Kim Harrison's Blog, page 57

White Witch, Black Curse audio give-away

Snow! Cold! Looks like a snow-in and some solid curl-up-with-a-book day! Me, I’ll be spending a blessedly quiet day in my office with a front-row seat to the white stuff. We’ve at least a foot, and we’re running out of places to pile it.

But it’s Monday, and that means another flash-give away as we move on to book six in the read along. (February is going to be here before you know it!) This time, I’ve got seven audio books of WHITE WITCH, BLACK CURSE to give away along with a hard cover copy of INTO THE WOODS (Harrison short story collection) a cover flat of Ever-After, bunny pin, bus token, and the T4 Angel virus tomato seeds–which was the freebie that year. And as a special bonus, I’ll include one of the boxes of promotional Cheez-its that Kellogs sent me to try out. (Somehow they got my name as a Cheez-it fanatic, and sent me a locker of them. If you have an international address and you win, I’ll send  you one of the T-shirts they sent me instead. )

You can still get the e-book of White Witch, Black Curse for the 1.99 special price [ links to multiple devices ] but the next book Black Magic Sanction has popped up as well. Oh! And for all of you who got a new reading device, believe it or not, Dead Witch Walking has popped up for the reduced price as well thanks to Nook featuring it in their START A NEW SERIES promotion. (Yay!) Best part? There are apps that let you read both Nook and Kindle books on just about anything, so if you’re trying to get someone hooked on the Hollows, this is a nice way to do it.

click for 1.99 U.S. ebook

click for 1.99 U.S. ebook

click for 1.99 U.S. ebook

To enter the contest for the prize pack, drop down to the comment box at the end of the page here and tell me if you think Kisten is well and truly gone, or if he will show up in the final book coming after THE UNDEAD POOL. (If you’ve not read the book, then tell me what you think of the cover.) Your post is your entry into the random drawing, so please comment only once, even if you make a mistake–on your honor!

Rules and Regs. I will open the page for comments Monday, 9:00 a.m. EST, and close it Tuesday 9:00 a.m. EST. I will then use a random number generator to choose the seven winning commenters. They have until Friday, noon, EST to get back to me via my congratulations email or I give it to someone else.

Stuff to know before commenting:

Guy will ship overseas, so international is okay. (We’ve already sent to Canada and India during the read-alongs.)

Chances of winning are dependent on how many enter. We’ve been averaging over a thousand entries, and if you’re entering from your phone, do it early because most won’t scroll that far.

I will contact the winners Tuesday afternoon using the email address they used to comment with, so please check your in-box. If you don’t respond to me by email by Friday, noon, EST, I’m giving the prize pack to the runner up, also chosen by the random number generator.

That’s it! Have fun! Oh, and if you’ve got some weather pictures? I’ve opened up my FB for posting photos today so you can share. Here’s mine: I’m guessing a foot? Maybe more?

Oh! and we’ve got all the cities for the tour. Check ‘em out. [ Events ]

Still on sale for 1.99

Fresh Fiction review gives teasers, no spoilers

If you don’t want to know, then don’t click the link, but a very nice review from Fresh Fiction might be enough to keep you going until the real thing hits the shelves late February. I know I’m getting excited!

Fresh Fiction Review: The Undead Pool

Chapter one is already up at the website: Chapter One

And Chapter two can be found at the back of most current e-books. You might have to update your copy to the latest version to see it. I’ve heard some people can update on their own, but others need to talk to an associate to make it happen.

Happy reading! Though I’m looking at zero on my thermometer this morning, February will be here before you know it! Hope to see some of you this year on tour. [ The Undead Pool Tour]

“Start a new series” promotion means a new low price!

I am in my office, and it is SNOWING! Er, it’s not snowing in my office, but you know what I mean. I’m so glad I don’t have to drive to work. It lets me enjoy the snow without too much pain, though I do get out and shovel it.

Technically, I told myself I wasn’t going to go back to work until Monday, but Guy is anxious to get back to his pattern, (read, get me out of his hair) and I’ve got some research to do on a new location, so it will be me and some books and online searches all day and tomorrow.

But before I get into it, I wanted to let you know of a new reduced price for DEAD WITCH WALKING thanks to Nook’s 13 day event, “Start a new series” promotion. Right now, you can get DEAD WITCH WALKING for 1.99 for your new Nook device. And you know if Nook drops, the Kindle usually follows.

1.99 e-book sale

1.99 e-book sale

Also on sale for a few days more is WHITE WITCH, BLACK CURSE in conjunction with our read-along. My thoughts are over at Goodreads, and we start BLACK MAGIC SANCTION on Tuesday. (Don’t forget about the flash give-away on Monday! I’ve got a special “share the cheez-it love” addition to the books.

2013 in review

It’s that time of year again! The WordPress.com stats “helper monkeys” prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. And here it is!

Thank you, everyone, whether you lurk or comment. You make it fun for me!

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 690,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 30 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Click here to see last year’s report.

Overflowing with Cheez-it goodness!

What happens when you show your love for snack food? Sometimes, the snack food shows love back.

If you’ve been following my FB or blog, you might remember my befuddled admission when I got a letter from Cheez-its a while back, telling me they were going to send me something special because I loved them so, and then a few weeks later, another letter from them with a key that would unlock two worlds of goodness.

Boy, they weren’t kidding. Over the weekend, a box arrived–a big box of cheez-it goodness. (And t-shirts, too!) Guy immediately broke into the zesty cheddar ranch Grooves, and I’ve yet to try the sharp white cheddar, but with New Years this week, you know I’ll be cracking into them. Yum. Just yum.

The only trouble is that they sent me way more than I can ever eat, (Look at that locker of goodness!) which means I’m going to give some away with the next book give-away on the 6th.  Just sharing the love, right?

So keep an eye out as we finish up the WHITE WITCH, BLACK CURSE read-along over at Goodreads. I think I’ll be giving away audio books instead of hard covers this time.

Re-gifting, a Harrison tradition

Get your tissues handy! I’ve got a little gift from me to you today, written long before I found publication and was raw with the need to reach and connect, and short on literary grace. You may have seen this last year, but it still makes me cry.

Angel’s Song

by

Kim Harrison

Silent night, holy night.

All is calm, all is bright. . . .

Humming, Kaylin held her coat close against the cold, more from habit than anything else as she dodged through the unseeing, evening shoppers. She was anxious to get home. Her work had seemed to stretch forever today, but finally The Boss had let her go. She couldn’t wait to see her daughter–it had been too long since the entire family had been together.

Slipping at the bus stop, she grasped the door to the bus, just making it on behind two tired women as the doors closed. The sound of their money jingling into the box chimed like bells, and the bus jerked into motion. Kaylin stood where she was, gripping the ceiling support as the gears shifted. Her gaze rove over the heads, looking for acknowledgment she existed. There, at the back where the heat didn’t reach, was a smiling face and a beckoning hand.

Though she didn’t recognize him, Kaylin went to sit with the old man. She smiled shyly, the anticipation of her coming evening prompting her to be more bold than usual. “I’m going home for Christmas,” she said by way of greeting as she jammed her gloves into a pocket.

“First time?” the old man murmured, his brown eyes going sad in memory.

She nodded. “Since my accident. I can hardly wait to see everyone together.” Kaylin put her hands in her lap, glad she couldn’t feel the cold anymore.

The man met her eyes. “See that boy up there?” he said, pointing with his chin. “I’m spending Christmas with him. He’s a college student on his way home. He needs all the help he can get, and my family doesn’t miss me anymore.”

Kaylin bit her lip and fussed with the hem of her coat’s sleeve, uncomfortable with the idea she would eventually be forgotten. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Make the most of the time they remember you. As it’s said, it came to pass.”

She didn’t know what to say. “This is my stop,” she said, glancing out the window to the colored lights.

“Best hurry. The door won’t wait for you.”

Giving him a hesitant smile, she hastened to the front, edging to the sidewalk past the three girls giggling about the presents they had gotten for their boyfriends.

Kaylin’s mood went soft as she took in the familiar street gray with twilight. The curb was jammed with cars. A noisy, joyful reunion on her front steps had the dogs barking. Excitement tingling to her toes, Kaylin waited on the walk, following the last of the children inside.

Her shoulders eased as she stood in the entryway, basking in the cheerful clutter and the too-noisy greetings. She waved as she spotted her grandmother in a corner, deep in the thick of it. The old woman’s eyes sparkled as they met hers. Her fingertips again had a rosy glow, and the blue tint Kaylin remembered was gone.

“Jasmine is in the kitchen!” her grandmother called over the noise. “Go on. We’ll talk later.”

Relieved her grandmother understood, Kaylin followed the smell of heated punch into the kitchen. She stopped in the open doorway as her heart clenched.

Jasmine stood on a chair before the counter, stirring a cup of green frosting. “I can’t do it, Daddy,” she complained, her high voice clear over the excited babble of relatives. “It’s too hard.”

Kaylin’s hands reached out, but she stood unmoving, forcing back the unexpected tears as her husband set aside his dishcloth and went to their daughter.

“Mommy always helped me, Daddy,” the child said around a sniff as his hand covered hers atop the spoon and they stirred together. “I want Mommy. I miss her.”

“Hush,” he said, the pain in his voice causing Kaylin’s throat to tighten. “I miss her too, sweetheart, but look. She’s everywhere, especially tonight.” Eyes bright, the man pointed to the dusty Christmas candles Kaylin had refused to burn, sitting on the kitchen windowsill. “There are her candles, right where she always put them. And the mistletoe above the doorway? She made that just last year. And the bow? Remember her spending an hour on that to get it to look just like the one in the store window? And you can smell her touch in the gingerbread men and taste it in the fruit punch. She’s everywhere.”

“No, Daddy,” the small girl protested. “It’s not the same. I can’t see her at all.”

“But I can,” he said, giving her a hug. “I can see her in you when you cut out your star cookies, I watched her hand move yours when you hung the ornaments on the tree, and I can see her eyes when I look at you. So, Jasmine, she is here.”

“I can’t see her,” Jasmine said, sniffing as she licked the frosting from a finger.

Kaylin ached. The Boss had warned her it would be hard, and she thought she could handle it. But this? This tore at her. Kaylin came close to stand behind her daughter and nudged a cookie, as if she could make the star any less lopsided. Perhaps . . . . Perhaps she could pretend.

And so she was a silent participant, each moment harder than the previous, a bittersweet mix of memories. She hovered in the kitchen while dinner was prepared, blowing on the gravy to keep it from boiling over until someone remembered it. She watched the rolls brown through the oven window with Jasmine, admonishing the child they weren’t done yet when Jasmine pronounced them finished. She stood in the archway to the living room and worried about the carpet as paper plates overflowing with food were balanced on knees. She sat at the kitchen table while the dishes were washed, catching up on the women’s gossip with her fingers curved around a forgotten cup until it was whisked away.

And then it was done. Kaylin knew the signs: the last swallows of coffee, the slowing conversation, the children collapsing in their mother’s arms. Kaylin sighed. She didn’t want it to be over.

Jasmine was slumped in her frills and white stockings in her father’s arms, too sleepy to be anything but content. Kaylin sat on the arm of the couch beside them, running her fingers unfelt over her daughter’s hair. There was one final tradition as yet undone, her most cherished part of the evening, and Kaylin’s heart fell when the first of the coats appeared. They had forgotten.

“Wait, Daddy.” Jasmine stirred as her father rose to say his good-byes. “We didn’t sing yet. Mommy always sings. Please?”

Kaylin waited, hoping.

“Of course, Jasmine,” her father said, giving her a hug. “You’re such a clever girl for remembering.”

Coats were dropped to the couch in the sliding sound of nylon. Her grandmother beckoned, and Kaylin joyfully edged closer to the piano. Jasmine wiggled down to sit on the long bench before the battered keys, her father standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Kaylin could see a glimmer of tears in her mother’s eyes as she took Kaylin’s usual spot before the piano and began to play.

“Silent night, holy night.

All is calm, all is bright.

Tears pricked at Kaylin’s eyes. Her favorite. Voice quavering, she joined her voice to her family’s.

“Round yon virgin, mother and child.

Holy infant, so tender and mild.”

“Daddy,” Jasmine whispered, her face upturned as she pulled on his sleeve. “I can hear Mommy singing.”

Kaylin’s throat nearly closed, and tears slipped down her cheeks. Angels could sing. And on Christmas Eve, they could be heard by those who listened.

Her husband knelt and gave Jasmine a tight, fierce hug. “So can I, sweetheart,” he whispered, rocking her. “So can I.”

“Sleep in heavenly peace.

Sleep in heavenly peace.”

Six Pages at the Children’s Wing

So I’m just past page 200 in the WHITE WITCH, BLACK CURSE read-along, and so far, Rachel has reconnected with Marshal, picked her brother up at the airport, found Tom, the black witch, under her kitchen floor, almost died trying to tag a banshee . . . and dropped a huge part of her past into the light in six little pages at the children’s wing while she was sneaking out without her AMA.

Actually, the pages surrounding Rachel’s hospital stay are indispensable for understanding what follows as Ivy brings the reader up to speed on both Art and Mia, two figures in her past that we see previously only in the short stories Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Dirty Magic. Ivy also spills on what she did with that wish she got from Rachel way back in Dead Witch Walking.

But it’s the children’s wing that hits me the hardest. Every single time.

Click for 1.99 links

Daleks made of snow? The best kind.

What happens when you give a SF/fantasy author the week off . . . and it snows? As my eldest would say, “Shenanigans!”

Unfortunately, it’s now raining, and I expect my dalek to be ex-ter-min-at-ed by late tonight.

Also unfortunately, the coat, scarf, and hat are not cosplay. That’s truly what I wear outside in the winter. (rolls eyes)

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and up in the Hollows. . .

‘Twas the Night of the Solstice

by Kim Harrison

 ‘Twas the week before Christmas, and up in the Hollows,

Solstice bonfires were burning, to toast the marshmallows.

 The pixies were snug in their stump, even Jenks,

Who claimed he was tired, and needed some winks.

 So I in my parka, and Ivy in her boots,

Were toasting the season, with thirty-year hooch.

 When out in the street, there came such a crash,

I thought that it had to be ‘coons in our trash.

 Away to the gate, I trudged through the snow,

While Ivy just said, “If it’s Kist, say hello.”

 I lifted the latch, and peered to the street,

My face went quite cold.  We were in it thigh deep.

 ‘Twas a demon, who stood in the headlamps quite bright,

With his coat of green velvet, and his uncommon height.

 His eyes, how they glittered, his teeth how they gnashed,

His voice, how he bellowed, his tongue, how it lashed.

 The street wasn’t holy, so on Big Al came,

As he bellowed, and shouted, and called me by name.

 “Morgan, you witch.  You’re a pain in my side.

“Get out of your church.  There’s no place to hide!”

 Like hell’s fury unleashed, he strode to my door,

Where he hammered and cursed, like a cheap jilted whore.

 But Ivy and I, we circled round back,

To stand in the street and prepare for attack.

 “You loser,” I shouted.  “I’m waiting for you.”

And the demon, he spun, taking on a red hue.

 Ivy stood ready, and I whispered, “Okay . . .

“If he wants to get rough, I’m ready to play.”

 With nary a word, us two girls got to work,

Putting foot into gut, of the soul-sucking jerk.

 I circled him quick, with a few words of Latin,

While Ivy distracted him with lots of good wackin’

 “Get back!” I yelled out when my trap was complete,

And Ivy somersaulted right over the creep.

 My circle sprang up, entrapping him surely,

Al fussed and he fumed, like a demonic fury.

 The neighbors all cheered, and came out of their houses,

Where they’d watched the whole thing, like little house mouses.

 So Ivy and I, we both bowed real low,

Then banished Big Al, in an overdone show.

 But I heard Al exclaim, ‘ere he poofed from our sight

“You won this time witch, but I’ll get you one night!”

  Kim Harrison

December 14th, 2005

Triumph for my beige thumb

Contrary to popular belief in my household, I do not have a green thumb. It’s more of a teal, maybe beige, especially in the winter. My yard looks green only because I keep ripping the dead ones out and putting in new ones.

But I try.

So when I found a bud on one of my lady-slipper orchids, it was a very good feeling. My poor houseplants. They go for weeks without notice or water when I get busy, and then drown when I have a slow time in the work or am stuck on something. But orchids seem to be able to withstand the abuse, and every winter I usually get one or two reblooming.

Today’s vow? Do not eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Oh, I’m still going to eat them, just not for a meal. Yesterday my breakfast was two ginger snaps and my lunch was a double fudge brownie and hot chocolate. Thank goodness my mom cooked me dinner, or I probably would have had sugar cookies for that. Blah. It wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m the one making these things.