E.M. Tippetts's Blog, page 13

Cover reveal! Someone Else's Fairytale is getting a new cover, and is being released in German.

Here's two announcements rolled into one blogpost. The first is that Someone Else's Fairytale  is getting a new cover, a style that will be used for the Fairytale series (I'm happy to keep writing books about Chloe until fans get tired of her). Here is what it looks like with the title in German.
Which leads me to my second announcement, that the German edition of Fairytale, Nicht Mein M ärchen, is about to go live. Both of these events will occur next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can download a free sample of  Nicht Mein M ärchen between now and September 16th! I've provided links to Amazon.de, but it is available through all of the Amazon sites.
Many thanks to my translator, Michael Drecker, for making this possible!

Labor Day SALE, Castles on the Sand is $.99 (or local currency equivalent)

You've made a bad decision and might be in danger. Lucky for you there's someone who'll watch your every step, know where you are at all times, and tell you what to do whether you want to hear it or not. Is it the leading man of the love story?
Um... no. If that's how your leading man behaves, he's a control freak and a stalker. Run away. Seriously. That is so not a love story.
I'm not against the idea of a fairytale rescue, but as I read books and watch movies, I'm a little disturbed by who's doing the rescuing. My main character in  Someone Else's Fairytale , got rescued by the leading man as a commentary on the rest of her life. There was no one else for her. She was alone, without support, fighting her way with no one at her back. And, may I also point out, she told the leading man the problem and he offered to help, rather than commandeering the situation.
But anyway, I've told that story. Now it's time for a different one.
Castles on the Sand  is about the kind of rescue that is so common, we tend not to see it, but let's give credit where credit is due. Madison Lukas has a low self esteem. Her mother doesn't seem to like her much, and her best "friend" hurts her at every opportunity. Imagine a girl like that going into the dating scene - well, you may not have to imagine. You've likely seen it, and the results aren't good. A girl like this looking for love will often find anything but. All the castles of her life's dreams are built on sand, and will weather accordingly.
But enter one John Britton, who's been searching for fifteen years for the sister he lost in his parents' divorce. He knows her true worth, and when he finds Madison, he's appalled to see she's ignorant of it. He takes it upon himself to tell her she's better than the friends she has, the situation she's in, and the guy she's "dating" (who doesn't want to acknowledge her in public). Take a girl who learns how to listen to big brother, to hold her head up high and take control of her life and send her into the dating scene. Now you've got the setup for a love story.
All made possible by big brother, not because we women are weak and helpless, but because all of us, as humans, are fallible and need the occasional rescue. Our boyfriends should not be stalking us and calling us a dozen times a day to find out where we are. They shouldn't feel entitled to give advice when it isn't wanted. That isn't the role of the leading man in a romance. It's the role of the supporting men (and women) in all of our lives. The people who nag us incessantly and fly to our aid at a second's notice. Our family, be they genetic or otherwise.
Here's to real heroes, not the ones who carry us off into the sunset but the ones who help us choose our princes. And yes, there is a prince in Castles on the Sand . I think you'll find him quite memorable. He's a personal favorite of mine.

Good Men Matter

You've made a bad decision and might be in danger. Lucky for you there's someone who'll watch your every step, know where you are at all times, and tell you what to do whether you want to hear it or not. Is it the leading man of the love story?
Um... no. If that's how your leading man behaves, he's a control freak and a stalker. Run away. Seriously. That is so not a love story.
I'm not against the idea of a fairytale rescue, but as I read books and watch movies, I'm a little disturbed by who's doing the rescuing. My main character in  Someone Else's Fairytale , got rescued by the leading man as a commentary on the rest of her life. There was no one else for her. She was alone, without support, fighting her way with no one at her back. And, may I also point out, she told the leading man the problem and he offered to help, rather than commandeering the situation.
But anyway, I've told that story. Now it's time for a different one.
Castles on the Sand  is about the kind of rescue that is so common, we tend not to see it, but let's give credit where credit is due. Madison Lukas has a low self esteem. Her mother doesn't seem to like her much, and her best "friend" hurts her at every opportunity. Imagine a girl like that going into the dating scene - well, you may not have to imagine. You've likely seen it, and the results aren't good. A girl like this looking for love will often find anything but. All the castles of her life's dreams are built on sand, and will weather accordingly.
But enter one John Britton, who's been searching for fifteen years for the sister he lost in his parents' divorce. He knows her true worth, and when he finds Madison, he's appalled to see she's ignorant of it. He takes it upon himself to tell her she's better than the friends she has, the situation she's in, and the guy she's "dating" (who doesn't want to acknowledge her in public). Take a girl who learns how to listen to big brother, to hold her head up high and take control of her life and send her into the dating scene. Now you've got the setup for a love story.
All made possible by big brother, not because we women are weak and helpless, but because all of us, as humans, are fallible and need the occasional rescue. Our boyfriends should not be stalking us and calling us a dozen times a day to find out where we are. They shouldn't feel entitled to give advice when it isn't wanted. That isn't the role of the leading man in a romance. It's the role of the supporting men (and women) in all of our lives. The people who nag us incessantly and fly to our aid at a second's notice. Our family, be they genetic or otherwise.
Here's to real heroes, not the ones who carry us off into the sunset but the ones who help us choose our princes. And yes, there is a prince in Castles on the Sand . I think you'll find him quite memorable. He's a personal favorite of mine.

Launched!

"A fast-paced blend of high-stakes drama and average teenage concerns (sex, appearance, friends), capped with a welcome message of hope." ~ Kirkus Reviews
While it's usually impossible to say what inspired any one book that I've written, this one was influenced noticeably by the death of a childhood friend, Jared Lyman, who was a truly good man. He left behind a wife and two young children, the sort of tragedy that breaks your heart slowly. Rather than being able to get it out of the system with a good cry, this one festered, casting a long shadow over otherwise happy days.
So I dealt with it by writing, wrestling with the concept of how unfair it is that good people don't always get to finish what they start in life. While Jared left us too soon, I wrote about a character who comes too late, in the conventional sense. The back cover of Castles on the Sand reads:

Madison Lukas knows her place in the world. She’s not pretty, not interesting, and therefore easy to forget. 

 John Britton is serving his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has been praying for fifteen years to find the sister he lost in his parents’ divorce. She is beautiful, talented, and makes kindness a fine art. 

 When John and Madison cross paths, he recognizes her at once, but Madison is certain that he’s got it all wrong. Even if she is his long-lost sister, she can’t possibly be the exceptional, amazing girl he thinks she is, can she?

Here is the book's trailer:


Madison is sixteen years old at the start of the book. Still young enough to change but old enough to have the weight of a lot of memories and habits behind her view of herself. She doesn't remember having a brother and doesn't want one, especially not one who harasses her about her low self esteem. It sounds an awful lot like he's just bossing her around.
But the two final years of high school are a crucial time in American culture; they are when a person with the life experience of a child must decide what kind of adult they want to be, and setting a foot wrong can have a lifetime of consequences. It's an age when a girl will be asked to have sex, to fill out college applications, to try alcohol, to work a part time job, and to make her first moves towards full independence from her family. It's hard enough for a person with a loving support system. For a girl with no one in her corner, it's walking a high wire over a pit of lava.
Needless to say, when her brother, John, finds her in a relationship with a boy who doesn't respect her and with a best "friend" who injures her at every opportunity, he's desperate to make her change course. He can't force her, though, or coerce her. All he can do is love her, and pray that will be enough.

Castles on the Sand

We're nearing the launch. Advance copies of Castles on the Sand have shipped to my Kickstarter backers and reviewers, so if you are a reviewer and would like one, please get in touch with me using the link on the righthand sidebar of my site here.

The official launch day for this novel is Monday, August 20th. It will show up on Amazon a few days before, and may pop up on Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and iBookstore a little earlier as well. I hope to have the ebook in stock everywhere by the end of the day on Monday.

Here, again, is the trailer; I shall pester everyone again via the site on Launch Day!

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Someone Else's Fairytale is a Semifinalist in the Kindle Book Review's Best Indie Books of 2012 Contest!

Not often I update the site twice in two days. I was caught by surprise last night when I got an email informing me that

Castles on the Sand will be released August 20, 2012

First, let me thank all of my generous Kickstarter backers again. As I type this, I am inputting the last round of copyedits and Castles on the Sand will go out to Kirkus today. We should have our review from them back by August 13, and so I am setting the official release date for August 20th. Everyone who ordered a special edition through Kickstarter will get their book in advance. Review copies will ship after the special edition and before the release date. For everyone waiting on the general release, here's the book trailer again:

This last month I've also uploaded Someone Else's Fairytale  onto Wattpad, so you can read the whole novel for free here. You can also buy it on Kindle and Nook and those versions have prettier chapter headings and swirly scene breaks. Or if you're old school, you can even order it as a paperback. I accept no responsibility for anyone getting addicted to Wattpad and its dynamic community of up and coming authors (might want to clear out some time in your schedule before you head over there.)

For 30 days only, preorder my next book through Kickstarter

The very best part of being an indie writer is the direct connection with readers and fans. You aren't all a bunch of anonymous numbers, showing up in a royalties statement; you're individuals who've sent me emails, tweets, and left reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. You've taken my novel, Someone Else's Fairytale, which was produced on a shoestring budget, to the top 200 ebooks on Amazon and it is thanks to you that I could travel to the Nebula Awards and see my friend and former instructor, Connie Willis, made a Grand Master. That's an event that will never happen again. It's thanks to you that I'm able to take my family home to New Mexico this year so my boys can meet their cousins face to face and see their home country. My youngest has never even been to the United States. I've said it before, but let me say it again, thank you for supporting my work.


I've got another novel that is just about ready for show time, and while I will make it available to anyone who wants to read it via Wattpad and by giving out review copies, I'd also like to invite those of you who want to lend a hand to help me get a Kirkus Indie review. Kirkus is one of the most well respected names in book reviews, and in order to afford their services, I've set up a campaign on Kickstarter.

Through this campaign, you can preorder a special edition of the book, made exclusively for Kickstarter backers. I'm eager to introduce you to a new cast of characters who live in the fictitious town of Pelican Bluffs, on the northern California coast. The trailer I made doesn't show up here in the Goodreads version of this post, but you can watch it here: http://youtu.be/VksZHpuhBaM

Someone Else's Fairytale is now in print!

Imagine Robert Pattinson shows up on your doorstep to feed you ice cream, and you've never bothered to watch Twilight. Your housemate and every other woman on the block swoon, but you're not particularly attracted to the guy.

This concept cracked me up, so I made it the premise of my latest novel,  Someone Else's Fairytale . I didn't use Robert Pattinson, of course, just the idea of someone that famous. Once I had the core idea, I knew the setting had to be Albuquerque because if this sort of thing were ever to happen, odds are it would happen there. Albuquerque is one of my favorite places on Earth. A city where on cool mornings, you'll see hot air balloons dotting the desert skyline. A city where the cop who pushes your broken down car out of traffic is also your secretary's son, and his cousin is the mechanic who gets your car working again. A city like no other that I was proud to call home. It's also the hometown of my main character, Chloe Winters.

Now, Albuquerque has its dark side too. Despite its small, tight knit population, the city has a very high crime rate. Much of it is connected to drugs, some to poverty, and some to old feuds between gangs and families. Unfortunately, it's not unheard of to see a SWAT team out, or hear sirens screeching by at all hours, and COPS filmed more episodes in Albuquerque than any other city.

What does this have to do with Chloe? She doesn't want you to know, and she definitely doesn't want attention from the media. She's had to be very pragmatic in her life, and doesn't believe in fairytales.

So what better place to serve as home for the fictional Jason Vanderholt, who moved to LA in his teens and became so mega famous that he can't step out the door without attracting a crowd? After all, Albuquerque has produced stars like Neil Patrick Harris, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. It's also a popular place to make films, so the story begins when Jason is shooting a movie in his home town and decides to go say hello to the extras.

There in the group is Chloe, and when she sets eyes on Jason, she doesn't see the man of her dreams. She sees a guy with a really strange job and an entourage, who will no doubt forget he ever saw her in the next five minutes.

Only, Jason thinks she looks familiar, and that is something else she doesn't want to explain.

Someone Else's Fairytale is for sale on Amazon for $9.99 and is also available as an ebook from Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords for 99¢

Come to Albuquerque

Imagine Robert Pattinson shows up on your doorstep to feed you ice cream, and you've never bothered to watch Twilight. Your housemate and every other woman on the block think you're lucky, but you're not particularly attracted to the guy.

This concept cracked me up, so I made it the premise of my latest novel, Someone Else's Fairytale . Once I had the core idea, I knew the setting had to be Albuquerque because if this sort of thing were ever to happen, odds are it would happen there. Albuquerque is one of my favorite places on Earth. A city where on cool mornings, you'll see hot air balloons dotting the desert skyline. A city where the cop who pushes your broken down car out of traffic is also your secretary's son, and his cousin is the mechanic who gets your car working again. A city like no other that I was proud to call home. It's also the hometown of my main character, Chloe Winters.

Now, Albuquerque has its dark side too. Despite its small, tight knit population, the city has a very high crime rate. Much of it is connected to drugs, some to poverty, and some to old feuds between gangs and families. Unfortunately, it's not unheard of to see a SWAT team out, or hear sirens screeching by at all hours, and COPS filmed more episodes in Albuquerque than any other city.

What does this have to do with Chloe? She doesn't want you to know, and she definitely doesn't want attention from the media. She's had to be very pragmatic in her life, and doesn't believe in fairytales.

So what better place to serve as home for the fictional Jason Vanderholt, who moved to LA in his teens and became so mega famous that he can't step out the door without attracting a crowd? After all, Albuquerque has produced stars like Neil Patrick Harris, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. It's also a popular place to shoot films, so the story begins when Jason is shooting a movie in his home town and decides to go say hello to the extras.

There in the group is Chloe, and when she sets eyes on Jason, she doesn't see the man of her dreams. She sees a guy with a really strange job and an entourage, who will no doubt forget he ever saw her in the next five minutes.

Only, Jason thinks she looks familiar, and that is something else she doesn't want to explain.

Until January 8, 2012, Someone Else's Fairytale is free on Smashwords. Smashwords has Kindle and Nook formats, and the book is also for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, for 99¢.