Kate Corcino's Blog, page 8

Choosing My Words…or The Clean Read App’s Quest to Whitewash Creativity

A friend asked me to share my thoughts on why I am shaking upset with the Clean Read App, its users/defenders, and Page Foundry (the storefront service that’s building a store for the app’s users and including all books listed with that service, whether they’ve opted in or not. They do allow you to opt out. I just happen to think they should instead make it an OPT IN. Needless to say, I de-listed with Page Foundry this morning, though I neither encourage nor discourage others from doing so. We all do what’s best for our own work.). Bear with me. It’s a bit long…

For writers, words are our tools. We use them, and choose them, for the effect they produce…whether it be to shock, to make one laugh, to express characterization, morality, theme. They’re used for description, dialogue, inner dialogue. Removing certain words, no matter how personally objectionable, changes the work and the intention of the author as much as telling a painter, “We’re only going to black out certain brush strokes. We’re only removing the color RED. We’re not changing the painting.”

Yes, you damn well ARE.

I understand some may not like to read profanity. That’s fine. I have NO ISSUES with that. Don’t buy the book. Don’t read it. In fact, If it makes you feel better, every time the book comes up in conversation, feel free to tell everyone around, “I won’t read that. It’s garbage, filled with profanity!” Shout it from the rooftops. But don’t you dare change MY WORDS, MY INTENT, MY CREATION.

Some of the imaginary friends who populate my work will not swear. It’s simply not a part of who they are. I have others who use curses like a shield–because, yeah…CHARACTER. Could I have chosen another way to express that? Something more elegant? More aesthetically pleasing? Sure. But I chose not to.

I CHOSE…because it is my fucking book.

Don’t like it? Go write your own. Go on. I dare you. Sweat, bleed, force yourself to sit in that chair day after day and put thousands of words one after the other. Cry. CURSE. Love it. Hate it. Revise it. Shape it. Obsess over it. Then go back in for more, until it is as close to what you envisioned as you can get it. Then release it into the wild and harden your heart to the praise and the hate, because both are toxic enough to keep you from sitting down and doing it again.

Once you’ve done that, come on back and tell me that it’s A-OK for someone to come along behind you and mangle those words by whitewashing them to fit some constructed ideal of decency.

Am I emotional about this? You bet I am. I’m furious–with the creators of the app, with its users, with Page Foundry, and with the thought-police culture that is slinking in and swarming us like a living cockroach blanket in the name of enforced morality.

And to those who say, “But I deserve to participate in current culture. I just want to be able to read the same things as my friends.” Okay. Fine. Then read it. And then DISCUSS with them what made you uncomfortable. Discuss why you think the author made the choices she did, and the effect of those choices on your experience, and how it shaped the narrative and your impression of characters. Use your discomfort to THINK, parse through your view of the world, and then either challenge or reaffirm your world view. Don’t cower behind a construct that is designed to keep you from seeing with your own eyes, experiencing with your own heart, deciding with your own mind.

Because that’s the damn point of reading. Yep, even the stuff that would never qualify as earth-shaking fiction. Even the stuff that’s pure entertainment.

Words have the power to change us. And I’m betting the good people behind the app are already very much aware of that. Keep that in mind when you defend it.

Guest Blog: Aurora Springer Shares an Excerpt from Grand Master’s Pawn

Today it is my pleasure to have Aurora Springer here as a guest. Aurora is here to share an excerpt from her new book, Grand Master’s Pawn, the first book in the new Grand Master’s Trilogy. It promises to be full of mystery, intrigue, and adventure! I’m really looking forward to this one, and I hope you enjoy!

GRAND MASTER’S PAWN. 

Blurb

A thousand years in the future, wars and portal failures disturb the fringes of the galaxy. On Terra, twenty-two year old Violet Hunter seems an ordinary student of the Space Academy, who dreams of exploring unknown planets. She applies to serve as the pawn of one of the twelve Grand Masters, although her hidden talent makes her ineligible. Violet has defied the prohibition against psychics for half her life. Why should she stop now? When she meets the Grand Master, or rather his griffin avatar, she realizes the danger. He must never learn her secret. He orders her on missions to exotic planets where she gains powers and finds strange allies. In secret, Violet seeks the truth about the mysterious Grand Masters. Who or what are they? Do they threaten or benefit civilization? And, what is the connection to her father’s death twenty years ago? While searching for answers, she plunges into a world of intrigues and explosive conflicts, while the galaxy flies toward chaos.

Drink tea with the White Mother on Avalon, fly with the dragon lords of Sythos, while Violet hunts for the evil conspirators in Book 1 of the Grand Masters Trilogy.

Excerpt:

Violet blinked, and the gargoyle resolved into a winged griffin with fierce round eyes and a cruel beak of a mouth. Instinctively, she understood the griffin was an avatar for her Grand Master. She perceived no powerful entity within the room.

She felt a thrill of anticipation as the eyes flared to a brighter blue.

A deep, resonant voice spoke, “I am the Grand Master and you will serve as my pawn.”

“Yes, Grand Master,” Violet said, imbued with a sharp curiosity about his nature. “What may I call you? Do you have a name?” She refused to show fear at the eerie, disembodied voice.

“You will call me Grand Master,” the voice spoke in an unpleasant haughty tone.

Violet resented his attitude and resolved to assert her independence rather than retreat into a passive acceptance. She asked in indignant defiance, “Grand Master, do your pawns have individual names? Or do you call them by numbers?”

The room vibrated and psychic pressure built up against her. “You are an insolent pawn, Violet Hunter!” the Grand Master growled.

She shivered at his words, stepped back against the wall, and instinctively shielded her mind. Had she been too assertive? Of course, he knew her name from the Academy records. His psychic power was impressive since he was not physically in the room. Unexpectedly, Violet sensed a faint drift of his amusement, the mental equivalent of a smile. She was unsure if it was her empathic talent, or a glimpse he had permitted her.

“Hunter is a good name for your vocation,” he remarked in a milder tone.

Violet stiffened. He must never learn the truth. She hunted him.

His gruff voice grew severe again, “I have taken a chance by selecting you. Remember, you are on probation. You must prove yourself worthy to serve as my pawn.”

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TP1N5PM

Bio:

After a successful career in science, I have achieved my life-long ambition to publish novels. My published works include science fiction and fantasy with romance and a sprinkle of humor. I was born in the UK and live in Atlanta with my husband, a dog and two cats to sit on my laptop. My hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor activities like watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing.

Media links:

Blog: http://AuroraSpringerNovels.blogspot.com/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Springer/e/B00K2C4NL8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aurora-Springer/885945434752937

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AuroraSpringer

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101087717415198221200/posts

Proud to be Indie–and a Supporter of Indie-Visible!

Indie-Visible 2.0 Soft Launch

Hooray! We here at Indie-Visible are thrilled to be (soft) launching our site! So, who the heck are we anyway? Indie-Visible is an awesome collaboration backed by a super talented team of writers, bloggers, and freelancers in the publishing industry, who you can meet here and here. Indie-Visible’s BookHub is an online magazine where readers can connect with their favorite authors in fun, innovative ways. BookHub will have a variety of columns, including Indie Book Recommendations, Interactive Contests, and all sorts of activities aimed at getting to know talented authors and their books. If this interests you, be sure to click on the subscription link below!

In the PubHub, writers can get tips on a variety of writing and publishing elements, as well as build their dream publishing team by selecting from our endorsed list of freelancers. Our goal is to provide the perfect “Hub” for writers, where an environment of expertise and professionalism will offer high-level support in all phases of the publishing process and beyond. If this interests you, be sure to click on the subscription link below!

In addition to BookHub and PubHub, Indie-Visible has another AMAZING (Top Secret!) program set to launch in February. Keep your eyes out for an announcement sometime in January.

Keep up on all the goodies by subscribing to our BookHub and/or PubHub newsletters (see below). All subscribers will also be automatically entered to win one of our AWESOME GIVEAWAY PACKAGES. More details on those coming during our Full Launch in January!

On Reviews…Especially the Less than Stellar Kind

It’s a hard thing for a newly published writer not to live and die by reviews.

You’re told, over and over, by those who’ve gone before not to read them, or if you read them to not take them to heart, or if you take them to heart to not allow them to worm their way into your psyche so that you question what you’re doing and where you’re going (especially if your book is the first in a series).

That’s a hard thing. It’s so hard that we need to create a mantra to remind us that it’s okay to keep plugging away, much like “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” reminds us to keep our focus on the long view (and writing more) and not get swallowed up by the immediacy of a new release.

It can be particularly hard when the review isn’t a terrible one. When the reviewer expresses that they loved the book, wanted to give it a higher rating…except…EXCEPT…

It’s no secret that Spark Rising has been the lucky recipient of rave reviews. How can it be, when I’ve devoured them like a hungry bird and then flew back to the nest (okay, to Facebook!) to share the delicious news? So why is it that a mostly complimentary, honest and heartfelt three-star review is haunting me?

Perhaps because it is all of those things?

Perhaps because it’s hard to read a very thoughtful and intelligent but not altogether positive review and not respond in a quick comment to the reviewer (Responding is bad form. It’s VERY BAD FORM.) If I could respond, I’d say that you are meant to be uncomfortable with certain decisions and dynamics…that there is a core story there, and an arrival for the characters (and hopefully the readers) that has to be revealed slowly, layer by layer, over the course of several books…and that a love story that begins under dubious circumstances can (perhaps must?) survive serious growing pains, but that pain provides the fuel for both tension and story as the Progenitor Saga moves along to its conclusion. I’d say that any book that attempts to handle sexuality and the male/female dynamic (and later on will add faith and female roles to the series) will make one uncomfortable, but I tried so very hard to make sure that none of it feels gratuitous. I’d say that though Spark Rising is a heavy, action-packed read that makes the romance feel secondary, the Saga itself is very much intended to be a love story on several levels (And yes, I know love story =/= romance. *grin*).

But I can’t, and that’s mostly a good thing. Because ultimately it boils down to one fact–I created a book and then released it into the wild where it would be read by people who bring their own ideals and issues to the world and use them to breathe life into it according to their own thoughts and feelings. That was the goal. Who am I to come back now and question her experience of it? Who am I to attempt to say, “But no…look, if you could only see…?” She did see. My hopes for the book do not make her experience of it any less valid.

That’s the whole point of a review: to allow a reader to express her experience with a book. She did that.

And I am both a lucky writer and a grateful one that her “negative” review was just as heartfelt, honest, and thoughtful as the exuberant praise that went before it.

If only we could come up with a mantra to mumble as a reminder that none of it, not the bad nor the good, should change our stories. Any takers??

On Reviews…Especially the Less than Stellar Kind

It’s a hard thing for a newly published writer not to live and die by reviews.

You’re told, over and over, by those who’ve gone before not to read them, or if you read them to not take them to heart, or if you take them to heart to not allow them to worm their way into your psyche so that you question what you’re doing and where you’re going (especially if your book is the first in a series).

That’s a hard thing. It’s so hard that we need to create a mantra to remind us that it’s okay to keep plugging away, much like “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” reminds us to keep our focus on the long view (and writing more) and not get swallowed up by the immediacy of a new release.

It can be particularly hard when the review isn’t a terrible one. When the reviewer expresses that they loved the book, wanted to give it a higher rating…except…EXCEPT…

It’s no secret that Spark Rising has been the lucky recipient of rave reviews. How can it be, when I’ve devoured them like a hungry bird and then flew back to the nest (okay, to Facebook!) to share the delicious news? So why is it that a mostly complimentary, honest and heartfelt three-star review is haunting me?

Perhaps because it is all of those things?

Perhaps because it’s hard to read a very thoughtful and intelligent but not altogether positive review and not respond in a quick comment to the reviewer (Responding is bad form. It’s VERY BAD FORM.) If I could respond, I’d say that you are meant to be uncomfortable with certain decisions and dynamics…that there is a core story there, and an arrival for the characters (and hopefully the readers) that has to be revealed slowly, layer by layer, over the course of several books…and that a love story that begins under dubious circumstances can (perhaps must?) survive serious growing pains, but that pain provides the fuel for both tension and story as the Progenitor Saga moves along to its conclusion. I’d say that any book that attempts to handle sexuality and the male/female dynamic (and later on will add faith and female roles to the series) will make one uncomfortable, but I tried so very hard to make sure that none of it feels gratuitous. I’d say that though Spark Rising is a heavy, action-packed read that makes the romance feel secondary, the Saga itself is very much intended to be a love story on several levels (And yes, I know love story =/= romance. *grin*).

But I can’t, and that’s mostly a good thing. Because ultimately it boils down to one fact–I created a book and then released it into the wild where it would be read by people who bring their own ideals and issues to the world and use them to breathe life into it according to their own thoughts and feelings. That was the goal. Who am I to come back now and question her experience of it? Who am I to attempt to say, “But no…look, if you could only see…?” She did see. My hopes for the book do not make her experience of it any less valid.

That’s the whole point of a review: to allow a reader to express her experience with a book. She did that.

And I am both a lucky writer and a grateful one that her “negative” review was just as heartfelt, honest, and thoughtful as the exuberant praise that went before it.

If only we could come up with a mantra to mumble as a reminder that none of it, not the bad nor the good, should change our stories. Any takers??

New Release–No Angel by Pippa Jay

I’m thrilled to share with you an excerpt from No Angel, Pippa Jay’s newest release. I’m so pleased to participate in the release of the latest book of an author whose work I admire and love to read. I was fortunate enough to read an early copy of No Angel, and it is awesome! The moodiness of the world this fallen angel inhabits is wonderfully conveyed through sharply-painted details. The layered characterization that Pippa slowly peels back to show us the love story at the core of these characters is wonderfully done. I highly recommend readers check this one out! Beneath the cover and blurb below, there’s an excerpt for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

NO ANGEL

How far would you fall for love?

Centuries ago, guardian angel Lucien committed a terrible sin. He gave into his own desires and revealed himself to the mortal woman he’d been charged to protect. By kissing her, he condemned himself. Torn of his wings and his angelic powers, thrown down into the City Below, Lucien now serves Satan as an incubus who claims souls for his master from the City Above, and who feeds on the energy stolen from his mortal lovers. Dark, sexy and charming, he’s been top of his league for decades uncounted.

Until His Infernal Highness decides to send Lucien looking for a lost angel. Lucien has no idea what he did to deserve such a punishment, and the touch of an angel could destroy him. Yet the challenge and the potential kudos of seducing one of his former heavenly kin leads him on.

But when he finds the angel, he learns he still has more to lose than his already forsaken soul.

Please add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE, or sign up HERE for my no-spam newsletter for special previews on cover reveals, new releases, the latest giveaways and discounts, and upcoming news.

Excerpt

A couple of centuries ago, Lucien mused, he would’ve been forced to use the treacherous spiraling staircase that led down to Hell. Stone stairs that were covered in slime, cracked and shifting underfoot, with no handrail for safety, and no chance to withdraw. No light other than the lurid red glow from beneath. For those poor mortals travelling that way, the redness would have increased in step with the temperature as they descended, to the point where both would become unbearable, leaving them desperate to retreat. But then most would tumble headlong down the stairs long before being able to turn back, to lie broken and bleeding at the bottom. That would merely be the first taste of all the torments to come.

Instead, Lucien rode in the luxury of an elevator into the bowels of Hades, Hell, Purgatory—whatever mortals chose to name it. As one of its denizens, he had little to fear from such a trip Down Below. At least, normally he wouldn’t. Tonight was different. He’d been summoned.

Lucien hunched deeper into his leather jacket, hands thrust into his pockets and the collar turned up around his neck, though not from cold. In all his years as an incubus, the big boss had never asked to see him before. He couldn’t think of anything he’d done lately to warrant such attention. Or anything he hadn’t done. There were plenty of lewd and despicable acts he’d committed. Things even the darkest of human minds couldn’t possibly conceive, and several times over. That was his job after all. What else did anyone expect of a demon, for Hell’s sake?

Bio:

After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.

Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2nd place).

You can stalk her at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.

Website – http://www.pippajay.co.uk

Blogs –

Adventures in Scifi – http://www.pippajay.blogspot.co.uk

Spacefreighters Lounge – http://www.spacefreighters.blogspot.com

Romancing the Genres – http://www.romancingthegenres.blogspot.co.uk/

SFR Brigade – http://www.sfrcontests.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/pippajaygreen

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5054558.Pippa_Jay

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pippa-Jay-Adventures-in-Scifi/114058821953752

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/pippajaygreen/

Google+ – https://plus.google.com/u/0/101080630877126516448/posts

Wattpad – http://www.wattpad.com/user/PippaJay

Amazon page – http://www.amazon.com/Pippa-Jay/e/B0080QVWEE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1406376408&sr=8-1

Buy Links:

Amazon US – http://www.amazon.com/No-Angel-Pippa-Jay-ebook/dp/B00QP7BNDA/

Amazon UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Angel-Pippa-Jay-ebook/dp/B00QP7BNDA/

Breathless Press – http://www.breathlesspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&cPath=13&products_id=701

Webpage – http://www.pippajay.co.uk/#!no-angel/c17g7

SPARK RISING is LIVE!

After a lifetime worth of waiting–well, it feels like it!–SPARK RISiNG is live. As of this morning, it is available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble for $3.99. The print proof is finally on its way to me, and if all goes well (fingers crossed!) it’ll be approved and available to purchase as a paperback by the end of the week.

There is a Release Week Blitz going on, hosted by a variety of blogs and organized by Xpresso Book Tours. She has my absolute highest recommendation–she’s organized, responds to emails insanely fast, and has a wonderful stable of blogs built up. Please visit my Facebook page this week to check out the blog postings. I’d love it if you could show some love to the blogs willing to give their time and space to a brand-new writer. And oh yeah, while you’re visiting them, sign up for the rafflecopter-run giveaway: I’m giving away two gift baskets of books, swag, and gift cards, as well as e-copie of the novel. Good luck!

Over on Goodreads, SPARK RISING has been receiving new FIVE STAR reviews daily. I’m thrilled with the response to the ARC and NetGalley campaigns!!

I also love that reviewers’ comments have followed up what I initially believed. SPARK RISING is a genre-bending cross of post-apocalyptic/dystopian sci fi and urban fantasy with a twist of romance. They say you should write what you love to read. Well, I did. I wrote all three of my favorite genres and I put them all in one book! *laugh* Being compared by readers to Seanan McGuire, Chloe Neill, and Darynda Jones is a little breathtaking, though, and completely unexpected. Every time I stop and think about a reader connecting me with these fabulous authors and their characters, I get a little trembly inside with both nerves and excitement.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that as we travel down the road, SPARK RISING becomes the little book that could. And I hope you’ll come along on the journey with us.

SO what do you think? Have you read it? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments. I’ve already got one impassioned plea from a reviewer to kick Jackson out of the story (um…) and keep Lena and Alex together. Any other requests from readers? *grin*

SFR Brigade Showcase: Spark Rising

Hello, Readers! Today I’m happily participating in the SFR Brigade Showcase, an opportunity for SFR Brigade members to, yep, showcase their work. *grin* If you’ve come here via a link from the Brigade, you’ll know to keep going. If you’ve come for my blog…I LOVE YOU!…and please use the link at the bottom of the page to head over to the Brigade Showcase central to visit the other very talented Brigaders!

I’m using the showcase opportunity to have a peek at SPARK RISING (of course).  The novel releases next week, and early buzz from ARC readers has been positive enough to make my head spin! I hope to have purchase links up here and on my author Facebook page at some point early next week. I should also have a link to an online order form to order a signed paperback copy of your very own, for those of you who’d like one.

    In the excerpt below, from the POV of Agent Alex Reyes, he is escorting his partner-in-revolution Thomas and one of their new graduates to meet Lena Gracey. He left Lena in her assigned quarters shortly before, after she realized that the help she dared to accept came with strings attached–and she is now an indefinite guest of the Revolution. Lena’s been cooling off, realizing she needs them to achieve her own goals, and vowing to do what she has to in order to have her chance at vengeance, even if it means she has to cooperate. Being Lena, cooperation is subject to interpretation.

 

Alex took the lead as they neared her room. He keyed the lock just before he knocked, and waited several moments after it had popped open. She never called out, so he took a breath and slipped inside, waving his hand at the other two men to wait. Leaving the door ajar, he entered a few feet.

Lena sat on the edge of the bed facing him, watching warily.

Alex stopped and lifted his hands to his hips. “Any better?”

She sighed. “Not particularly, but I suppose I owe you an apology anyway.”

“An apology?”

“For overreacting?”

He snorted. “That would be great. But I wasn’t really expecting it from you.” Alex winced internally. He’d tried for humor, and it had come out all wrong. She reacted about as expected.

He met a suddenly icy stare.

“About as much as I’d expect you to wait for me to actually let you in, I imagine.” Her sarcastic voice was as hostile as her expression.

And here we go again.

“I did warn you that I was coming in. I did knock first.”

“And what if I had been undressed?”

He sighed. “Then I would have seen you naked twice, I suppose.”

She crossed her arms, eyes narrowed and fists clenched. “You know what? I take it back.”

“You take what back?”

“My apology. I didn’t overreact. You’re just a jerk.”

“You’re taking back your theoretical apology?”

“Yes.”

He nodded once. “Duly noted. But try to remember which jerk saved your life.”

“After you placed it in danger in the first place.” If she narrowed her eyes any more, they’d be closed. “Was there a purpose to this invasion?”

“There is, actually. I came to introduce you to my partner, and to your companion. Try to be nice to them.”

Thomas pushed the door open fully and walked a foot into the room. His gaze moved back and forth between them. Two sets of eyes swiveled to him. Her anger still simmered.

“Come on in,” Alex deadpanned. “The water’s fine, really.”

Thomas’s lips twitched with amusement as he approached her and cautiously offered his hand. “Miss Gracey, I’m Thomas Washington, Councilor Five. I run the school. I’ve waited a long time to meet you.”

As soon as the words ‘Councilor Five’ were out of his mouth, Lena jerked her hand back. She darted a look at Alex. “Councilor Five? But…. The Ward School is supposed to be independent of the Zones?”

She didn’t like being at the Ward School. He imagined she liked it even less now that there was a Councilor involved.

Alex couldn’t tell from his vantage point, but he imagined Thomas smiled at her. The look on her face was not reassurance. If anything, she’d just become even more suspicious.

“It is, yes.” Thomas told her. “For the intents and purposes of the Council of Nine, the Ward School is independent of the Zones. But, as I’m sure you can guess by now, there’s more going on here than just the school, and I am more than a Councilor. This is merely a convenient and temporary role used to conduct Zone Five’s business while I take care of our other concerns.”

Alex cleared his throat and ushered Lee in.

She inspected the young man from top to bottom. When she’d finished, she arched a brow at Alex. She was no fool.

Alex couldn’t imagine Thomas would fail to notice the pointed look Lena had given Alex. If he had, Thomas said nothing, merely urging Lee forward with a swinging hand.

“This is Senior Ward Jackson Lee, one of our top students.” Thomas clapped Lee on the shoulder. “And he has volunteered to help you acquaint yourself with the facilities, get you to your appointments and lessons, and generally help us by seeing to your needs.”

“My needs, huh?” She turned those blue-green eyes to Lee and swept them over him again.

He stood mute next to Thomas, overwhelmed by her energy, her bright bloom, and her attitude.

There’s no way this is going to work.

She tossed her hair back, and it slipped free from her ears to fall around her freckled face again. “Hello, Ward Lee.” She flashed a dazzling smile. “Or should I call you Warden Lee?”

Alex snorted softly. Yes, he could see this was going to go exactly as he expected. It was too bad his duties pulled him back to Azcon. The poor kid would need help. Ward Lee couldn’t possibly be ready to handle Lena Gracey.

 

Poor Jackson. *laugh*

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt! Please continue on to the SFR Brigade Showcase to see what the amazing members have waiting for you this month! And if you liked the excerpt, feel free to like, share, comment. Thank you!

Have a great weekend!

 

Goodreads Giveaway and Review Copy Offer

  Hello, readers! We’re counting down now to the release of SPARK RISING on December 15, 2014!

To celebrate, I am running a Goodreads Giveaway through December 26, 2014. I’m offering a chance a one of five signed paperback copies of the novel sent directly to you!

Why should you want it? Advance readers have been giving it FIVE STAR REVIEWS!

“It was incredibly well written, and had me spellbound like a book hasn’t since Justin Cronin’s The Passage. I’m anxious for the next book in the series!” — R., Goodreads reviewer

“This book grabbed me. It grabbed me in such a way that I blew off dinner (the family had pizza that night) just so I could finish it. The characters were well developed, especially the main two, the pacing was perfect, and even though it’s dystopian, it didn’t feel heavy.” –T.F., Goodreads reviewer

“The fact that I stayed up most of the night to finish this book is an indication of how good it is. Honestly, I don’t give out five stars easily. It takes a lot for a book to impress me beyond 4 stars (which is a very good book rating in my opinion), but Spark Rising went beyond being just good. It was fascinating, addictive and had the perfect blend of kick-ass heroine, romance and action.” — G.B., Goodreads reviewer

“An epic post-apocalyptic romance adventure that leaves all others in the dust, and doesn’t let up on the tension from start to finish. Fantastic world building, a complex, multi-layered plot, and characters your hearts will bleed for. Can’t wait for the next book!” — P.J., Goodreads reviewer

And today, I’m also making a limited offer to five individuals willing to read and leave an honest review of the novel on Goodreads and on Amazon when the book launches. I will send a free e-Advance Reader Copy in the format of your choice (.mobi, ePub, or PDF). All you have to do is contact me at my email at katiecorcino[at]gmail[dot]com to let me know your preferred format, read the book by the 15th, and leave your honest review, telling readers what you thought of the book. Simple!

Thanks so much for your support through this exciting time! Now I’m back to the countdown…tick tock…

Have an amazing day!

Featured Author for Meet the Author Monday at the SFRB!

Good morning, all!

Today I am thrilled to be the featured author over at the Science Fiction Romance Brigade for their Meet the Author Monday feature.

I’d love it if you stopped in to read the interview, and then stayed to check out the work of the other very talented members of the SFRB! And there’s an offer included at the bottom of the interview…for a free review copy e-ARC of my upcoming release, SPARK RISING!

Go, look!

And have a wonderful day!