Thursday, November 7, 2013

Interview on Examiner.com!

Check it out! Michael Garone interviewed me about PACK MENTALITY for his column on Examiner.com. I'm so excited about it!

Meanwhile, in NaNoWriMo news, I'm a day behind in the word count, which is about on par with how I usually am a week in. The end of CH2 is proving just as difficult to write as the beginning was. I don't know why, but every line in this book feels like I had to pull teeth to get it. But the end result has been a better first draft than I've ever written before, so I must be doing something right.

What I'm listening to while I write: The Piano Guys. Has anybody else listened to them before? They're awesome. Check out this mashup they did of Over the Rainbow and Simple Gifts:

Who else is doing NaNo? How's it going for you?

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

PACK MENTALITY on Amazon

PACK MENTALITY is live on Amazon! Thank you to everyone who helped/supported me/encouraged me/didn't tell me to shut up when I was rambling about this book. I'm so excited to introduce Quinn and her Pack to all of you.

Buy PACK MENTALITY on Amazon here.

On that note, I'd love to do a blog tour to promote PACK MENTALITY at the end of the month (October 24-31). If you're interested in or would be willing to host me, please either let me know in the comments or email me at tobisummers@writeme.com.

And the winners of the PACK MENTALITY giveaway are Nick Wilford and Dave H. Congratulations, guys! I'll be emailing you to find out in what format you'd like your prize.

Monday, October 7, 2013

My cover! My beautiful cover!

My gorgeous cover for PACK MENTALITY is done! I can brag about it without reservation, since my amazing friend Patricia Miller did all the hard work. I'm so in love with it.


The copyrights for the images are held by Michael Shevlin, Jose Antonio Sánchez Reyes | Dreamstime.com, and Iakov Filimonov | Dreamstime.com. The copyright for the cover is held by Patricia L. Miller.

Reminder: PACK MENTALITY comes out tomorrow (October 8th), and you can win a copy of the ebook!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

PACK MENTALITY Release - One Week!

Though I've done a horrid job of promoting it, my book PACK MENTALITY comes out in one week! So I am, predictably, running around like a chicken with no head trying to get everything set (including final tweaks on the cover, which is why I haven't done a big reveal). I knew self-publishing would be a lot of work--made more difficult by my tendency to get distracted from self-imposed schedules--but I'm really enjoying the freedom. Plus, I love this book and these characters, and I really can't wait to share them with all of you.

So PACK MENTALITY comes out on October 8th, and, in that spirit, I'll be giving away two copies of it (either .mobi or .epub). You can sign up below!

You can check out PACK MENTALITY on Goodreads for now, and I'll put up the links to buy the book when it comes out on October 8th. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, August 2, 2013

Where Have I Been

I occasionally fall into long periods of introspection. I get so overwhelmed by everything that happens in the world and in my life that my brain turns off and I find myself unable to get motivated enough to write a birthday card, let alone a book. Like an attack of ennui, but less... depressed (because, I promise, I'm actually happy while this is going on, just sort of lazy).

That's at least partially to blame for my extended absence and complete lack of productivity over the last few months. As I mentioned in a previous post, I moved in April, which led to a downhill spiral of too much to do and not enough desire to do it all. Which led to five weeks spent vegging on my new couch (the comfiest couch in the history of couches, by the way) watching Buffy for the first time. Which led to two weeks of, "Why can't I write as well as Joss Whedon?" Which explains the half-unpacked boxes that are still cluttering my apartment four months later.

Plus, I got some more responsibility at work, which led to a few weeks of late nights trying to finish some projects.

But it's a new month, and I'm kicking my ass back into gear. Pack Mentality is so close to completion I can taste it. I pushed the release back a month, so it's expected publication is now October 8th. I plan to spend August finishing the edits, sending it out for a final proofread, and nailing down my cover, so the month of September will be devoted to promotion. I'm really excited about sharing it with all of you (and the rest of the world).

I hope everyone's had a good summer so far! Sorry I haven't been keeping up with blogs and book releases; I'll do better about that!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 6/25/13

I haven't even really started Primary Colors yet, but I saw the movie a few years ago and loved it, so I might have done a little happy dance when Amazon delivered my copy of the book. I've been in a very political mood lately (watching too many reruns of The West Wing probably), so if anyone has any recommendations for political fiction--preferably ones that deal with the Presidency and/or the White House--I'd appreciate it. They've been difficult to find.

A brilliant and penetrating look behind the scenes of modern American politics, Primary Colors is a funny, wise, and dramatic story with characters and events that resemble some familiar, real-life figures. When a former congressional aide becomes part of the staff of the governor of a small Southern state, he watches in horror, admiration, and amazement, as the governor mixes calculation and sincerity in his not-so-above-board campaign for the presidency.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

My inability to recall that particular moment more precisely is disappointing: the handshake is the threshold act, the beginning of politics. I've seen him do it two million times now, but I couldn't tell you how he does it, the right-handed part of it--the strength, quality, duration of it, the rudiments of pressing the flesh.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 6/11/13

Still reading Anna Quindlen's Thinking Out Loud. It's a collection of her columns, and I really like her views and the way she articulates them. As with all nonfiction I read, it's slow-going, but I'm really enjoying it.

Thinking out loud is what Anna Quindlen does best. A syndicated columnist with her finger on the pulse of women's lives, and her heart in a place we all share, she writes about the passions, politics, and peculiarities of Americans everywhere. From gays in the military, to the race for First Lady, to the trials of modern motherhood and the right to choose, Anna Quindlen's views always fascinate.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

In the newspaper business we assume certainty; when you spell Steven with a v it is because you know that's how Steven spells it. But we are moving these days into areas of great uncertainty.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 6/4/13

Yesterday, I found out that I could check out ebooks from the library. I'd already known this, but I assumed I had to actually GO to the library to check them out, which is increasingly more inconvenient since I just moved. But, NO. I can check them out and return RIGHT ONLINE. There was much dancing, much celebrating, and (later, after I renewed my library card) much borrowing of books. Seriously, is this not the most exciting news?

So now that I have a few (too many) new books on my Nook, this week's teaser comes from my annual attempt at reading nonfiction. I like Anna Quindlen's fiction books and I think she's a funny, insightful lady, so I'm trying to be optimistic, despite the fact that I haven't finished a nonfiction book since I was in high school and had to do book reports.

Thinking out loud is what Anna Quindlen does best. A syndicated columnist with her finger on the pulse of women's lives, and her heart in a place we all share, she writes about the passions, politics, and peculiarities of Americans everywhere. From gays in the military, to the race for First Lady, to the trials of modern motherhood and the right to choose, Anna Quindlen's views always fascinate.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

"But is it really necessary," he asked after some preliminaries, "for you to wear your gender on your sleeve?"

For a moment I thought about telling him where my gender really resided, but he seemed pleasant and earnest and I didn't want to embarrass him.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Get Healthy Bloghop

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, L. Diane Wolfe, and Michael Di Gesu for hosting this bloghop. The rules are simple:

Share with everyone something you have done that affected your health in a positive way. You can share an awesome low cal low fat tasty recipe. Post simple tips to lose weight. Or a testimony on what has helped like joining Weight Watchers. Recommend a routine like P90X or Insanity. Or stretches one can do while sitting in their office chair working or writing. We’re sure people have countless great tips and ideas they would love to share.

I sort of have a love-hate relationship with healthy living (as I imagine many people do). I whine about it constantly, but I'm also incredibly dedicated to it (in moderation). And one of the best pieces of advice I got came from a friend last year: create a standing desk.

We weren't meant to be sedentary creatures. Sitting for long periods of time dramatically increases your risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and a whole host of other health issues. It's bad for your circulation and for the muscles in your legs. And let's face it: most of us don't sit properly, causing problems for our backs and necks.

I made my standing desk out of boxes and books, with a cushioned bathmat on the floor so my feet don't hurt as much. It's a little rough around the edges (and I got laughed at by my colleagues for the first couple months), but it gets the job done. And honestly, I feel better after standing for 7 hours than I did after sitting. My back doesn't hurt as much anymore, and now that my leg and foot muscles are stronger, I don't feel as exhausted at the end of the day. That's not to say I'm not still sore sometimes, and I am physically tired, but it's actually kind of nice because it makes me feel like I've done more with my day than push paper from one side of the desk to the other. I focus better, which I can't really explain but somehow seems to work.

I'm not saying everyone should go out and stand for 7 hours a day. For one thing, you should really build up to it. Until a few weeks ago, I was taking an hour-long sit break in the morning and in the afternoon, and that's after many months of doing this. Also, standing for this long really isn't for everyone. But here's my challenge to you: find an hour a day when you normally sit (be that when you're writing or paying the bills or watching TV) and stand while you do that task instead. Do it every day, or as many times a week as you can. It might be uncomfortable at first, but I think once you start to see the benefits, you'll find you kind of enjoy it.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Teaser Tuesday (5/28/13) and a Donation Bomb

So many people have books coming out or that just came out! I'm having trouble keeping up with everyone. It so happened that this book is exactly what I was looking to read today, so I swooped it up.

When Mabel's best friend, Amber, drags her along on a double date she finds herself falling for Lance, the obnoxious class clown whom she swore she'd have no interest in.

The only problem is, she's not sure if she's really the girl Lance is into, or if, like every other guy she knows, it's really Amber he's after. One thing is clear, if Mabel wants to be the lead in her own love story, she needs to start acting like it.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

I, on the other hand, feel weighted down. Sandbags are tied to my arms and legs, making it difficult to walk away.



The next thing of note is a Donation Bomb that Leigh Covington posted about on her blog.

David Farland (Wolverton)'s son Ben, age 16, was in a tragic longboarding accident on April 3rd, 2013. He suffers from severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drums, road rash, and pneumonia. He was in a coma, but has recently awakened. His family has no insurance.

Ben's treatments are already over $1,000,0000.
Ben will need extensive therapy as he relearns how to walk.

Ben's estimated hospital bills are looking to be somewhere around $1.2 MILLION! So what can we do? We can help! Even the smallest donations can go a long way when everybody gives a little bit.

THE PLAN: Donate any amount, large or small, to the Help Ben Walk Fund (feel free to donate more, if you can.)

THE DATE: Friday, June 7th!

To find out more about Ben and other ways you can help, CLICK HERE.

Also - on JUNE 4th there is a TWITTER BOMB! Spread the word and use hashtags #davidfarland or #helpwolverton! You can use these posts to get points in the Rafflecopter giveaway below!

Please help spread the word by sharing on your blog, tweeting, posting on Facebook, or any other way you know how. For those who help spread the word, one lucky person will receive an Ebook through Kindle or Nook of David Farland's book, Million Dollar Outlines! Check out Leigh's blog to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Secondary Characters Bloghop

I'm really excited about this bloghop, hosted by Rachel Schieffelbein, Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris, and Suzi Retzlaff. I love secondary characters (who doesn't?), often more than the main characters. I tried to just pick a handful to list here, but it was awfully hard to parse it down (though it's easier since I'm refraining from including TV). So in no particular order...

  1. Fred Weasley/Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks/Minerva McGonagall/Seamus Finnegan/Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter, JK Rowling) - OK, so maybe this one should be titled "Everyone in Harry Potter but Harry." I was going to say Ron/Hermione, but they're really more main characters than secondary, so I went with this gaggle instead. Let's be honest. The secondary characters in Harry Potter were way better than Harry. They were so well-developed and complex on their own, and they had a million possibilities. I can't even explain why I was so in love with Seamus, but I just thought he was awesome. I think it was because he burned his eyebrows off. McGonagall was stern, but she had an obvious soft spot for Harry that endeared me to her. Remus and Tonks complemented each other perfectly. Fred was hysterical (so was George, but he didn't invite a girl to the Yule Ball by yelling across the Common Room to her). And Luna was... Luna had the confidence I always wished I had. She was so weird, but she pulled it off because she knew who she was and no one could tell her differently.
  2. Dill Harris (To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee) - There are a lot of reasons to love Dill. He was goofy and weird. He loved adventures. He was brave. But the strongest memory I have from reading To Kill a Mockingbird is right after Atticus loses the trial, when Dill is so upset by the verdict that he goes outside and throws up. He was, what, 7 or 8 years old? And even he knew that the real crime had been perpetrated in the courtroom.
  3. Jeremy Danvers (Women of the Otherworld, Kelley Armstrong) - I'm not 100% sure he counts as a secondary character because Otherworld has more of an ensemble cast, but he doesn't narrate any of the main books and he only appears as the male lead in one (and a couple short stories), so I'm counting him. Jeremy's pretty much the perfect person. He's smart, he's confident, he's unfailingly selfless, plus he's got that sexy alpha werewolf thing going on. In the last book of the series, I caught myself speed-reading through parts of the book just to get back to the scenes he was in.
  4. Kyle Brooks/Ben (Mercy Thompson, Patricia Briggs) - With the exception of Harry Potter, I was trying to pick only one from each series, but I just couldn't choose between Kyle and Ben, though I love them for very different reasons. Kyle is the comic relief. He's tough in his own way, but he's better with a quick word than a physical cut down. Ben's the opposite. Plus he has that whole horrible past thing that makes characters so sympathetic. He's also fiercely loyal, but you have to dig a bit to find that part of him.
  5. Tod Hudson (Soul Screamers, Rachel Vincent) - Um, best comic relief ever? He's completely irreverent and he doesn't care who knows it, which makes pretty much every line out of his mouth golden. But he knows how to bring the serious when he needs to, and his insight is occasionally incredibly surprising.
  6. Cinna (Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins) - I wasn't going to do a Hunger Games one, but how could I not include Cinna? The sole voice of optimism in a flood of doom and gloom. He made Katniss feel better about everything that was happening and, in doing so, made us feel better too.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's favorites too!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 5/21/13


Photo credit: Jane Green's website

It's been a busy week or two for me. Most of that time has been spent with normal life craziness, but the rest has been furiously editing Pack Mentality. See, what happened is that I wrote most of book 2 for NaNoWriMo last year, and, in doing so, I changed about half the rules I'd come up with for my world. Good, necessary changes, but the kinds of things my characters should know about in book 1.

I've still been making some time for reading though. I finished the latest Kitty Norville book (by Carrie Vaughn), and I just started Promises to Keep by Jane Green. Actually, I haven't even started it yet. It's sitting on my desk waiting for my lunch break to read it.

Callie Perry lights up every room she enters, and adores her settled family life in tony Bedford, New York. Steffi is Callie's younger sister. At thirty, she's still a free spirit bouncing between jobs and boyfriends in Manhattan. Their long-divorced parents, Walter and Honor, share little besides their grown daughters. But when Callie receives a difficult diagnosis, the family will come together for one unforgettable and ultimately life-changing year.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Steffi elbows her hair out of her eyes before grabbing a frying pan, splashing olive oil liberally into it and scraping the finely chopped onion into the oil. Ignoring the sweat running into her eyes, she spins around, hurrying over to the counter opposite, where Jorge is slicing spring onions.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 5/14/13

I'm not going to lie, I had to check three times to make sure it was actually Tuesday. But since it is, here we are. I'm actually in between books at the moment, so I'm going to do this week's TT from Pack Mentality, the first Capitoline Hill book. I don't have the cover to put up yet, but it's almost done, and I'm really, really excited about it.

Pack Mentality is up on Goodreads now, so check it out here.

The Mid-Atlantic Pack has a problem: there’s a man-killing werewolf loose in their territory. As a Guardian—a protector of the Pack and its Alpha—Quinn Dunlap is one of the people tasked with finding him and eliminating the threat… by any means necessary.

But what Quinn finds isn’t the big bad wolf; it’s a scruffy, scared boy named Elijah who was bitten three months ago and has been running ever since. So instead of the typically accepted execution he probably deserves, she takes pity on him and brings him home to the Pack Alpha, a firm but fair werewolf named Geoffrey Reynolds. Geoffrey’s always respected Quinn as a good judge of character, and this time is no exception. He lets Elijah stay, but he makes it clear that the boy is Quinn’s responsibility.

Quinn doesn’t want Elijah to be her responsibility. She doesn’t even want to be her own responsibility. When she left five years ago, she had honestly never thought she'd be moving back to Capitoline Hill, a decidedly not hilly compound in New Jersey. So maybe it's time for her to accept that sometimes you have to go home again, no matter what the saying is. And maybe, maybe, it's also time for her to get over some of those fears that drove her away in the first place. But when someone attacks the Pack, Quinn finds out that everyone, even her Alpha, is afraid of something. And sooner or later, those fears always come back to haunt you.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

With another sigh and a nervous glance at me, Eli stripped down and crouched to begin his change. Out of courtesy, we didn't look at him, but after a moment he said, "I can't do it with all of you here."

Trick sighed in exasperation. "Maybe it is like going to the bathroom," he said. "You got a shy bladder?" Eli flipped him off.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Cover Reveal: Friday Night Alibi

Hey, guys, check it out! Cassie Mae's NA book has a cover! Also, a really awesome-sounding plot and an expectant fan (well, probably more than a few of those)!

Rising star Cassie Mae introduces New Adult readers to a practical soon-to-be college freshman who seems to have everything—until a special guy shows her what she’s been missing.

In the wealthy town of Sundale, Kelli Pinkins has hatched the perfect plan to capitalize on her sweet reputation. For a generous fee, she will be every trust-fund baby’s dream: a Friday-night alibi, the “girlfriend” or “BFF” that parents dream about. With college approaching in the fall, Kelli’s services are in demand more than ever, which means that her social life is nonexistent. But Kelli is A-okay with that. She’s raking in cash for school. Besides, relationships are tricky, and sometimes very messy. She’d rather be at home on Xbox LIVE, anyway. Then the unexpected happens: She meets college stud Chase Maroney.

Chase isn’t like the preppy, privileged guys Kelli usually meets in Sundale. For starters, he’s twentysomething, always wears black, and he shoots back one-liners as fast as she can dish them out. But Kelli’s attempts to drive Chase away falter when she realizes that he treats her like he really knows her, like he cares about knowing her. When Kelli finally gives in to the delicious kiss she’s been fighting for so long, she faces a tough decision: make Chase a real-life boyfriend and risk her heart . . . or keep her clients and lose her first true love.

Advance praise for Friday Night Alibi

“Totally entertaining with as many swoon-worthy moments as hilarious ones, Friday Night Alibi is a must-read.”—Jolene Perry, co-author of Out of Play

“A fun, funny, and fantastic story, this is one you will read in a day, and pick up to re-read again the next.”—Kelley Lynn, author of Fraction of Stone

It comes out on July 29th, but you can preorder it HERE.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Big news!

OK, first off, I want to apologize for falling off the planet in April. I rather spontaneously moved at the beginning of the month/end of March, so the last few weeks have been a study in entropy. But I'm almost settled now, and I'm starting fresh in May. I'm refocusing on my writing and making more of an effort to edit Capitoline Hill (again).

Which brings me to my big news...

After a lot of thought (and a few long conversations with K.S. Lewis at varying levels of panic), I've decided to take the plunge and self-publish The Capitoline Hill Chronicles! I'm doing it for a variety of reasons: the timing seems right to publish a werewolf book, a speaker at the writers conference I went to in March really swayed me, there were several rather blatant signs from the universe, and, mostly, it just looks like fun. I always thought my pride needed a traditional publishing deal to make me feel like I was a successful writer, but having watched other self-published authors, I'm starting to realize that there's a lot more to it than that.

So I'm going to give it a whirl. I'll be posting more details throughout the summer, but right now I'm shooting for a late summer/early fall release. Which will mean mid-late summer blog tour, if anyone's interested in hosting me and/or my characters (more details on that as it gets closer as well). And I have a whole bunch of other fun things planned along the way.

How were all your Aprils? Looking forward to May?

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 3/26/13

Yup, still re-reading Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series. I jumped ahead a little to the fifth book, If I Die, which I think was my favorite. The seventh (and final) book, With All My Soul came out today, and I can't wait to get my copy of it!

WARNING: Blurb may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

Everyone else is talking about Eastlake High’s gorgeous new math teacher, Mr. Beck, but Kaylee Cavanaugh has bigger things on her mind. Kaylee’s a banshee—her scream is a portent of death.

But the next scream might hit too close to home. Kaylee’s borrowed lifeline has almost run out.

Yeah—it’s a shock to her, too. So to distract herself from her own problems, Kaylee is determined to defend her school against the latest supernatural threat. That hot new teacher is really an incubus, who feeds from the desire of unsuspecting students. The only girls immune to his lure are Kaylee and Sabine, her boyfriend’s delinquent ex-girlfriend. Now the unlikely allies have to get rid of Mr. Beck…before he discovers they aren’t quite human either.

But Kaylee’s running out of time, and those who love her will do anything to save her life

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

"So how 'bout this..." Emma turned from the mirror to face me directly. "I promise not to sleep with the hottest teacher on the face of the planet--math facts and harmless fantasies only--and you promise to tell me if he turns out to have horns or a forked penis. Deal?"

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 3/19/13

In preparation for the release of the last book, this week I'm re-reading Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series. I just started the second book, My Soul to Save, this morning. This isn't my favorite Rachel Vincent series (the Bound series is), but I enjoyed all the books a ton, and I love the characters, especially Tod (seriously, there can't be people in the world who don't love Tod. It's impossible). It's also the first series I can think of that has to do with banshees.

The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad’s ironclad curfew and putting her boyfriend’s loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls for a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can’t possibly understand. Kaylee can’t let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk...

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing a little dignity wouldn't fix," Tod snapped. "So could we please not mob the three-thousand-plus-year-old reaper like tweens at a boy-band concert?"

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 3/12/13


Photo credit: K.S. Lewis' website

Shh, it's still Tuesday somewhere. (That's a lie.)

Anyway, I have another special Teaser Tuesday for you this week because I'm in the middle of reading K.S. Lewis' new, soon-to-be-published novella, The Chosen of Ky'kias, which will be available on April 10. And I gotta tell you, it's pretty awesome, guys. I'm only about a third of the way through it, but I'm loving it.

 

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

 

And the teaser:

"The Cherry Blade," Glenn muttered to Oran as they watched Mara get stopped by her father and heckled about lunch. "Why couldn't it be called the Mighty Ogre Crusher or something?"

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 3/5/13


Photo credit: D.R. Cartwright (DRC) from a concept by Ella Wilson

I'm still reading Fragments by Dan Wells this week, but I wanted to do a very special Teaser Tuesday to celebrate the launch of Overcoming Adversity, an anthology edited by Nick Wilford. Nick is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction. When not writing he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also co-running a campaign to get a dedicated specialist college built in Scotland. If you like the teaser, you should buy the book (links after the blurb). The money goes to a great cause.

A collection of seventy moving and uplifting original pieces - real life, flash fiction, and poetry - about battling against the odds and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. The contributors include Amazon bestselling authors Alex J. Cavanaugh and Kyra Lennon, and the cream of upcoming talent.

The anthology is part of a fundraising effort to send the editor's stepson, Andrew McNaughton, to a specialist college in England. Andrew has cerebral palsy, and is a remarkable young man with a promising future. However, the free further education options offered in his own country of Scotland will not challenge him and allow him to progress. In order to access the education he deserves, Andrew will have to pay exorbitant fees, thus creating a situation of discrimination.

Help us get Andrew to college by buying a book that runs the full gamut of human emotions, ultimately leaving you inspired and glad to be alive. Whatever struggles you are going through, our sincere hope is that this book will help.

To buy Overcoming Adversity, go to:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Smashwords
And check out the book's Goodreads page.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser. Because I couldn't decide what story to pull a quote from, I went with the first few sentences of the book:

Sunny’s heart pounded in time with the steady drumbeat on the roof. She had never heard rain like it. She was not given to fear but tonight the sounds unnerved her... just a little.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 2/26/13


Photo credit: Dan Wells's website

Woo-hoo, new Partials book! Also, this marks the beginning of a busy reading period for me. A bunch of my favorite authors have new books coming out in March, so I'll be busy going broke while I try to keep up with them. Because who knows what will happen if I don't read them the very second they come out.

I put the blurb from Partials because the one for Fragments is full of spoilers.

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Another day of research turned up nothing she could use, and in a fit of petulance she snarled and threw the last folder out the broken window; as soon as she threw it she berated herself for doing something to attract the attention of anyone else who might be prowling the city. The odds were against it, of course, but that didn't make it smart to tempt fate.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 2/19/13


Photo credit: Tahereh Mafi's blog

Yeah, I know. I'm like the last person in the world to read this book. I have no excuse, since it's been sitting on to to-read shelf for almost a year. I only started it this morning, but I'm loving it so far.

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

There are 15,000 feelings of disbelief hole-punched in my heart. I'm tempted by recklessness, aching aching aching, desperate forever for what I can never have.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 2/12/13

Sorry about the hiatus. I truly intended to post something about how I was going to be on vacation for two weeks, but I got swamped trying to get everything done with work and packing and general chaos, so that never happened. But I'm back now, and hopefully I can settle into some sort of real posting schedule. And real writing schedule. And real... life schedule (schedules have not been my friend lately).

While I was gone, I read Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Nobody, and I started Susan Kaye Quinn's Mindjacker trilogy. I enjoyed book one quite a bit, and I started book two, Closed Hearts, yesterday. I decided to put the series blurb instead of the specific book because it was just too spoilery.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Even if I could pump the gas out of my brain to go back for Raf and my dad, the butterflies would get me.

I had no choice but to leave them behind.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Overcoming Adversity

Hey, guys, I'm on vacation until February 7, but I wanted to make sure I got this post in, since it's for such a good cause.  If you haven't heard of Nick Wilford's Overcoming Adversity bloghop, you should go check it out!

I decided flash fiction was the way to go for this one, since I'm considerably better at writing about others than myself.  So this is a super short story from my Capitoline Hill world.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?"

No, I thought emphatically, but I only nodded to my brother.  Not that he couldn't tell.  He was my twin and my partner; he could basically read my mind.

"Don't worry so loud," he said with a laugh.  "We'll be fine."

He stretched his arms out, then cracked his back.  "I'm not worried," I muttered.

"'Course not."

I didn't dignify that with an answer.  Ben glanced over at me when the expected retort didn't come, and he raised his eyebrow.  "Damn, you really are worried."

"I--"

"Look, it's totally normal, man.  It's your first mission.  It happens to all of us."

I sighed and tried not to get frustrated with him.  "Ben, you've been a Guardian for all of two months.  You've barely had more than one mission."

He glared at me, but there wasn't any heat behind it.  "I hear things."

"Yeah."

We were both quiet for awhile, though I could feel his eyes on me.  "Cut it out."

"Then stop being a pansy.  You knew what the job was when you signed up for it."

Ah, there was the rub.  Of course I'd known what the job was.  Every Pack werewolf knew what the job of a Guardian was.  Every Pack werewolf grew up hearing about the mighty Guardians and how important their job was and how special they were for doing it and how grateful we should all be that they protected us.

With that kind of build-up, who wouldn't want to be a Guardian?

But now, faced with the task of tracking down a rogue werewolf who might be going insane, I was starting to have my doubts.  Sure, I'd passed my tests.  Sure, I knew I was tough.  I could fight.  But hunting someone?  Maybe killing them?  Could I... could I kill someone, even to protect the Pack?

"Think about it this way," Ben suggested softly.  "If he's sick, you're doing him a favor.  I wouldn't want to live with Moon Sickness, would you?"

"No..."

"I'd want someone to put me out of my misery before I hurt anyone, especially someone I cared about.  And Jon Harton was Pack for a long time.  He knows us.  He'd never want to hurt us or risk exposing us.  You know that."

He was right.  He really was, and the part of my mind that was willing to be logical understood that.  Just like it understood that, even if this wasn't what a rogue wolf would have wanted, we couldn't take the risk that he would do something we couldn't undo.  But there was another part of my mind that was screaming like a 12-year-old girl who'd seen a spider, complete with jumping on the table and stomping my feet.

"If you can't do it, you need to tell Geoffrey now, so he can replace you," Ben continued, his voice suddenly hard.  "You can't go out there if you're not sure.  I have to be able to count on you to have my back."

"I know," I said.  I took a breath and sorted out my thoughts.  "I can handle it."

Ben studied my face, checking for weaknesses.  Whatever expression I was showing must have passed muster because he nodded, a grin breaking out.  "Then let's go do this, bro."

He held out his open palm and I slapped it.  "Let's go," I agreed, and I swallowed my doubts and followed him off to do my job.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 1/22/13

MLK Day has completely screwed up my days, but I'm pretty sure it's Tuesday. And it's a re-reading day! I know I talk ad nauseum about Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, but it's probably my favorite book series since Harry Potter. And I may have a slight (major) author crush on Kelley Armstrong. So I have a tendency to re-read these books a lot, especially when I'm too lazy to go searching for another book after I finish one.

As a curious child, Clayton didn’t resist the bite–he asked for it. But surviving as a lone child werewolf was more than he could manage–until Jeremy came along and taught him how to straddle the human-werewolf worlds, gave him a home…and introduced him to the Pack. So begins this volume, featuring three of the most intriguing members of the American Pack–a hierarchical founding family where bloodlines mean everything, and each day presents a new, thrilling, and often deadly challenge. As Clayton grows from a wild child to a clever teen who tests his beloved mentor at every turn, he must learn not only to control his animal instincts, but to navigate Pack politics–including showing his brutal arch nemesis, Malcolm, who the real Alpha is…

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

At the time, it seemed to me that Jeremy was spending a lot of time with a piece of plastic pressed against his ear, talking to himself. Which was fine by me. We all have our eccentricities. Jeremy liked talking to plastic; I liked hunting and eating the rats that ventured into the motel room. Or, at least I did like hunting and eating the rats, until Jeremy caught me and promptly kiboshed that hobby. Some of us are less tolerant of eccentricities than others.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 1/15/13

I had a lazy weekend that I spent blowing my way through The Girlfriend's Guide to Boys series by Stephie Davis/Stephanie Rowe. It was a cute, fairly predictable series that was exactly what I wanted. After finishing the last book last night, I decided to actually consult my TBR list on Goodreads, and I looked up Feed by M.T. Anderson. The writing style is pretty interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a not-so-brave new world — and a smart, savage satire that has captivated readers with its view of an imagined future that veers unnervingly close to the here and now.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

When we got off the ship, our feeds were going fugue with all the banners. The hotels were jumping on each other, and there was bumff from like the casinos and mud slides and the gift shops and places where you could rent extra arms.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - 1/8/13


Photo credit: JamesPatterson.com

Before I got into urban fantasy, I was really, really into legal thrillers and murder mysteries. Still am, to an extent, but I haven't read as many of them recently. So I was pleasantly surprised to find I was actually two books behind on James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. I finished 10th Anniversary this morning, and now I'm working on 11th Hour.

WARNING: Blurb contains spoilers for previous books in the series.

YOUR BEST FRIEND

Lindsay Boxer is pregnant at last! But her work doesn't slow for a second. When millionaire Chaz Smith is mercilessly gunned down, she discovers that the murder weapon is linked to the deaths of four of San Francisco's most untouchable criminals. And it was taken from her own department's evidence locker. Anyone could be the killer—even her closest friends.

OR A VICIOUS KILLER?

Lindsay is called next to the most bizarre crime scene she's ever seen: two bodiless heads elaborately displayed in the garden of a world-famous actor. Another head is unearthed in the garden, and Lindsay realizes that the ground could hide hundreds of victims.

YOU WON'T KNOW UNTIL THE 11TH HOUR

A reporter launches a series of vicious articles about the cases and Lindsay's personal life is laid bare. But this time she has no one to turn to—especially not Joe. 11TH HOUR is the most shocking, most emotional, and most thrilling Women's Murder Club novel ever.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
  • Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Something had happened at that house. And if there really was a reason for everything, then she'd walked four miles this morning so that she would be the first reporter on the scene.




Also, you should check out this awesome bloghop hosted by Nick Wilford. He's compiling an anthology of stories about overcoming adversity to raise money to send his stepson to college. Check out the details here, and don't forget to post on February 4-5.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year's Resolutions

Happy new year, everyone! I hope all your holidays were wonderful and that the new year began with promise. I've returned from my spontaneous hibernation with enthusiasm (and new year's resolutions).

  1. Finish CH2. I'll tell you, I probably shouldn't have taken a month-long break from this after NaNoWriMo, since I've now forgotten any ideas I had for the ending. But that's okay, I'm sure whatever I come up with will be better (she says optimistically). I have about 25,000 words left, and I'm really, really planning to finish it by the end of the month so I can give it to K.S. Lewis and make her fix it.
  2. Write two more novels. Or at least write one and start the other. Right now, I'm thinking Bex and CH3, but I often change plans unexpectedly.
  3. Read one non-fiction book. I can't remember a non-fiction book I read all the way through that wasn't required for school. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed any--because I have--but I just can't seem to finish them for some reason. But I'm going to change that this year.
  4. Read 52 books, averaging one per week. I exceeded this last year, so I don't think it's unreasonable.
  5. Query 60 agents, averaging five per month, or until signed.
  6. Submit 12 stories to magazines/contests, averaging one per month. I constantly toy with this, and occasionally send one or two things out, but I'd like to spend a little more time focusing on it. Plus, short stories are a good way to unstick myself when I get writer's block.
  7. Blog twice a week. And this is where I owe you guys a small apology. Things got a little crazy here over the last few months, and I haven't kept up very well with my blog and others. But I really do love blogging and I love keeping in touch with all of you, so I'm going to shake off last year and really dive back into it.

Also, keep an eye out for a giveaway soon, since I've almost hit 200 followers on Twitter.

Did you make resolutions? Care to share? Also, how were your holidays?