshop event, only at the B&N signing at 7 p.m. that evening!  (Info on my Appearances page!)

Sunday, February 16, 2014: Bedford MA
1:00 p.m.
New England Chapter (NEC) of RWA
(Note: Visitors are welcome, but there is a $5.00 room use fee for this event!)
Workshop:
Collaborations (with Loved Ones) and Other Creative Risks
with Ed Gaffney
New York Times bestselling author and twenty-year romance veteran Suzanne Brockmann and her husband, Edgar Award finalist and award-winning screenwriter Ed Gaffney discuss the art of control-freak-friendly collaboration as they share the lessons they learned about writing genre fiction from co-writing and co-producing a romantic comedy movie.
Meeting Location: Old Town Hall
Great Room, 3rd Floor
16 South Road
Bedford, MA 01730
Note: Extra parking at
Sovereign Bank
94 Great Road
Bedford, MA 01730

May 2 & 3, 2014: Burlington, MA
RWA New England Chapter Conference
Workshop: 
Reinvention: When Is It Right for Me?
with Virginia Kantra and Jessica Andersen
Everybody says, “Do what’s right for you,” but there’s no road map for writers facing tough financial and creative realities. How do you write authentically? What are the trade offs? How do you find your individual balance in your shifting personal life and the shifting world of publishing? Join three award-winning, bestselling authors as we share our process of reinvention and suggest strategies to assess your career, retool your creativity, and make right-for-you-right-now choices.
Location: Boston Marriott Burlington,
One Burlington Mall Road,
Burlington, Massachusetts 01803
Open-to-the-public booksigning on Saturday, May 3, 2014 (It’s usually held mid- to late-afternoon! I’ll post the exact time as soon as I have that info!)
See list of attending authors, agents, and editors
Registration now open at the NEC website.

May 13 – 18, 2014:  New Orleans, LA
RT Booklovers Conference
Registration open now!
Bookfair and workshops!
BOOKFAIR: Saturday, May 14th, 10:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (open to the public, with admission tickets sold at the door)
Workshops:
LGBTQ: Beyond the Pronouns: Why LGBTQ Romance May Be Your New Favorite Genre
Join some of the genre’s favorite authors to explore the many types of romance that fall under the LGBTQ umbrella—from sexuality to gender to tropes — and how they’re popping up in the most unexpected places.
Event Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 – 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm (Check final schedule – date and time subject to change!)
Moderator: Sarah Frantz (Riptide Publishing, Senior Editor)
Panelists: Suzanne Brockmann, Heidi Belleau, K.A. Mitchell, Marie Sexton
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YA: “Pride and Joy”: GLBT in YA
No longer relegated to special topic books, YA fiction today has come to include a diverse range of experience that better reflects the reality of modern life. Join our authors as we discuss inclusionary fiction and the challenges and rewards therein.
Event Date: Thursday, May 15, 2014 – 2:45 pm to 3:45 pm  (Check final schedule – date and time subject to change!)
Moderator: Melissa Marr
Panelists: Jenna Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Melanie Brockmann, Suzanne Brockmann, Malinda Lo, Scott Tracey

July 22 – 26, 2014: San Antonio, TX
Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, San Antonio, TX
Registration open now
Open-to-the-Public Literacy Booksigning: Wednesday, July 23rd, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel in the 3rd floor ballroom
Workshops (dates and times TBD):
The Human Experience: Throwing away stereotypes and creating realistically diverse characters through empathy
with Farrah Rochon
Black, white, gay, straight, male, female: we’re all human, and if we start with the basics–the human heart–and add a little research, a dash of imagination, and focus on our innate writer’s empathy and ability to walk a mile in another’s shoes, we can easily avoid stereotypes and instead create a rainbow of realistically diverse characters to people our novels.
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Reinvention: When Is It Right for Me?
with Virginia Kantra and Jessica Andersen
Everybody says, “Do what’s right for you,” but there’s no road map for writers facing tough financial and creative realities. How do you write authentically? What are the trade offs? How do you find your individual balance in your shifting personal life and the shifting world of publishing? Join three award-winning, bestselling authors as we share our process of reinvention and suggest strategies to assess your career, retool your creativity, and make right-for-you-right-now choices.

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I hope to see you (writers and readers alike!) at one of the upcoming workshops or book signings!  Watch my appearances page for more info and events!

Read DO OR DIE’s cover blurb at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/

Get a signed hardcover copy via my DO OR DIE Virtual signing at https://suzannebrockmann.com/upcoming/do-or-die/dod-virtual-signing/  (Note: Virtual Signing books must be ordered by this Friday, Feb. 1st!)

It’s a week and a day until the February 4th release of DO OR DIE!

Today: A recommended viewing! 

The Discovery Channel has a new show that’s fun to watch: LONE TARGET, about a former Navy SEAL.

Here’s the blurb from the LONE TARGET page on the Discovery Channel website:

Discovery Channel is taking audiences on the ultimate chase in a real-life game of cat-and-mouse, pitting former Navy SEAL Joel Lambert against the world’s most elite military and law enforcement tracking teams in new series LONE TARGET. With only what he can carry on his back, Joel will play an extreme version of hide-and-seek in unknown treacherous terrain with nothing but a basic survival kit and canteen of water as he attempts to evade capture in 48-hours or less. Using diversionary tactics and survival techniques gained from his 10-years of experience as a Navy SEAL, will Joel’s training, skill and cunning all help him escape?

In each episode of LONE TARGET, Joel is dropped at an unknown secret starting point, and with a small head start, must evade capture from a different elite military or law enforcement tracking team and make his extraction – in less than two days – or risk capture. Following the chase side-by-side with cameras capturing the action from both perspectives, we get to experience first-hand the thrill of the hunt as he is being pursued…

I’ve been DVRing the show (it repeats pretty regularly on Discovery, it won’t be hard for you to find the earlier eps and catch up, or even just drop in, in the middle — it’s episodic rather than serial), but I recently discovered the various info and clips on the Discovery Channel website — which are, IMO, even more entertaining.

I think my biggest complaint about the show itself is that it’s not just Joel who is out in the jungle, for example, evading capture.  He’s got at least one cameraman with him, and as I’m watching, I can’t stop thinking about what a giant footprint his crew is making (in terms of his being tracked or spotted by aircraft or drones).  I think I would enjoy the show more if Joel were alone with his own camera equipment.  Problem is, he’s rather nice to look at.  🙂  So I can understand Discovery’s desire to let the viewers see his face as he escapes and evades.  But because I’m aware that he’s not really “a SEAL out there, all alone,” I find it hard to believe that he’s not at a serious disadvantage.

I’m also distracted when Joel stops to explain the booby traps (with smoke grenades) that he’s constructing, or the reason he’s taking his current route.  I keep thinking, “Don’t stop to talk to me!  Keep moving!”  I have the same reaction when he talks — out of breath, and clearly stressed — to the camera while he’s on the run.  (“Don’t use your energy to talk!”)  It brings me out of the moment, and makes me remember that reality TV is staged.  And while Joel is entertaining and fun to watch, I’d rather see what he sees, rather than his back while he’s running, and from the eps I’ve seen, there’s been too much of that.

If I were producing this show, I’d send our former SEAL hero out, truly alone, with cameras attached to him.  And I’d send his trackers out with cameras attached to them, and then, after Joel escapes or is caught (for realz), I’d film inserts in which he shows what he did, his techniques, his equipment, the food he found to eat, etc.  I’d put him in workout gear and have him demonstrate the SEAL-level PT he does to keep in shape, and I’d also have him show us the type of SEAL training he did to learn his evasion techniques.  I’d love to have him tell us (both as a former SEAL candidate and as an instructor) at least one piece of info he learned during BUD/S that he used in his current E&E.   I’d have him talk, in some detail, about how, as a target, he’s attempting to get into the minds of his pursuers and always remain a step ahead — and what choices he made to do just that.

I’d also use voice overs (a la BURN NOTICE — remember the great VOs in which Michael describes his spycraft?) to let Joel describe what he’s doing, rather than his hard-to-hear, out-of-breath explanations made in the moment.  (Or faux-in-the-moment — this is, after all, reality TV entertainment.)

But if you enjoy watching and learning about SEALs and other special operations and special forces, LONE TARGET is worth a look.  And again, the clips and outtakes on the website are fascinating.

In fact, here’s a fun one.  Meet Joel Lambert, former Navy SEAL:
Or read his bio page here.
And see his SEAL photo album here.
Follow Joel on Twitter @Joel5326

If the embedded video doesn’t work, you can watch the clip at http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/lone-target/videos/dream-job.htm

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It’s a week and a few days until the (post-Super-Bowl, post-Ground Hog Day) February 4th release of DO OR DIE!

Whoa, I’m late posting today! Sorry about that! I spent the morning working out some of the travel details of my upcoming book tour for DO OR DIE.

I’m going to be signing books at a number of stores, starting with an event on DO OR DIE’s launch day, February 4th, at my local Barnes & Noble in Sarasota, FL.  (The event starts at 7:00 p.m.)

But then on February 8th, I’m hitting the road (with Ed and both dogs!) and heading north to Boston, visiting a variety of bookstores and writers groups along the east coast, starting in Jacksonville, Florida!  (More next week about my upcoming visits to writers groups, and the other workshops I’ll be presenting not just in February but throughout the coming year.)

Today my blog is called “Booksigning 101.”  

Some of you may never have been to a signing before, and some of you may never have been to one of MY signings before, so I’m gonna tell you how I do it.

First, I always try to make book signings as much fun for my readers as possible!  Feel free to bring friends and family, or to come alone — chances are you’ll meet like-minded readers and make new friends.

The bookseller will set up a table and chair for me (cuz it’s easier to sign books sitting down!) in a section of their store.  If we’re having a Q&A (Question and Answer) session, (and there will be a Q&A session for all of the B&N events) there’ll be chairs set up for readers in that part of the room.

When you arrive at the signing store, check with one of the clerks to find out exactly where the signing and the Q&A will be in case it’s not obvious!  It can’t hurt to arrive a little early to ensure that you get a seat!

I try to arrive at the signing store anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes prior to the start times listed on my appearances page.  (Although in both Florence, SC and East Brunswick, NJ, I’ve got rather lengthy drive times before both events, so I might arrive closer to the 2:00 p.m. start times!)

Sometimes the bookseller will pull me into the back room to sign stock when I arrive.  Most of the time, I’ll be right out there, setting up and schmoozing with the readers who have arrived early.  Sometimes, I’ll panic at the size of the crowd and start signing books, even before I do the Q&A session.

If my appearances page says the book signing is going to start at 7:00 p.m., then promptly at 7:00 p.m. we’ll begin the Q&A session.  This allows me a chance to talk to the entire group of readers and answer any questions you might have about my books, about writing, about my plans for future projects (not that I’ll say too much about that!).  We’ll talk for about 30 or 40 minutes.

Then I’ll start signing books.

Because I love to spend a little time talking one-on-one to my readers, and to shake their hands, the line tends to move rather slowly.  But I always bring my husband Ed along to help entertain the folks who are standing in line — to make it feel more like a party then, well, a line.  (There might also be copies of Ed’s legal thrillers available.  But if you want one, or if you bring your copy from home for him to sign, he’ll sign them as he “works the line.”  It’s his preference — the man likes to stay on his feet!)

(And at my event at the B&N in Raleigh, NC, my good friend and fellow writer Virginia Kantra will be at the event! The bookseller will have several of her titles available, too!)

One of the questions readers ask before a book signing is, “May I bring books from home for you to sign?”

My answer is “Yes, but…”  In the past, I’ve had no problem signing entire complete collections of my fifty-something books for readers (some readers even have multiple copies — and I’ve signed ’em all!).  In fact, I love doing that.

But some booksellers have rules about bringing books into the store, and we don’t want to break them!  (This doesn’t apply to books bought at the signing.  There’s no limit to the number of new books that you can get signed.)

My advice — if you want to get your entire collection of books signed, bring ’em, but leave ’em in your car until you’ve scoped out the situation at the signing.  If the crowd is light and the bookseller is agreeable, and you don’t mind rotating to the back of the line every five books or so, or getting bumped back in line if someone new shows up to get a new book signed, then you’re golden!

Let’s talk about the fabulous door prizes!

I always hold a “door prize” type raffle at my booksignings. I have a box that I fill with all kinds of cool stuff — some of my hard to find, original edition backlist books, maybe an interesting foreign edition, or an audio book, and everyone who attends the event gets a free raffle ticket — just for showing up!  (And this means if your mom or your daughter or your spouse comes with you, she or he will get a ticket, too!)

BUT… anyone who buys one of my books at the book signing will get an additional raffle ticket for each book they buy.  In other words, if your sister’s birthday is approaching, this could be the right time to pick up a signed paperback copy of Gone Too Far or Flashpoint for her.  And, if you just can’t wait for the signing day to buy a copy of DO OR DIE, if you MUST have it and read it on February 4th, when it first hits the stores, if you purchase it from the store where we’re holding the book signing in your area, and bring it back to the signing with your receipt (to get it signed!), we’ll give you an extra ticket for that purchase, too!

About an hour into the event, we’ll call a time-out on the signing, and start drawing raffle tickets.  The person who’s holding the first ticket we draw gets to pick one item from the prize box first.  The person who’s holding the second ticket we draw will get to pick one item of their choice from the remaining items in the box, and so on, until the box is empty.

There’s no limit to how many times you can win a prize from the box (for example, if you decide that all seven of your cousins need a new signed copy of Out of Control, well, hey, you’ll get seven extra chances to win, and you could win all seven times!) but you must be present at the time of the drawing to win.

After the event is “officially” over, I usually linger and sign all of the extra copies of DO OR DIE in the store.

So that’s how it works!  Check my appearances page — I hope to meet you at a book signing in the not too distant future!

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The Virtual Signing books have arrived!

There’s still time to order a virtually signed copy of DO OR DIE (or a virtually signed DVD of my movie, THE PERFECT WEDDING)!

Virtually signed copies of DO OR DIE can be ordered through February 1st.

Want a virtually signed copy of my Troubleshooters Anthology, HEADED FOR TROUBLE? Find out how to get one and check out my schedule of book store signings on my appearances page!

I gotta go sign a bazillion books! 🙂  See you tomorrow…

Read DO OR DIE’s cover blurb at https://suzannebrockmann.com/books/do-or-die/