Remain In Light runner-up for Georgia Author of the Year Award

My literary mystery Remain In Light was named runner-up at the 49th annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards ceremony tonight. There were 20 novels up for the fiction award, so I am thrilled to be the finalist. If you haven't read Remain In Light or Conquering Venus, visit this link to find out more about The Venus Trilogy. Work on the third book continues.

An update on the third book

I'm nine chapters into the final book in the trilogy. Set in 2005, a full 10 years after the events of Conquering Venus, all the characters are in much different places. Much of these early chapters take place in Memphis, where Martin Paige is back to read from his acclaimed collection of poetry. Diane is also there, taking care of her ill father. Meanwhile, Irène is in Paris awaiting Martin's return but is being pursued by a journalist who has uncovered the truth about her late husband and his lover Frederick Dubois and their connections to a government conspiracy. And Martin's boyfriend, Christian, finds his life in danger after he uncovers a plot to assassinate a presidential candidate, who happens to be Christian's old nemesis – former police inspector Jacques Arnaud.

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season! I'm writing the final book in The Venus Trilogy now and it should be out in late 2014. Check back here for occasional updates and be sure to visit www.collinkelley.com to find our more about my upcoming poetry collection, Render (April 2013, Sibling Rivalry Press). Happy New Year!

Kiss Shot free this weekend at Amazon

My eBook of short stories, Kiss Shot, is free in the Amazon Kindle Store this weekend, Oct. 5-7. Even if you don't own a Kindle, you can download the eBook via the free Kindle app for your smartphone/tablet or the Kindle reader for your computer. You can download the ebook right now at this link.

This collection contains four short stories set in the fictional town of Cottonwood, Georgia. Here's a synopsis: A devoted maid recalls the hijinks surrounding her employer's death from a brain tumor in "How Fanny Got Her House," while a teenage boy comes to terms with his sexuality during an unexpected game of pool in the title story, "Kiss Shot." A woman escaping an abusive relationship arrives in New Orleans during a rain storm and wanders into the famed "Clover Grill" on Bourbon Street, and "I Got A Name" follows the trials and tribulations of an overweight woman looking for love at a community theater company.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE EBOOK!

Kiss Shot now available at Amazon

Kiss Shot, my eBook collection of short stories, is now available exclusively in the Amazon Kindle Store for just 99 cents at this link. The book went live last night and this morning it cracked the Top 50 bestseller list for short story collections! The eBook is also available in other Amazon territories including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. If you don't have a Kindle e-reader, you can also read the book on your smartphone or download it to your computer. Amazon Prime members can borrow the book for free!

This collection contains four short stories set in the fictional town of Cottonwood, Georgia. Here's a synopsis: A devoted maid recalls the hijinks surrounding her employer's death from a brain tumor in "How Fanny Got Her House," while a teenage boy comes to terms with his sexuality during an unexpected game of pool in the title story, "Kiss Shot." A woman escaping an abusive relationship arrives in New Orleans during a rain storm and wanders into the famed "Clover Grill" on Bourbon Street, and "I've Got A Name" follows the trials and tribulations of an overweight woman looking for love at a community theater company.

The stories in Kiss Shot are a taste of a much larger work to come exploring the lives of the inhabitants of this small southern town. The stories were written over a period of almost 20 years and owe much to the tradition of great storytellers like Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Ferrol Sams and Fannie Flagg.

If you enjoy Kiss Shot, please tell your friends. I appreciate your support! 

More retailers and a new review

My novels, Conquering Venus and Remain In Light, and my poetry collection, Better To Travel, are all available at Espresso Book Machine locations in the US and Canada. You walk up to the machine, find the book you want to purchase, and the machine prints and binds the book in minutes on the spot. Very cool! Find out more at this link.

I'm also thrilled that Remain in Light and Conquering Venus are now available for purchase online in the UK at WHSmith either as eBooks or trade paperbacks.

Many thanks to Will Kenyon for his insightful review of Remain In Light at his blog, Will Kenyon's Little Corner of the Universe.

Here's a choice bit: Stronger in voice, more sublime in style, and ultimately more intriguing than its predecessor and many of its contemporaries, Remain In Light stands as a great second entry in what Collin is calling his Venus Trilogy. 

Read the full review at this link.

Remain In Light reviewed at Baby Got Books

Many thanks to Baby Got Books and Anne Stanford for the fantastic review ofRemain In Light that posted this week. You can read the full review at this link, but here's a tiny excerpt:

I settled right in and immediately felt comfortable and thrilled to be back with my friends Martin, Diane and Irene.

Remain In Light is the second book in a trilogy (which began with Conquering Venus), but you can read the books in any order and still "get it" without reading the other. As Anne suggests: heck, read 'em both! Trilogies seems to be all the rage, especially with Fifty Shades of Greyselling millions, so why not give this one a try?