Rachel Vincent's Blog, page 9

World Book Day (+ giveaway)

Today was not a good work-day. In fact, today was yet another let's-reimagine-Oath-Bound-again kind of days. The kind of day where I spend hours on end staring at a blank screen, or a blank white board. Or...gasp!...cleaning while I think, trying to puzzle through this plot.

Finally, around five pm, I called my CP. I may have actually whimpered over the phone, begging for help.

As usual, she helped, and I think tomorrow will go better.

But! Enough about my current creative woes! Did you know that this Thursday is World Book Day? Because Mira Ink (my YA publisher in the UK) is so awesome, they're doing some awesome things for me (and for you!) in conjunction with World Book Day (which is actually a year-long event) and the Soul Screamers series. To thank them, No. 1 and I (okay, mostly No. 1) have cooked up a new website landing page to show off the UK covers. You can check that out here. (If you've been there before, you may have to refresh your browser.)

Also, there's the World Book Day app (available only in the UK). It was supposed to launch last week, but because of technical difficulties, I'm told it will actually be available on March 1.



And...Mira Ink is giving away an iPad2 and five sets of signed Soul Screamers books. Click here for details.

So, to enter this week's Foreign Edition Giveaway, leave me a comment in the corresponding Wordpress entry telling me which of the Mira Ink Soul Screamers covers is your favorite. The "My Soul to Lose" cover, or one of the others (currently featured on my website).



The list of available prize books is here, but please don’t leave your entry in that post. That is a static page, which will be updated as books are chosen or donated to libraries.

The rules:

One entry per personThis contest is open to international entriesThis contest is void where prohibitedIf you’re under 18 yrs of age, you must have a parent’s permission to enter and to provide your shipping information if you winPlease allow 2-4 weeks for shippingYou must come back to this blog on Friday to see if you’ve won and claim your prizePrizes not claimed within two weeks will be awarded to a redrawn winner’s namePlease DO NOT leave your email address in your entry. I don’t need it (if you win, you email me to claim your prize) and I’m sure you don’t need the spam that inevitably comes with posting your email address online.

Okay…go!

New cover! (+winner) [edited x2]

It's Friday, so I have two winners to announce. But before we get to that, take a look at this!



Mira Ink has made a cover for the UK edition of "My Soul To Lose," and as I mentioned yesterday, it's available for free in the UK as part of World Book Day. Unfortunately, it looks like the app (I'm on an app!) is also available only in the UK. At least, I couldn't find it for my iThings. So, if you're in the UK (and have iThings), scurry off and download! Read! Not just my story, but the rest of them too!

If you're not in the UK, I'm sorry. I can't get the app either. But we get so many things before the UK does (especially books and movies) so it kinda seems fair. Sorry.

In other (potential) news, a reader has informed me that the back cover description for Before I Wake is circulating on the internet. I haven't been able to find it. I hope that means you haven't been able to find it either. My plan was to post it the first week of March, which would have given UK readers a full month to buy/read If I Die. Because the BIW plot description is the spoileryest ever. However, if you DO find it, please let me know, and I'll see if I can post it myself too, so at least the AUTHOR of the book won't be left out of the plot-reveal-PARTY! I hate being left out of things.

[EDIT: Okay. So. Yes, the BEFORE I WAKE blurb is out there. Someone sent me a link. Looks like it's actually out just about everywhere, including at least one online bookstore's site. So I'm going to post the blurb myself my Deadline Dames post today. So...stay tuned. ;)]

Except illness. Leave me out of illnesses.

In other, other news, No. 1 is working on my official Rachel Vincent chat room, where we will host the spoiler-chats for those participating in the Soul Screamers reading challenges, and probably several others, throughout the year. Stay tuned for news about that.

And, finally, today's winners...

Winner of a pre-order of This Is Not A Test is: donna lawrence, who wrote, "I love books/movies with zombies. (Dearly, Departed got me hooked!) I’m in the US"

And the winner of any one book from my prize list is: Nurin, who wrote, "Zombies in fiction kind of scare me but in a good way! I live in US/Can"

Donna and Nurin, please email me (admin2ATrachelvincentDOTcom), and we'll put your prizes in the mail. Don't forget to include your shipping information and (for Nurin) your prize book of choice.

I'm on an app!

I'm probably way more excited about this than the event actually warrants, but...who cares. I'm on an app! Look:



And...is it just me, or does my name look big! Okay, my name probably only looks big because it's shorter than most of the others, but I'm good with that. Really. ;)

If you haven't heard about World Book Day, click here and read all about it. I'm thrilled to have been asked to participate!

To go along with World Book Day (in the UK) and the aforementioned app, I recorded two short videos for Mira Ink, and Mira Ink is giving away "My Soul To Lose" for FREE for a WHOLE YEAR! They asked me to sign this document saying that was okay, and my agent said that was cool, so I SIGNED! I signed like the WIND!

And, if you take the link above and scroll down, you can get a tiny glimpse of the cover Mira Ink has made for "My Soul To Lose." I don't have a larger version yet (sorry!) but I'll post it when I do.

In closing, I LOVE WORLD BOOK DAY and I LOVE APPS and I ESPECIALLY LOVE BEING ON A WORLD BOOK DAY APP!

That is all. ;)

This week's super-late international giveaway.

So, today got away from me. I haven't made my word count yet, but I did get my flight and hotel booked for the Romantic Times 2012 convention. Which is a relief. I'm always afraid I'll wait too long and end up hitchhiking and sleeping on the sidewalk. ;)

Anyway, this week, there will be two winners, because last Friday I read and loved This Is Not A Test, by Courtney Summers so very much that I'm also giving away a pre-order of this, her zombie-book-that-feels-like-a-contemorary-YA. In case you missed my TINAT love-fest last week, it's like The Breakfast Club meets Zombieland, only heart wrenching instead of funny. Not that there aren't funny parts. But it's mostly rip-your-heart-out honest and sad and uplifting at the end. Which I love.

TINAT will have to go to a US or Canadian winner, because of pre-order shipping restrictions, but this week's regular giveaway is open world-wide (as long as UPS will ship to you) as usual.

International readers, I highly recommend ordering a copy for yourself from The Book Depository. They have free shipping to most places.

To enter to win, leave me a comment in the corresponding Wordpress blog entry answering the following two questions:

Do you like zombies in fiction (books or movies)?Do you live in the US/CA (Do NOT actually tell me where you live in the comments. Protect your privacy. Just tell me US/CA or non-US/CA.)
The list of available prize books is here, but please don’t leave your entry in that post. That is a static page, which will be updated as books are chosen or donated to libraries.

The rules:One entry per personThis contest is open to international entries (except the TINAT part)This contest is void where prohibitedIf you’re under 18 yrs of age, you must have a parent’s permission to enter and to provide your shipping information if you winPlease allow 2-4 weeks for shippingYou must come back to this blog on Friday to see if you’ve won and claim your prizePrizes not claimed within two weeks will be awarded to a redrawn winner’s namePlease DO NOT leave your email address in your entry. I don’t need it (if you win, you email me to claim your prize) and I’m sure you don’t need the spam that inevitably comes with posting your email address online.
Okay…go!

This Is Not A Test (+winner)

You guys. I've been such a bad girl today. I sat down with my coffee this morning to read just ONE chapter of This Is Not A Test (because Courtney Summers is beyond awesome and she gave me an ARC and I shouldn't be bragging about that, but I am totally bragging) and didn't look up again until the lunch bus came to drop off the kindergartner next door, which is my hint that I should stop working and eat something.

Except today I wasn't working. I was reading This Is Not A Test, and that book is SO totally a test. It's a test of my willpower and dedication to my job, and so far, I am failing that test.

I'm almost finished with the book (the one I'm reading, NOT the one I'm writing), and the only phrase I can think of to accurately describe both the book and the viewpoint character (Sloane) is: beautiful disaster. Sloane and her story are the most achingly gorgeous catastrophes I've ever read.

And I don't mean that either the book or the writing is disastrous, because they're not. Like everything else Summers has written, This Is Not A Test is stunningly gritty and honest, and the writing (a sort of stream-of-consciousness narrative mix between exposition and naked thought, peppered with some of the most effortlessly realistic dialogue I've ever read) is so simple on the surface that it might be easy to overlook the depth. But you should not overlook the depth. You should dive into the depths and swim in them until you can't hold your breath anymore, then float to the surface for air, so you can submerge yourself again.

Summers's books so far (I've read and loved them all) have done a beautiful job of laying bare the characters' private trauma, and This Is Not A Test is no exception. Which is where the part about Sloane being a beautiful disaster comes in. The difference in this book is that layered over Sloane's personal trauma is the world's large-scale trauma.

Sloane Price is a suicidal teen (there's no emo drama--the girl has her reasons) who is trying to end her own life when civilization beats her to the punch.

Yes, it's the end of the world. It's the zombie apocalypse.

But don't let those words chase you away from the book, because like all good monster stories (though I would argue that this is MUCH more than a monster story), this one is actually a story about humanity. Love, and loss, and desperation, and loyalty and how the things we are willing to do to survive (if we ARE to survive) can tear us apart and leave us wondering if we've really survived after all.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to tell you for now. The book doesn't come out until June 19th, but because I am SO in love with Summers's writing style and so very jealous of the way she can make me fall in love with characters you'd normally hate in a book, along with next week's normal giveaway, I'm going to give away a pre-order of This Is Not A Test (that part of the giveaway will have to be US/CA only, because of shipping restrictions--sorry!). So check back in on Monday for that.

And if you're still not convinced that this is a book you should read, let me leave you with the following words: This book is The Breakfast Club meets Zombieland. Yet as much as I loved both of those movies, that comparison doesn't seem to do the book justice, in hindsight. So, it's what The Breakfast Club meets Zombieland would be if either of those had the ability to rip your heart out, squeeze out all the pain and loneliness, then put the ruined organ back into your chest and expect it to function again.

Oh, and the randomly drawn winner of this week's giveaway is Tessa Knudsen. Tessa, please email me (rachelkvincent@gmail.com) with your shipping information and the book you'd like from this list, and I'll put your prize in the mail.

Look at this! And this! (+giveaway)

My job involves a lot of typing, and sitting around thinking about people and places that don't actually exist, and drinking coffee. (Okay, I don't actually get paid to drink coffee, but coffee is really its own reward.) Because of that element of isolation, I can go days, and days, and days without having anything interesting to report.

Then, every now and then, I have so much to say and to show you all that I hate to post it all in one blog entry, for fear that something won't get its fair share of attention.

Today's one of those days.

It's Monday, so I need to post this week's International Edition Giveaway. But I also have a couple of special things for you.

First of all, I've added chapter 2 of Shadow Bound to the chapter 1 excerpt I posted last week. It can be found here. Chapter 2 is from Ian's perspective, so you'll get to meet him and see Kori through his eyes, all at once. I'm both nervous about and eager for responses to these chapters.

[Please note: Shadow Bound, like all three books in the Unbound trilogy, is an adult book. It's not adult, adult, by which I mean that if there was a curtained off section in the book store, the Unbound books would not behind it. But I wrote Shadow Bound for an audience of adults and mature teens, so please don't click the link above expecting to find something similar to Soul Screamers.]

Second, Mira Ink, who publishes Soul Screamers in the UK, posted the UK cover for Before I Wake today! This is the first time I've seen it too. What do you think?



Before I Wake comes out in July in the UK.

For contrast, here's the US cover:



I can't post the plot synopsis yet, because it's super-spoilery, but you can get a general idea of what to expect from Before I Wake in this interview.

Now, to tie in the giveaway to the other bits of news in this post...

To enter this week's International Edition Giveaway, leave me a comment in the Wordpress version of this post telling me which cover of Before I Wake you like better AND/OR telling me what you think of the first two chapters of Shadow Bound.

The list of available prize books is here, but please don’t leave your entry in that post. That is a static page, which will be updated as books are chosen or donated to libraries.

The rules:

One entry per person
This contest is open to international entries
This contest is void where prohibited
If you’re under 18 yrs of age, you must have a parent’s permission to enter and to provide your shipping information if you win
Please allow 2-4 weeks for shipping
You must come back to this blog on Friday to see if you’ve won and claim your prize
Prizes not claimed within two weeks will be awarded to a redrawn winner’s name
Please DO NOT leave your email address in your entry. I don’t need it (if you win, you email me to claim your prize) and I’m sure you don’t need the spam that inevitably comes with posting your email address online.

Okay...go!

If I Die interviews (+ winner)

Before I get to this week's winners, I want to mention a couple of things. First of all, this is the last week of the first month of the Soul Screamers reading challenge. That means that if you're participating in Fiktshun's challenge, you should be almost done reading (or re-reading) My Soul To Take.



If you haven't joined yet, it's not to late. Actually, it won't be too late, until the whole thing's over. You can join any time. Fiktshun has a couple of interesting prizes to announce soon, and sometime next week (I think) we'll be holding the My Soul To Take spoiler livechat, where you can discuss/argue/ask me anything about the first book in the series.

Second, today is day seven of the UK If I Die blog tour, and I've listed all of the stops so far below, for your convenience. Some stops have reviews, some have interviews, most have both. Some also have giveaways. And don't forget that next month we'll be posting the back cover description of Before I Wake !

Here are the blog tour stops so far:
Book Passion For LifeBookaholic's Book ClubBookbabblersGirls Without a BookshelfEndlessly BookishI Want To Read That (This one has great questions about how far in advance I planned the events in If I Die)Dead Book Darling (This one also has a couple of great Qs about Nash, and what you can expect in Before I Wake)
And...now for this week's randomly drawn winner:

Erin (@parnormbooknook), who wrote, "My favorite genre is YA paranormal romance. Thanks for the giveaway!"

Erin, please email me (rachelkvincentATgmailDOTcom) with your choice of prizes from the prize list, and I'll put your books in the mail.

Everyone else, check back next week for the next giveaway and for chapter 2 of Shadow Bound!

Death by...back story?

So, you'd think that having written seventeen novels (yes, I had to actually count the books on my I-Wrote-It shelf, then do a mental tally of the ones unsold or not-yet-out), I'd have this down pat. Well, guess what? I DO NOT HAVE THIS DOWN PAT.

OATH BOUND seems determined to remind me, at the pace of every other word, that I am not an expert at novel writing. Which just makes me want to laugh hysterically at all the people who ask me for writing advice, because IF ONLY THEY KNEW! But they don't. Only they may now, because I just told you all the part about me not being an expert.

(If you missed that part, scroll up and look for the bits in all caps.)

So, on the subject of me not being an expert, the back story is killing me. Okay, I'm still alive and kicking, but the back story is definitely killing my spirit. There's SO MUCH of it, which doesn't seem possible, because this is only the third book in the series, and I wrote six Shifters books and (so far) six Soul Screamers books without suffering death-by-back-story.

Fortunately, in the event that I survive my own back-story, the worldbuilding element appears ready to take up the dropped ball and bludgeon me to death with it. The worldbuilding in the Unbound books is complex, and it's my job to make it easily understandable in the text, and so far I am FAILING at that. And I like failing at things almost as much as I like gorging on steamed broccoli. Which, if you don't already know, is not much at all. Because I hate broccoli like I hate little else in the world. (Except for approximate rhymes. And bias against the serial comma.)

But never fear, dear readers. I will NOT put this book out until I have conquered both the back story and the worldbuilding. This is my promise to you. My bound oath, if you will.

(Yes, that was a horrible joke. Because that's what kind of week this has been.)

Shadow Bound ch 1 (+ giveaway)

It's Monday, so today is the International Edition Giveaway, but first, I have something exciting! Well, I think it's exciting, anyway. Normally, a few months before a new release, I post only the first chapter of that upcoming book. Sometimes only part of the first chapter. But with Shadow Bound less than four months from release, I've just gotten permission to post not just the first, but the first two chapters!

Chapter one, from Kori's perspective, can be found here, in PDF. Later tonight, it should be up on my website, but for now, the direct link is the only way to get there.

[Please note: Shadow Bound, like all three books in the Unbound trilogy, is an adult book. It's not adult, adult, by which I mean that if there was a curtained off section in the book store, the Unbound books would not behind it. But I wrote Shadow Bound for an audience of adults and mature teens, so please don't click the link above expecting to find something similar to Soul Screamers.]

Next Monday (one week from today), I'll post chapter two, which is from Ian's perspective.

-----

Now, for this week's giveaway. In honor of the Shadow Bound excerpt, this week's giveaway will include
winner's choice from the list of prize books ANDa signed copy of Blood Bound.

To enter this week’s giveaway, leave me comment in the corresponding Wordpress post telling me what your favorite genre is (in literature)?

The list of available prize books is here, but please don’t leave your entry in that post. That is a static page, which will be updated as books are chosen or donated to libraries.

The rules:

One entry per personThis contest is open to international entriesThis contest is void where prohibitedIf you’re under 18 yrs of age, you must have a parent’s permission to enter and to provide your shipping information if you win (Note: Blood Bound is NOT a young adult book. It's full of old people doing old people stuff. Seriously.)Please allow 2-4 weeks for shippingYou must come back to this blog on Friday to see if you’ve won and claim your prizePrizes not claimed within two weeks will be awarded to a redrawn winner’s name
Okay... go!

Meet Number 1!

If you've been following me online for very long, you probably know that "No 1" is my online nickname for my husband. Those who know him in person find this hilarious. They think it's either a Star Trek reference, or...a less pleasant US colloquialism. ;)Actually, it comes from the fact that he claims to be my very first fan. (Though my mother disagrees. She's been reading my writing since I was five, so I guess she has a decent case there. ;))

In the past year, the non-writing parts of my job have become pretty overwhelming for me. Before I became a writer, I never would have believed how much of my day would be spent filing, and packing, and shipping, and blogging, and returning emails, and answering interview questions, and monitoring my forum, and updating my website. Most days, those tasks take up more than half of my work day. Literally. I can't keep up. So a couple of months ago, No. 1 stepped in to help me in his spare time. He's always been my webmaster and graphic designer, but he's taken on several more roles lately, and I'm so grateful for his help, though I do feel a little guilty for putting him to work. ;)

He's been helping me out a LOT lately with day-to-day non-writing stuff like shipping, organizing, and scheduling me for guest blogs and stuff. If you've received a package/prize from me in a timely manner, he probably shipped it. If you got a prompt email response from me about a guest blog or donation, he probably reminded me to respond. And that's not all...

Take a look at what he's done for me now! I got home from running an errand this afternoon to find this waiting in my office closet.



This is Prize Book Shelf #1. It contains all my extra copies of Shifters books, both foreign and domestic. Those two big boxes on top? Those are full of copies of the Soul Screamers omnibus and If I Die. I haven't even opened them yet. By the way, I'm still looking for public and high school libraries in need of donations. If you know of one, email me (admin1ATrachelvincentDOTcom) and I'll see if we can set something up.

An hour later, this one was done:



This is Prize Book Shelf #2. It holds all my extra copies of Blood Bound and the Soul Screamers series, both foreign and domestic. Except for a box of German copies, which I seem to have misplaced. ;(

All those boxes that were stacked all over my office, on chairs and on the floor? They're gone. Unfolded and stored to be used to ship prizes to the weekly winners. My office is SO much neater. Which makes me calmer. Which will make me more productive. ;)

Which reminds me: If I owe you a prize or some swag and it's very late (more than a month) or you haven't heard from me about it, please email me with a reminder (admin1ATrachelvincentDOTcom) so No. 1 can help me get caught up on everything.



Yesterday, this came in the mail (above). No 1 is building a new computer, which will make it easier and faster for him to design and maintain my website, design all my graphics (including the Soul Screamers tees) and help with my email and scheduling. However, I think he would have jumped at just about any excuse to put together the monster PC the above casing will someday house. ;)

Yes, I know, the casing is ginormous. And so far it's empty. But he has very big plans for this big empty box, I can assure you!



And just because, here he is (above), hard at work. No. 1 and Zombie Yoda, keeping me organized and on-schedule.

Behind every still-sane writer, there is at least one generous, patient, helpful loved one behind the scenes, reminding us that even though we spend the majority of our time in made-up worlds, the real world is still there, and it still needs our attention.

I couldn't do this without No 1.

Well, I could. But stuff would never get packed, shipped, cleaned, organized, or answered without him. So...to my No. 1:

THANK YOU!