Kory M. Shrum's Blog, page 8

#Fridayreads: A Poem by Karen Solie

Life is a CarnivalRelated Poem Content DetailsBY KAREN SOLIEDinner finished, wine in hand, in a vaguely competitive spiritof disclosure, we trail Google Earth's invisible pervertthrough the streets of our hometowns, but find them shabbier,     or grossly contemporized, denuded of childhood's native flora,stuccoed or in some other way hostileto the historical reenactments we expect of our former settings. What sadness in the disused curling rinks, their illegalbasement bars imploding, in the seed of a Walmartsprouting in the demographic, in Street View's perpetual noon.     With pale and bloated production values, hits of AM radio riseto the surface of a network of social relations long obsolete.     We sensea loss of rapport. But how sweet the persistence of angle parking! Would we burn these places rather than see     themchange, or just happily burn them, the sites of wreckagefrom which we staggered with our formative injuries into the rest of our lives. They cannot be consigned to the fourfold,though the age we were belongs to someone else. Like our oldhouse. Look what they've done to it. Who thought this would     be fun? A concert, then, YouTube from those inconceivable days beforeYouTube, an era boarded over like a bankrupt country store,cans still on its shelves, so hastily did we leave it. How beautiful they are in their poncey clothes, their youthful higherregisters, fullscreen, two of them dead now. Is this eternity?Encore, applause, encore; it's almost like being there.

2016 Worth Dying For #summerreads #blog tour

Hello everyone! It's time for the (not on Kory's blog) blog tour for Worth Dying For. All through the month of June you'll have a chance to enter to win more prizes. So check out the websites below on the appropriate days for your chance to win. Can't wait to play with you! :)
June 6 Guest blogRoxanne’s Realm www.roxannerhoads.com
June 7 SpotlightThe Recipe Fairyhttp://recipe-fairy.weebly.com/
June 8 SpotlightHart's Romance Pulsewww.HartsRomancePulse.com
June 9 Spotlight3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too!http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.com/
June 10 Guest blogBrayton's Briefs  www.stephenbrayton.wordpress.com
June 14 Guest blogI Smell Sheep http://www.ismellsheep.com/
June 16 SpotlightBookwormBridgette's Worldhttp://bookwormbridgette.blogspot.com
June 17 InterviewMello and June, It's a Book Thang!   http://mellojune.blogspot.com
June 20 Guest blogUrban Fantasy Investigations http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com/
June 21 SpotlightButterfly-o-Meter Bookshttp://butterfly-o-meter.com/
June 22 SpotlightHighlighted Author    http://highlightedauthor.com
June 23 SpotlightLiterary Musingshttp://literarymusing.weebly.com/
June 23 ReviewRomance Authors That Rockhttps://pratr.wordpress.com/
June 24 SpotlightZenny's Awesome Book Reviewshttps://zennysawesomebookreviews.wordpress.com
June 27 InterviewSharon Buchbinder http://sharonbuchbinder.blogspot.com/
June 28 Guest blogThe Creatively Green Write at Home Mom www.creativelygreen.blogspot.com
June 29 SpotlightLisa’s World of Bookswww.lisasworldofbooks.net
June 30 SpotlightDeal Sharing Auntwww.dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com
July 1 Guest blog/Top Ten ListFang-tastic Books www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com
July 4 Guest blogParaYourNormal http://parayournormal.wordpress.com

@Freshfiction #FFbchat and Giveaway This Thursday, 11:30 CST

Come one, come all! I'm sitting down with Tammie Barker of Fresh Fiction this Thursday, for a chat about my latest book, Worth Dying For.

There's a giveaway involved. And fun.
And we really hope to see you there!

You can RSVP to the chat here.

Or follow along on twitter using the #FFbchat hashtag.

If you're more a Facebooker, no problem! There's an event page as well. Click here.

Until then! 

Kory

#Mondayblogs: The Season of the Giveaways

Happy Monday everyone!

First of all, thank you to everyone who participated in the blog giveaway I've been running for the last two weeks. As always, it was THIS fun:



And you're probably wanting to know who the winners were:

$50 Amazon Giftcard
Andrea Cook

Choice of free Audiobook OR Free ecopy of Jesse Sullivan novels 1-5
Shelly Burrows
Jenilee Dunson
Mark Ensign
Free signed copies of Jesse Sullivan novels 1-5
Mikel Andrews

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did playing. And the fun doesn't stop here!

There's still three giveaways currently running.

Two giveaways are running on Amazon for ebook copies of Dying by the Hour (click here for this giveaway; Ends June 3) and for Dying Light (click here for this giveaway; ends June 11).

The third is on Goodreads. You can also click here for your chance to win a signed copy of Worth Dying For.

Really wanted to win? Don't give up yet. There's another blog tour scheduled in June. Hope to see you then! 

#Read a #poem Friday

Blueberries
Related Poem Content DetailsBY JAMES LASDUNI’m talking to you old man.Listen to me as you step inside this gardento fill a breakfast bowl with blueberriesripened on the bushes I’m planting now,twenty years back from where you’re standing.It’s strictly a long-term project—first yearpull off the blossoms before they open,second year let them flower, watch the beesbobbing in every bonnet,but don’t touch the fruit till year three,and then only sample a handful or two . . .Old man I’m doing this for you!You know what they say about blueberries:blood-cleansing, mood-lifting memory-boosters;every bush a little fountain of youthsparkling with flavonoids, anthocyanin . . .I’ve spent all summer clearing brushsawing locust poles for the frames,digging in mounds of pine needles, bales of peat moss—I thought I’d do it while I still could.You can do something for me in turn:think about the things an old man should;things I’ve shied away from, last things.Care about them only don’t care too(you’ll know better than I do what I meanor what I couldn’t say, but meant).Reconcile, forgive, repent,but don’t go soft on me; keep the faith,our infidels’ implicit vow:“not the hereafter but the here and now  . . . ”Weigh your heart against the feather of truthas the Egyptians did, and purge its sin,but for your own sake, not your soul’s.And since the only certaineternity’s the one that stretches backward,look for it here inside this garden:Blueray, Bluecrop, Bluetta, Hardy Blue;little fat droplets of transubstantiate sky,each in its yeast-misted wineskin, chilled in dew.This was your labor, these are the fruits thereof.Fill up your bowl old man and bring them in.
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Goodreads Book Giveaway Worth Dying for by Kory M. Shrum Giveaway ends June 06, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
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#GoodreadsGiveaway and other #freebooks #FreebieFriday

Hi everyone!

I hope the weather is beautiful where you are. The heat exploded here in Michigan and I'm suddenly sweating to death. (What happened to my cool Michigan summers?)

I don't know about you, but summer is reading season for me. And good news, I have a lot of free books up for grabs.

My goodreads giveaway started today. Enter and you can win a signed copy of Worth Dying For.

There's also still a little time to enter my blog giveaway for more free books, along with a $50 Amazon giftcard. You can interact with the rafflecopter below to enter.

Okay, that's all for now! Stay cool and keep reading!

xox

Kory



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Goodreads Book Giveaway Worth Dying for by Kory M. Shrum Giveaway ends June 06, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
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#Fridayreads: read #poetry

Carousel
Related Poem Content DetailsBY JAYA SAVIGEDense night is a needs thing.
You were lured     in a luminous canoesaid to have once ruled     a lunar ocean.
     The 2 am soda pourof stars is all but silent;only listen — 
   sedater than a sauropod     in the bone epicsit spills all the moon spice,
     releasing a sap odour          that laces     us to a vaster scale          of road opus.
A carousel of oral cues,these spinning sonic coins.
A slide show of old wishes.



* * *Did you know I'm hosting a giveaway this week? 5 signed books, a $50 Amazon giftcard and more. Come play! 

A Short Playlist for #Supernatural Fans

One of the prominent characters in the latest Jesse book is an avid Supernatural fan. Most of us are not surprised, of course. What's not to love about the Winchester boys?

So here is a short playlist that Maisie (Jesse's little sister in Worth Dying For ) made for you guys. Enjoy!




This post is in celebration of Worth Dying For's release. While your here, why not enter the $50 Amazon giveaway and maybe score free stuff?


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#Tuesdaybookblog: Nimona, A Review

The New York Times bestselling graphic novel sensation from Noelle Stevenson, based on her beloved and critically acclaimed web comic. Kirkus says, “If you’re going to read one graphic novel this year, make it this one.”Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel has been hailed by critics and fans alike as the arrival of a “superstar” talent (NPR.org).Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

Kory's thoughts:

Even if I didn't have a thing for comics/graphic novels, I would have fallen in love with this story. And if we are being completely honest here, I loved it the moment I read the inscription "To all the monster girls".  First thought: Hell, yes. This book is for me.
And it had everything that I love in a story. Moral ambiguity, awesome, badass woman running around, and a (gay!) love story and a blurred lined considering who is really good and who is really evil.
On the cover Rainbow Rowell is quoted: "Full of humor and heart." This is pretty darn accurate. But seeing Rainbow Rowell's name made me think of Carry On (no, guys, I'm still not over that book hangover). For me there were some similarities between the stories (two men in love; fantasy elements; who is really good or evil)--and that is a compliment.
So bottom line, it's a fun, quick read that I highly recommend. At the end, you might have a little more respect and love for your inner monster.

* * *Did you know I'm hosting a giveaway this week? 5 signed books, a $50 Amazon giftcard and more. Come play! 

Thank You! $50 #Amazon giftcard & other goodies

Learn more about this book hereIt's that time again, when I celebrate the release of a new book by giving away all the things. For those of you who've been around for the last four book releases, this is no surprise. But I certainly hope it isn't getting old! 

So while you're here, play with the widget (heh) below and see how many entries you can rack up. There's one that you can do every day--so see you tomorrow!

xox

Kory

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