Christina Bauer's Blog, page 70
June 28, 2016
CONCEALED COVER REVEAL DAY
As a Grand Mistress Necromancer, Elea commands the ultimate power over spirit and bone… Magick that she’ll need in order to rescue her friends from the evil Vicomte Gaspard. In a matter of days, Gaspard will kill thousands of Necromancers by draining their magick, along with their life force.
To find and free her fellow mages, Elea must venture into some of the most dangerous places in the realm. What starts off as a rescue quest could easily turn into a suicide mission. And with the handsome mage Rowan along to help, Elea may be risking more than her life. Her growing feelings for Rowan might put her heart on the line, too.
And here’s the cover:
And here is the full cover. Say it with me. Oooooh! Aaaaaaaaaaah!
CONCEALED is the sequel to CURSED and is available for pre-order at the following retailers. The title will go live on October 25, 2016.
iBooks
Amazon
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
Guess what? since you read this far, you get a special treat. I have another cover reveal coming up for the ANGELBOUND series, and this one is in July! If you’re a blogger or social media maven, you can sign up here:
The post CONCEALED COVER REVEAL DAY appeared first on Ink Monster.
CONCEALED COVER REVEAL DAY!
As a Grand Mistress Necromancer, Elea commands the ultimate power over spirit and bone… Magick that she’ll need in order to rescue her friends from the evil Vicomte Gaspard. In a matter of days, Gaspard will kill thousands of Necromancers by draining their magick, along with their life force.
To find and free her fellow mages, Elea must venture into some of the most dangerous places in the realm. What starts off as a rescue quest could easily turn into a suicide mission. And with the handsome mage Rowan along to help, Elea may be risking more than her life. Her growing feelings for Rowan might put her heart on the line, too.
And here’s the cover:
And here is the full cover. Say it with me. Oooooh! Aaaaaaaaaaah!
CONCEALED is the sequel to CURSED and is available for pre-order at the following retailers. The title will go live on October 25, 2016.
iBooks
Amazon
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
Guess what? since you read this far, you get a special treat. I have another cover reveal coming up for the ANGELBOUND series, and this one is in July! If you’re a blogger or social media maven, you can sign up here:
The post CONCEALED COVER REVEAL DAY! appeared first on Ink Monster.
June 21, 2016
June 16, 2016
Want to see the rest of this cover?
Are you a blogger, reviewer, or just someone who loves books and has a social media account? Go you! And do you want to reveal one of the coolest covers in the history of ever? Thought so! Now, sign up here for the cover reveal for CONCEALED, the second book in the Beholder Series.
Here’s what the book is about:
As a Grand Mistress Necromancer, Elea commands the ultimate power over spirit and bone… Magick that she’ll need in order to rescue her friends from the evil Vicomte Gaspard. In a matter of days, Gaspard will kill thousands of Necromancers by draining their magick, along with their very life force.
To find and free her fellow mages, Elea must venture into some of the most dangerous places in the realm. What starts off as a rescue quest could easily turn into a suicide mission. And with the handsome mage Rowan along to help, Elea may be risking more than her life. Her growing feelings for Rowan might put her heart on the line, too…
CONCEALED is the sequel to CURSED. Check out how sweet that cover was!
And here’s an even bigger preview of the itsy-bitsy-cover-slice that I inserted above, just because I can’t stop sharing it!
Oooooh! An eye!
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up now!
Life is too short not to be the first in sharing pretty-pretty things 
The post Want to see the rest of this cover? appeared first on Ink Monster.
June 8, 2016
June 2, 2016
Book Review: WRONG & RIGHT by Jana Aston
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Book Review: Wrong & Right by Jana Aston
The post Book Review: Wrong & Right by Jana Aston appeared first on Ink Monster.
May 28, 2016
Thoughts on… Blizzards and Buffalo, NY
In other words, here’s what you really need to know about blizzards and Buffalonians…
1. See this? It’s no excuse not to do anything.
Actual pic from actual Buffalo Blizzard. Notice the tire tracks.
Most people don’t drive in a blizzard. Not in Buffalo. Back home, you not only drive through the wall of snow, but you don’t make a big deal about it. “I got off the thruway before they shut it down” is said with the same sang-froid as Sam Shephard quipping “that was a close call” after walking away from the exploded wreckage of his latest test plane.
You don’t whine. That’s for pussies. You get to where you’re going, on time, and you don’t make a big deal about it. Welcome to Buffalo.
2. There’s no need to play ‘fast and furious’ on the highway. There are already plenty of chances for high-risk auto adventures.
Check out the pic below. In it, someone shut down a highway so some BMWs could drag race. This shit doesn’t happen in Buffalo.
Looking for a thrill in somewhere, USA.
I now live in Boston, home of the ‘masshole’ driver. Why the lack of dickish driving back home? Here’s my take, for what it’s worth. No one in Buffalo is looking for a highway thrill because we spend months–I’m talking months, people–driving on ice, fighting it when the car fishtails. This is some serious shit and requires well-nigh super-human skillz.
And what do you do when you slip on the ice?
::: Say it with me, fellow Buffalonians :::
You turn into that shit. Face it head on, retake control, and still make it to school before the first bell. Boom.
Fishtailing in action. Fun!
So, when you play ‘ice road trucker’ for months on end, methinks that drag racing loses some of its appeal. Did I mention that you’re looked at as a pussy if you complain about all the ice when you get to work? Well, you are.
3. Blizzards mean creating snow forts that would make an Inuit gasp in admiration.
My personal favorite blizzard was the Blizzard of 77. It had it all. Terrible white-outs. A massive ice storm. Schools that actually closed down, which never happens.
And it was when my sibs and I built the snow fort to kill all snow forts.
We had a massive drift that ran all the way up our house. As a result, the fort entry point was the second-floor bathroom window. Way cool. The fort itself was even better. The thing was a veritable warren with multiple rooms, at least two floors, and a snowball storage area (I added that). I couldn’t even find a pic that came close to the greatness of our creation, but this should give you an idea.
More a ramp than a fort, but what do you expect when you’re not in Buffalo?
So, there you have it, folks…
Buffalo, NY…
Where the blizzards only serve to make us badass.
:::mic drop and exit:::
Like how I pontificate about random stuff?
Check out these blog posts:
Where to find great books
Boston
Shit I Swore to Do When I Grew Up
On being a chick who does shtick
Why Alan Lee is Awesome
Which Lord of the Rings is Best?
3 Reasons Why Tolkien Is The Bomb
Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia
An open letter to the French guy I met in Geneva, Switzerland
I have a thing for William Powell
An Open Letter to My Brain
Fav Pics of Kick-Ass Chicks Doing Kick-Ass Stuff
The post Thoughts on… Blizzards and Buffalo, NY appeared first on Ink Monster.
May 19, 2016
Answering this question changed my life.
Here goes….
“You’re in a boat on a lake. What’s the first thing you notice?”
Got your answer in mind? Good.
WTF is this?
The idea here is that the human brain has one way of primarily processing the world. You’re either visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Answering this question helps put you in one of the three buckets. With that in mind, here are the most common responses and what they mean…
The sun, sky or something similar.
This means that your primary way of taking in the world is visual. 60% of humans think this way, which makes sense since about a third of your brain is dedicated to processing visual information.
The sensation of the boat rocking on the water.
This means your primary way of taking in the world is kinesthetic/feelings. This is 30% of the world, including my husband. He gives great hugs.
The sound of the water lapping against the side of the coat.
If you got this, your primary way of taking in the world is auditory. This is 10% of the population, including yours truly. I tell this story when I’m getting to know someone as a friend, and-or to kill time as a bar trick. At this point in the question-reveal process, I usually get asked a few questions, so I thought I’d throw them in here, in case you have them, too.
Really? Are you kidding?
No, I am not kidding. The sound of that water… that’s what I get, every time. In fact, as shocked as some of you may be that I’m focusing on the water? That’s how floored I was when I learned that most of the world looked at the sun or something.
How did you take that test?
My father was a business consultant and this question was one of the measures he used to tell if someone was aligned to the right job or not.
The test stuck with me and got me interested in the other 90% of the world. Mostly, I’ve tried to understand more of the visual thinkers because that’s what our culture is mostly about. So, I’ve taken drawing classes and followed art and design. My default is to care about the story behind the artist, how it fits into other stories, and what the image is trying to say, but I’ve learned about line, color, and balance, too. All in all, I can bend myself a bit, but there are limits. At the end of the day, everything is a story for me. For example, I have a hard time sharing pictures of my food for this reason. No story there. It looks good. Meh. Boring.
I like pics like the one below. Here, my dog Ruby is glaring at me because I couldn’t find her leash and strapped her up with one of my husband’s belts again. Story time!
And there’s a challenge to being auditory, too. That belt pic sums it up. If doing something moves the story ahead, I do it. In the pic above, I grabbed a belt because it got the job done. I honestly don’t give a crap if it looks weird. Some people think that’s awesome. Others don’t. This used to bug me, but one of the great things about being over forty is that my ‘give a fuck’ meter is almost always close to zero. Yay aging!
So why share all this? Hopefully, my little question gave you something to add to your personal story as well. For better or worse, that’s what I care about
The post Answering this question changed my life. appeared first on Ink Monster.
May 10, 2016
Thoughts On… How to Instantly Feel Better
Ready to feel better? Let’s begin.
Feel Kick-Ass Video #1: Meditation
Now, before you dismiss this option as hippy-dippy bullshit, look at the title: F*ck That: An Honest Meditation. How can you not watch this?
Video #2: Torn Interpretive Dance
I love how serious the performer is in the video. It makes me laugh, but also reminds me that, ultimately, whatever I’m stressing about probably deserves the same amount of intense focus as Natalie Imbruglia, which is to say, not too much.
Videos 3 and 4: The Grape Lady
Ever heard of Schadenfreude? It’s the phenomenon of deriving pleasure from witnessing the pain of others. It’s a horrible-terrible thing, and I feel very very guilty that this video of a woman falling down on daytime television (and then having the incident turned into a music video) always makes me feel better.
This is the actual falling video:
And here’s the music video that someone made out of it:
Now, doesn’t your day seem a little better… Even if it’s filled with a tad more guilt?
Thought so.
Like how I pontificate about random stuff?
Check out these blog posts:
Where to find great books
Boston
Shit I Swore to Do When I Grew Up
On being a chick who does shtick
Why Alan Lee is Awesome
Which Lord of the Rings is Best?
3 Reasons Why Tolkien Is The Bomb
Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia
An open letter to the French guy I met in Geneva, Switzerland
I have a thing for William Powell
An Open Letter to My Brain
Fav Pics of Kick-Ass Chicks Doing Kick-Ass Stuff
The post Thoughts On… How to Instantly Feel Better appeared first on Ink Monster.
