G.P. Ching's Blog, page 12

Books I love: The Green

I don't frequently give my personal opinion on other author's books, but Karly Kirkpatrick released a book this week that I LOVE and I want to tell you about it.  I had the pleasure of critiquing The Green when it was in development and I can say without a doubt that I whizzed through this one, desperately turning the pages.




Seventeen-year-old Ariceli Pisa is a senior at the prestigious Cambridge High School and has her sights set on Northwestern University. She's a cheerleader, a member of the National Honor Society...and a drug dealer. That's not the only secret she has to keep from her best friend Naomi--she's also madly in love with Naomi's ex-boyfriend, James Bartlett. Trying to balance her life at Cambridge High with her new demanding job keeps her teetering on the edge of disaster. 




The Green reminded me of Risky Business, teen pushed too far dabbles in illegal activity to survive and grows from the experience.  There is plenty of excitement and romance, too.  I think you'll love Aricela and empathize with her plight. Check it out!

The Green is a steal at $3.99. Available now:  Amazon, Barnes and Noble 

And the Winner is...

Thank you to everyone who stopped by during the Indelibles Blog Hop. Our launch was a great success and we couldn't have done it without the support of all of you awesome YA and MG readers, reviewers, and fellow authors.

If you haven't heard yet, the winner of the Kindle Fire Giveaway and 25 e-books is Chris Fenimore.

Congratulations Chris!


The winner of my individual blog giveaway is VALERIE!   Valerie, please contact me at gpching (at) gmail (dot) com with your choice of book within 48 hours or I will choose an alternate winner.  Thanks!

Introducing The Indelibles!

Welcome to The Indelibles Blog Hop!

In celebration of our official launch, we are giving away a KINDLE FIRE! If you'd like to start at the beginning of the INDELIBLES ON FIRE GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP, then please start here:






http://indeliblewriters.blogspot.com/







If you are already mid-hop, then welcome to your next stop! By following the link at the bottom of this post, you can proceed to the next author (and check out the awesome, individual giveaways we are doing along the way!). If you are entering to win the KINDLE FIRE, don't forget to make a note of the keyword at the end of every blog post - the words spell out a phrase you will need to enter the contest on the last stop.

Who are we? We are twenty-five independently published and small press authors. Each week, we'll explore fun, fabulous, and fierce topics for today's teens, drawing on pop culture and themes from the books we write. Check out our official launch Monday, January 9th for fun giveaways at http://indeliblewriters.blogspot.com/. We'll also be having a "blogger" chat on January 11th and a writer/author chat on the 18th to answer questions about self and indie pubbing. See our blog for details.




Since I've recently given away thousands of books, for my personal giveaway, I will gift your choice of one of the other Indelible's ebooks. Leave a comment below to enter.




Your next stop is Katie Klein and don't forget to write down my keyword LEAVING for your chance to win the Kindle Fire!

Happy New Year

It's hard to say goodbye to 2011.



2011 was a year of change for our family.  I became a mother to a teenager when my oldest daughter turned thirteen. My youngest spent her last year in the single digits and my husband and I celebrated our tenth anniversary.



My family started 2011 at Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter (highly recommended). We also visited Las Vegas, Sedona, Hot Springs, and St. Louis.



With the help of Megg Jensen, Karly Kirkpatrick, and Angela Carlie, I published my first two books this year: The Soulkeepers in March and Weaving Destiny in September.  Over 150,000 copies were downloaded in 2011 and writing became my full-time job.



Later in the year, I got to know some extremely talented authors when Magan Vernon joined DarkSide Publishing, and I joined Heart and Scroll and the Indelibles. You'll hear more about the Indelibles this year, but those are their books in the right margin of my blog. I also met some book bloggers who changed my life and some fans who make me smile every day.  I also learned to use Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Blogger, iWeb, and Google+. Well, some of them I knew how to use before, but not like I do today!



It's been a year of growth, of relative health, and of surviving the economic roller coaster in our state. Overall, I can't complain about you 2011.  You were good to me.



Here's wishing all of you a 2012 filled with new friends, golden opportunities, health, and happiness!



Happy New Year!

The News About My Newsletter!

Did you know there is a G.P. Ching newsletter?  You might not. It's only a couple of weeks old. If you sign up for my new newsletter, here is what you can expect:




1. Never miss news about new cover art, releases, tour dates, or personal appearances.




2. Find out about friends and family promotions and special giveaways.




3. Learn insider scoop on details about the books.




Here's what you won't get:




1. I will never share or sell your information to third parties.




2. I won't spam you.




To sign up, enter your email address in the upper right corner of this blog OR follow the link below OR use the QR code above.  Why use a QR code on my blog?  No reason but that I thought it was cool!  I think I might have Anjin design add it to the paperback covers.






Subscribe to my newsletter

Cover Reveal: Sleepers by Megg Jensen!

Introducing the new artwork for fellow DarkSide author Megg Jensen's bestselling novel SLEEPERS!



To celebrate the re-launch of SLEEPERS in January of 2012, Megg is giving it a new cover with artwork from the incredible PhatPuppy.

Synopsis: An adoptee raised in a foreign land, sixteen-year-old Lianne was content with her life as handmaiden to the queen, until a spell cast on her at birth activated. Now she's filled with uncontrollable rage and access to magic she thought had been bled from her people years ago. Even her years of secret training in elite hand-to-hand combat and meditation can't calm the fires raging inside her.

Her heart is torn between two boys, the one she's always loved and the one who always ignored her. But when the kingdom threatens to tear itself apart due to rumors surrounding the queen's alleged affair, who will Lianne protect and who will she destroy?




On sale now for only 99 cents!




On a personal note, Sleepers was, I think, the first book I ever read of Megg's, and I fell in love immediately with the story by this very talented author.

Guest Post: Magan Vernon on...Easter Eggs!

According to Wikipedia a Virtual Easter Egg is: A virtual Easter egg is an intentional hidden message or an in-joke in a work such as a computer program, web page, video game, movie, book or crossword. This practice is similar in some respects to hidden signature motifs such as Diego Rivera including himself in his murals, Alfred Hitchcock's legendary cameo appearances, and various "Hidden Mickeys" that can be found throughout the various Disney Parks.

As the self-proclaimed geek-to-glam poster child, I couldn't let my debut novel go without a few Easter Eggs and the lucky readers of this blog will get to know a few of them (spoiler free!)




Calta- The planet of Ace's origin. Why didn't I use Mars or another planet that we are all familiar with? I wanted to create my own planet and at the same time honor my late Nana. Her maiden name was
Caltagerone, but that seemed a little too long for a planet name, so it was shortened. In retrospect I should have made it a tropical planet since my Nana was Sicilian and that is an Italian island, but I think Calta works just find as a cool planet.




Winnebago- Who would ever think of a geeky girl from Winnebago, Illinois? Uh, that would be the actual geeky girl from Winnebago-me. Yes, Winnebago is a real town and I really did go to the high school. No, Alex is not based off of me in any way, but I needed her to be from a small town and Winnebago was one that I knew inside and out. (This definitely comes around a lot more in Book 2).




Alien names- How did I come up with the names for all of the aliens in the books? I could have just made up some different names, but that would have been too easy. I figured that I actually should acknowledge my Italian heritage and decided to use the names of Italian philosophers for the different aliens in the story- Marsilo, Nerses, Machiavelli, etc., etc.




Adam Lambert- As I started writing this story I needed to come up with a visual of an alien. I texted one of my friends and asked her for a guy that had spiky black hair and was kind of squirrelly. She said Adam Lambert since he kind of looks like an alien and frightens and intrigues her at the same time. All of a sudden the original Ace I had was thrown out the window and guy liner alien was born. His lyrics also spurred a lot of changes in the novel with the dark side and the light side references and if you look REALLY closely you will see a few lyrics sprinkled throughout the novel.



These are just a few of the Easter Eggs spread throughout How to Date an Alien. Now to find more of them you will just have to pick up a copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords.

*****



Self-proclaimed geek-to-glam poster child who channels her inner geek by writing science fiction for teens. Even though she slept with a night light until she was in middle school for fear of alien attacks. She now lives with her husband, daughter, and dog in central Illinois where she still sleeps with a night light...just in case.

Giveaway Winner

My 2,000 twitter follower giveaway is now over.  All of the entering tweets were placed into a numbered spreadsheet and then a random number in the range was selected using Random.org.  The winning tweet was by  WordSpelunker Aeicha Matteson.  




I'll be contacting Aeicha for her choice of book.




Thank you to everyone who participated!

G.P. Ching's 2,000 Twitter Follower Giveaway!

I've reached 2,000 twitter followers! To celebrate, I'm giving away your choice of one of the ebooks below by fellow authors that I admire.  Some I've read, some I haven't.  But they are all on my TBR list because these authors can write.





You might ask why I'm not giving away my own ebooks. Well, The Soulkeepers is already free, and if you're visiting me today chances are you've already read it. If not, it's free almost everywhere, so help yourself!




To win your choice of one of the following titles for your eReader, simply tweet the following:






I want to win my choice of YA ebook from @GPChing http://bit.ly/iMn5xR #kindle #nook #ebook #giveaway 









The giveaway will end in 48 hours. I'll randomly choose a winner, and contact them via twitter. Winner will have 48 hours to get back to me with their choice of one of the eBooks pictured below and their email address or they forfeit their prize (and a new winner will be chosen.) Giveaway is eBook only.




Good luck! And thank you so much for following me on twitter!







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<br/>Share <a href="http://www.goodreads.com"&am... reviews</a> and ratings with G.P., and even join a <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/group/"... club</a> on Goodreads.

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Like YA from a Boy's POV?

As a writer of one of the rare YA books from a boys POV, I was excited to hear about this original, new contemporary series about boys, cars, and growing up by fellow author Lisa Nowak. Check them out.  These books are available now.






Running Wide Open: Book 1 in the Full Throttle Series

Cody Everett has a temper as hot as the flashpoint of racing fuel, and it's landed him at his uncle's trailer, a last-chance home before military school. But how can he take the guy seriously when he calls himself Race, eats Twinkies for breakfast, and pals around with rednecks who drive in circles every Saturday night?

What Cody doesn't expect is for the arrangement to work. Or for Race to become the friend and mentor he's been looking for all his life. But just as Cody begins to settle in and get a handle on his supercharged temper, a crisis sends his life spinning out of control. Everything he's come to care about is threatened, and he has to choose between falling back on his old, familiar anger or stepping up to prove his loyalty to the only person he's ever dared to trust.



Praise for Running Wide Open:

"It doesn't matter if you are a racing fan or not, Running Wide Open will captivate you and capture your heart." – Cari J, Amazon reviewer

"The roar of engines practically explodes off the page in this compelling, heart-thumping debut. Cody Everett is a straight-shooter with attitude, smarts, and whip-cracking wit; he doesn't pull any punches, and neither does author Lisa Nowak. The collision of Cody and the world of stock car racing makes for a great story, one of the best I've read in a long time. Running Wide Open is a book not to be missed." - Christine Fletcher, author of Tallulah Falls and Ten Cents a Dance

"The racing is easy to understand and does not get in the way of a rattling good story. I still couldn't put it down on a re-read." – Elisabeth Miles, Amazon reviewer

"We race stock cars during the summer and even though this is a recommended read for Young Adults, we are seniors and enjoyed every page. We can hardly wait for the sequel to come out. MUST READING!" – Maxci Jermann, Barnes and Noble reviewer

"I say read this book, it's fun, it's beautiful, it's a very cool read that will give you a feel-good state of mind. Awesome read." - L.E.Olteano, Butterfly-o-meter Books



Buy it on Amazon
Buy it at Barnes and Noble
Buy it on Smashwords



Author Bio:

In addition to being a YA author, Lisa Nowak is a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She writes coming-of-age books about kids in hard luck situations who learn to appreciate their own value after finding mentors who love them for who they are. She enjoys dark chocolate and stout beer and constantly works toward employing wei wu wei in her life, all the while realizing that the struggle itself is an oxymoron.

Lisa has no spare time, but if she did she'd use it to tend to her expansive perennial garden, watch medical dramas, take long walks after dark, and teach her cats to play poker. For those of you who might be wondering, she is not, and has never been, a diaper-wearing astronaut. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband, four feline companions, and two giant sequoias.

Connect with Lisa online:



Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lisa_Nowak
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LisaNowakAuthor
Google +: http://bit.ly/LisaNowakGooglePlus
Blog: http://lisanowak.wordpress.com/
Subscribe to her newsletter for updates about coming attractions: http://bit.ly/LisaNowakNewsletter