Holly Hook's Blog, page 10

Alternate October eBook Giveaway Winner selected

The original winner of the October eBook giveaway never responded to my emails, so I have selected an alternate winner.  Please check your inboxes, including your spam boxes.

Also, I have only had a few entries for the paperback giveaway.  If you haven't filled out the November entry form yet, be sure to do that.  Just click the "giveaways" picture on my home page.

The biggest thing I would like the announce this morning is the full release of Thin Hope, co-authored by my sister and myself, as I have received a positive response from my beta readers.  Though some sales channels are not up yet, it is available on Amazon.com for 99 cents and will be on Barnes and Noble very soon.  I am currently moving this book from the "Upcoming" section to the "Books" section.  Be sure to check it out HERE!

Or, for those of you in the UK, HERE.

I would like to note that Thin Hope is not a childrens' book and does contain moderate language, a bit of sexual content, and intense violence at times.  I would recommend it more for fans of contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal novels who are older teens or adults.

Update

I still have not had a response from the winner of the eBook giveaway, and may be selecting an alternate winner if I do not get a response in the next week.  I have had a few entries for the paperback giveaway, so be sure to fill out the form again on the Giveaways page if you have not done so already!  I will only be able to count those entries that have been put in again for this giveaway.

Also, I am in the final stages of Thin Hope now, applying some suggestions from beta readers to ensure quality before release.  Here's the final blurb and cover art:

Princess Kiki Endicott faces two threats from one man. Royal General Patrick Maxwell says he's only pursuing peace, but his plan depends entirely on making himself the genetically enhanced, superhuman ruler of the known world. He wants Kiki to join him in near-immortality and become his wife–even though he's her uncle. In his desire for her, Maxwell tries to kill her lover Damon Stanza. Maxwell ends up in prison instead, and Damon takes his place as Royal General.

Now Maxwell has escaped and is marching on Kiki's city with a horde of genetically altered soldiers and magic users. It's going to take everything Kiki and Damon have to defeat Maxwell before he takes the kingdom–and Kiki herself.    

Stay tuned for the release!

Check your spam boxes!

I still have not received a response from the winner of the eBook giveaway.  Be sure to check your spam boxes, as I have a feeling my email may have landed in one.  Perhaps I should not have used the word "winner" in the subject of my email. 

I've already had two entries for the paperback giveaway (and a very nice comment from one of you–thank you!)  Keep them coming!

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Giveaway Winner Selected

I have just selected the winner of my eBook Giveaway through a random drawing.  The winner has been notified through email, so be sure to check your inboxes!   Congratulations to the winner!

If you didn't win, I do have a brand new contest going to win paperback versions of Tempest and Inferno!  Be sure to check that out HERE.  This new contest will last through the month of November and end on December 1st.

Contest Now Closed

The giveaway to win all of my eBooks, both current and future, is now closed.

I will be drawing and notifying the winner tomorrow afternoon, using an old-fashioned draw-the-name-from-the-hat approach.  I received fifteen entries over the past month, but this was my first giveaway on this blog, and my talents do not lie in social networking.   I do plan on having another giveaway for the month of November as well, so if you don't win this time, you may in the near future!  Thanks to all of you who have entered, and keep checking your emails tomorrow afternoon–you may be the winner.

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Last Weekend to Enter Giveaway!

This is the last weekend to enter the giveaway for all of my current and upcoming titles!  I will be drawing the winner on Tuesday, November 1st, and announcing the winner.  Fortunately, I do have Tuesday off from work this week, so the winner announcement won't be too awfully late in the day. 

I am planning on having more giveaways in the future.  Perhaps, next month I will be giving away paper copies of my books!  Thin Hope is getting very near completion, if my beta readers don't say it's terrible this month when I send it out.  (I do have to make sure there aren't major issues before publication, and writers are terrible at seeing their own mistakes.)  Also, I have three other titles that are already available in paperback and Destroyers 3 in the works. 

Also, while we're waiting, feel free to drop over to my other blog, Bargain eBooks, where I post an eBook under 5 dollars every 24 hours!  I'm currently up to about 360 posts, so I've been running the site for about a year now.  (I just realized that!)  Check it out!

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Pumpkins!

Aside from closing in on the conclusion of Thin Hope this week, I went to a pumpkin carving party this weekend.  Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday, so I'm no stranger to pulling slimy guts out of huge orange vegetables and plucking out all the seeds, which I saved and baked the following day.

Luckily, I do have a balcony that I put my finished pumpkins on, so I managed to get a couple of pictures:

 

 

Unfortunately, as it's pouring tonight and blowing wind right onto my balcony, I can't light the pumpkins right now, but hope to tomorrow night.  They look really cool lit up, at least to me, but I'm someone who rescues spiders and puts them outside instead of squashing them.  I still remember when I carved an evil Furby into a pumpkin one year.  (Hey–those things were creepy.)

We're up to about 15 entries on the giveaway.  Keep them coming!  We still have a couple of weeks before the winner announcement!

Cats

I know I've been quiet in the past week or so, but it's getting to be crunch time for my November release.  Now that it's getting cooler outside, it should be much easier to get more writing done now, provided my apartment isn't full of people the entire weekend, an asteroid doesn't fall on my head, or my cat doesn't walk across my keyboard too much.

Yes, I have two cats, and they often like to help me type.  At the very least, they jump up onto my desk or onto my lap when I'm in the middle of something.  I'm surprised that one of them isn't sitting on my chest right now, leaving only one hand free to type this blog post.  Which isn't easy, believe me.  Demanding attention when I'm busy is one of their pastimes, along with waking me up at 6:30 in the morning wanting to be fed.  Right now, they're playing in the blinds and making a ton of noise.

(scratch that–my black cat just jumped up and is standing in front of the computer screen.)

(now I'm holding him and sitting in a very awkward position.)

We're on the last 20 days of our giveaway, and are currently up to 13 entries, which will hopefully grow this weekend, which is when my blog gets the most views.  Thanks to those of you who have entered so far and clicked the FOLLOW button!  Feel free to share your pet stories below in the comment box!

 

Commercials…Ugh

We're currently up to 11 entries in the eBook giveaway!  Keep them coming!

And to celebrate, let's do a fun post today: the absurdity of TV commercials!

I know that doesn't sound like it belongs on an author blog, but it is related to one of my current projects, a young adult comedy novella titled After These Messages.  Basically, what happens is that the world turns into a giant commercial break, and everyone except the two main characters fall under the TV spell and start acting as if they're in commercials.  I started working on this novella (at least, I think it's going to be a novella.  There's a small chance it could turn into a novel) because whenever I do happen to be watching television, I can't help but notice how dumb some of these commercials are.

I mean, come on.  Who mops their kitchen floor with a huge smile on their face? 

Or parades through a store with their credit cards, singing like they've lost their minds? 

Or worst of all, wakes up to find a certain fast food mascot with a big plastic head and a creepy, blank smile right on the other side of their window–and then opens said window to accept the greasy breakfast sandwich he's offering?  In my opinion, any sane person would be dialing 911.

So, what's your favorite (or least favorite) dumb commercial?  Feel free to comment!

Update

Last night, I finally started writing the third Destroyers book.

Granted, it wasn't much, but at least I'm now over the hump of typing the first sentence.  The rest should come far more easily now, and I'm aiming at a release date of April 2012.  Ironically, I got the cover art down two weeks ago, which should free me up to do more writing in the coming weeks.

We're up to 6 entries in the eBook giveaway, and this number should continue to grow.  Keep the entries coming!