Wicked Game (WVMP Radio Series #1) » (Reprint)

Jeri Smith-Ready has been writing fiction since the night she had her

first double espresso.  A constant stream of caffeine has resulted in

six published novels, including Wicked Game and Eyes of Crow, which

have each won multiple awards in the fields of fantasy and romance.

Jeri will have her teen fiction debut in May 2010 with the Simon Pulse

release of Shade, a paranormal love story featuring a world of spirits

only the young can see.  The sequel, Shift, will follow in 2011.

The next two years will also see the continuation of Jeri's fun and

sexy WVMP RADIO urban fantasy series from Pocket Books.

Jeri holds a master's in environmental policy and currently lives in

Maryland with her husband, cat, and the world's goofiest greyhound.

When not writing, she can usually be found—well, thinking about writing.

Find her at www.jerismithready.com or at ttp://twitter.com/jsmithready.

LATE NIGHT RADIO YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, '60s psychedelia, '80s goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers just how the DJs maintain their cred: they're vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara's first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WVMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station — and the link it provides to their original Life Times — the vampires would "fade," becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover is a matter of life and undeath.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara rebrands the station as "WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll." In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs' vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around — next to Ciara's complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the "gimmick" enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren't so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher — and the perils graver — than any con game Ciara's ever played....

Publishers Weekly

Newbie marketing intern Ciara Griffin lands a job at WMMP, a station threatened with being sold to Skyware, a giant communications conglomerate, unless ad revenue picks up. A former con artist with a canny way with people, Ciara soon learns that the DJs are undead and specialists in the musical eras in which they were turned into vampires. One of them, Shane McAllister (turned in 1995), is really hot and dangerously tempting. In order to attract more listeners, Ciara promotes a new marketing strategy and the Sherwood, Md., station becomes 94.3 WVMP, the "Lifeblood of Rock and Roll," exploiting the fang factor (which no listener takes seriously) for profit. It works, until an ancient vampire cult wants to pull the plug. Also playing in is "The Control," an equally ancient paramilitary group created to protect good vampires and kill bad ones. Smith-Ready's musical references are spot on, as is her take on corporate radio's creeping airwave hegemony. Add in the irrepressible Ciara, who grew up in a family of grifters, and the results rock. (May)