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I was very excited to be asked to be a guest blogger for Penguin because for years I have been working on a plot to infiltrate the system and inject it with my subversive ideas.

You represent stage 3 in my plan.

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Tomorrow marks the release of my debut paranormal romance, Drawn into Darkness. It's the first book in a series about immortal Soul Gatherers who battle demons for the souls of the dead.

 What's a Soul Gatherer, and why is he locked in such an eternal struggle? Well, on some level, he's a re-imagining of the grim reaper concept-serving as a warrior for Death, collecting the souls of those who've passed on. But on another level, he's something of a savior. He not only gathers souls-he ensures those souls reach their rightful destination, be it heaven or hell, no matter what it takes.

 That where the demon battles come in. Good souls go to heaven and only bad souls go in the other direction, right? In the world of Drawn into Darkness, that's mostly true. Problem is, demons don't play fair. They aren't content to take only the souls allotted to them-they want more. Their answer? Ambush a Soul Gatherer or two and steal some of the souls destined to go upstairs.

Clearly, Soul Gatherers can't be skeletal. They also walk among the living in order to do their jobs, so wearing a dark, hooded cape and carrying a scythe isn't very practical. To be effective, a Soul Gatherer must be a true warrior-capable, strong, and mostly honorable.

Only mostly honorable? Yes. Each Soul Gatherer is a person serving in purgatory, trying to redeem himself for past mistakes and earn his way into heaven. Here's a discussion between my heroine, Rachel, and a secondary character that explains what I mean:

Excerpt:

Keri Smith is our guest blogger during the week of August 31st. If you have any questions for Keri Smith, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about This is Not a Book:

A curious, engaging, and creative rethinking of what a book can be, from the creator of Wreck this Journal.

In this uniquely skewed look at the purpose and function of "a book," Keri Smith offers an illustrated guide that asks readers to creatively examine all the different ways This Is Not a Book can be used. With intriguing prompts, readers will discover that the book can be:

A secret message-tear out a page, write a note on it for a stranger, and leave it in a public place.

A recording device-have everyone you contact today write their name in the book.

An instrument-create as many sounds as you can using the book, like flipping the pages fast or slapping the cover

. This Is Not a Book will engage readers by having them define everything a book can be by asking, "If it's not a book, what is it then?"-with a kaleidoscope of possible answers. 

About Keri Smith

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Penguin Books Online Digest, 8/24 - 8/27, 2009

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Fire Kristin Cashore (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Return to Hundred Acre Wood David Benedictus (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Hothouse Orchid Stuart Woods (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Rough Country Unabridged John Sandford (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Why Our Health Matters Andrew Weil, M.D. (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Rough Country Abridged John Sandford (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Spartan Gold Unabridged Clive Cussler (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Spartan Gold Abridged Clive Cussler (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT Shooting Stars LeBron James (Penguin Audio)

AUDIOBOOK EXCERPT What French Women Know Debra Ollivier (Penguin Audio)

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Annette McCleave is our guest blogger during the week of August 31st. If you have any questions for Annette McCleave, add a comment to any of her posts. Here is some more information about Drawn Into Darkness:A Soul Gatherer Novel:

Serving a five-hundred-year sentence as a Soul Gatherer—one who battles demons for the souls of the dead—Lachlan MacGregor keeps his distance from humans. That is, until the lovely Rachel Lewis knocks on his door, begging for help. 

As they struggle to rescue her daughter from the clutches of a powerful demon, Lachlan finds himself increasingly drawn to the artistic single mother. But when Death assigns him an unbearable task, he’s left wondering who will provide more for his soul. 

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I owe the idea for this book to the confluence of two events: I joined Facebook in April last year, and my son was born in May. New moms are perfect prey for Facebook's seductive vortex of time drainage. We're up at all hours, we're often tethered to our couches holding a baby and/or laptop, and Facebook doesn't require us to do much short of writing status updates, which in the first months of motherhood are mostly things like "Sarah ate in a RESTAURANT."

I'd had grand plans for my maternity leave to work on--yes, I was that naïve--a novel. But two months in, all I could muster was Nick at Nite and looking at Facebook a lot, trying not to do anything noticeable that would time-stamp me at 3:21 A.M. I became fascinated with the Facebook news feed-that bastion, at least then, of new friendships, group-joinings and newly--announced fandom--but mostly in what people decided to write in their status updates. I noticed some people would overshare, saying things you wouldn't think they'd want 250 of their closest "friends" to know. Combine that with English-major baggage and the creative juices that flow when one can recall seeing every sunrise in recent memory, and one night I began to wonder: what's the strangest thing you could reveal in a status update? I thought about what Ophelia would write when she began to lose her mind. Something nonsensical about flowers? And soon, in the dark, I had notes for "Hamlet's" news feed: "The king poked the queen," "The queen poked the king," "Hamlet became a fan of Daggers."

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Describing my new book to people who don't use social media or aren't into classic literature can be hard. To most people who are Facebook-friendly and love books, it usually goes a bit smoother. But my default, best expression to explain what's in this book is "Facebook Lit."

I know. The term sounds like a make-your-own-course title for a sixth-year undergrad at a progressive college. But Facebook Lit has been my creative challenge-and my job-since the night a year ago when, with a newborn and few functioning brain cells, I began to wonder what Ophelia would have posted on Facebook as she strayed to the fun side of sanity.

The piece I wrote, "Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition," for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, inspired Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float. And since then, others have written news feed versions of everything from the Book of Genesis to The Aeneid, not to mention Slate's ongoing Obama news feed and a Facebook group of world leaders in The Atlantic. There are also, of course, Twitter novels-classics and those solely in tweet form.

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I try not to judge. People are where they are in their evolution. I consider that all the time and carefully measure my words and actions to accommodate that fact. But sometimes I wonder what people are thinking.

I just returned from teaching on a cruise ship. I know what you're thinking. What was that cruise line smoking when they invited me, the queen of bad news for junk food eaters, onto one of those floating binge palaces to teach healthy cooking? I thought the same thing.

My first class was on the first day we were at sea. I convinced myself that the first attendance would be light, first morning and all; people struggling to find their way around the ship. But I walked onstage to a packed room, filled the brim with people ready to be entertained and educated about healthy cooking. Class was totally fun. The people asked thoughtful, concerned questions about health. Who knew?

But before we get all warm and fuzzy about change; hang on. After class, I had free time. So my husband and I took up seats on the ninth deck overlooking the sea...and it turns out, the buffet dining room. Yikes!

Senator Edward M. Kennedy died today, Wednesday, August 26^th, at the age of 77. Kennedy was the third-longest serving senator and despite being diagnosed with brain cancer last year he continued to work on promoting healthcare reform until right before his death.

Kennedy came from the American political family that produced John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, both assassinated in the 1960s. As the younger brother of such charismatic politicians, it was taken for granted that he would go into politics, though not everyone thought he was qualified. Kennedy replaced JFK as a Massachusetts senator in 1962 and proved to everyone that he was.

Ted Kennedy became a lasting political figure in America and a powerful spokesman for liberal ideals in the Democratic Party, which has become more centrist in recent years. But he wasn't a polarizing figure. Republicans also said they enjoyed working with him.

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This week, I'm very excited to introduce my book, Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don't Float: Classic Lit Signs on to Facebook. It's just as it sounds-a giant mash-up of classic literature and social networking. Everyone is here: Jane Austen and Kurt Vonnegut, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Dante and the Brontës and George Orwell and Edgar Allan Poe, all representing their finest work: from Beowulf to Lolita, The Odyssey to Ulysses. And just as we all do in social media, they update their statuses, post awkward photos, make strange comments, play time-sucking games and take an inordinate amount of quizzes. (Though, being "classic," what they do is a whole lot more interesting.)

But why let me do all of the explaining? Here's an abridged version of the book's introduction, where Shakespeare himself lays out the rules of this "network," while inviting these classics into his "Admirable, Righteous, Singular and Incomparable Booke Club Group."

TO MY MOST NOBLE, HONORABLE, PRAISEWORTHY AND ATTRACTIVE PURCHASERS. I MEAN BRETHEREN. HERIN SHALL WE RESIDE A SPELL AMONG THE COMPANY OF SUCH GREAT MINDS AS TO