Janette Rallison's Blog, page 45
December 1, 2011
November 30, 2011
Four winners
The winners for the reveiw Slayers contest are:
AlienSplicer
LauraB
Gilbert86
earwaxtasteslikecrayons
Thanks for the reviews, guys!
email me at jrallisonfans at yahoo dot com and give me your address and tell me which of my books you would like.
AlienSplicer
LauraB
Gilbert86
earwaxtasteslikecrayons
Thanks for the reviews, guys!
email me at jrallisonfans at yahoo dot com and give me your address and tell me which of my books you would like.
November 23, 2011
Review Slayers and win a book
I'm going to try something I've never done before. And no, I don't mean keeping my house clean for more than a 24-hour period of time, although that would be new too.
Now that Goodreads is up as a review site, I've noticed that a lot of people have stopped reviewing on Amazon and B&N. (I fall under this category myself.) But I'd like to see more Amazon reviews of my books. So here's the contest. Leave a review of Slayers on Amazon and/or Barnesandnoble.com (It can be the same review at both sites. You don't have to write different ones.)
I'm going to count each review written this week as an entry into the contest. Tweeting/facebooking/blogging about the contest will also give you an entry. You'll have to leave me a comment here telling me if you T/F/b about it, and which review is yours so I can contact you and tell you that you won.
If you win, you can have any book of mine that you want. I'll pick a winner for every five reviews written on each site. So if ten reviews are written on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I'll choose two winners, and so on.
So, you'll have a pretty good chance of winning a book.
And that's one less gift on your list to buy this holiday season.
Now that Goodreads is up as a review site, I've noticed that a lot of people have stopped reviewing on Amazon and B&N. (I fall under this category myself.) But I'd like to see more Amazon reviews of my books. So here's the contest. Leave a review of Slayers on Amazon and/or Barnesandnoble.com (It can be the same review at both sites. You don't have to write different ones.)
I'm going to count each review written this week as an entry into the contest. Tweeting/facebooking/blogging about the contest will also give you an entry. You'll have to leave me a comment here telling me if you T/F/b about it, and which review is yours so I can contact you and tell you that you won.
If you win, you can have any book of mine that you want. I'll pick a winner for every five reviews written on each site. So if ten reviews are written on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I'll choose two winners, and so on.
So, you'll have a pretty good chance of winning a book.
And that's one less gift on your list to buy this holiday season.
November 14, 2011
Saphira vs Tamerlane
Every once in awhile someone asks me why I made the dragons in Slayers vicious animals instead of magical best friends. It's not that I don't like the friendly, loyal dragons from Eragon. If I was allowed to have one mythical character as a sidekick, it would be a dragon. Sure, Pegasus would be easier to ride, and all of those cute Disney animal sidekicks could belt out cheerful tunes when the moment called for it, but who would you want on your side in a fight? Right, the dragon.
So I totally get authors who write about good, helpful, dragons. But I have seen what dragons look like. (Okay, not really. This isn't one of those alien abduction stories—although, come to think of it, that is exactly what all of those alien abduction stories need to spiff them up: a dragon or two.) What I mean is, I've seen drawings, paintings, statues, and coat-of-arms depicting dragons. This is generally what they look like:
Or:
Now I ask you, do either of these dragons look like they want to be your friend? No, they don't. They look like they eat large animals. And probably the kind of animals they like best are the slow ones that God didn't see fit to provide with horns or claws or anything that would prevent them from being easily gobbled up. Which means you.
This is probably a test that they should administer in schools to emphasize this point:
Which of the following animals would make a good pet?
Okay, you get my point. You wouldn't want to cuddle with my dragons.
So I totally get authors who write about good, helpful, dragons. But I have seen what dragons look like. (Okay, not really. This isn't one of those alien abduction stories—although, come to think of it, that is exactly what all of those alien abduction stories need to spiff them up: a dragon or two.) What I mean is, I've seen drawings, paintings, statues, and coat-of-arms depicting dragons. This is generally what they look like:
Or:
Now I ask you, do either of these dragons look like they want to be your friend? No, they don't. They look like they eat large animals. And probably the kind of animals they like best are the slow ones that God didn't see fit to provide with horns or claws or anything that would prevent them from being easily gobbled up. Which means you.
This is probably a test that they should administer in schools to emphasize this point:
Which of the following animals would make a good pet?
Okay, you get my point. You wouldn't want to cuddle with my dragons.
November 7, 2011
The bug-dragon connection--at least in my mind
Most story ideas don't come to me whole and complete but are cobbled together from several incidents and thoughts. Slayers is that way. The first incident happened when I was fifth grade and had just moved to Silver Springs, Maryland. All the adults there were quite excited because this was the year that the cicadas would emerge from the ground after remaining dormant and hidden for 17 years. The next door neighbor happily explained to me that this was the cicadas' way of avoiding predators. Since they only emerged every 17 years, predators couldn't depend on them as a food source.
A brilliant adaptation, I might add, for an insect that isn't smart enough to avoid accidentally flying into your hair.
I remember finding a lot of hollow cicada skins that summer, because cicada's also shed their skin. Ahh, there's nothing nicer to find hanging from your bedroom windowsill than a creepy, hollow bug skin.
But anyway, the point to all of this was that as a child I immediately picked up on what the adults seemed to have missed in the cicadas' amazing return from the underworld. If bugs could (sort of) hibernate for nearly two decades in order to give themselves a natural advantage, why couldn't other species do it too? Maybe there were animals with such long life cycles we just hadn't caught them emerging yet.
I grew up on Godzilla movies and so had a strong and deep rooted fear that dinosaurs might one day show up and start smacking buildings around and eating screaming Japanese people—or worse yet: eat me.
No one knew what had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and I was surprised that no one had come up with my theory. They weren't really gone. They were just hibernating. Waiting until there were lots of yummy fifth grade girls around to chomp on. And there were probably some eggs buried under my house!!
The nice thing about childhood fears is that you can use them later in your novels. Nothing is ever wasted when you're a writer.
The next piece that added to the Slayers plot was my own clumsiness. I will sometimes wake up in the morning and notice bruises or scratches and I have no idea how or when I got them. My husband is understandably amazed by this phenomena. He'll say things like, "How can you not realize it when you hurt yourself? Were you with your body all day yesterday?"
Apparently not. Writers are like that sometimes.
I got tired of my husband's comments so I started telling him, "While you sleep at night, I secretly go out and fight dragons."
And then because I have a writer's brain I wondered what it would be like to fight dragons. Viola, the beginning of a plot.
A brilliant adaptation, I might add, for an insect that isn't smart enough to avoid accidentally flying into your hair.
I remember finding a lot of hollow cicada skins that summer, because cicada's also shed their skin. Ahh, there's nothing nicer to find hanging from your bedroom windowsill than a creepy, hollow bug skin.
But anyway, the point to all of this was that as a child I immediately picked up on what the adults seemed to have missed in the cicadas' amazing return from the underworld. If bugs could (sort of) hibernate for nearly two decades in order to give themselves a natural advantage, why couldn't other species do it too? Maybe there were animals with such long life cycles we just hadn't caught them emerging yet.
I grew up on Godzilla movies and so had a strong and deep rooted fear that dinosaurs might one day show up and start smacking buildings around and eating screaming Japanese people—or worse yet: eat me.
No one knew what had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and I was surprised that no one had come up with my theory. They weren't really gone. They were just hibernating. Waiting until there were lots of yummy fifth grade girls around to chomp on. And there were probably some eggs buried under my house!!
The nice thing about childhood fears is that you can use them later in your novels. Nothing is ever wasted when you're a writer.
The next piece that added to the Slayers plot was my own clumsiness. I will sometimes wake up in the morning and notice bruises or scratches and I have no idea how or when I got them. My husband is understandably amazed by this phenomena. He'll say things like, "How can you not realize it when you hurt yourself? Were you with your body all day yesterday?"
Apparently not. Writers are like that sometimes.
I got tired of my husband's comments so I started telling him, "While you sleep at night, I secretly go out and fight dragons."
And then because I have a writer's brain I wondered what it would be like to fight dragons. Viola, the beginning of a plot.
November 4, 2011
Erasing Time Cover preview
I love this cover. It may be my all time favorite. (Although My Unfair Godmother is a close second.) I know I shouldn't say things like that about a cover because it is just tempting fate, or the marketing department, into changing it. They'll email me tomorrow and tell me they've decided to go with dancing cartoon frogs. But for this moment, I am happy.
Now you just have to wait ten more months until you can actually buy the book. Some things are worth the wait though.
October 29, 2011
Your chance at immortality--or a great gift idea
The bidding is live! Have your name in one of my books--or in Brandon Mull's, Shannon Hale's, Kiersten White's, Becca Fitzpatrick's, Robin Brande's--or all of them. All proceeds go to Kids Need to Read.
Check it out at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Kids-Need-to-Read
Happy bidding!
Check it out at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Kids-Need-to-Read
Happy bidding!
October 24, 2011
More chances to win Slayers
Fire and Ice is hosting and kicking off the official blog tour for Slayers by C.J.Hill which will run today until Sunday. Each of the 7 blogs participating will be giving away one copy of the book so be sure to visit all the stops.
Monday October 24th- Fire and Ice
Tuesday October 25th- I'm A Reader Not A Writer
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot....
Wednesday October 26th- Books Complete Me
http://www.bookscompleteme.com/
Thursday Ocotber 27th-Bookalicio.us
http://bookalicio.us/
Friday October 28th- Cari's Book Blog
http://cariblogs.blogspot.com/
Saturday October 29th- Rachael Renee Anderson
http://rachaelreneeanderson.blogspot....
Sunday October 30th- Tales of a Ravenous Reader
http://www.lushbudgetproduction.com/
October 22, 2011
Immortality up for Auction
(Yeah, I almost wrote immorality up for auction which would have been something completely different and would probably cost you more.)
Anyway, a bunch of authors including yours truly are auctioning off names to use in our books as a fund raiser for Kids Need To Read, a non profit group that provides books for underfunded libraries. The other authors in alphabetical order are:
Robin Brande (Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature; Doggirl), Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush; Crescendo), Shannon Hale (Princess Academy, The Goose Girl), Brandon Mull (Fablehaven, Beyonders), and Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, Supernaturally).
Personally, I think it would be cool if one person won all the name-bids. Because then confused readers across the country would scratch their heads and wonder why that name kept popping up in books.
If you're looking for a really cool gift for someone (or yourself) look no further.
The auctions will start Saturday, Oct 29. Here's more info:
Touch immortality and go down in literary history! Several critically acclaimed, bestselling authors are auctioning off character names to benefit Kids Need to Read, a national nonprofit foundation that promotes childhood literacy and addresses the crisis in library funding that currently exists in the United States.
If you are one of the winning bidders, you will have a character named after you in an upcoming young adult novel by one of the following participating authors: Robin Brande (Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature; Doggirl), Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush; Crescendo), Shannon Hale (Princess Academy, The Goose Girl), Brandon Mull (Fablehaven, Beyonders), Janette Rallison (My Unfair Godmother, Slayers), and Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, Supernaturally).
Should you win one of the auctions, the author agrees to use your name in an upcoming book. The character that is bestowed with your name may be a secondary or minor character, may have villainous tendencies, or may die at some point in the book or series. The character may have many or very few of your actual characteristics. The author is simply using the name for a character, not transporting your personality into the book. Also, editors have veto power over any name. (So if your name is Ima Jockstrap, you might be out of luck.) If an editor vetoes your name, you will be entitled to a full refund from Kids Need to Read.
The Kids Need to Read Literary Immortality Auction will take place at our eBay store beginning Saturday, October 29, 2011 and ending Thursday, November 3, 2011. There will be a separate auction for each author. All auctions will run concurrently. Bidders will be able to bid on multiple auctions.
Anyway, a bunch of authors including yours truly are auctioning off names to use in our books as a fund raiser for Kids Need To Read, a non profit group that provides books for underfunded libraries. The other authors in alphabetical order are:
Robin Brande (Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature; Doggirl), Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush; Crescendo), Shannon Hale (Princess Academy, The Goose Girl), Brandon Mull (Fablehaven, Beyonders), and Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, Supernaturally).
Personally, I think it would be cool if one person won all the name-bids. Because then confused readers across the country would scratch their heads and wonder why that name kept popping up in books.
If you're looking for a really cool gift for someone (or yourself) look no further.
The auctions will start Saturday, Oct 29. Here's more info:
Touch immortality and go down in literary history! Several critically acclaimed, bestselling authors are auctioning off character names to benefit Kids Need to Read, a national nonprofit foundation that promotes childhood literacy and addresses the crisis in library funding that currently exists in the United States.
If you are one of the winning bidders, you will have a character named after you in an upcoming young adult novel by one of the following participating authors: Robin Brande (Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature; Doggirl), Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush; Crescendo), Shannon Hale (Princess Academy, The Goose Girl), Brandon Mull (Fablehaven, Beyonders), Janette Rallison (My Unfair Godmother, Slayers), and Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, Supernaturally).
Should you win one of the auctions, the author agrees to use your name in an upcoming book. The character that is bestowed with your name may be a secondary or minor character, may have villainous tendencies, or may die at some point in the book or series. The character may have many or very few of your actual characteristics. The author is simply using the name for a character, not transporting your personality into the book. Also, editors have veto power over any name. (So if your name is Ima Jockstrap, you might be out of luck.) If an editor vetoes your name, you will be entitled to a full refund from Kids Need to Read.
The Kids Need to Read Literary Immortality Auction will take place at our eBay store beginning Saturday, October 29, 2011 and ending Thursday, November 3, 2011. There will be a separate auction for each author. All auctions will run concurrently. Bidders will be able to bid on multiple auctions.
October 15, 2011
Oh Rats . . . literally
Sometimes fans give me things. I'm always appreciative. I have a really cool apron, a framed picture of a stone angel, and a Barbie doll made to look like Chrissy that reader friends have given me. This is a perk I never expected when I first started writing, and I always find a special place in the house for such gifts. But lately I got a gift that I'm not sure where to put.
Let me explain. It started with an email conversation my writing friend, Angela Fox, and I were having. She said, "I don't give a rat's tush* what So-N-So** thinks."
(*Not the real word she used)
(**Not the real name she used.)
I wrote back to her, "Well, it's a good thing you don't give a rat's tush what So-N-So thinks, because I clearly remember you promising me all of your rats' tushes."
Sometimes I am witty in my emails like that.
But Angela is always wittier, because at the book launch she showed up and gave me plastic rats all through the event. Some of them were as big as chihuahuas and had scary red eyes. I laughed a lot. People probably thought Angela and I were a little strange, which strictly speaking is true.
I brought the rats home and tried to find a place for them. I must admit I'm having trouble finding the right spot. At first I tried one of the doll cases. (I have three.)
It didn't seem to be a good match. So then I tried the coffee table.
But I thought visitors might not appreciate the rat motif. So then I tried upstairs by the reading angel which sits next to one of the bookcases. (I have eight--but that's not a sign of hoarding because I'm a writer.)
Here you can see some of the smaller rats. They're gray. Knowing that this surface is frequently engulfed in clutter (which is normal because I have five children, and so is not a sign of hoarding tendencies eithe) I decided to try the rats in my room.
Here they are on my dresser.
As you can see, they didn't work here either. My dolls look distinctly creeped out by the rats. (And yes, even though I have three doll cases, I still can't fit all my dolls into them, which actually may be a symptom of hoarding, but we aren't going to talk about that.)
So, while I try to find a place for the rats, my friendly little dog is doing everything she can to welcome the new editions.
Let me explain. It started with an email conversation my writing friend, Angela Fox, and I were having. She said, "I don't give a rat's tush* what So-N-So** thinks."
(*Not the real word she used)
(**Not the real name she used.)
I wrote back to her, "Well, it's a good thing you don't give a rat's tush what So-N-So thinks, because I clearly remember you promising me all of your rats' tushes."
Sometimes I am witty in my emails like that.
But Angela is always wittier, because at the book launch she showed up and gave me plastic rats all through the event. Some of them were as big as chihuahuas and had scary red eyes. I laughed a lot. People probably thought Angela and I were a little strange, which strictly speaking is true.
I brought the rats home and tried to find a place for them. I must admit I'm having trouble finding the right spot. At first I tried one of the doll cases. (I have three.)
It didn't seem to be a good match. So then I tried the coffee table.
But I thought visitors might not appreciate the rat motif. So then I tried upstairs by the reading angel which sits next to one of the bookcases. (I have eight--but that's not a sign of hoarding because I'm a writer.)
Here you can see some of the smaller rats. They're gray. Knowing that this surface is frequently engulfed in clutter (which is normal because I have five children, and so is not a sign of hoarding tendencies eithe) I decided to try the rats in my room.
Here they are on my dresser.
As you can see, they didn't work here either. My dolls look distinctly creeped out by the rats. (And yes, even though I have three doll cases, I still can't fit all my dolls into them, which actually may be a symptom of hoarding, but we aren't going to talk about that.)
So, while I try to find a place for the rats, my friendly little dog is doing everything she can to welcome the new editions.
