Marta Acosta's Blog, page 4

Free Read of Midnight Brunch Extended Through 5/7!

 
Great news! Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula is now #8 bestselling book in Kindle Humor books, so I've decided to extend the giveaway for another day! If you haven't gotten your free copy, it's not too late. Please tell your friends!

Get your free ebook of Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula now!Danielle Binks at Alpha Reader says:

Ms. Acosta writes comedy of manners and errors. The storylines are sometimes non sequiturs that lead the character’s into random adventures of comedic brilliance. In ‘Midnight Brunch’ Milagro finds herself fixing a screenplay at a desert resort, playing maid to a B-grade heartthrob and chasing a chupa with a high school English teacher. The plot is a criss-crossing, beautiful mess of epic proportions – and as a reader you’ve just got to go with it and trust that Ms. Acosta will blow your mind and bust your gut.

Hope you'll enjoy my screwball comedy...with vampires!


 

GIVEAWAY EXTENDED! Free Kindle Ebook of MIDNIGHT BRUNCH AT CASA DRACULA!

"Beautiful and funny and smart, all wrapped up into a nice, fun read that's great for vacation. Snap it up!"
--Nicole, Something Wicked

The free giveaway of Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula is now open at Amazon! It has been extended and will run through midnight tonight Pacific Standard Time, TUESDAY, May 7, so act now to get your free Kindle ebook with bonus features.

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO AMAZON FOR YOUR FREE KINDLE COPY OF MIDNIGHT BRUNCH AT CASA DRACULA!
Amanda at Love Vampires said:

"The well written characters - who manage to be realistic, comic and appealing - have a lot more going for them than just supernatural thrills, which should make Midnight Brunch appeal to a wider audience...a highly entertaining, fast-paced read and definitely a book to add to your summer reading list. 5 stars out of 5 stars (read the whole review here)"

Martina at Book Loons wrote:

"It's filled with another generous helping of smart and hip satire and a cast of characters who are as quirky as they are charming. The best part of the story is of course Milagro, whose zest for life is addictive. Her enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge propel the story forward and land her in pecks of trouble, but our feisty heroine doesn't let anything stand in her way. Acosta's vampires are also a nice change from the norm, (read the whole review here)"

If you haven't read my books before, I hope you'll take this chance to read Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula now. If you have, I hope you'll enjoy the new bonus feature in this Kindle edition!

Please help me get out the word about my giveaway by mentioning this fun free read to others via Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads!

Today's Free Kindle Ebook of MIDNIGHT BRUNCH AT CASA DRACULA!

"Beautiful and funny and smart, all wrapped up into a nice, fun read that's great for vacation. Snap it up!"
--Nicole, Something Wicked

The free giveaway of Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula is now open at Amazon! It runs through midnight tonight Pacific Standard Time, Monday, May 6 only, so act now to get your free Kindle ebook with bonus features.

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO AMAZON FOR YOUR FREE KINDLE COPY OF MIDNIGHT BRUNCH AT CASA DRACULA!
Amanda at Love Vampires said:

"The well written characters - who manage to be realistic, comic and appealing - have a lot more going for them than just supernatural thrills, which should make Midnight Brunch appeal to a wider audience...a highly entertaining, fast-paced read and definitely a book to add to your summer reading list. 5 stars out of 5 stars (read the whole review here)"

Martina at Book Loons wrote:

"It's filled with another generous helping of smart and hip satire and a cast of characters who are as quirky as they are charming. The best part of the story is of course Milagro, whose zest for life is addictive. Her enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge propel the story forward and land her in pecks of trouble, but our feisty heroine doesn't let anything stand in her way. Acosta's vampires are also a nice change from the norm, (read the whole review here)"

If you haven't read my books before, I hope you'll take this chance to read Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula now. If you have, I hope you'll enjoy the new bonus feature in this Kindle edition!

Please help me get out the word about my one-day giveaway by mentioning this contest to others via Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads!

CORRECTION to Giveaway of MIDNIGHT BRUNCH AT CASA DRACULA!

"Being a vampire has never looked so fun! A hilarious novel with plenty of colorful characters; MIDNIGHT BRUNCH will make you an instant Marta Acosta fan."
-Fresh Fiction

The correct date for my one-day giveaway of Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula is all day Monday, May 6, and I deeply apologize for any confusion, frustration, cursing and shaking one's fist at the sky, etc.  The giveaway is at Amazon. This new Kindle edition has a bonus feature -- Milagro's own version of her history and how she came to be at Casa Dracula!

Here's the summary:

Horror story writer/gardener/party girl Milagro De Los Santos thinks she's well on her way to becoming the sincere and serious person she knows she should be. She's in a serious relationship with a fabulous man, Oswald Grant, MD, and living at his wine country ranch with his career-fixated relatives. It's true that Oswald accidentally infected her with the rare family condition that makes them crave blood cocktails and need protection from the sun, but what family doesn't have it's quirks?

She thought they accepted her, so she's hurt when she's excluded from a midnight ceremony with special guests including a creepy family elder, Oswald's hostile parents, and Milagro's ex-lover, decadent and powerful Ian Ducharme.

When Milagro's life is threatened, she flees to the desert to hide and work on a screenplay. Instead of solitude, she encounters an egomaniacal actor, a partying socialite, a sly tabloid reporter, and a lavish spa full of dark secrets. It's all lots of fun until the bwaa-ha-ha laughter and the knives come out. Now all Milagro has to do is finish her screenplay, ambush a world domination movement, and overcome a terrible infection before she can make her way back to Casa Dracula.

Get your free read of this book that the Romantic Times called "hilarious" and Publishers Weekly called "an addictive combo plate of romance and vamp satire."

This is the second book in the Casa Dracula series, but I think the bonus feature can catch a new reader right up. And if you've already read the books, I think you'll enjoy this brand new short piece.

The contest starts Monday morning, May 6, just when you need something fun and summery to entertain you, and runs through midnight, so be sure to get your copy and share the link with your friends, too!

DIRECT LINK: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CMHU4AU

 

CORRECTION to Giveaway of MIDNIGHT BRUNCH AT CASA DRACULA!

The correct date for my one-day giveaway of Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula is all day Monday, May 6, and I deeply apologize for any confusion, frustration, cursing and shaking one's fist at the sky, etc.  The giveaway is at Amazon. This new Kindle edition has a bonus feature -- Milagro's own version of her history and how she came to be at Casa Dracula!

Here's the summary:

Horror story writer/gardener/party girl Milagro De Los Santos thinks she's well on her way to becoming the sincere and serious person she knows she should be. She's in a serious relationship with a fabulous man, Oswald Grant, MD, and living at his wine country ranch with his career-fixated relatives. It's true that Oswald accidentally infected her with the rare family condition that makes them crave blood cocktails and need protection from the sun, but what family doesn't have it's quirks?

She thought they accepted her, so she's hurt when she's excluded from a midnight ceremony with special guests including a creepy family elder, Oswald's hostile parents, and Milagro's ex-lover, decadent and powerful Ian Ducharme.

When Milagro's life is threatened, she flees to the desert to hide and work on a screenplay. Instead of solitude, she encounters an egomaniacal actor, a partying socialite, a sly tabloid reporter, and a lavish spa full of dark secrets. It's all lots of fun until the bwaa-ha-ha laughter and the knives come out. Now all Milagro has to do is finish her screenplay, ambush a world domination movement, and overcome a terrible infection before she can make her way back to Casa Dracula.

Get your free read of this book that the Romantic Times called "hilarious" and Publishers Weekly called "an addictive combo plate of romance and vamp satire."

This is the second book in the Casa Dracula series, but I think the bonus feature can catch a new reader right up. And if you've already read the books, I think you'll enjoy this brand new short piece.

The contest starts Monday morning, May 6, just when you're bored at work and need something to entertain you, and runs through midnight, so be sure to get your copy and share the link with your friends, too!

 

Under Construction

Spring has sprung and I've had wonderful Hafsah from Icey Designs redesign my site because she knows how to put the fun back functional! It will take me a few days to transfer over all my book information, so please be patient. I'll also be sharing news and cover art for new editions of my backlist and having a contest for The She-Hulk Diaries cover flats, so check in soon!

 

How Geek Girls Will Rule the World

I'm very happy to announce that Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon has just published How Geek Girls Will Rule the World! Jennifer interviewed me for her book, and I told her a little of my geeky history and geeky experiences, including my teen passion for science fiction books and my love of physics and math courses.

Here's the description for Jennifer's book:

A book for girl geeks, by girl geeks! Are you a geek? Do you enjoy geeky things in your spare time, or do you work in a geeky field? Many women who aspire to a geeky lifestyle have experienced sexism, holding them back from their dreams. This book features interviews with famous women in the fields of computer science, science and mathematics, gaming, science fiction and fantasy, and comics and manga to learn how they overcame any sexism they experienced to get where they are today. Each interviewed woman answered questions about: -How her passion for her geeky field grew -How she chose/landed upon her career path -Her current and planned projects -Whether or not she experienced sexism, and how she overcame it if she did -Her advice for girls and women interested in her field.

It was really an honor to be included in this terrific project. This sounds like just the book to give to a young women considering a career in some nerdtastic field. I hope you'll check it out!

I Hear Ya Knocking, But You Can't Come In

 
I continue my visit at Misprinted Pages with Stephanie Carmichael, and we discuss genre confusion,  mislabeling, and sexism...but our conversation is more fun than it sounds.

MP: Your trouble with mislabeling has gone on for a long time. What makes this sort of thing happens, and how does this affect your outlook and how your approach books moving forward?

MA: Part of the mislabeling is my own damn fault. I don’t want to write literary fiction for readers who will appreciate every precious reference to John Milton. I want to reach teenage girls who are sneaking novels into boring classes. I want to connect with other chicas who are figuring out bicultural lives and women who are imperfect but optimistic. I want to entertain snarky grandmas and also those guys who dare to pick up a book by a woman. This doesn’t mean I don’t have allusions to Milton in my books because I totally do. (Paradise Lost in the house!)

I think that I’m part of a transition. I don’t think I’ll ever be invited into the party, but I do think that perhaps I can open doors for others who follow me. I think that if I inspire a few others to follow, or change a preconception of what a Latina is supposed to be, I’ve succeeded.

Read the rest of our conversation and comment!


 

The Nexus of Green Bottles & Green Girls

I'm a guest today at Misprinted Pages yammering about how no one understands me. This is what happened: Stephanie Carmichael wrote a blistering reaction to what she thought was a romance novelization of She-Hulk, and I contacted her, and then she invited me to 'splain myself, Ricky.

It almost makes me question the wisdom of starting each day with a dozen Sudafed and a tumbler of Tanqueray because my appalling pretentiousness is in direct inverse relation to my, uhm, cheerfulness. Luckily, readers quickly assumed that I’d merely written a really bad teen romance. Whew, that was a close call!

 Yes, I'd like some cheeze with that whine! Come on by to read about my stumbles along the road to not get a real job pursue my writing career.

The Hybrid Author: Jumping into Self-Publishing

Exciting things happened for me this week. Not only did I sign a contract for another book with Hyperion/Disney, but I also received reversion rights for Nancy's Theory of Style and three of my Casa Dracula novels. Woohoo!

I like all the things that a publisher can provide, especially wonderful guidance from insightful editors, and I'll always want to pursue traditional publishing. However, I'm delighted that I'll be able to offer my older books to new readers at more reasonable ebook prices and with cohesive cover art.

Jumping into self-publishing is a bit nerve-wracking, and I often go to the The Passive Guy and J.A. Konrath for guidance. I also had the pleasure of meeting indie wonder Amanda Hocking when she joined the Tor Teen book tour at our visit to Third Place Books in Washington.

The moment I found out that I was getting ebook and print book rights reverted, I contacted illustrator Nan Richards , who I'd proposed to my publisher for the original Nancy cover a gazillion years ago. (Instead I got the toilet paper cover.) Nan and I were able to reach an agreement for the cover art of Midnight Brunch, The Bride of Casa Dracula, Haunted Honeymoon, and Nancy's Theory of Style. We're calling it the Doodle Project. Nan knows exactly what I'm writing about -- because she was a chic young woman living in Pacific Heights like my character Nancy, and because she's visited the ranch that inspired the setting for the Casa Dracula novels.

I've gone through a long learning period about covers and I've worked with talented designers. But sometimes the cover art that I love isn't effective at a quick glance and as a tiny online graphic. I've had to accept that I can't be too literal or detailed with cover art, that it should be more symbolic and simple.

I hope to have my ebooks available as Kindle ebooks by the end of the month.

Next week I'll have galleys for The She-Hulk Diaries! This book is more of a flat-out comedy, and I hope people enjoy Jennifer Walter's/She-Hulk's shenanigans as much as I enjoyed writing them. My favorite part: song lyrics. Because I've realized that my secret talent is writing nonsense poetry. I've been writing silly poems since I was about ten. If I'd focused on them I would have been the Chicana Ogden Nash by now, revered by three or four people the world over.

After The She-Hulk Diaries is published, I hope everyone will refer to me that way: "Marta Acosta? Oh, she's the Chicana Ogden Nash!"