M.J. Scott's Blog, page 30

Fire Kin ARC winners

So the Torti tried to drag the ARCS into her lair, but I have ventured forth and saved them for you, my favorite reader people!

Noooo, it’s my precioussss!

Through the power of Random.org, the winner of the newsletter giveaway is Michelle W. and the winner of the blog giveaway is Erin, who thinks the best fiery things are dragons. And they are pretty cool. I think the Torti would like to be one. She’s fond of lairs.

Michelle and Erin, please contact me at mel @ mjscott.net with your mail details and signed ARCs will be winging their way to you this week.

Thanks to everyone for entering and for sharing your fiery faves!

State of the Mel #1

I seem to have gained some new followers around the various places I play lately, so thought I might start doing a semi-regular post to catch folks up on who I am, what I do and what I’m working on. Thus, the inaugural State of the Mel.

Who am I?

I’m Melanie Scott (most commonly answering to Mel). I write books. Specifically I write fantasy (dark and urban) as M.J. Scott and contemporary romance as Melanie Scott.

M.J’s two current series are the Half-Light City series (dark fantasy) published by Roc and The Wild Side series (published by moi).

Melanie’s first book in the New York Saints series (contemporary romance) will be out in August.

My agent is Miriam Kriss at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

More specifically I’m of the female persuasion, I have a day job that I don’t tend to talk about much online and I have so far survived all the deadly critters that my home country of Australia likes to strew in the path of its citizens. I live in Melbourne where there are few deadly critters and a lot of very changeable weather. So there will be weather whining. It’s a Melbournian pastime. I drink Coke Zero. Coffee makes me sick (sadface). I like geeky things, movies, tv, ballet, knitting, food, photography, naps, travel and books. I also have my girly moments (nails/make up/perfume/sparkly things/bags/shoes). I am an experienced cat butler. My two current feline employers are the Torti (a relatively sane for a calico/tortoiseshell girl who like rattly mice and glaring out windows at birds and other cats who have the temerity to wander into her line of vision) and the Fuzzy Girl (a slightly less sane, built like Garfield, tad un-coordinated, very chatty fluffy grey and white girl). The previous employers (if you go delving into the archives) were the Orange Cat (a very sweet but neurotic red burmese boy) and the Grey Cat (possibly the most sane of my cats, a fluffy smoke tabby moggy girl). I hang out with friends of the writer and non writer variety and I am slightly prone to klutziness (maybe that’s why the Fuzzy Girl appealed to me). I am not kidding, I broke my ankle getting up from my couch. I am currently attempting to garden. My thumb may be a very pale green with black spots. I am team Iron Man, team Buffy, team Thor, team Ollicity, team genre, team animation, team happy endings are the best, team chocolate (preferably dark), team margarita, team science, team musical, team music in general, team my heart belongs to Number 10, team reading is sexy, team thinking, team virgo, team don’t be a douche and team life is better with folks who make you laugh.

More about the books, please?

The Half-Light City series is an alt-world dark fantasy quadrology. It has fae and vampires and werewolves and magic and follows a bunch of characters through a particularly troublesome time in the Half-Light City which houses many races and many problems. The first three books Shadow Kin, Blood Kin and Iron Kin are available at all the usual places. The last book, Fire Kin comes out on May 6.

The Wild Side series is an urban fantasy trilogy which follows the adventures of Ashley Keenan who is trying very hard to be a normal boring human accountant but all the pesky werewolves and vampires in her world make that difficult. The first book, The Wolf Within, came out last month in ebook. I suspect I will do a print version at some point.

The New York Saints series is a contemporary romance trilogy about three guys who buy the New York Saints (the worst team in MLB) and the women who complicate the process. The first book, The Devil in Denim, will be out on August 26.

What are you working on?

Last year’s writing schedule was  a bit nutty. Which meant, naturally, that life decided to sideswipe me with other stuff.  Including a four month or so bout of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo which was very unpleasant. Which means I am currently trying to catch up and WRITE ALL THE THINGS.

I am currently writing Angel in Armani, book two of the New York Saints which I would really like to finish in the next month and thinking ahead to book three, Lawless in Leather which will be the next book I write. I’m hoping those two will both be out next year. I am also pondering the first book of a new fantasy series with Roc, which is so far nameless and should be out sometime in 2015.

I have in spare seconds, been revising The Dark Side (book two of the Wild Side books). I’d like to get that out in the first half of this year but that will depend on how nicely the three books above play with me and how much caffeine I can drink/sleep I can forgo.

Other things. I am contemplating some short stories which is unusual for me. I have an idea for a Wild Side short which I’m poking at and would like to do some things for fun in the Half-Light world but you know, I haven’t received either my clone army or my allocation of minions yet so projects to be completed as time allows.

Tell me more…

Places I hang out include here on the blog (but hey, you knew that already). I love me some twitter and @melscott will find me there. I tend to be most active on twitter but you know, internet procrastination for the win, so I hang out elsewhere.

M.J’s facebook page is www.facebook.com/AuthorMJScott and Melanie’s is www.facebook.com/WriterMelanieScott.

I like to take pictures, so if you like looking at pictures, my Instagram handle is melwrites. I also post various pics on FB and twitter. I use an iPhone 5 and a Canon DSLR mostly.

I also have a slight Pinterest problem. I pin many pretty shiny yummy things I like as well as hero/heroine inspirations and mood/series boards. Any my pretty, pretty covers.

I am on G+ and I’m on Tumblr. Tumblr tends to be me reblogging things that catch my or the muse’s attention, so weird writer brain warning on that one.

M.J has a newsletter. So does Melanie. Both are irregular and will not spam you. You can subscribe on the websites or on the Facebook pages.

And that about wraps it up for the current point in the life of Mel, so farewell, adieu, etc etc etc (oh dear, now I’m going to have a The King and I earworm).

 

Feeling fresh

Over January I did a big declutter/house revamp following along with Apartment Therapy’s January Cure. Decluttering is good for the soul and the muse and I swear, my house feels twice as big as it did and new again. Now the challenge is keeping up the systems to keep it mostly need and stop the stuff building up.

Apartment Therapy is a great site if you have a small place (and even if you don’t) full of good ideas, tips, tricks and lifehacks. One thing I really like about them is that they encourage the use of green cleaning products. It’s amazing what baking soda and vinegar and a bit of elbow grease can achieve.

While I was browsing through some of their many good posts on green cleaning, I came across a recipe for DIY Air freshener.  Now, I love things that smell nice and I struggle to find air fresheners that aren’t horribly fake smelling and/or not full of chemicals, and it required water, alcohol and essential oils, of which I have all three. Instant win.

I made the first batch up in an old plant type water mister but then decided to hunt for some cuter bottles that look okay enough to leave out on a shelf etc. Luckily, my friend Kathy, who makes great natural skincare (check out Botanical Secrets, Aussies), pointed me towards New Directions, which sell all sorts of bottles and jars and atomisers etc, so I’m now sorted.

Given that it is dead easy and you can customise it to whatever scents you like, the formula is a winner in my book, so I thought I’d share.

DIY Air Freshener from Apartment Therapy

1 oz (30mls) gin, vodka or rubbing alcohol (I went for vodka as I have some and of the three, it has the least scent)

6 oz (180mls) filtered or distilled water (I used filtered as I don’t have distilled)

30 – 40 drops of essential oil (I’ve used roughly 30 each time I’ve made it)

So it makes about 210ml and according to the AT post, lasts about a month.

So far I’ve done peppermint/lavender/eucalyptus which is one of my all time favourite essential oil blends for relaxing/destressing/calming and focus which I use in my bedroom and other places and I’ve just done a batch of lemon/grapefruit/eucalyptus for the loo and the kitchen. Adding eucalyptus or tea tree make it slightly antibacterial (though I will confess I still have good old glen 20 for when something really needs anti bacterial such as when folks are crook) but you can use whatever appeals. I guess you could even use vanilla extract or something if you like more foodie scents.

Fire Kin ARCs

I got this bundle of pretties in the mail earlier in the week, so it’s time for a giveaway!

 

To get your hands on a brand spanking new ARC of Fire Kin four whole months before the book comes out, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite fiery thing is!  I’ll pick a winner next week!

Cover reveal

The cover for The Devil in Denim is revealed in all it’s glory (and there’s a lot of glory) today on Heroes and Heartbreakers!

Check it out! I think it’s divine (looks like the SMP art department needs cookies too!)

 

It’s here….The Wolf Within now available!

Yippee! The Wolf Within is now live at Amazon.com.

It should also be available for Nook sometime today.

One of my NY 4th of July pics seems appropriate for the occasion!

It will take a little while (up to a week) to make it through to all the usual suspect e-book stores and I’ll be updating the buy links on the site as they are available.

I really love this book and hope you do too! It’s dark urban fantasy so a little different to the Half-Light City but hey, a change is as good as a holiday, right. There’s still plenty of werewolves and vampires and general mayhem. If you want to know more about the book and the story behind it, check out the book page on my website.

I’m hoping to get book 2 out in a few months and book 3 later this year (fingers crossed) but more on that as I know it. But until then, it’s a book party! I’ll give away a copy of one of my books (your choice) to my favourite comment on this post!

P.S. If you’re a reviewer and interested in reviewing The Wolf Within, please contact me via my website.

Read all about it

Just a quick post to say that the excerpt for The Wolf Within is up now on the site for those who are curious.

Hopefully out in a week or less!

A new pretty

Yay, I get to share today.  Here’s the cover for The Wolf Within which is coming real soon now…so if you like urban fantasy, werewolves, vampires, all that good stuff, watch this space.

 

I’ll be posting an excerpt later today, so check back tonight!

Happy blog birthday to me…one day late

Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of Crossed Wires! Granted last year wasn’t my best blogging year ever but oh well.

I was going to post yesterday but was finishing the copy edits for The Wolf Within (which hopefully will be available in a week or so) and continuing on with my house decluttering and reorganising (I’m doing Apartment Therapy’s January Cure) and then I did a photography class/walk late in the day, so I missed it.

The class was on to use your camera in manual mode, so it was interesting to experiment with the settings and see what happened. It was a glorious sunny summer evening in Melbourne, not to hot not too cool so great for walking around playing with pictures. Here are some of the shots that worked…

Sky over Federation square

 

Flinders Street station and St Paul’s Cathedral from Princes Street Bridge

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull lives!

 

Eureka Towers bee

 

Eureka Towers

 

City from SouthBank

 

Williamstown Ferry

 

The Yarra looking shiny instead of mud brown

 

Locks on pedestrian bridge. Southbank.

 

City laneway

 

Reflections on park bench

 

St. Paul’s Spire

 

St. Paul’s spire

 

St. Paul’s spires

 

Refleciton of the Forum Theatre tower

 

Australian Romance Readers Awards

The lovely folks at ARRA have just announced their 2013 award nominees and I’m very excited to be nominated in 3 categories!

Fire Kin is  up for favourite cover and favourite paranormal romance and the Half-Light series is up for favourite continuing series. Thank you to everyone who nominated me! There are so many great books nominated in all the categories, it will be tough voting for the members!

If you’re an Aussie interested in coming to the awards dinner, you can book here.