Christina Bauer's Blog, page 71

The Description of Angelbound ACCA is Here!

OMG, I am so excited for this book, I can’t stand it. Angelbound Acca is coming and the description is below! It’s about Myla and Lincoln’s wedding and it takes place between Scala and Armageddon. Best of all, I wrote the danged thing because readers like you asked for it (as did Myla!) and I love feedback and teamwork. Woo hoo!

The title is now live on Amazon (and will be on everywhere else when they get their butts in gear ) and it launches on lucky December 13th of 2016. Check out the description below and let me know what you think!

Acca (Angelbound Origins 3)

In just one week, supernatural warrior Myla Lewis must discover enough evidence to send the evil House of Acca to prison… or she’ll end up in jail herself, along with her fiancé, Prince Lincoln. No pressure.

To gather proof, Myla and Lincoln go undercover at an all-girl’s high school on Earth. Lincoln acts as the new gym teacher; Myla becomes the school’s least popular transfer student ever. To stop them from getting the goods, Acca releases Hell on Earth. Literally. Good thing Myla and Lincoln aren’t afraid of a tough fight. This one promises to be the hardest yet. After all, who ever said high school wasn’t hell?

It seems like yesterday they had their first dance!

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Thoughts On… My Fav Images of Kick-Ass Chicks Doing Kick-Ass Stuff

I use Pinterest a ton. While my public boards show pictures related to already-released concepts, my hidden boards are for inspiration only. Of these, my favorite board is what I call ‘needs a home.’ That’s where the good stuff lives.

So, whenever I see a kick-ass chick or cool image that doesn’t fit into a world that I’m actively building—and I’m up to 18 right now, I think—then I throw it into ‘needs a home.’ For my blog post this week, I thought I’d share some of the kick-ass chicks whose images haunt me as they wait for me to give them a story ‘home.’ Take a look and see if they capture your imagination, too…

What a great image! Plus the American flag shawl and Che Guevara sticker? Genius. 

Badass in black and white.

Woodstock photo. I love the look on this girl’s face. 

How kick-ass is this? It’s one of those images that’s so arresting to see, and almost impossible to write. Still love it, though.

I love the play on a burka here. Not sure if it’s on purpose, but it works.

I want to be this woman when I grow up, end of story. 

I freaking adore this photo. I love the determination in the body language of the nun who is fighting, the way the guy she’s attacking looks terrified, and how the second nun has her hands clenched into fists, like she’s ready to jump in and help. Awesome.

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

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A note from Myla Lewis on my new book, Angelbound ACCA

Hey Humans,

Myla Lewis here, Great Scala and general kick-ass chick. Some of you have been following my exploits in the After-Realms as I dictate them to author Christina Bauer… thanks for that! CB does an amazing job writing about my life and I pay her in demon bars (that girl can EAT and I mean it in the best way).

That said, WTF is up with the no-story about my wedding? Sheesh. I gave her all the deets ages ago, but CB’s been all blah-blah-blah-I-have-a-life-blah-blah-blah so I sent Walker to Earth to talk some sense into her. Being a ghoul and all, Walker is crazy-tall and scary-motivating. Needless to say, CB is back to focusing on me again (finally!) and the book about my wedding—and all the fighting that went along with it—is due out in December 2016.

Do I always get my way? Why yes, yes I do

CB promises to send out more details next week—including a story summary—but in the meantime, here are some of the inspiration pics for my wedding gown, which will be front-and-center on the cover of ACCA. Sweet! I’m going to look so awesome, you won’t believe it.

Stay tuned, my friends! And CB: No demon bars until I see a first draft…

And so you can picture it in context….

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Oh yeah. This is going to be awesome.

The post A note from Myla Lewis on my new book, Angelbound ACCA appeared first on Ink Monster.

My Favorite Thing About SCALA Being FREE

For a limited time, SCALA is available at no charge from major retailers, like Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Woo hoo!
I got inspired to check out what folks liked most about SCALA, and here are some of the most highlighted passages from the electronic version of the book…

Want to geek out on other Angelbound stuff?

Check out the inspiration boards I made for all the characters!

Tempest
Portia
Maxon
Prince Lincoln
More Prince Lincoln featuring kissing
Xavier
Myla
Reperio Demons
The Furor
Ghouls
Igni
Archangels

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Heart, Mind, Soul, Body: The World of Beholder & CURSED

Folks have asked how I got my unique interpretation of Necromancy in my latest book, Cursed . Since I love answering your questions, here goes! I got my definition from one of the basic beliefs that drive my life, namely:

How The Hell I Came Up With This

I grew up Roman Catholic, which means that I spent my formative years inside one of the last surviving entities of the Middle Ages. There’s a lot good and bad about that, but that’s a post for another day (it’s here, if you’re interested.) In the Middle Ages, your life was not about your physical body. Like, at all. If anything, your body kept getting in the way of what was really important—your soul. I grew up thinking of my soul as a living thing that needed to be kept lovely and strong.

Now, this isn’t an easy concept to live by, especially while you’re living in a culture that’s laser-focused on physical beauty. Still, I had the advantage of knowing that our modern focus was a choice, nothing more. I knew that there were other options out there, and I got curious as to what different cultures valued. Over the years, I started categorizing the values I came across. In the end, I came up with the quote above. Anytime I wanted to invest energy in my body, I reminded myself that I needed to give equal time to my heart, mind, and soul. I started to wonder what it would be like if people got equally obsessed with all four. I decided that they’d probably all hate each other.

The world of Beholder was born.

In this universe, Necromancers value the pathway of the soul. They can summon ghosts and skeletons by carefully controlling energy of the past. They aren’t into raising the dead. Meanwhile, Creation Casters focus on emotion and heart. Their magick enables them to create new animals to do their bidding. The realm’s Royals have no magick; they follow the beauty of the mind, which is why they’re obsessed with machines. The Commoners don’t have any mage powers, either. Instead, they focus on the body, but only in the sense that they are farmers and must work hard to keep body and soul together. (If you’re interested, I wrote a post here which has some nice pictures and descriptions on how the magick stuff works.) Soul and heart have magick; the body and mind don’t. That was a conscious choice based on the nature of their energy and how ‘quantifiable’ they are, if that makes sense.

Our main character, Elea, starts off as a farmer and then trains to be a Necromancer. By the time the series is over, she’ll have experienced—and been changed by—each world. She’ll also have to make some big choices on how to balance these four opposing energies. If all goes as planned, she’ll be a new kind of Odysseus, on a journey that’s both modern and ancient. And because it’s my series and I love this kind of stuff, she’ll also have lots of fun, battles, and romance along the way. Huzzah!

Want to find out more about CURSED? Check out these posts:

The scrapbook of inspiration pics
My favorite quotes

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My Favorite Things About… #RT16

I just came back from my first Romantic Times conference and had a blast! You have no idea how rare that is for me. Normally, I hate leaving my family for any reason and mope like a mutha the entire time I’m gone, but here’s what I liked about this show…

Thing One. Kick Ass Chicks.

The Panel I presented on was staffed by an awesome group of ladies, namely Naleighna Kai, Rebecca Royce, and Kelly Peterson. They all also appreciate a bad-for-you breakfast, which we’d just finished before the pic was taken below:

Bad-for-you breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Thing Two. The Hotel Had a Chippendale’s

I’d visited the hotel years ago for my sister’s bachelorette. I posted one of the pics on her facebook page.

Make note of the bow tie, that’s important later.

Thing Three. My Husband Cracked Me Up

I fell in love with my husband on our first phone call, when his clever wit had me belly laughing for the first time in what felt like years. I shared that at the time and he sympathized, saying his life had been like a ‘German Expressionist play’ recently, too. More chuckles. When I posted the hunky guy to my Facebook page, this is what he wrote:

That sarcasm was worth the trip, right there. Matt teaches a class on how to properly tie a bow tie at MIT.

Thing Four. I Saw Lots of Cute Book Giveaway Stuff.

One of the awesome ladies I lunched with had this made of her book. Adorable, right?

Grabby hands!

Thing Five. I Got To Have A Real Dinner in Fake Italy With Kelly

Not only did I get to eat yummy food in ‘fake Italy’ (aka the Bellagio) with the lovely and talented Kelly Peterson from INscribe Digital, but we got our picture taken in fake Paris afterwards! Only in Vegas.

And not a selfie stick was used.

Want to see the super-cool content that we all shared on how to sell a ton of ebooks? Check out the deck here on SlideShare… and I hope to see you at the conference next year!

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Ink Monster Swag Bag at Romantic Times on Wednesday

Going to the Romantic Times Convention? Want FREE SIGNED COPIES of  Angelbound ,  Becoming Alpha , and  Quanta ? If you missed the YA Slumber Party Tuesday night, there’s still a chance to catch the SWAG BAG on Wednesday, April 12th, at my session on Author Branding stories!
Here are the books:

Here is the bag:

And this is the session!

See you there!

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The Ink Monster SWAG BAG is visiting the YA Spooky Slumber Party!

Going to the Romantic Times Convention? Want FREE SIGNED COPIES of Angelbound , Becoming Alpha , and Quanta ? Stop by the YA Slumber Party Tuesday night, April 12th in Room Brasilia 7 of the RIO All-Suites Hotel! I’ll be there at 10:30 PM sharp with my SWAG BAG on my shoulder!
Here are the books:

Here is the bag:

And this is the session!

See you there!

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Going to the Romantic Times Convention? Find me and get free stuff!

Next week, I’m off to my very first Romantic Times Convention in lovely Las Vegas!

And because I’m just that kind of crazy, I’m bringing along a SWAG BAG filled with signed copies of Angelbound, Becoming Alpha, and Quanta! To find out when and where I’ll be cracking out the SWAG BAG, follow the twitter feed for Inky (@InkyTheMonster ) and me (@CB_Bauer). We’ll announce a few hours before I show up somewhere!

And this is the session where I’ll be presenting! Should be super-helpful for authors.

And here’s the infamous SWAG BAG. Remember, we’ll announce where I’ll be with the SWAG BAG via the Twitter accounts for Inky and me (@InkyTheMonster ) and me (@CB_Bauer)

Hope to see you at RT with my SWAG BAG in hand!

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CB’s Blog: What I Love About Writing

This month, Ink Monster’s blog theme is to write about our Favorite Things. Lola kicked this off in style with a blog post about her greatest writing moments. Now, I’ll keep up the momentum by blogging about why I love writing…

Thing 1. When it comes to writing, I love being in the zone

This means two things to yours truly. First, there’s the awesomeness that happens when I’m writing and the words don’t come from me, they go through me, like I’m taking dictation from a greater being. Some part of my soul clicks into place, and that sensation is beyond amazing. Is there a writer’s high like there’s a runner’s high? There should be.

The second meaning is quite literal. In this case, I’m talking about my favorite writing spot, Starbucks. In the pic above, I’m opening up the place in summer

Thing 2. Signing books

It’s an honor that someone likes my work so much they want me to sign it. So, that part is sweet. But going to the post office? Not going to lie here. It sucks donkey dick, which is why it takes me ages to haul my ass over there. Apologies in advance if you’ve been victim to a late book!

Thing 3. Presenting at shows

This is me about to join a panel at Book Expo America in 2015. I love talking about writing and publishing, and public speaking gives me an excuse to wear my black leather pants and Blondie t-shirt, too! Huzzah!

Thing 4. Reading reviews

I love reviews, especially when someone calls me “Christina Muthafickin Bauer” like Jen did above. Thank you, Jen! Sure, I get my share of bad reviews, but I appreciate all the feedback that I receive.

:::coughs:::

Okay, that’s a total lie. When I get negative reviews, I go through the five stages of grief and eat lots of cookies. There, that feels better.

Thing 5. Pinterest!!!

I have a serious Pinterest problem. I make boards for all sorts of things, from characters to settings to clothing. Right now, I have fourteen unique worlds mapped out with more popping into my consciousness all the time. All day long, they rattle around my head and want out YESTERDAY. So if you like new worlds, then strap yourself in because it’s going to be a long and varied ride!

The only negative thing about Pinterest? When I get in the zone, Pinterest sends me warnings that I’m posting as fast as a bot and they take my login down for awhile. Bastards.

There you have it—my five fav things about being a writer. Hope you enjoyed this little trip inside my noggin because I have to stop blogging now and get back to you-know-what. Until next time!

Like how I talk about writing? Check out these blog posts:

Tips & tricks for world-building
Writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy Stuff
My ultimate enemy
On writing voice
Why it’s OK to suck
Kickass worldbuilding articles
Writing action scenes
Writing softer scenes
Best freaking writing set-up
Everything I know about writing I learned from Liz Lemon
On bad reviews
On ‘The Process’

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