Magan Vernon's Blog, page 42

A Winner and a Reveal!

The winner of the "Name my Character" contest is Victoria ! Victoria send me an email at authormagan@gmail with what format you prefer and I will send you some Ecopies!

She chose the name Laine, And then I thought, "I like Laney." So now we have a Laney! You won't know about her until book 3, but let me tell you she is a good character!

Also? The highly anticipated cover for How to Break up with an Alien is over on The Indelibles blog.

I think it is beautiful :) My cover designer CAMarshall is AMAZING.

I'm not ready to give out a preview of How to Break up with an Alien yet, so here is another tidbit of Life, Love, & Lemons.

Happy Monday:

"Evans, go out and finish sweeping out on the floor while Kai finishes up by the register." Jason ordered with his nasally voice."Um, can't I do it later once everyone leaves?" I muttered, twisting my fingers in my belt loops.He handed me the broom with one hand and started easing me out to the floor with the other. "You can let them know it's time to leave while you're out there sweeping."I was completely mortified and my entire body shook. I started sweeping as far from their booth as possible and went as slow as I could. Hoping that maybe by the time that I got there that they would have been done and gone. Of course I could only be so lucky."Oh look at that, the princess has got to sweep." Jake laughed as Taylor joined in.I didn't look up at them, but I could feel their eyes burning holes into my back."Hey guys, the lobby is going to be closing in about ten minutes so if you would be able to finish up that would be great." I muttered as I tried not to look them in the eye."Yeah, uh huh." Taylor pretended to listen as she tightened her grip on Jake's arm."Oh shit Brett what happened to your shake." Just as I looked over, Jake took Brett's almost completely full shake cup and dumped it all over the ground. My eyes couldn't have gotten any wider as I just stared. "Um, hey do you mind cleaning that up?" Taylor tapped her nails on the table.I didn't know what to do and I couldn't speak, so I did the only thing that I knew to do; I grabbed the broom and ran to the back room to cry.

The Friday Five: LoLCat additon

Have you missed my weekly blogs? Well I thought you would like a little bit of an update, courtesy of LoLcats.

1.)I have been pretty busy working on edits for both Life, Love, & Lemons and How to Break up with an Alien, so...yeah.


2.) T-Rex and I are currently getting bid so we can build an office in our basement. I think he is just sick of me taking over every space with my sticky notes for scenes and putting my laptop on his desk.


3.) I'm back on Weight Watchers. Five pounds lost so far, but I'm hoping to lose another twenty. You would think that gaining fifty pounds with a pregnancy would just cause a fifty pound baby to pop out and I'd lose it all!


4.) I think everyone thinks since I'm published and that other Indie authors have hit it big, that I'm rolling in it. Truth be told, I'm not rolling in it. But atleast I know I have some fans and that you will all still buy my books :)


5.) On Monday March 12th there will be a big reveal of the How to Break up with an Alien cover on the Indelibles blog. Keep watching.

Writerly Wednesday: Life, Love, & Lemons

So it MAY not be completely ready to publish yet, but just for you all I'm going to give you a sneak peak at the first chapter of Life, Love, & Lemons.  This may change as the publishing date looms near, but I can give you atleast a little tidbit for now.


[image error]
When life hands you lemons sometimes you just have to say screw the lemons and bail. This really shouldn't be me, driving through my beautiful maple lined neighborhood with sprawling brick homes, to a two bedroom apartment off one of the busiest streets in town. Goodbye private schools and designer purses; hello public school and part-time job.This all started six months ago when dad got laid off from his job. I never thought that a big company would lay off so many engineers and that one of those engineers would be dad. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if mom wasn't anything more than a housewife and a really bad one. During the last six months, dad spent every second on the couch feeling sorry for himself and mom spent that time going out to lunch. I really shouldn't have been surprised when my parents told me that our house was in foreclosure and we would be moving.I really wondered what my family must look like from the outside. Before dad's lay off everything was perfect. Mom didn't need to work, Dad brought home the paychecks, and I spent my time being the glowing St. Christopher's honor roll student. But now I was just another public school student working at a fast food joint. Yeah that's right, public school and fast food. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. I searched for months for some kind of a mall job, but even though I practically maxed out my credit card at half the stores, they still wanted someone with experience and I had absolutely none. Which means I wasn't exactly looking forward to my orientation at Burgers'R'Us, but I would rather look stupid in a hairnet than not be able to afford college. And I knew I would need something, because by the looks of the new apartment we pulled up to, it definitely wasn't a place I wanted to stay at for too long."Well this is nice." Dad tried to squeak out a smile as he stepped out of his SUV.Mom peered over her obnoxiously large sunglasses. The look on her face said that she obviously was not impressed with the old brick building."And just look at this courtyard!" Dad started walking to the little area of green space that led up to the apartment building. Unlike our old house with blossoming trees and new flowers, half-dead grass and cheap lawn ornaments welcomed us to the apartment complex."Yeah I'm sure this is the perfect spot for a gang gathering or a shoot out," my voice dripped with sarcasm. I wheeled a suitcase out of my Mini Cooper and tried not to let the wheels get caught on every pothole in the parking lot. Dad just smiled as mom rolled her eyes. Ever since dad got laid off he'd become even more of a pansy. It was like when they took his job they also took his manhood and all he could do was roll over and take whatever came to him."Alright, whatever, let's see this place before I go to work," I sighed.Mom muttered something under her breath about my father not being able to provide, but I couldn't understand exactly what it was and I'm sure that it was meant only for dad to hear. Sometimes I actually felt bad for my dad. It wasn't like he meant to get laid off and mom's cynicism did not help. He did lose his job, but it wasn't like she couldn't find work. She just chose not to. We walked down a tiny hallway with wood paneled walls and very outdated, shag carpet. I thought I would gag from the over powering smell of different ethnic cooking, but lucky for me, dad opened the door to our apartment before I choked to death."Now this is just temporary girls. Once I get my job back we'll go looking for a new a house, a better house in fact."This was the most positive I had seen dad in months, so I tried to smile, but it fizzled at the sight of the tiny apartment. Outdated yellow kitchen that was no bigger than my old bathroom, living room with scalloped white walls and horribly scratchy beige carpet, and the two small bedrooms and even smaller bathroom weren't big enough for a family of ants."Wow...it's…really.." I couldn't even think of what to say. The tears failed to impede my eyes. This wasn't our beautiful four bedroom house, and this was my new.Of course my mother couldn't hide things as well as I could."This is just awful! How am I supposed to entertain in this dump? Marcus, can't you call the bank again? I'm sure there is something they can do to stop our house from going into foreclosure!"Dad just looked down. The sweat dripped off of his receding hairline. He was like a sad puppy. Mom didn't even seem to care. I almost think that she liked him being beat down. Instead of waiting for him to respond she stomped over the horrible carpet, over the linoleum and toward the door."Where are you going?" Dad called after her."Out!"  She slammed the door behind her with a few faint chips falling to the ground as a result of it. She did that a lot lately. I'm not sure where she went, but it always seems to be after my parents start talking about our financial situation."Well…" Dad turned toward me with that pathetic look still plastered on his face. "I guess it's just you and me tonight, Bentley."     "Uh…actually I have work you know and then it's Brett's annual back to school party, so like I was just going to lay out for a bit before work and then head over thereafter." "Okay. I guess I can try and hook up the TV and order in a pizza by myself." He stared at me, his eyebrows raised with that same sad puppy face plastered on. I couldn't miss Brett's party. It was bad enough that I wasn't going back to St. Christopher's, but I knew I would lose even more of my friends if I stopped hanging out with them. Ugh who knows what kind of people I would meet in the Rocktown public schools?

Pop culture references in writing

I know, I know I always say that I HATE when pop culture references are made in books. With that said, one would also notice that my books do contain alot of pop culture reference.

 It was brought to my attention by one of my critique partners *ahemKelseyKetchahem* that I do note some things that aren't exactlly relevant to everyone.  Now I could tell you all to google them, or I could just show you some of them now.


 The Graduate  Are you trying to Seduce me Mrs. Robinson? This classic line was uttered in this film that was made WAY before I was born, but I'm always a sucker for Dustin Hoffman. If you haven't seen the movie you should probably rent it,  you may actually get scenes in a few more modern movies (ala the pounding on the glass while the wedding of someone else is going on downstairs).









James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause- Seriously, the epitome of cool. Even if you don't know who he is, you've seen his picture. The black leather jacket, blonde hair, smiling as he leans over the car door. Okay, so maybe you all don't know who he is, but here is a fact. James Dean starred in the movie Rebel without a Cause and shortly after lost his life in a deadly car crash. Forever he will be immortalized as the car driving rebel without a cause.


Marlon Brando- Before Marlon Brando was The GodFather with grapes stuffed in his mouth he was the beautiful bad boy in A Streetcar Named Desire. When people scream, 'STELLA,' that is his famous scene from that movie. Learned something knew didn't you?



Office and a Gentleman- I like Richard Geere, he is in the same league as Dustin Hoffman for me. He did this movie 'An officer and a Gentleman.' He was the gentleman. One of the most iconic scenes in the movie is when he is standing in the rain and says "I've got nowhere else to goooooooo." My college roommate used to say that to me all the time and I loved her for it.

Any other references that make absolutely no sense to you any my books? Any old Hollywood movies that you love? Anyone see Tootsie?

Dream Cast-How to Date an Alien

One of the questions that I get asked alot is, "If How to Date an Alien were to be made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?"

Well today I'm going to tell you!  And show pictures!

Alex Bianchi- played by Vanessa Marano


Ace played by Adam Lambert


Alex's Dad - Christopher Meloni
 

Jen played by Aimee Teegarden


Gavin played by James Maslow


Riley played by Paula Brancati


The Queen played by Katy Perry

If I were a character in Kiersten White's PARANORMALCY series...

Over here Kiersten White is having a contest for a signed ARC of the third book in her Paranormalcy trilogy.

I know, I know, it has been awhile since I've done some sort of contest thing, but I figured this one was perfect..

If I were in Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series, the paranormal character I would be is...
[image error]
A unicorn!

You thought I would be an alien, didn't you?  There actually aren't any aliens in this series by Kiersten, but I actually do believe there are some hidden throughout the book. (Oh come on, like you didn't KNOW the gym teacher was from Venus!)

But since aliens are real, I would have to go with the paranormal unicorn. Why?

WHY THE HECK NOT?

They poop rainbows, their horns are the only thing that can kill an evil goblin, and they always have awesome hair.

What paranormal creature would you be? Did you KNOW that the gym teacher AND the History teacher are aliens?

Name a character

While I work on revisions to Life, Love, & Lemons and How to Break up with an Alien I am also drafting Alien book #3. (Title will be announced this summer).

But I need all of your help!

There is a new girl in book three, a new character that is VERY important to the story line.

Here is what you need to know about her:

She is eighteen
Enviornmentally concious
Short, cropped hair
Vegan
prefers the company of women

I actually picture her to kind of look like this.



Here is the deal:  You come up with a name for this character and I give you an Ecopy of How to Date an Alien and an E-ARC of Life, Love, & Lemons and an E-ARC of How to Break up with an Alien (you wont get this one until May, but it will be worth your while)

So come on come up with some names!

Guest Post: Inventing the Future: Technology-Susan Kaye Quinn

Sometimes I'm asked if I use my engineering background (Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, worked for NASA, studied global warming) in my stories. The answer is, of course, YES! But I also use my background as a wife and mother, bike rider and cake baker. I think writers put bits of themselves in their stories—it's hard not to. But my techie background does come in handy when dreaming up gadgets and technology for the future.
In my paranormal/SF teen novel Open Minds, I fast forwarded the world nearly a hundred years, to give time for the evolution of mindreading (and mindjacking) to occur. But the world didn't stand still in that time. We certainly wouldn't have the same cars or computers or phones, but how can you know what the future will look like?
Sometimes I can barely figure out what tomorrow will bring.
I started out by looking at the past. What had changed in the last 100 years? What did the world look like in the 1910's? I could expect similarly large changes to happen going forward (probably more so). In the 1910's, refrigerators were invented and Ford christened their moving assembly lines. We had tanks and machine guns that required 4-6 people to run them. We fought a war with U-boats (submarines) and aeroplanes (airplanes). Much was different, but much was the same.I tried to keep a different but same flavor in the future world of Open Minds.
I envisioned phones would still be around—they're handy—but they would get exponentially cooler. With the world becoming filled with mindreaders, I pictured an exodus of people from crowded cities for the suburbs and countryside, where they could spread out and escape each other's thoughts. Range (thought-wave-range) ordinances would spring up to enforce the separation that would keep society civil. A sprawling metropolis of well-spaced dwellings would require extensive public transportation, something that could be reasonably accomplished in a hundred year time span.
The engineering came in handy for dreaming up taxicabs with programmable autopaths and mindware interfaces. But I feel like I'm running out of room as the world catches up with the e-readers I put into the story just two years ago! The risk of science fiction is always that science fact will show you up.
I'm currently writing Closed Hearts (Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy) and having more fun with gadgets and technology. If you've read Open Minds, you know the changes are just beginning, and some of those Book Two changes will be in the technology as well. Time to study up on my neuroscience …
*********************When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can't read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can't be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf's mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she's dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her. Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy ) by Susan Kaye Quinn is available for $2.99 in e-book (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords) and $9.99 in print (Amazon).

First campaign challenge-The visitor

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, "Shadows crept across the wall". These five words will be included in the word count. 

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:
end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count) include the word "orange" in the story write in the same genre you normally write make your story 200 words exactly!

Shadows crept across the wall, followed by a blinding flash of orange. I shielded my eyes from the bright light, but the blinding rays managed to peak through my fingers."Are you the chosen one?" A voice no higher than a mouse's squeak came from the light.I removed my hands to see a tiny orange creature that looked half fish and half shitzu standing in the middle of the light."Uh, maybe?" I put my hand back up, trying not to blind myself by the bright orange rays, making shadow puppets on my bedroom walls.The creature leaned in, squinting it's bug eyes before it opened it's mouth. "Oh jeebus," he shook his head and bits of orange goop flew onto the walls."Is something wrong?" I wasn't a stranger to the paranormal, but I wasn't use to little orange creatures with bright lights coming into my room in the middle of the night.He sighed, "I think I beamed into the wrong room. Can you point me toward Meadowbrook drive?""Um, yeah, it is up a few blocks and a left at the first stop sign."He wiped his brow," Oh good, Thanks!"And with that everything faded.

W.O.W Challenge

[image error] Are you waiting on a new contemporary novel?

Maybe?

Maybe?

How about winning this novel as en Ebook PLUS an autographed paperback of How to Date an Alien and an E-ARC of How to Break up with an Alien?

I'm giving away all three!

What do you have to do?

Just add Life, Live, & Lemons to your Waiting on Wednesday, link back to this post and comment on it and you will be automatically entered to win!  (Note:  This is ANY Waiting on Wednesday up until Life, Love, & Lemon's release in April! You have almost two months worth of time to enter!)

For more info about this book and others, check out Good Reads!