K.A. Tucker's Blog, page 19
January 24, 2012
Asylum Tour - Casting Call: Mage
Due to some unexpected issues, my stop today has been moved to my site! I could have cancelled it but it was a fun one so I decided not to...
I'm going to tell you who my pick would be for Mage, if the Causal Enchantment series was ever to be made into a movie!
Recall, Mage is the serene but severe Council Leader of the Ratheus vampires. She's described as an exotically beautiful Asian-looking vampire. She has a very minor role in Anathema but takes on a key role in Asylum. As you read Asylum, you find out that Mage is quite misunderstood. That's all I'll tell you :-) She is one of readers' favorite characters. She's definitely one of mine!
Who are my choices? I've narrowed it down to three actresses:
[image error] Maggie Quigley -
You may recognize her from Mission Impossible III or Nikita (I never watched the show but I do remember her in all of the commercials. She's kind of hard not to notice...) Maggie is of Polish/Irish and Vietnamese descent. She's no stranger to playing strong action-oriented women. I could totally see her playing opposite Sofie! [image error] #2 Isabella Leong - here is another very interesting-looking actress. She is a Chinese/Portugese actress and held a role in one of the Mummy movies.
[image error] #3 Zhang Ziyi -
I think she may be my favorite Asian actress. I fell in love with her years ago in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She has since proven that she can play one tough cookie (Rush Hour 2.)
So who did I pick? Ughh... I had a hard enough time narrowing it down to these three!
I think I'd go with
Isabella Leong
She is young but timeless; stunningly beautiful and her face screams "serene" to me. Just like Mage :-)
Who would you guys pick?
***GIVEAWAY ALERT!****
Don't forget to sign up for the Asylum Tour giveaway! We still have one ecopy and one print copy of Asylum to give away before the end of the tour! Here's the link to enter
I'm going to tell you who my pick would be for Mage, if the Causal Enchantment series was ever to be made into a movie!
Recall, Mage is the serene but severe Council Leader of the Ratheus vampires. She's described as an exotically beautiful Asian-looking vampire. She has a very minor role in Anathema but takes on a key role in Asylum. As you read Asylum, you find out that Mage is quite misunderstood. That's all I'll tell you :-) She is one of readers' favorite characters. She's definitely one of mine!
Who are my choices? I've narrowed it down to three actresses:
[image error] Maggie Quigley -
You may recognize her from Mission Impossible III or Nikita (I never watched the show but I do remember her in all of the commercials. She's kind of hard not to notice...) Maggie is of Polish/Irish and Vietnamese descent. She's no stranger to playing strong action-oriented women. I could totally see her playing opposite Sofie! [image error] #2 Isabella Leong - here is another very interesting-looking actress. She is a Chinese/Portugese actress and held a role in one of the Mummy movies.
[image error] #3 Zhang Ziyi -
I think she may be my favorite Asian actress. I fell in love with her years ago in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She has since proven that she can play one tough cookie (Rush Hour 2.)
So who did I pick? Ughh... I had a hard enough time narrowing it down to these three!
I think I'd go with
Isabella Leong
She is young but timeless; stunningly beautiful and her face screams "serene" to me. Just like Mage :-)
Who would you guys pick?
***GIVEAWAY ALERT!****
Don't forget to sign up for the Asylum Tour giveaway! We still have one ecopy and one print copy of Asylum to give away before the end of the tour! Here's the link to enter
January 21, 2012
Asylum Tour - Fav Quotable Quotes from Asylum
"?" Hi all! Today's Asylum tour post has moved to my own blog. Unfortunately the blogger scheduled today is MIA so far (hope she's okay!) but I didn't want to let this post go...unposted (it's still early for me) so I'm going to do my own post :-)
People like quotes from books. They highlight them as they read them in their kindle, they 'favorite' them, they post them on Goodreads. Something about that string of words strikes a cord with them. They may have giggled, or outright laughed, or cried when they read the line... they may have spit tea on their nook (true story - ask Misty from The Top Shelf!)
I recently noticed a section on Amazon on my ANATHEMA page that calls out popular highlights . Click here and scroll down the page until you get to them. From my understanding, when lines in books are highlighted by kindle users enough times, they appear in this section (that's the simplified explanation. The technical version is I'm sure very...er...technical). I think that's one of the coolest features to Amazon/Kindle! Some of the highlighted lines are MY favorite lines as well. Some of them are surprising though!
For today's Asylum Tour post, I'm going to share with you five of my favorite lines from Asylum. As I re-read the finished story, I can't help but smile or ache when I read them.
He chuckled softly. "No, my dear Evangeline. You are far from stupid. Naïve, absolutely. But it's born out of an enormous heart and an enduring need to believe the best of people. Not stupidity."
*
"Soon," I murmured softly, sliding my hand over the smooth white marble of my baby sister's tomb, knowing my promise was a blatant lie.
*
"Join us," they whispered, trailing me. "Join us now or die."
*
"I figured I owed you that much," was all he said, that same vacant stare giving me nothing to read, yet every answer I needed.
*
I surrendered to the tidal wave of shock as it washed over me, the very idea too wild to be real. I would do anything to be free. Anything at all.
Those are some of mine...What are some of your favorite lines from Asylum?
Kathleen
People like quotes from books. They highlight them as they read them in their kindle, they 'favorite' them, they post them on Goodreads. Something about that string of words strikes a cord with them. They may have giggled, or outright laughed, or cried when they read the line... they may have spit tea on their nook (true story - ask Misty from The Top Shelf!)
I recently noticed a section on Amazon on my ANATHEMA page that calls out popular highlights . Click here and scroll down the page until you get to them. From my understanding, when lines in books are highlighted by kindle users enough times, they appear in this section (that's the simplified explanation. The technical version is I'm sure very...er...technical). I think that's one of the coolest features to Amazon/Kindle! Some of the highlighted lines are MY favorite lines as well. Some of them are surprising though!
For today's Asylum Tour post, I'm going to share with you five of my favorite lines from Asylum. As I re-read the finished story, I can't help but smile or ache when I read them.
He chuckled softly. "No, my dear Evangeline. You are far from stupid. Naïve, absolutely. But it's born out of an enormous heart and an enduring need to believe the best of people. Not stupidity."
*
"Soon," I murmured softly, sliding my hand over the smooth white marble of my baby sister's tomb, knowing my promise was a blatant lie.
*
"Join us," they whispered, trailing me. "Join us now or die."
*
"I figured I owed you that much," was all he said, that same vacant stare giving me nothing to read, yet every answer I needed.
*
I surrendered to the tidal wave of shock as it washed over me, the very idea too wild to be real. I would do anything to be free. Anything at all.
Those are some of mine...What are some of your favorite lines from Asylum?
Kathleen
January 19, 2012
Casting Call: Actress Pick for Sofie
[image error] Who did we pick as the ideal actress to play "Sofie" if this series were to be turned into a movie?
Amanda Crew!
She has a sophisticated beauty for a 25 yr old. Something about her look suggests maturity and elegance. I love the picture on the bottom right - that little smile is so vindictive. So...Sofie. Just change her hair to fiery red and her eyes to minty pale green. [image error] [image error]
Amanda Crew!
She has a sophisticated beauty for a 25 yr old. Something about her look suggests maturity and elegance. I love the picture on the bottom right - that little smile is so vindictive. So...Sofie. Just change her hair to fiery red and her eyes to minty pale green. [image error] [image error]
January 13, 2012
Asylum Tour: Playlist
Today on my tour stop at Taking it One Book at a Time, I shared my ideal soundtrack for Asylum. Click on the link to see what that post looked like. I thought I'd share a couple of the songs here so you can easily 'click and listen'
Enjoy! "Am I Stupid?" –
LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEONE LOVED ME (Dala) "Frozen"
COMFORT ME (Feist) "Julian's Dirty Little Secret"
KNIFE GOING IN (Tegan & Sara) "Watching Snow Melt" –
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (Of Monsters And Men) "On The Platform"
ALL THAT I AM LIVING FOR(Evanescence)
Enjoy! "Am I Stupid?" –
LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEONE LOVED ME (Dala) "Frozen"
COMFORT ME (Feist) "Julian's Dirty Little Secret"
KNIFE GOING IN (Tegan & Sara) "Watching Snow Melt" –
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (Of Monsters And Men) "On The Platform"
ALL THAT I AM LIVING FOR(Evanescence)
Asylum Tour: Actor Pick for Caden
[image error] So we have our winner for the Fantasy Casting of Caden and it's...
Taylor Kirsch !
Wondering who he is? Well... I found out he's Canadian! I didn't even know until I read up on him but that makes me happy :-) Here are a couple other pics of him to help you picture him as "Caden". [image error] [image error]
Taylor Kirsch !
Wondering who he is? Well... I found out he's Canadian! I didn't even know until I read up on him but that makes me happy :-) Here are a couple other pics of him to help you picture him as "Caden". [image error] [image error]
January 8, 2012
Asylum Tour: Actress Pick for Evangeline
[image error] On Day 4 of the Asylum Tour, we held a vote for who could play the best 'Evangeline' if Anathema and Asylum were made into movies. The winning actress?
Amber Heard
I agree! She's beautiful, and she has a young, fresh look. She definitely could play the perfect Evangeline. If you google her, you'll find an arsenal of glamorous and provocative images. She's a bombshell. But I did find a couple more pics of her that show a subdued and wholesome side. An Evangeline-side :-) Take a look below!
Thanks to all who voted! Check out the blog stop at Sated Faery because we'll be voting on Caden!
Kathleen [image error] [image error] [image error]
Amber Heard
I agree! She's beautiful, and she has a young, fresh look. She definitely could play the perfect Evangeline. If you google her, you'll find an arsenal of glamorous and provocative images. She's a bombshell. But I did find a couple more pics of her that show a subdued and wholesome side. An Evangeline-side :-) Take a look below!
Thanks to all who voted! Check out the blog stop at Sated Faery because we'll be voting on Caden!
Kathleen [image error] [image error] [image error]
January 6, 2012
Asylum Tour Week 1 - recap
So, here we are... it's the first Friday night of 2012. I've cracked a bottle of wine, put on my stretchy pants, and figured I'd do a recap of the first week of the Asylum tour. Things have gone very well so far. Thanks to the amazing bloggers, the people who have followed along, and all who have purchased a copy of Asylum! It's slowly creeping up on the Amazon Kindle chart and the response has been outstanding.
What else happened? Well, besides work beginning (boo!):
Three cameras and near meltdown later, I taped my first Vlog for Magical Urban Fantasy Reads
I shared Caden's first few moments on Earth in a Flash fiction piece for Two Chicks on Books
I shared Amelie's Big Mistake (Flash Fiction) on Me, My Shelf, and I
I nominated my picks for the best Evangeline actresses on PBC's FB Page
I shared Caden's transformation (Flash Fiction) on WovenMyst
I've also given away several ebook copies of Asylum, a print copy, and several bookmarks.
All in all, a good week! Make sure you follow along next week. There will be several interviews (including one with your favorite canine), the Asylum soundtrack, more actor picks, and giveaways!
Kathleen
What else happened? Well, besides work beginning (boo!):
Three cameras and near meltdown later, I taped my first Vlog for Magical Urban Fantasy Reads
I shared Caden's first few moments on Earth in a Flash fiction piece for Two Chicks on Books
I shared Amelie's Big Mistake (Flash Fiction) on Me, My Shelf, and I
I nominated my picks for the best Evangeline actresses on PBC's FB Page
I shared Caden's transformation (Flash Fiction) on WovenMyst
I've also given away several ebook copies of Asylum, a print copy, and several bookmarks.
All in all, a good week! Make sure you follow along next week. There will be several interviews (including one with your favorite canine), the Asylum soundtrack, more actor picks, and giveaways!
Kathleen
January 1, 2012
It's the Eve of the Asylum tour launch!
Happy New Year to all!
Here we go again... :-) Tomorrow marks the start of the Asylum book tour and I've been busy getting ready! I survived my first Vlog today. It was a two day ordeal. It began with nice hair and a pretty shirt (I was going out for New Years Eve afterwards). Unfortunately, the webcam on my lap top is crappy and the microphone gives off a high-pitched sound so the video ended up looking like a badly dubbed foreign film. After a temper tantrum and a few too many glasses of wine, I decided to redo the whole thing this morning with my video camera. It went off without a hitch until I went to download it to my computer and realized the cables are missing... As much as I wanted to curl up into a ball and suck my thumb, I refused to let basic technology defeat me. So, I borrowed another web cam and tried AGAIN. Third time's a charm! I'm less put-together but at least I took out my pony tail and you can't see my stretchy pants :-) You can catch the Vlog on my first stop tomorrow at Magical Urban Fantasy Reads (or tonight at 12:00am EST). Try not to laugh too hard at me...:-)
Also, I may as well let you know... ASYLUM is NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon and Smashwords!!! I was so worried that the holidays would delay processing that I uploaded the ecopies a few days early. I was going to keep it quiet until tomorrow/Tuesday however some of you sneaky monkeys have already been on and downloaded ecopies so I figured I should share the news with the rest of you :-) It will take another week or two to be available on B&N, Apple, and Sony, due to the distribution process through Smashwords. Until then, you can download the version you require directly through Smashwords! So GO! grab your copy. It is priced at $2.99. Even if you're not planning on reading it right away (what? seriously? that's crazy-talk), a concentration of purchases within a short period of time will boost Asylum's ranking on the Amazon charts.
AND, Anathema is on for free right now. If you haven't read it yet, now's your chance!
Looking forward to this month! I hope you all enjoy the stops :-)
Kathleen
Here we go again... :-) Tomorrow marks the start of the Asylum book tour and I've been busy getting ready! I survived my first Vlog today. It was a two day ordeal. It began with nice hair and a pretty shirt (I was going out for New Years Eve afterwards). Unfortunately, the webcam on my lap top is crappy and the microphone gives off a high-pitched sound so the video ended up looking like a badly dubbed foreign film. After a temper tantrum and a few too many glasses of wine, I decided to redo the whole thing this morning with my video camera. It went off without a hitch until I went to download it to my computer and realized the cables are missing... As much as I wanted to curl up into a ball and suck my thumb, I refused to let basic technology defeat me. So, I borrowed another web cam and tried AGAIN. Third time's a charm! I'm less put-together but at least I took out my pony tail and you can't see my stretchy pants :-) You can catch the Vlog on my first stop tomorrow at Magical Urban Fantasy Reads (or tonight at 12:00am EST). Try not to laugh too hard at me...:-)
Also, I may as well let you know... ASYLUM is NOW AVAILABLE on Amazon and Smashwords!!! I was so worried that the holidays would delay processing that I uploaded the ecopies a few days early. I was going to keep it quiet until tomorrow/Tuesday however some of you sneaky monkeys have already been on and downloaded ecopies so I figured I should share the news with the rest of you :-) It will take another week or two to be available on B&N, Apple, and Sony, due to the distribution process through Smashwords. Until then, you can download the version you require directly through Smashwords! So GO! grab your copy. It is priced at $2.99. Even if you're not planning on reading it right away (what? seriously? that's crazy-talk), a concentration of purchases within a short period of time will boost Asylum's ranking on the Amazon charts.
AND, Anathema is on for free right now. If you haven't read it yet, now's your chance!
Looking forward to this month! I hope you all enjoy the stops :-)
Kathleen
December 30, 2011
Get ready for the Asylum Twitter Party!
Next week is the release of ASYLUM, Causal Enchantment Series, book #2!
To celebrate, Two Chicks on Books is hosting a Twitter party with me next Tuesday, January 3rd!! What do you need to know?
Time: 7pm-8pm EST (4pm-5pm Pacific)
Check in hashtag #AsylumParty
Co-hosts (make sure you follow all three of us on Twitter in order!):
me! (@kathleenatucker)
Jaime (@arnoldjaime13)
Patricia (@1of2chicksonbks)
Come join us! We'll be giving away ebooks and bookmarks of Asylum away :-) We don't need to give ebooks of Anathema out because they're ALREADY FREE on Kindle, Nook, Apple, Sony, and Smashwords. GO GRAB your copy TODAY!
See you on Twitter on Tuesday!
Kathleen
To celebrate, Two Chicks on Books is hosting a Twitter party with me next Tuesday, January 3rd!! What do you need to know?
Time: 7pm-8pm EST (4pm-5pm Pacific)
Check in hashtag #AsylumParty
Co-hosts (make sure you follow all three of us on Twitter in order!):
me! (@kathleenatucker)
Jaime (@arnoldjaime13)
Patricia (@1of2chicksonbks)
Come join us! We'll be giving away ebooks and bookmarks of Asylum away :-) We don't need to give ebooks of Anathema out because they're ALREADY FREE on Kindle, Nook, Apple, Sony, and Smashwords. GO GRAB your copy TODAY!
See you on Twitter on Tuesday!
Kathleen
December 26, 2011
Critics, Trolls, and the Hokey Pokey
Happy Boxing Day to you all! I hope your holidays were fabulous and that you can relax this coming week. I know that I plan on it :-)
Today, I feel the need to voice my position on the topic of 'bad reviews'. All authors will do it at some point in their career. I haven't thus far. I am doing it now.
No author can claim world domination when it comes to people loving their books. Shakespeare couldn't do it; Stephen King can't do it; even J.K. Rowling has haters. More importantly, no author - short of the delusional ones - expects it. We just hope to find our fan club, those people who do appreciate our style and our imagination and will follow us as we live out our dream. If that fan club happens to be millions of people, that's always ideal :-) But the world is made of many billion people and those billions have extremely different tastes in subject matter, in style, in genre, in...the list goes on.
I definitely don't expect everyone to love my writing style or my books. I expect some will hate it. I don't write for those people. I write for the people who can't put my books down, who send me messages, ask when the next is coming out, who thoroughly enjoy my style. I do hope that the ratio of people who love my books vs. the ones who don't is heavily skewed toward the positive :-)
So what do I do when I receive a bad rating/review? First, I remind myself that all authors - even the best-sellers - have haters. I believe there are actual "I hate Stephenie Meyer" clubs. Wow. Imagine how popular you have to be to have a club like that? :-)
The next step depends on what I'm looking at. If it's simply a low rating without a review, I ignore. That reader is not my target audience. If it's a bad review, I will read it to see if there are any valuable comments made. Sometimes the critique is driven by the reader not understanding something about the story. That's when I ask myself if this is something I can develop further in the next book or if it is something subtle that the reader didn't catch.
Most of the time, the critique is driven by the reader not appreciating my style. What does that mean? They are not my target audience. It sucks that my book didn't 'do it' for them but I still love my story and I wouldn't change it.
And then... I move on, to writing my stories for my target audience, getting them edited by my amazing editor who I adore and who keeps me grammatically correct. Simple. :-)
Now, what inspired me to write this blog post? Trolls. Not the kind that live under bridges - though I wonder if perhaps this variety of trolls belong there as well. I'm talking about the people who go around, giving poor ratings for books on Amazon and Goodreads without reading the novel for the sole purpose of hurting that person's ratings (these ratings are VERY important for readers choosing their next book). These trolls typically hide behind 'private profiles' or pseudo names and pictures. When I first heard of this special breed of human, I was shocked. How pitiful does a person need to be, how sad is their life?
But I hadn't knowingly experienced it...until today. How do I know? Because Asylum hasn't released yet and I have a 1 rating from someone. The only people who have copies of Asylum are my bloggers and they have more class than to 'rate and hide'. Maybe the blogger passed on the ARC to a friend or family member. If they did, I know it wouldn't be random. They would expect that person to at least mildly enjoy if not love the story.
What can I do now? Nothing. There's nothing I can do except stew for a little while and then eat some Hokey Pokey ice cream in bed while I hope my target audience enjoys Asylum as much as they did Anathema, when it's actually released... next week.
Thanks for reading my rant. The ice cream is gone and I feel much better :-)
Happy Holidays!
Kathleen
Today, I feel the need to voice my position on the topic of 'bad reviews'. All authors will do it at some point in their career. I haven't thus far. I am doing it now.
No author can claim world domination when it comes to people loving their books. Shakespeare couldn't do it; Stephen King can't do it; even J.K. Rowling has haters. More importantly, no author - short of the delusional ones - expects it. We just hope to find our fan club, those people who do appreciate our style and our imagination and will follow us as we live out our dream. If that fan club happens to be millions of people, that's always ideal :-) But the world is made of many billion people and those billions have extremely different tastes in subject matter, in style, in genre, in...the list goes on.
I definitely don't expect everyone to love my writing style or my books. I expect some will hate it. I don't write for those people. I write for the people who can't put my books down, who send me messages, ask when the next is coming out, who thoroughly enjoy my style. I do hope that the ratio of people who love my books vs. the ones who don't is heavily skewed toward the positive :-)
So what do I do when I receive a bad rating/review? First, I remind myself that all authors - even the best-sellers - have haters. I believe there are actual "I hate Stephenie Meyer" clubs. Wow. Imagine how popular you have to be to have a club like that? :-)
The next step depends on what I'm looking at. If it's simply a low rating without a review, I ignore. That reader is not my target audience. If it's a bad review, I will read it to see if there are any valuable comments made. Sometimes the critique is driven by the reader not understanding something about the story. That's when I ask myself if this is something I can develop further in the next book or if it is something subtle that the reader didn't catch.
Most of the time, the critique is driven by the reader not appreciating my style. What does that mean? They are not my target audience. It sucks that my book didn't 'do it' for them but I still love my story and I wouldn't change it.
And then... I move on, to writing my stories for my target audience, getting them edited by my amazing editor who I adore and who keeps me grammatically correct. Simple. :-)
Now, what inspired me to write this blog post? Trolls. Not the kind that live under bridges - though I wonder if perhaps this variety of trolls belong there as well. I'm talking about the people who go around, giving poor ratings for books on Amazon and Goodreads without reading the novel for the sole purpose of hurting that person's ratings (these ratings are VERY important for readers choosing their next book). These trolls typically hide behind 'private profiles' or pseudo names and pictures. When I first heard of this special breed of human, I was shocked. How pitiful does a person need to be, how sad is their life?
But I hadn't knowingly experienced it...until today. How do I know? Because Asylum hasn't released yet and I have a 1 rating from someone. The only people who have copies of Asylum are my bloggers and they have more class than to 'rate and hide'. Maybe the blogger passed on the ARC to a friend or family member. If they did, I know it wouldn't be random. They would expect that person to at least mildly enjoy if not love the story.
What can I do now? Nothing. There's nothing I can do except stew for a little while and then eat some Hokey Pokey ice cream in bed while I hope my target audience enjoys Asylum as much as they did Anathema, when it's actually released... next week.
Thanks for reading my rant. The ice cream is gone and I feel much better :-)
Happy Holidays!
Kathleen
