Bill Hiatt's Blog, page 9
September 12, 2015
Answer Page for Release Party Questions
To record your answer to one of the contest questions, comment on this post. Begin your comment with the question number. Be as specific as you can.
Special Release Party Giveaway Page
Attention: the Rafflecopter giveaways being run for release party guests will all be hosted on this page. Scroll down to find the correct one.
(Image is copyrighted by Yuri Arcurs and licensed from http://www.shutterstock.com.)
Giveaway and contest rules and regulations are at the bottom of the page.
Prime One Year Gift Membership:
Kindle Unlimited One Year Gift Membership:
Digital Package
General Rules:
Any giveaway void where prohibited. It will operate within all applicable laws in areas in which it is legal. It is void where prohibited. I, Bill Hiatt, reserve the right to modify the giveaway if necessary to conform to some applicable law of which I was unaware at the time I drafted these terms and conditions.
Names of companies and products are used only to accurately describe the prizes. This giveaway is sponsored by me alone and is not endorsed by any of the companies mentioned.
There is no fee to enter. No purchase is necessary, nor will any purchase increase your odds of winning.
Rafflecopter Giveaway Rules:
Today’s giveaways only require you to register with the appropriate widget(s) for the giveaways you wish to enter. There are no other entry options that would earn extra points. Winners will consequently be selected by random drawing from among those who entered each giveaway.
Entrants must be at least thirteen years old. Entrants below eighteen must have parent permission to enter. Winners must meet eligibility requirements.
Entrants may in some cases need to meet additional requirement depending on the prize. For example, Amazon prime memberships and Kindle Unlimited memberships are only valid in places where the programs exist. Digital prizes require the appropriate hardware and/or software, which is not included as part of the prize unless otherwise stated. (However, most digital prizes can be played on any device that supports the relevant free app.)
Entrants need a valid email address. This address will be used only for giveaway-related purposes, such as notifying winners and delivering prizes. (If you don’t give a valid address, I have no way of delivering any prize you might win.) Your address will not be used for any non-giveaway-related purposes. Nor will it be sold or given away .However, be aware that, if you use the “subscribe to the mailing list option,” you (and your parents, if you are under eighteen) acknowledge that your email address will be added to my MailChimp database and that you will receive my newsletter. (The address will still not be sold or given away to anyone else.)
Beginning and ending times for giveaway entry are in Pacific time and are displayed on the Rafflecopter widget. Prize details are likewise displayed on the widget.
Winners will be announced as soon as they are drawn (typically shortly after the closing for the giveaway.
Amazon Giveaway Rules:
There may be some Amazon giveaways run during this release party. If so, entrants must meet Amazon requirements, including being eighteen or over and a resident of the United States. I am still the giveaway sponsor in such cases, but prizes will be fulfilled by Amazon.
Contest Rules:
Answering questions involving thought and/or knowledge constitute contests, not giveaways. Winner are selected based on the first correct answer received. In situations in which multiple correct answers are submitted very close together, duplicate prizes may be given at my discretion. Note that, although most release party contest questions are answerable from
September 11, 2015
Don’t forget the release party!
Taliesin Weaver wanted you to remember that it isn’t too late to join tomorrow’s release party for “Evil within Yourselves.”
Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/126943030985340/
September 1, 2015
September Daily Winner Page
If you need to review the rules, they are here, but basically you just need to find the four-digit code for a particular day (somewhere in one of my FB posts, my Google + posts, and my tweets), comment with that number on this page, and then register yourself with the rafflecopter widget for the appropriate day. Simple, easy.
September 1:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
(Image is copyrighted by Marijus Auruskevicius and licensed from http://www.shutterstock.com.)
“Evil within Yourselves” Teaser
Here’s the first teaser for Evil within Yourselves. Enjoy!
Evil is on sale now. Get it here. (Or, if you’d like to support the site, use the affiliate link below when you visit Amazon):
Don’t forget the release party and the rafflecopter giveaway. Between them there are many, many prizes to be won. Check out these opportunities here.
August 27, 2015
“Evil within Yourselves” Release Party and a Rafflecopter Giveaway–Prizes Galore!
Evil within Yourselves is now available; you can go to http://mybook.to/evilwithin to buy it for the special new release price of only $0.99. It’s also available to read for free if you happen to have a Kindle Unlimited membership. I apologize that the Look Inside is not functioning right now. Amazon seems to be experiencing delays in that process. You can find the first chapter excerpted here: http://billhiatt.com/?p=1214. If Amazon still doesn’t have the Look Inside up after 72 hours, I’ll put up the second chapter as well. Of course, if you are already familiar with the series, you probably know what to expect, but I know it would be nice for those of you who are new to be able to take a peak before buying.
Meanwhile, the release party is scheduled for September 12, and it’s going to be sensational! Those of you interested in my writing will get behind-the-scenes detail, including the opportunity to ask some of the characters questions. Those of you interested in prizes–and who isn’t?–will be happy to know that there will be many trivia contests and giveaways, generally available only to release guests unless giveaway prizes go unclaimed. To join the fun, go here: https://www.facebook.com/events/126943030985340/.
There is also a separate rafflecopter giveaway in honor of the new release. You can enter using the widget below. This is the page to do the “comment on a blog post” option.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Related articles across the web
Win a $50 Gift Card
Giveaway: Summer Crush by Sarah Hibbs & Various Authors (International)
Enter to #Win a $500 Amazon Gift Card!!! #Giveaway #AmazonGiveaway
August 16, 2015
“Evil within Yourselves” May Be Released Any Day!
After nine days, I have finished going through the editor’s feedback, making changes as needed. Now I’m working on the final read-through. (If I find a lot of things to change, though, it might end up being the semi-final read-through.) I’ve learned not to rush these things, but I’m becoming increasingly confident I’ll be able to release some time this week.
Once the book is actually out, I’ll also schedule the release party, with the usual exclusive sneak peaks, games, and prizes, so be sure to stay tuned for that. This time I’m planning a combination of trivia contests, rafflecopter giveaways, and Amazon giveaways–and the Amazon ones will be advertised only to release party guests! This could easily be my biggest release party yet.
Can’t wait for the release? Here’s an exclusive excerpt from Evil. (Note that, in contrast to earlier books in the series, the first person viewpoint is no longer always Tal’s. In the book you’ll be able to tell whose point of view is being used from the chapter title. The excerpt is from Titania’s point of view.)
William Shakespeare had been dust for centuries, but I still remembered watching unseen as an actor spoke for the very first time those now famous lines from Henry IV Part II: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”
I had not suggested those lines to Will. Frankly, I was so put out about the way he handled the secrets I had whispered to him before that I would hardly have given him the time of day, much less suggestions for another one of his plays. Even now I still resented the way he twisted my tales, making me look scandalous in Midsummer Night’s Dream. I still from time to time snuck into the theater during performances, however, and that particular line was carved indelibly into my mind. At the time I did not understand why. Now, as I stood at risk of losing both crown and head, I wondered if that had been a prophetic moment, if Will had somehow known I would be in the audience and that one day I would experience the kind of suffering human monarchs did.
Uneasy? Henry IV had never faced quite the trauma I now endured. Oberon, my husband, languished in prison, accused of deeds I would scarcely have believed had I not witnessed some of them myself, yet in my heart I knew that they were somehow not his, that an as yet unknown evil force had led him down a darker path than he would ever have trod on his own. I had no proof, though, and I was met everywhere with ill-concealed scorn if I tried to suggest he might be innocent. Not only that, but my once loyal subjects looked at me with mistrust, for if my husband had done such evil, how could I have been as ignorant of his vile purposes as I claimed? Even the members of my court were no better, whispering that perhaps I too belonged in prison. I lay awake each night, fancying I heard my rivals sharpening the daggers that would assassinate me. No, assassination was too risky for those cowards to attempt. It was the executioner’s axe they sharpened, for the time when I would be named my husband’s co-conspirator.
It was not cold in the room where I hid myself, but I shivered as much as if a chilling wind were knifing through me like the very daggers of my imagination. With difficulty I silenced my fears and focused on the task at hand.
I knew the dangers of entering the mortal world, far greater now than they had been when I had tried to make a friend of Will Shakespeare. Nonetheless, I had no choice: I needed to reach Taliesin Weaver, and I had no way to do that except to seek him out in person. I hardly knew him, having only met him once, and then under circumstances unlikely to win his trust. Still, I had to have his aid; whether he trusted me or not, I had to trust him. There was almost no one else I could turn to.
Despite the urgency of my need, I dared not appear randomly in his world. Allowing myself to be seen by other humans would simply feed the flames of the funeral pyre my enemies were building. Before venturing from my realm to his, I had to locate him. Peering into his world was in some ways more tiring than just going there, and certainly more time-consuming, but at least I knew the general area in which he could be found.
Robin Goodfellow, perhaps the only subject who remained truly loyal, had flown all the way to Taliesin’s town and scouted the area for me, so when I did find Taliesin, Robin could open a portal for me. I could not use magic to reach a place I had never been, and I doubted I had the time to fly there as Robin had.
Robin had returned and was with me now, quieter than I had ever seen him, kept silent by the gravity of my situation and by the fact that he knew I needed to find Taliesin as quickly as possible. Even his breathing was a whisper of what it normally was; a tomb would have been only a little more silent than this tiny chamber in which my body sat while my mind reached out into the mortal world, searching for Taliesin.
I did not immediately find him, but in my visions of his world I did find a structure Robin told me was the Santa Brígida High School gym. The door was shut tightly, but I could still hear the music—or at least what passed for music with human teenagers–from inside. I could almost feel its vibration in the otherwise still night air, though certainly that must have been my imagination. Robin had heard there was to be a dance in commemoration of Saint Valentine’s Day, and if this was that event, it was more than likely Taliesin was inside. If so, how was I to reach him without attracting unwanted attention from other mortals?
I noticed there were two teenage males standing outside the gym, looking around in a way that suggested they did not wish to be observed. One was tall, blond, and muscular. The other was shorter, had black curly hair and a leaner build. I had only seen them once, but I was almost positive they were two of Taliesin’s warriors, Daniel Stevens and Stanford Schoenbaum. Heartily sick of the feeling of being spied on everywhere, I had not intended to eavesdrop on them, but I needed to make sure I was right about them. If my memory had served me well, they would know where Taliesin was and could probably call him to me, saving precious time and reducing risk.
Daniel, if that was who he really was, gazed at the one I assumed to be Stanford as if he were trying to stare Stanford down. Stanford looked nervous but did not seem ready to back down.
“Stan, we have to tell Tal!” Daniel said in what I took to be an attempt at a commanding voice.
“Tell him what?” replied Stanford. “That he’s under a spell?”
“He has to be!” Daniel insisted. “What other explanation is there?”
“We asked Nurse Florence to check,” replied Stanford patiently. “She couldn’t find any hint of a spell, remember? And Tal’s mom is a seer. She can sense things happening on other planes of existence. You think she would miss what’s happening under her own roof?”
“We’ve seen many things that didn’t make any sense but were true anyway,” replied Daniel stubbornly, “and you know that as well as I do.”
“Has it occurred to you that Tal might actually have fallen in love with Carla on his own? Dan, you suggested that he give her a chance yourself, didn’t you?”
Daniel laughed in a way that made me shudder rather than want to join in. “Yeah, and that’s one of my reasons for thinking something’s wrong. One or both of us has been Tal’s best friend as long as any of us can remember. Has either of us ever been able to talk Tal into anything when his mind was already made up?”
Stanford didn’t respond right away, and I thought about opening a portal at that very moment. I knew the Tal they referred to was Taliesin, so they must be who I thought they were. I hesitated, though, because of the possibility that Taliesin was under a spell. Something like that could doom my effort from the very beginning.
Daniel seized the opportunity created by Stanford’s silence. “Nothing to say, Stan? You know I’m right. The guy’s part mule for sure. And even if Tal were easier to convince, look at all the other things in this situation that just don’t make sense. For four years now Tal has been pining for Eva, trying to recapture that childhood crush they had. Then, suddenly in a twenty-four-hour period, Tal decides he and Eva are just friends, after all—”
“We know a lot of guys who have changed their minds pretty quickly…where girls are concerned,” interrupted Stanford.
“But not Tal, you must admit!” replied Daniel, again attempting an authoritative tone. “I don’t know if it’s because of being able to remember all of his previous lives or what, but Tal isn’t anything like most guys our age as far as romance is concerned. Look at the number of girls on this campus who would have been happy to take his mind off Eva. No, don’t even worry about them. How about the women who wanted him? Ceridwen, Morgan le Fay—”
“Both of whom were evil!” protested Stan. “Anyway, they were just toying with him.”
“Yeah, right. I know a lot of teenage guys who would turn down sex with a beautiful woman because they weren’t sure of the woman’s motive. Sure! But forget about them, too. What about Aphrodite? The Greek goddess of love, in the flesh—quite literally, from what we could tell—and Tal turned her down because he didn’t want to be disloyal to Eva…and he and Eva hadn’t been a couple for four years!
“You remember when we first arrived on Olympus, and Aphrodite greeted us with a little of her charm? I would have done her right then and there. So would you, in front of everybody if need be.”
Stanford blushed intensely but said nothing.
“We got only a small dose of what she could do, Stan, only a fraction of what Tal got later. Yeah, yeah, don’t say it, I know his will is stronger than ours, I know he has magic, but still…do you really believe he could have resisted if not for his stubborn determination to cling to Eva no matter what?”
Stanford shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. “I’ll admit that Tal’s resistance to temptation would be…hard to explain unless he had some very strong motive to resist.”
“And then,” said Daniel, pressing his advantage, “even if he were ready to move on, how could he pick Carla right then? You and I both heard that shouting match. Carla tried to trick him into thinking the only way to ever be with Eva would be in another life…after marrying Carla in this one.”
Stanford nodded his head reluctantly. “Tal did feel betrayed.”
“Well, buddy, I know more about what Tal does when he feels betrayed than anyone else. If not for that…situation in the Underworld, I don’t think he would have forgiven me yet…or ever, maybe.”
“The circumstances aren’t even remotely the same,” insisted Stanford. “You aren’t a supernova-hot girl, for one thing.”
“And yet,” Dan interrupted quickly, “Tal himself pointed out to Carla that I was much younger when I…did what I did.” Daniel paused, looking uncomfortable, perhaps haunted by the memory of that past betrayal. Stanford, looking just as uncomfortable, waited for Daniel to continue rather than taking the opportunity to jump in.
“What about the fact that Nurse Florence couldn’t find any trace of unexpected magic on him?” asked Stan finally. “Wouldn’t it be impossible to cast a spell on Tal that couldn’t be detected by someone who knew what to look for?”
“You know what, Stan, I don’t have a clue, but after all that we’ve been through, is there really anything that could truly be impossible? Tal and all of us have magic weapons, which we carry around with us invisibly, with no more thought than other people give to carrying cell phones.
“And why do we carry magic weapons everywhere?” asked Daniel more loudly.
“Keep your voice down!” cautioned Stanford.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like anyone could hear us over the music. I think it’s starting to vibrate the fillings out of my teeth. Anyway, you know what I mean: we carry them just in case some bad guy, who may or may not be human, but probably not, tries to get the drop on us. We carry them so they’ll be handy in case we need to take a quick trip to Annwn, or maybe Olympus, and who knows where next? I spend every day half expecting to be told that Narnia is real and that we have to go there to save someone or retrieve some artifact.”
“Be—”
“Tell me to be quiet one more time, and we’ll do some impromptu combat training right here! I could be shouting so loud my lungs would pop, and nobody inside would hear us.” Stanford looked a little annoyed, but also just a little uneasy. I could understand that feeling all too well, and I knew Taliesin had been told in no uncertain terms that there could be no more information leaks to mortals—under any circumstances. Daniel was right, though; that music would cover their conversation even if he screamed. I also noticed that they, accustomed to observing their surroundings in combat, were keeping a watchful eye, each looking over the other’s shoulder. They had positioned themselves so they could see anyone coming to or from the gym.
“Stan, we’ve fought the undead, witches, rebel faeries, mortals hyped up on nectar and ambrosia, giants, demons, former Greek gods, and even a dragon once. A year ago, hell, six months ago, we would have said that none of those things existed.
“And look at our little group,” Daniel continued without giving Stanford a chance to respond. “Tal is the reincarnation of King Arthur’s bard, you’re a reincarnation of…King David.” Again Daniel seemed hesitant, and I remembered Robin had told me there were rumors that the David presence in Stanford was a separate consciousness, which would mean David could easily be listening in. Perhaps being overheard by someone like that intimidated even the generally self-confident Daniel.
“Oh, and we can’t forget that Shar was once Alexander the Great…mostly because he never lets us! Carla is the sorceress Alcina returned, our school nurse is a modern-day Lady of the Lake, Shar’s family has adopted someone his parents think is a fugitive but who is really a half-djinn, and, oh yeah, until a few weeks ago my little brother was a dead nine-year-old haunting us, and now he’s a very much alive sixteen-year-old, even though nobody knows how that happened. You know what? None of us can really say impossible anymore.”
“Suppose you’re right,” replied Stanford a little defensively. “What can we do about it? We have no proof. If Tal is under a spell, what makes you think he’s going to listen to us?”
“Honestly, Stan, grow a pair!” snapped Daniel. “It’s a risk, but not any worse than any of the other risks we’ve run. And Tal is still Tal, spell or not. He may not believe us, but I doubt he’s going to whip out his sword and hack off our heads for suggesting the idea.
“I get it,” he continued, much more gently. “I know you don’t want to do anything that would hurt Tal, and he seems so happy now. It’s fake happiness, though. I’m sure of it. Maybe real happiness will come his way, maybe not. Whatever happens, he deserves the chance to find out, and he’ll never get it if Carla is bewitching him somehow.”
Stanford leaned against the wall, looking almost sick. I imagined that with all his heart, he hoped Daniel was wrong…and so did I. What I had to ask of Taliesin would be hard enough to accomplish when he was at his best. It might well prove impossible if he were compromised by a spell.
Nonetheless, Daniel could be wrong, and Taliesin remained my only real hope, even if hostile magic had impaired him somehow. I realized listening to the conversation had been a waste of time after all. Placing the weight of all my plans on this one teenage human was a risk either way…and either way I had to take it.
I opened my eyes and nodded to Robin, who quickly cast the spell that opened a portal, its swirling silver glow inviting me to step through.
By now Taliesin’s men were so preoccupied that, vigilant as they had been, they did not see me coming.
Same Daily Winner Giveaway, New Page
I created a new page so that people wouldn’t have to scroll so much to reach the correct day.
If you want to refer to the giveaway rules, you can still find them here: http://billhiatt.com/?p=1164. That’s also the place to work if you want to see results for giveaways prior to August 16.
(If you are viewing this post on the blog page and seeing something weird instead of the Rafflecopter widget, click on the title view this post on its own page. I noticed this morning that when I wasn’t logged in, I was seeing an affiliate link for Hounded instead of the widget. Go figure!)
August 16:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
August 13, 2015
Am I Just Getting Old, or Are Some Subjects Too Much for YA Literature?
I’ve already shared on article on this subject through social media, but I felt the urge to discuss the issues involved in greater depth.
The article I’m referring to can be found here. It’s a piece about changing norms in YA literature, including an increase in explicit sex.
I’d like to think I’m not a prude, and I’d be the first to argue that realism, as well as the ability to address certain social issues, may require authors to address sexuality, sometimes explicitly. However, in reading the article above, I couldn’t help pondering the issue of how graphic sex should be in literature that is explicitly intended for teenagers.
I don’t dispute the point made in the article by Jeanne McDermott, a member of the American Library Association award committee for YA literature: “We all go through a period when we think about love and attraction. To find characters in books who are going through this can be very reassuring.” I also agree when she says, “These books can help young people as they search for their own sexual identities.” There is no question the teenage years are confusing ones and that what teenagers read should ideally help with that confusion, at the very least reassuring readers that they are not somehow “weird” because they are confused or don’t know everything about sex.
There is a big difference, though, between helping with the confusion and exploiting it to make a quick buck. I was frankly disturbed by the commercial angle heavily emphasized by the article, and in particular by one agent who is quoted as saying, “I frequently tell my clients to sex it up. It helps sales.” The same agent is quoted as telling a specific author, “You just follow your heart when it comes to fingering scenes.” (And yes, I must be getting old, because the idea of fingering scenes in YA novels did give me pause.)
Obviously authors, agents, and publishers are trying to make money, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, as a former teacher who believes strongly in the power of literature to feed our souls, I would also like to think authors have some commitment to artistic integrity–and also perhaps, particularly with children’s and YA literature, some moral responsibility as well.
I suppose I should read the books referenced in the article. Is it possible a fingering scene might actually leave teens in a better place than before they read it? Uh, well…
That said, I’m most emphatically not one of those people who believes teenagers should be sheltered from reality, and I don’t agree at all with people who want no reference to sex, drinking, drugs, and other issues in YA literature. In fact, such references can provide a healthy perspective. For example, in the movie Drive Me Crazy, there is a lot of teenage drinking going on. The important thing from my point of view is that the drinking is not made to look attractive. Pretty consistently the characters make idiots out of themselves when they drink too much, and there are a couple of vomiting and hangover scenes that also underscore the idea that perhaps moderation would be better. In addition, nobody ever drives drunk; safe rides is a ubiquitous part of the movie.
Handling explicit sex that way is a little more complicated, partly because we don’t want to encourage teens to have sex; if nothing else, most of them aren’t ready for the emotional complications. At the same time, we don’t want to foster the idea that sex is inherently evil. We may not want those teens having sex right now, but we certainly don’t want to block their transition to a healthy, well-adjusted adulthood, in which sex will hopefully be part of loving relationships. All of that sounds good, but it’s hard to strike that balance, particularly when one is writing about adolescent characters.
My biggest concern is that there is already enormous pressure on teenage males to have sex, and the line between talking about sex and subtly pushing it is a very thin one–and one often glossed over completely in the quest for profits. Many of us are familiar with the teenage comedies in which the entire goal of the main character is to lose his virginity. I can’t remember the name of the movie, but I do remember a bit of dialogue in which the main character’s mother, when she finds out he’s still a virgin, tells him something like, “You’d better take care of that before college.” That is somewhat the way most movies of that kind handle the issue. I wouldn’t want to see YA literature end up the same way.
Catcher in the Rye, often a target for censors, is relatively mild by today’s standards. In one scene Holden, clearly a virgin, hires a prostitute but can’t go through with having sex with her in part because she reminds him of his sister, in part because he just isn’t ready. My fear is that, if Catcher were written today, Holden would have gone through with the sex because, “It helps sales.”
I’m not trying to condemn any writer (particularly not any whose works I haven’t read and might therefore be misjudging), and I’m certainly not trying to argue for censorship. I do think, though, that this issue needs more serious discussion than what it has received so far.
(Image copyrighted by Petrenko Andriy and licensed from http://www.shutterstock.com.)
August 11, 2015
Update: New Additions to the Spell Weaver Series
For those of you who are fans of the Spell Weaver series, get ready for exciting developments in the near future.
I was hoping to have the newest addition to the series, Evil within Yourselves, out by August 1. That obviously didn’t happen. The initial drafting took somewhat longer than I anticipated, and I just got the manuscript back from the editor last Friday. It will take at least a few more days for me to complete the revision process, but, anxious as I am to release the title for you, I know from experience that it is best not to rush this process.
While Evil was in the editor’s hands, inspiration struck again, and I wrote a novella set in the Spell Weaver universe, We Walk in Darkness, the action of which takes place right after the end of Evil. In some ways this piece will be a new departure. Though some of the characters you are already familiar with appear in the second half of the story, the plot centers on a new character who will become an important part of later Spell Weaver books. (And no, the title doesn’t follow the convention of including “Yourselves,” partly because it is being written from the point of view of a different character, one who, unlike Taliesin Weaver, isn’t deluged with past life memories, though this new character does have problems of his own.)
Although We Walk is still in cover design and about to be sent to an editor, it’s shorter length makes a faster turnaround likely, so I’m anticipating it will come up perhaps a month after Evil. While I’m not going to be putting out a book a month, now that I’m retired you can look forward to a faster release pattern than I was able to manage before.
Shortly I’ll be posting some teasers, so if you are interested, just stay tuned!
(The cover image was designed by http://bespokebookcovers.com/. If you are an author looking for a cover designer, but sure to take them out.)
