Kate Avery Ellison's Blog, page 17

Cover Reveal: Dazzle by Amber Garza

Today I have something really special to share with you...the cover reveal for Dazzle, a new paranormal romance by Amber Garza coming Oct 2012!
 So, without further ado...
* drum roll * DAZZLE by Amber Garza   Isn't it pretty?? I think it's really simple but really evocative. And I love the little squiggle on the E. Here's the deets:  Dazzle: Book One in the Delaney's Gift Series is a new YA paranormal romance by Amber Garza, set for release October 2012!  Sixteen-year-old Delaney Scott possesses a special gift. Ever since she was a child she has known about her calling and the duty she’s expected to fulfill.

However, all Delaney wants is to be normal. That’s why she is drawn to Sam. He can offer her the life she’s always desired. Only Sam has secrets of his own.

Secrets that are deadly. Secrets that can change everything.  You can find out more at:  Amber's Blog: http://www.ambergarza.wordpress.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amber-Garza-author  

My Everyday Magic (a guest post by Kai Strand)

Harry Potter. The boy who lived. Whose walk through the forest reduced me to
tears. Who was so angsty (in the fifth book), I was actually crabby while reading
it. Harry and I met after his fourth book (my favorite) was released. It was the
summer before my daughter was to enter fourth grade. She wasn’t reading much
and it broke my heart that she hadn’t yet discovered the euphoria of escaping to
another world to spy on some one else’s life. I’d heard loads about the Harry Potter
books and decided there had to be something there for so many around the world to
make such a big deal. So, I decided to lead by example. I checked out the first book
from the library and started reading it. I plowed through it and jumped right into
the second. My daughter, brow scrunched, picked up the first book and she started
reading. That summer she and I tore through all four books. We were absolutely
hooked and anxiously awaited the release of the fifth book, still a year and a half
out.

During that year and a half wait, I became so impatient that I decided I’d keep
myself busy creating my own world and my own characters and steep myself in
a fantasy of my own making. The first thing I dreamed up was an underground
transportation animal. Then I thought, “What would such an animal be used for?”
“Where would it take people?” “Who are those people?” and a writer was born.

It took more than a year of listening to my daughter and I obsess about Harry Potter
before we were able to hook the rest of the family. We discovered books on CD and
listened to Jim Dale’s wonderful readings on long trips. We would bring portable
CD players so that we could bring the story into hotel rooms with us in the evening.
If the trip finished before the book, we’d bring it into our own living room and sit
together to listen until the story was complete, often planning complete evenings
around it.

I took my daughter to midnight book releases; selfishly buying two books so that she
and I could both start reading immediately. My daughter and I went to the midnight
release of the third movie together. When the fourth movie was due to release, my
son was struggling in school and I told him if he focused and pulled up his grades, I’d
take him with us to the midnight release. It was so effective that the morning after
we saw that movie, I had to wake my son early and drag him to school because his
teacher was honoring him with a “Turn Around Kid” award.

But the every day magic of Harry Potter really hit home one day when my niece and
I were at a family Potter party for the release of the seventh book. Even though I’d
frizzed my hair, was draped in scarves and wore glasses so thick I was running into
furniture, she and I had a quite and serious moment together where she explained
that she’d discovered the books while she was battling breast cancer. The stories
whisked her away from her reality. While she visited Hogwarts she successfully
forgot about nausea and hair loss. Yes, that is magic. God bless you, Ms. Rowling.

You don’t have to write at the level of success as Harry Potter for your stories to
instill everyday magic in the lives of a reader. Each story, when released into the
world, affects readers in different ways. But when it resonates with its reader, it is
magic. When a story, or blog post, or birthday card I’ve written finds its perfect fit
with a reader, I feel as magical as Harry himself.

Harry has started a lifelong reader in my daughter, given me precious family time,
inspired me to become a writer, motivated my son to focus in school and provided a
blessed escape for my niece during a dark time. It is just a book series. But one full
of magic inside and out.

Now go out and have your own magic. I hope you can find a spark of it in one of my
books.

About SAVE THE LEMMINGS:

8th grade inventor, Natalie Isabelle Cailean Edwards is
the N.I.C.E. girl who finishes last with the kids in school. Sappy inspirational phrases and monochromatic outfits have all but her best friends wrinkling their nose at her. When Natalie’s invention, the Texty-Talky, goes nationwide, she becomes an overnight
sensation.

Suddenly her days consist of photo shoots and interviews with little time left for her friends. A local reporter shatters her good-girl image by reporting a graffiti incident and the media launches into a smear campaign. It is so bad, even her friends start to believe the stories. Will Natalie be able to overcome the lies being printed about her? And will she be able to SAVE THE LEMMINGS?

 

 About the author:

Kai Strand writes fiction for middle grade and young adult readers.

Her debut novel, The Weaver, was a finalist in the 2012 EPIC eBook Awards. The Wishing Well: Another Weaver Tale is set in the same storytelling village as The Weaver. She is a (very lucky) wife and the mother of four amazing kids. The most common sound in her household is laughter. The second most common is, "Do your dishes!" She and her family hike, geocache, and canoe in beautiful Central Oregon, where they call home.

To find out more about Kai’s books, download companion documents, find links to her published short stories and discover all the places to find Kai both virtually and in person, visit her website: www.kaistrand.com. She loves to hear from readers, so feel free to send her an email or visit her facebook page, Kai Strand, Author.

This Week Online...

So I've been thinking that maybe I should do a weekly roundup of great book or writing or reading-related articles I've found around the internet. I always stumble across great things, and I tweet a lot of them, but it might be nice to have them all in one place.

Lauren Conrad caused a stir online when she used some books to make a craft project, which resulted in this thought-provoking article, Books Are Not Sacred Objects. And I agree--I used to absolutely shudder at the idea of destroying a book, and maybe people I know refuse to even get rid of old books they don't read anymore. But books themselves--and by this I mean the binding, cover, pages--are not so special. Perhaps if you have a first edition or a rare signed copy, you could argue for treating the container itself as something of value. But it's the STORY inside that matters most. (My perspective on this changed when I became an author, because as I handed different version of my own books I realized the story is the true magic, whether it's read on my laptop or my Kindle or from a print copy, or even if it's listened to as an audiotape or shared aloud by one reader to listeners.)

Speaking of different ways and mediums to consume stories, I read this fascinating article about the history of paperbacks. There's some pretty strong parallels between the emergence of (and initial opposition to and snobbery about) paperbacks and ebooks that I find fascinating. History repeating? Here's another article on How Paperbacks Changed Popular Literature.

Also, for those who are interested in writing - How to Use Foreshadowing to Jazz Up Slow Scenes
Read anything good online this week?

What Are You Reading?

Confession time: I haven't been able to really get into any books lately.

I've picked up a lot of things that sounded really promising and drool-worthy, but then..............they fizzle. Or I fizzle. One of us is to blame, and it's probably me.

Some of this lack of interest may be due to my workload--it can be hard to get into other books when I'm spending hours and hours slaving away at the very last edits for my own stuff, because whenever I have down time I am craving things that don't have to do with words. And some of this lack of reading interest is probably due to some health issues I was dealing with over the last month that are (thankfully) getting a lot better. But regardless of the reasons, my TBR pile has languished this past month or so. It's been so bad lately that I haven't actually finished anything except the occasional romance novel (SO not my usual modus operandi, you guys, but when I'm depressed or anxious nothing else appeals to me but the lightest, fluffiest stuff).

But I really, really, really hate not losing myself in a good book on a regular basis. Reading is like food for me. Without a regular diet of books, I feel like I'm starving. And all this writing with no reading feels like endless cooking without being able to sit down to a dinner myself.
 
So help me out here. What have you read lately that you loved? What grabbed your attention and wouldn't let you stop reading? I'm more in the mood for YA than anything else, maybe something really funny or really spooky (I really want to find something along the lines of Hex Hall or The Name of the Star), but I'll take any suggestions!

Interviews and Updates!

Hi everybody!

Sorry to be so AWOL lately. I have been slaving away at Thorns, but.................I think it's finally finished! I sent the revised draft to my editor yesterday, and when I get it back from her I'll do the final edits, then the book will be formatted, proofed, and made available for sale! There's no hard and fast release date this time since I don't have a launch party or blog tour lined up specifically for Thorns. But I am aiming for the very end of August or early September, so stay tuned.


Other fun news--I took part in a really fun interview with the Goodreads group Never Too Old for YA Books a few weeks ago, and it went up today. I really enjoyed this interview--the questions were intelligent and fun to answer, and I thought it was a good balance between questions about me/my books and general writing advice. I'm also answering questions in the comments, so be sure to head over and check it out!


Besides Thorns, I've been working on a manuscript I started last year, one that never quite made it to the publication stage. We'll call it my "super secret" book. I'm rewriting some parts, and maaaaaaybe I can manage to find time to work on it this fall. I've decided to generally not make promises about publication dates if I can help it, as so often my best intentions about projects come to nothing. My muse is a fickle lady, ya'll. But it's a really fun story and I want to share it with you guys. I'll give you the slightest hint of what it's about: sci fi thriller amnesia story.

Hope everybody's having a great week so far!

A Very Important Message

I watched this amazing video today and wanted to share. I know I've been guilty of this. I remember commenting on a blog post while I was feeling a bit heated, and later realizing I'd hurt someone with my words. I've done the same on forums and other online spaces. Even though we interact with others online through machines, there are real people being affected, and I have no idea what those people are going through. What if someone is being a bit testy, but I don't realize that they just lost their job--or their mom? It's a sobering thought.

Anyway, this video is a good reminder.


It's so easy to forget that the person on the other end is just that--a person.

Video by Derek Sivers.

Coming Soon!

Coming in just a few weeks!!


Lia Weaver went against everything she’d ever known when she risked her life to help a Farther fugitive named Gabe escape from the Aeralian soldiers, and her life changed forever. And the Frost changed, too—the Farthers have taken over her village, a new group of vigilantes calling themselves the Blackcoats are making plans to overthrow the Farther occupiers, and the Thorns are seeking for her to join them.
Lia seeks to fight back against the evil and injustice that has swallowed up her home, but danger lurks at every turn. The monsters that dwell in the deepest regions of the Frost are growing bolder and more dangerous every day, a Farther noble takes up residence in the village on a mysterious mission, and Lia discovers even more secrets embedded in her past.
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Cover Reveal of Thorns!!

Hi all!

Guess what? Today I have a wonderful surprise.



The COVER REVEAL for Thorns !!!

The wonderful Dani from Refracted Light Reviews is doing the honors, so head on over to her blog to check it out.

The book releases in just a few weeks, so stay tuned!!

10 Questions and A Welcome

Well, the Frost blog tour is still in full swing, and you can still enter to win a (signed) print copy or an e-copy of Frost!

There's a bunch of reviews for Frost on that list, so be sure to peruse them. I have a fun guest post up on One Book At A Time about what I do when I'm not writing.

I also have a "10 Questions" interview up on Front Row Lit. Check it out!

Now I've been somewhat absent from the blogsphere lately due to edits and other lovely book-related stuff, but I have noticed that there's been an increase in traffic and followers lately. So, to all my new followers, WELCOME! I should probably say something endearing about myself...hmmm...I love ice cream cake and zombicorns. Is that endearing? Or just weird?

Well. *whispers* It's okay to be weird here.

*clears throat*

I suggest you start here if you want to learn more about me and my fam, here if you want to learn more about my thoughts on why zombicorns are great, here if you want to learn more about the process of writing a book, or here if you want to know my silly thoughts on inter-book romance.

And stay tuned for day three of the tour!!

Frost Blog Tour Day 1!

It's started! The first day of Frost's tour is in full swing, and you can see the whole schedule here. Be sure to check out some of the reviews, and you can enter to win a signed print copy as well!

My guest post "Where I Like to Write" with Good Choice Reading


Some reviews (and be sure to enter the giveaway to win a signed copy):

Refracted Light review

Letters Inside and Out review

Xpressoreads review