Adrian Ennis has only known the life of organized crime, having been trained to be a mob assassin from age eight. Crime kingpin Ezra Drake is more like a father to Adrian than her boss and is one of the few people she feels she can trust. But when Ezra orders her to kill Tony, her friend and lover, Adrian’s perception of who is and is not her friend becomes a blurred line of blood and bullets.

When Adrian makes an unlikely ally in Atlanta PD detective Damon Wyatt, she learns the truth about her past, an unsavory web of murder and deceit that includes the destruction of her entire family. With an innocent life hanging in the balance—Tony’s ten-year-old son—Adrian has an opportunity to amend the wrongs of her past and to bring those who destroyed her life to justice…her way.
 

If you weren't able to join us this afternoon you can still listen to my interview in AngelLesa's archives here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/angellesa/2008/07/10/author-jessica-shin-and-her-new-book....

It was a great interview and I had a lot of fun. Even better, Lesa was able to get my book cover featured on the front of www.blogtalkradio.com. Woohoo! Lesa is a wonderful host and she interviews a lot of great authors so please check out her other archives as well.

Until next time,

Jessica Shin

…read like you're not afraid of the consequences…....

A Rapture of Centuries now available from Cerridwen Press!

The Heat & the Devil's World available now from Amira Press!

Tell Me Lies coming soon from Cerridwen Press!

http://www.jessicashin.com....

http://www.myspace.com/jessicashin

The first official Jessica Shin newsletter, Shin Tao: The Way of Jessica, is now available! Check me out...no really...check me out:

http://www.jessicashin.com/images/Newsletter070108.pdf

You can also follow the link off any page in my website, www.jessicashin.com.

The newsletter will be quarterly event, and I'm praying I have enough entertaining shtuff to talk about to keep it interesting!

Then check my new release from Amira Press, a short fantasy erotic romance!

The Heat and the Devil's World

The twisted world that joined them could eat them alive.

Two college friends, she an artist and he a writer, have been the best of friends for years. Friends and only friends...until one night changes everything. A chance find in a curios shop takes them on a treasure hunt to a twisted world that turns reality inside out. In this place the moon burns blue, the trees have eyes...and friends become lovers. But the reality around them is becoming decidedly more ominous. Racing from the unnatural world that now threatens their lives, will they escape or will they become permanent additions to the devil's world?

Ok, so I'M not personally in Target. But my book is!

http://www.target.com/Rapture-Centuries-Shin-Jessica/dp/1419957325

Sweet! :)

In learning kung fu and tai chi, you come across a lot of wierd terminology. Phrases like "white snake vomits the mushroom" can be found a-plenty. You also have the imaginary creatures, like the dragon. But so far, one of them takes the cake.

I've been learning some new animal forms, a series of twelve short forms. You've got the usual tiger and dragon, some funky ones like the chicken, the ostrich and the turtle. But the one that got me was the peckafoe.

Yesterday in a moment of poignant reflection, by the calm Chattahoochee River surrounded by deciduous trees in full greenery, I said to my sifu, "What the heck is a peckafoe?"

Apparently a peckafoe is a fictitious bird similar to a grouse or a quail. Why they didn't just pick a grouse or a quail is anyone's guess. This peckafoe must have had some unique quality that made it worthy of its own form. I knew those monks were out there just making shit up. So in some ways they're kind of like writers. We take worlds that don't exist, people who don't exist and situations that never happened and give them life, turn them into something of substance. Something that can be experienced, enjoyed and heartily sought after. We make the imaginary real, at least for a few hours.

Here's to all the writers - our kung fu is strong!

I've never been the type of writer who could finish a book, then turn around and begin editing right away. I always needed time between the two events, like ending a relationship and having the ability to analyze it. How much time is enough? Who knows. 350 degrees for 20 minutes doesn't work for everything.

Last year I struggled with a novella. The premise of the story was great. The sex was hot. But it felt disjointed, like it was angry with itself. Finally I gave up and let it macerate in its own misery. For nearly a year. A few nights ago I picked it up and suddenly everything fell into place. I had answers for questions, righted the wrongs and left my characters with a very satisfying "the end."

I am not an especially different person than I was a year ago. I didn't make any major plot changes. The only difference was time. Like a wine you can really lay down, my story seemed to mature all on its own. All I needed to do was pop the cork at the right time.

I just got back from two weeks in Europe. It was my first time there and it was incredible. As if I didn't have enough story ideas to keep me busy for ten years, I now have enough to keep me busy for twenty years.

It is a different world over there, even with the many familiar sights. The difference is in the little details, from how you flush the toilet to how you ride the subway to the way you order and eat your meals. But the true difference was the air, the atmosphere...the incredible history that lives right along side modern day life is almost like living in two worlds at once. I think one of the best examples is, oddly enough, a cemetery.

Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, famous in its own right but even more so because Jim Morrison is buried there, could have kept me occupied for the whole trip. The unmatched attention to detail that went into those gravestones and crypts of centuries past is oddly inspiring. The care (or the money) was so great that hours upon hours were spent painstakingly carving out the images, the scrollwork, the names. And these centuries-old tombs, some so old the writing had completely weathered away, sat right along side modern stones with death dates as recent as 2007. The ancient and the modern, living and dying side by side.

Quietly residing next to The Seine is Notre Dame, which was only a name and part of a classic novel before I saw it. The cathedral, from the outside, is a work of art I could never hope to put into words. But when I entered, the weight of years and history and memories was consuming - I could feel it on my skin, taste it, almost hear the echoes of the past. The building seemed to breathe around me, alive, maybe itself remembering the years gone by. I couldn't stop the physical reaction; I was almost moved to tears. The artwork inside was difficult to see because it was nighttime and not well lit, but I didn't need to see it. I was feeling everything I would ever need to know about Notre Dame. Have you ever smelled history? Visit this cathedral and you will. I left there a different person. Just those few moments within Notre Dame was worth the whole trip.

I can't wait to go back. Who wants to go with me?

I finally got a digital version of the pic of me with the Ellora's Cave cavemen and it's now a permanent part of my RT 2008 photo album....and my new profile pic. Wooo-hooo, baby! My husband wants to know where all of their hands are...yipe!

It's been a wild ride at RT 2008. Yesterday was the book fair and that was a lot of fun. My first book signing! I met a lot of people and got to chat with other authors, some media folks and general passers-by.

Towards the end of the fair all the lights cut off and we were completely engulfed in darkness. After everyone's suprised "oh!" we all expected them to come right back on....they didn't. Everyone started pulling out their cell phones to see in front of them. Who knew your cell phone doubled as a flashlight? The joys of multitaskers. Finally after five or ten minutes they came back on and everyone cheered. Funny how dependant we are on something we take for granted; when we get it back we're so excited, only to take it for granted again moments later.

But alas, my time at RT has come to an end. I ship out early this afternoon, back to the Gateway to the South, full of books, pictures and memories. The books will be read, the pictures posted to my website and the memories I will take with me everywhere I go.