Claws of the Cat

News Flash: Reviews, Marketing, and Website Redesign

Sunday, December 8, 2013
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Congrats to Sheena, who won the copy of Rosemary Harris’s THE BITCHES OF BROOKLYN last week!   From the 2014 Debs… Lori Rader-Day‘s book The Black Hour was included as a “first fiction” choice in a marketing insert directed at librarians across the country. Gulp. This is getting real. Natalia Sylvester experienced a bit of pre-pub, pre-sale excitement when Chasing the Sun briefly climbed to #11 in Hispanic-American fiction in the…

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So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish.

Thursday, August 29, 2013
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I didn’t put my name in the title, but I’m sure you have no doubt who’s writing here. The year has come full circle, and although I could fill volumes with my thoughts about the process … what I’ve learned, the friends I’ve made, and how much I’ve loved this year at the debutante ball, I think it far more fitting to end my posts the way they started. Besides,…

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Deb Susan’s Fish … are Friends

Thursday, August 22, 2013
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“Best Friends” don’t only exist in a human context. Sometimes, friendship crosses species borders, and does so in surprising ways. Despite the mistaken impressions FINDING NEMO created in popular culture, clownfish aren’t the friendliest creatures on the reef. Clowns are feisty, territorial fish that brook no interference with their hosts and demand that other fish stay well away. Among the various species of clowns, the Maroon Clownfish is the undisputed…

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Newsflash: July 28, 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013
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From the 2013 Debs… Deb Kerry turned in line edits for WAKEWORLD and got a peek at the new cover!!!! Which is awesome. 🙂 Deb Susan had a fantastic signing at Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica and is looking forward to this Tuesday’s signing at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, CA!   NEW Deb News!  You have TWO MORE DAYS to submit applications to become part of the Debutante Ball’s…

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Deb Kerry is Up a Tree with Katniss Everdeen

Monday, July 22, 2013
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There’s a famous piece of writerly advice floating around the internet, which says, more or less: “Get your characters up a tree and throw rocks at them.” I can’t remember where it originated, although I think it might have been Stephen King. Wherever it came from, this bit of advice is all well and good for characters in a book, but what about those times when you start to feel…

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It’s No Mystery. Deb Susan Spann Pursued Her Passions. Lots Of Them.

Friday, July 19, 2013
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Celebrating the Debs’ debuts this year has been a real honor. I’ve enjoyed my spot at the end of the week where I’ve chosen to focus not only on elements of the Deb’s book, but on the Deb herself. Susan Spann’s exotic, historical, debut mystery novel, Claws Of The Cat, brings us full circle—it’s our last debut for 2013 and almost to the end of our tenure on the dance…

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Deb Kelly gets out her cocktail shaker to celebrate CLAWS!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013
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Have you heard the news? It’s Deb Susan’s launch week! Claws of the Cat hit the stands yesterday, and Shinobi Mania starts today. What the bleep is a shinobi, you ask? Yeah, been there. Until I read CLAWS OF THE CAT. Now I know that Ninja, that word with the awesomest of connotations, is actually a Chinese-influenced translation of Japanese characters. (Susan, did I get that right? Boy am I…

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Random Penguin Goes Ninja for Claws of the Cat

Monday, July 15, 2013
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Back in January, Random Penguin paid a visit to Susan Spann’s house in California. He hung out with the fish in her aquarium and met her cat, Oobie. More importantly, he heard about her mystery novel, Claws of the Cat, and developed a serious case of hero worship for the main character, Hiro Hattori. “Perhaps I, too, could become a Ninja,” thought Random Penguin. “Though I could never be as smart or…

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Deb Susan Improves Her Home With Rose-Colored Memories

Thursday, July 4, 2013
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April in Sacramento heralds the end of a cold, rainy winter. I clear away weeds, mow the lawn, and get ready for hot,sweaty summer days. In April, I also get to enjoy the first rosebuds of the season – which makes me happy every year, because I love roses and also because these roses mean something special. I transplanted them from my father’s garden. At one point, my father had…

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Deb Susan’s Dad Taught Her to Answer the Phone Correctly

Thursday, June 20, 2013
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This is my favorite image of my father and me: My mother took it one evening after my father came home from work. She posed us in front of his law books and snapped only a single shot. Those were the days of film “sent out for developing,” which meant photographers often shot several images to ensure a good one. Mom didn’t need to. She knew this one was a…

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