Book Bits: Shiloh Walker, Rachel Vincent, Anya Bast, Kim Harrison, more

Looks like authors are getting the OK to reveal excerpts for Winter and Spring 2012 titles. Today we have tastes of new books from Shiloh Walker, Anya Bast and Rachel Vincent. Plus, Hollows is coming to TV and an edible version of Plants vs. Zombies.

Excerpt from Shiloh Walker’s The Departed
Sometimes Shiloh Walker makes us wait too long for the next book in the series (I’m totally talking about Veil of Shadows), but it’s only because the woman writes so much. But today we can rejoice as she’s posted an excerpt from The Departed, the sequel to The Missing. The novel is slated for a January 2012 release.

New excerpts from Anya Bast
Yesterday Anya Bast added excerpts from her next two books. Wicked Enchantment, which is slated for a Feb. 7, 2012, release, is her fourth Dark Magic novel (read the excerpt here), and Embrace of the Damned is the first in a new Brotherhood of the Damned series scheduled for a May 2012 release (read the excerpt).

Cover Reveal and Snippets: Shadow Bound
Rachel Vincent unveiled the cover art for Shadow Bound, the follow-up to the mind-blowingly good Blood Bound. In addition to the artwork, Rachel posted the official blurb and a couple snippets focusing on the hero and heroine. The snippet from Kori, the heroine who can walk through shadows, is below, and damn if it doesn’t make me want this book now.

The dark and I used to be friends. No, lovers. When I was alone, I walked around naked just to feel it on my skin, cool and calm, and more intimate than any hand that had ever touched me. The dark was alive, and it was seductive. We used to slide in and out of one another, the shadows and I, always touching, caressing. Sometimes I couldn’t tell where the dark ended and I began, and at some point I’d decided that division didn’t really exist. I was the dark, and the dark was me.

But the darkness in the basement was different. It was false. Broken. Weakened by infrared lights I couldn’t see, but I could feel blazing down on me. Caging me. Draining me. The shadows were dead, and touching them was like touching the stiff limbs of a lover’s corpse.

The Hollows on TV?
Oh, you read that right. Kim Harrison’s brilliant urban fantasy series has been snagged up by the CW. While I love how the network has transformed The Vampire Diaries (the show is better than the book), I don’t want a sexed up Rachel Morgan. That said, the characters could make for great TV if done right. The same team who did Smallville will be tackling The Hollows. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. How about you?

Michelle Rowen inks YA deal
Another great adult PNR author is hitting the YA market. Michelle Rowen has just signed a deal with Razorbill for a young adult high fantasy series. Here’s the official blurb from Publisher’s Marketplace:

Michelle Rowen writing as Morgan Rhodes’s REBEL SPRING, the first novel in the high fantasy series FALLING KINGDOMS, in which an ensemble cast led by a princess-turned-queen see their fortunes tangle together in times of war, pitched as GAME OF THRONES for teens, to Laura Arnold at Razorbill, in a two-book deal, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

Goodreads awards time
It’s time again for the annual Goodreads Choice Awards. There are three rounds of voting, 22 categories and write-ins are most definitely welcome. Trying to determine my favorite book of 2011 for the poll was hard (especially as I think there are some great titles coming in November and December). I’ll tell you my write-in was either Blood Rights or Body of Sin. Go vote for your favorites.

Tera Lynn Childs: There will be a third Fins book
Yep, it’s official: Tera Lynn Childs will be giving us a third book in her YA paranormal series Fins. Her description is quite possibly the best thing I’ve read all day:

Yes, more Lily and Quince. And Tellin. And Peri. And Doe and Brody and a whole new cast of mer characters you’ve never met before! Also, I have two words for you: arctic mermaids. *dies with happiness*

Further proof that SF authors are freaking awesome
For Halloween author Rachel Vincent (most recent releases: Blood Bound and If I Die) and her husband went all gingerbread house and built an homage to Plants vs. Zombies. There is even a catapult involved. She documented the full creation and posted it on her blog. This has nothing to do with books per se, but is just another moment when we recognize why speculative fiction writers are so awesome. They’re like us, and, well, this one just really made me want to go to some sort of zombie cookie making party.