Sunday Smatterings

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Hello, chickens! Where does this Sunday find you? I am cuddled on my couch, exhausted, and a wee bit sick with a lovely, I've overdone it summer cold. I had a busy, busy week, with a surprise last minute edit of TEAR ME APART. That happens sometimes. The release date moving up means all our regular dates got thrown out and we're all working double-time to get the book done and in your hands. But it is DONE! And I think it's actually pretty good. I'm a terrible judge of my own work, and this one's been playing mind tricks on me for months. But with the help of my fantastic editor Nicole, we've got it together. 

So with that, on to the links! Here's the latest news and bookish goodness!


Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

Neil Nyren Spotlight: Owen Laukkanen. I’m looking forward to reading Gale Force—and hello Neil Nyren, byliner. There's nothing more fun than seeing a fabulous editor finding a second career!

 

An Affable Canadian Author With a Penchant for Murder. Always lovely, always a joy, even when she’s breaking your heart. That’s Louise Penny for you. Class act, all the way around.

 

Being Bored Is Fun and Good, Sorry. OK, this is hysterical. I agree that boredom is a great thing, and necessary, but this essay takes it to a new level.

 

Gillian Flynn, Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson Aren’t Afraid to Tackle Big Topics. It’s going to be an important year in books and film portraying women and emotional darkness. My own book, TEAR ME APART, goes to some very dark places, and is a study in women's friendships, mothers and daughters, sisters, the works. I'm excited by the timing, because I think it's time to start addressing these issues. 

 

The Best Mystery Audiobooks for Road Trips. Great books on this list! I am such an audiobook convert! 

 

A Librarian’s Top 5 Tips to Help You Build a Home Library. "As a librarian, I have a particular soft spot for geeking out about building a DIY home library, so get ready: this is some next level bookshelf and bookcase nerd." Say no more!


And closer to home:

 

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Some exciting book news - the paperback and ebook of STORIES OF THE NIGHT: FOUR SHADOWY TALES is ready, and the audiobook will be out this week!

  • A writer finds a cave keeping a dark secret for nearly a century.

  • A ghost in a Scottish castle seeks blood on a wedding day.

  • A student abroad loses herself in a dreamy art dealer and his dark painting.

  • An undercover cop searches for the lover who’s haunted him for years.

These four stories from New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison reveal what happens when we allow ourselves to step toward the darkness—and find ourselves consumed with regret and doom.

Features my newest short story “Catwood,” as seen in DEAD ENDS: Stories from the Gothic South!

Get your copy here:

KINDLE / NOOK / iBOOKS

KOBO / GOOGLE PLAY

PAPERBACK 

 

The German translation of NO ONE KNOWS is here! (yes, again...) It's available in ebook and paperback. It's a new edition, too, so if you already purchased, please update your file!

And don't forget: Goodreads has a giveaway for TEAR ME APART. Good luck!

And speaking of Goodreads... please consider adding TEAR ME APART to your bookshelves. You doing so really helps raise awareness for the book.

Oh, speaking of awareness... the June newsletter is coming out this week! FYIs.... If you're not signed up, I'd love to have you


That's all for now! Here's hoping this next week treats you well. Make something -- a poem, a cake, a bed. It will make you feel good. 

xo,
J.T.

J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Friday Reads

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It's Friday and that means it's time to discuss books!

What are you reading this weekend?

J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Sunday Smatterings

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Hi there, chickens! It's time for our first Sunday Smatterings of June, and it's chock-full of links and news, perfect for taking a break today. It's been a busy week at Chez Ellison, with lots of writing and preparing for new releases, but you'll be proud of me -- I snuck off Thursday evening and played a little golf. Well, let's put it this way, I showed up on the course and had fun. The play... well, it's early in the season, right? Plenty of time to get this girl's swing back into shape.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the latest bookish goodness!


Here's what happened on the Internets this week:

Lifehacker Asks The Motivation Expert. An absolutely fantastic shortcut to success from Mel Robbins. You can find a more in-depth version here.


Don't Take Fake Breaks (And Two Nonfiction Books To Frame Your Summer Reading.) Superb advice that will help you feel more settled.
 

Advice To Writers: The Process Begins By Actually Sitting Down. This really is a no-brainer headline, but even I have trouble with this sometimes.  
 

Music City Reads: Six Local Authors You Need To Be Checking Out. Wonderful list of a few Nashville authors in a very special place -- The Contributor, which benefits our homeless, and written by a great guy, local author and educator Zack Barnes. Honored to be included.
 

Lauren Groff: By The Book. How can you not love this? So sassy... (Lauren was a guest on the first season of A WORD ON WORDS, too. Check out her interview here.)
 

The Biggest Psychological Thrillers Coming Out This Summer. I couldn't help myself... Look what made an appearance on BookBub's list! And seriously, what a list -- I can't wait to dive into so many of these...


And closer to home:

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A new book!

For my British, Australian, and Commonwealth readers, I'm exceptionally excited to announce that a brand-new version of NO ONE KNOWS is now available in both digital and print. It's your very own edition, too, and as such, has a slightly different ending. (How's that for a tease?) I did this through Two Tales, so it won't be in your local store, but you can order it online.

Get yours today! Here's the ebook and here's the paperback.

 

More JT-related bookish goodies, Goodreads has a giveaway for TEAR ME APART. Good luck!

And last, but not least, on my weekly Momentary Lapse of Reason, I discussed how music inspires me, and has for a very long time. I think you might enjoy this insight. 


That's a wrap! I hope June has gotten off to a wonderful start for you. Here's to a great summer!

xo,
J.T.

J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Friday Reads

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TGIF, y'all! I hope you have fun plans in store and plenty of time to sit down with a good book.

What are you reading this weekend? Let me know in the comments!

______

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J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Where does a writer get their inspiration?

Where does a writer get their inspiration?
This first appeared on Sirens of Suspense...

I’ve started a new novel, and I was writing along to Classical today (as I am wont to do; I am especially adept at red-pencil conducting), listening to an I Heart Radio station out of Minnesota, and was about to change the station when the host said the magic word: Berlioz!

Now, for me, there are several magic words when it comes to classical music: Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Dvörak, and Rodriguez among them, but Berlioz is the one that sets my heart a-flutter, because it is almost always followed by the chill-inducing words Symphonie Fantastique, which guarantees I’m going to stop what I’m doing and turn up the volume.

I think I may have been a conductor in a past life, the way classic music affects me. It is my preferred writing noise of choice, and several of my favorite symphonies have made it into novels along the way, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in creepy ways. (See THE COLD ROOM for a perfect example.) 

But the Fantastique holds a special place in my heart. I spent my late teen years in Washington, D.C., and my father is a classical nut, so there were many fine evenings at the Kennedy Center, listening to the National Symphony Orchestra breathe life into the music, riding the strains of my favorite composers as they lilted through the breathless air. Berlioz was always a favorite, but it wasn’t until a fateful day in traffic that it truly became an anthem. 

I was nineteen, and deep into my second internship at the White House. Cabinet Affairs, to be exact. We oversaw all the communication between the White House and the Cabinet members, including setting up Cabinet meetings. One of my jobs was laying out the pads and pens in Cabinet Room prior to events. The Oval Office was a handsbreath away, and it was not lost on me that I was rubbing shoulders with the most powerful people in our nation and the world on a daily basis. It’s a heady place for a kid to work, for sure.

 Heading home, I got stuck in traffic on the WhiteHurst Freeway. I was a football field away from the Key Bridge, and getting very impatient: There was an incredible storm brewing over Virginia, and I wanted to get home before the worst of it hit.

It wasn’t meant to be.

For ten minutes, traffic didn’t move an inch, and the storm swept in, with incredible forked lightning and earth-shattering booms of thunder, all the noise that makes you understand why the Greeks and Romans named, and feared, their gods. 

As it happened, Symphonie Fantastique was playing on the radio, WETA (90.3) still one of the best classical stations out there.  As if on cue, as the worst of the storm overtook us, on came the Fantastique’s fifth movement, “Songe d'une nuit du sabbat” (Dream of the Night of the Sabbath). The long, tolling bells, mournful clarinet, and deep notes of the bassoon and tuba always gives me chills, but in concert with the dancing lightning, the thunder shaking the car, the pelting rain, it became the world around me. An embodiment of the piece, literally ringing through the very air.

I was unable to run and hide, so I sat, mesmerized by the storm, feeling the world, and myself, becoming one with the music. 

It was such a visceral, present moment that I relieve it every time the piece comes on. I drop everything, listen to the fifth movement, and I’m back in the moment: A young, proud teenager, serving her country, stuck in traffic, praying the roof doesn’t collapse on her car, the wings of the music lifting her higher and higher. I think Berlioz must have appreciated a good storm. 

Don’t be surprised to see the Fantastique somewhere near the beginning of this new book. A thunderstorm, and the music, and the feels. I think it’s high time, don’t you?

 How does music affect you?  

J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of thJoss Walkere literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel.