I'm having a contest at my Vampire Wire blog for signed copies of all my novels: my entire Casa Dracula series, Nancy's Theory of Style, and an ARC of Dark Companion. The contest is open worldwide and runs through June 15.

I received a great review from Kirkus Book Reviews for Dark Companion, which called the novel "savvy" and said it has "bracing astringency."
It’s a breath of fresh air in a genre marked by creaky gender relations and unchallenged class stratification.
Smart, ambitious and now aged out of foster care, Jane Williams is thrilled with her free ride to Birch Grove, a prestigious private high school. Her scholarship includes a cottage of her own, courtesy of headmistress Radcliffe and her family. Jane’s streetwise toughness conceals a naive, inexperienced heart that’s soon given to self-centered but gorgeous Lucian Radcliffe. (His musician brother, Jacob, has his own disturbing appeal, but he’s no Lucian.) While Jane recognizes that Lucian harbors his own sinister agenda, she thinks she’s willing to pay the price, which buys other compensations.
This Jane’s true peers are the heroines of the historical gothic romances. Quotes from such deathless classics as The Monk and The Castle of Otranto, among others, begin each chapter, making the book something of a survey of the genre all by itself.
This story is a change from my romantic comedies, and that can be a bit of a surprise to my Casa Dracula fans, but I've always written darker stories and I really enjoyed returning to a grimmer tale.

I'm back to writing funny fiction today, but my train of thought keeps getting derailed by my dogs, who are being driven to insanity by squirrels scampering through the trees. Note to self: next time, get cats.

post signature