YA Indie Carnival–Author Spotlight: KC Blake

Hi, fellow YA indie-lovers! I’m back from Puerto Rico, salty (Ahhh ocean air, I’m from dry Colorado), spinier (Poor sea urchin I accidentally stepped on, clumsy people should not wander around reefs in water shoes), and probably several pounds heavier for all the awesome food we sampled.

Today we have a treat, an up-and-coming YA author with some exciting novels: KC Blake! Her novels are fast-paced with strong, adventurous female characters, and a playful sense of supernatural.

 

Author Bio:   K.C. Blake is a ninja on the keyboard.  When she is locked away in her office, pounding out another story, no one dares disturb her.  She probably wouldn’t hear them anyway.  They don’t get it.  They think she’s in her office, but she’s lost in another world.  Sometimes she is fighting vampires or hunting ghosts.  Sometimes she is running with a werewolf pack or falling in love with a misunderstood creature.  Her books appeal to lovers of the paranormal.  Whether you are twelve or fifty, you will fall in love with her stories.

 

 

Website: http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com

Twitter: @kasiblake

Vampires Rule Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vampires-Rule/184193604955442

K.C. Blake Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/K-C-Blakes-Author-Page/246146215412824

Goodreads Page:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4809417.K_C_Blake

 

Interview:

 

1) What is your all-time favorite book and why?

City of Bones.  I love the way Cassandra Clare writes, so visual that I can see it, and I love her awesome characters.

 

2) Is there an author you could be compared to or popular fictional characters your book’s characters could relate to and why?

I don’t think my characters are like any other characters I’ve read about.  My writing is my own.  I’ve been told I have a unique voice, a unique way of writing.  Some people love it and some of don’t.

 

3) Can you give us your favorite quote from one of your books and explain it?

This is a hard one. I can’t think of one off the top of my head, so I will use one that people have put on Goodreads as their favorite.  It is from Vampires Rule.

 

“Stop!” she screamed. “Don’t hurt him.”

“Back off!” Billy shouted.

She yanked harder on Billy’s arm.

“He isn’t a vampire anymore, idiot. Look! Do you see that big, yellow thing up in the sky? That’s called the sun. It’s shining down on him, and he isn’t exploding. His fangs are gone. He’s as human as we are. Case closed.”

Billy stared up at the sky, his jaw slack. “Not possible.”

Jack mumbled, “They don’t call me Jackpot for nothing.”

“What?” Billy blinked at him.

“Private joke.”

 

I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.  Jack was a vampire and now he’s not, and his brother just found out.

 

4) What types of things/people/music inspires you and makes you want to keep writing?

There isn’t any certain thing that inspires me.  Once in a while a movie or book will speak to me.  Sometimes a person I know will say something that sends me into a ‘what if’ daydream.  As for music, I love listening to songs while I write.  What I listen to depends on what sort of scene I’m writing.  I need a song that captures the emotions of the scene.  Then I can picture it in my head, and I’ll listen to that song a hundred times if I have to in order to finish what I’m working on.

 

5) Describe your typical writing day or week.

Within five minutes of waking I am thinking about whatever book I’m working on.  I might listen to music and daydream about it for a while, or I might jot down some notes.  Usually I spend time on-line before pulling my book up on the computer.  I check email, do some research, and play games (lol) before starting to work.  Then I work on and off all day until I get a chapter finished or am too tired to keep going.  I take breaks quite often.  If I don’t, my eyes and head hurt so bad the next day that I can’t work at all.

 

6) Is there a food or drink do you have to have when you’re writing?

No.  Eating and or drinking distracts me from the writing.  If anything, once in a while I will have some chocolate, something I can just pop into my mouth.  I’ll use it as a reward.  I get one after I finish a certain amount of pages.

 

7) Can you tell us what you’re working on right now (& possibly provide an excerpt & cover)?

I am editing a book called Bait, the first in a new series.  Here is the blurb for it:

 

At sixteen, Bay-Lee Bishop is not your typical girl.  The last thing she wants is to be popular, but flying below the radar isn’t easy when you’re the tallest girl in the eleventh grade.  She works hard to keep a steady C point average, never raises her hand in class, and avoids extra-curricular activity of any kind.  The other students would be stunned to learn she’s living under an alias as she and her uncle move from town to town, just barely staying a step ahead of the monsters hunting her just because she’s Van Helsing’s daughter.

 

Life is weird.  Then it gets worse.  A reaper uses her closet to cross over with a dire warning the day before she’s whisked away to her new school.  This time it’s the school she was always meant to attend, a school that trains hunters.

 

This is what she’s been waiting for her whole life, only it isn’t anything like she imagined. The other students hate her, something evil is killing hunters, and her mentor refuses to give her the slightest bit of help.  Determined to make her father proud, Bay-Lee focuses on her training.  Nothing is going to distract her.  Not border monsters or wraiths or the boy with jungle green eyes.

 

For Bay-Lee, love is not an option.  But try telling that to her heart.

 

Excerpt: (keep in mind this book is still being edited)

At some point during the night a stranger crawled into Bay-Lee’s bed while she snored softly, unaware.  The mattress springs squeaked in complaint beneath the additional weight as he reclined on his side and stared down at her face in the moonlight.  It bothered him that she continued to sleep.  After all the stories he’d heard about this girl, exploited rumors verging on myth, he’d expected more from her.  Shouldn’t she be able to sense danger?

This was Van Helsing’s daughter?  She looked insignificant, vulnerable beneath the green sheet.  He could snap her neck so easily—and maybe he should.  The world would continue on, undisturbed, but the dark cloud hanging over his head would finally dissipate.

A fraction of moonlight filtered through partially open curtains, not enough to see clearly, but it didn’t matter because he’d seen pictures of this girl on Van Helsing’s desk.  Her features were burned into his retinas.  Every time he went into the office he tried not to look at the photographs, purposely pointing his gaze elsewhere.

There was something about her, something unsettling which inevitably pulled him back to stare at her reproduced image.  She looked like an average girl at first glance.  A pretty face framed by dark hair that nearly reached her waist, parted in the middle and layered stared back at him.  Of Brazilian descent, her eyes were the darkest of browns, nearly black.  They hid a mountain of secrets.  She had attitude to spare and the camera caught it, recording it for future historians—if the prophecies were correct, they would want to study her.

She possessed a ‘bite me’ expression that must drive vampires crazy.

Fortunately, he was not a vampire.

Her mouth bothered him the most. Full lips haunted his dreams with a secretive smile curving the ends and a bottom lip that begged to be nibbled on. Sometimes, when he wasn’t carefully controlling his thoughts, he wondered what she would taste like.  In his dreams, when he wasn’t fully in control of his mind, he kissed her without ceasing.  He wondered what would happen if he kissed her in real life.  Would it stir something deep in his soul?  Would the prophecy come true?

Something hard lodged in his throat and he swallowed.  It was a near miss, so he swallowed again.  Kissing her shouldn’t even be a blip on the radar. This girl was the reason he didn’t have a home or a family.  It was her fault he’d grown up on the outside looking in, her fault people whispered behind his back, and her fault he was destined to die young.

Bay-Lee stirred in her sleep.  Mumbling, she pushed against his chest with two fingers.  “Go ‘way.”

Cute like a box of kittens, for a second he forgot to hate her.  His heart momentarily softened—not for long.  The unfamiliar sensation was enough to wipe the half-smile from his face.  Delivering a mental kick to his brain, he reminded himself this girl was the last person in the world he could let his guard down around.  She was worse than trouble.  If he wasn’t careful, this seemingly harmless meeting would lead to his total destruction.

Ready to wake her, he leaned in close and whispered her (fake) name.  Like him, she was forced to live under an alias.  Michelle.

Vampires Rule:  FREE

 

They don’t call him Jackpot for nothing.

 

Jack has always beat the odds… until now. When a werewolf tried to kill him, vampires saved him. When he got tired of life as a vampire, another attack gave him back his mortality. Now Jack just wants to live a normal life, but what’s normal about having a hunter for a girlfriend, a brother who wants to stake him to be on the safe side, and a werewolf building an army to rule the world?

 

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Rule-Series-ebook/dp/B004YZB8XU

 

Smashwords:   https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54214

 

 

Werewolves Rule: $2.99

 

The second book in the Rule Series

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Werewolves-Rule-The-Series-ebook/dp/B005IDV3OG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/83046

 

 

 

 

Shifters Rule: $2.99

Third book in the Rule Series

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shifters-Rule-Series-ebook/dp/B009SFWWN6/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2

 

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/246117

 

Crushed: $2.99

The Noah sisters rule Titan High with their beauty, brains, and magical powers.

 

Each year they play a secret game: Crushed. The girls pick their targets carefully and blow enchanted dust into the boy’s faces, charming them, but this year Kristen makes a grave mistake. She chooses the wrong boy and almost dies that same day. Coincidence? Maybe.

 

But something isn’t quite right about Zach Bevian. He doesn’t behave like a boy who’s been Crushed. He goes from hot to cold, from looking at her with contempt to asking her out on a date. She doesn’t know what to think. Does he hate her or is he truly falling for her? Is he trying to kill her, or is he trying to save her?

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crushed-The-Witch-Game-Books-ebook/dp/B005CJ8H9A/ref=pd_sim_kstore_5

 

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73251

 

Witch Hunt: $2.99

A magical game of Hide n Seek begins.

 

Find the missing player and win.

 

The game resets, everyone forgets, and they start to play again.

Starr Hughes hasn’t believed in magic since her mother died. As a reporter for the school paper she’s only interested in cold, hard facts. When she hears rumors that the mysterious It-Squad members are about to play a secret game, she is determined to learn all about it, especially since she’s been in love with one of the members half her life. Hiding under the headmaster’s desk, planting bugs, and breaking into a fellow student’s locker are all on her to-do list.

 

Starr is about to discover that witches not only exist, but they need her help. Someone is using the game to steal their memories, their powers, and maybe even their lives.

 

ATTENTION: Although this is the second book in the series, each book has its own set of characters and can be read as a stand-alone book.

 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Witch-Hunt-Witch-Game-Series-ebook/dp/B007JCNEYQ/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

 

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/171249

 

Bait:  (coming Summer 2013)  FREE

If you don’t think monsters in the closet are real, ask Bay-Lee.

 

At sixteen, Bay-Lee Bishop is on her way to a new school, a training ground for hunters.  Before she leaves she gets an unexpected visitor, a reaper with a warning: It kills you on your birthday.  For years she’s dreamed of becoming a great hunter so she can avenge her mom… but school is nothing like she imagined.  The students resent her, a border monster is running loose, her mentor refuses to help her, and hunters are dying on their birthdays.  If she’s going to live long enough to reach her goal, she’ll have to solve this mystery before the day of her birth arrives.

 

The last thing she needs is to fall in love.  No problem.  Bay-Lee is focused and determined.  She barely notices boys.  Then she meets Nick Gallos, a gorgeous boy with jungle green eyes, a reckless heart, and a past darker than her own.

***

Well, this is an exciting spring reading roster! I’ll be busy! Check out some of our other Indie Author Blogs:

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author’s Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun – YA Fantasy
15.	Heather Sutherlin – YA Fantasy

What’s New at the YA Author’s Blog: New releases, Cover reveals, etc!

YA Indie Carnival: Smashwords and other e-books—Are they worth it?

Hi Indies,

The question of the week is a hot topic among both indie authors, small publishers, and big publishing houses: Are e-books worth it? And more specifically, are e-book publishing sites worth it?

As an indie author having both self-published short story anthologies, Into The Ruins, and Beyond The Veil, and having my novel Pazuzu’s Girl published by a small genre publishing house, I would emphatically say, YES, they are worth it!

As a self-published author, I have had a huge amount of fun designing covers, and the rush of clicking on the Finish buttons of both Smashwords and Kindle to finish publishing the books were nerve-tingling. Avenues such as Smashwords has afforded authors of all genres a tremendous amount of creativity and freedom to govern their works in whatever way their spirits take them, on their own timetable.

If I delve into particular publishing engines, I do find that there were different advantages to Kindle versus Smashwords. Smashwords gives you the most leeway as to how you do things like giveaways. Any giveaways you want to do are free to you, and all you have to do is include a coupon code in your giveaway. With Kindle, you have to pay as the author to gift copies of the book, and you have to deal with the whole morass of digital publishing rights which is Amazon’s proprietary hook that has booksellers everywhere fuming, understandably so.

However, that said, I am a tech moron. Smashwords does seem to take a higher degree of savvy to format successfully. Kindle is Self-Publishing and Formatting for Dummies, which gave me a measure of relief from heartburn after wrestling with Word.

As a traditionally published author also, I think that the world is moving toward electronic media. There is no turning back. As a reader, there will always be sappy old cranksters like me regaling my tech-conscious seven-year old about the days before remote control, the days when you had to spin a wheel to dial a phone, and yelling ‘You can pry my paper books from my cold dead hands, now get off my lawn!’ I love the smell of a book, I love the feel of the pages in my hand. However, we are currently being buried in good old paper books at our house. It’s starting to look like an episode of Hoarders in terms of the sheer number of books. Electronic media is elegant and efficient. It means that I don’t have to use up all of my carry-on space hauling all of the books I think I might read on the plane. I can stick my tiny little tablet with the library of books contained in it, in my purse with plenty of room for a bunch of other useless things that I imagine I’m going to use on the flight and never do. Electronic media is not going away, ever. It will only become more elegant and compact. Someday maybe, we’ll all carry data crystals that we plug into jacks in our heads. So for authors, publishing mediums like Smashwords and Kindle are an opportunity, whether self- or traditionally published, to get our work out to millions of people in the speed of an internet connection.

See what other author’s takes are on e-books!

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author’s Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun – YA Fantasy
15.	Heather Sutherlin – YA Fantasy

And here’s What’s New and Upcoming at the YA Author Blog!

YA Indie Carnival: Author Spotlight–Laura Elliot

Happy Late Valentine’s Day Indie-Lovers! Or for surly crotchety people like me, Happy Anti-Valentines Day!

Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate. No matter how much I hate the explosion of hearts and flowers on every possible surface, beginning…around Thanksgiving, I’ll take any box of chocolates I can get my hands on. Valentine’s Day is just a good excuse for eating them.

Actually, I do have to credit Valentine’s Day as the first date my husband and I went on. It was supposed to be a I-Hate-This-Commercial-Crap Let’s-Share-Our-Valentine’s-Day-Misery-Together anti-date. Well, it’s almost ten years later and we’re big horkin’ hypocrits, ‘cuz we’re still married and goin’ out to dinner again for Valentine’s Day. Geek-Love.

There are many myths about how Valentine’s Day got started. Some say that St. Valentine was a Roman priest who illegally married Roman soldiers who were not supposed to be married. Most of the stories involved some version of a priest that married people in secret. I don’t know what the real truth is, as long as it doesn’t involve chubby babies with wings and plastic Walmart bows with heart-shaped arrows. But if you want to read my version of a creepy anti-Valentine’s Day story, I’ve posted my story Kisses on my Rachel’s Stories page of this blog.

And now, I’d like to introduce indie author extraordinaire, Laura Elliot. She is an innovative young adult fiction writer with original and very true-to-life-feeling endings. Her short stories are thoughtful, and well worth reading.

 

Laura A. H. Elliott

 

aura A. H. Elliott, best selling author, loves writing about enchanted road trips, shadow worlds, and alien romance while eating lots of popcorn. She lives in a tree house on the central California coast. After twenty-plus years as a freelance graphic designer/animator with clients including E! Entertainment Television and The Los Angeles Times, she crossed over into the world of publishing non-fiction and followed her heart to the world of fiction. She is the author of the paranormal romance Shadow Series (also availableL in audiobook format), the sci-fi romance Starjump series, and stand alone literary romance novel Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale. Her latest release is Shadow Slayer, book 2 of the Shadow Series. Moon Killers, book 3 is due out this spring. She’s also due to release her first adult title later this year. She’s happy to have been included in the new adult anthology Midnight Surrender.

 

Blog

 

Amazon

 

Twitter

 

Goodreads

 

Facebook

 

Pinterest

 

Laura A. H. Elliott’s Books:

 

Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale

 

13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1) FREE Audiobook

 

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) Audiobook

 

Moon Killers (Shadow Series #3) Spring 2013

 

(Shadow Series #4) Fall 2013

 

Transfer Student (Starjump Series #1)

 

The Seven Caves & Other Spine-Tingling Short Stories

 

Winnemucca a small-town fairy tale (YA literary romance)

 

When fear’s as blind as love, how far would you go to find your own happily ever after?

 

One mistake will change Ginny’s life forever. One answer will set her free. Once upon a time Ginny’s road blood ripened, the day she got wise to love. Engaged to the high school quarterback, his quarter-carat ring and enchanting smile should have been enough for her. But, she stands him up and takes a walk where every step questions her happily ever after gone-bad and the fate of the mother she never knew. The mother her father refuses to talk about. Ginny fights to untangle her big, fat, lie-of-a-life on an enchanted road trip to Winnemucca, where she believes all her answers lie. To solve the riddle of her past, she must outrun everyone who wants a piece of her future–including a man determined to see she never has one.

 

Transfer Student (Starjump #1) (YA Sci-Fi Romance)

 

Two Worlds–Two Teens–One Wish

 

Rhoe and Ashley would never be friends.

 

Even if they lived on the same planet.

 

But, they’ll become so much more.

 

They’ll transfer.

 

Earthling Ashley’s world revolves around winning daily popularity contests at Beverly Hills High School and surfing competitions with sweet scholarship prizes that will finally help her break free of her control-freak mother. Meanwhile on planet Retha, Rhoe misses his dad, loves his mom’s home-cooked Glechy crag with a side of ory sauce, is desperate to heal his sick brother and wants more than anything to win The Retha New Invention Competition. But Rhoe’s invention teleports him across the universe with an unintended side effect, Ashley and Rhoe transfer. They swap lives when they make the same wish at the same time.

 

Popular-surfer-turned-boy-geek alien Ashley must handle life on Retha as Rhoe complete with webbed feet, low-gravity, and an obsession with Yuke, all the while being hunted by Rethan spies and resenting her hairy, flat chest. Boy-geek-turned-popular-surfer Rhoe must fit in at Beverly Hills High School as Ashley, compete in The Laguna Beach Invitational without becoming shark food, dodge boys’ affections, cool his preoccupation with Tiffany and his new body, and find the healing rocks he believes will save his brother’s life.

 

If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to.

 

(THIS ENHANCED EBOOK CONTAINS LINKS TO THE MUSIC, STORIES, PHOTOS & VIDEOS THAT INSPIRED THE STORY.)

 

13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1) FREE (YA paranormal romance)

 

Roxie has the best night of her life until the popular kids decide they want to celebrate her birthday in a way Roxie never expects––in her attic, with a gift that’s out of this world, and a pact to never tell a living soul what happens next.

 

Twelve-year-old Roxie wants to be like Adrianne, the popular girl who gets everything she wants––a flock to prowl around the mall with; invitations to parties; and for Hayden, the cutest guy in the eighth grade to, you know, notice her. When Roxie invites all the eighth grade peacocks (code word : popular kids) to her first ever thirteenth birthday party on Halloween, they all come and give her a gift that’s literally out of this world. Roxie astral projects to Planet Popular where she becomes seventeen instantly and gets everything she’s always wanted, but nothing is as it seems. Being a high school peacock is complicated and Roxie will risk everything to be who she thinks she wants to be. Oh yeah, there’s Prom, doppelgangers, a mysterious map, and lots of bad peacocks too.

 

BONUS EXCERPT! Two Chapters of Shadow Slayer, Book 2 in The Shadow Series

 

13 on Halloween, (Shadow Series #1) is now available as an audiobook on iTunes, Audible or Amazon.

 

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) (YA paranormal romance)

 

Shadows will do anything to become human. You see their influence everyday. You say things you don’t mean or do things that aren’t like you. You look, different. Friends you’ve known forever suddenly never call.

 

As a freshman, Roxie just wants to fit in which is impossible because she barely runs into her friends at her huge high school. Adrianne’s disappearance and Hayden’s attention rock Roxie’s world. But nothing rocks it like the most gorgeous guy at school, Drew. And nothing is more important to Roxie than astral projecting back to Planet Popular to solve the mystery of the map. But that changes when Drew invites Roxie to homecoming. Hayden warns her that something’s wrong. Why would a guy like Drew like Roxie anyway? Drew must want something. Hayden’s right. Drew is…different. Planet Popular was just the beginning. Part of a bigger world, the Shadow World. There’s a war brewing between the world of humans and the world of shadows. When the shadow invasion begins at Roxie’s high school, she’ll not only fight for her life but the lives of her family and friends, when she discovers she’s the Shadow Slayer, the one human who can save Earth from the shadow onslaught. But, Roxie can’t even kill a spider. Oh yeah, there’s an evil English teacher, an enchanted play, a sword of Sandonian steel, a homecoming of horrors, and seven magic words too.Audible (Audiobook) |iTunes

 

 

Laura A. H. Elliott

aura A. H. Elliott, best selling author, loves writing about enchanted road trips, shadow worlds, and alien romance while eating lots of popcorn. She lives in a tree house on the central California coast. After twenty-plus years as a freelance graphic designer/animator with clients including E! Entertainment Television and The Los Angeles Times, she crossed over into the world of publishing non-fiction and followed her heart to the world of fiction. She is the author of the paranormal romance Shadow Series (also availableL in audiobook format), the sci-fi romance Starjump series, and stand alone literary romance novel Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale. Her latest release is Shadow Slayer, book 2 of the Shadow Series. Moon Killers, book 3 is due out this spring. She’s also due to release her first adult title later this year. She’s happy to have been included in the new adult anthology Midnight Surrender.

Blog

Amazon

Twitter

Goodreads

Facebook

Pinterest

Laura A. H. Elliott’s Books:

Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale

13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1) FREE Audiobook

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) Audiobook

Moon Killers (Shadow Series #3) Spring 2013

(Shadow Series #4) Fall 2013

Transfer Student (Starjump Series #1)

The Seven Caves & Other Spine-Tingling Short Stories

Winnemucca a small-town fairy tale (YA literary romance)

When fear’s as blind as love, how far would you go to find your own happily ever after?

One mistake will change Ginny’s life forever. One answer will set her free. Once upon a time Ginny’s road blood ripened, the day she got wise to love. Engaged to the high school quarterback, his quarter-carat ring and enchanting smile should have been enough for her. But, she stands him up and takes a walk where every step questions her happily ever after gone-bad and the fate of the mother she never knew. The mother her father refuses to talk about. Ginny fights to untangle her big, fat, lie-of-a-life on an enchanted road trip to Winnemucca, where she believes all her answers lie. To solve the riddle of her past, she must outrun everyone who wants a piece of her future–including a man determined to see she never has one.

Transfer Student (Starjump #1) (YA Sci-Fi Romance)

Two Worlds–Two Teens–One Wish

Rhoe and Ashley would never be friends.

Even if they lived on the same planet.

But, they’ll become so much more.

They’ll transfer.

Earthling Ashley’s world revolves around winning daily popularity contests at Beverly Hills High School and surfing competitions with sweet scholarship prizes that will finally help her break free of her control-freak mother. Meanwhile on planet Retha, Rhoe misses his dad, loves his mom’s home-cooked Glechy crag with a side of ory sauce, is desperate to heal his sick brother and wants more than anything to win The Retha New Invention Competition. But Rhoe’s invention teleports him across the universe with an unintended side effect, Ashley and Rhoe transfer. They swap lives when they make the same wish at the same time.

Popular-surfer-turned-boy-geek alien Ashley must handle life on Retha as Rhoe complete with webbed feet, low-gravity, and an obsession with Yuke, all the while being hunted by Rethan spies and resenting her hairy, flat chest. Boy-geek-turned-popular-surfer Rhoe must fit in at Beverly Hills High School as Ashley, compete in The Laguna Beach Invitational without becoming shark food, dodge boys’ affections, cool his preoccupation with Tiffany and his new body, and find the healing rocks he believes will save his brother’s life.

If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to.

(THIS ENHANCED EBOOK CONTAINS LINKS TO THE MUSIC, STORIES, PHOTOS & VIDEOS THAT INSPIRED THE STORY.)

13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1) FREE (YA paranormal romance)

Roxie has the best night of her life until the popular kids decide they want to celebrate her birthday in a way Roxie never expects––in her attic, with a gift that’s out of this world, and a pact to never tell a living soul what happens next.

Twelve-year-old Roxie wants to be like Adrianne, the popular girl who gets everything she wants––a flock to prowl around the mall with; invitations to parties; and for Hayden, the cutest guy in the eighth grade to, you know, notice her. When Roxie invites all the eighth grade peacocks (code word : popular kids) to her first ever thirteenth birthday party on Halloween, they all come and give her a gift that’s literally out of this world. Roxie astral projects to Planet Popular where she becomes seventeen instantly and gets everything she’s always wanted, but nothing is as it seems. Being a high school peacock is complicated and Roxie will risk everything to be who she thinks she wants to be. Oh yeah, there’s Prom, doppelgangers, a mysterious map, and lots of bad peacocks too.

BONUS EXCERPT! Two Chapters of Shadow Slayer, Book 2 in The Shadow Series

13 on Halloween, (Shadow Series #1) is now available as an audiobook on iTunes, Audible or Amazon.

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) (YA paranormal romance)

Shadows will do anything to become human. You see their influence everyday. You say things you don’t mean or do things that aren’t like you. You look, different. Friends you’ve known forever suddenly never call.

As a freshman, Roxie just wants to fit in which is impossible because she barely runs into her friends at her huge high school. Adrianne’s disappearance and Hayden’s attention rock Roxie’s world. But nothing rocks it like the most gorgeous guy at school, Drew. And nothing is more important to Roxie than astral projecting back to Planet Popular to solve the mystery of the map. But that changes when Drew invites Roxie to homecoming. Hayden warns her that something’s wrong. Why would a guy like Drew like Roxie anyway? Drew must want something. Hayden’s right. Drew is…different. Planet Popular was just the beginning. Part of a bigger world, the Shadow World. There’s a war brewing between the world of humans and the world of shadows. When the shadow invasion begins at Roxie’s high school, she’ll not only fight for her life but the lives of her family and friends, when she discovers she’s the Shadow Slayer, the one human who can save Earth from the shadow onslaught. But, Roxie can’t even kill a spider. Oh yeah, there’s an evil English teacher, an enchanted play, a sword of Sandonian steel, a homecoming of horrors, and seven magic words too.Audible (Audiobook) |iTunes

 

Laura A. H. Elliott

Laura A. H. Elliott, best selling author, loves writing about enchanted road trips, shadow worlds, and alien romance while eating lots of popcorn. She lives in a tree house on the central California coast. After twenty-plus years as a freelance graphic designer/animator with clients including E! Entertainment Television and The Los Angeles Times, she crossed over into the world of publishing non-fiction and followed her heart to the world of fiction. She is the author of the paranormal romance Shadow Series (also available in audiobook format), the sci-fi romance Starjump series, and stand alone literary romance novel Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale. Her latest release is Shadow Slayer, book 2 of the Shadow Series. Moon Killers, book 3 is due out this spring. She’s also due to release her first adult title later this year. She’s happy to have been included in the new adult anthology Midnight Surrender.

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Laura A. H. Elliott’s Books:

Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale

13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1) FREE Audiobook

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) Audiobook

Moon Killers (Shadow Series #3) Spring 2013

(Shadow Series #4) Fall 2013

Transfer Student (Starjump Series #1)

The Seven Caves & Other Spine-Tingling Short Stories

Winnemucca a small-town fairy tale (YA literary romance)

When fear’s as blind as love, how far would you go to find your own happily ever after?

One mistake will change Ginny’s life forever. One answer will set her free. Once upon a time Ginny’s road blood ripened, the day she got wise to love. Engaged to the high school quarterback, his quarter-carat ring and enchanting smile should have been enough for her. But, she stands him up and takes a walk where every step questions her happily ever after gone-bad and the fate of the mother she never knew. The mother her father refuses to talk about. Ginny fights to untangle her big, fat, lie-of-a-life on an enchanted road trip to Winnemucca, where she believes all her answers lie. To solve the riddle of her past, she must outrun everyone who wants a piece of her future–including a man determined to see she never has one.

Transfer Student (Starjump #1) (YA Sci-Fi Romance)

Two Worlds–Two Teens–One Wish

Rhoe and Ashley would never be friends.

Even if they lived on the same planet.

But, they’ll become so much more.

They’ll transfer.

Earthling Ashley’s world revolves around winning daily popularity contests at Beverly Hills High School and surfing competitions with sweet scholarship prizes that will finally help her break free of her control-freak mother. Meanwhile on planet Retha, Rhoe misses his dad, loves his mom’s home-cooked Glechy crag with a side of ory sauce, is desperate to heal his sick brother and wants more than anything to win The Retha New Invention Competition. But Rhoe’s invention teleports him across the universe with an unintended side effect, Ashley and Rhoe transfer. They swap lives when they make the same wish at the same time.

Popular-surfer-turned-boy-geek alien Ashley must handle life on Retha as Rhoe complete with webbed feet, low-gravity, and an obsession with Yuke, all the while being hunted by Rethan spies and resenting her hairy, flat chest. Boy-geek-turned-popular-surfer Rhoe must fit in at Beverly Hills High School as Ashley, compete in The Laguna Beach Invitational without becoming shark food, dodge boys’ affections, cool his preoccupation with Tiffany and his new body, and find the healing rocks he believes will save his brother’s life.

If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to.

(THIS ENHANCED EBOOK CONTAINS LINKS TO THE MUSIC, STORIES, PHOTOS & VIDEOS THAT INSPIRED THE STORY.)

13 on Halloween (Shadow Series #1) FREE (YA paranormal romance)

Roxie has the best night of her life until the popular kids decide they want to celebrate her birthday in a way Roxie never expects––in her attic, with a gift that’s out of this world, and a pact to never tell a living soul what happens next.

Twelve-year-old Roxie wants to be like Adrianne, the popular girl who gets everything she wants––a flock to prowl around the mall with; invitations to parties; and for Hayden, the cutest guy in the eighth grade to, you know, notice her. When Roxie invites all the eighth grade peacocks (code word : popular kids) to her first ever thirteenth birthday party on Halloween, they all come and give her a gift that’s literally out of this world. Roxie astral projects to Planet Popular where she becomes seventeen instantly and gets everything she’s always wanted, but nothing is as it seems. Being a high school peacock is complicated and Roxie will risk everything to be who she thinks she wants to be. Oh yeah, there’s Prom, doppelgangers, a mysterious map, and lots of bad peacocks too.

BONUS EXCERPT! Two Chapters of Shadow Slayer, Book 2 in The Shadow Series

13 on Halloween, (Shadow Series #1) is now available as an audiobook on iTunes, Audible or Amazon.

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) (YA paranormal romance)

Shadows will do anything to become human. You see their influence everyday. You say things you don’t mean or do things that aren’t like you. You look, different. Friends you’ve known forever suddenly never call.

As a freshman, Roxie just wants to fit in which is impossible because she barely runs into her friends at her huge high school. Adrianne’s disappearance and Hayden’s attention rock Roxie’s world. But nothing rocks it like the most gorgeous guy at school, Drew. And nothing is more important to Roxie than astral projecting back to Planet Popular to solve the mystery of the map. But that changes when Drew invites Roxie to homecoming. Hayden warns her that something’s wrong. Why would a guy like Drew like Roxie anyway? Drew must want something. Hayden’s right. Drew is…different. Planet Popular was just the beginning. Part of a bigger world, the Shadow World. There’s a war brewing between the world of humans and the world of shadows. When the shadow invasion begins at Roxie’s high school, she’ll not only fight for her life but the lives of her family and friends, when she discovers she’s the Shadow Slayer, the one human who can save Earth from the shadow onslaught. But, Roxie can’t even kill a spider. Oh yeah, there’s an evil English teacher, an enchanted play, a sword of Sandonian steel, a homecoming of horrors, and seven magic words too.Audible (Audiobook) |iTunes

That should keep you reading for a long time! But check out What’s New on the YA Indie Carnival Author’s Page!

 

 

New Release! Pestilence by Jeani Rector

As a public health worker, I was excited to pick up Pestilence, by Jeani Rector. And I was not disappointed. Whenever I pick up a book in which disease is a big feature in the story, I often get ready to pick it apart if it’s not someone who has a background in infectious disease, because I’m kind of a jerk like that. But there wasn’t much to pick at. Ms. Rector has clearly done a lot of research, not just about the disease and its history, but about the conditions of London and the feudal system. And she does something that few authors do so well as this author does: show how all of the different conditions contributed to the perfect storm. I’m a medical anthropologist. I have little snippets of knowledge about very specific things, but I’ll confess that medieval history, names and dates, are not my forte. I struggled to stay awake in history class as soon as dates and names of people started droning from my teachers’ mouths. But if I had had a book like this when I was in school, I would have remembered every history lesson. Not only does she explain the history of the Black Death, but each of her characters was alive and engaged me in caring about what happened to them, whether that was holding my breath hoping that the heroine survives, or wanting to stab the bad guys and rub fleas all over them. She has created a living history. I would use this book to teach because bringing events to life is the best way to engage people and make them remember.

You can find out more about Pestilence at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You can learn more about Jeani Rector at the Horror Zine, a very cool online horror zine. You can also like her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Ereshkigal and the Persephone Myth

One of the most fascinating characters to me in myth, Sumerian or otherwise, is Ereshkigal. For people who know me, this might seem obvious. Queen of the Underworld, zombies, dead people, ghosts. I have make-believe zombie preparedness posters in my office at work. However, my love of all things morbid and creepy is not the key reason I’m interested in Ereshkigal.

Many people do not see her as a sympathetic character. Like most other gods in mythology everywhere, she is vicious, cunning, vengeful, all of the delightful qualities of ancient gods. But if you know her whole story, suddenly, the reasons for her ruthlessness take on a different tone.

She did not begin as a dark frightening goddess of the dead. By all accounts, her story began very much like Persephone’s. She began as a young beautiful maiden sun goddess. Until she was raped, abducted, and dragged to the Underworld by a dragon named Kur, at least in one version he is a dragon. In others he is a mountain. At one point, the Underworld is referred to as Kur…Until, unlike the demure Persephone, she kicked her rapist’s ass and took over the Underworld. From this point on, the Underworld is referred to by one of her other names, Irkalla. This seemed to mark the shift in dominance. If Persephone had been depicted differently than she was, rather in the same way as Ereshkigal, it would have ended with her kicking Hades’ ass, and renaming the Greek Underworld Persephone. Ereshkigal was not going to be content with becoming the consort of some controlling jerk. She was going to take his stuff and kick him to the curb.

So basically, she starts as a rape victim, and instead of succumbing to the fate someone else was forcing upon her, decides somehow to use her circumstances to her advantage and create her own future. I don’t know about anyone else, but that is much more interesting to me than just her label as the goddess of the Underworld, it was how she got there. Like Thelma and Louise, told the Addams Family way, and with a happy ending.

Though I didn’t go into her backstory in Pazuzu’s Girl, I made a reference to it, when she told JD that she would look after his abused mother when the woman died, because she ‘understood what it was to feel powerless’.

I’m now writing a sequel to Pazuzu’s Girl, in which Ereshkigal’s origin story will be told from her point of view.

I can’t help but wonder if she were a real woman today, she would probably be jailed for doing the things she does, and then there would be protests for her by feminist groups, Facebook campaigns with her face representing women’s rights. Interesting to think of the tropes we see throughout history showing up in different ways, perceived differently in different ages.

YA Indie Carnival: Friday the 13th

Today’s YA Indie Carnival post is about none other than…Friday the 13th. Of course it is. It’s like crack to us sometime horror writers. However despite juicy movies and uses in fiction, what is the real basis for Friday the 13^th superstitions?

No one really knows. It did not show up much in references prior to the 19^th century. One speculation was that since twelve was a number indicated as complete: twelve tribes of Israel, twelve months of year, twelve hours etc, that one more may be viewed as excess and unbalanced, like having three people on a date.

Friday has often been cited as an unlucky day for travel. I do not know why. Though, I’m sure the people who are mauled in increasing numbers on Black Friday sales would probably agree that Friday, despite being the most awesome day of the workweek is not such a great day when people act like psychos. Though this misfortune can be attributed to humans who have no common sense or ethical values rather than divine influence. My husband has an aunt who was actually mugged by a woman for the mini-television she had unassumingly picked up to buy. And this was in a tiny town in upper Michigan.

For Jews and Muslims, Friday is anything but unlucky. For Jews, Friday evening is the start of the Sabbath, since our days weirdly start in the evening. And for Muslims, Friday is also the Sabbath, though I think theirs is during the day on Friday. Anyone who is a working mom will say that a day of rest is never a bad thing.

By itself, Friday was named after Frigga or Freya from the Norse pantheon. Freya was from the Vanir, a class of Norse deity with different origins than the Aesir, though what those differences were was never clear to me. She was attributed as being a love goddess. This doesn’t sound so unlucky, unless of course you’ve just been dumped. She is also attributed as being a goddess of fertility, beauty, and war. She received half of all the souls killed on the battlefield at her hall Folkvangr. This association with violence and death, could lend itself to the perception of ill fortune, especially since Nordic warriors’ goals seemed to be Valhalla, Odin’s hall, instead. I suppose if you die and the afterlife bus takes you to New Jersey instead of Hollywood, it might be cause for discontent.

I suppose that like any superstition, it depends on whose point of view you have.

See what else Freaky Friday reveals in our fellow authors’ blogs!

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	Heather Self	4.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga	6.	Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	8.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9.	Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series	10.	Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11.	Dani Snell’s Refracted Light Reviews	12.	Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
13.	M. Leighton, Blood Like Poison Series, Madly, The Reaping	14.	Kimberly Kinrade, Bits of You & Pieces of Me, Forbidden Mind
15.	Madeline Smoot, Missing, Summer Shorts, and The Girls	16.	Cidney Swanson, author of Rippler
17.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	18.	TG Ayer
19.	Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy	20.	Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
21.	Roots in Myth, PJ Hoover	22.	Courtney Cole Writes

And here’s What’s New! There are some exciting new releases, so get your Kindle and your bowl of popcorn ready!

New Podcast! My radio interview about Pazuzu’s Girl on Journal Jabber: Demons Got Your Tongue?

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journaljabber/2012/04/11/demons-got-your-tongue

NEW RELEASES!

 

Soul Bound by Courtney Cole

The gods are playing games again and this time it’s going to get ugly. 

Empusa is the daughter of the goddess of witchcraft and the moon.  As a child of the moon, she has all of the ethereal lunar powers that come with it.  She is beautiful, vulnerable and strong.  But since she is cursed by her father to drink souls and mortal blood, her powers will come back to haunt her…

Brennan is the son of Apollo, the god of the sun.  As a child of the sun, he is handsome, golden, brave and strong.  He’s just learning to harness his own immortal powers, only there isn’t much time…

There’s an ugly, twisted storm brewing on Olympus and Brennan and Em are in the center of it.  Their powers are conflicting, polar opposites.  If they can’t learn to handle their abilities without killing each other, they will kill everyone in the mortal world, as well.  Time is ticking and the gods are watching.  Who will rise, who will fall and who will be left standing?

 

She escaped, but she’ll never be free. 

 

December and Lilly have got their work cut out for them. Not only are they desperately trying to figure out the identity of the Lost Soul, and track him down, they’ve also got to investigate why Powell River’s newest resident has got all of their men falling at her feet.
But when they learn that the Nephilim might be involved, it becomes clear that they’re all in extreme danger…

 

Rhoe and Ashley would never be friends.

Even if they lived on the same planet.

But, they’ll become so much more.

They’ll transfer.

THIS ENHANCED EBOOK CONTAINS LINKS

TO THE MUSIC, STORIES, PHOTOS & VIDEOS THAT

INSPIRED THE STORY.

 

A magical game of Hide n Seek begins.
Find the missing player and win.
The game resets; everyone forgets and starts to play again.

 

Seventeen-year-old Fresco Conte is an ordinary All-American kid from an upper middle-class family. He plays football. His girlfriend is a cheerleader. Life is good. Until unexplained things, scary things, start to take him over. Like surviving an accident that should have killed him. Or hearing the thoughts of the people around him whether he wants to or not. When the men in the dark blue coveralls come for him, Fresco is forced into addiction to the blue joy known as Wasteland and set free on the street, with no answers and only his hunger to keep him company.   

 

Last Stand is no more and Fresco is left to pick up the pieces. With his damaged brother Daniel stashed for safe keeping, Fresco and the old scientist Medley gather the remaining survivors and do their best to protect them. But the Garbagemen have other ideas, their leader’s goal to capture Fresco and make him one of their own.

 

DEAD RADIANCE – Book 1 in the Valkyrie NovelsFor as long as she can recall Bryn Halbrook has seen a golden aura around certain people, and it is only when her new best friend Joshua dies that she understands the glow means death. Bryn struggles to adapt to a new town and a new foster home while trying to deal with the guilt of being unable to save her friend. Until mysterious biker-boy, Aidan Lee arrives.

When Aidan unexpectedly takes off he leaves behind a shattered heart, a tonne of unanswered questions and a mysterious book that suggests Bryn is a Valkyrie. Bryn is faced with questions about Aidan’s real identity, the real reason he came to Craven, and that Odin, Freya and Valhalla just might be real.

As if accepting her new wings, new life and new home in Asgard isn’t difficult enough, Bryn is forced to find and return the precious necklace of the Goddess Freya. The only problem is – if she fails, Aidan will die.
The mystery of a Mythology is easy to enjoy. The reality is much harder to accept.

A child born of sun and moon will impart a human gift to bring forth the fall of the house of Gammen. – Hayes Prophecies

So you read the prophecy. It’s all mystical, but pretty vague. Am I right? Those three, short lines are absolutely frustrating. Lucky me, I’m the one who’s supposed to figure it out. I’m the child born of sun and moon.

Join Keira Ryan as she chases her destiny in this exciting third installment in the Midnight Guardian Series. While Keira searches, her enemies draw closer. A history of trust is tested. A promise of passion turns deadly. A surviving evil creates doubt and there’s only one way to stop it…Find the Gift.Just what do you get the spoiled gremlin queen that has everything?

Ready for a new kind of teen paranormal romance?
Also look for:
Of Sun & Moon, Book 1
Whispering Evil, Book 2
Book 4, Shadows Rising, coming Fall 2012

 

Love is irresistible.  Gravity is undeniable.

COVER REVEAL

 

Heather Self’s debut novel!

The next in the series from Fisher Amelie!

Review of Pazuzu’s Girl by The Horror Zine

I’ve been off and on the site recently, due to life getting a little nuts. I have been really thrilled to have the YA Indie Carnival, because it made me sit down and post, and discuss things that I thought about while I was running around during the day and never sat down to talk about. Writing discipline is one of the things that I think a lot of people struggle with, especially as people get more and more drawn into all kinds of distractions. Pretty soon, I look up and the whole year has gone by, when I wasn’t looking. I am very disorganized, and so making a set time to sit down and write has been crucial for me.

Everyone loves good reviews. It’s a huge boost in so many ways. If I’m having a bad day, it makes me realize that most of the things I’m obsessing about aren’t that big a deal. If I’m having a good day, well, that’s just the hot fudge on the sundae, and also a great excuse to go out and get ice cream for real. But it is also great for encouragement to keep doing what I’m doing. I think a lot of times writers feel like we work hard on something and then it goes off into ether world and gets lost. So when a source that we are fans of notices our work, it really renews determination, especially if we are embroiled in writing another one.

So, I am sitting with a huge grin on my face that will only change long enough to stuff a hot fudge sundae in it. Here is the review of Pazuzu’s Girl by The Horror Zine.

http://www.thehorrorzine.com/ReviewFolder/PazuzusGirl/Girl.html

And here is the main link, because you should really check out this zine f you love horror. It is a wealth of scary stories and terrific authors.

And here is a quote from the review: “Although technically a Young Adult novel, it is sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults as well. I recommend Pazuzu’s Girl for any fan of fantasy or Dungeons and Dragons; for that matter, any fan of a walloping good read.”

YA Indie Carnival: Books I Am Grateful For And Why

I have lots and lots of books I’m grateful for. First, I have to start by saying that I am grateful for the existence of books. They were fodder for my imagination throughout childhood, an escape from adolescence, and a remedy for tedium in adulthood, without which I would have surely stabbed myself in the head waiting in line at the DMV.

When I was a little kid, I was consumed with science fantasy. I read Madeline L’ Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time and the other two sequels over and over. It was one of the key books that I remember. It was one of the books that opened up the world for me, the world of could-be. I haven’t picked it up in years, so I don’t know if it would be as good now as it seemed then, but I know what it did for me, as I read under the covers with a flashlight, thinking that my mother didn’t know I was reading. And likewise, I’ve continued the tradition of pretending not to notice when my own daughter does it.

When I was a teenager, there was a book that I got from the library repeatedly, called The Hound of Ulster, by Rosemary Sutcliff. It was about Cuchulain of Ulster, what is now a county in Northern Ireland. He was, to the Irish, a well-known hero of the Red Branch warriors, seated at Emain Macha or what is now Navan Fort, in pre-Christian times. I don’t know what it was about that book or about that figure in Celtic myth that captured my attention. Maybe it was that he was described as being small and dark, very different from his comrades, and yet the fiercest of them. That’s very reassuring to a 5-foot dark-haired teenage nerd with zero coordination, however fanciful. But it opened the world of myth to me, as I expanded from that book to other Celtic myth, to myth from across the world, and then to physical evidence of some basis in reality through anthropology. And one of the most intriguing authors whose prose I read again and again, was Ray Bradbury. My copies of The Halloween Tree, and Something Wicked This Way Comes are so dog-eared that if you pick them up, all the pages slither to the ground. But they sparked a delicious sense of darkness and threat, while at the same time, not dismissing them as simple good or evil.

Now, I’d have to say that there have been a few paradigm changing books, at least the paradigms in my own head. The most recent book that stuck with me and made me go “Whoa” long after I put it down was/were the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. Its scope was so grand and so complex, but at the same time, simple and profound, that I felt like it actually physically changed my brain. It was a look, like Dune, at humanity and our ability to evolve, or not, and the evolution of ideas. Other books that really kind of fed my imagination and emotion were Clive Barker’s Weaveworld, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, David Brin’s Uplift series. Clive Barker, in Weaveworld more than any other book I think, wrote poetic prose, while telling an amazing complicated story about a world within a carpet. Neil Gaiman also has captured myth while encasing it within the modern world.

These are the books that changed me, that directed me toward something, and as a writer, that I try to emulate or at least learn from. And I keep finding books to add to that list. It will be interesting to travel through the carnival today to see what books have affected my fellow authors in the same way.

http://www.refractedlightreviews.com Danny Snell’s Refracted Light Reviews

http://pattilarsen.blogspot.com Patti Larsen, Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, the Hunted series, and the Hayle Coven novels.

http://courtneycolewrites.wordpress.com Courtney Cole, Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://wrenemerson.wordpress.com Wren Emerson, Author of I Wish and a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.

http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com Laura Elliott, Author of Winnemucca.

http://nicoleawilliams.blogspot.com Nichole A. Williams, Author of Eternal Eden, and the upcoming Fallen Eden. She is also participating in the Glassheart Chronicles.
http://fisheramelie.com/blog/ Fisher Amelie, Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://amyjonesyaff.blogspot.com Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
http://thewarriorseries.blogspot.com T. R. Graves, Author of Warriors of the Cross.
http://ctefft.blogspot.com Cyndi Tefft, Author of Between
http://pjhoover.blogspot.com P.J. Hoover, Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis.
http://www.aliciamccalla.com Alicia McCalla, Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free.

http://heathercashman.com/better_off_read Heather Cashman, Author of Perception.

http://www.abbiglines.com Abbi Glines, Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys.

http://cidneyswanson.blogspot.com/ Cidney Swanson, Author of Rippler.

http://cherischmidt.blogspot.com, Cheri Schmidt, Author of Fateful, Fractured, and Fair Maiden, Fire Dancer

http://www.lexusluke.com/, Lexus Luke, Author of Manitou, The Sky People Saga, Fire Breather

http://www.suzyturner.com/, Suzy Turner, Author of December Moon and Raven, Dragonslayer

http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com/, K. C. Blake, Author of Vampire Rules, Elephant Trainer

http://hereventuality.blogspot.com/, Gwenn Wright, Author of Filter, Ring-Leader

http://kimberlykinrade.com/, Kimberly Kinrade, Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind, Prestidigitator

http://jlbryanbooks.blogspot.com/, J.L. Bryan, Author of Paranormals series- Jenny Pox. Tommy Nightmare & Alexander Death

http://darbykarchut.com/ Darby Karchut, Author of Griffin Rising, and soon Griffin Fire

http://puttingpentopage.com/ Heather Self

http://brynabutler.wordpress.com/ Bryna Butler, author of the Midnight Guardian series

What’s new this week?

BOOK GIVEAWAY at www.journalstone.com or Goodreads for 10 copies of Pazuzu’s Girl!

 

The giveaway ends February 22, 2012.

 

 

 

 

NEW RELEASES!

Question: When your mother is a powerful witch and your father is a soul-sucking vampire, what does that make you? Answer: Cursed. With all the beauty and charm of a Siren, but cursed as a blood-sucking succubus, Empusa longs for love and a normal life. Neither of these can ever be hers, because the only thing she brings to anyone she loves is death. Em lingers in the mortal world, hiding from her father and existing in a lonely life. Until she meets Brennan. With golden hair and a radiant smile, he captures her heart and awakens it from slumber. But Brennan is more than he seems. And in a relationship where life itself hangs in the balance, is love ever really enough?

Against all expectations, Samantha Ruiz has survived attacks by two of Helmann’s deadliest assassins. She’s alive, but she’s far from safe. Helmann is planning a second Holocaust and wants Sam to play a starring role. Will, meanwhile, separated from Sam by an ocean, seeks a way to prevent Helmann’s apocalypse. Along with Sir Walter and Mickie, Will plays a deadly game sneaking into Geneses’ facilities, discovering unsettling clues as to Helmann’s plans. The clock ticks down as Will and Sam discover just how much they must be willing to sacrifice to stop Helmann. UNFURL, the powerful conclusion to The Ripple Series, will leave fans breathless.

Gemma’s parents have put enough rules around her relationship with Harrison that she feels like she’s living on parole. But she wins one battle—a summer job working for Harrison’s step-father. It is the perfect chance to spend the steamy, hot Florida days with her boyfriend. It’s also a great distraction from the cellphone hiding in her underwear drawer—her only contact with Gabe, the mystery man who’s stalking her.

When she confronts Gabe, he tells her that her parents are not who she thinks they are, and Harrison has the gall to believe him. Surrounded by conflict, Gemma doesn’t know what to believe, and it takes a trip back in time for her to glimpse the sickening truth.

Thanks to her parents, she returns to the present to find the love of her life no longer exists. His family line was broken and now, so is she.

This betrayal forces her to seek out Gabe. Setting aside her fear of the truth, she must trust this man and learn what he can teach her… otherwise, she’ll never get her boyfriend back.

Syd has what she’s always wanted. Thanks to her demon’s sacrifice, she is finally normal. Why then does she want her magic back so badly? It really sucks to find out Brad was only into her because of her power. And even Quaid is keeping his distance. Her loss couldn’t have come at a worse time. A storm is brewing, one that could devour the entire world. Syd refuses to accept she will never be a witch again, doing everything she can to track down the Chosen of the Light and rescue her demon. If only the ordinary life she’s been building didn’t interfere.

16 year old Karlie has had a pretty normal life… But when her Mom dies she is force to move over 1,000 miles away to live with her Dad. That’s when things start getting weird. She can’t explain the earthquakes that nobody else feels, or why she no longer sleeps. But most of all she doesn’t know why she trusts Shane so much, even though his Dad wants her dead. Suddenly, Karlie’s normal life is turned upside down and she enters a world she never dreamed could really exist.

 

BLOG TOURS!

 

FREEBIES!

Nothing says Happy New Year like Halloween! For the first 12 days of 2012, free chapters of 13 on Halloween’s AUDIOBOOK available! Click here to gather around a fire and hear how Roxie’s birthday wish comes true when she receives a birthday gift that’s literally out of this world! http://www.authorlaura.com/#!books

JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

Pazuzu’s Girl by Rachel Coles will be released February 10!

YA Indie Carnival: Secret Santa Giveaway!

Remember when you were in school and someone decorated your locker with wrapping paper and candy canes and big red bows? Today there’s a note taped to the outside of your locker. It reads:

Enter the Secret Santa Giveaway from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22, 3PM Pacific and on Friday, Dec. 23, Noon Pacific you could find TONS of books inside!
<3 SECRET SANTA

GRAND PRIZE: A Kindle or Nook copy of the books featured on the Grand Prize List!http://yaauthorclub.blogspot.com

To enter the Secret Santa GRAND PRIZE Giveaway just FOLLOW http://yaauthorclub.blogspot.com & comment on a carni’s site telling us why you’ve been naughty or nice this year. Each carni will have individual giveaways too so be sure to visit all the carnis to win as many books as possible!

ALL WINNERS ANNOUNCED 12/23/2011, Noon Pacific.

Author: Laura A. H. Elliott [giveaway 1 ebook copy of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween @ each carni site]

website: http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Laura.A.H.Elliott

Book: Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale

Blurb: When fear’s as blind as love, how far would you go to find your own happily ever after? One mistake will change Ginny’s life forever. One answer will set her free. Ginny fights to untangle her big, fat, lie-of-a-life on an enchanted road trip to Winnemucca, where she believes all her answers lie. To solve the riddle of her past, she must outrun everyone who wants a piece of her future–including a man determined to see she never has one.

Genre: YA Coming of age, magical realism

Recent reviews:

“Exciting from start to finish. Wonderful coming of age book told well. Great characters and a terrific message.”

“You’ll be laughing, cringing, cheering for Ginny – and hoping she’ll make Elliott write her a sequel.”

“Winnemucca is a newborn classic.”

“Elliott’s voice is so unique and captivating, her turn of phrase so poetic and delightful, that it makes this story seem mystical and transcendent in a way that I’ve not read before.”

“Overlaid with a sense of the fairy-tale, the novel combines magical elements with the real world to great effect. In every way, Elliott’s debut novel delivers.”

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Winnemucca-small-town-fairy-tale-ebook/dp/B005BZL274/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323621189&sr=8-2

Barnes & Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/winnemucca-a-small-town-fairy-tale-laura-a-h-elliott/1106910875?ean=2940013294707&itm=1&usri=winnemucca

Paperback:

https://www.createspace.com/3610611

Laura’s bio: Once upon a time there was a little girl who grew up in very cold, snowy place and dreamed of living in the desert. And so she did. Laura loves writing about the murky seas of perception while eating lots of popcorn. She lives with her hubby, and dog Oso, in their tree house on the coast of central California not far from her two grown daughters who love climbing trees as much as their mom. Laura is the author of Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale inspired by her life-long love of a little-known town, Avenal, CA, and her equal love of enchanted teenage road trips. 13 on Halloween is the first book in the Teen Halloween Series. Laura’s next book, Transfer Student, a YA sci-fi romance, will be released in April of 2012. 14 on Halloween, book 2 in the Teen Halloween series, will be released in the summer of 2012.

_______________________________

Author:  T. R. Graves

 

Books:

• Warriors of the Cross (now available)
• Guardians of the Cross (release 12/24/11)
• Enemies of the Cross (fall 2012)

Books: 

• Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Cross-Warrior-ebook/dp/B004PLO6NC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323630392&sr=8-2
• Barnes and Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/warriors-of-the-cross-t-graves/1100238081?ean=2940012202314&itm=1&usri=warriors+of+the+crossS
• Smashwords:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/44277

 

Social Media: 

• Follow Blog:http://thewarriorseries.blogspot.com/
• Like Facebook Fan Page:https://www.facebook.com/TRGraves.Author?sk=app_129982580378550
• Follow on Twitter:http://twitter.com/#!/WARRIORSSERIES

 

T. R. Graves Bio:

The debut author of The Warrior Series, lives in Texas with her husband of twenty-five years. Together, they raise their seventeen-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. Besides being blessed with a supportive family, she counts her career as a registered nurse in not-for-profit hospitals among her most fulfilling accomplishments.

T. R. Graves Blurb:

Because writing is so personal, there were many things compelling me to embark upon this journey. My reasons were diverse. First, I wanted to find a way to bond with my daughter. I quickly found our young adult book dialogues opened the lines of communication and allowed us to discuss issues, which may have been very uncomfortable in any other situation. Second, I craved an ingenious way to preserve my mother-in-law’s and my father’s mannerisms. Time was steeling away their memories faster than I was willing to let them go, telling me my children would never really know them if I didn’t do something quick. I began this series with a plan to embed them solidly into the book in hopes that my children would be able to fall in love with them vicariously through eerily similar book characters (my son must be older to read the books…obviously). Finally, patient care is a wonderful career. I wouldn’t change my profession for anything. At the same time, the emotions I’ve witnessed while caring for people’s family members and the emotions I’ve felt have left a soul-deep and permanent impression in me. I cried so many times with grieving family member and for innocent victims. I wish – down to my core – I would have been able to miraculously ‘save’ some of my patients from their untimely deaths. With this series and in my books, I can.

 

Warriors of the Cross:

Dr. Allison La Crosse has the power to cure the dying with her touch. Given her career, this gift would be valuable if she were not drawn like a magnet to the person’s every symptom. Some of which are fatal. At the hospital and surrounded by life-and-death emergencies, Allison’s inability to manage her impulse soon turns deadly.

 

Warriors of the Cross Kindle Readers Favorite Quote:

“A true test of someone’s love is how they act when they’re stressed and not how much they love you when everything’s goin’ good.”

―T.R. Graves,WarriorsoftheCross

Warriors of the Cross Recent Reviews:

• MichaelMaedo – Breathtakingly beautiful – “This is the first book I have ever written a review on for amazon. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would. I voraciously read multiple books a week but this is one of the best books I have ever read. The love of God and the desire to do the right thing permeates this book but does not hit you over the head. Brody, Allison, and Clark are so real. I feel like a better person after having read this book. I can’t wait until the next book comes out.
•  Gloria “I have never wrote a message on the books I have read. But I have enjoyed this book. I am looking for the other books in this series. I am suggesting it to all my friends. It was amazing.”
• Roseycortescortes “This book was fantastic. I read about a book per day or two, don’t love most of them. Characters are real. Living people. They are likable and you care what happens to them. Dying for the next book!”
•  ebgb – Very Entertaining Read! – “This book was so interesting, I read it twice! I can’t wait for the sequel to be released. The plot twists are very creative, and being a nurse, I especially enjoyed the medical aspects.

Guardians of the Cross Back Cover – Release Date 12/24/11

Allison La Crosse’s world is in a tailspin. After learning she has the power to cure the dying with her touch (a lethal curse when wielded), she is viciously attacked. More unsettling than the violence is the identity of her assailant. Devin turns out to be the first person she ever saved and her mother’s killer. When her soul met Devin’s an unimaginable bond was formed. Now, Allison must save Devin from his twin brother’s control or kill them both. If she fails, she’ll lose Clark and Brody forever.

Enemies of the Cross Back Cover – Release Date Fall 2012

Enemies of the Cross will be the most exciting book of The Warrior Series. Continuing the life-threatening adventure, Allison reunites with Devin, the first person she saved – from the womb – and her mother’s murderer. After he reveals secrets never meant for her to know, she becomes more torn and confused about her destiny. In the end, her only options are to scrutinize her undying commitment toward the people she loves, learn how to control her deadly powers, and fight the Satan’s Sect members with everything she has.

___________

Title: Of Sun & Moon, Book 1 Midnight Guardian series

Author: Bryna Butler

Blurb: Teens are disappearing in a small river town in southern Ohio as Keira Ryan begins her freshman year. Kidnappings aside, her worries mount as she crushes on an older guy, her best friend starts dating a spoiled cheerleader, and the parents that abandoned her at birth arrive at her doorstep. And, oh yeah, she’s a tooth fairy destined to kick some butt and bring about the end of a royal line of vicious, blood-sucking tyrants.

Over the years, humans have pieced together sightings and assumptions to create the myth of the tooth fairy. As it turns out, they were pretty much wrong.

Where to Get:

I’m not signed up for the affiliate programs, so feel free to use your own links. Otherwise, you can use these…

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Midnight-Guardian-Book-ebook/dp/B004UB1SZG/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323572143&sr=8-2-spell

B&N:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/of-sun-moon-bryna-butler/1102287750?ean=9781461043508&itm=2&usri=bryna+butler\

Apple iBooks

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/of-sun-moon-midnight-guardian/id432448667?mt=11

Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51092

Kobo

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Of-Sun-Moon-Midnight-Guardian/book-2xhtk_cv6kaWl-2AlkE-vQ/page1.html

Sony eReader Store

http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/bryna-butler/of-sun-moon-midnight-guardian-series-book-1/_/R-400000000000000368725

Grand Prize: Free ebook copy of Of Sun and Moon, Book 1 and Whispering Evil, Book 2

____________

And stay tuned for my own Grand Prize Giveaway of the ebook anthologies Beyond The Veil and Into the Ruins!

Have a great holiday, and happy reading!

Goodreads Choice Awards

A terrific horror story by a fellow author is up for a Goodreads Choice Award: That Which Should Not Be, by Brett Talley. To all my fellow nerds who love the world of H.P. Lovecraft, and a good, chilling huddle-under-the-covers horror story, this is a choice read!

Never mind the Broncos! Go Miskatonic U, go!

Check out That Which Should Not Be, and cast your vote at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11876043-that-which-should-not-be