Anna Hackett's Blog, page 31

Cover Reveal: SOUL STEALER

Today, I'm sharing my latest cover for book, SOUL STEALER - the 3rd and final book in The Anomaly Trilogy (Cate and Gage's story). The book releases in February 2013.

Huge thanks to Frauke at Croco Designs for her awesomeness creating covers. I'm am thrilled to say that Frauke has done my last 6 covers (including A GALACTIC HOLIDAY and WINTER FUSION from Carina Press - out Dec 3!

The Coolest Holiday Ornament Ever!

The custom of the Christmas tree came out of Germany in the 16th century. Traditionally, it was decorated with edible ornaments like apples and nuts.

Times have changed!

Now we have the coolest, out-of-this-world holiday ornament ever -- with a sci-fi twist --the A GALACTIC HOLIDAY Ornament.

Okay, I might be a little biased but it's still pretty cool. Each side features the cover of the anthology and the covers of the individual stories: HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS, GALILEO'S HOLIDAY and my contribution, WINTER FUSION.

And everyone has the chance to win the ornament...along with some Amazon gift cards and a sci-fi ebook pack. Just check out the Rafflecopter giveaway below to enter.

Rafflecopter giveaway

6 Must Read Sci-fi Romances

Over 200 million people went to see James Cameron’s movie, Avatar … which was a sci-fi romance! People tell me sci-fi romance is a niche, but Avatar was the first movie to reach $2 billion in sales. Hmmm…
Here are a few sci-fi romance stories you don’t want to miss out on:For a different kind of hero - KEIR by Pippa Jay   For some futuristic Christmas with your sci-fi - HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS by Stacy Gail  For some more holidays with your sci-fi - GALILEO'S HOLIDAY by Sasha Summers
For two action-packed Blue stories - BLUE GALAXY and BLUE NEBULA by Diane Dooley
For some sexy aliens - ALIEN REVEALED by Lilly Cain

Sexy Zombies!

Okay, we all know zombies aren't that sexy. How about a sexy zombie hunter instead?

If you love zombies, a tough hero who can handle a shotgun and some hot loving, then check out Aussie author, Kylie Scott's, ROOM WITH A VIEW.

Natalie has watched as the zombie plague devastated civilisation.

Angus had been a miracle. Twenty-three years old and gorgeous he had appeared like Romeo from the pool area and thrown supplies up to her balcony. But now Angus is gone – abandoned her, which is probably for the best. She couldn’t stand to watch him die too.

Stranded four floors up and fenced in on all sides by the infected, food and water supplies are running as low as Natalie’s spirits. A lingering death from starvation seems inevitable.

But then she sees Angus striding for the pool gate with a sawn-off shotgun in his hands. Can he make it past the infected to reach her? And what will it mean if he does?

ROOM WITH A VIEW:  Momentum | Amazon | iBookstore | Kobo

Kylie Scott:  Website | Twitter | Facebook

Coolest Sci-fi TV Shows: Past and Present

In 1964, Gene Roddenberry proposed a TV show he pitched as "Wagon Train to the stars." Wagon Train was a Western series that followed the adventures of a wagon train. He also mixed in a little of Gulliver's Travels and Star Trek was born.

Image: JD HancockThere are so many great science fiction shows for our viewing pleasure at the moment. Give me some action, some sci-fi and characters I can cheer for and I'll tune in every week.

Here are the 5 coolest sci-fi TV shows of the moment:

1. Falling Skies End of the world adventure, evil aliens (or are they?) and Steven Spielberg -- you can't go wrong.

2. Grimm
I just love Det. Nick Burkhardt and his pals Monroe and Hank. Add in a mix of fairytale creatures (some quite scary) and I'm hooked.

3. Revolution
Another end of the world tale that taps into the hot topic of energy. There's also some cool sword-wielding.

4. Arrow 
I haven't seen this one yet but I'm hearing good things. A sexy billionaire hero with a bow, what's not to love?

5. The Walking Dead
Over 10 million viewers can't be wrong (the show's season 3 premiere was the most watched basic cable drama telecast in history). Zombies, a fabulous hero in Rick and that ever-present fear one of our little band of human survivors will get bitten. Watch this show now!

All these great shows are built on a foundation of brilliant sci-fi shows of the past. Let's look back at some of the superstars.

Image: Alvy1. Buffy
Joss Whedon is a genius. A fearless vampire-hunting cheerleader who stole our hearts -- and the hearts of a couple of sexy vampires.

2. Star Trek
I loved the campy original and Kirk and Spock. I loved the Next Generation and the supercool Captain Picard. I loved Voyager and the indomitable Captain Janeway. I even loved the more recent Enterprise and Captain Archer (notice I didn't mention Deep Space Nine...I never got into that one.)
3. Battlestar Galactica
Sigh, I could go on forever about the brilliant reimagined BSG series. Super tough Starbuck, yummy Apollo, the fascinating Cylons and the stoic Adama. If you haven't seen it, get it now.

4. Firefly
Double sigh. Browncoats around the world dream of more that just one amazing season of this sci-fi western. You'll never get enough of Capt. Malcolm Reynolds and the Serenity gang. Did I mention Joss Whedon is a genius?

5. The X-Files
I was obsessed with Mulder and Scully. I tuned in religiously for my X-Files fix and I still enjoy the odd rerun. Oh, and of course the romance reader in me was dying for these two to finally get together!

So there you have it. Sci-fi fans will no doubt have watched most of the above shows (many more than once!) but hopefully there might be one or two new ones for you to check out.

QUICK QUESTIONS with Kylie Scott

A huge welcome to Aussie author, Kylie Scott! If you've read Kylie's wonderful book, FLESH or her latest release, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, then you'll know she loves an apocalypse, zombies and hot men.

Let's find out what else she likes in QUICK QUESTIONS:


Demon or angel? 
Hmm, demon. I doubt there's much about me that's heavenly. Man wise, give me that sexy demon.

Plotter or pantser? 
A bit of both. I'm trying to be more of a plotter because I wasted 50,000 words pantsing through Flesh. That's a crazy amount to bin. Wasting that amount of time is simply silly.

Coffee or tea? 
Coffee with a passion. Anything less than three cups and I'm not fully operational.

Action movie or romantic comedy? 
Action. A lot of comedy is embarrassment humour and I find that excruciating. I much prefer a car chase or alien invasion. Good clean family fun.

Novel or novella? 
I've just recently discovered the joy of novellas but there's a lot to love about both. With a novel you can take your time. But a novella has a certain grace to it. You've got to get that story sorted and rolling in record time. That's a good challenge.

Han Solo or Indiana Jones? 
Han Solo. He's a bad boy with a blaster. Irrisistible.

Sunset or sunrise? 

Sunset. I'm really not a morning person. Though the brain often works better in the morning rather than at night. But nothing beats a sleep in.

FLESH:  Momentum | Amazon | iBookstore | Kobo

ROOM WITH A VIEW:  Momentum | Amazon | iBookstore | Kobo

Kylie Scott:  Website | Twitter | Facebook

Release your Inhibitions

Did you know the average person has about 45,000 negative thoughts PER DAY? That’s a lot of negativity. A lot of telling ourselves we can’t do that, we can’t risk that, we’re no good at that and dwelling on negative consequences that will probably never happen.Have you ever wanted to just throw caution to the wind? Ever dreamed about what life would be like if you didn’t have that little voice telling you that you can’t? To be one of those wild people who leap and don’t worry about looking? I'm over at Strange Candy Reviews sharing a few easy ways to gain more confidence and release an inhibition or two! 
I'm also about to get on a plane for a very long flight (with a toddler!) Wish me luck!

A Diamond Planet and other Super Fun Space Facts

Did you know that over 30 companies are developing vehicles for space tourism? One day we might all be booking tickets on Blue Origin, Space X and Virgin Galactic. 

Space is the new black and lots of fun. No, seriously. Listen up to these fun space facts:
Image: stevenepoloCancri 55 e is a girl’s best friendAstronomers found a diamond-encrusted planet! Yes, Cancri  55 e is composed of carbon as graphite and diamond. But intrepid space miners will have to wait a while…the planet is 40 lightyears from Earth.Crazy or Courageous?Austrian Felix Baumgartner jumped from the stratosphere – what a rush. His dive was 39 kms (wow, just wow. I skydived once…from 4,000 feet) and he broke the sound barrier!
A Rover called Curiosity Millions tuned in to watch the car-sized rover, Curiosity make its sensational landing on Mars. Curiosity has 1.2 million followers on Twitter. Popular little guy.
Cleaning spaceThe Swiss (of course) are designing a satellite called CleanSpace One to clean up space junk orbiting earth. It’s a tricky challenge, because much of the space debris travels up to 17,500 miles per hour.
See, space is fun. Now my writer’s brain is busy trying to work out how to incorporate a diamond planet into a story…stay tuned.

8 Top Tips for Finding More Reading Time

I read somewhere that the average person gets interrupted once every 8 minutes. If you’re a mother, then you probably need to triple that!! The average interruption takes 5 minutes…that means you spend 4 hours a day dealing with interruptions.
There are never enough hours in the day and far too often, it’s my precious reading time that suffers. Here are a few tips to help squeeze out some more time to grab your ereader (or book) and sink into a good story:

Image: goXunuReviewsDrop a few cable channels – I’ve heard people say turn off the TV, but that’s not always easy. Instead, I suggest dropping a few of those channels that just suck up your time (you know the ones, where you watch re-runs you’ve seen a hundred times before).  Multi-task – read in the bath, read on the bus, read anywhere you can. The slow cookeris your friend. Especially if you have young kids. Throw food in the slow cooker, forget, then freeze it for later. Daddy adventures- in our house, Daddy and the little man go on Sunday morning adventures. They get one-on-one time and mommy gets some reading time (-:Put your Kindle in your handbag – comes in handy while in line, waiting to pick up kids, in the waiting room at the doctor. Put group emails on digest – this one saves you time and your sanity. If you’re part of any groups and your Inbox is always full, switch to digest. Give up ironing– my ironing pile was taking over my life! Since I’ve given up ironing, other members of my household have stepped up and somehow we still manage to be wrinkle-free. Wake up 30 minutes earlier – you don’t even have to get out of bed, just stay snuggled under the covers and grab your book.
I hope you can find a few more minutes just for you. Happy reading!

5 Coolest 2012 Action Movies for the Ladies

According to MSNBC, 40% of the moviegoers who saw The Avengers were women. Girls like action, explosions and car chases, too! No surprise to me.

Image: JD HancockOkay, 2012 isn’t over yet, but I thought I’d share some of the awesome action movies the year’s given us so far. These are movies I enjoyed and movies I think have that combination that appeals not only to the men but to the ladies.

What do these action movies have that others don’t?
The Movies Image: Wildcat DunnyThe Avengers - I loved that every character has some inner conflict to beat. And hello, Ironman! Prometheus - Not perfect, but a tough heroine makes it one to watch.Battleship - I loved it. Great character growth for the hero and a real team spirit.Total Recall - Don’t compare to the past, just enjoy the fun and updated effects.The Dark Knight Rises - Lots of emotion and conflict packed into this one.
So what’s the secret? I think if a story has (in addition to awesome action) emotion and a great character or two, we’re more than eager for our men to take us out for popcorn and a movie.