THE 'KISS ME, KILL ME' HIT LIST

Gosh, there's a lot of paranormal romance out on the shelves, isn't there? Most of it is now tottering on my desk too.

Okay, I'm half-way through the run down of the 'Kiss Me, Kill Me' blog series and now for the other helpful chums who've offered to spill the beans on all things that go bump and 'aargh!" and perhaps sigh seductively in the night.

My one totally sad fan-boy moment was when I met Holly Black back in Orlando. I must admit, she was part of my 'research' when I was trying to break into writing. I read Tithe back in the day, trying to work out what it was that made writing just work. After all, the best way to break into something is just follow the best, and try to do what they do.

So, to cut a long story short, when I did meet her, I was all a bit gibbering. She didn't seem to mind me snatching her own copy of Black Cat out of her hands (I think I gave her my bookmark in exchange), then getting her to sign it. She's obviously forgiven me and will be one of the superstars who'll be taking part in the tour, right here.

Oh, on the subject of superstars, have you heard of Becca Fitzpatrick? Oh, a few. Marvellous! Becca will be dropping by as well to discuss exactly what it is about angels that make us 'squee'. Yes, they are bloody beautiful books and I, for one, was jolly glad that she was there making angels radioactively HOT. And it's not because I have a fallen angel in my book too. Okay, it might be.

On the subject of favourite monsters, lets talk about werewolves. Werewolves of Mercy Falls. Maggie Stiefvater writes werewolves. She writes them very well. They are brutal, loyal, savage and full of longing. When I decided to do my 'catch up' on the para-norm rom genre, I started with Maggie. I am converted. I'll be picking her brain on Monday. I promise to clean up afterwards.

Gosh, do we need a break from all this supernatural stuff? What about the other heroines, bad-boys and badder girls? Oh, yes. Like spies and supercrooks.

I am still trying to get my two girls into the Gallagher Academy. Foreign languages, kick-boxing, encryption and personal grooming. The perfect education for the modern girl! Ally Carter, the author-in-awesomeness behind Gallagher and Heist Society will be advising us all on how to make sure that, if you are breaking into a highly armed foreign embassy surrounded by machine-gun carrying goons, what accessories go best with a bullet-proof vest and if you can really garrote someone with a pearl necklace. Not that I've tried. Well, not recently.

As you may know, Dark Goddess (my new book, are you paying ANY attention?) is inspired by my love of Russian mythology. So it was quite natural I should team up with Joy Preble, author of Dreaming Anastasia and the soon to be released Haunted, stories centred around the doomed Russian princess. They also include Baba Yaga herself! For an old girl, that witch goes get around, doesn't she? I feel all books should contain at least one reference to Baba Yaga. So, Joy and I will chat about what it is that makes the Russia myths so appealing.

And then we have Silver Phoenix. I've never read a book like it. Set in mythical China it's about a teenage heroine, Ai Ling, and her adventures in a fantasy world quite unlike any you've ever read. The author, the glamourous Cindy Pon, will be here, telling us all about it and why, if you can't have Baba Yaga in your book, The Lady in White is a pretty awesome alternative.

Now, to finish, I have a moral tale for you. So sit up straight. There will be times in your life when, unbeknownst to you, you will cross paths with someone who, in the future, will ROCK THE WORLD. It's kind of like meeting JK Rowlings when she was still an Edinburgh housewife and she handed you a copy of a signed first edition Harry Potter and but you didn't have the right change or the queue was too long. My story's a bit like that. Back in BEA 2009 I was busy signing copies of Devil's Kiss when some strange woman with a strange name asked me to sign a copy for her. We chatted, we laughed (mainly about her name), shook hands and off she went. She'd just written a book too but I think my luggage allowance was too high already or something stupid like that but basically I didn't get a copy of hers in return. Which is a damn shame since it turned out to be Wings and debut at 1# in the NYT a few months later.

Suffice it to say I hold onto ALL my signed copies nowadays.

Aprilynne Pike is the final addition to the tour and I'm immensely happy that she's taking part. I bet everyone knows how to spell Aprilynne now.

Brenna Yovanoff. Carrie Ryan. Cindy Pon. Rachel Hawkins. Maggie Stiefvater. Melissa de la Cruz. Ally Carter. Holly Black. Joy Preble and Becca Fitzpatrick. Aprilynne Pike. They'll all be taking part in the 'Kiss Me, Kill Me' series, right here.

Frankly if one of your favourite authors ISN'T on the list above, well you're completely in the wrong place, aren't you?

It all kicks off on Monday 10th January with Maggie Stiefvater.