C.M. Brown's Blog, page 13

TEASER TUESDAY

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/of Should Be Reading.Anyone can play along!Just do the followingGrab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS!
Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!


You don't want to ruin the book for others! 

                                       Contains 
         Volumes 1-3 of the Snow White series by Kathryn Pine

Poisoned
 
Poisonous mists settled in the lowlands 17 years ago, rendering ninety percent of the land uninhabitable and killing over half the population. Most blame their misfortune on industrialization or the fey, but some curse Snow White, the princess who was born poisoned.

As the only person who can survive entering the poisoned woods without a gas mask, Snow White has dedicated her life to studying the poison and finding a cure. This obsession draws her deeper into the woods and its secrets, where nothing is as it seems. When Snow White saves a man who should never have been saved, she uncovers an evil more destructive than the poison.

MY TEASER: 

I’m in the courtyard of the princess’ tower, I realized. If we’d followed tradition, it would have been my home, but my mother wanted to keep her poisoned daughter near and safe. My father had cared for it since my birth, and was more interested in providing a place for political prisoners than gardens. Then again, maybe that was just an excuse, and he’d always intended for me to end up here…

Pine, Katherine (2013-12-16). Snow White Volumes 1-3 Box Set (Kindle Locations 98-101).  . Kindle Edition.

The Mirror

Snow White vowed to protect the men she saved from the woods. Keeping that vow will be difficult when everyone in the kingdom wants her companions dead. To save them and herself, she will have to trust the terrifying man who shadows Rose. But nothing comes without a price, and neither Rose nor Snow White understand the true cost of the mirror's services until it's too late.

MY TEASER: 

 I’d told him I was poisoned, and he grew as still as a stag that had just realized it was being hunted. Why don’t you run? I wondered as he closed what little distance remained between us, one hand slipping through my hair to the back of my head, and the other wrapping round my wrist to bring my palm to his chest. “Poisoned,” he repeated my words as he tipped up my chin.

Pine, Katherine (2013-12-16). Snow White Volumes 1-3 Box Set (Kindle Locations 1357-1360).  . Kindle Edition.

The Huntsman
 

When Rose and Snow White are caught in the middle of a political conspiracy, they are separated for their own protection. Snow White fears for Rose's safety. Rose, however, beings to fear herself. Isolated and hunted, Rose must rely on Ambrose's advice to survive. But as her relationship with the enigmatic man deepens, she learns things about her character and desires that should have stayed hidden.


MY TEASER: 

 The chatter from the ballroom dulled. The fountain made no sound, as if it had dried up. Time seemed to slow. Even the rustling leaves fell silent. His heavy eyelids looked like they would shut at any moment, but they didn’t. He just watched me, waiting for me to do something.

Pine, Katherine (2013-12-16). Snow White Volumes 1-3 Box Set (Kindle Locations 3610-3612).  . Kindle Edition. 

LETTER "A" - A-Z CHALLENGE

A to Z Team [2014]Arlee Bird: Tossing it Out
Alex J. Cavanaugh: Alex J. Cavanaugh
Stephen Tremp: Author Stephen Tremp
Tina Downey: Life is Good
Damyanti Biswas: Amlokiblogs
Jeremy Hawkins: [Being Retro]
Nicole Ayers: The Madlab Post
M. J. Joachim: M. J. Joachim's Writing Tips
Heather M. Gardner: The Waiting is the Hardest Part
AJ Lauer: Naturally Sweet
Pam Margolis: An Unconventional Librarian




Ah ha! Today, is the first day of posting for the A-Z Challenge. And, if you don't already know, from the A-Z Theme Reveal, I will be posting short excerpts, possibly better named Teasers, from Forces of Mist. A sci-fi, dystopian novel, set in Sydney, Australia. And, just to shake it up a bit and keep you all guessing about the story, these excerpts / teasers, will not be posted in any particular order. 

After pouring a couple of stiff neat scotches, he walked back to where she sat and handed her a drink.

Sarah let the smooth spirit slide down her throat, allowing it to help her to find enough courage to deliver her story.

“I went out to the outcrop and found the city quiet. There was no movement of the enemy on any front, but when I headed back to base, I was stopped by a lone Mist Warrior, who took control of my vehicle and maneuvered me to the eastern side of the range. I have no idea why he didn’t kill me, or why he changed my course of direction. My reasoning would be, he didn’t want me to take my original route and maybe discover some type of alien force building in that area. Why didn’t he just kill me, I cannot say?” She stopped and took in a deep breath, feeling a little relieved to discuss her ordeal with someone she could trust.

 

TEASER TUESDAYS

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/of Should Be Reading.Anyone can play along!Just do the followingGrab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS!
Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!


You don't want to ruin the book for others! 
The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers #1) byDavid Estes In a desperate attempt to escape destruction decades earlier, humankind was forced underground, into the depths of the earth, creating a new society called the Tri-Realms.
After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, seventeen-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason.

Against all odds, Adele must escape from the Pen and find her family, while being hunted by a deranged, killing machine named Rivet, who works for the President. She is helped by two other inmates, Tawni and Cole, each of whom have dark secrets that are better left undiscovered. Other than her friends, the only thing she has going for her is a wicked roundhouse kick and two fists that have been well-trained for combat by her father.

At the other end of the social spectrum is Tristan, the son of the President and a sun dweller. His mother is gone. He hates his father. Backed by only his servant and best friend, Roc, he leaves his lavish lifestyle in the Sun Realm, seeking to make something good out of his troubled life.

When a war breaks out within the Tri-Realms, Tristan is thrust into the middle of a conflict that seems to mysteriously follow Adele as she seeks to find her family and uncover her parents true past.

In their world, someone must die.

MY TEASER: 

 Tawni ignores my look and continues watching the parade, so I turn back, too. The lead car, in which Tristan is standing, is about to turn the corner. He’s waving to his fans, smiling his mesmerizing smile, and then… 

…he looks at me. 

Right at me, like his eyes are gun sights and I’m their target. Despite the distance, it’s like they pierce my soul, sending waves of energy up my back and through my neck, slamming into my brain like a freaking sledge hammer. 

Estes, David (2012-06-27). The Moon Dwellers (The Dwellers Saga) (Kindle Locations 225-230).  . Kindle Edition.

BLOG TOUR - DISCIPLE, PART IV BY L. BLANKENSHIP

 Today, I have invited Louise Blankenship, to my site to share with us, how she developed her series, "Disciple". With the recent release of Book IV in the series, I believe Louise has an abundance of insightful knowledge and experience to share. Please make Louise welcome and I hope you will benefit from her valuable knowledge.
Carolyn About this author                                        L. Blankenship started writing animal stories as a kid and it's just gotten completely out of hand since then. Now she's out publishing her gritty fantasy and hard science fiction adventures. L grew up in New Hampshire but currently lives near Washington, DC. 


Developing a series: plotting plus pantsing
Whenever I'm asked "Plotter or pantser?" I can honestly say: plotter. I have a daily writing habit, and I need to have the night's scenes planned out and prepared before I sit down to write them. Likewise, I have a fairly detailed outline of the book on hand which gets filled out with even more details as I work my way through writing it, day by day.
However, when it comes to developing a six-book series like Disciple -- I was much closer to pantsing than to plotting. On the macro scale, at least. Development is an organic process of story growth, for me. Not trying to chop it down to fit a mould. Not trying to bend it to my will until it breaks.
When I started Disciple, Part I, I knew these things for certain: there was a war, there was a love triangle, and they were entangled enough that they'd follow the same tension rollercoaster right to the end. I knew that I wanted my characters to be proactive and capable enough to put up a good fight against the enemy, and that the enemy would be powerful and ruthless enough to beat them down in spite of that.
Most importantly, I wanted my heroine to have prime agency in her story. My betas said the same thing: she has to make a choice, to resolve the love triangle. If one of the two boys were killed, or randomly turned into an asshole, or was otherwise removed from the equation, that would not be her making a choice. That would be the author wimping out on having to write a potentially devastating scene.
What that scene was, I had no idea when I started Part I. I only had a sketch of what would happen at the end of Part II, of Part IV, and a vague idea of Part VI which I pretty much tossed once I got to #4.
In my experience, it's not unusual to get half or three-quarters of the way into a story and realize the sketched ending won't work. What's important then is to listen to the characters, both heroes and villains, about what needs to happen. I was worried about getting my big, dramatic ending for Disciple but once I sat down with my love triangle and the villain, and worked out the details, I realized that the drama would be a quieter moment than I expected, but it still had power.
As I worked my way through the beginning of Disciple, logical consequences and reactions to events began to sprout in the future outlines, like stockade forts on a moving frontier. Those became integral structures as the story caught up to them. When I faced that re-planning of the ending after Part IV, those landmarks became especially important.
I worked out the general shape of the climactic scene of Part VI while I was writing Part IV. Doing that helped me sketch out the path that would be needed to get there. The exact details proved difficult to pin down -- as my betas can attest, by the structural changes that happened to #5 and #6 in the revision process. Things got a bit messy with all the red ink.
But it all came together. That potentially devastating scene? Wrote it. That big dramatic climax? Wrote it. They weren't what I thought they would be, but the betas gave me a thumbs-up. So while I'm mostly a plotter who works out everything in advance, there's something to be said for pantsing your way through a series too. 

 

Back cover of Disciple, Part IVKate can’t avoid the simple truth any longer; as much as she loves Kiefan, he’s now the king and his duties leave him precious little time for her and their newborn son. Kate’s husband Anders, the ne’er-do-well knight, is the one who kisses her cheek every morning and soothes the baby to sleep on his shoulder.
Kiefan’s protective jealousy still casts a shadow over her life. He would gladly throw Anders to the wolves if it will keep alliance negotiations from collapsing. Their homeland desperately needs these allies against the invading Empire. The kingdom barely survived the first wave of the enemy’s monstrous army and more is to come.
But Kate can’t stand by and let Anders become a victim — or let Kiefan suspect she’s falling in love with her husband.
On sale now at Amazon • B&N•  More retailers
New to Disciple?  The Half-Omnibus collects the first three parts into one meaty ebook.Amazon • B&N • Other retailers
Or try Disciple, Part I for only 99 cents! Amazon • B&N • Other retailers
   

THE GREAT AND POWERFUL THEME REVEAL - A TO Z CHALLENGE

 
Inspired by  Mina Lobo , who initiated the “Theme Reveal Blogfest” during last year’s A to Z, Vidya Sury , Anna Tan, Csenge Zalka , Guilie Castillo Oriard, *with technical support from Jemima Pett & Mary Wallace * are our hosts for THE GREAT & POWERFUL THEME REVEAL FOR THE A TO Z CHALLENGE, a virtual social gathering where you can reveal your upcoming theme BEFORE the fun begins in April!
This is my third year entering the A-Z Challenge, my second as a minion for Jeremy (Retro) and also my second year entering the A-Z Theme Reveal. 
You may not know, but Jeremy has sadly pulled out of A-Z this year, at this very late stage, due to complications from his recent operation for his break.
My fellow "Jeremy's Angels" (Tara Tyler and River Fairchild), and myself, have decided to continue as his representation for the A-Z Challenge. We will be out busting those who don't play nice! (see post here)  All the best Jeremy and we all hope you recover soon to be back with us refreshed and ready to post again.
****After deliberating for a long time and offering on "Goodreads" for authors to be hosted on my site for the challenge, I came to a very large stall and went back to the drawing board....
 I then decided to reveal 26 Teasers from one of the novels I am working on at present...A dystopian, sci-fiset in Sydney, Australia.
Unfortunately, I do not have a cover to show you, but with a little luck and help from my illustratorRebekah Romani, I hope to have a mock up versionavailable to use in my posts for the challenge.
So, all the best for A-Z and I hope to meet or catch up with you before April!
Carolyn

WINNERS OF THE POT OF GOLD GIVEAWAY

Below are the winners for the Pot of Gold Giveaway! Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to all  the lucky winners.   Grand prize winner of the Kindle Fire HD: Jennifer S.Winners of the two $30 gift cards: Danille H. and Jenny B.Winner of the $25 gift card: Aria

TEASER TUESDAY

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by
http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/of Should Be Reading.Anyone can play along!Just do the followingGrab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS!
Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!


You don't want to ruin the book for others! 
Wings of Shadow  (The Underground Trilogy #1) byAnna Kyss Meghan's graduation gift is one that any eighteen-year-old would dream of: traveling abroad to England. Her journey turns into more adventure than expected when Meghan meets the mysterious Kiernan and accepts his invitation to a secret club, hidden beneath the streets of London.
By the time Meghan learns of his strange beliefs, she has nearly lost the fight for her own survival. She flees the city and seeks sanctuary with Kiernan's twin, in a remote English village. Meghan soon discovers that she is in the middle of a centuries-old battle between two groups. The first seek to maintain their traditional way of life, while the other fight against their looming extinction.

Twin brothers, separated too young to remember each other, must set aside personal loyalties and reunite to save their people and help the human they have both come to care about.

MY TEASER:

Kiernan whispered, “I am so very sorry.” She felt the sharp edge of the knife cut into her neck and was aware of blood seeping out the edges of the small cut. And then, Kiernan’s mouth descended upon her neck.

Kyss, Anna (2012-05-24). Wings of Shadow (The Underground Trilogy) (Kindle Location 383). Kyss Publishing. Kindle Edition.
 
 

POT OF GOLD GIVEAWAY - HD KINDLE FIRE TO BE WON PLUS 3 AMAZON GIFT CARDS

Throughout the Pot of Gold Giveaway, I will be featuring 2 or 3 of the books loaded onto the amazing 1st prize of a Kindle Fire. Today, I am featuring:"Love, Carry My Bags" by C.R. Everett, "Little Red Gem" by D.L. Richardsonand"Heartbeat" by Faith SullivanThe Rafflecopter Draw for this Hop has now ended.Check out the link below to find out if you were a winner! Carolyn Welcome to the Pot of Gold Giveaway
hosted by  Darkly Delicious YA and  Book Nerd Tours  


Three winners will receive
Amazon Gift Cards!
One Very Lucky Leprechaun will receive a 
KINDLE FIRE HD
pre-loaded with great YA & NA books!   Love, Carry My Bags byC.R. EverettCamryn Johnson’s world is turned upside down when long lost love, Reese Dahlgren, re-enters her life at a pivotal point in her already challenging marriage. She faces an excruciating predicament: choose between a broken home for her daughter or a broken life for herself.
After her parents' divorce, Camryn first meets high school basketball star, Reese, at the Harvard Milk Day Festival bed races. Reese hides baggage of his own…until Camryn melts his heart and learns secrets entrusted only to her. Still, the weight is too much to bear. Unable to cope, Reese unwittingly backs Camryn into a corner during his air force enlistment—love him from afar, or leave him.

Enter aerospace engineering student, Glenn Conroy. Persistent and savvy, he woos Camryn during her junior year of college and wins her heart. Or does he? When Reese re-enters her life, further disrupting her tenuous marriage, Camryn turns to best friend, Megan, for advice, but refuses to believe Megan’s suggestion that she’s caught in a “simple” love triangle.

Camryn unveils hidden mysteries and secrets as she embarks on a life-changing journey of revelation and forgiveness, transcending doormat qualities inherited from her mother, and in the process finds what life's struggles are really all about.

C.R. Everett's heart-wrenching debut novel takes the reader on an emotion-packed journey that lingers long after the last page is turned.


Little Red Gem byD.L. RichardsonLove can make you do crazy things, as Ruby Parker discovers when she dies and returns from the grave to unearth how much Leo Culver loved her. With the aid of bad advice from a ghost who is trapped by a curse, a little bit of magic courtesy of her unsuspecting half-sister, and a televised music talent show coming to town to hold auditions, Ruby Parker makes more of a mess in death than she ever did in life. Can she fix everything before it’s too late? Or will she spend eternity as a ghost, haunted by the unknown depths of love? Either way, one thing Ruby learns is that while love can make you do crazy things, it can also make you do amazing things too.  
Heartbeat  (Heartbeat #1) byFaith Sullivan 
She carries the scars of a first kiss gone terribly wrong.

He uproots his life to flee the stinging betrayal of an ex.

When trust is no longer an option, all romance is suspect.

As a young paramedic, Adam rescues people for a living but cannot save himself. Katie, just out of high school, struggles with a tortured home life she cannot escape.

Everything changes when Katie hops into the front seat of Adam's ambulance. Overwhelmed by what they are feeling, neither possess the confidence to make the first move. They walk away from each other, full of regret.

To find her, Adam risks his future. To be with him, Katie sacrifices her security.

Little do they know, what little time they do have, is being measured by a heartbeat that is slowly dying out.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

POT OF GOLD GIVEAWAY - HD KINDLE FIRE TO BE WON PLUS 3 AMAZON GIFT CARDS

Throughout the Pot of Gold Giveaway, I will be featuring 2 or 3 of the books loaded onto the amazing 1st prize of a Kindle Fire. Today, I am featuring:"Definitely, Maybe In Love"  by Ophelia Londonand "Some Fine Day" By Kate Ross Enter the Rafflecopter Draw below, for your chance to win! Carolyn Welcome to the Pot of Gold Giveaway
hosted by  Darkly Delicious YA and  Book Nerd Tours  


Three winners will receive
Amazon Gift Cards!
One Very Lucky Leprechaun will receive a 
KINDLE FIRE HD
pre-loaded with great YA & NA books!  Definitely, Maybe in Love byOphelia LondonSpring Honeycutt wants two things: to ace her sustainable living thesis and to save the environment. Both seem hopelessly unobtainable until her college professor suggests that with a new angle, her paper could be published. Spring swears she’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.
“Whatever it takes,” however, means forming a partnership with the very hot, very privileged, very conceited Henry Knightly.

Henry is Spring's only hope at publication, but he's also the über-rich son of a land developer and cash-strapped Spring’s polar opposite. Too bad she can't help being attracted to the way he pushes her buttons, both politically and physically. As they work on her thesis, Spring finds there's more to Henry than his old money and argyle sweaters…but can she drop the loud-and-proud act long enough to let him in? Suddenly, choosing between what she wants and what she needs puts Spring at odds with everything she believes in.

Definitely, Maybe in Love is a modern take on Pride and Prejudice that proves true love is worth risking a little pride.
Some Fine Day byKat Ross  Sixteen-year-old Jansin Nordqvist is on the verge of graduating from the black ops factory known as the Academy. She's smart and deadly, and knows three things with absolute certainty: 1. When the world flooded and civilization retreated deep underground, there was no one left on the surface.
2. The only species to thrive there are the toads, a primate/amphibian hybrid with a serious mean streak.
3. There's no place on Earth where you can hide from the hypercanes, continent-sized storms that have raged for decades.
Jansin has been lied to. On all counts. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

POT OF GOLD GIVEAWAY - HD KINDLE FIRE TO BE WON PLUS 3 AMAZON GIFT CARDS

Throughout the Pot of Gold Giveaway, I will be featuring 2 or 3 of the books loaded onto the amazing 1st prize of a Kindle Fire. Today, I am featuring:"Son of a Mermaid" by Kate O'Sullivan 
and
"Daughter of Isis" by Kelsey KetchEnter the Rafflecopter Draw below, for your chance to win! Carolyn Welcome to the Pot of Gold Giveaway
hosted by  Darkly Delicious YA and  Book Nerd Tours  


Three winners will receive
Amazon Gift Cards!
One Very Lucky Leprechaun will receive a 
KINDLE FIRE HD
pre-loaded with great YA & NA books!   Son of a Mermaid byKatie O'Sullivan Shea MacNamara's life just got complicated. After a freak tornado devastates his Oklahoma farm, the fifteen-year-old orphan is whisked away to Cape Cod. Struggling to make sense of his new surroundings, he's trying hard to deal with feelings of abandonment... and the emotions stirred by a girl he meets along the shore. Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders. The daughter of royal servants, she knows the planned marriage of her Princess to the foreign King should put an end to the war between the clans. But two things stand in the way of lasting peace: the ambitions of the foreign King's regent, and rumors of the Princess's bastard child. Sparks fly when she meets Shea, but could the cute drylander really be the Son of a Mermaid?
Daughter of Isis (Descendants of Isis #1) byKelsey Ketch"Her mouth parted slightly, waiting for Seth to breathe life into her own body, just like in the story. She wanted him to awaken her senses.”
Their worlds collide in California’s high desert.

The last thing Natara “Natti” Stone wants to do is to start anew at Setemple High School. She wished she had never left London. Yet the brutal murder of her maternal grandmother has made her life very complicated. The only clue related to her murder is an ancient, encrypted necklace Natti discovered after her grandmother’s death. And if trying to adjust to American life is not enough, Natti is being stalked by a mysterious, charming high school senior, Seth O’Keefe, who is annoyingly persistent in his attempts at seduction.

Seth O’Keefe is secretly a member of the Sons of Set, an order that worships the Egyptian god of chaos. Seth’s blessing from Set, his “charm,” never failed, except with one person: Natti Stone. Her ability to elude him infatuates and infuriates him, and he becomes obsessed with the chase. But the closer he gets to her, the more his emotions take a dangerous turn, and he risks breaking one of the most valued covenants of his order. The punishment for which is a fate worse than death.

The adventure this unlikely couple becomes engulfed in could cost them their lives and their souls.

*Note: Content for Upper YA*a Rafflecopter giveaway